frenchmartiniplease

Hello, we have been given an embarkment time on our e-ticket of 1.30pm, however we are traveling to Southampton by coach. Cruise Conect have advised that the coach has been given an embarkment time of 2.30pm. We have not cruised with P&O since they have introduced the new process and not sure how it works. Does our 1.30pm e-ticket time mean that we will be able to board as soon as we arrive at the terminal (estimated arrival time 2.00pm) or will we have to board with the rest of the coach at 2.30pm?[/

 

Probably with the coach. You will most likely be slotted in and the delay should minimal. If you are delayed by traffic, I reckon you will be fast tracked through.

If the ship is going where you want to go and you are happy with the price, go for it.

I had a few quibbles when we cruised with Celebrity but those would not stop us going on one of their ships again. We go by destination (as well as price) and we seem to end up mostly on P&O and Princess but we're always open to something new.:)

I'd love to do NYE in Madeira- but we stopped there on our Canaries cruise and my OH says he doesn't want to go to the same places again :( But I've heard the fireworks are amazing! Maybe in a few years I can tempt him...

 

It sounds like maybe I don't want to risk paying over the odds for a NYE cruise that may miss Amsterdam and the NYE fireworks. Time for a re-think!

I can understand where the OH is coming from. But for us it was sooo amazing we would definitely repeat the trip if we get the chance. My problem is I won't go away over Christmas as well as New Year so need to look out for New Year only cruises. One day I'll be back to see the fireworks in Madeira, dressed in a fancy frock sipping a glass of bubbly or 2 or three! :D

We were on the cruise that didn't make it into Amsterdam last New Year. It was disappointing that we didn't get in, especially as one of the Queens did due to a different propulsion system that made it easier for them. We didn't complain, I hasten to add. It's up to the captain, he's the one in charge.

We partied until 3/4 am in the morning and had a blast. If Amsterdam with fireworks is your focus you'll have to decide if it's worth the risk. We wont bother again.

The best New Year ever was on Azura. It was 10 nts and New Year fireworks in Madeira. Fantastic!!!

Or look for Otterbourne, between Winchester and Eastleigh nr Southampton. There are a couple of nice pubs. The Old Forge at the bottom of the hill or The Otter at the top.:)

If you wanted to be closer to the terminals (Ocean terminal is very close by)have a look at the dining options in Oxford Street, Southampton. There is a Prezzo, Pizza Express and a couple of very nice restaurants plus others. There is meter parking in the road until it becomes pedestrianized or a large public car park off the road that runs parallel behind Oxford Street.:)

We 've cruised with P&O, Princess, Carnival and Celebrity and we've enjoyed all of them for different reasons. Our criteria is itinerary.

P&O suits us for prices, ease of embarkation, as we live in Southampton. As P&O are in and out of Southampton like a fiddlers elbow there is lots of choice, I love tea and coffee making facilities in the room (small things, small minds) and their generosity in allowing passengers to bring bottles of booze onboard. The food is fine in the MDR and we really enjoy Sindhu and Glasshouse. Entertainment could be better IMHO.

Princess, there is less choice from Southampton but we've gone from here and flown out to join them in USA. We find them dearer but worth it. Hate waiting for my morning cuppa or kicking DH out of bed to get one. Food is good and entertainment is excellent.

Carnival was great fun, great food but about 10 years ago. We made our own entertainment in the bar with a brilliant group of people we met.

Celebrity was very expensive, every drink bill had 15% grat and a 8% Spanish tax which Americans could claim back. It was the first time on a cruise that I began to resent the cost of everything on board. I bought a single drinks package and nearly did my liver in making it worth it. Other pax were not particularly friendly, in fact a bit stand offish except for our dining companions from Carolina. The food in the MDR was amazing. I wasn't a fan of the entertainment, at all. A beautiful ship though.

Oh! We also did a 2 nighter on RCI, it wasn't that great but experience has shown me its unfair to judge a cruise line on these types of trips.

I'm happy to choose either an American or British line. Just my 5 cents worth.

When I've been in the terminals pax are constantly being asked to move along and to find seats. People tend to get preoccupied when travelling and get overloaded with info and either don't hear or just stop moving to figure out what to do next or get everyone in their group together.

A great review and very interesting. The cruise that includes New Orleans is the one that we have our eye on for when husband retires in 3 years time. We've always wanted to visit NO and return to Key West, a place we stayed at years ago, right next to the pier. It was informative to read about the other places you stopped at.

Thank you for taking the time to post it.

We went on Ventura for the first time for the non visit to Amsterdam for New Year. Our favourite ship is Azura. We enjoyed Ventura, the differences we noticed were very marginal. In fact, maybe we preferred their Glass House set up.

I think it had been some sort of Spanish restaurant venue before so not so modern looking as Azura but it was very spacious, attractive and service was excellent, as always.

You never know what the demographic of pax will be. We did a 17 nighter once that seemed full of pax a lot older than us. It was like going on holiday with grand parents and we were in our mid 50's. We had a great time as everyone was a lot of fun, especially our table mates.

The ship was fine.

Britannia is lovely inside with lots of entertainment venues, such as the Crystal Room and the Limelight Club. If you are used to a big ship you should enjoy her.

A couple of things I would mention in case they are important to you. The balconies are very small compared to Azura and if you like strolling along Deck 7 (Promenade Decks) there isn't one on Britannia other than a sort of jutting out section/shelf/deck area either side midship. The lifeboats are tucked in to the ship where you would have had a deck to walk on.

You can't walk all the way round on Azura, you just cut through by the theatre, but if like me you like to sit on a sheltered side and watch the sea or stroll along the deck you might not fancy Britannia's Promenade Deck up on top of the ship.

Thank you! I didn't think itinerary was that important to me but it obviously is because I keep going back to that Princess cruise :D I'm not unhappy with P&O but I really like that itinerary and I do want to try another line just out of interest.

Cool! Just remember it's US dollars on board so cross fingers the rate improves. Princess are not as accommodating as P&O about taking booze on board.

If like me, you end up clock watching for the early morning cuppa you ordered from room service (always prompt), do what I do and kick hubby out of bed to get it from the buffet. ;)

We did 17 nts on Grand Princess from Southampton a few years ago. P&O had a very similar cruise but Princess had Malta included, somewhere I'd always wanted to visit as I had lived there as a toddler (Dad was in Royal Navy). There were lots of UK and USA pax and a sprinkle of other nationalities. Everyone scrubbed up lovely for formal nights.

We are now looking forward to Azura, transatlantic to Caribbean, in the October. Done a few of these as we love lazy days at sea.:)

I'm seriously thinking of doing a Princess cruise next year as it has a different itinerary that P&O doesn't do (7 nights to ports including Copenhagen & Oslo) that is quite close to our 30th Wedding Anniversay. So unless P&O can wow me with a different itinerary at the right time (hurry up Monday!!) I will be giving Princess a try.

I would give Princess a go. We have cruised with both as we tend to go by itinerary.

We thoroughly enjoy both lines. Somethings P&O do better, somethings are better on Princess.

The differences are subjective. I have enjoyed the food/drink on both but for me the edge goes to P&O as I love Glass House and Sindhu, drink prices are good without worrying about the dollar (which is awful at the mo) and I like being able to make tea/coffee in the cabin.

I think the entertainment is better on Princess. On one cruise we did out of Miami on princess the shows, comedians and bands were terrific. I find P&O shows rather bland and they really need to stop trotting out the same people to perform. Not that it bothers me that much. We just go to the casino and have few martinis instead.

The excursions on a par, always good with both.

Have fun celebrating your 30th what ever you decide.:D

Unfortunately I think you're correct and we may have chosen a cruise line that does not suit our tastes or meets our expectations after our great experiences on other lines.

 

I will enjoy the cruise despite the fact that yes we are travelling a distance for 2 nights but we are meeting family who live far closer than we do and P&O appear to put a lot of obstacles in our way, unnecessarily IMHO.

 

However, I do hope P&O cheerleaders won't be offended when I publish my review which will be warts and all afterwards to enable others to make an informed choice when considering P&O.

Oh boy! I've never gone on any holiday, on land or a cruise, expecting to look for "warts and all". I always go to enjoy myself and not sweat the small stuff.

Just go for it and enjoy yourself!

We always leave auto tips on and give extra if we decide we want to. If there is an extra tip for the waiters we don't pass it over in front of everyone else at the table. We wait until we leave the table and thank them for looking after us. Often, we're not there the last night, as we like dining in the speciality restaurants. If that's the case, we usually pop down to say goodbye to our tablemates and waiters.

Don't fret about it. Just do what you feel comfortable with.:)

We get excited looking forward to each cruise but only do one 14 nt one every other year with a 4 nighter thrown in somewhere during the year.

Although long haul flights are becoming 'hard work', we still like to have land based holidays. While we can, we will do our annual trip to Las Vegas or 'fly and flop' somewhere sunny. I'm anticipating cruising more often in the future but hope to mix things up for as long as possible.:D

Thank you ... you are right in that I wouldn't be wanting to take advantage. I was just wondering if there would be any point bringing bottles onto the ship if there was no where we could have a glass once in a while on the open deck. If my only option is to drink them in the cabin, staring at 4 walls, then I don't see the point personally in carrying them on. If you can buy Prosecco by the glass I will be quite happy. :D

We enjoy a tipple (or two) and a few nibbles while pottering around the cabin getting ready for the evening. You don't need a balcony for pre pre dinner drinks.;)

Flights from Bournemouth to Barbados and return are normally Thomson 787 Dreamliner, not Thomas Cook A330.

 

Martyn

Even better!

Thanks:D

Cool!

Thank you for the quick reply:)

Similar question.

Does Thomas Cook fly direct from Barbados to Bournemouth or do we change at LGW?:confused:

We enjoy dressing up for a formal night, I'd be really disappointed if they stopped doing them, especially as I've just learnt to tie a bow tie!

I wouldn't dream of judging someone by their dress ( judging/book/cover) but it's fun if the majority join in.

All countries have citizens that can behave badly abroad. I've seen Brits who have made me cringe.

When we booked this New Year cruise we accepted that, on occasion, the ship doesn't make it in to Amsterdam. So it was a case of fingers crossed but not end of the world if we didn't get in. We were prepared to 'party hearty' no matter what.

We have been on a couple of cruises where we have had to miss a port. Again, if that happens we just get on with it. If a particular destination is important to us we usually fly and have a land based break. I am aware that's not an option for some.

I'm sure P&O's, or any cruise lines hearts must sink when they have to make a decision to miss a port. They know people will be disappointed and some will kick off. As far as I'm concerned, it's their job to keep me safe and they know what they're doing.

So Glad you had a good time despite missing Amsterdam.

 

I dont know if you are on Facebook ( or Faceache according to the English lady:D) but reading some of the posts on various groups there suggests that a lot of people didnt enjoy it at all and want compensation! Lots of moans, I got fed up reading them. I would have loved to have been on the ship on NYE, wherever it was , and listing or not!

 

Not quite sure how the passengers are feeling at the moment though....have a look at the sea through the BOB today & tomorrow on .....

 

http://www.passageweather.com

 

Now that looks like "fun" !:eek:

I might have a look at the posts on facebook. I just don't get some people! I didn't hear any moaning. If someone had said anything negative to me about the captain's decision, they would have found me VERY unsympathetic.

We were on this cruise. Yes, missing out on the New Year celebrations in Amsterdam was a shame but we had a great time that night anyway. We staggered of to our cabin about 3.30am and left at least a 100 people still partying away!

The captain explained why he couldn't risk using the lock system and everyone we met, tho' disappointed, were very understanding and set out to party.

The evening before arriving back in Southampton was 'fun'. Ventura was leaning over quite a bit. The captain announced that there was concern for our arrival back in port due to predicted weather conditions. He had been informed that a better 'window of weather' was predicted for midnight which also meant a more comfortable night for passengers. The pilot came aboard at 9pm and we came in early.

Sindhu was interesting. Our wine glasses and cutlery kept sliding along the table.

We enjoyed our break. Read a lot, ate a lot and drank to much. No complaints from us. Until I got on the bathroom scales this morning!:eek:

I have done 20 cruises with p&o and I am getting very upset with constant changes to there system there loyalty programs has finished after this cruise that's it for me

 

 

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If you are Caribbean + level you get priority check in before main check in starts regardless of time on your ticket. If you should turn up after main check in starts, you will be fast tracked. Just let the ladies know when you first arrive.