groovechick

Of the three P&O ships I've been on (Aurora, Azura and Britannia) I like Britannia least. I didn't like the décor much, especially the inside cabins which I thought were dingy and depressing. I'm with Homeless Bear on the art, apart from a couple of pieces that were tucked away in quieter parts of the ship. Didn't like the absence of a prom deck, thought the buffet layout worked much better and it was always possible to get a seat. Thought the entertainment, especially the Headliners shows and special effects, was excellent. Food was average - it niggled me that you would pick a dish from the dinner menu that didn't correspond at all to its description. Overall I thought the ship lacked soul and many of the crew seemed to be going through the motions and not at all happy in their jobs. I'd go back on her for the right itinerary and price, but she wouldn't be my first choice.

Thank you mandylennon. We are on Aurora this summer so unless the trial has been expanded it seems it will not affect us. Previously we have always been first sitting because of the children and I sometimes found it rather a rush after a day ashore to get ready for dinner and then another rush to finish dinner and get to an 8.30 show. Now they are older, don't have a "bedtime" (and can wait a little longer for their dinner :evilsmile:)we've decided to try Freedom dining.

I have heard via a friend who frequents another forum that P&O have announced they would be changing the times of the main shows and that this seems to be causing some consternation.

Does anyone have any info about this, and is the change fleet-wide or only on some ships, say adult-only?

For the first time we are Freedom dining this year, so it may not affect us that much, but would be interested to know the rationale (if any?) behind it.

Oh well I will bring my own Twinnings. Can anyone confirm what coffee is in the cabins?

Unless it has changed it was Douwe Egberts sachets.

Not wishing to a be a wet blanket and everyone loves a bargain, but just a word of warning about dirt-cheap tobacco products in Spain/the Canaries - beware of forgeries in which the tobacco has been adulterated with harmful products, or which contain no tobacco at all.

An acquaintance of mine works for Customs and Excise and he told me recently that an awful lot of the cheap tobacco/cigarettes finding their way onto the UK market and being sold on markets and through corner shops originate in Spain.

Hi

On the Oceana next week & thinking of trying the beach house is it any good & what cost is it

Cheers :)

We used the Beach House on Britannia and thought it was excellent. The food was clearly freshly prepared and piping hot, compared to some of the lukewarm dishes we had served in the MDR which looked like they'd been sitting around for some time. The portions were very generous, the atmosphere smart but relaxed and the service definitely a notch above the MDR. The cover charge is £7.50 pp (think it was only £5 in 2015) and some of the dishes, such as steaks cooked on lava rocks, attract a supplement. Can highly recommend the Kung-Fu Girl white wine - delish!

Thanks, thats reassured me. Have cruised to Norway before twice, once in June and once in July and had good weather both times. The cruise we are considering is 26th of August for a week on Britannia.

The other consideration is how many children will be on board as it is still school hols.

There might not be sooo many children, as the fjords cruises tend to attract families somewhat less than the Med/Canaries cruises. Even if there are, they are usually kept well occupied in the clubs and might not be using the pools so much if the weather's typical Norway. Hope you have a lovely time.

What can you tell me about P&O Aurora

 

 

Have 2 cruises booked on her, one in 2018 and one in 2019 and to be honest I dont really know much about Aurora, It was the itineraries that drew me to her !!

Absolutely endorse what mummsie and Cruise Puss say. Aurora was the first P&O ship we sailed on after a long break from cruising, the year after a cruise with RCI, and I absolutely loved Aurora. Lovely, friendly atmosphere, beautiful ship to look at, loads of deck space, understated elegance. We are back on her this summer and I can't wait!

Hi there ... we're on the Britannia in October and hubby really want to visit a few places but I have a few mobility issues which could be a problem...

 

1st he would love to go to the Barcelona football stadium but has read that there are quite a few steps to negotiate and he's worried that i won't be able to manage them...

 

2nd on his list is Santiago de Compostela how strenuous is the walk from the coach stop to the main square, are there any hills/steps.

Kizzysmom, if you go on the P&O website and look at the descriptions of their tours, they usually give a good indication of whether they are suitable for people with mobility issues, how much walking is involved, whether there are lots of stairs/uneven surfaces, etc.

As far as Barca's stadium is concerned, haven't been there but if it's like any big stadium or arena there are bound to be lots of steps if you're moving around the different levels: changing rooms to pitch level, for example, or pitch level to directors' boxes.

It's a long time since I went to Santiago de Compostela, but I don't recall it being hilly at all. I think it's about a 15 minute walk and flat, but check the P&O website. If they say where the drop-off point is, you could look at it on Google Maps and judge for yourself whether it's doable for you.

Thinking of booking a 7 day Norway Cruise in Late August/Early September. I think that this is probably late on the season for Norway. I'm wondering if the weather will be OK then - has anyone got any experience of cruising there that late.

We were there mid-late August, bee-ess, and the weather was just like typical British summer weather. Av. temps were high teens/low 20s. Several days started out coolish, damp and drizzly, so we were wearing lightweight waterproofs, thin fleeces/sweaters, T-shirts and jeans, then improved into the afternoon and was warm enough to be in T-shirt sleeves. I don't think the weather changes much into early Sept and you could be lucky!

It's just so awful and hope all ur family and friends are safe xxx

 

Thank you Lorrainbow, they are. The children aren't old enough yet to go to concerts, the adults wouldn't be likely to go to Ariana Grande, more like AC/DC and Beyoncé. :D

The security procedures are the same for all the ships. Luggage is scanned before being loaded on board. Your photo is taken for your cruise card and you have to show your cruise card every time you disembark/embark the ship. The card will be scanned and they do a visual check that you correspond to the person on the card. Any handbags/beach bags/shopping bags, etc. etc that you are carrying have to be put through the security scanners when getting back on board. If you are wearing sunglasses/a hat when you pass through security you will be asked to remove them. Children are not allowed to get on and off the ship without parents and they will not even let the children go through security unless there is a parent immediately in front or behind (my son has a habit of charging ahead and is always annoyed that he gets stopped and has to wait for one of us - he's in his mid teens). I have never known them to be anything but thorough.

My thoughts and prayers are with everyone affected by the terrible events in Manchester. I used to live there and know the city well, I still have family in the area and they often go to concerts at the Arena.

Based on our previous cruises the kids club will be open on the first evening and there will be some low-key activities. This is when the staff take the time to help the children get to know each other, and the staff, and feel "at home", so if possible I would encourage your daughter to go, if she is not too tired.

Enjoy your cruise and be prepared for many more - it is highly addictive!

So sorry to hear your bad news, TOMOGP, crossing fingers and everything else that it all goes well for your wife; both of you and your wider family are in my thoughts and prayers. Our only experience of claiming on travel insurance was not good so I won't dwell on it. I'm sure in view of the circumstances you will have no problems.

We found Incognito spray to be brilliant. My children might as well have signs on them saying "Eat me!" Smells nice, no nasty chemicals, easy to apply, long lasting.

Has anyone any experience of 12 year olds in the kids club? I'm not that optimistic as they are right on the age limit and would probably be better in the next age category but I'm guessing P&O are strict and won't allow a move so we will see.

My son was 12 when we cruised the fjords and the kids club was brilliant. He was a bit concerned about being separated from his older sister, but he had a whale of a time. Yes, P&O are strict about people staying in their age groups, partly because they have limits on numbers, especially during school holiday cruises. However, the activities are very age appropriate, the kids club staff are great at finding different things for the children to do and including people who may feel a bit left out. If the numbers in the club are small in the evenings because of children being with their families/at dinner/at entertainment, they sometimes merge the 9-12 and 13-17 groups but again ensure the activities are appropriate (disco, karaoke, talent show, films, quizzes, etc.). My problem was getting said son out of the club for meals/to spend time with us!

What excursions would you recommend or recommend to avoid?!.

We had a bad experience on the "Troll Road" excursion, partly because thick mist/low cloud in the morning meant we could not see most of the highlights we were supposed to. I know that can't be helped, but as a full day excursion it was also very long. We left at 9 sharp, didn't get lunch until 3.30 pm and then had to rush that to get back to the ship. We should have had time to look round Alesund and didn't, they were taking up the gangways as our coach pulled up on the quay! The worst bit was our guide who was Slovenian, didn't speak good English and just repeated the same things over and over again. The problem was she was never silent, even though she had nothing new to say.

Which ports are easy to DIY?.

Stavanger - just a short walk from where the ship docks there is a Petroleum Museum. It's a lot more interesting than it sounds, my two really enjoyed it. You dock right in the town, so you can walk round the Old Town, Cathedral etc.

Olden - just a very small village, but if you don't do an organised tour there's a little road train that runs round and walks in the area. You can DIY the trip to the Briksdal Glacier rather than doing the ship's excursion, there has been a very recent thread about it.

Bergen - depending where you dock you can either walk into town, or the ship provides a shuttle. You get dropped off by a central square and from there it's a short walk to the fish market, historic wharf area, shops, museums and funicular.

Have a lovely time!

We had Wesley Dunlop for most of Aurora's world cruise. He is very sociable and pleasant - ex Saga Cruises. He boasts of an enviable record (so far) of never leaving a passenger behind!

LOL. Then we must make sure we don't break his duck!!

Many thanks for all the responses. I obviously hadn't looked into it in enough detail and I hadn't realised that the 9-12 year olds have to have parental sign in/out. Again on Disney they allow self check in/out from 9 years, I think, so this may put off my 12 year old anyway if he needs parents with him. We may ask on board about the age issue but probably factor in them not wanting to use the clubs.

 

I have a couple of other kids related questions if anyone can help. Might be best to create another thread but it seems that we have some knowledgeable people already on this one!

 

We have booked the Family Class at the Cookery club and on the PO website is says you can take 2 children (over 8) with the one adult. However, when booking it popped up at the final part that you can only take 1 child with you. We booked anyway but wondered if anyone has onboard experience of the rule?

 

We have booked Sindhu, Epicurean and Eric Lanlard afternoon tea for all of us including kids. We think that it is an excellent opportunity to introduce the children to this type of dining and even Disney doesn't allow kids in all the restaurants. On the school holiday cruises do you see many children in the select dining venues or are we likely to look out of place? Although our kids are adventurous eaters do the restaurants ever offer alternatives for the children should some dishes be a little too much for their palates? The PO website says they don't provide a kids menu but to ask the restaurant manager onboard, so was interested what happens in practice.

 

Thanks again.

I think quite a few children go in the select dining venues. We ate in Sindhu on Azura with the children and just asked the waiters if the chef could tone down the spices in the children's choice of dishes, although I don't think any of the food in Sindhu is what you would call "hot". We didn't try the Epicurean (it was XVII then).

The Beach House on Britannia was very good, though, although that's more "American diner" type food.

It is highly unlikely they will let one of your children move groups, even if you ask once on board when you are registering them for the clubs, especially if you are cruising during school holidays when the clubs tend to be pretty full anyway. We tried and we certainly couldn't.

In the evenings, though, if the groups are quieter because children are at dinner with their families or at the entertainment, they tend to amalgamate the 9-12 and 13-17 age groups and do an activity that suits the full age range - disco, talent show, etc. In this way our then 11 year old got to see his 16-year old sister although they weren't in the same group. He'd been very nervous about going into the club "on his own" but loved it and had a great time.

I am given to understand that Captain Turnbull is back at work with Carnival but is currently shore-side. I was hoping he would be on Aurora next week but this doesn't appear to be the case at the moment.

 

Jon Bartram is an experienced hand with P&O. My only experience of him was years ago when he was a deputy CD but at that time he did a very good job of it. Mind you, he had to really as the CD on that cruise was Mr Invisible.

Thank you Britboys. It's good to know Cptn Turnbull is still around. We found his lovely personality and management style was reflected throughout Aurora. I hope we will get to cruise with him again. Can't remember who was the Ents Dir on that cruise (probably speaks volumes!). Since then have experienced Neil Oliver on Azura when I thought he was v.v. good and worked bloomin' hard and again on Britannia when I thought he wasn't so good. Will be interested to see what Mr Bartram is like.

I note we are in the same part of the world. :)

Have a wonderful cruise Bedruthen and very best wishes for continued good health.

I've just had my P&O 'moments' magazine and they've put the list of Captains on again!

I couldn't see Neil Turnball on the list though, anyone know where he's gone? He was great fun on Azura in 2015

 

Yes, I wondered that too. We were so hoping he would be on Aurora for our cruise this summer, because he captained her when we first went on her 5 years ago and was lovely. His family were on board and our children played together. There was a rumour that after he recovered from his illness he would be on Azura for a while and then return to Aurora.

Our captain is Wesley Dunlop, our entertainments manager Jon Bartram. I haven't come across either of them. What do CCers think of them?

Also try crew-center.com.

This lists itineraries for cruise ship crew, so should be fairly reliable

crew-center.com/cruise-ship-port-schedules-2017

We've got two sets of friends we cruise with regularly and neither of them will go back on Britannia. They find it very hard to describe what it is they don't like and all they can say is they find the atmosphere too 'cold' and impersonal compared to other ships. Funnily enough, they both say exactly the same....... and don't know each other.

That's interesting tartanexile, that was my overriding impression too. I was very excited to be going on P&O's new ship in her maiden Caribbean season, not bothered about the larger size because she's not that much bigger that Azura, which I like, but...

Don't get me wrong, we had a fab holiday and if the price and itinerary were right I'd sail on her again, but she wouldn't be my first choice. Overall the entertainment was fab, the buffet layout a big improvement, MDR food OK but that was all, Beach House lovely, Glasshouse a big disappointment compared to Azura, but I just thought the ship and particularly the Atrium, was soulless. Interestingly teenage son loved her, daughter not so keen, prefers Azura. It's good the CC community are all different and like different things - life would be very boring otherwise!

Thanking both for your replies. Hope you both enjoy your next cruises :D

Thank you Happyday2, same to you. 3 months to the day - can't wait!