Megabear2

Okay, sorry we had a misunderstanding. I recall some time last year you mentioning your preference for RC. Although your points are valid - as you know I didn't have a particularly brilliant cruise on Britannia last month - there is little point in saying we didn't know in advance the offering and the mention of ice rinks confused. It is no secret that after my four cruises last year the final one on P&O was a long way short of my experience on Celebrity Edge and Regal Princess (medical emergency aftermath excluded)! Interestingly though the other comparison is Britannia January 2022 -v- Britannia December 2022 and frankly the latter was vastly inferior. That being the case I know where you are coming from on the entertainment overall as we too found it lacking in quality and the debate on the food quality, availability, and service is being amply covered on other threads. If you have a £350 casino voucher I hope that means at least your experience there was more enjoyable. However in view of your rather disappointed tone perhaps you may be better to walk away from P&O now rather than being unhappy with another cruise. You've given it another go after your covid problems and unfortunately it doesn't sound like your latest cruise is one you want to put down to experience as just unlucky. I will be interested to read your section 2 on the cruise and apart from missing ice rinks etc look forward to hearing what you found good, bad or indifferent.

Not wishing to be nasty but surely you knew Iona didn't have ice rinks and golf courses - assumedly the latter couldn't have been used in the bad weather either. It seems then the cruise offered was simply not to your taste on this occasion and the entertainment offering was not actually poor but not something you personally could enjoy. When you refer to cinema showings being restricted are you referring to the time and number of showings, I understood there to be 4 screens showing different films in each. It was unfortunate that the speaker was of no interest to you but again many others may have found him enjoyable. I assume the dance classes etc were also not to your taste either but these do appear on every cruise line I've sailed on and actually are very well attended. My husband had never done these before but at Christmas he took part every day (I watched) and really enjoyed them. There is unfortunately a limit to what can be offered and maybe it's a case of you can't please all of the people all of the time. I do however agree the cruise lines seem very happy to rely on things like sports events to entertain us but that's maybe the way the world is going. I assume overall the experience was reasonable as I note elsewhere you are looking at a Britannia cruise despite saying never again after the one before your Iona cruise.

Thank you, I guessed that was the case but as you referred to day 9 Cadiz having nice weather I thought I'd ask. As you say if we choose a winter cruise we will get bad weather occasionally. On a side note, not P&O related my friends are in Majorca and yesterday it snowed very heavily inland with much heavier expected middle of the week. It was 3 degrees in Palma where they are staying and very little heating available. Returning to your cruise, looking forward to part 2 of your review.

Was it an inclement day so outside activities were restricted- I ask as there is no mention of them in your list. What was missing that you were expecting, it would be helpful to know please. I'm sailing on Iona in March for her last Canaries trip this season so it would be helpful to know as I anticipate my first days at sea will be inside activities mainly. Thank you.

No! Not to be encouraged tbh. Never act in a way to arouse their interest in my opinion. If you felt unwell then possibly test because you want to know, but I'd suggest not having the tests anywhere within sight of P&O. Bag them in the provided bags and take a small plastic box to hide in your luggage and dispose of them ashore or take them home. You're under no obligation to test for covid and therefore I'd say don't unless you genuinely feel unwell with what you think might be symptoms and want to know yourself. Remember if you say anything they will lock you away in your cabin, you can always make the decision not to mix with people and isolate yourself without formalising it, after all its what you would do at home.

And I admitted wrong use of the word and apologise. However it remains no matter how you dress it up the people ceased to be employed and lost their jobs. Not their fault, not the cruise lines fault which I wasn't actually saying it was. I stand by my comment someone who has lost their job was personally devastated no matter what name you label it. No doubt you are highly familiar with UK unemployment rules and will know that from day 1 they would be pressured to take any job offered so hopefully became employed by someone else long before the cruise lines could reemploy them.

Fully appreciate that and I never said they were sacked although losing your job by way of redundancy is just as devastating. "Sacked" is an emotive word to suggest someone did something wrong and is thrown around by people in many wrong situations. I'm believe that years later those people may well not want to come back and now 18 months or so after sailing restarted it should be no surprise they've gone off to do other things and aren'tgoing back to the cruise industry. Unfortunately the benefit system for those who lost their jobs rather than being furloughed is not generous and in many cases would have ceased long before the restart. Ironically the furlough scheme did last 18 months, ending on 30 September 2021. UK government might have accidentally misled the companies and perhaps the individuals might not have had to suffer by decisions made. Unfortunately we can't change history but once people are lost that quite often is forever as we are seeing in other industries.

As I'm sure you are aware, I was referring to the UK employees not the onboard ship staff when I referred to furlough. Anyone who spent hours trying to speak to Carnival House knows full well the staff had been decimated and unfortunately not so far replaced. If I told you black was black you'd find a way to say I was saying it was white! Seriously the point is redundant or contract paid up, the individuals sent home had to find work in different fields, they couldn't live on thin air and most had families which was why they were at sea in the first place. Presumably the wages haven’t increased on any cruise line enough to tempt them back. Once the "pattern" was broken it becomes harder for recruitment involving long periods away from home. Most staff I speak to on ships are there to provide for family not because its a career move. If the remuneration system is fair is a different case, not really one for a discussion on why recruitment is not happening in the way the cruise lines expected.

Fine in normality but those on this "maiden" didn't book it as such and had expected shakedown cruises and the advertised maiden. No matter what spin is put on it, these people on the Christmas cruise went to sea on an ill prepared ship with what sounds like a new crew not fully trained. Absolutely no excuse no matter how many say it was okay.

Personally with covid still around and norovirus etc I would buy the add on if it's available. I doubt you'll be checked too closely at the airport and no one looked in Barbados. If you're happy to know if you are quarantined or isolated you won't get anything by way of a payout then I would not worry. However don't forget if you can't get into a port or even have a last minute change most of these policies pay anywhere between £100 and £2000 esch

We were one of the few checked at Gatwick in December. They did look at the covid cover. I think it's a bit hit and miss depending on how many check in at the time you do. We didn't meet many who'd been checked, perhaps I looked suspicious!

The extra cruise cover for being put into quarantine or isolation in the event of being I'll with norovirus, covid etc is the big benefit. Most cruise extensions policies pay a daily rate which if you're locked away forv6 or 7 days can be very helpful.

Oh no he wasn't...

That is indeed what happened. We assumed they had a cabin each as we were only one short ... the show must go on etc etc

There were plenty of apples, pears, oranges and bananas on Britannia at Christmas in baskets in the buffet. Strangely they never made their way to the dining room but when the lady seated with us asked the waiter for a banana he appeared 20 minutes later triumphantly waving one. He also magicked up cream cheese for my bagel every morning so it never hurts to ask. The only wasteful thing that annoyed me was a gin and tonic being accompanied every time by a 330ml tin of Canada Dry, unless of course it was a ply where they were encouraging extra drinking of gin! gin

They mainly work Britannia to fill in between their stage and tv commitments. We saw what they described as their last ship appearance for some time at Christmas. Speaking to them later they mentioned quite a lot of tv and theatre work coming up. We also had Chesney Hawkes who was okay but very keen to sell DVDs and CDs particularly while we were eating. He also carried a £10 premium for being a "star". John Partride was a third offering on our cruise this year as well. In 2021 we had Eric & Ern, Cheryl Baker and John Partridge. They have also had Three Poofs and a Piano on Britannia before. I understand the acts are on a rotation and mainly contracted to one ship. The acts at Christmas on Britannia included the Military Magician who apparently won Britains Got Talent. He was the main big act for the festive period. Incidentally Queen Victoria's big Christmas act was Midge Ure, perhaps P&O could upgrade their acts to people like that.

This is the point I made on the Arvia maiden thread. There is as far as I know no limit to the amount of time people are spending at their tables with freedom dining. That means the diners, particularly the earlier ones, could be occupying their tables for far longer than planning intended. If RC were aiming for 75 minutes with increased staff for each diner on their megaships but say that 90 minutes is more realistic (remember they also have fixed club dining restaurants running alongside) then as ICF says the mathematics will be wrong. He is speaking about one day a year creating a problem but P&O will be dealing with this 365 days a year. That equates to either more staff needed or a possible maximum time for passengers to be at the table.

I understood the move to fixed dining was only on the maiden and had reverted to freedom on the transatlantic. Perhaps Bobstheboy will clarify when he posts on his return. I understand he had a meeting with the beverage and dining managers so hopefully more news soon.

Have a great cruise.

Thank you, a most interesting perspective from someone who has actually sailed on the ship! I note your observation that the families in particular were expected to move away from the main dining rooms to the more casual eating establishments. Having come across the thread from cruisemummy regarding her experience on the Arvia maiden I wonder if the misconception made by P&O is that they thought families would gravitate towards the more "junk food" end of the food onboard? Looking at the menus posted there for those restaurants I would imagine that many responsible parents would use these restaurants as a once or twice treat but would not be keen on allowing their children to eat the food offered for more than that. In my experience most modern mums wouldn't want to feed their children a repetitive diet of chips etc. I’ve no children or grandchildren personally but am surrounded by family and friends with children ranging from a month old to university age and all of them would I think view 6th Street Diner and Olive Grove menus as treats not regular meals for a fortnight's holiday. Hopefully this link won't get me in trouble and is allowed. It goes into quite a lot of the menus. https://www.cruisemummy.co.uk/po-arvia-restaurants/

Arvia is on her way to the Caribbean so we will soon find out .

Are your friends in a suite?

It's dearer now so you have a bargain! There seem to be copious amounts of insides left and quite a few deluxe balconies and mini suites. You may get lucky yet.

If it's bought onboard does it not still incurs the tax liability or do the gallery cover this. I thought if you bought something on the ship of value over your allowance it was taxable. If a watch at £1,000 is liable wouldn't a picture of the same value be regardless of how it gets to you?

I think they wanted the seating on the prom deck as the open deck space is apparently quite restricted with outside eating areas etc. Looking at Grapau's picture on the suite cancellation thread the chairs seem to be against the glass screens. Assumedly if they had access from the terrace/balcony they couldnt this. It's also meant to be narrow in places.