Changes

[davecttr]

5 hours ago, Britboys said:

As I said earlier, they are 'marmite' and others on my cruise had a great time.  For me however there were just too many little shortcomings across the ship & cruise.  I always say to anyone that asks me about Marella that the only way to know if you would like them is to try them...

Which I have, 22 P&O cruises and 25 Marella and I like both. For me there are more similarities than differences. P&O are more formal. The social program for solo cruisers is better on Marella. For me the food is about the same but I am no epicurean. P&O is a more homogenous product than Marella which has different atmospheres on different ships.

 

I have not cruised with P&O for 2 years but will soon as I no longer like all the hassle of flying with a 28 hour delay on my last cruise and my alchohol consumption has dropped considerably so I don't need the Marella AI package included in the fare.

 

I am cancelling my next but one Marella cruise and despite losing £200 deposit will still be nearly £800 better off

[AndyMichelle]

11 hours ago, davecttr said:

Which I have, 22 P&O cruises and 25 Marella and I like both. For me there are more similarities than differences. P&O are more formal. The social program for solo cruisers is better on Marella. For me the food is about the same but I am no epicurean. P&O is a more homogenous product than Marella which has different atmospheres on different ships.

 

I have not cruised with P&O for 2 years but will soon as I no longer like all the hassle of flying with a 28 hour delay on my last cruise and my alchohol consumption has dropped considerably so I don't need the Marella AI package included in the fare.

 

I am cancelling my next but one Marella cruise and despite losing £200 deposit will still be nearly £800 better off

Thanks for posting this Dave. 

We like the familiarity of P&O as well as the formal nights. 

We also won't fly anymore, so P&O still wins for us, but understand why Marella is appealing to others. 

Andy 

[Britboys]

11 hours ago, davecttr said:

Which I have, 22 P&O cruises and 25 Marella and I like both. For me there are more similarities than differences. P&O are more formal. The social program for solo cruisers is better on Marella. For me the food is about the same but I am no epicurean. P&O is a more homogenous product than Marella which has different atmospheres on different ships.

 

I have not cruised with P&O for 2 years but will soon as I no longer like all the hassle of flying with a 28 hour delay on my last cruise and my alchohol consumption has dropped considerably so I don't need the Marella AI package included in the fare.

 

I am cancelling my next but one Marella cruise and despite losing £200 deposit will still be nearly £800 better off

I certainly agree that P&O are more formal - which I enjoy - and also that the social programme for solos is better on Marella.

On your other two points however I disagree.  I can honestly say that if the food on P&O was as poor as that I experienced on Discovery 2, I would have stopped cruising with them by now.  Of course it may have been that the food quality on that ship or the line generally may have dipped for a period - I have only done the one cruise with Marella.  I also disagree that P&O is more homogeneous.  I choose to cruise on the smaller P&O ships as in my experience the atmosphere on those is very different to that I have experienced on Azura. 

[crompton21]

Back to changes.....

 

On formal nights the rather strange glass plate that greeted you and was then whisked away in an amazing display of quick hand work has now gone.  What it was for probably deserves a thread on it's own account😁

[Les_ldh]

1 minute ago, crompton21 said:

Back to changes.....

 

On formal nights the rather strange glass plate that greeted you and was then whisked away in an amazing display of quick hand work has now gone.  What it was for probably deserves a thread on it's own account😁

I didn’t notice any glass plate on our formal nights 🤷‍♂️

[crompton21]

5 minutes ago, Les_ldh said:

I didn’t notice any glass plate on our formal nights 🤷‍♂️

I think Paul Daniels trained the waiters on how to remove it!  I have heard it said that is what the theatre show "astonishing" is based on.

Edited January 6, 2020 by crompton21

[davecttr]

2 hours ago, AndyMichelle said:

Thanks for posting this Dave. 

We like the familiarity of P&O as well as the formal nights. 

We also won't fly anymore, so P&O still wins for us, but understand why Marella is appealing to others. 

Andy 

I cancelled the Marella Explorer 14 night cruise to Greece etc, outside single cabin and lost my £200 deposit. Booked a 12 nighter Select fare on Azura inside cabin on Lido deck. Total saving £1570 not including OBC and shareholder benefit

[Vampiress88]

Ok I’m confused

 

whats copy of menu? 
 

no turn down on first night?

[Vampiress88]

Sorry. I have caught up now with the menu thing

 

*must read whole thread before commenting

 

don’t see the point in them giving me menus at the end of the cruise. It will only go in the recycling bin at home. 

[AndyMichelle]

7 minutes ago, Vampiress88 said:

Ok I’m confused

 

whats copy of menu? 
 

no turn down on first night?

The cabin steward used to come in while you are at dinner, remove the pointless cushions and throw things and put a couple of chocolates on your bed, like they do every other night. 

They no longer do this on the first night. 

No big deal, but never sure where to put the cushions.. 

Andy 

[Vampiress88]

2 minutes ago, AndyMichelle said:

The cabin steward used to come in while you are at dinner, remove the pointless cushions and throw things and put a couple of chocolates on your bed, like they do every other night. 

They no longer do this on the first night. 

No big deal, but never sure where to put the cushions.. 

Andy 

really hoping they do this for us on the first night. Not cos I want the chocolates or owt but we need the two pull down bed things doing and I really don’t wanna be messing about trying to figure out how that works after a long day. 
 

Think they will make an exception? 

[AndyMichelle]

1 minute ago, Vampiress88 said:

really hoping they do this for us on the first night. Not cos I want the chocolates or owt but we need the two pull down bed things doing and I really don’t wanna be messing about trying to figure out how that works after a long day. 
 

Think they will make an exception? 

Not sure, but I don't think they would leave you to do it yourself. 

If they don't offer, I would just ask. 

Andy 

[Vampiress88]

38 minutes ago, AndyMichelle said:

Not sure, but I don't think they would leave you to do it yourself. 

If they don't offer, I would just ask. 

Andy 

good idea. If it’s not done just call reception I assume. 

[Hols4]

Hols4

You must of had a grumpy steward Andy if he came into your cabin and threw things !

[Britboys]

5 hours ago, Vampiress88 said:

really hoping they do this for us on the first night. Not cos I want the chocolates or owt but we need the two pull down bed things doing and I really don’t wanna be messing about trying to figure out how that works after a long day. 
 

Think they will make an exception? 

From what I have read previously, I think the steward still comes in to 3 & 4 berth cabins to attend to the pull-down beds.

[daiB]

On 1/3/2020 at 8:31 PM, AndyMichelle said:

Hi all, 

Just thought I would highlight some of the changes implemented on our Ventura New Years cruise. 

I have mentioned some on another thread but keep thinking of others. 

Cans of water are now supplied in the cabin instead of plastic bottles. You can still buy bottles, but only at the bar. 

This seemed to increase the number of bottles being filled at the buffet, despite the signs on the machines. 

No wine waiters in the MDR, drinks orders were taken by the food waiters. 

No chefs parade. 

No Captain's welcome party, although this is our shortest cruise and first at New Year, so not sure if this is standard for a 5 night or NY cruise?

None of the above affected our enjoyment, just observations. 

Online check in worked well for us and the lack of a turn down service on the first night made no difference to us at all. 

The only real negative was the service on the first few days, very difficult to get a drink anywhere with tables not cleared for long periods. 

A waiter explained that they had reduced staff since the introduction of the ipads as they are supposed to make them more efficient, but as he said, the ipads don't deliver drinks or clear tables... 

We had a fantastic time and Ventura is in good nick. 

Andy 

 

 

 

 

Glad to report that the above is not the case on our cruise at present.

 

1. we do have tins of water.

2 there are wine waiters in the dining room. Very good service, as we  got our non standard wine from the glass house list.

3 we have had a captains welcome

4 we will have to see about the sailaways and chiefs parade.

5 bar service very quick and the service in the Costa place is also very good with plenty of staff both sides of the bar.

 

 

Dai

[AndyMichelle]

1 minute ago, daiB said:

Glad to report that the above is not the case on our cruise at present.

 

1. we do have tins of water.

2 there are wine waiters in the dining room. Very good service, as we  got our non standard wine from the glass house list.

3 we have had a captains welcome

4 we will have to see about the sailaways and chiefs parade.

5 bar service very quick and the service in the Costa place is also very good with plenty of staff both sides of the bar.

 

 

Dai

Thanks for updating Dai. 

I wondered how many of the changes were just because it was a New Year cruise, glad they seem temporary. 

Have a great time, 

Andy 

[happy v]

On 1/6/2020 at 12:39 PM, Vampiress88 said:

really hoping they do this for us on the first night. Not cos I want the chocolates or owt but we need the two pull down bed things doing and I really don’t wanna be messing about trying to figure out how that works after a long day. 
 

Think they will make an exception? 

When we had our Granddaughter with us the steward made up the sofa bed on the first night.

[kruzseeka]

On 1/6/2020 at 12:23 PM, davecttr said:

I cancelled the Marella Explorer 14 night cruise to Greece etc, outside single cabin and lost my £200 deposit. Booked a 12 nighter Select fare on Azura inside cabin on Lido deck. Total saving £1570 not including OBC and shareholder benefit

 

Yes, the prices on Marella now are much higher comparatively than P&O in my experience.  Got to be the AI cost now being subsumed into the cruise price.  For folk who don't drink a lot it's not cost effective.  I suppose there may be some cheap late deals but I think it's much better value on P&O especially with the obc as you ave pointed out - that generally covers our drinks which is like havng AI for us!

[davecttr]

3 hours ago, kruzseeka said:

 

Yes, the prices on Marella now are much higher comparatively than P&O in my experience.  Got to be the AI cost now being subsumed into the cruise price.  For folk who don't drink a lot it's not cost effective.  I suppose there may be some cheap late deals but I think it's much better value on P&O especially with the obc as you ave pointed out - that generally covers our drinks which is like havng AI for us!

The saving turned out to be £1713!. so happy I booked a 14 nightery on Iona to the Canaries for £1601 plus the OBC etc. Then I found out it was a 'foodie' cruise and authentic Tapas dishes are available in the glasshouse, even better. Lots of sea days but I like sea days and read a lot.

 

The savings will also help in fixing my guttering and some new windows

[Slugsta]

I can't sit for long, so travelling is difficult. I'm lucky that we are only 45 minutes away from Southampton, so I tolerate that and then the world comes to me. We are happy to try other cruise lines but P+O offer more Southampton departures than others.

 

It's a pity that the ship that goes from our home town, Poole, really isn't suitable for people with mobility problems. However, I probably wouldn't want to cruise much with that line anyway, from what I have heard.

 

I'm glad that the parade of chefs is staying, it is the one chance we get to show our appreciation and the waiting staff seem to enjoy it too.

[AndyMichelle]

34 minutes ago, Slugsta said:

I can't sit for long, so travelling is difficult. I'm lucky that we are only 45 minutes away from Southampton, so I tolerate that and then the world comes to me. We are happy to try other cruise lines but P+O offer more Southampton departures than others.

 

It's a pity that the ship that goes from our home town, Poole, really isn't suitable for people with mobility problems. However, I probably wouldn't want to cruise much with that line anyway, from what I have heard.

 

I'm glad that the parade of chefs is staying, it is the one chance we get to show our appreciation and the waiting staff seem to enjoy it too.

Did I miss something? 

It is my understanding that the chefs parade has now gone, being replaced by the chefs popping out to chat to passengers, so no galley staff included and no parade. 

Andy 

[cruise saint]

Very disappointed to hear about the lack of Captain's Log and menus.  Is it possible to make a request to still have these?

[Slugsta]

7 hours ago, AndyMichelle said:

Did I miss something? 

It is my understanding that the chefs parade has now gone, being replaced by the chefs popping out to chat to passengers, so no galley staff included and no parade. 

Andy 

 

Someone upthread said that the parades will continue on cruises of more than 10 days.

[jeanlyon]

Never heard of tins of water?  Are they free or the usual if you drink them, then you are charged, except last time, there were 2 bottles of water and we weren't charged.