molecrochip

Some countries that Azura visits from Malta still have Covid rules. These cabins are held back in case. Avoids the scenario of swapping people st the last minute. It might not be all cabins or all decks.

There is two separate points there: a) requesting permission which is a licensing requirement, likely with an application fee; and b) paying duty and VAT. Its likely that a was the issue as otherwise b can just be passed onto the end consumer (guest).

Interesting point. Main dining rooms on Iona now open at 17:30 on busier cruises to ease the flow of guests. To do this has required axing afternoon tea in the Aqua restaurant to free up waiters / galley staff for the earlier opening. I believe something similar on Arvia is also now in place.

Having read the thread about a better tier of drinks package, being more expensive, but including more; and seeing the generally positive responses, it got me thinking. Princess have introduced their Plus and Premium bundled packages over the last couple of year. They have been a big success - that's been stated in public. I remain convinced that P&O will follow suit and launch a similar package - and I'm keen to know people's reactions. I suspect that at this point you may see a move away from Early Saver, Select and Saver with a Guarantee grade cabin being the cheapest grade irrespective of package, with personally chosen rooms at a higher price. Re internet: I know that the satellite internet coverage needs sorting, however trials are underway at improving this. You end up with a package like: Drinks + Wifi + Port Shuttles + Dining Choice (where club exists) + Embarkation time choice. Your no package option essentially becomes the Early Saver/Saver fare type. Which then begs the topic of gratuities . If, as with Princess, the add on packages are really popular then including gratuities within the package won't impact most people. It does then allow P&O to change policy and add gratuities back on to the basic cabin for those who don't take the package. And then what about OBS, Car-Parking, Coach travel? Most of Carnival's brands don't offer such benefits? I only ever ask for OBS when booking so I'm not in touch with how much people value these. Would love to hear peoples thoughts. Disclaimer: I'm asking this out of personal curiosity - I'm not asking this on behalf of anyone; I know people will wonder if the company are asking me to ask.

Separately, I'm going to start a separate topic about bundled packages...

Agreeing with @No pager thank you, if you have a medical or religious reason, then reception can authorise for the second passenger to have the non-alcoholic package. In this scenario both must still take a package. Its be exception, with proof. It's not designed for where one person drinks lots and one person doesn't drink - that's just a case of working out whether to packages remain good value.

That is still my understanding although not seen anyone win in practice. I would argue under UK law that you cannot charge £100 x 2 people for an upgrade from a 1 bed cabin to another 1 bed cabin. You can charge £200 x 1 person but not the other. I know its semantics but it matters in law as you can't be charged for something that doesn't exist/isn't possible (which the second £100 would be doing). As for inside rooms - very popular at present. This is to be expected with encouraging new cruisers onto the ships. Where cruise lines win is converting those newbie inside passengers to balcony (and hopefully eventually suites) for future cruises. Very few new to cruise passengers go straight into a suite on a mainstream cruise line.

There are numerous bits of 'paperwork' required nowadays before a ship can dock in port. Some of which is done a long time in advance, some is done 2-7 days out, such as finalising piloting times and berthing instructions, some of which is done literally on arrival such as passenger manifests. A lot of it is done electronically and that reduces workload to confirmations on the day. The UK has one national rule for all of its mainland ports. Likewise, the UK doesn't charge VAT on drinks consumed in port. however this is unlikely to be a VAT point - as VAT is charged on soft drinks such as Coke or juices, teas and coffees. I suspect that NCL didn't complete some piece of paperwork relating to licensing laws - it was missed, or not submitted early enough, or NCL deemed the fee to high to pay. Was it the ships first visit for a while? Therefore saying that it was UK regulations is stretching the truth but not lying. They are just not stating that it was their failure to comply with said regulations. Turning this back to P&O, this should not affect them one bit. Whilst technically, I'm sure they could make a slip up, as a turnaround port, they are far more used to the requirements of UK ports and should be on top of it.

You’re being optimistic there @Selbourne

Other drinks package changes too - I believe the hot drinks package has gone.

Some cruise lines now accept them but insist the are stored on the same deck as medical - often secured next to the empty luggage cages.

Check with head office. I’ve personally seen it done before, but not for 8-10 years. I note that only electric bikes are on the prohibited items list.

I’ve heard of it happen on a ship sailing for CCL! Had spirit miniatures in his pocket he was selling too!

There is no restriction on water/soft drinks as long as it’s for personal consumption, so go ahead.

I’ve seen bulk packs of nappies, mini Christmas trees, paddle boards, car seats etc all dropped off with luggage.

As long as it’s tagged with you cabin number you’re fine.

The ‘official’ Southampton City Council reason is that border force carried out an ‘all passenger’ check this morning on all ships arriving. This led to delays disembarking which meant port services were not ready for arrivals. Additionally, an incident at the toll bridge booths, and a broken down car near IKEA caused a perfect storm.

Work from issue date not expiry date due to the EU wide change in 10 year validity in 2019. The rule for Europe is that your passport must not have been issued more than 9 years 9 months before your return date. There are other countries where that is 9 years and 6 months on your return. Online checkin works on the later but that just means a terminal checkin for Europe.

Maximum table size is 6 I believe, but they can do 8+ with a fairly small gap.

They only seat tables once so I’d book the time you can get then look to change time onboard.

No Venezia together with Firenze are moving to Carnival together with Luminosa. The ships transferred to China are Costa Atlantica and Costa Mediterrania.

The announcements were of new furniture now PLUS multi million pound refurbishments internally at dry dock. Those refurbishments have not been set out in detail.

The China tie up was 2 Costa ships and 2 new built ships. Oriana was sold to a completely independent company.

Not quite sure which brands you think have a need for these ships. Aida: Lots of capacity at present. CCL: lacks any funship elements. Costa: Have too many of own ship. Cunard: Queen Anne set to give massive capacity increase. HAL: have a lot of capacity / disposed of four smaller ships during pause. P&O Au: Focused on grand class for future. Princess: have 2 on order and focused on bigger ships. Seabourn: not ultra-lux styled. I think this is a positive for those who like the existing adults only ships.

It was announced about 6 weeks ago. No major details yet as far as I’m aware. This is underpinned by Josh W’s comments that there is currently no major new ship building plan beyond 2026. Fleet she will get older. I think it’s fair to say that 2025-2030 will be light on new ships. This supports debt pay-down as they are not paying off more new ships. Obvious caveat: this is as off now. They may refurbish a ship then get an offer that’s too good to be true and sell it. Always a risk.