P&O Cruisers - What are things like where YOU are?

[SarahHben]

1 hour ago, P&O SUE said:

Next year we’re going round Spain including Malaga, Valencia, Cadiz and Lisbon. It’s actually 13 nights but doesn’t go until October 2023! It’s near John’s birthday and will actually be a replacement for his 60th birthday cruise but by the time we go he’ll be 63! We had changed it to a Med one for this June but I panicked and moved it. I thought if I moved it nearer the time the prices for next year will have jumped again! Which they have already.

It is a pain booking so far in advance especially with work. If we’d booked for Norway for this year I would have kept it as it’s all the same country and only a week.

 

We have sneaked in a 3 night to Belgium this year but I’m so looking forward to next year - such a long wait!

Your 3 nighter will be here before you know it 😊 Isnt it nice making plans that seem very likely to happen at long last!

[P&O SUE]

4 minutes ago, Adawn47 said:

We have ours booked for December 2023, and P&O kindly?? reminded me this morning that the countdown to our cruise was 93 weeks🙄

I hope I'm still here🤣

Avril

Talking of mad emails I’ve just had one from Princess with a survey for me as I’ve had a balcony with them before. I’ve been on one Princess cruise and had an inside cabin!!!

[SarahHben]

1 hour ago, wowzz said:

That would normally be the case, but not so much at the moment. 

There have been various reports that current Caribbean cruises are significantly cheaper than they were at launch. 

And, admittedly not P&O,  the pricing for our Princess May Mediterranean cruise is falling on a seemingly daily basis !

I've only been looking at P&O because we had FCC & onboard spend but if we decide we like cruising I would think I'll be browsing all sorts.

We'd love to do a Caribbean cruise but my husband cant take 2 weeks off at the right time of year so that will have to wait until he's retired, I wouldnt want to travel that far just for 1 week.

[P&O SUE]

3 minutes ago, SarahHben said:

Your 3 nighter will be here before you know it 😊 Isnt it nice making plans that seem very likely to happen at long last!

Absolutely! I’ve told hubby I might just cry when we (hopefully) get on board!

[SarahHben]

2 minutes ago, P&O SUE said:

Absolutely! I’ve told hubby I might just cry when we (hopefully) get on board!

Waterproof mascara needed 😊 I feel the same & fully expect tears of happiness and relief when we board in May

[purplesea]

I wan't in tears when we boarded Iona in January, but the feeling of relief "that we made it" was immense. It was a case of third time lucky😄

[Vampiress88]

2 hours ago, Astrajet said:

As others have said, the fish & chips in the Quays was very good & we also enjoyed the food in the Olive Grove. However, whilst the food served was good, we were a bit disappointed with menus in The Glass House & Sindhu on Iona which were not as comprehensive as those on Britannia. But, this was last summer, so menu's may have changed since the. Great ship though & lovely to have such a wide selection of eating places. Enjoy! 

its the sindhu menu I am finding rather strange. I think it’s al a carte and the other ships sindhu are a 3 course things. 
not sure I like the looks and we usually go sindhu twice on a cruise

[zap99]

9 minutes ago, purplesea said:

I wan't in tears when we boarded Iona in January, but the feeling of relief "that we made it" was immense. It was a case of third time lucky😄

Lots of different emotions on our first staycation cruise last year. Not cancelled, seeing the ship, packing. Biggest relief was the text message pulling up to the car parking. ' your test was negative.' Then the wait til DW got hers. 

[Vampiress88]

52 minutes ago, Son of Anarchy said:

MDR and buffet were pretty much the same as on the other ships.  The Quays is ok for a cooked breakfast, but also has pancake and waffles with a selection of toppings.  Might be a nice change/fun for your kids.  We didn't try the fish and chips and lunchtime in The Quays, but did give the burger/chicken bar and oriental bar a go, both were a nice change to buffet or MDR lunches.

 

Tried the Olive Grove once, would definitely give it another go.  The only pay venue we tried was the Limelight Club.  I thought Keel & Cow looked rather pricey considering you've already paid to eat on board.

kids have already spied the pancakes and waffles. We have already been informed we must have breakfast there lol 
 

Some of them do look pricey though. 

[zap99]

4 minutes ago, Vampiress88 said:

kids have already spied the pancakes and waffles. We have already been informed we must have breakfast there lol 
 

Some of them do look pricey though. 

They will love the Italian. Lots of no cost menu items. Won't the tooth fairy money cover a few nights?

[kalos]

Morning guys  I have just been out and checked  our storm damage which was ..

one wheelie bin blown about 12" out of line to the other ones, I can cope with that.

I hope non of you had too much trouble with the storm that passed or even from 

the one that will arrive Friday . Posts earlier about aircraft remind me of a tale about 

Mick and Paddy who were on an airliner in a very turbulent storm.

Getting really worried about this flight  Mick turned and said to his friend.....
"Paddy, if this plane would turn upside down, do you think we'd fall out?"
Giving it some thought Paddy reassuringly  replied "Nah, we'd still be mates."

 

Keep safe and have a good day 

 

[mrsgoggins]

58 minutes ago, Adawn47 said:

I hope I'm still here🤣

Avril

Even though I’ve nothing life-threatening wrong with me, I so often think that to myself these days.  I’ve just made a booking for next January and said the same thing.  It only seems a short time since we took out an endowment policy and said, with some horror, ‘by the time it matures we’ll be almost fifty!’ with not a thought that we wouldn’t make it.
 

I’m only a few years behind you Avril and so I wish us both many more years of holiday planning  👍

[Guest ccpm]

Hoping everyone has remained without major storm damage. All fine here and sunny but windy today. All dogs seem to have high hopes for lunchtime but they are being kept well away from my food, besides its coronation chicken and I am declaring it unsuitable.

 

I'm interested in the IONA food chat as that is this year's December cruise. I have seen posts on facebook that the Glass House has a very different menu to those on the other ships. Does anyone know the differences? Its my usual lunch venue and if those tempura prawns and/or Peller Ice are a goner then how will I cope????

[zap99]

8 minutes ago, ccpm said:

Hoping everyone has remained without major storm damage. All fine here and sunny but windy today. All dogs seem to have high hopes for lunchtime but they are being kept well away from my food, besides its coronation chicken and I am declaring it unsuitable.

 

I'm interested in the IONA food chat as that is this year's December cruise. I have seen posts on facebook that the Glass House has a very different menu to those on the other ships. Does anyone know the differences? Its my usual lunch venue and if those tempura prawns and/or Peller Ice are a goner then how will I cope????

We love the Glass House on Brittania. We looked at the menu on Iona and decided to give it a miss. Too much like tapas. Keel &  Cow is good.

[Snow Hill]

13 hours ago, terrierjohn said:

My worst landing experience was at Newcastle in a howling gale, we came down sideways and could see the entire length of the runway through the cabin window until 2 seconds before the pilot touched down by throwing the nose sideways through 20 degs. Quite a bit scary.

My worst experience was on a BA Flight to Nice, France,  landing in a Thunderstorm and with very gusty winds,  pilot aborted landing twice, then circled around for about 30 mins before successfully landing the third time. 

[Astrajet]

1 hour ago, Vampiress88 said:

its the sindhu menu I am finding rather strange. I think it’s al a carte and the other ships sindhu are a 3 course things. 
not sure I like the looks and we usually go sindhu twice on a cruise

I am not sure what the current situation is with regard to Sindhu. No doubt someone who has sailed on Iona recently will be able to tell you. 

 

We usually sail on Aurora and always visit Sindhu at least a couple of times.  After our summer cruise on Britannia, the Glass House has become a firm favourite for an evening meal as they had the Big & Bold menu whereas Iona only had the small plates - Mini & Mighty!  This may, of course, changed by now.  

 

Seems we missed out by not going for breakfast in The Quays - pancakes or waffles sound great.

[davecttr]

42 minutes ago, ccpm said:

Hoping everyone has remained without major storm damage. All fine here and sunny but windy today. All dogs seem to have high hopes for lunchtime but they are being kept well away from my food, besides its coronation chicken and I am declaring it unsuitable.

 

I'm interested in the IONA food chat as that is this year's December cruise. I have seen posts on facebook that the Glass House has a very different menu to those on the other ships. Does anyone know the differences? Its my usual lunch venue and if those tempura prawns and/or Peller Ice are a goner then how will I cope????

I was not impressed with the Iona Glass House menu. IMO it was better in the original venues on Ventura and Azura. Of course P&O are gradually changing what was a relaxed bar serving Tapas etc  into a 'trendy' restaurant - WARNING, the octopus is truly revolting. At least there is a substantial drinking area there so I still have the Peller Ice.

[Astrajet]

2 hours ago, zap99 said:

Lots of different emotions on our first staycation cruise last year. Not cancelled, seeing the ship, packing. Biggest relief was the text message pulling up to the car parking. ' your test was negative.' Then the wait til DW got hers. 

Oh yes, same here!  We found that we were constantly nudging each other and just grinning!  It was such a great feeling to be back on a ship again that we ended up doing three staycation cruises!

Edited February 17, 2022 by Astrajet

[Josy1953]

Well it looks like most of us have escaped too much damage from the storm, I hope that our friends in the badly hit areas are all ok.

My friend called me this morning because one of the usual volunteer at her church's food bank was ill and they needed a replacement.  I was only there for just under 2 hours but it really was an eye opener. 

When I got home I had a letter from the RVS thanking me for continuing to help in the community over the last year but can I please donate an extra £12 a month to them, sorry but I feel that I am doing my share of voluntary work and donating to local charities.

[Josy1953]

42 minutes ago, davecttr said:

I was not impressed with the Iona Glass House menu. IMO it was better in the original venues on Ventura and Azura. Of course P&O are gradually changing what was a relaxed bar serving Tapas etc  into a 'trendy' restaurant - WARNING, the octopus is truly revolting. At least there is a substantial drinking area there so I still have the Peller Ice.

Do you know if the Glass house is changing on all of the ships? we really enjoy having lunch there on sea days.  Good to know Peller Ice is still available.

[Ardennais]

3 hours ago, P&O SUE said:

Talking of mad emails I’ve just had one from Princess with a survey for me as I’ve had a balcony with them before. I’ve been on one Princess cruise and had an inside cabin!!!

I got that too but we’ve always had a balcony. Took 60 seconds to respond. 

[Vampiress88]

1 hour ago, Astrajet said:

I am not sure what the current situation is with regard to Sindhu. No doubt someone who has sailed on Iona recently will be able to tell you. 

 

We usually sail on Aurora and always visit Sindhu at least a couple of times.  After our summer cruise on Britannia, the Glass House has become a firm favourite for an evening meal as they had the Big & Bold menu whereas Iona only had the small plates - Mini & Mighty!  This may, of course, changed by now.  

 

Seems we missed out by not going for breakfast in The Quays - pancakes or waffles sound great.

This are what I have found on another site. I don’t think I like anything off it and it’s a shame as I liked sindhu on azura. 

[Vampiress88]

2 hours ago, zap99 said:

They will love the Italian. Lots of no cost menu items. Won't the tooth fairy money cover a few nights?

I’m of the mind that I’m on holiday so anything goes lol if I want it I am eating/drinking it. 

Georgias only got £3 tooth fairy money so far and she wants ripples ice creams place. Scarlett has already spent hers. 

[alpha whiskey]

1 hour ago, Snow Hill said:

My worst experience was on a BA Flight to Nice, France,  landing in a Thunderstorm and with very gusty winds,  pilot aborted landing twice, then circled around for about 30 mins before successfully landing the third time. 

Worst for us was an emergency evacuation down the slides of a 747.

Cabin was filling with smoke. Cannot begin to tell you how fast those slides go! 

The following year we took our first ever cruise 🤣🤣

Hasn't put us off flying and have done many since. 

Please everyone, give drills and safety advice your full attention. You never know when you might need to be ready! 

 

 

[terrierjohn]

Just been checking the weather for Southamton tomorrow and they are forecasting wind gusts between 50 to 90mph from 5:00am until 7:00pm.

I wonder what time Iona is due back, having missed La Corunna she could be arriving anytime between then.