Premium economy flights to Caribbean

[Fossie13]

We are due to fly out to Barbados on 2nd Dec to join Britannia and I was wondering if the forum could give me an idea of premium economy costs and are they worth paying for.

Is it TUI only that P&O use or are there other airlines involved .We are flying from Manchester.

This cruise for us has been cancelled twice before so we are really looking forward to it

 

 

[zap99]

27 minutes ago, Fossie13 said:

We are due to fly out to Barbados on 2nd Dec to join Britannia and I was wondering if the forum could give me an idea of premium economy costs and are they worth paying for.

Is it TUI only that P&O use or are there other airlines involved .We are flying from Manchester.

This cruise for us has been cancelled twice before so we are really looking forward to it

 

 

On TUI nowadays probably about £500/600. Only you can judge if that is worth it. To us, they are, but I believe TUI standard seats in long haul are now 34".

[wowzz]

I understood that PE seats sell out pretty quickly. If you want them, don't delay too long.

[Shipsareus]

1 hour ago, Fossie13 said:

We are due to fly out to Barbados on 2nd Dec to join Britannia and I was wondering if the forum could give me an idea of premium economy costs and are they worth paying for.

Is it TUI only that P&O use or are there other airlines involved .We are flying from Manchester.

This cruise for us has been cancelled twice before so we are really looking forward to it

 

 

 

1 hour ago, Fossie13 said:

We are due to fly out to Barbados on 2nd Dec to join Britannia and I was wondering if the forum could give me an idea of premium economy costs and are they worth paying for.

Is it TUI only that P&O use or are there other airlines involved .We are flying from Manchester.

This cruise for us has been cancelled twice before so we are really looking forward to it

 

 

We flew Premium economy going to Barbados last November . We seem to remember it was £700 ish.

We flew Dreamliner from Manchester. As someone else mentions, they do sell out quite quickly. The formation is 2-3-2 in premium and so if you want to sit together on a 2 then you would need to pay an additional fee to book specific seats. 
There is a dedicated check in at the airport , although it didn’t move much more quickly than the economy queue.

The alcohol did flow, and the meal was definitely edible!

 

Hope that helps.

 

[Fossie13]

Thanks for those comments.I am unsure if we would pay that amount for premium especially seeing that standard seats are now 34".

Not averse to buying the odd drink and I presume we get get fed although of  a lesser quality than that served in premium

[ferretktf]

We were offered PE for an extra £200 per person each way to the Caribbean in March....Guess it is variable 

[Cruiserjules]

Just to show the other side of the coin - we flew in March on the TUI dreamliner from Manchester in economy.  We didn't pay the extra £35 each, but still got to sit next to each other , with a spare seat beside us.   Dave is 6'1" and I am 5'7" neither of us particularly slim, and the legroom was fine, and the seats comfortable.   The food was as good as any airline food I've ever had and we had 5 glasses of wine during the flight. Due to the ridiculous queues at Manchester airport, there was no time to take advantage of any airport advantages.  Hope this helps with the decision.

[Bazrat]

we have done long haul on numerous occasions in economy when money was tight, but now we want that little bit extra and want to enjoy our flights more.

 

 

 

 

[fisky]

We flew Tui to Barbados from Manchester a few months back on a P & O flight

 

We were expected to join the same queue as standard passengers for check in and when we were split it did not seem to make any difference.

 

The airport staff then refused to accept the priority stickers to let us through the fast track for security sending us to join the queue which snaked around the airport.

 

Drinks were available on the flight but I would hardly so they flowed. The cabin crew appeared to spend as much as possible sat in their area with the curtain pulled. A passenger was taken ill during the flight they didn't even have a blanket to keep him warm. 

 

On the return flight they failed to load sufficient premium meals so some of us had the economy meal plonked down in front of us.

 

If you are happy to pay the extra for a larger seat and more legroom fine. If you want the other benefits you may be wasting money

 

Not commenting on Brittania and the cruise. It will be our last trip with P&O!

 

 

 

Richard

 

 

[pennib]

We are flying out on TUI to join Britannia on 16 December from Manchester. We always have premium economy because we like the extra space and attention and we like to sit together at the side as I refuse to be in the middle seat anymore (done that and got several t shirts). Looking at what we have paid, the invoice says “air add on” and it is £998 for the 2 of us. This might include the £100 each penalty for flying from Manchester rather than Gatwick, I am not sure. Anyway that is the cost. When we went last Christmas to join Azura it took 5 hours queuing before we were able to board the plane so hope the airport will have got itself sorted out over the next few months.

[Denarius]

21 minutes ago, pennib said:

We are flying out on TUI to join Britannia on 16 December from Manchester. We always have premium economy because we like the extra space and attention and we like to sit together at the side as I refuse to be in the middle seat anymore (done that and got several t shirts). Looking at what we have paid, the invoice says “air add on” and it is £998 for the 2 of us. This might include the £100 each penalty for flying from Manchester rather than Gatwick, I am not sure. Anyway that is the cost. When we went last Christmas to join Azura it took 5 hours queuing before we were able to board the plane so hope the airport will have got itself sorted out over the next few months.

The last time I cruised the Caribbean with P&O I flew from Manchester premium economy. Whilst I no longer have the paperwork I recall that premium cost £399 extra and that the additional charge for a Manchester flight was £100 - figures for one person. This is exactly the same as the figures you quote.

[wowzz]

Looking at some of the P&O  Caribbean fares, and adding on the TUI PE surcharge,   it might be cheaper to fly PE with BA or VS to Miami and cruise with Princess . 

[Shipsareus]

9 hours ago, wowzz said:

Looking at some of the P&O  Caribbean fares, and adding on the TUI PE surcharge,   it might be cheaper to fly PE with BA or VS to Miami and cruise with Princess . 

I think that is always an option and we have done both - Britannia with P &O and also flying to Fort Lauderdale to pick up a Holland America ship.

I think the huge advantage of flying to Barbados with P&O is the direct flight ( not always available to Miami/Fort Lauderdale from every UK airport. Also no worries about delays if flying on embarkation day. If going prior to embarkation then you need to factor in a hotel stay.

However the biggest plus is no American immigration, no waiting for luggage. Straight off the plane, onto the tarmac, into a coach and straight to the ship. Luggage appears in your cabin ( hopefully!)

I personally prefer having a couple of days in Fort Lauderdale  and do prefer the variety of cruise ships on offer there in the season. But the ease of the journey offered by P&O is tempting!