Independence UK 2020 sailings cancelled

[Alohaaloha]

11 minutes ago, cbowls30 said:

 

With you on that one 👍 horrendous!!! It's just too British for us!

We feel the same- prefer the US ships - P and O just not for us 

[shopaholic6]

1 hour ago, Bobal said:

Things that would make me never sail on P&O - waving Union Jacks and playing Rule Britannia as they leave port <cringe>. We call it Brexit-on-Sea

Yeah God forbid should we celebrate our country..... 🤔🤔

Edited May 17, 2019 by shopaholic6

[grapau27]

1 hour ago, cbowls30 said:

 

Other thing that puts us off is 'dress codes' I can't bare being told what to wear on holiday! I know they now have flexible dining which is good but their website telling you what to wear pretty much sums it up for us!

Never felt like that on Royal...

The main things are obscene slogans on vest tops which are frowned on.

In our experience most people enjoy dressing for formal nights but other nights it is no different than Royal.

I'm D+ on Royal and sailed 100 nights covering all P&O ships so hopefully people will believe me on dress code.

[Rotherham_Cruiser]

They whipped out the flags again for our Royal Navy escort in the Gulf of Aden in January 

 

 

[grapau27]

13 minutes ago, shopaholic6 said:

Yeah God forbid should we celebrate our country..... 🤔🤔

Usually this is either on deck or in a lounge leaving the last port and easily avoided but it's like the 

Last Night of the Proms and we enjoy it.

[grapau27]

2 hours ago, cbowls30 said:

That's odd, my mum has been on both Britannia and azura, so perhaps it depends on itineraries and time of year? Besides age bracket it's too formal for us!

Formal night is well respected and most enjoy dressing up.

All the other nights people dress as casual as on RC.

[grapau27]

40 minutes ago, Rotherham_Cruiser said:

Miserable so and so's 😁

 

 

Love it.

Nice to see happy people.

[grapau27]

2 hours ago, cbowls30 said:

That's odd, my mum has been on both Britannia and azura, so perhaps it depends on itineraries and time of year? Besides age bracket it's too formal for us!

Have you been on yourself?

I have always found all age groups on board.

Maybe where your mam goes on board might be where older people congregate.

[Vegcurry]

This seems to have turned into a P&O thread!

[grapau27]

1 hour ago, Alohaaloha said:

We feel the same- prefer the US ships - P and O just not for us 

I like both but Royal withdrawing Independence next year from the UK after plenty of people had already booked is not good and the reason we are all posting.

[shopaholic6]

4 hours ago, grapau27 said:

Usually this is either on deck or in a lounge leaving the last port and easily avoided but it's like the 

Last Night of the Proms and we enjoy it.

OMG sounds fab! I can’t wait! 😊

[grapau27]

18 minutes ago, shopaholic6 said:

OMG sounds fab! I can’t wait! 😊

It is.

There is also a sailaway party from Southampton when pop music is played.

[Saab4444]

4 hours ago, grapau27 said:

Usually this is either on deck or in a lounge leaving the last port and easily avoided but it's like the 

Last Night of the Proms and we enjoy it.

I agree, these are very nice and fun events on P&O ships. We have been on Britannia, Aurora and Arcadia and always liked it a lot as non-British guests. Like the Last Night of the Proms. And the age of guests especially on the newer bigger and child friendly ships is no different from Royal. Unfortunately Britannia also does not go to Norway in 2020, I assume Iona could feel even more crowded with so many guests. But Anthem is not better in this respect.

[Rotherham_Cruiser]

Knees up songs as well

 

 

[cbowls30]

4 hours ago, grapau27 said:

Have you been on yourself?

I have always found all age groups on board.

Maybe where your mam goes on board might be where older people congregate.

 

Yup and used to work for them 

[grapau27]

11 minutes ago, cbowls30 said:

 

Yup and used to work for them 

The traditional ships Oriana and Aurora are adult only ships and attract the older clientele.

The family friendly newer ships attract a younger crowd and the 2 and 3 night cruises attract a lot of hen and stag parties.

If you used to work for P&O you should be singing their praises unless things didn't work out for you.

There has been lots of P&O TV advertising to attract families and a younger crowd.

We have sailed on all P&O ships over 100 nights cruising.

I prefer RCCL only because their C&A society loyalty program is fantastic against every other cruiselines loyalty programs.

[grapau27]

26 minutes ago, Saab4444 said:

I agree, these are very nice and fun events on P&O ships. We have been on Britannia, Aurora and Arcadia and always liked it a lot as non-British guests. Like the Last Night of the Proms. And the age of guests especially on the newer bigger and child friendly ships is no different from Royal. Unfortunately Britannia also does not go to Norway in 2020, I assume Iona could feel even more crowded with so many guests. But Anthem is not better in this respect.

Good points.

The fact Iona is doing a full summer season of 7 night cruises in the Fjords is a big plus as some other itineraries to the Baltic's and Canaries only have a few options of dates to cruise.

P&O TV advertising is changing everyone's perception of P&O for the better and attracting a new and younger clientele.

[grapau27]

45 minutes ago, Rotherham_Cruiser said:

Knees up songs as well

 

 

Thank you.

The crowds of people show how popular it is.

The cruise director and his entertainment team always put on a nostalgic show.

Can you post any of the pomp and ceremony music?

[Lynnwood]

9 minutes ago, grapau27 said:

Thank you.

The crowds of people show how popular it is.

The cruise director and his entertainment team always put on a nostalgic show.

Can you post any of the pomp and ceremony music?

Why should we not be patriotic? This is me on Ventura but I have also worn this on "Rock Britannia" on the Indy. Explore and the Adventure of the Seas. I think our American cousins show us the way in this! Be proud of your heritage wherever that may be. Unfortunately it wont be on Indy this year.   

[grapau27]

1 minute ago, Lynnwood said:

Why should we not be patriotic? This is me on Ventura but I have also worn this on "Rock Britannia" on the Indy. Explore and the Adventure of the Seas. I think our American cousins show us the way in this! Be proud of your heritage wherever that may be. Unfortunately it wont be on Indy this year.   

Great photo and I totally agree with you.

I have been in Orlando USA a few times for Thanksgiving and had a great time partying with our US friends.

[hackwid]

As a D+  member with over 280 nights.  Let me tell you what we just learned having just come off of our 5/2 Ovation of the Seas Hawaiian Drive-by cruise.

 

I have spent a lot of time investigating other similar cancelations/changes that have impacted RCCL cruises just within the past few months.  These are not weather or things beyond RCCL control.  These are specifically business decisions or preventable errors impacting the cruise made by Royal.  Thats what happened on our Ovation cruise.

 

As always do your own investigations and decide for yourself.   I find that someone who has sailed a lot learns whats the norm, whats beyond control and what is just a bad business plan.   As I told RCCL.  It is like buying a ticket to a high end Top tier black tie event and arriving in your formal tux to learn that for almost the same price you are now getting a backyard barbecue with the tagline "deal with it and too bad so sad."

 

It always take something to make you take pause.  We are now paused and realized that there are just no do-overs here.  We spent a lot of money, used vacation time we can not get back.  And we received nowhere near the quality and experience we expected or purchased.  

 

In my 280 nights I would have never ever assume that RCCL would become this.  We have been loyal to them for many years.  Don't assume that within those 280 nights that there were not issues that impacted our cruise.  There were plenty.  But, never ever did I blame putting profit before meeting the expectations of what was offered and what was purchased.  Til now....

Edited May 17, 2019 by hackwid

[Rotherham_Cruiser]

4 hours ago, grapau27 said:

Thank you.

The crowds of people show how popular it is.

The cruise director and his entertainment team always put on a nostalgic show.

Can you post any of the pomp and ceremony music?

 

Sorry I didn't film the Rule Britannia bit.

[hackwid]

On 5/11/2019 at 6:06 AM, Suebiker said:

HI - thanks for that.  Several reasons really . The main one being I don't want to do a fly cruise. Also I am so fed up I now no longer trust RCCL.  I have been on one cruise with them which was not a good experience.  We decided to give them another chance as our daughter is 14 and we wanted a ship with more activities for her.  I have now lost all faith in the company. Shame because their ships have great facilities for teenagers.  Also we only have til the 16th to make a decision as to what we are doing - which feels like pressure.  I need time to calm down and think.  At the moment I have no idea what to do.  If Brilliance were sailing from the UK I would not have had a problem and would happily have swopped to that instead.  Thanks for the suggestion anyway.

 

I am right there with you.  But, I have done 280 nights with them so I feel confident about knowing what to expect/what I paid for and whats acceptable..  I have no faith in them anymore.   Just research Ovation/Navigator and you will see over the last few months this is a pattern.  I can not trust them to meet the product I purchased after wasting 

[Biker19]

1 hour ago, hackwid said:

  But, never ever did I blame putting profit before meeting the expectations of what was offered and what was purchased.  Til now....

I was on the Oasis noro sailing in Jan and Ovation last week - on Oasis they went above what was needed, on Ovation perhaps a little below - what happened on Ovation was mostly out of their control.

[grapau27]

8 hours ago, Rotherham_Cruiser said:

 

Sorry I didn't film the Rule Britannia bit.

No problem I enjoyed watching the other clip.