Food and dining on P&O ships

[wowzz]

1 minute ago, terrierjohn said:

but I don't see that advertising standards are pursuing any of these.

But "shrinkflation" does not  contravene any rules. 

[AchileLauro]

6 hours ago, P&O SUE said:

Last April was the last time I was on a ship and I was very disappointed that the always available chicken wasn’t on anymore. I’m not mad on fish and don’t eat lamb or pork so it was always good to know I could have the chicken. I did struggle with a mains choice. Seems to me they want people to go to the paid for restaurants more.

Not just want them to, but actually depend upon a certain percentage of the passengers using these restaurants on the larger freedom dining only ships. 

Should all the passengers decide to use only the main restaurants of an evening, because perhaps the specialty restaurants may not be in use (insufficient staff?) I don't think that they have the capacity to cope. That certainly appeared to be the case when we sailed on Iona last June.

[crompton21]

13 hours ago, molecrochip said:

I don’t doubt your experience but the chicken and salmon were certainly there as they are part of the kids menu. You should have been offered this on enquiry.

 

The problem is there have been so many guests moaning about things just to try and get a free meal or compensation, that dealing with honest requests is getting lost.

The feedback from Carnival towers appears to be a belief that the problem is the customers and not the product.  Now there’s a slippery slope…..

[bobstheboy]

9 hours ago, terrierjohn said:

If you remember Bob, even before Covid they had started including the always available items on the main part of the menu, and they no longer called them always available, even though they were.

I realise this is typical downward service creep, which happens everywhere, just like smaller Mars bars and mandarin sized Terry's chocolate oranges, but I don't see that advertising standards are pursuing any of these.

Memory not as good as it was. It is clear the menus displayed on the P&O site are at least 3 years old and the changes were made not long after. They have had ample time to change them and let people know what is really available. Lazy at best, but I believe it is deliberate to entice new people to book.

[crompton21]

19 minutes ago, bobstheboy said:

Memory not as good as it was. It is clear the menus displayed on the P&O site are at least 3 years old and the changes were made not long after. They have had ample time to change them and let people know what is really available. Lazy at best, but I believe it is deliberate to entice new people to book.

 

The menus are clearly dated 2018.  If you were going to try and make something look good, I personally would at least attempt to make the information look up to date.  I think it's more inefficiency than subterfuge.

[bobstheboy]

8 minutes ago, crompton21 said:

 

The menus are clearly dated 2018.  If you were going to try and make something look good, I personally would at least attempt to make the information look up to date.  I think it's more inefficiency than subterfuge.

Possibly, but inefficiency from a company as large as P&O is no excuse. Especially because it is to their advantage. I just want them to put things right. 

[wowzz]

8 minutes ago, bobstheboy said:

Possibly, but inefficiency from a company as large as P&O is no excuse. Especially because it is to their advantage. I just want them to put things right. 

I'm not sure that being a large company necessarily makes it efficient. Normally the reverse is the case !

[cruising.mark.uk]

49 minutes ago, bobstheboy said:

Possibly, but inefficiency from a company as large as P&O is no excuse. Especially because it is to their advantage. I just want them to put things right. 

How is it to their advantage?  Do you think hoards of people only book with P&O because they assume from an example menu on the website that prawn cocktail is always available?  

It seems to me that the websites of most cruise lines are somewhat lacking.  If you look at the equivalent menu page for Britannia class on Cunard, it has only one example menu for each meal. https://www.cunard.com/content/dam/cunard/my-voyage/pdfs/qm/qm_britannia_sample_menu_01a.pdf  

Do you think people look at that and think they're going to get the same 2 main course choices every night of their cruise and complain that it's false advertising if they don't? 

[bobstheboy]

12 minutes ago, cruising.mark.uk said:

How is it to their advantage?  Do you think hoards of people only book with P&O because they assume from an example menu on the website that prawn cocktail is always available?  

It seems to me that the websites of most cruise lines are somewhat lacking.  If you look at the equivalent menu page for Britannia class on Cunard, it has only one example menu for each meal. https://www.cunard.com/content/dam/cunard/my-voyage/pdfs/qm/qm_britannia_sample_menu_01a.pdf  

Do you think people look at that and think they're going to get the same 2 main course choices every night of their cruise and complain that it's false advertising if they don't? 

Wow !

[Mollag]

16 hours ago, molecrochip said:

It’s is the kids menu. But it’s not only kids that order from it.

 

It’s the same quality of ingredients that would be found on any MDR dish. So if you wanted a chicken great it’s always there.

So how does the kids menu work on Arcadia and Aurora?

[yorkshirephil]

18 minutes ago, Mollag said:

So how does the kids menu work on Arcadia and Aurora?

It's for the big kids

[crompton21]

42 minutes ago, Mollag said:

So how does the kids menu work on Arcadia and Aurora?

 

I see what you did there😀

[crompton21]

If I ask for the cheese wheel (still not quite sure what that was in reality), am I now led to believe I can have a Dairylea?

[Travelmadoldie]

Sorry if this has been asked before.

Which restaurants on Britannia have fixed dining and which are anytime dining?

There seems to be no information on P and O website

Thanks

[Pine Man]

The Oriental Restaurant is the only fixed time dining room on Britannia.

Edited February 13, 2023 by Pine Man

[kalos]

5 minutes ago, crompton21 said:

If I ask for the cheese wheel (still not quite sure what that was in reality), am I now led to believe I can have a Dairylea?

Or you could ask the waiter to change your plate at breakfast due to the crack in it , only 

for your waiter to advise you that's your bacon your looking at .😉

@bobstheboy from what I understand he  is asking for the menu to be brought up to date,

that's if they have no intension of serving the "always available" part of the menu in the 

future . Nothing up with that ,seems a good idea .

[Travelmadoldie]

Thank you

[Pine Man]

https://www.cruisecritic.co.uk/reviews/review.cfm?ShipID=759&pgtype=dining

[zap99]

21 minutes ago, kalos said:

Or you could ask the waiter to change your plate at breakfast due to the crack in it , only 

for your waiter to advise you that's your bacon your looking at .😉

@bobstheboy from what I understand he  is asking for the menu to be brought up to date,

that's if they have no intension of serving the "always available" part of the menu in the 

future . Nothing up with that ,seems a good idea .

If I was Lord P&O I wouldn't publish a typical menu. The punters won't then be able to complain if they don't like the offerings. We are on Azura at the moment. There are lots of hungry looking folk wandering around. I take my own coaster when we go into the bar....just incase. 🤐🦐

[kalos]

53 minutes ago, zap99 said:

If I was Lord P&O I wouldn't publish a typical menu. The punters won't then be able to complain if they don't like the offerings. We are on Azura at the moment. There are lots of hungry looking folk wandering around. I take my own coaster when we go into the bar....just incase. 🤐🦐

Love that ship and hope your having a great time 🙂

[Scorpio41]

Can you use your onboard credit?

Once you have no obc do you get your loyalty discount?

Do you need to book, ie The Glass House?

Is it cheaper to book speciality restaurants before you board?

Just checked. There is only Sindhu and the Glass House on board.

 

Edited February 13, 2023 by Scorpio41

[Eglesbrech]

2 hours ago, zap99 said:

If I was Lord P&O I wouldn't publish a typical menu. The punters won't then be able to complain if they don't like the offerings. We are on Azura at the moment. There are lots of hungry looking folk wandering around. I take my own coaster when we go into the bar....just incase. 🤐🦐

But then again they may not book if they don’t know what they are likely to get to eat. Good food is a big part of cruising though no one has ever starved on one (and few come home lighter 😀).

 

Hope you are having fun zap. I also hope you don’t end up with the green and blue coasters we got towards the end of our recent cruise 🤞.

[zap99]

1 hour ago, kalos said:

Love that ship and hope your having a great time 🙂

Thanks Kalos.  Is it just the same?. Doubt it., but everything is fine. Doing it again in April.

[Red Ray]

I have not seen Rob Brydon on a single cruise - to whom do I complain?

[zap99]

1 minute ago, Eglesbrech said:

But then again they may not book if they don’t know what they are likely to get to eat. Good food is a big part of cruising though no one has ever starved on one (and few come home lighter 😀).

 

Hope you are having fun zap. I also hope you don’t end up with the green and blue coasters we got towards the end of our recent cruise 🤞.

Thank you. If I was Lord P&O I would have a Greg's onboard. You know what you ar getting then 🤣