Why only P&O

[balf]

I am often surprised that some posters seem to have only ever sailed with P&O. In some cases multiple times. Over the last 10 years or so we have cruised with more than 10 different companies, and have enjoyed the contrasts and differences between them.

 

So why do some folk stick to just one cruise line, and sometimes just to one ship?

 

And it isn't just P&O, I met one couple on QE2 who had sailed well over a hundred times aboard her - and had the captains award to show for it.

 

David.

[Gerrym]

Although I am in the camp of variety is the spice of life and have tried several lines, I can also understand someone who has only tried P&O, loves it, and wants to stick with the winning formula.

 

If it aint broke, don't fix it!

 

:D

[2irisheyes]

I also do not understand why this is so. I can only imagine that some people are attracted by the "loyalty" scheme - like Tesco's Clubcard etc. We have cruised about 7 times each time with a different cruiseline and would sail again with all of them except one. From what I've read of the loyalty schemes, unless you have quite a few cruises under your belt with one cruiseline, the benefits are not up to much, certainly not enough to deter me from trying other companies. Itinerary and cost are of greater importance to us.

[stopgo]

I am often surprised that some posters seem to have only ever sailed with P&O. In some cases multiple times. Over the last 10 years or so we have cruised with more than 10 different companies, and have enjoyed the contrasts and differences between them.

 

So why do some folk stick to just one cruise line, and sometimes just to one ship?

 

And it isn't just P&O, I met one couple on QE2 who had sailed well over a hundred times aboard her - and had the captains award to show for it.

 

David.

Great topic David, I think it's because P/O sail from Southampton, which appeals to the those who are nervous about flying.

[Cruise_Kitten]

I am one who loves to try different things. I have sailed P&O Ventura and have to say i did enjoy her but as a 22 year old woman I like change. I am sailing with RCCL next year and hope i enjoy them as well. I guess i am a Tesco's Clubcard holder but not afraid to shop at Sainsburys or Waitrose if the mood takes me as an example and borrowing someones idea.

As i get older i think i may settle for P&O as the big ships will lose their appeal as i lose my looks lol.

I think those that sail the same ships constantly are the ones that have tried and liked what they see and what they get. Those that change are those that seek something different to suit their mood.

We all have to remember that one persons like may be anothers hate lol

 

CK x

[Johnthed0g]

We find the website easy to understand, we get an idea from that. We have been with OV, QE2, Celebrity as well.

[silver service]

we have used p&o, also cunard ( both ships) we live in southampton.

almost like getting on a bus! will explore more of the p&o fleet next year,

regards, mike:)

[marlin48]

We have just booked our 3rd cruise all with P&O simply because of Southampton and we don't want to fly.

[Suebiker]

Although I am in the camp of variety is the spice of life and have tried several lines, I can also understand someone who has only tried P&O, loves it, and wants to stick with the winning formula.

 

If it aint broke, don't fix it!

 

:D

 

Totally agree with you Gerry - we had always sailed with P and O until last year when we tried RCI. But we really regretted it , didn't enjoy the experience. So from now on we shall stick we P and O as the product just suits us. Interestingly enough however I would never go to the same place twice on a land based holiday!!!!!

 

Sue

[lancashire_cruisers]

Hmmm... why do we stick with P&O? Well the reasons for us are:

 

- DH has a fear of flying and is quite happy to stay that way. Therefore in cruising terms that somewhat restricts the cruise lines available.

 

- We don't just want to do the usual 14 nights around the med every year and P&O have a much wider variety of cruise itineraries available.

 

- We have a 10 year old daughter and as far as she is concerned nothing beats P&O's kids clubs.

 

Our last cruise was with RCI on Jewel of the Seas and whilst the ship was beautiful, the 'RCI experience' was of a much lower standard than P&O (in our opinion of course:D) and as a result we will not cruise with RCI again.

 

Once DD is a bit older we intend to do a transatlantic to New York with Cunard, but the sheer variety of ports of call you can visit with P&O make them a hard act to follow.

 

Debbie:)

[Gerrym]

Totally agree with you Gerry - we had always sailed with P and O until last year when we tried RCI. But we really regretted it , didn't enjoy the experience. So from now on we shall stick we P and O as the product just suits us. Interestingly enough however I would never go to the same place twice on a land based holiday!!!!!

 

Sue

 

 

Oh dear Sue, we are thinking of trying RCI next year, whoops!

 

What didn't you like?

 

 

Gerry

[scottie99]

In the last 20 years we have cruised NCL (3 times), Royal Caribbean (12 , Carnival(1), Thomsons (1), Island Escape (1-never again, Holland America (1) Celebrity (1) and P&O (4).

 

For a while RCCL were our favourite but more recently we have preferred P&O.

 

RCCL in my opinion has cut back their product just too much. Entertainment has suffered. We cruised twice with them this year (Jewel and Brilliance) and found in the evenings, apart from the theatre show, there was little else to enjoy, whereas on the Ventura last week we seemed spoiled for choice with theatre shows and also first class entertainers in 1 or 2 other lounges.

 

I also think that the quality of food is better on P&O.

 

There is also the matter of bringing alcohol onto the ship (No on RCCL , yes on P&O) not to mention much better drink prices (without 15% tip added.)

 

Also as we get older we prefer the facility to leave from Southampton rather than fly long haul to meet the ship (I realise that RCCL and Celebrity now leave from Southampton, but for a while, that was not the case).

[luv2krooze1791]

We have just booked our 3rd cruise all with P&O simply because of Southampton and we don't want to fly.

 

There is still plenty of choice if this is your requirement.

 

I would have been happy to remain with QE2 as long as possible. It is only now she has gone that I am exploring other ships. Being on QE2 was like being back home.

[stopgo]

There is still plenty of choice if this is your requirement.

 

I would have been happy to remain with QE2 as long as possible. It is only now she has gone that I am exploring other ships. Being on QE2 was like being back home.

You must have some home, if it resembles the QE2.

[tom_uk]

For the last couple of years or so we've bounced back & forwards between P&O and Celebrity. We find both of these lines very congenial. I think we do enjoy quite big ships - we've done Oriana, Ventura, Galaxy & most recently Solstice - but I don't think we'd be tempted by anything bigger. We certainly enjoy formal evenings and the chance to dress up, and both P&O & Celebrity score well in that regard. We enjoy the variety of going on different ships with different lines; I don't think I'd be happy doing the same itinerary on the same line cruise after cruise. I'm quite tempted by the idea of cruising with Princess - it would be interesting to compare Ventura with one of Princess' similar ships. For the future it would be interesting to compare Arcadia with another Vista; perhaps Queen Victoria, or maybe one of the Holland America vistas. But I don't think I'd want to cruise on Costa Luminosa.

[Suebiker]

Oh dear Sue, we are thinking of trying RCI next year, whoops!

 

What didn't you like?

 

 

Gerry

 

Hi there

 

Basically we felt the service and food were poor in comparison to P and O. The buffet was very good and had a great selection. However the main restaurant let it down. The menu was quite limited with many dishes being repeated daily - each day there was just one or two new dishes on the menu and the rest remained the same. Also vegetables were very limited usually consisting of something like 2 slices of courgette or 3 green beans!!!!! When we asked for more we were given brocolli and carrots - fine. Except that we got brocolli and carrots every day for the rest of our 14 night cruise!!!! Our daughter childrens menu remained the same for the whole of the cruise with no variation whatsoever. I did ask if it could be changed for the second week of our cruise and was assured it would . However it never changed despite complaining several times. The waiters were great , very pleasant however they would bring my daughter pudding before she had finished her main course!!! and would bring fries every day even if I hadn't ordered them!!!!

 

We also had a poor room steward who would often forget to replenish our toilet roll , he put a dirty ripped pillowcase on our daughters bed. We had a ever growing collection of glasses on our shelf which were never removed.Amongst many other small problems. We were unimpressed by the lack of attention to detail.

 

I know I probably sound like a real moaner but we just really didn't enjoy the RCI experience.There were lots of other problem we had which I won't bore you with. But I can honestly say it was the only cruise where we have ever complained and I actually wanted to go home!!!!!!!!

 

But maybe we were just unlucky - I would say if you like lots of sports activities, good entertainment and food is not your priority. Then you may love it. The ship itself was stunning, well laid out , the pools were large and warm. Unfortunately food and good service are very important to us and for us P and O just suits our needs better. I do wonder if the fact that we went on IOS had something to do with the food and service as many people said the food had been better on other RCI ships. I have also heard that RCI staff don't like to work out of Southampton because the Brits don't tip well!!!! Maybe staff morale is low.All I can say is go with an open mind and try it . RCI doesn't suit us but they do get good reviews - it depends what you want out of a cruise!!!!!

 

Sorry for the long post

 

Sue

[LibraLass41]

I don't expect the reason for sailing just P&O is because they want to sail from Southampton, because there are a few cruise lines that sail from Southampton - Princess, RCI, Cunard etc.

 

I think its because a lot of Brits like the Brit product P&O provide, £' s currency on the ship, food catered towards Brits, all passengers mainly brits, brit entertainers.

I agree the ain't broke don't change it approach appeals to lots of people too. I have sampled 2 US ships now - Celebrity and RCI, and would like to try Princess and Cunard soon, so although I have sailed mostly P&O I fully intend to try other lines in the coming years.:)

[lancashire_cruisers]

Hi Sue

 

We had a similar experience to yourself food-wise on our RCI cruise, except we were on Jewel of the Seas not IOS.

 

We would never cruise with RCI again but not just because of the standard of the food, the whole experience for us was of a much lower standard than P&O but for the same price.

 

Debbie:)

[Johnthed0g]

We found Celebrity to be very good, Cunard also, but P&O are just fine really. We were disappointed with the repetitive entertainment, all ships the same, but that may well be our fault for cruising too many times this year with the same line.

[SantaCruiser]

I have been on a number of cruise lines and tend to stay with Oceania and their three small ships. I like the lack of formal nighst and the ability to eat in any of the restaurants on board without additional charges. I am a foodie and find the Oceania cuisne outstanding.

 

The San Francisco - Sydney segment of the Arcadia world cruise 2010 will be my first time on P&O. I am am interested to see the difference between lines that cater to a U.K. based clientale versus those that draw mainly Americans.

 

What has been the experience of others?

[Suebiker]

Hi Sue

 

We had a similar experience to yourself food-wise on our RCI cruise, except we were on Jewel of the Seas not IOS.

 

We would never cruise with RCI again but not just because of the standard of the food, the whole experience for us was of a much lower standard than P&O but for the same price.

 

Debbie:)

 

Very interesting Debbie

 

I had thought maybe it was just because we were on a big ship- obviously not!!!! We felt exactly the same as you.

 

Sue

[beauchamp]

I am often surprised that some posters seem to have only ever sailed with P&O. In some cases multiple times. Over the last 10 years or so we have cruised with more than 10 different companies, and have enjoyed the contrasts and differences between them.

 

So why do some folk stick to just one cruise line, and sometimes just to one ship?

 

 

Because they can.

 

Personal choice, it's one of the benefits of living in a free society.

[ovccruiser]

Because they can.

 

Personal choice, it's one of the benefits of living in a free society.

 

I don't think the OP was trying to solicit political answeres, but more of a personal answer.

 

Personally I usually cruise Cunard and have tried P & O once on Oceana. Didn't really enjoy the ship, food was good, the company at our table was good, the cruise itinerary was good, but the ship just seemed overcrowded. We are sailing with P & O again in January on Artemis around the Caribbean. I have read some excellent comments on here about the ship so we are quite looking forward to the cruise. Just to oppose our normally sailing Cunard, my wifes cousin only sails P & O:D

[LibraLass41]

Geoff

I thought your member name meant Ocean Villiage Cruiser - see you like Cunard am I way off track then?

[MAZANDSTEVE]

Very interesting Debbie

 

I had thought maybe it was just because we were on a big ship- obviously not!!!! We felt exactly the same as you.

 

Sue

 

 

We sailed on Brilliance this year and the food was poor, we ate mainly in the speciality restaurants after trying the MDR for a few nights and they were fantastic. We loved the ship and Itinery though and would definately sail with her again but are looking at other options for now, so to experience other lines. We liked the fact she sailed out of Barcelona, not to far but starting off in the sun with calm seas.