P&O 13th out of 20 in Which? survey 'not great value - no wow factor' - fair?

[janny444]

2 minutes ago, Les_ldh said:

 

You always run the risk no matter which form of transport you choose, trains delayed, traffic jams etc. I travelled the day before too, mainly as I had a long journey from Newcastle, and kept the costs down by staying in the Premier Inn. Basic but did the job.

 

Les.

 

We always used to drive down ...not now...traffic is a nightmare. Also travelled down by train....the day before...but the state of the trains is so unreliable....delays....strikes...etc.so now we go down by cruise connect coach from Preston...no problems....certainly less stressful....wouldn't consider any other way and when it is included in cruise price it's a win win situation

[Presto2]

I think I am right in saying that Princess came out in the bottom 5 !! Ouch. Bet they aren't pleased either.

 

[P-L-B]

2 hours ago, docco said:

Am I the only one that really likes the Headliners?  🙂

 

I think some of the Headliners criticism is due to them not changing their show productions very often. Therefore, we tend not to go to all of their shows because more often than not we have seen them before.

However, recently on board Aurora we were fortunate to go to the Headliners Theatre Company’s premier performance of their new show called ‘Applause’

They received a deserved standing ovation for their performance.

[AndyMichelle]

2 hours ago, Eglesbrech said:

 

Probably. The shows are OK the first time, but by the third (or more) time you don’t want to see it again😀.

 

Thats why the Limelightb will be popular as it offers something just a bit different.

We loved the Limelight on Britannia, but thought it was drastically underused. I guess that is down in part to the quality of the acts or maybe the cost.  We saw Sinbad from Brookside and had a great time and thought it was excellent value and a really personable show.

Headliners tend to be a bit squeaky for me.

Andy

[Harry Peterson]

2 hours ago, Presto2 said:

I think I am right in saying that Princess came out in the bottom 5 !! Ouch. Bet they aren't pleased either.

 

Indeed so - 16/20 and 70%.  The common denominator of course is Carnival.  Eighth, thirteenth and sixteenth places out of 20.  I suppose that's what cost-cutting does for you.

[Harry Peterson]

40 minutes ago, P-L-B said:

 

I think some of the Headliners criticism is due to them not changing their show productions very often. Therefore, we tend not to go to all of their shows because more often than not we have seen them before.

However, recently on board Aurora we were fortunate to go to the Headliners Theatre Company’s premier performance of their new show called ‘Applause’

They received a deserved standing ovation for their performance.

True - but they really are an incredible group of professionals, and I can even watch the same shows more than one, provided it's not too often.

 

The 'comedians', though, I've found to be universally awful.  Outdated and just not funny.

[Presto2]

3 minutes ago, docco said:

Indeed so - 16/20 and 70%.  The common denominator of course is Carnival.  Eighth, thirteenth and sixteenth places out of 20.  I suppose that's what cost-cutting does for you.

 

To be honest that rating would worry me more than the P&O one as the cost of a Princess cruise is way over and above a P&O one (and Celebrity for that matter).

Edited January 20, 2019 by Presto2

[Harry Peterson]

27 minutes ago, Presto2 said:

 

To be honest that rating would worry me more than the P&O one as the cost of a Princess cruise is way over and above a P&O one (and Celebrity for that matter).

I’ve always reckoned P&O to be pretty good value if booked at the right time, though I fully accept it’s a bit downmarket on some of its competitors.

 

Princess and Carnival always struck me as much the same thing but at a higher price.

 

Saga appeals for all the extras included, but it’s horrendously expensive by comparison with P&O.

 

 

 

[daiB]

3 hours ago, Eglesbrech said:

 

Probably. The shows are OK the first time, but by the third (or more) time you don’t want to see it again😀.

 

Thats why the Limelightb will be popular as it offers something just a bit different.

Always going to have a problem when so many people cruise on a regular basis. 

[happy v]

4 hours ago, oxygenbanditnot said:

Our first cruise was Thompsons(now Marella) Island Escape.......We enjoyed.

Next 5 were P&O sailing round trip from Southampton, last one was Oriana 18 Nights including 2 full day's in Venice all for £1199 each inside cabin (late saver)     Have enjoyed them all.     P&O tick's all the boxes.    Not likely to try the "Biggies".

Next one is Marella Explorer, one of their "new" old one's.     Fly cruise Caribbean. 

Last couple of hol's were also flying, to Canaries.

Back to P&O after that though, will have had enough of flying; and they are just right for us.(apart from the Headliners)

Will have to think of better ways to get to Southampton, driving is getting to be a chore from Sunderland.

 

We travel down on the coach. It leaves from Washington services. There is no hassle whatsoever we look on it as the start of the holiday, pack a good picnic, with drink if you want, you're not driving :), sit back and relax. The cases are put on the coach and we next see them outside the cabin.

 

[terrierjohn]

3 hours ago, docco said:

Am I the only one that really likes the Headliners?  🙂

We find that we only want to watch a headliners show once, which means we rarely watch more than 1 a year, whereas we used to watch  repeat Celebrity shows more frequently.

[ONT-CA]

10 hours ago, docco said:

"By far the most sailed-on cruise line from this year's survey, P&O Cruises' mediocre three stars in most categories should make customers question their decades-long loyalty to this brand."

 

"Not great value, no wow factor"

 

Which's overall conclusion, based on an independent customer survey.

 

A fair conclusion?  Has P&O lost its edge, or have the customers responding to this survey got it wrong?

 

If available, we would appreciate the site address where the results of this survey are published. 

[darknightsdespiser]

Started with Princess, loved them but are booked with P and O again this year due to fly cruising direct from Glasgow.  Find the standards broadly similar but prefer the more British entertainment and the easier making of friends; also although not big drinkers it is nice to have a "cold one" whenever you feel like it on holiday and this kind of made us stand out on American based ships.  Did Marella to the Canaries last March and would not rule out again due to price, itinerary and regional flights but didn't find the standards, particularly entertainment to be anywhere near as good.

[Harry Peterson]

1 hour ago, ONT-CA said:

 

If available, we would appreciate the site address where the results of this survey are published. 

https://www.which.co.uk/reviews/cruise-lines/article/best-and-worst-cruise-lines

 

You'd need to be logged in to see all the detail, though.

[davecttr]

The sample sizes in this survey are tiny. P&O has the largest number of responders at 526 and Marella 161. The 'winner' Regent cruises had 58. 

 

It could be argued that the sample sizes and results reflect those who took part in the survey who are Which members. To be a member of Which you pay a subscription.

 

There is also the problem of what ships those responders were cruising on. For example P&O Oceana is lacking in onboard options for food and drink compared with other P&O ships but was Oceana part of the survey?

[Selbourne]

As to how P&O compares to other cruise lines, I would have no idea as we have only cruised with them. Also, we can only do round trip cruises from the U.K. so comparisons with lines that don’t do this are irrelevant to us. Fred Olsen itineraries are far more varied and interesting than P&O but I believe that they allow smoking on balconies (same with Saga I think), so that rules them out, as we recall the days of having unusable balconies on P&O when a neighbour smoked.

 

I agree that the small number of respondents to this survey almost renders it worthless, but I take the view that P&O getting feedback like this can only be a good thing for those of us who feel that the product is being dumbed down too much. It’s a tough one as cruises nowadays are far cheaper in real terms than when we first cruised with P&O in 1996 and there are far more facilities these days (e.g. Select Dining restaurants), all of which makes cruising accessible to a much wider demographic but, as a result, it is a far less exclusive and upmarket experience than the one we enjoyed 23 years ago. As a subscription based service, I suspect that the average Which? subscriber is above average income and probably middle aged / retired, so are likely to have similar experiences. 

 

As for ‘the’ Headliners, it amuses me that people talk as though there is just the one group of them and therefore are surprised at the differing views. Aside from the fact that each ship has its own troupe, the cast changes every so many months. We have done 16 cruises with P&O and, as a result of these facts, I don’t think we’ve ever seen the same troupe twice. I would say that the dancers are almost always pretty good, but the weak point can be the singers. Of the 16 different troupes we have seen, I would say that around 10 have been average, around 3 have been very good and an equal number have been very poor. As others have said, entertainment is subjective, but we find that most P&O entertainment is stuck in a time warp of 1950’s holiday camps. 

 

There is hope, however. On a recent cruise we had Jeffrey Holland from Hi di Hi (I know, you couldn’t make it up!) but his one man play of Laurel and Hardy was the best thing we have seen on P&O in 22 years. 

[groovechick]

15 hours ago, docco said:

Am I the only one that really likes the Headliners?  🙂

No, we do too because we don't cruise often enough for the shows to become stale, but I would say that the quality varies a lot from ship to ship, probably dependent on the troupe at the time. 

 

FWIW I agree with the "no wow factor" assessment. After no cruising for many years our first cruise was on an "old" RCI ship (Voyager), the next was on Aurora, which has a special charm (she's my favourite), but not a wow.

[amajaa]

Perhaps it is down to who actually voted. I never voted and I love P & O, Cunard and Princess. Also like RCI but it is a bit Butlins at Sea sometimes. MSC not too good.

 

Perhaps those that voted have only cruised a few times and are more likely to vote. Long time cruisers don’t often bother with voting etc. 

[Britboys]

18 hours ago, docco said:

Am I the only one that really likes the Headliners?  🙂

 

No you are not.  I always find them fine and generally enjoy their shows.  Again, it is pretty subjective.  People rave about the shows on Marella but whilst I felt the performers were fine, I felt the shows were just too ambitious for them and just somehow lacked something. 

[emam]

On 1/20/2019 at 8:33 PM, happy v said:

We travel down on the coach. It leaves from Washington services. There is no hassle whatsoever we look on it as the start of the holiday, pack a good picnic, with drink if you want, you're not driving :), sit back and relax. The cases are put on the coach and we next see them outside the cabin.

 

 

We also use the coach from Washington. It leaves at 6.00 a.m. (though it's good to be there for 5.30) and the few times we have used it been on-board before 2.00 p.m. with cases at door when we got there straight after boarding. If the bus is late for any reason I believe the ship has to wait for it.

 

Those polls are the same as the Brexit ones, selective in who they ask or where they are done (just my opinion as a Northerner). I still like to see how cruise ones turn out though.

[Selbourne]

23 hours ago, Selbourne said:

As to how P&O compares to other cruise lines, I would have no idea as we have only cruised with them. Also, we can only do round trip cruises from the U.K. so comparisons with lines that don’t do this are irrelevant to us. Fred Olsen itineraries are far more varied and interesting than P&O but I believe that they allow smoking on balconies (same with Saga I think), so that rules them out, as we recall the days of having unusable balconies on P&O when a neighbour smoked.

 

I agree that the small number of respondents to this survey almost renders it worthless, but I take the view that P&O getting feedback like this can only be a good thing for those of us who feel that the product is being dumbed down too much. It’s a tough one as cruises nowadays are far cheaper in real terms than when we first cruised with P&O in 1996 and there are far more facilities these days (e.g. Select Dining restaurants), all of which makes cruising accessible to a much wider demographic but, as a result, it is a far less exclusive and upmarket experience than the one we enjoyed 23 years ago. As a subscription based service, I suspect that the average Which? subscriber is above average income and probably middle aged / retired, so are likely to have similar experiences. 

 

As for ‘the’ Headliners, it amuses me that people talk as though there is just the one group of them and therefore are surprised at the differing views. Aside from the fact that each ship has its own troupe, the cast changes every so many months. We have done 16 cruises with P&O and, as a result of these facts, I don’t think we’ve ever seen the same troupe twice. I would say that the dancers are almost always pretty good, but the weak point can be the singers. Of the 16 different troupes we have seen, I would say that around 10 have been average, around 3 have been very good and an equal number have been very poor. As others have said, entertainment is subjective, but we find that most P&O entertainment is stuck in a time warp of 1950’s holiday camps. 

 

There is hope, however. On a recent cruise we had Jeffrey Holland from Hi di Hi (I know, you couldn’t make it up!) but his one man play of Laurel and Hardy was the best thing we have seen on P&O in 22 years. 

Just to add one other point, I am not surprised that poor value has been cited as a factor, given P&O’s pricing policy.

 

It really irritates me that in order to get the lowest price you have no choice but to book within a few weeks of launch, which can be over two years in advance. I’m only talking Select fares here as that is all we would book (as we want a specified cabin and our choice of dining), but it isn’t always practical or desirebale to have to book so far out. I know that one or two people on here keep hanging on to a theory that if you don’t check prices every minute of every day then you cannot be certain that prices aren’t lower at some other time but, like many other regular cruisers who monitor these things very closely, the facts are that launch prices in recent years have never been beaten. I always find it interesting that when I get the endless emails from P&O quoting amazing offers, Sales etc I always look up our future cruises and, without exception, they are all significantly more expensive than the price we paid at launch - sometimes as much as double the price. Consequently, some who are tempted to book under these ‘offers’ thinking that they are getting a good deal are understandably annoyed if they subsequently find out that they are paying far more than they might have done had they booked much earlier. Also, those who are simply unable to commit two years out (due to booking work holidays, health etc) are penalised. 

 

I thought that I had found away around this when someone pointed me towards a cruise tracker website (now ceased) but, as another poster commented elsewhere, it was inaccurate information as the prices we had paid for all our cruises were less than the ‘lowest price ever’ shown on that site. 

 

We are retiring in a few months and, as we will now have more time, I have been looking at cruises over the next 12 months to see if we can squeeze in one or two extra ones. I cannot find a single cruise that is cheaper than launch prices, so guess what? It puts me off booking. 

 

I predict that the arrival of Iona may, at long last, break this pattern, as I simply cannot see P&O filling this ship for a whole season doing the same 7 night cruise, week after week, to a destination that has limited appeal to families. We are doing the Maiden cruise and we love the Fjords, so if we like Iona I shall be looking out for last minute bargains as they try to fill the ship!

[Harry Peterson]

8 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

I predict that the arrival of Iona may, at long last, break this pattern, as I simply cannot see P&O filling this ship for a whole season doing the same 7 night cruise, week after week, to a destination that has limited appeal to families. We are doing the Maiden cruise and we love the Fjords, so if we like Iona I shall be looking out for last minute bargains as they try to fill the ship!

I'm sure you're right. 

 

I cannot see that P&O strategy (I struggle to find a reason for it, unless they're expecting a lot of teething problems and want to keep it relatively close to hand) leading to anything but underoccupancy and last-minute price cuts.

 

Which? will have based its comments about poor value on the 'normal' prices which take over after the initial low prices.  I have no idea, because I haven't checked, but perhaps these prices don't compare particularly favourably with the others?  Saga and Viking always strike me as much more expensive, though, with quite a premium to pay for the alleged better quality.

[davecttr]

Might the Iona situation be because of a lack of specialist refuelling facilities?. I presume they can refuel in Southampton and have heard they are aiming to provide one in Gibraltar?

[john watson]

Do we know who was voting? If it were polled internationally not many UK cruisers would be voting as few as 10%-15% judging by the content of this website.  If it were just UK cruisers voting, how many people on here can name twenty different cruise lines?  If the more obscure cruise lines are examined, it seems likely to me that people on those lines might have specifically sought them out.  In this respect they probably love them.

 

Regards John

[Les_ldh]

26 minutes ago, john watson said:

Do we know who was voting? If it were polled internationally not many UK cruisers would be voting as few as 10%-15% judging by the content of this website.  If it were just UK cruisers voting, how many people on here can name twenty different cruise lines?  If the more obscure cruise lines are examined, it seems likely to me that people on those lines might have specifically sought them out.  In this respect they probably love them.

 

Regards John

 

‘Very good point John.