Dining

[Sheep Flavour]

Hello all. 
 

I hope your keeping well in these hard times?

 

I haven’t been on a cruise since COVID, and normally myself and my wife are freedom dinners. Have no issues on the waiting or Q’ing side of things. Last cruise was Nov 2019 and noticed everyone was get well stocked in to the dining rooms and just wondered what the case was now if we have COVID upon us.

 

many thanks,

 

SF

[janieb1962]

We are currently on Britannia, the ship is sailing with reduced passenger numbers (probably due to covid protocols and lack  of uptake in sales) that said it gives plenty of space for everyone . They are now (2nd week) allowing you to share tables with other diners. No problem getting a table for two and no queuing. The new app is brilliant , tells you how many in the virtual queue , then let’s you know when your table is ready, which is mostly instantly… you can accept the table and it gives you 15 minutes or you can leave the queue and join again later . Only two MDRs in use currently . 
 

Edited November 30, 2021 by janieb1962

[daiB]

1 hour ago, janieb1962 said:

We are currently on Britannia, the ship is sailing with reduced passenger numbers (probably due to covid protocols and lack  of uptake in sales) that said it gives plenty of space for everyone . They are now (2nd week) allowing you to share tables with other diners. No problem getting a table for two and no queuing. The new app is brilliant , tells you how many in the virtual queue , then let’s you know when your table is ready, which is mostly instantly… you can accept the table and it gives you 15 minutes or you can leave the queue and join again later . Only two MDRs in use currently . 
 

The reason for the reduced numbers is that  the ships are only allowed to sail at the moment with 75% capacity.

[Britboys]

26 minutes ago, daiB said:

The reason for the reduced numbers is that  the ships are only allowed to sail at the moment with 75% capacity.

Although elsewhere on this board someone on Britannia at present reports the ship is only half full...

[Bon0]

5 minutes ago, Britboys said:

Although elsewhere on this board someone on Britannia at present reports the ship is only half full...

I wonder how they’ve worked that out?  Or is it announced on the ship?  I imagine it would be difficult to discern the difference between two or three thousand people in such a dynamic environment.

[wowzz]

3 minutes ago, Bon0 said:

I wonder how they’ve worked that out?  Or is it announced on the ship?  I imagine it would be difficult to discern the difference between two or three thousand people in such a dynamic environment.

You just ask reception how many people are on board !

[Britboys]

1 minute ago, Bon0 said:

I wonder how they’ve worked that out?  Or is it announced on the ship?  I imagine it would be difficult to discern the difference between two or three thousand people in such a dynamic environment.

It is certainly not announced on board to the best of my knowledge but they may well have asked staff members who may have given them an indication. I have known Captains to mention that the ship is full but I doubt they would particularly want to acknowledge that it is only half-full...

[Bon0]

Very interesting - I’ll give that a go on my next one.  I can’t fathom how they can afford to operate with these capacities.

[wowzz]

25 minutes ago, Bon0 said:

Very interesting - I’ll give that a go on my next one.  I can’t fathom how they can afford to operate with these capacities.

There are numerous theories out there about the economics of cruising, and us laymen have no idea as to the true figures.

However,  I would suggest that at 40% capacity the ship covers operating costs,  and between 60% and 70% full overhead recovery is also recouped.  Others with more expertise will hopefully provide more information. 

What is undoubtedly true, is that cruise lines cannot continue in the medium term, at current capacity levels.

[Shipsareus]

We were on the previous Britannia sailing - November6-20 and there were 1400 passengers . 
Each deck on port and starboard has a block of quarantine cabins which are behind a locked door on the corridor. 
In addition there were many empty cabins. In the mornings where previously you would have seen many stewards with their trolleys on the corridors, we had only one on ours.

Agree re the app. Very easy to use and like the person currently onboard , we had immediate availability for a table for dinner.

 

[Britboys]

24 minutes ago, Shipsareus said:

We were on the previous Britannia sailing - November6-20 and there were 1400 passengers . 
Each deck on port and starboard has a block of quarantine cabins which are behind a locked door on the corridor. 
In addition there were many empty cabins. In the mornings where previously you would have seen many stewards with their trolleys on the corridors, we had only one on ours.

Agree re the app. Very easy to use and like the person currently onboard , we had immediate availability for a table for dinner.

 

So if my dreadful maths is correct, that is just under 40% of the standard operating capacity of 3647....

[Selbourne]

12 minutes ago, LynnForestgate said:

 

Its not announced, for many reasons, including pax asking for upgrades for free, and cabin swaps.

In the pre Covid days, the Captain usually said how many passengers were on board during his speech at the welcome aboard drinks reception on the second night. Some would also state the average age of passengers on board. That’s how we know that the average passenger age varies enormously by ship. On our last Britannia cruise the average passenger age was 45. On our last 2 Aurora cruises, the average ages were 75 and 77. We like Aurora as we feel young! 

[terrierjohn]

40 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

In the pre Covid days, the Captain usually said how many passengers were on board during his speech at the welcome aboard drinks reception on the second night. Some would also state the average age of passengers on board. That’s how we know that the average passenger age varies enormously by ship. On our last Britannia cruise the average passenger age was 45. On our last 2 Aurora cruises, the average ages were 75 and 77. We like Aurora as we feel young! 

When we were on Naigator OTS I was able to get a printout from guest relations which gave a complete analysis by nationality of everyone on board. I was just being nosey to see how many Brits and Nth Americans were on board, but the chief purser was only too happy to provide a full list.

[Selbourne]

5 minutes ago, LynnForestgate said:

The Pax manifest days are long gone aren't they ?

 

I hope not. Isn’t that the first thing that they grab if the ship starts to sink? 😱

[terrierjohn]

5 minutes ago, LynnForestgate said:

The Pax manifest days are long gone aren't they ?

 

Well they certainly are on P&O, but with about 99% Brits on most cruises, there is not the same interest.

[Bill Y]

49 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

In the pre Covid days, the Captain usually said how many passengers were on board during his speech at the welcome aboard drinks reception on the second night. Some would also state the average age of passengers on board. That’s how we know that the average passenger age varies enormously by ship. On our last Britannia cruise the average passenger age was 45. On our last 2 Aurora cruises, the average ages were 75 and 77. We like Aurora as we feel young! 

We have not been on Britannia but are amazed that the average age was only 45, assume that there were lots of children to bring the average down, was it a school holiday cruise?

 

It makes us smile when we see brochures that imply a the ships are full of forty somethings. One princess cruise we were on they once cleared the back of the ship early evening to shoot a promo video with the beautiful people posing, This really upset the smokers when they were evicted from there normal spot.

[Selbourne]

3 minutes ago, Bill Y said:

We have not been on Britannia but are amazed that the average age was only 45, assume that there were lots of children to bring the average down, was it a school holiday cruise?

 

It makes us smile when we see brochures that imply a the ships are full of forty somethings. One princess cruise we were on they once cleared the back of the ship early evening to shoot a promo video with the beautiful people posing, This really upset the smokers when they were evicted from there normal spot.

It was a school summer holiday cruise. 

[grapau27]

23 hours ago, Britboys said:

It is certainly not announced on board to the best of my knowledge but they may well have asked staff members who may have given them an indication. I have known Captains to mention that the ship is full but I doubt they would particularly want to acknowledge that it is only half-full...

Pre-covid there was nearly always a sign at guest services on the first night saying Ship is Full no upgrades available or words similar to this.

Graham

 

[wowzz]

38 minutes ago, grapau27 said:

Pre-covid there was nearly always a sign at guest services on the first night saying Ship is Full no upgrades available or words similar to this.

Graham

 

Graham - we both know that sign is put up regardless of the occupancy levels,  just to stop the time wasters trying to get a free upgrade!

 

[Selbourne]

1 minute ago, wowzz said:

Graham - we both know that sign is put up regardless of the occupancy levels,  just to stop the time wasters trying to get a free upgrade!

 

Yes that’s true. When we were last on Britannia the ship was supposedly full, yet when we were having problems with our suite we were offered the choice of two balcony cabins that we could have in addition to the suite if we wanted to sleep somewhere quieter but retain the use of the suite during the day! They told me that they always keep some empty cabins for situations such as this.

[grapau27]

9 hours ago, wowzz said:

Graham - we both know that sign is put up regardless of the occupancy levels,  just to stop the time wasters trying to get a free upgrade!

 

On Royal Caribbean pre-covid the ships were always fully sold and I would think P&O would be too hence the sign at guest services.

For a number of reasons people miss embarkation like we did in November 2011 when my late mam died at home just before we were leaving our hotel in Malaga and we got a flight home and missed our cruise.

Each tender station has a fixed number of passengers allowed for safety and if some cabins have multiple occupancy it can lead to some empty cabins for that tender station.

Graham.

[Son of Anarchy]

We were on Ventura when she broke down in Tenerife for five days.  About a third of the pax flew home at the end of the cruise.  An announcement was made that the vacated cabins would not be available for people to upgrade to for the return to Southampton.

[terrierjohn]

1 hour ago, Son of Anarchy said:

We were on Ventura when she broke down in Tenerife for five days.  About a third of the pax flew home at the end of the cruise.  An announcement was made that the vacated cabins would not be available for people to upgrade to for the return to Southampton.

What an opportunity missed, they could have run lots of bingo sessions with upgrades as prizes!

[Sheep Flavour]

On 11/30/2021 at 8:55 PM, janieb1962 said:

We are currently on Britannia, the ship is sailing with reduced passenger numbers (probably due to covid protocols and lack  of uptake in sales) that said it gives plenty of space for everyone . They are now (2nd week) allowing you to share tables with other diners. No problem getting a table for two and no queuing. The new app is brilliant , tells you how many in the virtual queue , then let’s you know when your table is ready, which is mostly instantly… you can accept the table and it gives you 15 minutes or you can leave the queue and join again later . Only two MDRs in use currently . 
 

Thanks for the info 😃

[HikingPete]

Have Gala evenings changed at all?

 

I'm sailing on Iona next weekend. I've just tried my suit on and it no longer fits... 😟 However when I look on the website in my personaliser I can't see anything referencing how many nights are black tie...