WestonOne

Selborne wrote: " Also, now that P&O has done way away with the ability to keep unfinished bottles in the MDRs..." Really? My wife doesn't drink at all and one glass a night with my meal is usually enough for me. If this is the case, then for us - we go for 1st sitting - the packages are no use at all: it will wine by the glass for me.

Just a note of warning about mustering. On our last cruises (two 14 day back to back) we naturally had two musterings. Both were very badly organised. They announced the first as running from, say, 3pm in the theatre. We went there and waited. Nothing. Eventually a few more passengers came, but no staff. Twenty minutes later we found a member of staff - not an officer - who told us there was no need to do any more. So we left and next day got a letter saying we had to go and have a special muster at 9am in the theatre because we had not attended. That affected our planned activities for the day, but could not be helped. On the second half of the back to back, we also went to muster and again there was no-one there. This time we checked a few times around half an hour apart and eventually there actually was someone there scanning our cruise cards. This is a bit of an aberration. We have never had that before, and hope it won't be repeated on our next cruise.

We have had butlers several times, on P&O and Cunard. We never found anything we wanted them to do. On one occasion, a butler apologised that we had not made use of him more. In fact, the only things we used him for were to find more hangers for the wardrobe and to try and get the DVD player working, which he didn't manage, even when engineers were involved, so I suspect it was some problem in the cabin wiring. Without a butler, I would have asked the cabin steward. The root of the problem was that most of the things they do are things I am perfectly comfortable to do myself. I see little point telephoning for them to come or waiting until they visit, to explain I'd like a booking in the restaurant, when I can as easily phone the restaurant myself, and in a far better position to decide if they say "There is no space at 7pm but we could fit you in at 8?" For me, using a butler just added a layer of complication I did not need..

(Sorry if this is repeat topic, but I did look, honest!) WiFi blackspots are a problem on ships, and I guess because of its age Aurora will have a few. Can someone who has been on her recently say something about where it works and where it doesn't? Others will care about speed of the connection, but my main interest is where I would have to be on the ship to use it.

So would I. I started cruising on P&O late in the 1980s, and there is no comparison in the menus. On the other hand, nor is there in the prices.

I have heard that from cabin stewards. At least a score from 1-10 is better than ones I have seen in some land hotel chains, which have survey gradings of "very poor", "below average", "average", "above average" and "exceptional". Their senior management requires, I have been told by the local management, that every hotel in their chain to be at least "above average" for the chain...

Apart from some heart stickers, there doesn't seem to be anything special about the Valentine's day menu. I didn't notice anything for Burn's night either, though a video I saw from last year happened to include Burn's night where they piped in a haggis.

I found this which seems to say no personal extension leads are allowed. I gather many people ignore that ... Unless they are making a distinction between a distribution panel on the desk and one with a cable trailing across the room? Personal Extension Leads are not permitted on board unless they are to be used with essential medical equipment (e.g. CPAP and nebuliser machines). These will be checked for electrical safety along with your piece of medical equipment prior to sailing.

I am on Aurora next year. I seem to remember years back they did not allow multi-way power adapters and were really against ones with surge protectors. Like most people these days I have a plethora of things to plug in, and even my four-way USB adaptors are not sufficient. (Not helped by MyHoliday pretty much requiring we keep phones charged.) However a quick search didn't find any comments on P&O's site. Aurora has, I think, one socket plus one for the TV - we are not in a suite which I guess has more. What are the current restrictions on multi-way adapters?

I am booked on the Dome train next year, so I may be the only person interested, but what was in the snack box? Not just those crisp-like things, I hope. We have been though the old Panama before, will probably not switch to the tourist boat. (As yet, that is not on offer in the tours anyway for next year)

Have you posted an example of this? I had a quick look but may have missed it

As others have said, it all depends on what you drink and how often. My wife doesn't drink alcohol at all, and I tend to stick at about one glass of wine a day, so we have just looked at the non-alcoholic option. That turns out to be just under £50 a day. Really? On a 65 day cruise, over £3000 between us? (We would both have to buy it, I think.) That's a goodly proportion of the per person price of the cabin. We will give it a miss again.

A friend on a world cruise last year got over £1000 extra on board credit because of missed ports, bought a high quality watch and sold it unused on his return. Your idea can work, if OBC is large enough.

On the business of the 'Welcome.on Board" reception, the current loyalty document says it is a buffet.

Yes. So the question is whether you still only get one on a 65 day cruise. It would not surprise me at all if you only get the one, whereas on a world cruise you get one per segment, I think

We are going on this trip next year, so a few questions, if you don't mind. I usually join the on-board choir, but for most trips they can only fit in around 8 practices on a 14-18 day trip. On a world cruise, because it is in segments, they pretty much treat the choir as say 4 or 5 back to back small trips. But the grand tour, no one joins along the way, so they could try something more ambitious. Do you know if they do? The same applies to other activities. Then there is the problem with menus restarting. I assume you get the same menu on a 14 day cycle or thereabouts. Is that right? Finally, things like loyalty awards. We are at Caribbean but I expect you still only get one 'fine dining'experience, rather than one every 20 days or so. Do you know?

I well remember our first sailing into one of the fjords on Oriana and hearing a low drone sound, which was odd, but quite musical. Eventually we realised it was the sound of the ship itself echoing off the sides of the fjords. We have listened for it each time we have been since, but somehow it is not there - or our hearing has deteriorated! Most likely, the ship now follows a slightly different path within the fjord. But keep an ear open - who knows?

We have a slight preference for Aurora as well, but our last trip was on Arcadia. It did have some problems to do with losing pressure on one of the sewage systems so twice in a months trip all toilets on one side of the ship were out of action for a few hours - that's public spaces and cabins. That is not good, and of the the cabins are a bigger problem when that happens, but they did sort it each time. I haven't had that happen on other ships (yet!)

One potato? My wife will be thinking we should cancel!! What other differences were there? Entertainment or activities, for example.

(I did a search for "Christmas" and nothing like this came up) We have cruised a fair bit on P+O (Caribbean loyalty level) but for the first time have booked one over Christmas and New Year. It is on Aurora, and so adults only. I assume there will be some decorative differences, but what else should we expect to be different to any other cruise? I would guess at a Christmas meal, for example, but will it be very similar to the others dinners, or, for example, will it be more elaborate, with more courses, perhaps a drink included, and so forth? What else will there be?

We have cruised a fair bit on P+O (Caribbean loyalty level) but for the first time have booked one over Christmas and New Year. It is on Aurora, and so adults only. I assume there will be some decorative differences, but what else should we expect to be different to any other cruise? I have probably put this in the wrong thread, since it is not just dress code, so sorry about that.

We are on Arcadia for a 'back to back.' On the first, the itinerary advestised 4 formals but there were only three. On the second, 10 July had been advertised as a formal beforehand, but wasn't, so I think it will the same: advertising 4 but only 3 in practice.

We are on Arcadia at the moment and there is little information about it, but it seems to be at lunchtimes on sea days. As above, it is a cordoned off part of Intermezzo.

I am finding the entertainment on Arcadia very lacklustre at the moment. The Headliners have now done two shows, but according to someone on our table one was identical to a show rhey saw five years ago. There is Pulse, but as far as other music outside the Palladium goes it seems to be limited to two cocktail pianists. Comparing this to my Cunard trip a few months ago: that had the cocktail pianists and a Ukrainian string trio and an Irish band and a specialist guitarist who gave talks and demonstrations every day on different genres. The other 'deck performers' were also on daily or close to it. In short: I am with my brother in law on his third cruise and he was saying if this was his first he would not book again. Not because it was bad, but because it did not feel anything special.

Many years ago we were on a set table with a spare seat which the singers and dancers took turns to occupy night by night. As it happens this was also their end of contract trip and every one had the same worry: what happens now? Rather obviously, when they are on the ship they cannot go to auditions for their next contract and especially if they have been on the ship a few times they worry if they are getting a bit old or stale so they are not at all confident the company will offer them a new contract. They all seem to worry greatly as their contract comes to an end.