Has your attitude to P&O changed?

[Adawn47]

34 minutes ago, P&O SUE said:

Would love to try Aurora but she tends to do much

longer cruises now which don’t suit our plans or budget!

Aurora is a beautiful ship. We've had some lovely cruises on her. She does do some shorter cruises but I suppose it will depend on when and where you want to go. She can be a little more expensive than Arcadia,  but once you get onboard you can tell why.

Avril 

[Britboys]

19 hours ago, bourdon said:

Indeed I agree.  They certainly market P&O and Cunard as British lines.

Yes, but it is a joke that they make so much of Cunard and Britishness. The currency is the US Dollar, the menus are geared to American tastes and drink prices are set for the American market. I enjoy Cunard but it definitely does not feel particularly British any longer.

[zap99]

6 hours ago, AndyMichelle said:

Yep, they were left over from the Berni Inns....😊

The problem with a lot of them is trying to be 'on trend'... 

Fashion changes very quickly, but the carpets don't, so 2 years in, they look 20 years old, but as the quality is good, they don't get changed. 

On the other hand, traditional designs look old the minute they are laid.. I'm thinking the pindot greens and burgundy that are often on the staircases. 

Just remember, some designer was paid a fortune to come up with these 'exclusive' designs... 

Andy 

The clever designers should tell us their thoughts. I had to find out for myself why the lift in indi was called Saturday when we boarded in Southampton. It would have been helpful to know that the little fish on NCL carpets pointed forward. That would have saved a lot of walking about aimlessly

[AndyMichelle]

7 hours ago, Adawn47 said:

Aurora is a beautiful ship. We've had some lovely cruises on her. She does do some shorter cruises but I suppose it will depend on when and where you want to go. She can be a little more expensive than Arcadia,  but once you get onboard you can tell why.

Avril 

Probably our best ever cruise was a 9 night Christmas Market trip that went to Copenhagen, Oslo, Hamburg and Amsterdam 2 years ago. 

It was cheap as well but we had a great time, met fantastic people but the atmosphere on the ship was amazing, even before she was adult only. 

So it doesn't need to be a long cruise to have a great time. 

Andy 

[Adawn47]

No definitely not. Our first cruise was 11 nights Arcadia to the Canaries. It was wonderful and I nearly cried when we had to disembark. I have to say though that Aurora when she dressed for Christmas is spectacular.

Avril 

[No pager thank you]

2 minutes ago, Adawn47 said:

No definitely not. Our first cruise was 11 nights Arcadia to the Canaries. It was wonderful and I nearly cried when we had to disembark. I have to say though that Aurora when she dressed for Christmas is spectacular.

Avril 

I agree with you Avril, the Gingerbread Village in the atrium for instance is impressive, does make her feel "Christmassey"

[Adawn47]

Aurora is our favourite ship but what would make her absolutely perfect would be if she had Arcadia's theatre.

Avril 

Edited May 18, 2020 by Adawn47

[Bin man]

Aurora is ours but I would say the opposite on the theatre felt there were alot of obstructions with the pillars 

[Selbourne]

30 minutes ago, Bin man said:

Aurora is ours but I would say the opposite on the theatre felt there were alot of obstructions with the pillars 

Agreed. We didn’t like the theatre in Arcadia at all. In fact there was very little we liked about Arcadia, other than our aft corner wrap suite which, although very dated, was lovely and quiet. 

[Adawn47]

We have a soft spot for Arcadia because she was our first cruising experience, and so the addiction began. We like her theatre because of the two tiers. We use  the upper tier because, with me being a 5ft 2in short-house, I find it easier to see over the heads of those in front. Also the seats are wider, more comfortable and I don’t feel to be tipping forward all the time. We just avoid the pillars. 

Avril 

[Twogreynomads]

Quite agree Avril. Arcadia by far our favourite ship just wish they could get rid of the buckets.

[Adawn47]

3 hours ago, Twogreynomads said:

Quite agree Avril. Arcadia by far our favourite ship just wish they could get rid of the buckets.

Are you referring to her individuality? 😉

Avril 

[majortom10]

Funny how we all feel different we did Arcadia maiden cruise in 2005 and we didnt like the theatre as they were trying to make it into more a show lounge and we were told it was purposefully done to try and encourage more sales of drinks during live performances.

Edited May 19, 2020 by majortom10

[Adawn47]

3 minutes ago, majortom10 said:

Funny how we all feel different we did Arcadia maiden cruise in 2005 and we didnt like the theatre as they were trying to make it into more a show lounge and we were told it was purposefully done to try and encourage more sales of drinks during live performances.

We did our first cruise on her in 2010 and as we had nothing to compare her to we thought she was lovely. The theatre seemed like any other theatre to us, not at all like show lounge, so they must have abandoned that idea. We like many aspects of Arcadia but also Aurora,  so we'll sail quite happily on either. When we're allowed to  that is 😊

Avril 

[majortom10]

28 minutes ago, Adawn47 said:

We did our first cruise on her in 2010 and as we had nothing to compare her to we thought she was lovely. The theatre seemed like any other theatre to us, not at all like show lounge, so they must have abandoned that idea. We like many aspects of Arcadia but also Aurora,  so we'll sail quite happily on either. When we're allowed to  that is 😊

Avril 

We have not cruised on her since 2012 and know she has had a refit since then  and some changes but the theatre originally had tables and chairs on the lower floor in front of stage unlike all other ships where they just had rows of seats. We were told this was to encourage people to sit around tables and order drinks during performances.

[Twogreynomads]

See you in the Crows Nest Avril

[Adawn47]

25 minutes ago, Twogreynomads said:

See you in the Crows Nest Avril

November 2020 with any luck and October 2021. We might be on the same one you never know.

Avril 

[Adawn47]

29 minutes ago, majortom10 said:

We have not cruised on her since 2012 and know she has had a refit since then  and some changes but the theatre originally had tables and chairs on the lower floor in front of stage unlike all other ships where they just had rows of seats. We were told this was to encourage people to sit around tables and order drinks during performances.

They weren't there in 2010 so a big change of mind there then. I don't think I would have liked the theatre like that either. More of a nightclub than a theatre. 

Avril 

[Britboys]

On 5/17/2020 at 10:28 PM, Selbourne said:

Right and wrong Avril! The smaller ships have less crew but the ratio of crew to passengers is greater than on the larger ships. It’s all about economies of scale. The number of crew doesn’t rise in the same ratio as passengers, nor do the running costs, so the total cost to operate the ship is cheaper, per passenger, the bigger the ship. There are lots of other factors too. For example, the newer (bigger) ships have more fuel efficient propulsion systems, and have a far greater proportion of more expensive cabin types (balcony cabins etc). Aurora, for example, only has 3 decks with balconies. All these factors (and more) make the smaller ships more expensive to operate per passenger than the newer / larger ships. 

Thanks for that. I typed a very similar reply a few days ago but my tablet threw a wobbly and the text hadn't been saved when I went to re-do it....