Who has decided to take a summer staycation cruise?

[reef112]

They are selling inside cabins (certainly on Iona at least).

[seapals2]

18 minutes ago, reef112 said:

They are selling inside cabins (certainly on Iona at least).

Sorry I had only looked at Britannia to compare with Sky Princess ... no inside cabins for sale on either and similar capacity.  
Iona is a huge ship with 5,000 capacity perhaps they couldn’t sail with such limited capacity and have sold some decks and not all.  

Edited March 24, 2021 by seapals2
Typo

[wowzz]

27 minutes ago, Roger88 said:

I doubt they will go for minimum capacity on those cruises post Pandemic. It simply not worth it. I pretty much sure that all the cabins will be booked out and there will be tons of people on board

Just 100% wrong.

[seapals2]

Have to correct my original post here with cabin numbers.  Apologies ... 

[davecttr]

For comparison Iona has 2614 cabins and normal capacity of 5200 guests

811 inside

174 sea view

1366 balcony

120 deluxe balcony

95 conservatory mini suite

24 suite

22 single

2 family

[Son of Anarchy]

1 hour ago, davecttr said:

For comparison Iona has 2614 cabins and normal capacity of 5200 guests

811 inside

174 sea view

1366 balcony

120 deluxe balcony

95 conservatory mini suite

24 suite

22 single

2 family

Thanks for the breakdown.  I thought it was usually a 50/50 split between the inside and sea view cabins versus balconies and suites on ships built over the last 10 or so years.

 

Cleary weighted more towards balconies and suites now.

[majortom10]

4 hours ago, wowzz said:

Just 100% wrong.

I agree and isnt he always wrong.

[SarahHben]

I didn't think I would be interested in going on one of these short cruises to nowhere, especially for the price per night, but seeing you all booking and excited has made me desperate to try one. I've tried persuading my husband that it would be a good introduction to cruising and a 3 night Britannia cruise would fit in perfectly with my childcare duties but he's not at all interested. If he was a little bit interested I could probably make it happen but I think I will have to give up on this one 

 

[ann141]

3 minutes ago, SarahHben said:

I didn't think I would be interested in going on one of these short cruises to nowhere, especially for the price per night, but seeing you all booking and excited has made me desperate to try one. I've tried persuading my husband that it would be a good introduction to cruising and a 3 night Britannia cruise would fit in perfectly with my childcare duties but he's not at all interested. If he was a little bit interested I could probably make it happen but I think I will have to give up on this one 

 

There are some 4 night cruises with Princess at a reasonable price.We have booked one which visits Belfast 

[SarahHben]

5 minutes ago, ann141 said:

There are some 4 night cruises with Princess at a reasonable price.We have booked one which visits Belfast 

Thank you, I'll have a look, but I suspect he still wont be interested.

[ann141]

1 minute ago, SarahHben said:

Thank you, I'll have a look, but I suspect he still wont be interested.

I think my hubby only agreed so that I would stop talking about possible cruises!

[SarahHben]

4 minutes ago, ann141 said:

I think my hubby only agreed so that I would stop talking about possible cruises!

Mine seems to have selective hearing 🤣

[majortom10]

we have booked a 7nt with Princess visiting Belfast/Liverpool but excursions are very expensive and dont suppose we would be allowed off the ship other than on a ship excursion

 

[rachiem]

42 minutes ago, ann141 said:

There are some 4 night cruises with Princess at a reasonable price.We have booked one which visits Belfast 

This is one that I like the look of too but not too keen on the 90 day full payment 

 

[JP82]

After a bit of back and forthing. Have just booked a 4 day on Sky Princess in September. Princess had never been on my radar prior to all this, so quite excited to try something (a little) different.

 

Will see what happens over the next month or two as am buying a house, but may still book something on Iona.

[ann141]

32 minutes ago, majortom10 said:

we have booked a 7nt with Princess visiting Belfast/Liverpool but excursions are very expensive and dont suppose we would be allowed off the ship other than on a ship excursion

 

At the moment Princess are stating that you can only get off the ship if you book one of their excursions.They do tend to be expensive and I am disappointed that there is no excursion to The Giants Causeway from Belfast.However things may change nearer the time.We are booked on the 4 night on Regal Princess just visiting Belfast

[Britboys]

I looked at the Princess ones this morning but as expected, the solo prices were pretty much double those for each of two pax. With three nights at £953 and four at £1023, I'll be staying home...

[peteukmcr]

I've been following this thread with interest. Wanted to book a 7 night Iona but even though I'm furloughed my employer will not allow me to book any time off in September (in fact no employee can!). Moot point if I'm still furloughed in September though!

 

Can't do any Britannia in August as again can't get time off as too many people want those weeks due to school holidays!

 

Checked Princess prices and although the "Princess Plus" fare seems high compared to P&O for a 3 night sailing, in reality it's not that different. P&O have 3 nights at £439 and Princess have 3 nights at £449. The "Plus" fare includes Wi-Fi and Premium Beverage package, and gratuities for £30 pppd so the total fare is £539 pp.

 

Even if P&O sold the drinks package (doubtful on such short sailings) that would be an extra £120 pp. So the total fare would be £559 with P&O and no internet. Deposit with P&O would have been £135 per cabin, £100 with Princess.

 

Now I know not everyone likes a drink, but we do, and also like access to the internet in order to keep in touch with elderly relatives. 

 

P&O would not let you request your dining preference (ours is 'Anytime'), whereas Princess do.

 

So, booked Regal Princess 31st July.

 

[SarahHben]

I’ve had a look at Princess and I do like the look of the Belfast stop one but OH is still adamant he wants to wait until next year. 

[davecttr]

41 minutes ago, Britboys said:

I looked at the Princess ones this morning but as expected, the solo prices were pretty much double those for each of two pax. With three nights at £953 and four at £1023, I'll be staying home...

same for P&O, well over 90% single supplement. i notice my booked cabin category is now sold out for the 21 August Scotland cruise

[Purdey16]

1 hour ago, JP82 said:

After a bit of back and forthing. Have just booked a 4 day on Sky Princess in September. Princess had never been on my radar prior to all this, so quite excited to try something (a little) different.

 

Will see what happens over the next month or two as am buying a house, but may still book something on Iona.

We also booked a princess 5 night one , wasn’t even on our radar too as we did want to try out Iona but since we are booked on her in February to canaries next year we will wait, but we are quite looking forward to the sky princess one all new for us , I did fancy the Belfast 7 day one but husband wants to stay on the ship and enjoy the spa and have 5 days to ourselves (almost) with not being carers and rest 

[JP82]

9 minutes ago, Purdey16 said:

We also booked a princess 5 night one , wasn’t even on our radar too as we did want to try out Iona but since we are booked on her in February to canaries next year we will wait, but we are quite looking forward to the sky princess one all new for us , I did fancy the Belfast 7 day one but husband wants to stay on the ship and enjoy the spa and have 5 days to ourselves (almost) with not being carers and rest 

 

Yeah have been watching a few YouTube videos on here this afternoon. She seems really nice, and still like new in some ways as she was new before the lockdown.... Exciting!

[Definitas]

I have just been on the P&O website to look at the "staycation" cruises.  Every one I looked at did not give any option to choose cabin number or dining time.  Is this normal with P&O?  I guess that they must be confident that sufficient people will be willing to part with their money without knowing where their cabin will be or what time they will be dining in the current circumstances.  We were unlucky enough to have early dinner about 10 years ago on a late booking and would never accept that option again.  I hope that Cunard does not have the same conditions when sales open on Friday

[majortom10]

Just now, MacH said:

I have just been on the P&O website to look at the "staycation" cruises.  Every one I looked at did not give any option to choose cabin number or dining time.  Is this normal with P&O?  I guess that they must be confident that sufficient people will be willing to part with their money without knowing where their cabin will be or what time they will be dining in the current circumstances.  We were unlucky enough to have early dinner about 10 years ago on a late booking and would never accept that option again.  I hope that Cunard does not have the same conditions when sales open on Friday

It isnt normal on ordinary cruises but these staycation/seacation cruises by P&O and Princess and think Cunard will be the same are all being sold just by cabin grade and the cruise line will pick the cabin number within that grade. I can understand they have done it because obviously the ship will not sail at full capacity. Dont know about P&O but with Princess we have been given the choice of 1st/2nd or anytime dining.

[Definitas]

5 minutes ago, majortom10 said:

It isnt normal on ordinary cruises but these staycation/seacation cruises by P&O and Princess and think Cunard will be the same are all being sold just by cabin grade and the cruise line will pick the cabin number within that grade. I can understand they have done it because obviously the ship will not sail at full capacity. Dont know about P&O but with Princess we have been given the choice of 1st/2nd or anytime dining.

We in our early days of cruising we got upgraded on Cunard to a junior suite.  Unfortunately, it was right at the very front of the ship and we thought we had been very lucky.  Unfortunately, we couldn't actually stay in the cabin for several days as we sailed down through the Bay of Biscay due to extreme swell (the cabin was rising and falling several feet).  We vowed never to sail again without knowing exactly where our cabin would be.  So, no dining choice and no cabin choice means no cruise choice.