keeven2

14 minutes ago, majortom10 said:

We visited Epicurean on both Iona and Arvia this year and personally had the lobster on both ships and both excellent meals with first class service. The t bone pork was also excellent on Arvia. With pre booking and getting 20% discount and then 10% Peninsular Club discount made it £21-60pp. Excellent value for money and a meal of that standard for the cost was exceptional. You would struggle in many pubs to get 3 course meal for that price. Think people's expectations are too high when these days fish and chips to take away in paper can be in excess of £10+.

The problem is I can go to the main dining room for free. There was not much difference in terms of food. Epicurean was just slightly better. That's why I felt like a waste of money and efforts.

If missing port due to weather conditions, is it covered by travel insurance which covers cruise? We skipped Porto last month due to strong wind. I did not buy cruise insurance this time so I didn't ask for a statement from the ship.

4 hours ago, Megabear2 said:

Personally I think that looks very good!

 

Cost wise P&O speciality dining is far cheaper than other lines and is good value.  I'm sorry you were unhappy, sometimes anticipation and reviews lead to disappointment if you have a different expectation.

Yes, I think my expectation was too high. It was just ordinary in terms of food. We found out that we were very happy with the Beachhouse. 

2 hours ago, zap99 said:

I would guess that most of the lobster in ' mainstream ' restaurants is frozen.

Frozen is fine. The problem for these lobsters did not taste right. I don't know how to describe that feeling exactly, the texture felt loose. At home if the prawn from fishmonger is not very fresh, you put it into the freezer, after defrost and cook, it will taste like that. 

We were on Ventura to Portugal during half term holiday. This was the second time with P&O. The first time was on Iona last year to Norway. Due to the post Covid shortages, the Epicurean restaurant was closed on Iona. This time I was keen to try Epicurean because it was often mentioned as "Amazing". However it turned out to be quite disappointed. 

Firstly about the reservation. We are a party of 7 so we went to the restaurant to make the reservation. However the lady at door told us it was fully booked for the whole cruise. I showed her that there are availability on the "My Holiday". She still insisted that it was fully booked, nothing (no matter of the table size) was available. If we book on "My Holiday", it might get cancelled. She even asked the restaurant manager came over to convince us. So we left and booked it online, a table of 5 and a table of 2. We did this on Iona and it worked out perfectly. After a few days, the booking reminder was delivered to our cabins. I went up to the restaurant to tell them that we are a party of 7. Another lady said it is no problem.

Secondly, about the food. I'm gonna laugh. One of the main course on the menu is literally Fish and Chips. It might be some fancy Cod or Haddock. I only can say it would be a British fine cuisine. Some of us ordered the "whole" lobster. It turned out very small, and without claws. I don't know if it the definition of "Whole" lobster. The lobsters were all over cooked, the meat is loose, like being frozen for a very long time. The other starters and main courses were just so so, nothing to highlight. 

The only good thing was the service was good. 

So in general, I feel it was completely waste of £30 per head. The beach house was much better.

Thank you all for the reply. Since the cruise is in west Med, I hope it will be fine. Thanks.

It is in Europe, Mediterranean. Not a round trip though, the start and finish ports are different. I wonder if the reception will refuse to produce the bill one day earlier

I booked a MSC cruise at end of a school holiday, now it looks like we need to disembark one day earlier and go home due to other arrangement. So is it ok that when we are onboard we inform the ship reception to clear the bills and walk off one day earlier? 

TIA.

Just booked Ventura N331 21 Oct 2023 - 28 Oct 2023 for October half term. I found the price of 2023 4-person cabin is similar to the 2022 October half term, but 2-person cabin is cheaper than 2022 cruise. Hence I followed TA's advice booked 2 cabins for my family of 4. 

The cabins I chose are on deck 15 FWD,  L253 a L257. I think it has easy access to the pool. Do you know if it is affected by the noise etc?

Thanks.

How about February half term? More cloudy than March ? 

I have £100 FCC leftover (for each of us two), can't find any cruise suitable, as we can only do during school holidays. P&O does not have much discount for 3rd and 4th passengers (children) during shcool holidays. Any suggestion? 

if it is extended to 30 September 2022, what new cruise seasons it can cover? 

I changed the cabin to 15317. It has a huge balcony so I hope it would be ideal. 

Yes I pre registered with P&O directly. The reason was the TA told me if I use FCC I won't be able to get discount. Another reason was I need a cabin for 4 persons, which has limited availability, and it has been sold out for summer 2021. Hence I tend to book early.

This will be our first Fjords cruise. I would like to get some advice in term of view, as there will be plenty of  time stay on board. I don't mind it is far from the restaurant, the kids have energy. 

I received the booking confirmation for my 2022 summer Fjord cruise.  My allocated cabin is 1 deck below the bridge and quite close to it. I'm a bit concerned how obstructive the bridge will be in term of view. Also there is a pillar running from deck 14 to deck 16 to support the bridge. I never tried Fwd cabin before so would like to try this time. I would like to ask your experience with the Fwd cabin and Fjord cruise. Any recommended deck or position? I wonder if I should change it before the other cabins are booked up. 

Thanks.

I used my FCC for 2020 summer booking and have some left over. I just called P&O and was told I can't transfer the FCC to my friend to make a new booking. I remember before P&O website said you can gift your FCC to someone else. The man said the company changed the policy.  I think it is unfair because it is one of the conditions that made me choose FCC. 

1 hour ago, Selbourne said:

Which would fit with what I’m suggesting Jean. If you had enough FCC to cover the whole cruise cost they would accept it to cover the deposit as well, but as it’s a small amount they would allow you to use it against the balance, but not the 5% deposit. As I say, I am just guessing, but it would make all the differing responses that people are getting make sense. 

It works this way:  the fare minus FCC get the balance, then you need to pay 5% of the balance as deposit. 

You can use your FCC to cover deposit. I just booked.

My family have £1100 FCC for each adult,  £200 FCC for each child. The 2022 booking I made is £900 for adult, £400 for child. So the adult FCC covers the whole adult fare, I don't need to pay anything.  Child FCC was all spent, left a balance of £200 for each child. All I need to pay was 5% of the balance £400. So today I paid just £20 as deposit for the whole booking of my family. 

I still need to pay £400 cash by April 2020, that's for the balance of my children. 

I still have about £400 FCC left for two adults. I was told I can't use it to cover my children.