1st time P&O cruiser Questions

[kerryincork]

Hello All!

 

We are going on our first P&O on the 23rd of June.

On the Venturer to Iceland. We booked the cheaper ticket option where P&O choose our cabin. When do P&O allocate cabins? Dining times? And boarding times?

 

Thanks

 

[john watson]

37 minutes ago, kerryincork said:

Hello All!

 

We are going on our first P&O on the 23rd of June.

On the Venturer to Iceland. We booked the cheaper ticket option where P&O choose our cabin. When do P&O allocate cabins? Dining times? And boarding times?

 

Thanks

 

 

The cruise personaliser on the P&O website will reveal your cabin and enable you to print out boarding passes and luggage tags.  I assume you have "created an account".  The cabin allocation and boarding times get advised a few weeks before sailing. Your cabin may be advised and then later be upgraded to a different one shortly before sailing.  If this rare upgrade situation occurs it is often just similar cabin in an alternate position on the ship.

 

Regards John

[kerryincork]

Thanks, I've cruised on most of the other mainstream cruise lines, but this is a first for P&O and a guarantee cabin.

 

The cruise is getting pretty close now and started to feel the excitement😊

[AndyMichelle]

We are going on 14th June and got our cabin allocation this week, so hopefully you should get yours very soon, fingers crossed.

It will be on your cruise personaliser but they also send an email.

Dining times are not confirmed until boarding, but saver fare often get second sitting, 8.30. 

Have a fantastic time,

Andy

 

[kerryincork]

We got our room assignment today, but no dining assignment, it says they will assign dining times once on board and you can't change your assignment.

 

We requested early, I think this is probably the most popular time to eat.

 

What is the possibility of getting this time? What time is the late seating?

[Harry Peterson]

13 minutes ago, kerryincork said:

We got our room assignment today, but no dining assignment, it says they will assign dining times once on board and you can't change your assignment.

 

We requested early, I think this is probably the most popular time to eat.

 

What is the possibility of getting this time? What time is the late seating?

I'm no expert on fixed-time (Club) dining but I believe it's at 1830 or 2030.  Probably 1830 is the most popular, as you say.

You CAN change whatever you've been allocated - they'll try to help you if they can, but obviously it isn't always going to be possible. A quiet word with the maître d' will often secure your choice. Why not Freedom Dine though - another option perhaps that might be available if you ask nicely.......

[daiB]

1 hour ago, kerryincork said:

We got our room assignment today, but no dining assignment, it says they will assign dining times once on board and you can't change your assignment.

 

We requested early, I think this is probably the most popular time to eat.

 

What is the possibility of getting this time? What time is the late seating?

Unfortunately being able to choose your dining option comes with the higher fare. Generally, but not always the most popular request is for first sitting. Then freedom with second sitting last. More and more people seem to want early meals and consequential freedom tends to fill up very quickly most nights as people turn freedom into first sitting. 

 

If you get second sitting and want to want to change then you need to go to see the restaurant manager on the first day, as soon as you board an find out your allocation.it will be in your cabin. If they can move you they will but those paying full fare will get priority. If you don’t get what you want try again.

 

For us it would make little difference as what we like is second sitting in club dining.

 

Good luck.

[AndyMichelle]

Second sitting suits us.

It saves rushing and we are quite partial to afternoon tea in the mdr about 4pm, so just enough time to digest.

Many passengers will rush early in fear of missing a show or not getting a seat in the live lounge, but we have never had any issue on any cruise.

Each to their own.

Andy

[amfc_lenny]

1 hour ago, AndyMichelle said:

Second sitting suits us.

It saves rushing and we are quite partial to afternoon tea in the mdr about 4pm, so just enough time to digest.

Many passengers will rush early in fear of missing a show or not getting a seat in the live lounge, but we have never had any issue on any cruise.

Each to their own.

Andy

 

We struggled on 2nd sitting to get a seat in some of the live music venues on a transatlantic cruise.

 

Though we find 1st sitting too early.

[Son of Anarchy]

We booked our last cruise on an Early Saver and did not get the dining we requested.  We spoke with the Maitre D on embarkation day and were allowed to change.  It wasn't until the third evening that they were able to confirm that we could go on to Freedom dining, but as it was a Christmas cruise there was probably lot of people being just as picky as us regarding dining.  As it was 16 nights, we thought getting the dining changed by the third night was fair enough.

[AndyMichelle]

4 hours ago, amfc_lenny said:

 

We struggled on 2nd sitting to get a seat in some of the live music venues on a transatlantic cruise.

 

Though we find 1st sitting too early.

See we have found the opposite having late sitting on our most recent cruises, neither particularly long.

On Britannia, we finished dinner the same time as the first show ended, so people were leaving, so no trouble finding a seat.

On Aurora, we never found a full venue, so again no problem finding seats.

We got to see everything we wanted to see without any trouble.

Perhaps we have just been lucky.

Andy

[kerryincork]

Thanks for the feedback everyone.

If we got late seating we would just have our main meal at lunch and a snack at dinner.

 

We actually prefer the anytime Dining option and is what we select on other cruise lines. We have never sailed with P&O, I foolishly thought it would be the most popular choice 😣 so picked early as I thought it would be least popular.

 

It's not the end of the world, we got a good cabin, so that is the main thing. I also have a New Years cruise booked, that time I chose select and picked anytime. 😊

[Sarah1974]

sorry to jump onto this thread but I'm wondering how strict are the Britannia boarding times at Southampton?  We've been given 15:30 but would like to board earlier - is that possible?  We don't want to be there early and made to sit and wait until our allocated time

Thanks

[pete14]

2 minutes ago, Sarah1974 said:

sorry to jump onto this thread but I'm wondering how strict are the Britannia boarding times at Southampton?  We've been given 15:30 but would like to board earlier - is that possible?  We don't want to be there early and made to sit and wait until our allocated time

Thanks

They will ask you to wait but if the queue of people arriving at the correct time get through quickly, they will allow those who are early to board early. You may be lucky but no guarantees. There are several other threads on this.

[AndyMichelle]

6 hours ago, Sarah1974 said:

sorry to jump onto this thread but I'm wondering how strict are the Britannia boarding times at Southampton?  We've been given 15:30 but would like to board earlier - is that possible?  We don't want to be there early and made to sit and wait until our allocated time

Thanks

We always go early and have always been lucky, but as Pete said, no guarantees.

Your luggage is taken as soon as you arrive and it is not the worst place to wait if you have to.

They have a great system in place and they genuinely do try to board you ASAP.

Good luck and have a great time.

Andy

[kerryincork]

When are you given a boarding time?

 

I have read that P&O have laundries on board for guest use. Do they do cold washes?