looking to change from p&o to royal caribbean

[philipsw285]

we have become disillusioned with p&o and their lack of customer care and maintenance of ships i'm looking at explorer of the seas over independence of the seas due to there being more toys on independence. My questions are do they maintain the ships (p&o have stopped doing repairs unless it's urgent and wait for refit time) what is customer service like if you have a problem do they try and fix it and manage to most of the time.

what are the differences between the 2 ships apart from the size.

[philipsw285]

another question we have sailed celebrity in the past i'm captains club classic does thi count on royal?

[Merion_Mom]

another question we have sailed celebrity in the past i'm captains club classic does thi count on royal?

Reciprocity of benefits does not happen until Select.

[sloanesq]

All of Royal's ships that we have sailed on have been in excellent condition. Obviously, if you look hard enough, you can always find some signs of wear & tear. However, on every Royal cruise you will see plenty of staff working hard at painting, polishing, washing away salt, etc...

 

When we have needed repairs/maintenance in our cabin, they have always been taken care within a few hours at most.

[kernow]

Regarding customer service, despite lots of complaints on here, I have always found them very good. Any problems we've ever had large or(mostly)small have always been sorted fairly quickly to our satisfaction. I always think that they are an American company and have American service standards which seem much better than our British ones:)

 

Did you enjoy your Celebrity cruise compared to P and O, if so you will probably enjoy RCL too.

 

Julie

[philipsw285]

Regarding customer service, despite lots of complaints on here, I have always found them very good. Any problems we've ever had large or(mostly)small have always been sorted fairly quickly to our satisfaction. I always think that they are an American company and have American service standards which seem much better than our British ones:)

 

Did you enjoy your Celebrity cruise compared to P and O, if so you will probably enjoy RCL too.

 

Julie

 

We sailed celebrity eclipse 2010/2011 only stopped and looked elsewhere due to cost the prices went up in 2011/2012 that was our only reason for change eclipse has loads to do and is aimed at adult market that and my parents now use tesco club card points to save on cruise which they can now do on royal Caribbean.

I've just done my 3rd cruise in a row where itinerary changes have happened at last minute this one was thursday and we flew out on the friday and ended up doing 8 days at sea due to change this was a transatlantic from Barbados when we left Barbados i realised the aircon wasn't working in the cabin after 3 complaints it wasn't fixed i gave up complaining when on the 3rd time i was made to feel it was in my head that we were both waking up sweating in the night the entertainment during sea days was none existent afte the 2nd day. When you complain to head office you after the most you can get is an on board credit on a future cruise so i'm not doing anything this time which even if you have had a major problem is peanuts under £70 a cabin.

[philipsw285]

when is the best time to look at pricing in the uk with p&o if you look during the week prices sometime go down does this apply to rcl?

[Clarea]

when is the best time to look at pricing in the uk with p&o if you look during the week prices sometime go down does this apply to rcl?

No discernable pricing pattern with RC.

[philipsw285]

3 new questions I can't find the brochure online for anything beyond April 2019 even tho the cruise's are online when do you get the brochures? (sorry my parents are old school)

the next question is do they have formal nights where you have to dress up?

and the final question is they put arrival and departure times never had this before are these accurate most of the time?

[Clarea]

3 new questions I can't find the brochure online for anything beyond April 2019 even tho the cruise's are online when do you get the brochures? (sorry my parents are old school)

the next question is do they have formal nights where you have to dress up?

and the final question is they put arrival and departure times never had this before are these accurate most of the time?

Royal still does have formal nights, but the dress suggestions are not enforced, so you will see the full range of attire.

[yuvraj]

We sailed celebrity eclipse 2010/2011 only stopped and looked elsewhere due to cost the prices went up in 2011/2012 that was our only reason for change eclipse has loads to do and is aimed at adult market that and my parents now use tesco club card points to save on cruise which they can now do on royal Caribbean.

I've just done my 3rd cruise in a row where itinerary changes have happened at last minute this one was thursday and we flew out on the friday and ended up doing 8 days at sea due to change this was a transatlantic from Barbados when we left Barbados i realised the aircon wasn't working in the cabin after 3 complaints it wasn't fixed i gave up complaining when on the 3rd time i was made to feel it was in my head that we were both waking up sweating in the night the entertainment during sea days was none existent afte the 2nd day. When you complain to head office you after the most you can get is an on board credit on a future cruise so i'm not doing anything this time which even if you have had a major problem is peanuts under £70 a cabin.

 

Looks like you had a bad cruise with P&O. Perhaps more than one. You will find on these boards, people sailing with RC also having the odd bad experience which encourages them to look elsewhere.

 

I did the TA on Ventura a few years ago. I had a really good cruise and found the service to be excellent.

 

I have 30 yrs experience sailing with RC. Really like them and in many respects prefer them over P&O. However, I wouldn't say that they are better in all respects and IMO offer a different experience to P&O.

 

If I was to recommend a ship doing a European itinerary, it would be Symphony as it offers so many entertainment options.

[yuvraj]

when is the best time to look at pricing in the uk with p&o if you look during the week prices sometime go down does this apply to rcl?

 

I live in UK. Prices constantly fluctuate. I just regularly monitor and over time have come to know what is a good price. In my experience, RC seem to command a higher price than P&O but you get the odd cruise which is not selling well and that is when you could pick up a bargain.

 

I usually use an online travel agent website with good search facility to check prices regularly. Also, if you register with the major travel agents then they will text or email you if there is a really good deal on.

[kernow]

Regarding formal nights, RCL still have them and some people (including us) do still do the full black tie but many don't. I haven't been on P and O for a couple of years but would say that they are more formal. On cruises from the UK, I always find more people dressed up than those departing from other parts of the world.

 

I haven't had a brochure for years but I would think that any high street TA would be able to give you a copy of the latest one.

 

I agree with Yuvraj, while we prefer RCL overall, there are still some things that we think P and O do better.

 

Julie

[philipsw285]

yes I've had 3 bad cruise's since 2015 with p&o and each one had problems which involve each having port cancelation at last minute we did the fjords and out of 4 ports we actually visited 1 port and were taken to Bergen which wasn't on the schedule the trips they put on were a disaster we then went on Britannia in 2016 and it was already falling apart and they cancelled Gibraltar with a weeks notice before leaving due to to many ships being in port that day we just did azura transatlantic which had st martin cancelled last October which I accept but then we loose the azores on the way back if I had booked a cruise where it had 9 sea days in a row I would understand but we didn't and p&o hid behind t&c's saying it wasn't a major change only when it is major are refunds available that plus my issues while on the cruise put the nail in the coffin as far as I'm concerned with p&o.

I had 2 excellent cruises in 2012 on Azura and Oriana it has gone downhill since.

I'm looking at independence of the seas September 2019 round the med some ports we have already done and some are new I go with my parents and mum prefers Southampton due to luggage and being able to load the kitchen sink into the suit cases.....

I accept that no ship is perfect but with p&o there's now to much bad and not enough good.

What is the entertainment like during sea days do they always have things going on?

[peteukmcr]

I have only had 1 experience with P&O and didn't enjoy it. We found the 'freedom dining' appalling with 45 mins wait with no explanation.

 

My Time Dining is far superior IMHO. Although you are encouraged to make reservations, it is not mandatory, although we do. By using MTD we can get the table we want and don't have to share.

 

Formal evenings are no way as strict as on P&O. Although we do dress formally I object to being instructed on P&O that we are expected to wear formal attire all evening, or we are only welcomed in the pub and maybe 1 other venue. Also that after 6pm shorts are not allowed in most venues of the ship. As we don't eat until at least 8:30pm, being prevented to having a beverage in a bar of our choice and in our choice of dress after 6pm is not for us.

 

We have only sailed on Azura but found the ship badly designed, especially the buffet where the serving stations are so cramped. RCI ships are far better designed for passenger flow.

 

Food is subjective, but RCI has a greater range of specialty restaurants if that appeals.

 

As for arrival and departure times, with the very rare exception, we have found them totally accurate.

[philipsw285]

when I sailed celebrity boarding times are fast I actually managed to board at 11am on the 2nd cruise do they put restrictions on times of boarding.

last time sailing Southampton on Britannia we arrived 2 hours early for our allotted time of 3pm and were made to wait until 2.45pm before boarding so do RCI want to get you to the ship as soon as possible?

[peteukmcr]

when I sailed celebrity boarding times are fast I actually managed to board at 11am on the 2nd cruise do they put restrictions on times of boarding.

last time sailing Southampton on Britannia we arrived 2 hours early for our allotted time of 3pm and were made to wait until 2.45pm before boarding so do RCI want to get you to the ship as soon as possible?

I forgot to mention this, we boarded our last Celebrity TA sailing in Southampton at 11:15, 15 mins after arriving at the terminal. Again, P&O's boarding process is laughable. We've never waited longer than 30 mins to board a RCI or Celebrity ship and always arrive at the terminal between 10:30 - 11:00. The only time we have been delayed is in Florida when there has been a delay in the previous cruise guests disembarking, but we were still onboard by midday.

[philipsw285]

looking for room layouts on independence of the seas looking at spacious promenade layout or a video have seen a few you tubes but they are part of a big tour so don't see much a video that shows more of the room the is what I'm looking for the other option was to have an ocean view but have 2 rooms rather than 1?