P&O Standards dropped, probably never again.

[lindylooellalouise]

Just now, Camberley said:

Enjoy it when September comes. Yes re: back to back, We had booked a back to back initially but then had to cancel given the rules against them.

Hi I’m sure I’ve read that back to backs can now be booked from September 25th with pand o and Cunard from Oct we are looking to add one after our cruise on QE.

[lindylooellalouise]

1 hour ago, amfc_lenny said:

Camberley, thanks for the excellent balanced review. 
 

so looking forward to our cruise in September, just wish we could book a back to back and not just a single week

• For all holidays sailing up to and including 24 September, guests will require a seven day gap between any of the UK getaway cruises. Back-to-back bookings will not be available. This seven day gap also applies to cruises booked with other cruise lines including our sister brands Cunard and Princess Cruises. From 25 September onwards, back-to-back bookings are allowed,
• this is on the website so looks like B2B are allowed we don’t usually book week cruises as they are not long enough and travelling down from Durham also only for a week is just not worth it 

[terrierjohn]

5 hours ago, Son of Anarchy said:

Azura's Blue Bar is red.  Ventura's Red Bar is blue.  Or is it the other way around?  Can't remember, over a year and a half since I've been on either of them! 😄

and which has Havana and which has Manhatten, but for me it's the tree in Ventura's glass house, that sets her apart.

[kalos]

8 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

and which has Havana and which has Manhatten, but for me it's the tree in Ventura's glass house, that sets her apart.

The times I have said  lets go to the Metropolis Bar when I should have said the Planet Bar  

Or was it other way around ?  I'm Happy in either really 

[HalifaxYorksCruiser]

Camberley- thanks for the review. We are on the 4 nighter starting this Sunday. Which night is Celebration night ?

[daiB]

2 hours ago, Ardennais said:

I agree. Little or no difference on Aurora/Oceana and then Ventura/Azura/Britannia, and for me, that includes the school holidays too!  

I have been saying this for a number of years. However most of our cruising has been out of term time. Cos it’s cheaper and with greater choice.

[daiB]

1 hour ago, terrierjohn said:

and which has Havana and which has Manhatten, but for me it's the tree in Ventura's glass house, that sets her apart.

One of them has a ducks bum. 🙂 

[Camberley]

29 minutes ago, HalifaxYorksCruiser said:

Camberley- thanks for the review. We are on the 4 nighter starting this Sunday. Which night is Celebration night ?

It was on Tuesday on our cruise. I hope you enjoy the cruise

[terrierjohn]

3 hours ago, daiB said:

One of them has a ducks bum. 🙂 

Ahh, but isn't that Britannia, whereas I was comparing Azura and Ventura. Incidentally where have you been hiding during covid, you do know that you cannot be infected via the internet?!!😇

[Snow Hill]

21 hours ago, wowzz said:

Strange isn't it, that silly things like sugar sachets suddenly become worthy of attention.  There is absolutely no reason why they cannot be left out for people to help themselves.

I wonder if the accountants have suddenly decided that this would be a good time to stop people taking 5 sugar sachets when they really only need 4 !

 

We have a little box at home for sugar sachets for use in case someone comes here who takes sugar in tea. We haven’t bought granulated sugar for around 2 years as neither of us adds sugar to drinks or  meals. 

[HalifaxYorksCruiser]

4 hours ago, Camberley said:

It was on Tuesday on our cruise. I hope you enjoy the cruise

Thanks. I guessed it might be Tuesday. Weather forecast next Monday to Wednesday doesn’t look too bad at the moment around Torquay and Newquay. Looking forward to the cruise. Should have been on Jewel of the Seas on Saturday from Cyprus but bottled out before final payment and took FCC instead.

[daiB]

3 hours ago, terrierjohn said:

Ahh, but isn't that Britannia, whereas I was comparing Azura and Ventura. Incidentally where have you been hiding during covid, you do know that you cannot be infected via the internet?!!😇

No Azura has the ducks bum as in the photos. I have been nowhere exactly  the same as everyone else.

[terrierjohn]

10 minutes ago, daiB said:

No Azura has the ducks bum as in the photos. I have been nowhere exactly  the same as everyone else.

I had never noticed that Dai, very observant of you. Any idea what it's for, maybe it makes Azura more stable, if so that could be why Ventura has a nasty tendency to list badly in strong winds.

[daiB]

1 hour ago, terrierjohn said:

I had never noticed that Dai, very observant of you. Any idea what it's for, maybe it makes Azura more stable, if so that could be why Ventura has a nasty tendency to list badly in strong winds.

I only noticed when Azura left the Tyne to go to Belfast. When she sailed out. As the picture shows.

[davecttr]

I googled duck tails. Apparently apart from improving stability they also improve fuel efficiency so Ventura might well get one at her next refit.

[burfies]

On 7/26/2021 at 8:39 PM, The Med said:

We’ve just done the 3 day staycation on Britannia and I’m going to be completely honest, and, I expect I’m going to offend quite a few people. 
We’re a middle class couple, we were with friends.

We we booked on one of the Cunard cruises that got cancelled so we booked this one with P&O with some trepidation, but it was more or less the same dates so we went for it. We dithered because we’d heard that standards had dropped. 
 We found the whole experience disappointing.

 

The app was a disgrace. We booked in for Meridian but had to wait nearly an hour to get a table. I wish that we had been told to ignore the “my holiday app”, just walk up and get a bleeper.

 

Once in the Meridian on Gala night, people sitting at a table raised their eyebrows at us and sniggered as we passed. Obese, tattooed, underdressed people who shouldn’t have even been allowed in on Gala night because they hadn’t followed the dress code made us feel uncomfortable because we’d made an effort.

No wine waiter, a rushed service. We were asked to order food before we’d been asked about wine. 
No choice of bread, just white roll. They brought brown when we asked for it. Staff were polite enough but not interested in conversation, too rushed. We felt like we were an inconvenience, they needed to get everyone in and out as quickly as possible.

Horizon buffet. Not enough staff, we waited 10 minutes most mornings to find a waiter to get coffee. I missed being able to get up and get my own coffee and juice.

You can’t choose a table, you get told where to sit ( didn’t understand the logic of that, you can sit where you want in the bars and theatre so why not Horizon).

Choice of food nowhere near enough as usual, no omelette station. Enough to eat but nowhere like the usual array of lovely things.

 

Outside was the usual hogging of sun loungers. 10.00am, no loungers left so we just removed towels and sat down.

 

The entertainment was good, we saw Mr Tickertons circus and Sounds of the Underground, both excellent.

The comedian was a throwback to the 80’s. I’d heard every joke before. It was embarrassingly awful.

Of all the brilliant comedians out there, I’ve no idea how he got booked. He did have a nice voice though, he should have done more singing and less of the other stuff.

 

I don’t know how to word this without being disparaging to others, but basically I think that people feel comfortable with their own kind.

We prefer a more upmarket experience with people like ourselves. We knew that it would be a mixed crowd but we hadn’t anticipated how many people would be different to ourselves.

By dressing up, by being respectful,  I felt in a minority. 
 

I don’t know if P&O standards have dropped generally or if it’s that the type of people that can afford to go on a 3 day cruise perhaps wouldn’t go on a 10 day cruise?

It was just too low class, common, for us. Sorry. 

 

 

 

We were advised by out Travel Agent not to go on P&O again, as standards have dropped quite a bit. We used to travel with them quite a lot 15yrs ago. now Prefer Oceania, Azamara etc.

 

 

[wowzz]

1 minute ago, burfies said:

We were advised by out Travel Agent not to go on P&O again, as standards have dropped quite a bit. We used to travel with them quite a lot 15yrs ago. now Prefer Oceania, Azamara etc.

 

 

You are not exactly comparing like with like! 

[lincslady]

I know I should know, but I presume P and O is less expensive than these lines - in which case you would not expect the same standards in passenger/crew ratio, food, etc.  It is hardly fair if you are not comparing like for like.  I would not expect Fred Olsen to be as 'high standard' as Seabourn, and it isn't.

 

I am beginning to think this thread title is getting a bit unnecessary?

[wowzz]

10 minutes ago, lincslady said:

I know I should know, but I presume P and O is less expensive than these lines - in which case you would not expect the same standards in passenger/crew ratio, food, etc.  It is hardly fair if you are not comparing like for like.  I would not expect Fred Olsen to be as 'high standard' as Seabourn, and it isn't.

 

I am beginning to think this thread title is getting a bit unnecessary?

Yes, P&O is in a different price category. 

[sandancer]

It’s the old story. You get what you pay for. We have just taken our first Marella cruise when we usually cruise with Celebrity. Was it the same food, service etc etc. No it wasn’t and we didn’t expect it to be. Was it comparable price. No it wasn’t. Nowhere near. We are taking our first cruise on Britannia next month and we intend to have a good time and probably won’t even notice the tattooed, obese people who as someone else pointed out are, like myself,  possibly NHS or other key workers, really needing a break. 

[zap99]

1 hour ago, burfies said:

We were advised by out Travel Agent not to go on P&O again, as standards have dropped quite a bit. We used to travel with them quite a lot 15yrs ago. now Prefer Oceania, Azamara etc.

 

 

I much prefer the Dorchester to the B&B round the back of the care breakers yard. My mate told me a good place, but he gets more commission.😁

[Windsurfboy]

56 minutes ago, zap99 said:

I much prefer the Dorchester to the B&B round the back of the care breakers yard. My mate told me a good place, but he gets more commission.😁

 

I thought a care breakers yard was Boris's new social care policy  until I realised it was a typo😁😁😁

[zap99]

17 minutes ago, Windsurfboy said:

 

I thought a care breakers yard was Boris's new social care policy  until I realised it was a typo😁😁😁

Whoops🤣

[Windsurfboy]

1 hour ago, sandancer said:

It’s the old story. You get what you pay for. We have just taken our first Marella cruise when we usually cruise with Celebrity. Was it the same food, service etc etc. No it wasn’t and we didn’t expect it to be. Was it comparable price. No it wasn’t. Nowhere near. We are taking our first cruise on Britannia next month and we intend to have a good time .

 

This sums it up well.  

 

 P&O offers a good quality product, nice ships with nice people, good food if not that exciting , very reasonable wine list with fine wines if you want it and you can always add more luxury using the speciality restaurants and retreat. 

 

 

 

 

Edited July 30, 2021 by Windsurfboy

[crompton21]

3 hours ago, burfies said:

We were advised by out Travel Agent not to go on P&O again, as standards have dropped quite a bit. We used to travel with them quite a lot 15yrs ago. now Prefer Oceania, Azamara etc.

 

 

 

I wonder if the fact that they work on a commission based on  the invoice value clouded their judgement?

 

In no way am I saying that travel agents are not the most righteous people in this world, just in case I upset anyone.