Megabear2

Correct, that's what I was told too and this is why seats can't be sold. TUI fly several versions of the 787 so the seating plan is different for each airport. Incidentally on the Barbados fly cruises does anyone know if the required PCR test is an in person one or can it be an observed at home one? Last year had to be in person but so many testing centres have shut down its difficult to locate one offering PCR.

Early sitting is always wait listed from our experience. Before the pandemic it was often wait listed.

Great. Hope you have a brilliant trip.

As I say, your money to spend. I just checked my email on costings and PE for December last year was quoted as £499. Because of lack of numbers they were pushing it until 3 days before departure. I haven't priced it for 2022 or 2023 so it may have changed but just short of £1,000 pays for my March Florida flights to cruise from FLL so I'll be passing!

I wouldn't book extra legroom seats anyway after my previous experiences. On the TUI Dreamliner to Barbados the extra legroom seats in the main cabins are pretty poor choices in my opinion - I wish I'd checked seat guru before parting with my cash on the occasion I booked one. A seat is a seat to me. As I said earlier on my Kefalonia flight in July people were put into the exit seats to ensure safety regs were met. On the Tui charter to Barbados there are two rows with extra legroom, rows 10 and 30. Row 10 seats are probably best but the middle four with the wall are where any babies are put with bassinets so anyone booking these runs a risk of noise if they don't like children. Seatguru also has people complaining about the two outside seats in row 10 due to constantly being knocked by trollies. That leaves row 30 with the intruding door (and associated cold) and proximity to the lavatories. Neither option therefore appeals to us. Premium economy is better but at £499 each not worthwhile for us. Like everything it's what the individual wants to spend their cash on.

A few years back I paid for extra legroom seats only to spend my overnight flight wide awake as ignorant people gathered around the lavatories, sometimes in groups of 6 or more. I complained onboard the plane and to P&O and commented on the survey about my experience. I received a call from P&O to be told I actually paid TUI not them for the seats and the "air etiquette" was therefore their responsibility. They told me their only input into the flights is the allocation of seating on the return to those who haven't purchased seats. As both my husband and I like aisle seats we are actually Tui's ideal customers apparently as we choose to not be seated next to each other. We do sometimes pay for return seats on the aisle but only do this after viewing the seating plan to see what's already sold. It's not about the cost that we don't reserve seats but more to do with the odds that we would be paying for something we are most likely going to be given anyway.

It's the same across all three of the Carnival stable. Big difference as I see it with P&O is the draft beers. Someone drinking beer can actually have 15 pints a day whereas on Princess for instance there are few bars selling draft beer so it is 15 bottles (33cl size). That's a hell of a difference in what your 15 daily alcohol drinks covers. We had the Celebrity premium drinks package added to our June cruise, there was no limit. Strangely I saw less people drinking for the sake of it on that cruise than I have on any other.

It's just a way for the airlines to milk more money from us. On a recent Greek flight in July no one had paid for the exit seats presumably as the price was too high. Crew members then came round and moved people into them for safety reasons. Laughable but true. On scheduled flights there's even less reason to pay as we check ourselves in and can move seats as we wish. It's a herd mentality we have been conditioned to.

That tallies with the information from Moley a month or so back about a delay, as well as my flight showing up. My contact is pretty reliable, she's in the CEO's office. As there were delays in releasing the flight programme it no doubt impacted sale of seats. I'm told that even though they are all TUI aircraft the seating is different on individual aircraft so until the airline says which plane is on which route it's not possible to sell the seats.

I spoke to my personal contact about something else and that is what I was told. Assumedly the information is correct but to be truthful I never book outgoing seats in advance as we are normally very early for check in going out - I'm very mean! We do book our return seats as we like an aisle each and as P&O allocate these onboard can't guarantee what will be allocated. Were your flights allocated earlier or has it only just appeared?

My flights for 16 December departure from Gatwick appeared earlier this week. Confirmed as TUI charter flight leaving 10.15, return flight 17.00. Seats apparently will be bookable next Friday. That would be right on schedule as it will be 14 weeks.

The OP was thinking of an early saver. Apart from his dining needs it presumably would miss the quarantine zones as P&O would be in charge of the allocation. Under those circumstances perhaps the deck D deluxe balcony would be his best option if he can overcome his worries on dining. For the very big mark up between select and saver for this cruise it would be essential to know exactly which areas of the ship to avoid with quarantine cabins. As far as I am aware no P&O ship has quarantine cabins mid forward or forward, unless of course anyone can advise me differently ...

18 March 2023 - a deck C midship balcony is currently £2,738 with £110 OBC so to guarantee the C deck balcony with any time dining you are looking at a difference of £630 to guarantee it. The early saver starting figure is between £1998 and £2098 for the standard balcony so position of the cabin makes little difference to the price. Again the deluxe has a difference of £720. In your case if the mealtimes are a deal breaker then it is a risk regarding anytime dining. There is normally a little flexibility on the allocated dining on a saver but there is no certainty you can change. Having said that we have been lucky on all but one occasion in our allocation and have had freedom dining allocated on all but one cruise in recent cruises, however I'm told this is most likely to our registered preferences with P&O over a number of years. The current promotion which is running ends on 5 September. This could mean a better offering may commence on 6 September but it could also herald more price changes either up or down. Overall it depends on how much of a gambler you are, either for the dining option or a possible new offer to your advantage. Hope that helps,.

Which ship and date are you looking at ? If its Iona or Arvia there are pitfalls which can be explained, there's also a huge price differential for some cruises for select.

Well none of this pretty squabbling is going to help the OP! I agree with Wowzz it's the onshore customer service and the dodgy website letting P&O down at present. The cruise experience for most recently reporting has been good and a lot of the negativity we read has been from cruises taken some time ago. Regarding NCL compared to P&O the one certainty is the pricing onboard will be better value. Take no notice of others and go with a open mind, enjoy yourself.

Regarding Greek islands with sandy beaches a lot aren't visited by cruise ships. The best sandy beaches on the "main" islands will be found in Crete, Mykonos, Zante and Skiathos. I used to work in Athens and had the pleasure of going to different islands every weekend and the smaller islands and northern Greek peninsular offered the sand rather than shingle. Interestingly The Times list of the best sandy beaches in Greece includes Myrtos beach of Captain Corelli fame yet the local Kefalonians say it is an inhabitable environment with huge undercurrents. Yes there are small sandy beaches elsewhere but not of the big wide picturesque variety.

Interesting. I have been advised recently on the boards that booking a local taxi for tours is a cheaper and better option. Are you talking about P&O tours or individuals doing their own thing? I'm currently booking my Christmas Caribbean excursions and have deliberately not booked places like Grenada, Antigua and St Lucia as we were going to take taxis for beach and local tours. Normally we book sea based trips in these islands but thought a change might be nice. Regarding Dubrovnik and Malta beaches research should have shown that these are quite virtually non existent in these places. Croatia in particular has very few sandy beaches offering mainly narrow shingle beaches along its coastline. Malta I recall as having a few man made smallish sandy beaches with Gozo offering the best ones.

Not my travel agent, as I said was my BIL who had the event described . I mentioned it to ease the worries of the OP. I have a different agent but at present book direct with P&O.

Sometimes if you've booked through a travel agent the transfer of the funds between the two does not activate immediately to show you have paid. Lack of staff in P&O accounts has on two occasions caused members of my family not to get cabin allocated until 48 hours before. They just booked excursions, reserved meals etc and it sorted itself online automatically.

I shall retire politely and applaud your restraint.

There are millions who work hard for very little reward. I'm sure a lot of them deserve a good cruise far more than I do but will never even get a week in Bournemouth or Blackpool.

Energy bills rose substantially in April for many and the doom and gloom has been as a result of the effect that has already had on many. There are people who had direct debits rise by 100% on the back of that rise alone. I had the offer of a one year fix from my supplier ten days ago as I have a long term fix ending 31 October. Fix then was at £249 per month, I currently pay £83pm and am £515 in credit - the company had tried in June to put by dd down to £49pm which I told them was ridiculous. Checked on Friday after new announcement for October and they now want £330 per month. Even though I'm in credit by a substantial amount and my usage is considerably below the average £3,500 figure they are telling me my usage will cost £3,990 within that year. Now that really is scary and in no way intended to be alarming.

Away from the doom and gloom for a second! My friend looking to join me on 29 October Iona has reported to me that on a saver fare the only balcony option showing is mid forward/mid aft cabins. The select fare so lots of available balconies on various decks and positions. Interestingly no forward Promenade deck 8 cabins are available. This would appear to indicate that P&O are allocating/filling up the worst cabins first, but I may be completely wrong. I have a deck 14 aft cabin which I booked following Grahams advice that these were a better option than the lower down decks. We could of course share that but would prefer to have two rooms. Any ideas what might happen if all these other rooms stay unsold at select fare? Do you think they'll start adding more into saver or will it become select only. Answers on a postcard via your crystal ball please!

The EU directive was updated earlier this year. I'm uncertain whether it has been amended since but I'm sure others on here will have information for you. It is however an individual country's right to set rules. Certainly there were 50 people leaving Regal Princess into quarantine in Rome when I disembarked there on 9 July. I have not heard of anyone offloading anywhere in Spain for a couple of months now that US people can return home without testing, but with the cruise lines not providing covid figures it is impossible to say. However I wasn't thinking of Europe more Canada, the Caribbean and the upcoming world and South American cruises.

Interesting classification class there Wowzz. This puts Aurora, Arcadia, Queen Elizabeth and Queen Victoria in the medium ships category with QM2 just squeezing in to the large one. Balmoral, Bollette and Borealis are also medium along with the Marella fleet. Having sailed on all for the former and Marella Explorer in her previous identity under RCI, the standout for me is that on QM2 she never feels full and I have heard some describe her as "soulless" as a result yet per passenger ratio and space she offers more than any of the other "medium" ships. This would seem to indicate for "classic" crusing the size isn't relevant but the cruise lines' use and ideas for the ships are. Cunard are sold as classic cruises whereas P&O tries to masquerade as classic crusing but only on these adult only ships. Therein possibly lies the answer to all the disillusionment.