Other cruise lines

[grapau27]

1 minute ago, majortom10 said:

Princess now have a daily gratuity charge, increased recently to $14.5 per person per day and have greatly increased price drinks and service charge per drink to 18% which might deter a lot of P&Oers.

Agreed as do RCCL.

 

[john watson]

1 minute ago, majortom10 said:

Princess now have a daily gratuity charge, increased recently to $14.5 per person per day and have greatly increased price drinks and service charge per drink to 18% which might deter a lot of P&Oers.

 

Very true, did I mention circumnavigating Australia, also  New Zealand and Polynesia?  They do amazing places if you can stand the flights. I have been sailing P&O for over fifty years now and you have got to look at new places.

 

Regards John

[grapau27]

1 minute ago, john watson said:

 

Very true, did I mention circumnavigating Australia, also  New Zealand and Polynesia?  They do amazing places if you can stand the flights. I have been sailing P&O for over fifty years now and you have got to look at new places.

 

Regards John

I agree John.

We are going to Hawaii on Princess.

Graham

[Britboys]

I am all for trying different lines even though I have cruised with P&O far more than any other line - as my full signature block below shows.  It really is horses for courses and personal taste comes into it a lot.  I choose to mostly cruise on smaller ships and I think P&O are excellent for that with the ships smaller than Azura/Ventura.  I do feel however from what I have seen in reviews etc. that other lines probably provide a better experience on larger ships (I really didn't like either of my cruises on Azura).

I have found different things either to or not to my liking on various different lines I have sailed with but out of the 9 lines I have been on, there is only one I am not likely to want to book with again - but never say never! 😃 

[john watson]

7 minutes ago, grapau27 said:

I agree John.

We are going to Hawaii on Princess.

Graham

 

Yay, that is a winner.  Did you look at Air New Zealand, premier economy to Los Angeles.  It is the best in the world and not too expensive, see YouTube.  This is something to do with Air New Zealand flying the opposite way round the globe in comparison to most other airlines and the extra long distances and New Zealanders alighting in the UK as final destination.

 

Regards John.

Edited September 3, 2019 by john watson

[terrierjohn]

45 minutes ago, wowzz said:

I think that is a little unfair - I reckon that P&O is reasonable value for money for the majority of pax. Not sure if the premium for suites is really justified however.

The one big drawback for us is the lack of a cosmopolitan passenger mix. Being surrounded by Brits,  day after day, night after night, does become tedious after a while.

Sailing out of Southampton there will be a majority of Brits whatever the cruise line, for a cosmopolitan passenger mix, even on US lines, you need fly cruises to the med in summer, or Caribbean in winter. 

But I agree for what you pay they offer reasonable value, although the adult only ships are overpriced.

Edited September 3, 2019 by terrierjohn

[grapau27]

18 minutes ago, john watson said:

 

Yay, that is a winner.  Did you look at Air New Zealand, premier economy to Los Angeles.  It is the best in the world and not too expensive, see YouTube.  This is something to do with Air New Zealand flying the opposite way round the globe in comparison to most other airlines and the extra long distances and New Zealanders alighting in the UK as final destination.

 

Regards John.

Thanks John.

BA to San Francisco.

[Britboys]

31 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

...although the adult only ships are overpriced.

They are indeed more expensive but these ships are smaller so do not have the same economies of scale; are older - so likely to be more expensive to run & maintain; and also have a higher crew to passenger ratio.  It will be interesting to see how Oceana's 2021 Summer cruises are priced in comparison to the larger ships as it seems she may be operating out of Southampton then.  Of course, supply and demand plays its part too, with larger ships having more berths to fill. 

[JB9302]

We are recent Cruise converts and have done 5 in the last 2 yrs , 1xCunard/3xP&O/1xTui  enjoyed them all and would happily use any again if the itinerary/package was to our liking .

3 were from Southampton and 2 fly cruises (Malta/Palma) , 

Ventura/Oceana/Aurora

QE

Marella Dream 

The only ship I wouldn't go back on is the Dream , only because we felt it was a bit tired and lacked space to relax at night .

 

[daiB]

1 hour ago, john watson said:

 

Yay, that is a winner.  Did you look at Air New Zealand, premier economy to Los Angeles.  It is the best in the world and not too expensive, see YouTube.  This is something to do with Air New Zealand flying the opposite way round the globe in comparison to most other airlines and the extra long distances and New Zealanders alighting in the UK as final destination.

 

Regards John.

All sounds fantastic. If you can fly. 😕. So no good for us.

[daiB]

1 hour ago, terrierjohn said:

Sailing out of Southampton there will be a majority of Brits whatever the cruise line, for a cosmopolitan passenger mix, even on US lines, you need fly cruises to the med in summer, or Caribbean in winter. 

But I agree for what you pay they offer reasonable value, although the adult only ships are overpriced.

I think they are the price they are because of demand. It’s demand which determines price levels. Which is, like you, we book first day.

 

Agree with your first statement, our Princess cruise from Southampton felt like a P&O one with 2600+ Brits on board.

Edited September 3, 2019 by daiB

[john watson]

4 minutes ago, daiB said:

All sounds fantastic. If you can fly. 😕. So no good for us.

 

Princess do a good world sector London (Dover) to New York 19 days, starting 2 July 2020 to get you to US and then book QM2 home or Amtrak across US then round trip Hawaii in between.  Realistically Dover/New York/Southampton is feasible to get the NY experience at least.

 

Regards John

[daiB]

1 minute ago, john watson said:

 

Princess do a good world sector London (Dover) to New York 19 days, starting 2 July 2020 to get you to US and then book QM2 home or Amtrak across US then round trip Hawaii in between.  Realistically Dover/New York/Southampton is feasible to get the NY experience at least.

 

Regards John

We have done New York on Aurora a few years ago and had a fabulous time with an overnight and a mid morning sail in to the Manhattan pier.

[Windsurfboy]

Firstly I think itinerary comes first. 

 

Then type of ship, and as a slightly older couple avoid ships with water slides etc, mainly because my wife wouldn't let me go on them.

 

As for value for money,  you mainly get what you pay for. I like the Cunard queens grills experience, but P&O suites are nicer rooms. For the thousands you save on P&O vs Cunard you can go to speciality restaurants in P&O and drink their very reasonably priced top quality wines.

 

We once tried CMV to come back from South Africa as it was passing by at the right time. I wouldn't do it again. The Astor suite was fantastic but ship was definitely in need of some TCL food was average. Again you get what you pay for. Saving grace it was 90% full of our antipodean cousins, the friendliest bunch of passengers I've met.

[Eglesbrech]

4 hours ago, Windsurfboy said:

Firstly I think itinerary comes first. 

 

Then type of ship, and as a slightly older couple avoid ships with water slides etc, mainly because my wife wouldn't let me go on them.

 

As for value for money,  you mainly get what you pay for. I like the Cunard queens grills experience, but P&O suites are nicer rooms. For the thousands you save on P&O vs Cunard you can go to speciality restaurants in P&O and drink their very reasonably priced top quality wines.

 

We once tried CMV to come back from South Africa as it was passing by at the right time. I wouldn't do it again. The Astor suite was fantastic but ship was definitely in need of some TCL food was average. Again you get what you pay for. Saving grace it was 90% full of our antipodean cousins, the friendliest bunch of passengers I've met.

Yes, itinerary comes first. Ships can be lovely but where you are going is most important imo.

[mickey89]

The star rating of cruise ships on CC is fairly accurate.  The most ‘value for money’ Cruise is without doubt MSC but it’s like marmite, their newer ships are really exceptional but service levels are poor.  I would recommend  a short Med cruise as a trial.  If you want luxury at a reasonable price their Yacht Club is outstanding, but too many people have realised the exceptional value that it is getting almost impossible to book a YC cabin and prices are now becoming silly. Celebrity drift to suite class benefits at the expense of its standard grades has eroded its value on many of their ships so will be losing many of its past clientele.  P&O fall into the basement 3star category, still some of their cruises still offer reasonable value for money.  

Edited September 3, 2019 by mickey89

[mickrory]

We're going on Celebrity next week, got a great deal with free classic drinks package.

We're also Elite with Princess and are sailing with them in January although drinks are pretty damned expensive on there.

We've 2 P&O cruises booked. From out experience entertainment is better on P&O but food tons better on Princess, Celebrity and HAL who we've been on as well.

Only cruised Cunard once but didn't really enjoy that experience.

[seapals2]

It’s a bit like only shopping at Tesco ... it might be your favourite but Morrisons .. Aldi ..Sainsbury’s .. Lidl ... all have their special offers and distinctive style. 

We just enjoy cruising and travelling to new places.  Which ship do we prefer?  Our answer ..the one we are on at that moment.  Itinerary is probably the biggest factor these days.  

[Jules.]

On 9/3/2019 at 12:29 PM, Windsurfboy said:

Firstly I think itinerary comes first. 

 

Then type of ship, and as a slightly older couple avoid ships with water slides etc, mainly because my wife wouldn't let me go on them. 

You’ve just made me chuckle on a dark, wet late-summer morning. Thank you!