stephen@stoneyard.co.uk

10 hours ago, dgs1956 said:

I don't know if there will be a card room but I doubt Bridge Players and Ballroom Dancers are the clientele that P&O are aiming at. I remember doing Bridge lessons on Azura on a Transatlantic. We really enjoyed it. I wonder if they still do lessons on any P&O ships.

You may be right. Then who fill the ship during school term times. 

Best wishes, Stephen.  

With no dance floor does that mean there will be no Strictly Come Dancing cruises on Iona. I thought they were money makers for P&O.

It does seem a shame there will be no ballroom on Iona. It can be used for so many activities and social events throughout the day and evening.  

Are they included a card room?  They will upset the Bridge players if not. 

Best wishes, Stephen. 

On Oriana in early July they used a different system.  There was no allocated times.  After Breakfast you went to the theatre and we’re disembarked in the order you arrived at the theatre. They had Antiques Roadshow playing for our entertainment.  We had a late Breakfast in the Dinning room and waited perhaps fifteen minutes. Suite passengers may have been handled differently. Self disembarkation was also available as usual. 

I am am not sure if this different system is now used across the fleet. 

Best wishes, Stephen. 

8 minutes ago, daiB said:

As far as I know the porters are classed as dockers and work for the Port Authorities. Not P&O or CPS.

Thank you for that information. . I had assumed it would be subcontracted to subcontractor to subcontractor who uses zero hours contracts like so much of modern employment. 

As Selbourne is saying CPS is a bit naughty saying blame P&O.  After all CPS are the company taking my money. They advertise a special level of service.  I am sure CPS, P&O, ABP and Carnival UK (Handling Agents) work together and they should do better. 

I am beginning to think off port parking is the best option.  At a hotel or even the long stay at the airport which can be quite cheap. If a taxi drops you off at the port there is no  delay. 

Best wishes, Stephen. 

PS. Regarding the comments about the unions somebody made. I had assumed the porters were on zero hours contracts for Group 4 who are contracted to Carnival UK. In those environments do unions still have representation. I thought it was pretty much take it or leave it for an employee in that situation. 

5 hours ago, berlingo said:

 

 

Hi OP here

 

Just had some new information from my source on Britannia.

 

Apparently when the new CPS system was operating on Saturday if passengers expressed dissatisfaction they were told that the change was down to P&O not CPS and any complaints should therefore be made inside the terminal.

 

Interesting don’t you think?

 

Julia

For what they charge I would expect complaints to treated with more concern. 

Best wishes, Stephen. 

42 minutes ago, happy v said:

I thought they were building a new terminal for Iona.

There has been talk of another terminal at Southampton. It has been going on for years. The Ocean Terminal has been extended and or reconfigured to handle Iona. I feel Ocean is always going to be constrained by space. I wonder if in the long term the Mayflower will be rebuilt substantially bigger. The Oasis class use two adjacent terminal at Barcelona. One for forward cabins and one for aft cabins. This spreads the load and means they can alternatively handle two smaller ships. 

It appears that the service provided by CPS will be almost identical to the service provided by another company. I wonder if they will equalise the prices and it might not be downwards. 

Carnival UK is the handling agent for P&O at Southampton. They arrange the portering either directly or indirectly.  If more porter are required and porters are required in a drop off area, then I am sure this could be arranged, if there is a will. 

CPS will continue to do business at Southampton as long as they have the contract for parking inclusive cruise bookings. Many passengers will just select that perk and put up with whatever level of service is provided. Personally I have never had to wait more than thirty seconds for my car to be dealt with but some people seem to have had bad experiences. 

Other ports with car car parks I have seen, have big trailers in the car parks.  You pull up near a trailer. Porters will carry luggage you from your car to the trailer. You can do it yourself but they prefer to professionally load the trailers. They do not need many porters for all that. When the trailer is full it is driven to the terminal. Perhaps golf buggies could take passengers who need assistance to the terminal entrance. I have seen such vehicles at railway stations. 

P and O, CPS and the port just need to engage their collective brains on this. 

If I wanted a poor level of service and to queue I would fly. Southampton was my favourite port but the way it is going I prefer some of the smaller ports now. Cardiff might be a tent but they got me on my ship immediately. 

Best wishes, Stephen. 

P and O do not help. I noticed on Oriana, in the shops, they were selling big P and O clothes pegs. Perfect for clipping your belongings to a chair while you are away. 

Best wishes, Stephen. 

This problem was solved in the last century if not the century before.  You could reserve a sun bed for the whole trip.  A steward would attach a leather luggage tag with your name to your chair.  When you went on deck he put your chair in your chosen location. When you left he would move it away to make room for another passenger. This system worked really well and was still in use for me in 2002.

Seriously it is not a shortage of sun beds that is generally the problem. Cruise lines could buy any number of these and stack them up. It is a shortage of deck space. As more cabin decks have been add no more deck space has been created. I thought the ready availability of balconies on today’s ships might help but apparently not. I guessed incorrectly, that passengers would relax on their own balconies and not use the open decks. 

Surely this is only a problem on sea days in days in warm weather.  Is it a problem on port days?  I tend to cruise on smaller ships and to Norway so have never had a problem. 

Best wishes, Stephen. 

If this is how they are going to do it in the future then there are other parking operators at Southampton.  For my next cruise they are working out at 30% cheaper. I will wait and see if this is permanent  

If CPS do not want my business then that is a shame. It is another way in which the P&O cruise in experience is not what it was. 

Best wishes, Stephen

54 minutes ago, daiB said:

Early club dining seems to be most popular now. So it would very unlikely that anyone booking late would get that option. The least popular option seems to be second sitting and late comers tend to be put in there. As it happens that would suit us as that is our preferred dining.

 

i agree with book early or book late and if you have specific needs in respect of cabin, cruise or dining you would be better to book early.

I think it can depend on the itinerary, type of passenger and number of each type of dining room. On Oriana and Aurora there are roughly equal Club and Freedom places. I believe Early Club and Freedom (which passengers use like Early Club) are most popular.  A late non Select booking is likely to Late Club. This is great for us as it is what we like but we tend to book Select anyway. On Oriana I like to know where my cabin is located. 

Best wishes, Stephen. 

As already stated P&O do not do much imaginative with offers.  I have heard of offers like £1 for a third cabin occupant. The prices do vary though allegedly according to demand.  P and O have three types of fare Select, Early Saver and Late Saver.  Select have lots of perks but are most expensive. 

Various drinks offers are available onboard but unless you drink a lot they are not good value. Drinks prices are reasonable and gratuities are not added. Also there is no daily service charge on P&O now. 

Best wishes, Stephen. ,

Main restaurants are the traditional cruise dining rooms. Freedom means there is not two set sitting times and no fixed table allocations. You just turn up during the allocated opening hours, and ask to be seated.  You can choose to be seated with just your family or to join other passengers.  At busy times you may have to queue or be given a pager and return when it bleeps. 

If Iona follows the same scheme as the rest of the fleet there will be approximately two formal evenings a week. Passenger dress up and the menu is a bit fancier. I think they call the menus Gala when they are linked to a celebrity chef. Generally a very nice atmosphere on the ship on those nights. It is unlike anything on land nowadays apart from perhaps a few very traditional hotels.

I would expect there to be games on Iona like table tennis and shuffleboard. You can play theses yourself as a family and there are organised fun tournaments. There will be swimming pools.  Swimming pools on ships tend to be quite small and very busy. More for splashing about in and cooling off than serious swimming. 

I hope that helps, Stephen. 

21 hours ago, terrierjohn said:

Yes, grab & go is now featured on all P&O ships.

Please could I ask where Grab and Go is on Oriana. I never found it on Oriana having liked it on Aurora. I am back on Oriana soon so it would be useful. 

Thank you, Stephen. 

2 hours ago, robin13 said:

So from the picture it looks like it is a couch that makes into a bed.  Um, don't know about that.  Might need to see what the price difference is between the single cabin and a regular inside cabin.  Thank you so much for posting this.

I do wonder if they will leave it a bed all day. Particularly if the move to once a day cabin service.  If they do it will leave no other seating area except at the desk. To swap it between bed bed and sofa every day will require the steward to visit twice a day.

I cannot remember what the difference in price was between a single cabin and single occupancy of a twin cabin was when I booked. I am booked on G004 (the second public cruise) and the single balconies sold out very quickly. 

Best wishes, Stephen. 

2 hours ago, robin13 said:

Yes, I know that .  That is why I asked what they looked like on a newer P&O ship as I'm thinking it would be similar to what is on one of their newer ships. 

I would not use any other P&O ship as a guide. For example. Britannia is a Royal Princess variant and Iona is a AIDA Nova variant. They are not likely to be the same in many ways. 

Best wishes, Stephen. 

You could try googling Single Cabin Inside AIDA Nova. My understanding is that the single insides are the same as the single balconies with a wall rather than a balcony door. Of course who really knows. 

https://www.cruisemapper.com/cabins/AIDAnova-1854

Best wishes, Stephen. 

41 minutes ago, the english lady said:

I also read a post on FB from someone who was on the late returning cruise , that as Brittania missed her "slot" coming into Southampton , the port authorities were not allowing her to come in any sooner. As I live opposite the port I know how busy it is, and not just cruise ships. So maybe there is a window of a couple of hours for each ships arrival, and if you are going to miss that, you have to be slotted in amongst all the other vessels going up and down the water.

If there was chaos joining yesterday evening one can only assume everyone decided to ignore the turn uip 5hours later than you slot (so flow would be spread out) and all arrived at a similar time.

 

If there was chaos who knows what caused it. Previous posters have hinted that there were delays handling cars. Perhaps CPS were not able to get enough staff for that late time. Also coaches may have arrived early or late. Ultimately P and O delayed departure by five hours, giving people about twenty four hours notice and then could not deal with the resulting situation in a way passengers would expect. 

I hope everybody has a lovely cruise. 

Best wishes, Stephen. 

I always book Select fares. On two occasions I have not been able to select my cabin. I received all of the other Select perks. 

 Best wishes, Stephen. 

Apparently first time visitors have been known to get in a taxi and ask for the Cathedral. Of course they do not get taken to Sagrada Familia. 

Best wishes, Stephen. 

On 5/10/2019 at 5:16 PM, Sheila127 said:

Solo people are often treated like second class citizens.  I have had many rooms overlooking the bins or carparks.  I have expressed my concerns to Tui as booking a single cabin has cost me an extra £700.  I can accept some noise and vibration but it has to be at an acceptable level. 

These were crew cabins in the Holland America Line days. The noise and vibration was known about then. The corridor narrows noticeably as you approach too. And this costs you an extra ...   

Somewhere I have video of the noise and vibration. 

I would avoid these cabins. I do not know what single occupancy of a twin cabin would cost elsewhere on the ship. 

Best wishes, Stephen. 

15 minutes ago, majortom10 said:

We have walked it from the shuttle bus drop off point up La Ramblas and turn right at the top but it is a fair walk and when we got there the queue to get in was massive.

 

You may want to pre book a tour. I booked on the church website. As stated the queues can be horrendous.  

Best wishes, Stephen. 

3 hours ago, red zebra said:

Having been on Oceana the last few years we hoped to go again this September (despite being caught up in that Medicane last year).

Now I understand that the base price includes the cost of flights from Gatwick, based in Scotland as we are, we are used to paying a supplement. Unfortunately the cruise we wanted was sold out flying from Glasgow and Newcastle. P&O offered to arrange us Jet2 flights from Glasgow but wanted and extra £186 each for the privilege (the normal supplement is £50) so I asked if they would take the Gatwick flight element off the cost of the cruise, but no. It appears that the flight from Gatwick is given away free to all who are fortunate enough to have that as their local airport and everyone else has to pay extra, in our case, a lot extra.

I did some checking after my call to them, either I can go Ryanair Edinburghto Malta with luggage for about £100 each or we can fly to London (inc bags), pre cruise, get a hotel overnight and save about £200 on their offer, all so I can get my free flight! 

Personslly I have no wish to live in the South East. I have done that. The congestion, pollution, house prices and other expenses. To me it is just not worth the free flight. 

Best wishes, Stephen.  

12 hours ago, Arnie70 said:

I wore these most nights (apart from the 4 formal nights) on our recent Transatlantic cruise, and didn't have any problems getting in any restaurant or bar on board. Did get asked to leave the Blue Bar one night however that's because I had chino shorts on 😱

I have a pair of those. Really comfortable. I mainly wear them during the day. I left them on the shoe rack in the porch for a couple of weeks last summer. They are know light blue.