Cunard or P&O World Cruise for a solo traveller

[Dermotsgirl]

I’m due to be on on my first Cunard cruise next May, and I’m expecting to find people similar to the people I’ve found on P&O and Fred. Just nice people who enjoy cruising.

 

I tend to ignore some of the more extreme comments on forums. If I’d read forums before my first cruise, I’d have had serious doubts about what I was getting into! 
 

[ace2542]

4 hours ago, PORT ROYAL said:

BIL

What does that stand for?

[wowzz]

10 minutes ago, ace2542 said:

What does that stand for?

Brother in law. 

Other common abbreviations are SiL, MiL, FiL, DW, DH. Fairly obvious really. 

[ace2542]

3 hours ago, Windsurfboy said:

P&O has better shows ,  Cunarders seem to like their guest lecturers

Impossible to compare without having been on both. Have to say Cunard shows sometime not well attended. On Cunard shows are on rotation for 6 or 7 years before being phased out and cost millions to put on so I have been told. They do 2 shows a crossing. How many do P&O team do?

 

3 hours ago, Windsurfboy said:

In the end both are nice , mid market cruise lines with a British twist, P&O British clientele,  Cunard is a British lines designed to attract Americans

What is a nice or best high market cruise line then?

[terrierjohn]

7 hours ago, ace2542 said:

 

What is a nice or best high market cruise line then?

Regent, Crystal, Seabourn, Silver sea.  Cunard does not figure in any luxury cruise line list.

[wowzz]

17 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

Regent, Crystal, Seabourn, Silver sea.  Cunard does not figure in any luxury cruise line list.

Somehow John, I think each all your selections, will, for some reason, not be equal to Cunard in the eyes of certain posters!

[Eddie99]

11 hours ago, Dermotsgirl said:

I’m due to be on on my first Cunard cruise next May, and I’m expecting to find people similar to the people I’ve found on P&O and Fred. Just nice people who enjoy cruising.

 

I tend to ignore some of the more extreme comments on forums. If I’d read forums before my first cruise, I’d have had serious doubts about what I was getting into! 
 

I so agree with you and can identify with your second paragraph.  I don’t think I would have ‘taken the plunge’ if I’d come across cruise forums before booking

 

You will love Cunard.  It’s a little different from P&O but honestly not a lot.  
 

If I could contemplate a worldie (which I can’t) I think I would avoid Cunard just because of the dining arrangements - no freedom dining (nice buffet of course but not the same) and jackets for gentlemen every night.  As for sitting at the same table in the same restaurant served by the same waiters for 90+ nights ... Eek!  Too much of a very good thing, for my taste

[Host Sharon]

1 hour ago, terrierjohn said:

Regent, Crystal, Seabourn, Silver sea.  Cunard does not figure in any luxury cruise line list.

And if you want to sail from the UK, you can add Saga to the list - easily equal to Oceania etc.

[brian1]

27 minutes ago, Eddie99 said:

I so agree with you and can identify with your second paragraph.  I don’t think I would have ‘taken the plunge’ if I’d come across cruise forums before booking

 

You will love Cunard.  It’s a little different from P&O but honestly not a lot.  
 

If I could contemplate a worldie (which I can’t) I think I would avoid Cunard just because of the dining arrangements - no freedom dining (nice buffet of course but not the same) and jackets for gentlemen every night.  As for sitting at the same table in the same restaurant served by the same waiters for 90+ nights ... Eek!  Too much of a very good thing, for my taste

There is a compromise with Brittania club,where your 2 seats are waiting for you at your leisure with your 2 dedicated waiters at every meal including breakfast.We found that experience great,the waiters got to know our preferences and personally,me being a working plumber at the time looked forward to wearing a whistle.

[ace2542]

3 hours ago, terrierjohn said:

Regent, Crystal, Seabourn, Silver sea.  Cunard does not figure in any luxury cruise line list.

What is the cost for their world cruises then?

[Windsurfboy]

2 hours ago, wowzz said:

Somehow John, I think each all your selections, will, for some reason, not be equal to Cunard in the eyes of certain posters!

 

I think your'e right

 

1 hour ago, Host Sharon said:

And if you want to sail from the UK, you can add Saga to the list - easily equal to Oceania etc.

 

Agree Sharon ,Saga seemed to have definitely moved up market,  giving them a go in 2022

 

 

2 hours ago, terrierjohn said:

Regent, Crystal, Seabourn, Silver sea.  Cunard does not figure in any luxury cruise line list.

 

  looking at these when the right itinerary comes up, looking at Japan to Alaska in 2023 , which has choice of Cunard ,Seabourn , or Silversea . However if 2022 Capetown is cancelled  FCC will make cunard the choice.

 

My personal feeling is as the mainline ships get bigger and bigger, we will move to smaller ships, we will find it sad when Aurora and Arcadia go ,but may as an experiment give the ship within ship concept.  I like peace and quiet.

[terrierjohn]

2 hours ago, Host Sharon said:

And if you want to sail from the UK, you can add Saga to the list - easily equal to Oceania etc.

Sharon, I accept that Saga, Ocenia, Viking and Azamara, plus maybe others look like very good second tier luxury lines, but I imagine they will not be fully comparable my original luxury list. Unfortunately we have never been on any of these, and I doubt we will now.

[ace2542]

1 hour ago, terrierjohn said:

Unfortunately we have never been on any of these, and I doubt we will now

Why do you doubt that you will?

[wowzz]

1 hour ago, terrierjohn said:

Sharon, I accept that Saga, Ocenia, Viking and Azamara, plus maybe others look like very good second tier luxury lines, but I imagine they will not be fully comparable my original luxury list. Unfortunately we have never been on any of these, and I doubt we will now.

I agree. In footballing terms,  these would be championship teams, whilst your list would be Premiership material. 

[Windsurfboy]

1 hour ago, terrierjohn said:

Sharon, I accept that Saga, Ocenia, Viking and Azamara, plus maybe others look like very good second tier luxury lines, but I imagine they will not be fully comparable my original luxury list. Unfortunately we have never been on any of these, and I doubt we will now.

 

2 hours ago, ace2542 said:

What is the cost for their world cruises then?

 

I agree with terrierjohn , if price is anything to go by , his list is roughly twice the price of Cunard P&O , whilst Saga and others roughly 50% more. 

 

Clearly there is a continuum , but all are in the luxury end of the spectrum

[ToxM]

2 hours ago, ace2542 said:

What is the cost for their world cruises then?

 

Oceania runs about 38k for lowest cabin grade, but their WC is 180 days. Oceania would be my world cruise of choice if money were no object. 

[wowzz]

If you have a certain budget, would you prefer to be in the best cabin/suite in a "cheap" cruise line, or the cheapest cabin in a more expensive line?

Fortunately (?) I can't see  myself ever having  to make that decision, at least for a world cruise. 

[ace2542]

12 minutes ago, ToxM said:

 

Oceania runs about 38k for lowest cabin grade, but their WC is 180 days. Oceania would be my world cruise of choice if money were no object. 

What is the longest world cruise?

[wowzz]

2 minutes ago, ace2542 said:

What is the longest world cruise?

Doesn't "The World" basically sail one continuous world cruise, a bit like Snowpiercer, but with stops!

[ace2542]

1 minute ago, wowzz said:

Doesn't "The World" basically sail one continuous world cruise, a bit like Snowpiercer, but with stops!

Apparently so. And you have bought up another interesting question.

 

Will Brits be able to live on Cruise Ships after Brexit once it all starts up again? Won't there now be limits as to how much time people can spend in the EU even on cruise ships. There is a guy on Cunard who spends 6 months doing the T/A and whatever it does. He teaches a class about bowties onboard. He is American I think he can only get 6 months from UK immigration before he runs into problems.

[Dermotsgirl]

5 hours ago, Eddie99 said:

I so agree with you and can identify with your second paragraph.  I don’t think I would have ‘taken the plunge’ if I’d come across cruise forums before booking

 

You will love Cunard.  It’s a little different from P&O but honestly not a lot.  
 

If I could contemplate a worldie (which I can’t) I think I would avoid Cunard just because of the dining arrangements - no freedom dining (nice buffet of course but not the same) and jackets for gentlemen every night.  As for sitting at the same table in the same restaurant served by the same waiters for 90+ nights ... Eek!  Too much of a very good thing, for my taste

When freedom dining started we enthusiastically embraced it, and enjoy the ability to eat in different places and at times to suit our evening plans. 

 

As Brian mentioned, we've chosen the option of Britannia Club so give us some flexibility around timing, and also because the cruise was originally for this year as a treat for our 40th wedding anniversary

 

We moved to a cruise next May so our 40th anniversary will  be history by then, but we still chose Britannia Club, just for the experience.

 

In 2017, we did two legs of the Aurora world cruise, 50 nights in all. It was a great experience, but 50 nights in the main dining room would have been too much, as would a jacket every night for my husband. My husband wore a suit every day of his working life, so the Cunard dress code is less of a draw for us, but will of course adhere to it, as it's all part of the Cunard offering.

 

I do hope the cruise will go ahead next year.  It's a British Isles cruise, so I feel it'll have a better chance than some of the other cruises. but time will tell.  

[Dermotsgirl]

44 minutes ago, wowzz said:

Doesn't "The World" basically sail one continuous world cruise, a bit like Snowpiercer, but with stops!

The first class dining car on Snowpiercer always reminds me of a cruise! 

[wowzz]

4 minutes ago, Dermotsgirl said:

The first class dining car on Snowpiercer always reminds me of a cruise! 

In fact, the whole Snowpiercer system of different classes, reminds me of Cunard!

I guess I'd be in the "tail".

[Son of Anarchy]

Just now, wowzz said:

In fact, the whole Snowpiercer system of different classes, reminds me of Cunard!

I guess I'd be in the "tail".

Same here I think!

[ace2542]

3 minutes ago, wowzz said:

In fact, the whole Snowpiercer system of different classes, reminds me of Cunard!

I guess I'd be in the "tail".

Don't you mean the titanic. Look at the different classes of people on that ship during it's sailing if the movie is to believed. I have never seen snowpiercer movie or tv series.

Edited June 3, 2021 by ace2542