Not much to choose from on P&O website!!

[sidekick180]

Is it just me, but there doesn't seem to be many cruises to choose from that are leaving Southampton. I have a 14 night cruise booked on Britannia for 25th April, which I believe will be the first cruise to sail after the extended pause (unless that one gets cancelled). I wanted to see what was available for later in 2021 or early 2022, with the idea of transferring our April cruise.

All I seem to be able to find are lots of Iona trips to the Norwegian Fjords, a couple of Ventura Cruises and one or two Britannia cruises. The Britannia and Ventura 14 night med cruises that I found are almost double what I paid for the April 2021 cruise.

Doesn't give me a lot to choose from and I really don't think I can justify the extra cost. I'm not happy with the new protocols they have put in place. Mainly the fact that you can only leave the ship if you book one of their excursions, which obviously means more money for P&O, less money for us to spend and being totally restricted to where we go with the guide. Quite often, we like to have a wander around the ports and then get back on ship when we have had enough. Obviously we wouldn't be able to do this if we are on an excursion.

I am really hoping that P&O will extend the pause even further and cancel our cruise. Even if they do this and offer us the 125% FCC I still don't know if there will be much for us to choose from. Maybe I will have to consider taking a full refund if they cancel the cruise and then try a different cruise company. Any thoughts would be much appreciated.

[yorkshirephil]

The new proposals will be the same whether you go with P&O or someone else. some of the proposals will be driven by what different countries allow or whether the itineraries will change. Norway are saying they will not open their ports till June, so Iona may be re-routed. You will always be somewhat restricted with 14 nights from Southampton. Albeit there is light at the end of the tunnel with the vaccines, nobody knows what the future holds. If P&O have put their prices up the it is likely others will have done the same, therefore taking the refund (if P&O cancel) will deprive you of the 25% towards a P&O cruise. A lot of people will have some serious thinking to do over the coming months. We have a river cruise in June so will wait and see how things pan out. Good luck whatever you decide.

[wowzz]

1 hour ago, yorkshirephil said:

so Iona may be re-routed.

The problem of course is that at present there are not many other options available for Iona.

To the OP - how about Arcadia to the Canaries in March 2022 - the good news is that we are on that one,  and if you are lucky you may get to hear my bird impressions. 

[sidekick180]

15 hours ago, wowzz said:

The problem of course is that at present there are not many other options available for Iona.

To the OP - how about Arcadia to the Canaries in March 2022 - the good news is that we are on that one,  and if you are lucky you may get to hear my bird impressions. 

I haven't looked at the Arcadia one yet. Only because we have only ever been on Ventura and Azura. Not sure if we would enjoy one of the smaller ships quite as much, but I will take a look at it. Have you been on the Arcadia yourself before, and if so, what is that ship like?

[sidekick180]

17 hours ago, yorkshirephil said:

The new proposals will be the same whether you go with P&O or someone else. some of the proposals will be driven by what different countries allow or whether the itineraries will change. Norway are saying they will not open their ports till June, so Iona may be re-routed. You will always be somewhat restricted with 14 nights from Southampton. Albeit there is light at the end of the tunnel with the vaccines, nobody knows what the future holds. If P&O have put their prices up the it is likely others will have done the same, therefore taking the refund (if P&O cancel) will deprive you of the 25% towards a P&O cruise. A lot of people will have some serious thinking to do over the coming months. We have a river cruise in June so will wait and see how things pan out. Good luck whatever you decide.

Thanks for the reply. I totally understand what you are saying, it's all very much hanging in the balance at the moment. I hope your river cruise goes ahead and you have a fantastic time. Apart from my concerns about the excursions and all the other changes, I am also in a bit of a quandry about our cruise. I can't book parking or even take out the travel insurance until much closer to the time because if they cancel, I may not get refunds on the parking or travel insurance. Guess I will have to play the waiting game and see what happens in the next couple of months.

[wowzz]

9 minutes ago, sidekick180 said:

I haven't looked at the Arcadia one yet. Only because we have only ever been on Ventura and Azura. Not sure if we would enjoy one of the smaller ships quite as much, but I will take a look at it. Have you been on the Arcadia yourself before, and if so, what is that ship like?

We did a round trip to the Caribbean on Arcadia a couple of years ago.

We like smaller ships,  so Arcadia suits us fine. Balcony cabins are quite spacious,  with a sofa, and you get a proper bath, not just a shower and a grotty curtain.

Theatre is excellent.

Every ship has its pros and cons, so it is all a matter of personal choice, but we wouldn't have booked another cruise on her if there had been any major negatives.  

[sidekick180]

11 minutes ago, wowzz said:

We did a round trip to the Caribbean on Arcadia a couple of years ago.

We like smaller ships,  so Arcadia suits us fine. Balcony cabins are quite spacious,  with a sofa, and you get a proper bath, not just a shower and a grotty curtain.

Theatre is excellent.

Every ship has its pros and cons, so it is all a matter of personal choice, but we wouldn't have booked another cruise on her if there had been any major negatives.  

OK, thanks. always nice to get recommendations on the ships. I will take a look at cruises that arcadia are doing and will look at the layout of that ship.

[P&O SUE]

I think one of the reasons there doesn’t seem to be a lot of choice is because Oceana was sold and she was doing 7 night Iberia cruises and Canary Islands cruises next summer.

 

I was getting worried  trying to work out how the new protocols would affect me and mine wasn’t until September. Prices were rising for 2022 so a few days ago I moved it to June 2022. 14 day Med cruise on Ventura, changing to 14 day Med on Britannia - £100 each less!

[Soggychip1966]

If there could be restrictions on getting off the ship at ports of call, then perhaps we should be looking at the ship to be the destination. In that case I would look more towards Anthem of the Seas as there would be much more going on compared to Iona although the passenger count would be similar. 

We had an Iona cruise cancelled in June this year, and a Queen Mary 2 cruise cancelled for last month. 

We certainly wouldn't pay much over what we've paid before for cruises, so the cruise companies need to be smart about keeping the faithful cruisers onside. 

Purely only my point of view. 

 

Happy sailing. 

 

Garry. 

[WECRUISEUK]

Very similar situation for us,we have our fcc with P&O (110%) and no cruise re-booked,yet.Initially booked with "Hays travel" in feb. and had to pay all upfront due to cruise being in may,they transferred all the money to P&O then all this happened.Like a lot of us out there we thought it sounds like a good idea to have fcc at 110% as the banks aren't even offering 1%,then it went to 125%,too late for us.Since then we've attempted to find out about the policy on excursions and their reply said that,"we're in the process of working on a new programme of shore excursions that will be available at a lower price and available to purchase via My P&O Cruises eight weeks prior to departure,"to view this you first have to book a cruise.This all seems fine but not ideal as you could be paying £30 for a two hour walk around a town looking at what someone else regards as interesting.What about the church over the road?what about those shops?what's down that alleyway?This has never been an issue before as we've almost always done our own thing.My intial concern was,will you have enough guides and coaches for everyone(3500) and they have assured me that they will have,"enough options for all guests to travel ashore".Reguarding a full refund,i went to Hays yesterday and asked about our options and they said that if you look at getting a full refund with P&O there sure that they charge at least 5%.This morning i've sent another email asking about releasing the restrictions now we're all going to get a vaccine and info. regarding a full refund.If you have any info. from P&O about anything new on refunds please feel free to share.We do still want to cruise and i'm hoping that common sense and logic will wake up and allow all those with a vaccine the freedom to roam on our own.Hopefully P&O will only allow those with a vaccine to board,plus the insurance costs should drop.

                 Stay safe,

                                Clive & Lyn.

[sidekick180]

59 minutes ago, Mr.Clive Browne said:

Very similar situation for us,we have our fcc with P&O (110%) and no cruise re-booked,yet.Initially booked with "Hays travel" in feb. and had to pay all upfront due to cruise being in may,they transferred all the money to P&O then all this happened.Like a lot of us out there we thought it sounds like a good idea to have fcc at 110% as the banks aren't even offering 1%,then it went to 125%,too late for us.Since then we've attempted to find out about the policy on excursions and their reply said that,"we're in the process of working on a new programme of shore excursions that will be available at a lower price and available to purchase via My P&O Cruises eight weeks prior to departure,"to view this you first have to book a cruise.This all seems fine but not ideal as you could be paying £30 for a two hour walk around a town looking at what someone else regards as interesting.What about the church over the road?what about those shops?what's down that alleyway?This has never been an issue before as we've almost always done our own thing.My intial concern was,will you have enough guides and coaches for everyone(3500) and they have assured me that they will have,"enough options for all guests to travel ashore".Reguarding a full refund,i went to Hays yesterday and asked about our options and they said that if you look at getting a full refund with P&O there sure that they charge at least 5%.This morning i've sent another email asking about releasing the restrictions now we're all going to get a vaccine and info. regarding a full refund.If you have any info. from P&O about anything new on refunds please feel free to share.We do still want to cruise and i'm hoping that common sense and logic will wake up and allow all those with a vaccine the freedom to roam on our own.Hopefully P&O will only allow those with a vaccine to board,plus the insurance costs should drop.

                 Stay safe,

                                Clive & Lyn.

I totally agree with most of what you have said there. My onlly concern, is that quite a few people may not have been able to get the vaccine by the time we are due to cruise in April 2021. I think I will be quite a long way down the list of priority vaccine. My other half might be able to get the vaccine before me because she is a district nurse. We alwys do our own thing when we arrive at the ports and I would hate to have to be shepherded around, being told what we can and can't go and look at. Also, It does make you wonder whether we would be allowed entrance to any of the shops or other buildings etc. Maybe we will only be able to look at places from outside.