Itineraries

[Triggertravel]

Hi everybody I hope that you are all keeping safe and well in these very very strange times I like to think of myself as a seasoned cruiser, like so many of you ,and I for one cannot wait to get back on a cruise ship.so my question to everybody is why do you think p&o do the same Caribbean islands year after year after year.the itineraries just do not change just wondered what your thoughts and maybe p&o s reasoning behind this ??  

[wowzz]

1 hour ago, Triggertravel said:

Hi everybody I hope that you are all keeping safe and well in these very very strange times I like to think of myself as a seasoned cruiser, like so many of you ,and I for one cannot wait to get back on a cruise ship.so my question to everybody is why do you think p&o do the same Caribbean islands year after year after year.the itineraries just do not change just wondered what your thoughts and maybe p&o s reasoning behind this ??  

It's not just P&O- most cruise lines follow pretty similar itineraries.  I guess there only so many islands capable of handling large ships, and obviously P&O do not want to go to any of the US islands, which does restrict them even more. 

[kalos]

Hi TriggerTravel and welcome with your very first post .I thought I was slow at typing (2016-2020  )

 

Just like Wowzz posted and I would add " if it aint broke then why try to fix it ?" Is the road cruise lines 

will go down, if it's making them money and causing no problems for them .Why would they not want to ?

Customers seem happy to go back for more and then there is the new customers .

So I would guess that P&O are happy and so are their customers and so are the ports that they visit.

A win,win all round could very well be their reasoning behind it .

 

[DamianG]

4 minutes ago, kalos said:

Hi TriggerTravel and welcome with your very first post .I thought I was slow at typing (2016-2020  )

 

Just like Wowzz posted and I would add " if it aint broke then why try to fix it ?" Is the road cruise lines 

will go down, if it's making them money and causing no problems for them .Why would they not want to ?

Customers seem happy to go back for more and then there is the new customers .

So I would guess that P&O are happy and so are their customers and so are the ports that they visit.

A win,win all round could very well be their reasoning behind it .

 

 

I was about to mention the new passengers as well. On the two Caribbean cruises we've done with P&O both had a high proportion of first time cruisers and one of the Portunus (Peninsular) Club functions that we attended only had 20 or so guests.

[Triggertravel]

😂😂You’re not kidding Kalos I think because myself and the wife  have done the Caribbean for the last 10 plus years we. are looking to visit new and different islands I love it if they dropped st Vincent completely I just don t get a good feel for the place doesn’t feel particularly safe to have a  wander round like the other islands id like them to add st Barts but I doubt that very much because of the proximity of st Maarten we did the day trip to st barts in feb and wow what a experience that was three quarter of the boat were all sea sick including my wife very very choppy crossing well worth it tho we renamed it st barfs 😂😂

[jeanlyon]

They also have to go the places where they can easily do tours where they make a lot of their money.  The winds always blow in the Caribbean.  I have sailed there a few times in a sailing boat and the winds are constant.  A joy for a sailor, but maybe not in a tender!

[molecrochip]

They used to do St Thomas but as a US flagged island, immigration would run from 7am til 11am. Unlike Barbados where you can get off once you’ve seen Immigration, US declare the whole ship clear after seeing the last person.

[Selbourne]

3 hours ago, Triggertravel said:

Hi everybody I hope that you are all keeping safe and well in these very very strange times I like to think of myself as a seasoned cruiser, like so many of you ,and I for one cannot wait to get back on a cruise ship.so my question to everybody is why do you think p&o do the same Caribbean islands year after year after year.the itineraries just do not change just wondered what your thoughts and maybe p&o s reasoning behind this ??  

Welcome to Cruise Critic! I would say that repetitive itineraries are an increasing issue with P&O and not just in the Caribbean. We have been on 19 cruises with P&O and are already struggling to find itineraries that appeal to us. A degree of repetition will always be inevitable, but we are drawn to cruises where at least 2 or 3 destinations are new to us and that is becoming increasingly difficult. There are some locations where we are happy to visit multiple times, but there’s a limit, even for our favourite ports. I fear that with the increasing trend towards larger ships (which are restricted to fewer ports) this problem will only get worse. Those labelled as ‘Discovery Cruises’ are usually the first we look at, but sadly my wife is a wheelchair user so tender ports aren’t an option for her.

[tring]

7 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

Welcome to Cruise Critic! I would say that repetitive itineraries are an increasing issue with P&O and not just in the Caribbean. We have been on 19 cruises with P&O and are already struggling to find itineraries that appeal to us. A degree of repetition will always be inevitable, but we are drawn to cruises where at least 2 or 3 destinations are new to us and that is becoming increasingly difficult. There are some locations where we are happy to visit multiple times, but there’s a limit, even for our favourite ports. I fear that with the increasing trend towards larger ships (which are restricted to fewer ports) this problem will only get worse. Those labelled as ‘Discovery Cruises’ are usually the first we look at, but sadly my wife is a wheelchair user so tender ports aren’t an option for her.

 

I wholly agree with this.  I an see it is a necessity for the new bigger ships, but no reason to keep the others (including Adonia when she was around) to the same old thing.

[terrierjohn]

54 minutes ago, tring said:

 

I wholly agree with this.  I an see it is a necessity for the new bigger ships, but no reason to keep the others (including Adonia when she was around) to the same old thing.

For regular fly cruise seasons undertaken by Azura and Britannia, I imagine there are a number of benefits in having fixed routine itineraries. But I would hope that the port scores each passenger fills in would be taken into account by P&O in deciding whether to change unpopular ports.

[wowzz]

OK - leaving aside the US islands, which islands do you think P&O should visit,  that aren't on the normal itineraries?  

Any suggestions need to bear in mind that the island should have the infrastructure to support 3000 cruisers, and ideally should not be a tender port.

[kruzseeka]

Havana is brilliant.  Done it twice with overnight stays - I know US owned ships never used to go there but I don't know if that has been relaxed.   

 

I know this has been raised before but itineraries with overnight stops appeal to us.  Of course it has to be at ports where there is plenty to draw cruisers off the ship in the evening.  That's perhaps not so likely in the Caribbean.

 

But I did note that this year and next they have introduced some different ports to the usual ones which figure in the Baltic cruise itineraries.  In fact we should have been on one now which had an overnight on Oslo which is a fabulous city not often seen on Baltic itineraries.  There were also about 3/4 other ports not usually included - well perhaps sometimes just one which was different but this cruise seemed to be trying to offer a different mix, which for those like us who gave visited the Baltics several times, is quite an attraction.  We've swapped it to next year to one which again has some more unusual ports though sadly not Oslo.  This isn't on one of the big ships though and I take the point made by wowzz that alternative ports in the main will have to accommodate the bigger ships - might be limiting in the Caribbean.

Edited July 19, 2020 by kruzseeka

[Triggertravel]

Cuba is a great shout, I’d love to visit Havana.guadeloupe seams to of disappeared of the p&o radar as they used to go there . Jamaica would be nice Trinidad / Tobago.personally I’d like them to go over to Mexico/Cozumel but not sure if that is a little too far west for the 2 week itinerary s that they offer 

[molecrochip]

Guadeloupe can only take small ships. There isn't the infrastructure on the island to support the number of passengers from Azura or Britannia.

 

Trinidad is avoided as when P&O used to serve it, the number of crimes reported by passengers was astronomical. Mostly, muggings or assaults'. They did visit Tobago back in the 2017/18 season but there isn't much near the port. 

 

Instead, you've seen an expansion to serve more of Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao.

 

Interesting that there are a number of calls for Western Caribbean cruises. There are so many ships from Carnival's other brands let alone the other major groups. The problem is air capacity and sea days v port visits. To do the Western Caribbean justice would require a ship to be homeported someone other than Barbados otherwise sea days would be excessive .

 

Barbados has sold a certain capacity to P&O charters etc. which is in use every week. If P&O dont use it, they still pay. The only exception is once a fortnight, one plane is routed to St. Lucia because less capacity is needed on the Azura turnaround. This is the only reason you have the option to cruise from St. Lucia - it means that the number of departures from the UK are static each week.

[terrierjohn]

Moley, we docked in Guadaloupe in 2017 on Ventura, and there did not seem to be any problems handling the numbers, we also did Tobago in 2019, also on Ventura, and I agree there is not much around the port area.

But since one Caribbean Island is much like most of the others, I don't think using the same ports each year is a big problem, and P&O have seemed to ring the odd few changes over the years.

[kruzseeka]

I think one issue with the Caribbean is that it has become so crowded - and yes, I know we are part of that problem.  The big attraction was lovely unspoilt beaches which generally weren't too busy - at least if you ventured out a little. Years ago when we first went often there were only one or two ships in port.  Now ships are bigger and ports bigger (Tortola for example) so they can accommodate a bigger influx of cruisers.  That's made beaches which used to be very quiet becoming crowded.  You can understand the need to generate tourist income (Venice is another prime example) but in so doing, the very nature of these destinations change dramatically.  No solution - other than a halt to the expansion of the cruise industry (perhaps that's in the wind) or discovering more destinations so we can spread the load out between more ports.    

I have wonderful memories of the Caribbean - a trip to the enchanting Cayo Levantado from Samana in the Dominican Republic is my all time favourite - but then again those who stayed in port had little positive to say about that destination so it's a difficult one to juggle! 

 

And look who was here with us!

 

 

 

Edited July 20, 2020 by kruzseeka

[tring]

3 hours ago, molecrochip said:

Guadeloupe can only take small ships. There isn't the infrastructure on the island to support the number of passengers from Azura or Britannia.

 

Trinidad is avoided as when P&O used to serve it, the number of crimes reported by passengers was astronomical. Mostly, muggings or assaults'. They did visit Tobago back in the 2017/18 season but there isn't much near the port. 

 

Instead, you've seen an expansion to serve more of Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao.

 

Interesting that there are a number of calls for Western Caribbean cruises. There are so many ships from Carnival's other brands let alone the other major groups. The problem is air capacity and sea days v port visits. To do the Western Caribbean justice would require a ship to be homeported someone other than Barbados otherwise sea days would be excessive .

 

Barbados has sold a certain capacity to P&O charters etc. which is in use every week. If P&O dont use it, they still pay. The only exception is once a fortnight, one plane is routed to St. Lucia because less capacity is needed on the Azura turnaround. This is the only reason you have the option to cruise from St. Lucia - it means that the number of departures from the UK are static each week.

 

Thanks for that information, I did think it was likely a business decision with better prices negotiated for regular routes  - perhaps on excursions as well.  The up side is that P&O Caribbean prices do seem to be very cheap and can perhaps have a pull for people looking for a hot climate holiday in the winter.  We had looked a land holidays in the Caribbean, but prices are high. 

 

Regards Cuba I do not ever recall seeing a P&O ship call into there since Carnival took over, (which was also about the time we started cruising), but perhaps I missed it, was it in the Obama era when restrictions were relaxed?  I assume the lack of Cuba is mainly due to the US links as Fred and other UK based lines do call there from time to time and the itineraries sell well.

[Britboys]

2 hours ago, tring said:

 

Thanks for that information, I did think it was likely a business decision with better prices negotiated for regular routes  - perhaps on excursions as well.  The up side is that P&O Caribbean prices do seem to be very cheap and can perhaps have a pull for people looking for a hot climate holiday in the winter.  We had looked a land holidays in the Caribbean, but prices are high. 

 

Regards Cuba I do not ever recall seeing a P&O ship call into there since Carnival took over, (which was also about the time we started cruising), but perhaps I missed it, was it in the Obama era when restrictions were relaxed?  I assume the lack of Cuba is mainly due to the US links as Fred and other UK based lines do call there from time to time and the itineraries sell well.

The other potential problem with Cuba is berth availability in Havana. I went a bit over 2 years ago and there was only one cruise ship berth. They were talking about constructing another one but not sure if they have.

Edited July 20, 2020 by Britboys
Addition

[kruzseeka]

13 minutes ago, Britboys said:

The other potential problem with Cuba is berth availability in Havana. I went a bit over 2 years ago and there was only one cruise ship berth. They were talking about constructing another one but not sure if they have.

 

You are right about berthing.  I read last year one cruise company which had a 2 day stop in Havana was 'bumped' to accommodate another ship in as much as arrival time was pushed back to afternoon and departure was about midday- or something of the sort.  Hardly the period as advertised in the itinerary in effect mainly a late afternoon/evening and morning call.  Apparently it wasn't a one-off either.  I think the port was trying to get two ships in per day by curtailing their times - or the cruise operator was!   

Anyway that would have been very disappointing given there is plenty to see and great to soak up the atmosphere.  The ship berths right in the Old Town.  The buzz at night with the bars and music is fab.  It's all very walkable, in the main pedestrianised and felt very safe.   One year we went to the Club Tropicana - the trip advertised a welcome glass of bubbly with nibbles and 'a bit of rum'.  Cue a 1 Litre bottle of Havana Club between four of us and 4 cans of  Coke (although not the American brand!).  It was a great night. 🍹😆

[Britboys]

3 minutes ago, kruzseeka said:

 

You are right about berthing.  I read last year one cruise company which had a 2 day stop in Havana was 'bumped' to accommodate another ship in as much as arrival time was pushed back to afternoon and departure was about midday- or something of the sort.  Hardly the period as advertised in the itinerary in effect mainly a late afternoon/evening and morning call.  Apparently it wasn't a one-off either.  I think the port was trying to get two ships in per day by curtailing their times - or the cruise operator was!   

Anyway that would have been very disappointing given there is plenty to see and great to soak up the atmosphere.  The ship berths right in the Old Town.  The buzz at night with the bars and music is fab.  It's all very walkable, in the main pedestrianised and felt very safe.   One year we went to the Club Tropicana - the trip advertised a welcome glass of bubbly with nibbles and 'a bit of rum'.  Cue a 1 Litre bottle of Havana Club between four of us and 4 cans of  Coke (although not the American brand!).  It was a great night. 🍹😆

Yes, a similar situation when I went. I booked as it was advertised as two days in Havana. On the second day, instead of departing at, I think 4.30pm, we departed, I think, at 1.00pm. This was to allow another ship to berth. I was on a Marella ship and I think the one due in was HAL.

[joeecco]

6 minutes ago, Britboys said:

Yes, a similar situation when I went. I booked as it was advertised as two days in Havana. On the second day, instead of departing at, I think 4.30pm, we departed, I think, at 1.00pm. This was to allow another ship to berth. I was on a Marella ship and I think the one due in was HAL.

Shame they don’t adopt a system like Madeira does for NYE, is they want two ships in both for an overnight then have one in port and the other tender in and every few hours switch round so wheelchair passengers can disembark safely too. Maybe it’s not possible in that area but seems to work a treat for NYE in Madeira with the dozens of ships. 

[Triggertravel]

Just to throw this out there, why do p&o not go to the Dominican Republic anymore it seams to be of the radar also for some reason even the new port of amber cove doesn’t seam to feature of late .i know it’s a man made port and mainly geared up for the Americans but outside of the port gates their is some fantastic places to see and visit.we have been a few times and have had some fantastic day trips 

[kruzseeka]

Whilst we've been on some lovely trips from the DR, both ports where we berthed weren't great - there was a lot of security too.  We once walked into La Romana and it wasn't geared tourists at all.  It's sometime ago so it may have improved.  We liked Amber Cove though.  

 

We once went to Portsmouth in Dominica and visited Escape Beach which was lovely.  There is a National Park there too.  We thought it made a welcome change from Roseau.  

[Britboys]

1 hour ago, joeecco said:

Shame they don’t adopt a system like Madeira does for NYE, is they want two ships in both for an overnight then have one in port and the other tender in and every few hours switch round so wheelchair passengers can disembark safely too. Maybe it’s not possible in that area but seems to work a treat for NYE in Madeira with the dozens of ships. 

Hopefully they will get their act together and renovate the port. There is plenty of available berth space there but much of it was in a terrible state of disrepair when I was there a couple of years ago.

[tring]

7 hours ago, Britboys said:

The other potential problem with Cuba is berth availability in Havana. I went a bit over 2 years ago and there was only one cruise ship berth. They were talking about constructing another one but not sure if they have.

We were there about four years ago and boarded Cuba Cruise (Celestyal Crystal).  We were in port overnight on our return and MSC Opera was on port at the same time, so definitely two berths, one on each side of the same pier.  It was when Obama was allowing US people to people vists to Cuba.  When we booked it was mainly Canadian passengers, but US bookings were later taken on a drinks and excursion basis.as they could not spend on Cuba.  Port very run down but worked. 

 

We just missed The Stones Concert and Obama's visit.  Mick had stayed in our hotel with his son a few months earlier, presumably on a Reccy.  Had a great time with ten nights in Havana pre cruise and 11 nights in Varadero post cruise as well as the trip round the island, though one port was replaced with a Jamaican port to embark the US passengers.

 

 

 

Edited July 20, 2020 by tring