molecrochip

It’s been about reducing single use plastics - nothing more.

Was it a large bottle?

The express runs straight to Rome Termini station. It takes about 50 minutes. The slower train takes about 70 minutes and stops nearer the Vatican at Roma S. Peitro which is a useful place to alight the train. Usual HOHO options in Rome and metro is fairly easy.

On Iona and Arvia the extras have never been available. The other ships have them until they run out.

Body wash in the shower, hand wash in the bathroom. All now in refillable bottles. No throwaways. if you’re in a suite you get a gift box of a large body wash and body lotion.

Failing that, you’ll probably get away with going to the freedom restaurants together.

I suggest you ask your parents to speak with their head waiter at the podium. They may be able to find you all a table for that night. As an example, they will know which tables have booked for a speciality restaurant that night and will therefore be empty.

If P&O are offering the family suite at only 2 x £160 then it could be a cheap way to get suite benefits if that’s important for you. From memory the main cabin is the same as your existing cabin with an extra seating area plus extra inside room. You don’t have to use the room.

I think the first Grand class to exit Princess will go to P&O Australia to give them a standard fleet. You also have to remember that the first grand class ship is approaching 25 years old so older than Aurora. It will be interesting to see how the fleets develop over the next five years. Whilst there are no new ship deliveries due in 2026 onwards I expect we might get the first hints of new ship orders ready for 2028 to 2030 either at the end of this year, or at the beginning of the next. I would argue that it is a chicken and egg scenario regarding ordering ships and the clean technology being there to power the ships.

As for run to the ground, the official line is no more new ships being ordered at present until debt is reduced. So Aurora and Arcadia will likely sail into their 25s and 30s unless Princess decide they have too many ships once the two sphere class ships arrive.

It’s been announced that considerable money is being spent on both ships aside from new furniture. That money is earmarked for dry dock periods but exact work has not been announced. For a long time cabins have been built as modular units. So replacing a bathroom, the wall panelling/mirrors, bed heads ir cupboards is not easy as it’s all permanently fixed to the structure of the room. The modules are designed to go in, be welded and never come out. So it’s not all about money or desire but largely about practicality. I did hear that sofas were being changed at some point.

Needs a cabin refurb… badly.

Kotor is great.

Britannia?

You wont see a major difference now that all the ships across the fleet have the same operator running the shops.

Last time I ate in the Epicurean I was not impressed - food cooking just was not as great as usual. Chicken was dry and Bacon was over cooked so much it wasn’t edible. I believe a new galley team were still getting to grip with the menu. I heard good experiences since.

Arvia launched with the full Buffet experience. Iona’s had been restricted since Covid and is now back at full strength. Personally, I think those buffet selections are the best I’ve seen on P&O in 10 years. The MDR quality has dipped and that’s being looked. Finally, improvements should be rolled out but certainly ships with smaller buffets will struggle - that includes Azura / Ventura.

P&O post daily pending charges incrementally. At the end of the cruise they could finalise the charges and post your bill against pending charges but they don’t. Instead they post the total bill as a new charge which finalised within 2-3 days. P&O could then finalise the pending charges as nil but instead they choose to let them time out at 28 days. P&O will tell you that the bank can release the holds but that’s not true. The bank can only release them when they time out. The bank will tell you that P&O can release the holds - this is true. But P&O don’t have a process to do his. This is how the banking system works. Same at a petrol station except the petrol station takes a generic say £130 hold at the start and then finalises the actual amount against the hold. In future I suggest using a credit card. Pending holds don’t usually reduce available credit until finalised unlike bank account/debit cards where the money is set aside until the hold is released.

A port shuttle is required because, from memory, you can’t walk out. Again, from memory, there is a shuttle which drops by the quay.

The Butlers aren’t gone yet. However, a lot of the long term butlers found good jobs back home during Covid and never came back. So a lot are new and don’t have that font of knowledge that you may have experienced before. The more experienced butler may have also had contacts on ship, or knew little rules they could bend to get a suite passenger into a fully booked suite, or something they wanted. The newly trained butlers will be following their training.

Wishing them well and a quick recovery. From the best onboard medical teams, to the best lifeboat teams, to the best Hospital service anywhere. The crew member will be in good hands.

We’re in an unusual situation whereby when these cruises went on sale, there were still capacity restrictions resulting in say only 70% of cabins going on sale. This restrictions are now gone, the additional capacity are on sale but this has pushed the price lower to fill cabins.

@Megabear2 I take your points but I think people need to disconnect a drop in standards from a change in target audience. The former can be worked on - such as poor food in the MDR. The later is a intentional shift in offering such as inclusive but different MDRs.

I know people hate it but to be a multi-generational cruise line you need to appeal stronger to those who haven’t cruised before - which is the 18-45s - and then the he older family members follow. Also my comments are focusing on 18-45s not children. There is a misconception that only those 50+ will cruise during term time however P&O are going for the 20-40s with no kids / pre-school age kids too.

It’s a program right on brand/target audience for Arvia.