Help needed please - new to P&O!

[Bagpuss]

We are looking at booking the Canaries Cruise on Ventura. Haven't cruised for years and never with P&O, but they offer the best price and options from Southampton. However, the reviews I've read aren't favourable, so am still deciding. In the meantine, can those with experience, please advise on the following:

Any advice on which cabins to opt for, or more importantly, to avoid?! Just inside cabin, but two next to each other (4 birth have gone) and interconnecting even better!

Are there still formal nights and if so, are they black tie and do you have to attend?

If you don't attend, are there still sit down restaurant dinner options, or buffet only restaurants on those nights?

Can men and/or children wear shorts in the sit down dining rooms or buffet restaurant?

It sounds like Ventura is looking tired and is getting a refit, would anyone know if this is before the summer?!

I'm sure I have many more questions, but don't want to overload all at once!!! 

[majortom10]

There is a buffet restaurant to attend if you don't want to visit main dining room  on formal nights. You don't have to wear dinner suits on formal nights a suit and tie is perfectly acceptable. With regards to wearing shorts acceptable in restaurants during the day but not in the evenings.

 

[AndyMichelle]

Have a look at the thread 'Ventura in Hamburg'. 

It seems some sort of refit is taking place now. 

Andy 

[wowzz]

There is a limit to how many children are allowed on board, and it may well be that you are too late to book for this summer.

Can I suggest you check availability asap.

[Selbourne]

I don’t think there are interconnecting inside cabins, but never having used one I can’t say for certain. There is a key on deck plans that shows which cabins are interconnecting though. 
 

As a general rule, avoid cabins that are directly underneath or above public areas (including open decks). If the public area is a source of amplified music (front theatre or aft show lounge) have at least two decks of other cabins between you and theses areas. 
 

Don’t worry too much about the reviews. As far as I can see, most of the bad reviews have been the new mega ships (Iona and Arvia). The overall P&O experience has definitely declined over the past 5-10 years and they seem to be struggling a bit with staff numbers and food and drink supplies at present, but the prices are (in the main) reflecting this somewhat lower quality product. As they say, you get what you pay for! Unfortunately, we are booked on an expensive summer cruise on Iona, which is a different matter!

Edited February 13, 2023 by Selbourne

[Bagpuss]

23 minutes ago, majortom10 said:

There is a buffet restaurant to attend if you don't want to visit main dining room  on formal nights. You don't have to wear dinner suits on formal nights a suit and tie is perfectly acceptable. With regards to wearing shorts acceptable in restaurants during the day but not in the evenings.

 

Thank you very much for this. Can I just ask, can men/children wear shorts in the buffet restaurant in the evening please? And can men/children wear jeans in the evening in the main restaurants or is it casual/smart trousers only? 

[Bagpuss]

19 minutes ago, AndyMichelle said:

Have a look at the thread 'Ventura in Hamburg'. 

It seems some sort of refit is taking place now. 

Andy 

Thank you very much, will take a look.

[Bagpuss]

10 minutes ago, wowzz said:

There is a limit to how many children are allowed on board, and it may well be that you are too late to book for this summer.

Can I suggest you check availability asap.

Thank you, yes, I have discovered this already! One of the cruises we were looking at is already full for children aged 9-12. The other still has availability (well it did on Saturday!), but not in a 4 birth, would have to book 2 cabins! Thank you for the heads up🙂.

[Bagpuss]

12 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

I don’t think there are interconnecting inside cabins, but never having used one I can’t say for certain. There is a key on deck plans that shows which cabins are interconnecting though. 
 

As a general rule, avoid cabins that are directly underneath or above public areas (including open decks). If the public area is a source of amplified music (front theatre or aft show lounge) have at least two decks of other cabins between you and theses areas. 
 

Don’t worry too much about the reviews. As far as I can see, most of the bad reviews have been the new mega ships (Iona and Arvia). The overall P&O experience has definitely declined over the past 5-10 years and they seem to be struggling a bit with staff numbers and food and drink supplies at present, but the prices are (in the main) reflecting this somewhat lower quality product. As they say, you get what you pay for! Unfortunately, we are booked on an expensive summer cruise on Iona, which is a different matter!

Thank you very much. Yes, totally agree. We have stayed at the same hotel 5 times, but last year (first time back since covid), noticed some changes, well, cuts really! Less staff, longer waiting times for food etc, it's not just cruises! However, those that hadn't been there before wouldn't know any different or that it used to be better! We only have our previous cruise memories, on Royal Carribean and Princess, but that's over 15 years ago, when Explorer of the Seas was the largest ship😆. It seems there's been many changes since then!!! I hope you enjoy your summer cruise🤞. If it helps, my mum went on Iona in Sept and is going again next week🙂.

[wowzz]

1 hour ago, Bagpuss said:

Thank you very much for this. Can I just ask, can men/children wear shorts in the buffet restaurant in the evening please? And can men/children wear jeans in the evening in the main restaurants or is it casual/smart trousers only? 

No shorts for adults anywhere after 6pm.

Smart jeans are ok in the MDR on non-formal nights. 

[wowzz]

1 hour ago, Bagpuss said:

Thank you very much for this. Can I just ask, can men/children wear shorts in the buffet restaurant in the evening please? And can men/children wear jeans in the evening in the main restaurants or is it casual/smart trousers only? 

Just a thought - have you considered Princess ? Their dress code is rather more relaxed than P&O. 

[Bagpuss]

1 hour ago, wowzz said:

No shorts for adults anywhere after 6pm.

Smart jeans are ok in the MDR on non-formal nights. 

Thank you very much. Do you know if children can wear shorts/trainers in the restaurant?

[Bagpuss]

1 hour ago, wowzz said:

Just a thought - have you considered Princess ? Their dress code is rather more relaxed than P&O. 

Yes, would definitely consider Princess, cruised with them years ago, however I couldn't see any sailings out of Southampton in the summer that were suitable😔

[Red Ray]

2 hours ago, Bagpuss said:

Thank you very much. Do you know if children can wear shorts/trainers in the restaurant?

Not in the evenings thankfully.

[Host Sharon]

2 hours ago, Bagpuss said:

Thank you very much. Do you know if children can wear shorts/trainers in the restaurant?

From the P&O website - 

Children are of course welcome in all of our restaurants, but we also offer a special children’s tea every night featuring all the food that children will enjoy (for babies we offer a selection of baby food on request). We offer a range of healthy options, including fresh fruit and vegetarian dishes. These are all served in our informal buffet restaurants so children can be casually dressed whenever they eat there. If children are going to be with you in the evening in the more formal restaurants and theatre, then our Evening Casual dress code applies, although denim isn’t allowed on our Black Tie evenings. We do ensure some of the bars and public rooms on board are exclusive to adults.

[Bagpuss]

1 hour ago, Host Sharon said:

From the P&O website - 

Children are of course welcome in all of our restaurants, but we also offer a special children’s tea every night featuring all the food that children will enjoy (for babies we offer a selection of baby food on request). We offer a range of healthy options, including fresh fruit and vegetarian dishes. These are all served in our informal buffet restaurants so children can be casually dressed whenever they eat there. If children are going to be with you in the evening in the more formal restaurants and theatre, then our Evening Casual dress code applies, although denim isn’t allowed on our Black Tie evenings. We do ensure some of the bars and public rooms on board are exclusive to adults.

Thank you very much.

[Peanut006]

We are cruising with four of our grandchildren in August with age range 5 to 14 in two interconnecting sea view cabins. We are going with Royal Caribbean, there is so much going on for them with such a wide age range. 
 

I would consider P & O and Princess too but I think Royal for the kids is un-beatable ( my opinion only). I am sure whichever cruise line you choose you will have a brilliant time.

 

Michelle

[Bagpuss]

4 hours ago, Peanut006 said:

We are cruising with four of our grandchildren in August with age range 5 to 14 in two interconnecting sea view cabins. We are going with Royal Caribbean, there is so much going on for them with such a wide age range. 
 

I would consider P & O and Princess too but I think Royal for the kids is un-beatable ( my opinion only). I am sure whichever cruise line you choose you will have a brilliant time.

 

Michelle

Thank you. We would love to go with Royal Caribbean, but unfortunately the price difference was too much😔. Have a great time🛳

[terrierjohn]

15 hours ago, Peanut006 said:

We are cruising with four of our grandchildren in August with age range 5 to 14 in two interconnecting sea view cabins. We are going with Royal Caribbean, there is so much going on for them with such a wide age range. 
 

I would consider P & O and Princess too but I think Royal for the kids is un-beatable ( my opinion only). I am sure whichever cruise line you choose you will have a brilliant time.

 

Michelle

I agree you Michelle Royal ships seem to be designed around young families, but still have plenty to please the adults.  I think P&O missed a golden opportunity to include a Splash away Bay type kids water park on their 2 new ships.

[wowzz]

27 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

I agree you Michelle Royal ships seem to be designed around young families, but still have plenty to please the adults.  I think P&O missed a golden opportunity to include a Splash away Bay type kids water park on their 2 new ships.

But of limited use whilst Iona constantly sails to the fjords in the summer months.

However, for a Caribbean based ship, such as Ariva, it does seem to be a strange omission.

[Peanut006]

18 hours ago, Bagpuss said:

Thank you. We would love to go with Royal Caribbean, but unfortunately the price difference was too much😔. Have a great time🛳

I booked for August 2023 in January 2022 close to when the summer cruises were launched. I got a great price and can get nothing close to it when I did a dummy booking just now. Maybe you could watch for launch for 2025? I know it seems ages and ages away.

 

You will have a wonderful time whichever cruise line you sail with

 

Michelle

[terrierjohn]

8 hours ago, wowzz said:

But of limited use whilst Iona constantly sails to the fjords in the summer months.

However, for a Caribbean based ship, such as Ariva, it does seem to be a strange omission.

We have had 3 summertime cruises to the fjords and the pools were well used, and anyway kids dont seem to feel the cold when they are enjoying themselves.

[wowzz]

5 hours ago, terrierjohn said:

We have had 3 summertime cruises to the fjords and the pools were well used, and anyway kids dont seem to feel the cold when they are enjoying themselves.

Yup, probably right. 

It does seem strange. P&O introduce two large family friendly ships,  but forget the family amenities.  It's like Centre Parcs without the swimming pool !

So who decided to gave a family ship, with no family amenities?