P&O v Thomson

[CRUISIN LINDA]

I have done a review of my Oceana cruise, but it is not on the review section yet (Easter holidays, I expect) I will put a link on when it appears :rolleyes:

 

So just a quick comparison. We found the ship very similar to Thomson and in fact Princess and Fred! The other passengers were very friendly, in fact I don't think we have ever chatted to so many people on one cruise before!

 

The crew were also very friendly, contrary to what we had been led to believe. Just like Thomson.

 

The food was, I think, slightly better than Thomson, tinned tomatoes excepted:D We had some evening meals in the MDR (freedom dining) and some in the buffet. Each night in the buffet had a theme. The Indian night was well attended and delicious (and I'm not a big fan of Indian food, preferring Chinese) The salads did not have so much variety as Thomson, but the desserts on P&O were better. One lunchtime I had a swan made of choux pastry and filled with cream - mmmmm!

 

The entertainment was good, but not so many shows by the show team, only 3 in 10 nights. I spoke to Grant, who was on the Spirit last year, and he said they would be doing every other night when the season started properly this week. There were also other acts, 2 comedians, a Tom Jones tribute, two guys who were called the Opera Boys, but who sang all sorts, a girl trio who sang 40's songs one night and 50's and 60's on another. My main complaint was showing films in the theatre on 3 nights - a bit of a cop out I thought :rolleyes:

 

The cabin, of course, was nicer as it had a balcony. I didn't get to see any of the other cabins, but when we went on her sister ship, Sea Princess, we had a standard outside cabin and it was fine. TBH the balcony was quite small anyway, but nice to be able to open the doors and get the sea air :)

 

All in all, a very nice introduction to P&O ;)

Edited April 6, 2015 by CRUISIN LINDA

[kruzseeka]

Thanks for that interesting comparison Linda. Glad you enjoyed it and as you say, a pleasant introduction. I'll look out for the review. ;)

[Julessmiles]

All sounds very good & positive Linda. Watch out Thomson!

[davecttr]

If you enjoyed Oceana you should try the other ships. For all her virtues Oceana is probably the least well equipped medium/large P&O ship as far as facilities are concerned. She does not have a Crows Nest (Horizons) or the very popular Glasshouse bar/restaurant and Beach House american diner. She is the most casual with only the main dining rooms and one small bar enforcing dress code on the 2 weekly formal nights. Half their ships still have jacket acquired evenings but that is being dropped next spring.

 

i am happy i tried P&O and almost all my cruises are now on their ships.

[Iain1873]

Comparing my recent Thomson Cruise with my last P&O Cruise , there is no doubt P&O win hands down , the staff i found to be every bit as friendly as the Thomson staff , entertainment on the Ventura was better than anything the Dream offered in January and the ships are light years apart , i returned to Thomson in January due to two previous excellent cruises with them , unfortunately it was a cruise to forget and i seriously doubt i wll return to Thomsons again , other lines give you so much more for your money these days.

[dronnygirl]

Thanks for the comments Linda - very interesting. We are on Oceana in September so looking forward to comparing with Thomson. To be honest, we booked when there was an offer on P&O and we couldn't find anything near the price with Thomson for September.

[mansej]

Two things worry me about the other lines is the tipping system and the lack generally of AI I like AI as it makes the whole experience worry free. Could someone please let me know on average how much extra per week it would cost, as regards tips and also what if any lines do an AI. Thank you in advance you clever lot:confused:

[gillhalfpint]

I loved your write up Linda, and pleased you enjoyed the experience. We have looked at some P and O for the Med later this year, but cannot seem to find and cheaper than Thomson yet, and they have 2 sea days instead of one. Will wait till nearer the date to compare them. Tipping and drinks could make a difference too I expect.

[kruzseeka]

Two things worry me about the other lines is the tipping system and the lack generally of AI I like AI as it makes the whole experience worry free. Could someone please let me know on average how much extra per week it would cost, as regards tips and also what if any lines do an AI. Thank you in advance you clever lot:confused:

 

Tipping just gone up to £5 p.p. per day (covers dining room waiting staff and cabin steward). Drinks have a service charge included so no need to tip bar staff. These tips can be removed - in part or in full by going to the purser and then tip personally should you wish. There's a whole debate about that which is quite acrimonious at times on the P&O forum - but I'll not get into that! (I should say that apart from those cruise lines which include tips, P&O is about as cheap as it gets in my experience.)

 

Drinks on P&O are very similar to Thomson for bottles of wine etc. They do various wine packages eg. six bottles for a reduced price as compared with the menu charge - but they are a mixed selection and we prefer to find one or two we like and order them separately. don't think they do an AI such as the type on Thomson.

 

Yes, generally the itineraries have two sea days per week so that's a consideration. Depending on when you book though there are often some good deal also obc offers so you really have to do your homework and work out how prices/offers work best for you.

[BaggersCruising]

Two things worry me about the other lines is the tipping system and the lack generally of AI I like AI as it makes the whole experience worry free. Could someone please let me know on average how much extra per week it would cost, as regards tips and also what if any lines do an AI. Thank you in advance you clever lot:confused:

 

P&O's tip are increasing shortly to £5 per person per day for anyone over 12 years old. They don't do any AI packages.

 

We agree with you, and it's nicer to have it all in, especially when Thomson are offering the drinks package at a reduced rate or free.

[CRUISIN LINDA]

Yes we will certainly be looking at P&O again. We tend to book by itinerary and price and not cruise line.

 

Our drinks bill was £300 for 10 nights, so £210 for a week which is slightly less than our bill on our last Thomson cruise. I would say Thomson, Fred and P&O have similar drinks prices.

 

You can remove the tips. We left them on this time, but might remove them in future when they go up.

[P&O Lynn Knickers]

I was looking forward to reading your comments Linda, and first it was great that You enjoyed your cruise.

 

At the end of the day, all cruise lines are doing a great job, big or small, cheap or not cheap, and its all down to our selves at the end of the day to make a great time out of anything....

 

You sound that You always enjoy yourself, which is a great thing....

 

 

 

 

.

Edited April 7, 2015 by P&O Lynn Knickers
Lynn loves life, Lynn loves wine.

[kalos]

I have done a review of my Oceana cruise, but it is not on the review section yet (Easter holidays, I expect) I will put a link on when it appears :rolleyes:

So just a quick comparison. We found the ship very similar to Thomson and in fact Princess and Fred! All in all, a very nice introduction to P&O ;)

 

Great to hear you had a good time Linda and look forward to reading all about it :)

 

Two things worry me about the other lines is the tipping system and the lack generally of AI I like AI as it makes the whole experience worry free. Could someone please let me know on average how much extra per week it would cost, as regards tips and also what if any lines do an AI. Thank you in advance you clever lot:confused:

I used to think the same regarding tips, thinking with Thomson they are all paid up ,but are they when you add it all up ?

 

lets start with Thomson I like to know where I am staying so would book a cabin of my choice and that is going to cost me £42 rather than be sat over a bow thruster for a week .

Then for our security I like a safe which will cost me £15 for the week and a lot of insurance companys expect you to use a safe if one is available .

Thats £57 gone out of my pocket ..My choice I know but for a couple of basic things.

 

I will soon be off with P&O and our tips were £3 .95 but are jumping up to £5 on the very day we set sail .

So now it will be £35 for anyone on a seven day cruise or £70 per couple.

But I know my cabin as I chose it and I will have a safe and a fridge and they have not charged me for it as I hit on a good select deal when I booked.

Also when I get off at ports should I need a shuttle bus thats paid for also. Thomson would charge me for that.

So in our case £70 minus the £57 (due to a price increase) will now cost us £13 more .

I will say this ,if the ship is even only half as good as the Crown Princess we went on ,then it's £13 well spent in our opinion .

Should we get bad service which I very much doubt we can remove those Tips and pay what we think ...This is not an option with Thomson, not that we would have as we were happy with the Thomson crew .

To us it's swings and roundabouts ..yer pays yer money ..you make your choice's.

As for the AI, we would get little value out of it as the drinks we have, we would still pay a reduced price to drink with Thomson .

Our drinks on Thomson /Fred and Princess all cost around the same for us.

 

Well that's my take on it .:):)

Edited April 7, 2015 by kalos

[CRUISIN LINDA]

Does anyone know how long it takes for a review to appear?:confused:

Edited April 7, 2015 by CRUISIN LINDA

[BaggersCruising]

Great to hear you had a good time Linda and look forward to reading all about it :)

 

 

I used to think the same regarding tips, thinking with Thomson they are all paid up ,but are they when you add it all up ?

 

lets start with Thomson I like to know where I am staying so would book a cabin of my choice and that is going to cost me £42 rather than be sat over a bow thruster for a week .

Then for our security I like a safe which will cost me £15 for the week and a lot of insurance companys expect you to use a safe if one is available .

Thats £57 gone out of my pocket ..My choice I know but for a couple of basic things.

 

I will soon be off with P&O and our tips were £3 .95 but are jumping up to £5 on the very day we set sail .

So now it will be £35 for anyone on a seven day cruise or £70 per couple.

But I know my cabin as I chose it and I will have a safe and a fridge and they have not charged me for it as I hit on a good select deal when I booked.

Also when I get off at ports should I need a shuttle bus thats paid for also. Thomson would charge me for that.

So in our case £70 minus the £57 (due to a price increase) will now cost us £13 more .

I will say this ,if the ship is even only half as good as the Crown Princess we went on ,then it's £13 well spent in our opinion .

Should we get bad service which I very much doubt we can remove those Tips and pay what we think ...This is not an option with Thomson, not that we would have as we were happy with the Thomson crew .

To us it's swings and roundabouts ..yer pays yer money ..you make your choice's.

As for the AI, we would get little value out of it as the drinks we have, we would still pay a reduced price to drink with Thomson .

Our drinks on Thomson /Fred and Princess all cost around the same for us.

 

Well that's my take on it .:):)

 

It is swings and roundabouts though as if you compare the difference between Select and Saver fares on P&O, they add up to more than the £42 per cabin that Thomson charge to reserve one of your choice, so from that point of view, it makes the £42 seem quite small, at £21 each for a couple. Yes, you get a benefit included with the Select fares, but the benefit, whether it be free parking or OBC is often nowhere near worth what the difference in prices are.

 

Yes, Thomson charge £15/£25 for a safe but tips are already included.

 

It's very much horses for courses, and each sailing will be different. On some, Thomson will work out cheaper overall, and others P&O.

[kalos]

Agreed Baggers ...that's why we both say "swings and roundabouts " and as you say not a lot in it between P&O and Thomson. :cool:

The maths would change even more if you were say a larger family and going on a longer cruise but in my case nothing to get upset about regarding the costs .;):)

[kalos]

Does anyone know how long it takes for a review to appear?:confused:

 

Dunno Linda been sat here waiting ages for yours .. a bit like buses I expect :D Have you got the post cruise blues yet ? ;):D

[CRUISIN LINDA]

Have you got the post cruise blues yet ? ;):D

Oh yesssss, still only 58 days till the next one :D

Edited April 7, 2015 by CRUISIN LINDA

[Kiki cat]

I would never ever tip £70 a week! That's a horrendous amount! I prefer to tip as I would in a hotel and this is what puts me off going with other companies!

[happy v]

My two penn'orth,

 

Oriana, really loved the ship. It was very elegant and had loads of small rooms. Plus no pillars in sight in the theatre. One major thing, the swimming pool was heated! so we could swim even in the Arctic.:)

 

The food for me was sightly better in the main dinning room but, I prefer Thomson buffet, BH also thought Thomsons salads much better. I must mention the bread and butter pudding which was far too delicious and I had far too many of them.;)

 

We had a lot of variety in our entertainment, some of which was very good. The show team though were poor, nice costumes but nothing memorable. Someone did tell me it was the worst they'd seen (P&O people). We also did the Bridge classes and we had a cinema and lecturers.

 

Our cabin was inside on B deck. Small but perfectly formed. I usually have a bath but found the shower acceptable but I haven't been in a shower cabin on Spirit/Celebration since they were upgraded.

 

We had a magical holiday but it was all about the itinerary. I didn't know which ship I was on till 2 days after I'd booked.

 

To sum up P&O very good but not greatly better than Thomson. Not enough for us to travel the length of the country unless it is an amazing itinerary.

[k8ti]

I work hard to pay for our holidays and booking early means we get the free Drinks Package. I know how much upfront I am paying and I tip if and when I believe it is called for. I am aware that we do not see agreat many who work hard in the background so with the addons mentioned above maybe P and O's £5.00 per day is a fairer way.

[Cloudyrain]

For us P&O wins when it comes to ship, rooms, and food - plus a few bonus points for general newness :)

 

But...

 

Thomson wins on the grounds of atmosphere, relaxed dress-code, relaxed dining, and staff.

 

Plus, although the saver fares are often really good deals on p&o, the select fares are very expensive: and I wouldn't go Saver and not be able to choose freedom dining. Besides, going by the people we met on the Ventura, having to share a table with some of them would have put me off my food :D

 

We encountered several incredibly rude people on p&o, and the staff were not as friendly as we had experienced with NCL previously. This was to the extent that people didn't want us sharing a table with them, and we even saw a older gentleman, walking with a stick, knocked over by an arrogant twit in a tux (just showing that money and style do not equal class!). In the "pub" at night we witnessed people openly critiquing the clothing choices of another passenger - apparently someone wearing shorts means that "one would think we have arrived in Butlins!"

 

We have never felt as welcome as we did on the Thomson Majesty ship, both staff and fellow passengers were virtually all friendly, helpful and good fun.

 

If all things are equal (cost, route, room type) we would choose Thomson over p&o without hesitation.

[CRUISIN LINDA]

I agree with you Cloudyrain about the Majesty - love her :)

 

Not been on Ventura, but we also found people on the Oceana very pleasant, both passengers and crew. Of course you always get a few snooty people, even found some on Thomson :rolleyes: but on the whole we were pleasantly surprised after some of the remarks made over on the P&O boards :D:D

[BaggersCruising]

on p&o, the select fares are very expensive:

 

That's what we think too.

 

At the end of the day though, both Thomson and P&O have very different pricing structures.

 

P&O have two types of fares that have different inclusions. If you're looking for a particular itinerary/date and want to choose your cabin, choice of dining, freebie such as OBC or free parking etc. then you have to stump up and pay the much higher select fare. And for those who aren't bothered about most of those, then the saver fares are great, for the cruises that the decent saver fares pop up on.

 

Thomson, however, have a simple price structure that does fluctuate due to the economic pressures of supply and demand. But for anyone who does want to pick a cabin, they can choose to pay a small fee, and for those who aren't bothered, again they don't have to pay for it.

 

There are arguments for and against both pricing structures, but neither is, or will ever be, perfect!

[kruzseeka]

I agree with you Cloudyrain about the Majesty - love her :)

 

Not been on Ventura, but we also found people on the Oceana very pleasant, both passengers and crew. Of course you always get a few snooty people, even found some on Thomson :rolleyes: but on the whole we were pleasantly surprised after some of the remarks made over on the P&O boards :D:D

 

That's what I think too Linda. The people we met on P&O on the whole were very pleasant and chatty. I sometimes think a few who post over there just use it to vent and say the things on line which they wouldn't say to your face! And anyone who feels the need to lord it over others are the kind I'd definitely avoid! ;)