stephen@stoneyard.co.uk

1 hour ago, ann141 said:

I like the shared experience too and wouldnt want to do a cruise where everyone is embarking at each port but if it was more a case of 'picking an extra 200 or 300 people on the way before the cruise started proper I would be happy.(I thought I wouldnt like the Princess cruise because of the change of passengers but we hardly noticed as there were only 300

.P and O already have some people joining their Caribbean cruises at st Lucia as well as Barbados (We did this a few years ago on a translantic cruise)

Thank you.  I dId not know that. Cunard do a similar thing with transatlantic crossings via Hamburg. Passengers join and l ave at Hamburg to and from the the crossing. Gives a few options for mini cruises also. 

Best wishes, Stephen. 

1 hour ago, ann141 said:

On a recent Princess cruise that we sailed on, we embarked in Southampton(as did the majority of passengers) but one port of call was Dublin where 300 people embarked and another 300 embarked in Le Havre.It would be great to think that if sailing to the states or Iceland for example ,one could embark in Liverpool or Southampton and if cruising to the Fjords or Baltic join the ship at Newcastle or Hull as well as Southampton

MSC, Costa and Royal Caribbean do that in the Med. A rolling cruise. It offers three, four and seven day cruise options. Some British passengers don’t like it. They want a shared cruise experience and they feel people coming and going at different ports destroys that. 

Best wishes, Stephen. 

Many of the ships that use regional ports (perhaps not Dover and Tower Bridge) would not be competitive out of Southampton. That might be a factor for them.  It keeps them away from comparison against the new big ships of P&O, Cunard, Princess, Celebrity and Royal Caribbean. 

Best wishes, Stephen. 

It is interesting how other lines do it. One line I cruised with allowed you to pick your own time in advance. This favours early bookers and the computer literate of course. Another line gave the equivalent of Select booking the early times. 

We could print out our own boarding cards, the health form has gone, we could register our credit cards before or after boarding, we could upload our photograph from home and cruise cards could be inside cabins. All that needs checking is our passports.  Even security scanning for all passengers is not required. It could be made a very quick process. 

Best wishes, Stephen. 

Please does  anybody know what the colour of boarding cards mean. I think we always have green but I could be wrong. 

Thank you, Stephen. 

51 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

 

There may be an element of truth in what you are saying when people arrive some time after boarding has started, but the OP referred to 12.30pm boarding, which is the very first boarding slot. From my experience, this slot is never a free for all and is strictly controlled (for example, passengers entitled to the 12.30pm boarding are contained in a specific roped off area, with complimentary refreshments, and is managed by dedicated staff). Once the ship gives clearance for boarding to commence, passengers in that area (who have had to show evidence of 12.30pm boarding - suite or Ligurian - to enter) are directed to security screening and are first to board. A similar process (less refreshments) is then used for Caribbean and Baltic passengers at 1pm. Only when these two groups have boarded does general (timed) boarding commence. If these first two priority groups were not boarded before general boarding then these passengers would be rightfully upset, as priority boarding has either been earned through doing over 200 nights with P&O or, in the case of suite passengers, paid for as part of their fare. That being said, I have managed to get our daughters to board with us at 12.30pm even though they weren’t in a suite, but this is at the discretion of the staff and P&O will not authorise this in advance (I have asked). Equally, I have known others to be refused, some of whom have reported so on this forum. For info, whilst porters are not employed by P&O, the staff managing the priority boarding are. They are either head office employees or part time staff retained for this purpose. 

In my experience, on a good day (with the smaller ships) the preferential boarding will have started at 12pm and finished by 12.30. General boarding will begin by arrival order immediately afterwards. That back log of that will be over by 1pm.  After that it is board immediately until the coaches and people (who keep to the schedule time arrive) from about 1.30. From then in it is back to waiting even if you turn up at you alocated time. 

Cabins are declared open by about 1.30pm. I try and carry as little in hand luggage as possible. Just my passport, wallet and phone. That way it is less of a hassle. On my last cruise I got my hair cut while waiting for my cabin. 

Best wishes, Stephen. 

Thank you. 

Best wishes, Stephen. 

38 minutes ago, brian1 said:

Peppa Pig World,I had to Google that,I thought you were on a wind up,lol.

We were at a Holiday Inn Express just off the motorway. As we travelled after work that evening it was literally somewhere to sleep. At breakfast I could not understand why the hotel was full of children. Every table seemed to have at least two. It was noisy, there was running around and food thrown about. I asked and it is the nearest hotel to Peppa Pig World. Apparently that is a popular  family attraction. I thought the hotel was good value for two so for s family it was a bargain. We prefer being in the centre of Southampton though. Cruisers might want to avoid this hotel. 

18 hours ago, brian1 said:

We are on the 2 weeker going back and on to Iceland.We are all being charged the 8 euro city tax to dock downtown.At least we know we are going downtown unlike other cruiselines who disguise it somewhat.Cheers,Brian.

I am guessing but most of the passengers on my cruise would probably prefer that option. 

Best wishes, Stephen. 

13 hours ago, FangedRose said:

Yes. And was middle of the school summer break. Didn't stop me thinking "they stole my hotel room". 😁

And not even the Southampton boat show.  Was this years back? The number of hotel rooms in Southampton seems to have increased massively in the last few years. Without the cruise ships and Peppa Pig I wonder how they would survive. 

We live a couple of hours away but always now stay the night before a cruise. We do things in Southampton the day before to make a longer holiday. I have thought about staying in Newbury at a hotel I like (The Vineyard) but it still leaves half of our journey.  

Best wishes, Stephen. 

That is right we are going to Imjuden. I do not mind I have been to Amsterdam many times. Imjuden will make a more quiet relaxed stop. I have my own excursion planned there also. When I booked it was sold as Amsterdam. I hope everybody is fine with this. I wonder if they will provide a coach transfer to Amsterdam. 

I have two short cruises on Astoria before this cruise. Portsmouth, Rouen, Portsmouth, At Sea and Hull. 

Best wishes, Stephen. 

Thank you. For confirming I am fine with just turning up. As my cabin is on a guarantee basis I did wonder how luggage labels would work.  I have printed out my booking confirmation and have my passport ready. 

Unfortunately getting to the port early is not an option. I am disembarking a CMV cruise in Hull the day the Marella cruise embarks. It could go terribly wrong. In theory I will make it with time to spare but that depends on CMV and the trains. It does have the advantage that my cruises start and finish very close together Portsmouth to Southampton. 

Thank you again, Stephen. 

Please could I ask. I am sailing from Newcastle on Explorer for a three night cruise. It is a 90s music themed so I know it is going to be lively.  My question is I have not had to provide Marella with my passport details. I am use to cruise lines that want this information in advance. Do I just turn up at the dock with my passport and ticket?  

Thank you in advance, Stephen.  

PS I am not flying to this cruise. 

No lecture from me. The pros and cons of fare types have been done on other threads. 

Thank you you for suggesting we check that it has been done. I think I will as I have had problem on other lines. 

Best wishes, Stephen. 

Thank you for this information. It seems we will probably be able to use any restaurant. It is Freedom after all. Saying that it won’t do any harm to link the bookings.  

It will be my first time in Freedom. 

Thank you again. 

Best wishes, Stephen. 

8 hours ago, wowzz said:

No worries. I was concerned that you might get inundated with emails from Russian girls wanting to be your "friend"!

They usually friend me on Facebook. I am fifty years old man in the U.K. and like ships and trains. Of course a twenty year old European woman in underwear is going to be interested in me. 

Best wishes, Stephen. 

Wowzz I appreciated your advice.  I have not owned that domain for many years. I was offered enough for it to pay for a weeks cruise several times over the years. Unfortunately the granite work surface manufacturer went bust.  The building developer, of a development called the Stoneyard, lost interest. I moved away from the hamlet called Stoneyard so did not renew the registration. 

Thank you, Stephen. 

Thank you Josy1953. That is exactly what I needed to know and very much appreciated. 

Best wishes, Stephen. 

Please could I ask with Freedom dining, on ships with more than one Freedom dining room, do you still get an allocated dining room?

The reason I ask is because I am travelling as part of a group and wonder if we need to link bookings for dining.  We would like to share tables as a group. The ship I am sailing on is Iona so I know all answers will be speculative but of course Iona will not offer Club dining. 

Thank you in advance, Stephen. 

PS Please could I ask that you do not reply saying why you always have Club and why you would never go for Freedom. Those arguments have been done before. Thank you. 

Could it be an extra cost imposed by the travel agent. I believe they can apply additional charges for changes etc.  Seems excessive though. 

Best wishes, Stephen.

6 hours ago, Britboys said:

I'm sure you will enjoy yourself with your friends Stephen.  I did a 4-night on Azura in March this year with a group of friends despite really not liking Azura after sailing on her in 2011.  I still intensely dislike Azura after this but had a great time with the big group of friends in March!

I certainly will. I know what you mean. I had a lovely cruise on MSC but that was entirely the company, the ship was not my taste. 

Best wishes, Stephen. 

6 hours ago, Britboys said:

Indeed Stephen.  I think most of the modern, huge, megaships are designed to maximise the number of 'revenue centres' on board.  Hence Iona having as many - or possibly more - for-fee restaurants than free ones.  Iona will apparently have some sort of Library aboard but it will be in Anderson's, along with the Gin Distillery.  I guess it is just about impossible to provide any sort of meaningful library stock for upwards of 5000 pax anyway.  I bet there will be an opportunity to buy things in Iona's Library too 😁

It does seem to be the P and O way. We shall see how it works for them. I am on on of early cruises to Norway.  I always enjoy Norway and am cruising with friends.  It will probably be my only Iona cruise. My only other big ships are Royal Caribbean Symphony of the Seas and MSC Bellissima. As ships and as cruises, one I enjoyed very much the other was just so so. 

Best wishes, Stephen. 

6 hours ago, dgs1956 said:

HaHa I'm sure you're well aware that there are a lot of people on cruises that can eat and drink all day and still probably manage up to the buffet for a late night snack. Not me I'm afraid, I don't drink that much, although I can do on occasion, and if I put on more then 3 or 4 lbs on a 2 week cruise I would not be a happy man.

I do like to eat and drink on a cruise but I have my limits and I like other things to do. I put on a pound a day I would guess. I lose half a stone before the cruise and the rest after. 

Best wishes, Stephen. 

19 minutes ago, dgs1956 said:

Eat and drink mainly by the looks of it.

 

At extra cost I assume. Can you do that all day and evening. 

Best wishes, Stephen 

What are passengers going to do all day on Iona. Comparing Iona to Oriana/Aurora she lacks a ballroom, library and card room.  She does have a theatre, cabaret lounge and cinema but that seems about it. With double the passengers I would expect double the facilities but it seems they have been reduced. Perhaps the plan is only to use her on port intensive cruises but getting anywhere warm from the UK involves a few sea days. 

We we will see.  

Best wishes, Stephen.