What do you LOVE about P&O?

[Josy1953]

Yes same here A short ride to the cruise terminal instead of a 6 hour drive to Sohampton You never know it may happen!

 

Same here from Stoke on Trent. :)

We would also love to go from Liverpool, as you say it is a much shorter drive than Southampton for us though we obviously drive faster than you as it has never taken us 6 hours from Stoke on Trent even with 2 comfort stops along the way.

[majortom10]

Yes same here A short ride to the cruise terminal instead of a 6 hour drive to Sohampton You never know it may happen!

 

Same here from Stoke on Trent. :)

 

What do you travel to Southampton that takes 6hrs from Stoke I can do it, avoiding motorway problems, in 3 hrs easy.

[soobs]

For us it is a coach or train and a hotel for the night, wouldn't like chancing bad weather, break downs or traffic hold up would be a stress for me and hate long drives in the car not a holiday for me. So a quick hour and a half and on board would be a dream.

[daiB]

For us it is a coach or train and a hotel for the night, wouldn't like chancing bad weather, break downs or traffic hold up would be a stress for me and hate long drives in the car not a holiday for me. So a quick hour and a half and on board would be a dream.

 

 

I do not mind the drive down from the NE but never on embarkation day. Sometimes the day before but now always 2 days before and we extend the holiday. We have stayed at hotels from Poole to Portsmouth and up to Newbury. So we are within an hours drive on departure day.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

[louthebowler]

(One big bonus for me would be sailings from Liverpool I would never be at home

)

 

Ah yes, 10mins on motorway, a quick hop through the tunnel and there we are- if only.

Sorry- we have made this a (things we would love thread!):D

maybe we should start a new one and get as many people as possible to vote for Liverpool!

Edited June 25, 2014 by louthebowler

[bigjoe001]

:) About time people began being positive. P&O has improved greatly this year. In my mind the key premise is simply ships aimed totally for the British Market. The money grabbing rules and methods applied by certain American Brands - i.e RCCL / Celeb re tipping and not being allowed to bring bottles on board really do put me off travelling with them again.

 

OK P&O's not perfect, but the brand offers value for money - UK£ pricing, and the Great British Sailaway - I do like to be occassionally patriotic.

 

The ships company's are a credit to the brand.

 

Hopefully someone from P&O is rerading this for market intelligence, so please please please experiment with a Liverpool departure - would Oceana or Aurora be such a risk. It would save me a 5 hour drive, and no overnight accomdation.

 

Oceana x 5

Adonia x 1 ( Sea Princess)

Volendam x 1

Westerdam x 1

Ryndam x 1

Golden Princess x 1

Explorer of the Seas x 1

Soverign of the Seas x 1

Monarch of the Seas x 2

Carnival Sensation x 1

Azura x 2

Arcadia x 2 - (awful ship never again)

Ocean Village x 1 - (Big Mistake thank goodness brand was ditched)

Costa Victoria x 1 ( Opps another big mistake)

Aurora x 1

Norwegian Pearl x 1

Enchantment of the Seas x 1

Majesty of the Seas x 1

Navigator of the Seas x 1

 

Coming soon Oceana 26th October 2014

[cruisefan2012]

What do I love about P&O?

 

I love that I can join the ship in Southampton, 3hrs from home

 

I love that P&O is traditional and aimed at British travellers

 

I love that P&O dont have huge ships with water slides and rock climbing walls, ice rinks etc

 

I love P&O Azura

 

I think Headliners are a credit to P&O, Always such fantastic shows

[Presto2]

Same here from Stoke on Trent. :)

 

What do you travel to Southampton that takes 6hrs from Stoke I can do it, avoiding motorway problems, in 3 hrs easy.

 

The first time we went down we travelled on a Friday afternoon and it took us 6 hours. The traffic was a nightmare and we vowed never to do a Friday again. We prefer to travel on a Thursday and have an extra day in Southampton. Makes the holiday a little longer -a good excuse. ;)

 

Must admit we've never done it in anywhere near 3 hours. Do you have a helicopter. :);)

 

PS Thanks to everyone for all of the great positive posts - I knew they were out there somewhere. :)

Edited June 25, 2014 by Presto2

[cruisefan2012]

Yes, I do have a helicopter - I borrow it from Will & Kate...

 

I cant drive so I go from Stafford to Southampton on the train, Its the Manchester Piccadilly to Bournemouth train

[sunnybrian]

Hopefully someone from P&O is rerading this for market intelligence, so please please please experiment with a Liverpool departure - would Oceana or Aurora be such a risk. It would save me a 5 hour drive, and no overnight accomdation.

TOTALLY AGREE

Hopefully it will happen soon especially with the Cunard Building being brought back into use.

Edited June 25, 2014 by sunnybrian

[Presto2]

Yes, I do have a helicopter - I borrow it from Will & Kate...

 

I cant drive so I go from Stafford to Southampton on the train, Its the Manchester Piccadilly to Bournemouth train

 

That's cheating :D Hubby is glad though that it isn't his driving. :)

[Presto2]

Hopefully someone from P&O is rerading this for market intelligence, so please please please experiment with a Liverpool departure - would Oceana or Aurora be such a risk. It would save me a 5 hour drive, and no overnight accomdation.

TOTALLY AGREE

Hopefully it will happen soon especially with the Cunard Building being brought back into use.

 

Is that true - they are opening the Cunard Building in Liverpool?

That sounds amazing if P&O could one day go from Liverpool as it would be of great benefit to anyone who loves in the North / Scotland.

 

:)

[Mysticalmother]

I have written 2 responses to this thread...neither have appeared. Neither were in any way offensive or advertising anything..can anyone throw any light on it?

 

i thought one of them was quite funny....!

[Presto2]

I have written 2 responses to this thread...neither have appeared. Neither were in any way offensive or advertising anything..can anyone throw any light on it?

 

i thought one of them was quite funny....!

 

Try again - I could do with a laugh. Fingers crossed it gets to us ;)

[Mysticalmother]

Try again - I could do with a laugh. Fingers crossed it gets to us ;)

 

...trouble is being a bit of a wrinkly I cant remember exactly what I wrote now! :o

But one post was about "going with Fred" (from Liverpool) and the other was about P & O sailing from Plymouth........:D

 

BTW - I do like P & O....but "love" ? hmmm...;)

[Josy1953]

What do you travel to Southampton that takes 6hrs from Stoke I can do it, avoiding motorway problems, in 3 hrs easy.

 

The first time we went down we travelled on a Friday afternoon and it took us 6 hours. The traffic was a nightmare and we vowed never to do a Friday again. We prefer to travel on a Thursday and have an extra day in Southampton. Makes the holiday a little longer -a good excuse. ;)

 

Must admit we've never done it in anywhere near 3 hours. Do you have a helicopter. :);)

 

PS Thanks to everyone for all of the great positive posts - I knew they were out there somewhere. :)

I know the problem of the 6 hour journey, we encountered overturned caravans twice on one journey and took over 5 hours because of closed carriageways and for a long time after that we have driven down to Southampton a day early and stopped in some great farm B&Bs. We have recently driven down on sailing day because it was Sunday and we managed 3 hours 20 mins because we only made one quick stop because I was concerned that we might meet an overturned caravan. We never exceeded the speed limit (curtesy of the cruise control on the car) so it is possible to drive down in 3 hours if there are no hold ups. I think that it really depends on the day and where in Stoke on Trent you are, we are only just inside, we are at the south end of the city and can walk out of Stoke on Trent in 10 minutes so I guess we are probable 15 - 20 minutes nearer to Southampton than someone who is the north of the city. I pray for the day that P&O decide to go from Liverpool, it would be so much shorter and easier to get there, we only take 1 hour to get to the Wirral when we visit relatives out there so we could probable even avoid the motorway and still get to the ship in less than 2 hours. Wouldn't that be another reason to love P&O.

[Presto2]

I know the problem of the 6 hour journey, we encountered overturned caravans twice on one journey and took over 5 hours because of closed carriageways and for a long time after that we have driven down to Southampton a day early and stopped in some great farm B&Bs. We have recently driven down on sailing day because it was Sunday and we managed 3 hours 20 mins because we only made one quick stop because I was concerned that we might meet an overturned caravan. We never exceeded the speed limit (curtesy of the cruise control on the car) so it is possible to drive down in 3 hours if there are no hold ups. I think that it really depends on the day and where in Stoke on Trent you are, we are only just inside, we are at the south end of the city and can walk out of Stoke on Trent in 10 minutes so I guess we are probable 15 - 20 minutes nearer to Southampton than someone who is the north of the city. I pray for the day that P&O decide to go from Liverpool, it would be so much shorter and easier to get there, we only take 1 hour to get to the Wirral when we visit relatives out there so we could probable even avoid the motorway and still get to the ship in less than 2 hours. Wouldn't that be another reason to love P&O.

 

Hi, fellow Potter ! (Ok Duck?!)

 

We are from the Northern end so it does take longer. To be honest, we have fell in love with travelling down at least a day before and watching the other cruise ships go out. We have stayed at the Holiday Inn and love it.

 

Must admit, to cruise from Liverpool would be very special and we would love it even more !!!!

[Presto2]

...trouble is being a bit of a wrinkly I cant remember exactly what I wrote now! :o

But one post was about "going with Fred" (from Liverpool) and the other was about P & O sailing from Plymouth........:D

 

BTW - I do like P & O....but "love" ? hmmm...;)

 

I have the same issue when having had a drink or too ---- or is it age ;)

 

Re loving P&O ----------- we just love our holidays, on land or sea and always make the best. Life is too short to see the negative all the time as some seem to do. My Mum and Dad would only have dreamed of the holidays we now have and having any sort of a cruise. ;):)

Edited June 27, 2014 by Presto2

[P&O SUE]

On the subject of Liverpool - I would go on a cruise from there too if it went to Dublin. I'm sure about 3/4 years ago P&O did a short break that included Dublin but they don't now. I live in the South East so Southampton is great for me but I would go on a short break to Dublin from Liverpool and have a day or two in port first (I love Liverpool!) :)

[Corfe Mixture]

Hopefully someone from P&O is rerading this for market intelligence, so please please please experiment with a Liverpool departure - would Oceana or Aurora be such a risk. It would save me a 5 hour drive, and no overnight accomdation.

TOTALLY AGREE

Hopefully it will happen soon especially with the Cunard Building being brought back into use.

 

I think the problem is financial (of sorts) and out of P&O's control..

 

Southampton Cruise Terminal was developed by the owners ABP using their own money, actually money they borrowed and were having to pay interest on.

 

Liverpool Docks are owned by the city and, as they said they couldn't afford to develop it themselves, the city obtained a European development grant to develop the port for cruising, BUT, the terms of there grant only allowed them to compete for and develop new business (the key word was development) and not to use the subsidy to fund competition to take existing business from ports which had funded their own expansion.

 

After the terminal was finished Liverpool appealed against the restriction and there a opposition from both the City of Southampton and ABP who both said they had no objection provided Liverpool either repaid the grant if ABP were compensated for having to compete on unequal financial basis. (Remember Liverpool had no obligation to pay or repay capital on their grant whilst ABP were servicing both interest ad capital repayments on their debt).

 

Which I think explains why new cruise lines entering the British market use Liverpool, but existing cruise lines are not currently using Liverpool.

 

I believe, though I am not certain that Liverpool were told, by the EU - who gave the grant, if they used the profits from their current operations to repay the grant then, once it was repaid, they would be free to compete for win existing business.

 

However, to date, I do not think they had shown any inclination to go down that path.

 

I will leave you all to make up your own mind about whether or not Liverpool should be allowed to use a development grant, intended to attract new business, as a basis for competing to take business from other UK ports which are having to service the debt associated with their port infrastructure costs.

 

making con their grantwas a big with other self funding ports.

Liverpool, I believe went try to try they were only allowed to compete with other using

[Corfe Mixture]

making con their grantwas a big with other self funding ports.

Liverpool, I believe went try to try they were only allowed to compete with other using

 

Oops what is qoted above was part of the 'draft' and should have been edited out, but I was sat in a launderette in France making the above entry and the dryer stopped and by the time I got to read the entry myself, it was too late to edit.

[Corfe Mixture]

Just to clarify...

 

The EU development grant was awarded on the basis of developing Liverpool as A PORT OF CALL for cruise ships in order to provide DEVELOPMENT support for the North West region's tourist industry.

[Host Sharon]

Liverpool only makes sense for ships sailing north or east. If they are going to the Med etc. it is out of their way using extra fuel.

[Pompeyboy]

So looking forward to returning to P & O after sampling the delights of other lines and agree with the previous posts particulary Roobydoobydoo as I too require gluten free food and have built up agreat rapport our waiters and the MD who have always been excellent. And there is nothing like being able to make your own tea and coffee without the need to call room service and wait!:)

[Alan Flett]

I think the problem is financial (of sorts) and out of P&O's control..

 

Southampton Cruise Terminal was developed by the owners ABP using their own money, actually money they borrowed and were having to pay interest on.

 

Liverpool Docks are owned by the city and, as they said they couldn't afford to develop it themselves, the city obtained a European development grant to develop the port for cruising, BUT, the terms of there grant only allowed them to compete for and develop new business (the key word was development) and not to use the subsidy to fund competition to take existing business from ports which had funded their own expansion.

 

After the terminal was finished Liverpool appealed against the restriction and there a opposition from both the City of Southampton and ABP who both said they had no objection provided Liverpool either repaid the grant if ABP were compensated for having to compete on unequal financial basis. (Remember Liverpool had no obligation to pay or repay capital on their grant whilst ABP were servicing both interest ad capital repayments on their debt).

 

Which I think explains why new cruise lines entering the British market use Liverpool, but existing cruise lines are not currently using Liverpool.

 

I believe, though I am not certain that Liverpool were told, by the EU - who gave the grant, if they used the profits from their current operations to repay the grant then, once it was repaid, they would be free to compete for win existing business.

 

However, to date, I do not think they had shown any inclination to go down that path.

 

I will leave you all to make up your own mind about whether or not Liverpool should be allowed to use a development grant, intended to attract new business, as a basis for competing to take business from other UK ports which are having to service the debt associated with their port infrastructure costs.

 

making con their grantwas a big with other self funding ports.

Liverpool, I believe went try to try they were only allowed to compete with other using

 

Liverpool have repaid the monies and are in the process of turning the Cunard Building into a passenger terminal which will be ready next year I think. Then they can be a complete turnaround port.