Jump to content

Ship visit


 Share

Recommended Posts

I have never sailed with P&O always with Princess. I have returned to the UK to live from Canada and toying with the idea of a P&O cruise. I was wondering if anyone had done a day ship visit and if they found it helpful in terms of viewing the staterooms or are stateroom viewing limited.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A couple of years ago we did a day visit to Aurora in Southampton. We were guided around the public rooms and saw one of each type of cabin, including a suite. The visit ended with a 3 course lunch in The main dining room. The cost was £25 each, and although there were sales staff on hand, there was no hard sell at all.

Very enjoyable.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have never sailed with P&O always with Princess. I have returned to the UK to live from Canada and toying with the idea of a P&O cruise. I was wondering if anyone had done a day ship visit and if they found it helpful in terms of viewing the staterooms or are stateroom viewing limited.

 

I thoroughly recommend them. You get to see all public areas and one of each type of cabin, followed by a nice meal. Also, if you book a P&O Cruise within the next year they will refund the cost of the visit via additional on board credit.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Not sure they still refund the cost as onboard credit. Still a good day and worth doing.

 

Best wishes, Stephen.

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

When did it stop then, as they still did so when I made my last booking?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have never done this but would be tempted for a cruise line I have never been on. Would be a great day out but I am not convinced that it would tell me anything about whether I would enjoy cruising on that particular ship or with that cruise line.

 

My preferred approach is to book a bargain price 2-3 day short cruise. Still not the same as the longer cruise but you get to sample what it is like without regrets over committing time or money for a cruise you wouldn't enjoy.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

When did it stop then, as they still did so when I made my last booking?
I think it was July last year we did our visit and the only offer was if you booked within a month or 3 months (decreasing discount). We were told it was only applicable when booking on the ship we visited too.

 

Sent from my SM-G930F using Forums mobile app

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have never done this but would be tempted for a cruise line I have never been on. Would be a great day out but I am not convinced that it would tell me anything about whether I would enjoy cruising on that particular ship or with that cruise line.

 

My preferred approach is to book a bargain price 2-3 day short cruise. Still not the same as the longer cruise but you get to sample what it is like without regrets over committing time or money for a cruise you wouldn't enjoy.

It actually was valuable to us in terms of exploring if we want to book a P&O cruise. We were thinking of a 14 night caribbean cruise on Azura and decided in the end Azura was too small for us (we are used to Megaships!). Better to find that out from a ship visit than on the first day of a long cruise!

 

Our tour guide actually recommended against a 2-3 day cruise as they can be full of stag and hen parties and aren't indicative of a longer cruise. Although we'd still enjoy going on one I'm sure!

 

Sent from my SM-G930F using Forums mobile app

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have never sailed with P&O always with Princess. I have returned to the UK to live from Canada and toying with the idea of a P&O cruise. I was wondering if anyone had done a day ship visit and if they found it helpful in terms of viewing the staterooms or are stateroom viewing limited.

 

If you are familiar with Princess, Sun, Grand and Royal class ships then you should be familiar with there equivalents on P&O. Oceana is Sun class, Azura and Ventura are Grand class and Britannia is Royal class. The actual staterooms are not different in size or layout. The main differences are that P&O have an in cabin kettle with tea/coffee making opportunity. Negating trivial room service with a tip for a steward bringing teas or coffees. You may also bring on board your own stuff for a brew like instant hot chocolate, specialist tea bags etc.

 

A ship visit will be interesting but I do not think it will reveal a great deal about the differences in overall cruise experience. The in house daily news sheet Princess Patter or P&O Horizon will show differences in programme but it is hard to explain that a P&O comedian's act will not be understood by some people who have not endured daily life in the UK. Drinks are all in pounds sterling at roughly UK pub prices and tipping starts at 13 years of age. I think overall you will love P&O but it's a bit different from Princess

 

Regards John

Edited by john watson
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think it was July last year we did our visit and the only offer was if you booked within a month or 3 months (decreasing discount). We were told it was only applicable when booking on the ship we visited too.

 

Sent from my SM-G930F using Forums mobile app

 

I think you might be referring to the booking offer that they give you during the visit, which is different. I am talking about a refund of the cost of the ship visit by way of extra OBC on your next booking, which is over and above this.

 

I have never seen it advertised or even referred to, but we have had every single ship visit refunded (and we’ve visited every ship)!

 

We always book direct with P&O and use a Personal Cruise Specialist (although the role no longer exists, our PCS is still there and still does our bookings). Once or twice I’ve had to remind her, but there is always a code sitting against our name which she applies to our bookings which gives us the £25 per person extra OBC.

 

I suspect that this might not be possible if you book via a Travel Agent, as they won’t see the codes against your name, but if anyone books direct with P&O and has done a ship visit within the last year I strongly advise mentioning it. We have thoroughly enjoyed all our ship visits, every one of which has been free as all have been refunded against future bookings.

 

The refunds have often been against Cruises on different ships to the one we visited.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think you might be referring to the booking offer that they give you during the visit, which is different. I am talking about a refund of the cost of the ship visit by way of extra OBC on your next booking, which is over and above this.

 

I have never seen it advertised or even referred to, but we have had every single ship visit refunded (and we’ve visited every ship)!

 

We always book direct with P&O and use a Personal Cruise Specialist (although the role no longer exists, our PCS is still there and still does our bookings). Once or twice I’ve had to remind her, but there is always a code sitting against our name which she applies to our bookings which gives us the £25 per person extra OBC.

 

I suspect that this might not be possible if you book via a Travel Agent, as they won’t see the codes against your name, but if anyone books direct with P&O and has done a ship visit within the last year I strongly advise mentioning it. We have thoroughly enjoyed all our ship visits, every one of which has been free as all have been refunded against future bookings.

 

The refunds have often been against Cruises on different ships to the one we visited.

Oh I had no idea! We just booked onto Britannia next year but it was via Planet Cruise. I might be cheeky anyway and drop P&O an email to see if I can get the OBC. Worth a shot.

 

Sent from my SM-G930F using Forums mobile app

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

We have done 2 ruise visits and our going to be visiting an Oceana boat in August . They are a great experience , they say you cant visit if you have already cruised with that line , although our first visit was to Celebrity Solstice , and we have cruised on Celebrity ...we had 'won' the visit in a charity auction , maybe they didnt check or maybe they cant check if you have cruised with them before ?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have never done this but would be tempted for a cruise line I have never been on. Would be a great day out but I am not convinced that it would tell me anything about whether I would enjoy cruising on that particular ship or with that cruise line.

 

My preferred approach is to book a bargain price 2-3 day short cruise. Still not the same as the longer cruise but you get to sample what it is like without regrets over committing time or money for a cruise you wouldn't enjoy.

Thing is with doing that the 2 day cruises are very very busy and doesn't really give you an idea of what it would be like on a longer cruise. We have done a couple of 2 dayers and longer cruises and there is a totally different vibe about the ship on the longer ones. everyone is more relaxed (including the staff!!) and not rushing around.

If I did a ships visit on a ship that had music playing everywhere and all shiny glitz and glamour, I would know from that ships visit that I wouldn't enjoy a cruise on her.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The price of ship visits, now called Guided Tours, has increased to £30pp for adults, £10 for children betweek 5 and 15 and free for under 5s. The price increased in March 2018 and for every adult booking P&O donate £5 to Teenage Cancer Trust and I do not think getting the money back if a booking is made in OBC is any longer applicable.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We have done 2 ruise visits and our going to be visiting an Oceana boat in August . They are a great experience , they say you cant visit if you have already cruised with that line , although our first visit was to Celebrity Solstice , and we have cruised on Celebrity ...we had 'won' the visit in a charity auction , maybe they didnt check or maybe they cant check if you have cruised with them before ?

 

 

 

I booked a ship visit on Britannia in 2016, we have cruised every year since 2012 and I noticed it said if you haven’t cruised before but they still let us book it! They even asked me if I’d cruised before when I booked! Britannia is quite different to the rest of the fleet so we wanted to look round before we booked.

We thoroughly enjoyed the day and the only bad thing was getting off knowing others were sailing off on her!

The meal alone was worth the £25 (I know they’re £30 now) and we made a little break of it by staying the night before in Southampton.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks John you have put a different perspective on P&O for me perhaps I will do a ships visit and try to get my hands on their daily patter equivalent.

 

 

 

 

If you are familiar with Princess, Sun, Grand and Royal class ships then you should be familiar with there equivalents on P&O. Oceana is Sun class, Azura and Ventura are Grand class and Britannia is Royal class. The actual staterooms are not different in size or layout. The main differences are that P&O have an in cabin kettle with tea/coffee making opportunity. Negating trivial room service with a tip for a steward bringing teas or coffees. You may also bring on board your own stuff for a brew like instant hot chocolate, specialist tea bags etc.

 

A ship visit will be interesting but I do not think it will reveal a great deal about the differences in overall cruise experience. The in house daily news sheet Princess Patter or P&O Horizon will show differences in programme but it is hard to explain that a P&O comedian's act will not be understood by some people who have not endured daily life in the UK. Drinks are all in pounds sterling at roughly UK pub prices and tipping starts at 13 years of age. I think overall you will love P&O but it's a bit different from Princess

 

Regards John

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ships visits are a great way find out a little more about a ship. We did a visit to QM2 some years ago, and came away unimpressed, however lunch and wine was great! We disembarked at 2.30pm and boarded Eclipse for a cruise at 3pm!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ships visits are a great way find out a little more about a ship. We did a visit to QM2 some years ago, and came away unimpressed, however lunch and wine was great! We disembarked at 2.30pm and boarded Eclipse for a cruise at 3pm!

What a great idea! You get wined and dined and entertained to keep you busy until embarkation time! If I lived near Southampton I would certainly do rhis

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

Just wanted to pop back here and say I was successful in getting the cost of our ship visit (£50) back as OBC on our next cruise, although it was a good 10 months between the visit and booking a cruise, and it was on a different ship. Good job Cruise Critic is here otherwise I'd never know about these things!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
 Share

  • Forum Jump
    • Categories
      • Welcome to Cruise Critic
      • New Cruisers
      • Cruise Lines “A – O”
      • Cruise Lines “P – Z”
      • River Cruising
      • ROLL CALLS
      • Digital Photography & Cruise Technology
      • Special Interest Cruising
      • Cruise Discussion Topics
      • UK Cruising
      • Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
      • Canadian Cruisers
      • North American Homeports
      • Ports of Call
      • Cruise Conversations
×
×
  • Create New...