Azura Standard

[wowzz]

56 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

I suppose it's only natural, when we were young spending ten shillings (50p,) on a night out was extravagant, nowadays young ones think nothing of spending £50 on a night out.

Yes, but you have to take inflation into account. When I started drinking, beer was around 10p a pint, so 5 pints, night club entry and a takeaway at the end of the night would also cost the equivalent of £50.

 

[Captain_Morgan]

There should be no doubt that the focus on the 'younger' demographic is the cornerstone of Carnival Corporation's vision of how to generate revenue as look no further than Carnival Cruise Lines and their moniker of being the 'fun ships'.  Sure P&O doesn't have waterslides and other gimmicks (yet) but since Carnival took over P&O/Princess there has been a very deliberate shift towards reinventing the product to be more complimentary to their 'fun ship' model.

It should be well known that the onboard spend accounts for the majority of revenue, hence the model of short cruises (i.e. 7 days or less) on ships with many thousands of people who paid little to get through the door will inevitably be more profitable than the likes of Seabourn even when their 400 passengers in some cases have paid $1000/day to cruise on a 30+ day cruise because that latter model is more inclusive when it comes to onboard features meaning those few hundred souls are much less likely to spend, and even if they are the sheer volume on the likes of Azura doing shorter cruises will generate so much more spend.

Sadly it seems P&O management (and perhaps the corporate overlords) have made a conscious decision that they'd rather place their bets on the Gen Z / Millennial crowd who might take a cruise once per year as opposed to those who cruise many times per year which I personally think is very short sighted given the relatively small fleet in comparison to the North American 'cousins'.

[janny444]

20 hours ago, pennib said:

If anyone is looking to. Compare the standard of decoration and presentation may I suggest a cruise on MSC. We have found that the decor and cleanliness of public areas on those ships far outstrips anything on P&O. And this was pre covid.

That is what we found too.... MSC cleanliness certainly showed how it should be done and as you say that was pre covid....

[janny444]

12 hours ago, terrierjohn said:

I suppose it's only natural, when we were young spending ten shillings (50p,) on a night out was extravagant, nowadays young ones think nothing of spending £50 on a night out.

£50!!....you must be joking....think you can practically double that figure 😃

[davecttr]

Since 1972 the value of the pound has fallen to 1/14th of its value then. However a 10p pint of beer in 1972 is somewhat more than £1.40 today. So some items have 'inflated' a lot more than others.

 

Why don't they get rid of the copper coins? Do it the Australian way in which the minimum coin would be '5p'. If something is priced at £1.99 and you tender £2 they have to give you 5p change!. Individual pence can be used for electronic purposes.