themanwithahat

hi yes we fancy the german hospital at st peters port thing it will be interesting. also fancy the brandy tour.

:):)

Might be worth looking at a taxi there or similar if there are more than 2 of you especially. When we were in La Coruna the taxis and entrance fees for the four of us was about the same as a single P&O excursion there.... you can get there by bus but the timetables are a bit erratic.

hi we are doing the iberian cruise on brittania 2nd may ports are la rochelle, bilbao st peters port gurnsey can anyone reccomend any excursions thanks

Bilbao and La Rochelle they have shuttles (free to savers, or were) to the town centres. There's plenty to do in either port. Been to La Rochelle half a dozen times (mostly by car). Bilbao has the Guggenheim museum which is a 10 minute walk from the drop off but check its open on the day you are in port because it closes every Monday or something like that.

Guernsey is a great place, the buses aren't brilliant - depends how well the disembarkation goes - there's stuff in St Peter's Port, certainly, not sure how easy it is to explore further. Last time we booked a car rental with non-dock insurance (and it didn't dock) so we could explore, but then we've been to St Peter's Port.

The next day, back to normal. When I asked why I was told that staff had been "in tears" after being confronted by the Hogs and had said they wouldn't do it any more. Talk about letting the bullies win!

There's a very simple solution to that, which actually should be applied anyway, because some people seem to think the staff are a cross between personal slaves and sounding boards for their grievances.

Aggressive behaviour (raising issues is fine, but do it politely) towards staff gets you an official warning. Do it again and you get to watch the ship sail off without you.

This might sound harsh. I think it would probably gain P&O Customers. I was delighted when I read about yobs being chucked off in the West Indies.

Sindhu (formerly East) was also excellent on Ventura - been twice now.

MPW's "White Room" was okay but twice the price, not as good as East (IMO) and had the issue of not being "different", it felt more like variations on a theme, a bit like they do when they have the MPW menu in the MDR.

The food in Sindhu is very definitely different.

Hi. We have just booked B630 (Sept 27) to the Canaries, and my wife quite fancied the cookery lesson run by James Martin (or possibly she just fancies James Martin ....)

I can get on the CP but it doesn't list any cookery club lessons and the "book now" button is grey and doesn't work.

Anyone know roughly when these become available, or is it just a matter of checking it every so often ?

TIA

- your cabin might not be quite ready, but it probably will be, and if it isn't you won't have to wait very long.

- freedom is turn up when you feel like it, but there are peak times, where you might have to wait.

- We preferred East/Sindhu (the Indian/Asian restaurant) to the White room, and it's half the price. But I've heard others say the exact opposite :)

We were on the cruise to nowhere last Christmas - cold, wet, didn't stop at any port. Rough seas.

Mostly we didn't notice the sea - we had plenty to keep us occupied. The ship was warm. The only thing you can't do, as you allude to , is sit by the pool.

I wouldn't worry.

Look at my post #21 which answers the question!

 

Always available means every night in addition to the normal menu which changes every night

Are you sure about this ? From memory on "Marco Nights" the always available menu .... isn't ?

I think that most people only post a review if they have had something they are not happy about and then just add other trivial items to the list to bolster their opinion.

Most people who have found no fault and/or had a great time don't post a review at all.

Some people look for things to be wrong from the minute they leave home.

I think some of them are people who work for other cruise lines ; it's the only sane explanation I can find for their "facts".

There are many sensible disappointed reviews which are argued coherently, but they tend to be swamped by numpties complaining Britannia is too big or something similar.

Hello everyone and happy new year! I'm thinking of trying P&O for the first time on the Ventura 2nt taster on 16 Jan and have been watching the prices for the past 6-8 weeks.

 

As other cruise lines usually drop in this period and we're fairly flexible, we thought we'd wait it out and book late - however the price for a balcony has now gone up from £159 to £219.

Well.... don't and don't.

I'd view it as a lucky escape. If you want a real sample of P&O do at least 4 nights - our first cruise was that long and looking back it was just like a real cruise, just shorter. Many people report that 2/3 night cruises have a lot of hen parties.

There are pointers. Fred Olsen for example normally charge £10 pppn for included drinks. On their micro-cruises this rate triples, which is highly likely to be connected to consumption levels.

Don't try to wait for a bottom price ; it is pretty much guesswork. Buy when you are happy with the price. If you are not too fussed about it, then maybe hang on for a last minute deal, but if you actually really want to be on the cruise, don't.

It is a fools game worrying about what everyone else has paid. It is probably a certainty (or would be if it wasn't logically incorrect :) ) that there are a fair chunk of people who have paid less than you. What matters is are you happy with what you paid for what you got.

Exactly so, I was trying to point out in my previous posts that dropping formal nights does not equate to being downmarket. My perception is that P & O is mid market and one look at the cruise prices highlighted in the Sunday papers reinforces that.

Cruising is undoubtedly cheaper but is still on the pricey side. Last year I got a 5* AI in Turkey, in May Half Term, for £525/week (for example) ; and it was very good. I think whatever the cruise lines do they are going to struggle to match those sort of prices.

I'm never sure about the daytime entertainment. Whilst quite a lot of it is sales stuff, I don't ever seem to get bored on board. But I haven't been on a cruise with two consecutive sea days, which might help. I'm a fairly recent convert to Cruising, B608 in March will be our sixth (in two years ... so quite a keen convert)

I'd be interested in DaiB's views on the onboard entertainment as he's been on a lot of P&O cruises over an extended period of time.

This idea that it is only the older cruisers that like formal is not exactly true. On our recent Britannia cruises the younger element were all dressed up to the nines, as were many of their, little, children and those not so were of the elder persuasion.

Oh, I agree with that. It was a view expressed by someone else that the older cruisers could be keener than the younger, but it is not exclusive by any means.

A well presented discussion and you may well be right.

I absolutely agree that if P&O did change then it won't be to chic or elegant.

My concern is that if all the cruise lines head the same way then the choice becomes so limited and is just a matter of price and to a lesser extent to itinerary. Surely that can't be good.

If P&O want to go downmarket, then that's up to them, but I think many of their current users will look elsewhere.

I would ; it's not the formal nights per se but what they represent.

The point about it being popular amongst the older may have some validity, but the older group is a significant market in cruising ; it's the only holiday where I feel I'm below the average age. (this doesn't bother me, it just is).

There obviously is a big market for the RCI style of cruising, but it's not so big that everyone can go there.

"Yes, a move forward"

Obviously not a leading question then.

Reminds me of someone posting a joke version of the Scottish Indie question, it was along the line of "I vote Yes, Scotland is wonderful" "I vote No, because I am a pathetic coward" littered with pictures of Mel Gibson in Braveheart.

There's no reason why they couldn't have the thing on line. Wifi is only expensive because of the transmissions from the ship to the shore, but internal wifi communications cost nothing.

In PDF format, our cruise from about eighteen months ago on Ventura.

http://www.studio2.org.uk/studio2/Horizon.pdf

It's inherently unlikely ; if you want to thieve it's an enormous up front cost.

There's a pool which you access through the Spa, but it isn't actually part of the Spa, which has no children allowed and is usually quiet.

How long does it take to leave the ship when in port for the day, is there lots of queuing?

 

How busy will the gym be?

 

How long depends on the port. There are, roughly, three types:

1) Tender ports. The boat is too big to dock so people are tendered backwards and forwards on the lifeboats. This can take quite a long time. Guernsey is the only tender port I have visited.

2) Distant ports. This is where the port is a fair way from where you actually want to go, like La Rochelle or Bilbao. Transport is laid on with coaches to the place itself, sometimes this is free, sometimes it is not.

3) City Centre Ports. Some places dock right in the middle (well... almost) of town and you can walk there easily - La Coruna or Cherbourg, for example.

There is a PDF which says what it is like for each P&O port, though my copy is a year old at least. My personal experience is apart from the tenders, it is fine. There are usually enough coaches. La Rochelle once there were big queues, which was down to a transport cock up I think.

The Gym is rarely full. Many people, like us, plan to visit the gym to work off the food - you get shedloads of food, and ... don't quite manage it.

It's nice to here positive balanced stuff. Especially about the boarding/disembarking. I've never been on Britannia (booked for April) but that has sometimes been a problem on Azura and Ventura. Like you, with the odd exception there never seems to be thousands of people on board.

There are always going to be mistakes building something like this ; you never really know how something will work until you actually use it - otherwise it's best guess from experience.

Hi. We are considering an RCI cruise next year - our first with RCI. I was wondering if there are any free shuttles.

As an example, one of the possible destinations is Bilbao, which is actually Getxo, about 20 miles away - do they provide a free shuttle there (or ever ?)

Many thanks,

Paul

I buy shares online through shares.com which is dead easy. You do not physically get the shares but they will write a letter confirming you own them.

I do not own Carnival shares at the moment, I think the prices are far too high, personally - generally, not Carnival specifically.

Yes, it's somewhere close to there, easy walk to anything in town. The port is at the end of a long ugly metal bridge. When we went it was free for everyone.

Probably too much and too long. May be the 1/2 night cruises that are an issue. First cruise was 4 nights on Ventura ; not noticeably different to longer ones just shorter!

So often I read reviews of cruises I've been on and I think .... what ? Were they on the same cruise as me ? Once I read a complaint that the waiters were unfriendly. Ours were *so* friendly I was worried they might get into trouble....

It is a mixture of things. Some people are just pathetic whingers. Some people have unrealistic expectations - P&O is pretty good but it's not "5 Star" like say Regent or Seabourn. I think sometimes people want butlers and suites but to pay £100pppn. It's like if you travel on CMV - it's cheaper, it's not going to be the same standard as if you pay three times as much.

Sometime it's one thing. There was one review I read of an excellent hotel in Turkey which was all hell and damnation (tripadvisor) because of .... a broken light bulb. (and one complaint that there was "no pork" particularly amused me .... duh)

Some people may do it for money as well. I know from a French lady I know who runs a B&B and one in the UK there are unsubtle implications of "adjust the price for my (ridiculous) complaint or else".

Rationality is a good sign. Someone who liked it, and says the service was a bit worse than previously or something, usually worth reading. Those who posts THE WAITER IS A PSYCHOPATH aren't :)

Every cruise, every holiday I've been on there's been something wrong. It's about having a glass half full attitude, and realising that staff can only try their best, they can't work miracles. First time my son flushed the loo on board it kept going .... and going .... - they bent over backwards to fix it, to provide alternatives until it was fixed .... should I complain about it ?

(Sometimes it's their own stupid fault. Someone the other day complained about there being too many people on Azura.... didn't you look and see how big it was ?)