Interesting chat on Iona about the P and O app failing

[JeanieC,Aston]

This is from a review I wrote re our Iona cruise in Feb

Its what happened to us when the App went down,,,,we only got to dine at the time we did was because many of us flooded the desk demanding to eat before they shut the lights out………

 

“The worst night was Gala night,,,,,the ‘app’ had been down all day so you couldn’t join a queue so the did it with a buzzer,,,to think it would be quicker we asked to share a table,,,,,wrong!we waited from 19:00 to 20:45 to be shown to a table for 8,,,a lovely mix.
But then the incompetence shone through.
After 15 minuted the waiter came to ask for our order,,,,,,,can we have the drinks list first please,,,,you want drink?
After ordering we asked for water….you want water?
Then the starter came,,,can we have some bread,,,,,you want bread?
Then one guy asked were is wife’s bottle of wine was she ordered,,,,you ordered wine?
Then came the main Lobster,Giant prawns…what a let down,,,a small pice of lobster and 3 small prawns in a bit of pastry with cream sauce.
Can we get another drink please…you want another drink.? I will get someone,,,,they never came.

Then I notice the Amuse Busch sat on the serving station,,,,you forgot the Amuse Busch,,,,you want Amuse Busch?

No thank you,,,,no desert either,,,,I’m off might just get to see Pulse in the Club at 22:30”

[Josy1953]

1 hour ago, Eglesbrech said:

I suspect you were very lucky then. I still had the list of cancelled orders on my phone for the last cruise far less the most recent one and the bars manager admitted it was an known issue.

We were obviously lucky or maybe we never ordered at busy times.  Which ship were you on, we were on Sky Princess.  I  am just curious whether some ships are more efficient than others.  We will soon be going on Sky Princess again so I will report back when we get home.

[Eglesbrech]

27 minutes ago, Josy1953 said:

We were obviously lucky or maybe we never ordered at busy times.  Which ship were you on, we were on Sky Princess.  I  am just curious whether some ships are more efficient than others.  We will soon be going on Sky Princess again so I will report back when we get home.

Sky. We were onboard a couple of weeks ago and the ship was rammed with passengers to the point that they were calling people to get them to cancel just 2 days before sailing.

 

I spoke to the bars manager after about the third cancelled order. 

 

I’ll be interested to hear how your cruise goes. We were just after dry dock (which was not scheduled when we booked) which also had an impact on available stock.

[Josy1953]

20 minutes ago, Eglesbrech said:

Sky. We were onboard a couple of weeks ago and the ship was rammed with passengers to the point that they were calling people to get them to cancel just 2 days before sailing.

 

I spoke to the bars manager after about the third cancelled order. 

 

I’ll be interested to hear how your cruise goes. We were just after dry dock (which was not scheduled when we booked) which also had an impact on available stock.

We were told that it was due to go into dry dock and our cabin steward told us that a higher number of crew would be going on leave than is usual when it went in.  I wonder if that meant that some of the crew were less experienced.  I will definitely post our experience after the next cruise.  We were on the cruise out of Southampton on 1st April.

[happy v]

5 hours ago, AndyMichelle said:

Very well summed up. 

The problem for us is, preparing for our first cruise since before lock down, everything sounds so different it is quite scary. 

The big worry is will this new experience suit us? 

I don't really recall having to queue much for anything before. Everything seemed relaxed and smooth. 

It's great that everything seems to go smoothly for you, but you do seem to be in a minority with what is reported, although I am aware people are more likely to complain than praise. 

The stories of apps crashing, long waits for dinner, long queues for shuttle buses etc all seem to take away from the relatively stress free experiences we had previously. 

We will go with an open mind and hope our experience is more like yours than many others. 

Andy 

Andy you will be fine. You are much younger than us. I have only had a mobile phone for two years and found no problems. I am definitely not tech savvy. I used to book our evening meal while we were getting dressed. Once I had pressed 'we are on our way' I left the phone in the cabin for the rest of the night.

We didn't experience any queues either on the ship or for shuttles.

It is a new type of cruise but so full of different entertainment and food. 

 

[Happy afloat]

10 hours ago, Interestedcruisefan said:

I would suggest younger demographics simply don't want set dining times and to share tables. Thats a really old fashioned way of cruising let's be honest and was probably the only way dining could operate on cruise ships with big numbers on board for mass catering without a booking system

 

Also the best  all inclusive hotels in the world now offer multiple dining choices and cruising is simply following suit. People nowadays are used to more choice and variety.

 

Another reason to need a booking system as it involves smaller venues for dining which would be overloaded by people just turning up unannounced or not turning up for MDR without anyone knowing they were heading elsewhere 

 

And the introduction of smaller entertainment venues alongside the huge numbers on the ships now automatically mean bookings are needed to stop venues being overloaded

 

Finally with 5,000 plus guests on ships the theatres need to spread when people turn up to popular shows. 

 

If you are talking about "not being broke" as smaller ships with just MDR dining on set tables at set times  and one main theatre entertainment venue that people were happy to physically queue up early for to get in at their favourite times

 

Then yes I agree it wasn't broke and worked for the guests who enjoyed that

 

But the world's changed significantly and for cruising to move with the times and remain a go-to choice for new passengers cruising without a shadow of a doubt had to move forward

 

Larger ships have also led to much lower entry prices which again will allow cruise holidays to prosper and survive ongoing

 

On our first night on Iona we spoke to a couple who were in their 60s who hadn't cruised  since a Caribbean Cruise 20 years ago but had been persuaded to join their friends on a new cruise

 

Their words were:

 

"Back then going on a cruise was a really big expense and something you actually had to save up for!"

 

The comparative real cost of entry level  cruising now compared to then has changed so much it's untrue. 

 

The world has moved on. Theres still a market for more expensive smaller ship cruising with fixed dining and less choices of things to do on the ships. But that market is without doubt dwindling and the new style cruising with more options and choices on a ship needs a booking app to manage it. 

 

Life in general is managed by apps now anyway. Pretty much everywhere you go and anything you do.

 

Whether you like that or not of course. 

 

Generally I like that myself.

 

(Ps an elderly couple we know just came off a Fred Olsen Mediterranean cruise. They are very very experienced cruisers for 30 years plus):

 

They told us although overall they enjoyed their holiday the ship was clearly on its last legs and likely going to be retired very soon. They were put on a MDR table with one really "snooty" couple and others they literally had nothing in common with to talk about. The first time that's ever happened to them. The lady's words were "after we all had finished talking about past cruises we had been on the conversation ran out. We really just didn't get on as a group. And the snooty couple even started ignoring us and turning away when we walked past them of the ship! That was the final straw and for the last few days of the cruise we decided to avoid them and dine in the Buffet instead"

 

These things happen even to very experienced cruisers who are used to set dining. Although they said they still enjoyed their cruise I could tell in reality they really didn't enjoy it as much as they hoped. 

 

 

Hi,

 

Some well made points there, but they themselves raise more questions. 

Firstly,  I myself would have thought that those with younger families (the focus point for the new ships and the demographic you mention) would be aiming to eat earlier? 

Do the hotels you mention ask you to use an app to book a spot to dine? I don't know, not stayed in a resort hotel for years.

You've always had to book for some of the smaller venues on P&O (sindhu, epicurean etc), but not the main dining rooms. So why now?

Also, I don't think any of the theatres on any ship are big enough to cater for the entire pax, but booking was never required. Is it a case then, that by giving you a bigger choice of venues, they have unwittingly made them too small to cope with the amount of pax on board? If you were to total up the entire entertainment capacity, is it sufficient? Have they massively underestimated the popularity of, say, the 710 club?

I agree about the entry cost, we're not paying any more, and often much less, than we did some years ago. But are we getting the same for our money? Does the reduced staffing levels, and therefore service, impact us to a point where our cruise experience is poorer than back then?

As for the couple on Fred, I think we've all had the misfortune to occasionally be sat on that table. Thankfully,  rarely in our case.

And yes, apps are a big part of life these days. But they are proper apps, well put together and fit for purpose, P&O's doesn't seem to be. Not in my experience,  and not from what I read on here.

Not picking a fight here, BTW, just trying to get my head around the reasoning.

 

And Andy, have a great return to cruising. The ships are still full of nice people! 

[happy v]

23 minutes ago, Happy afloat said:

Hi,

 

Some well made points there, but they themselves raise more questions. 

Firstly,  I myself would have thought that those with younger families (the focus point for the new ships and the demographic you mention) would be aiming to eat earlier? 

Do the hotels you mention ask you to use an app to book a spot to dine? I don't know, not stayed in a resort hotel for years.

You've always had to book for some of the smaller venues on P&O (sindhu, epicurean etc), but not the main dining rooms. So why now?

Also, I don't think any of the theatres on any ship are big enough to cater for the entire pax, but booking was never required. Is it a case then, that by giving you a bigger choice of venues, they have unwittingly made them too small to cope with the amount of pax on board? If you were to total up the entire entertainment capacity, is it sufficient? Have they massively underestimated the popularity of, say, the 710 club?

I agree about the entry cost, we're not paying any more, and often much less, than we did some years ago. But are we getting the same for our money? Does the reduced staffing levels, and therefore service, impact us to a point where our cruise experience is poorer than back then?

As for the couple on Fred, I think we've all had the misfortune to occasionally be sat on that table. Thankfully,  rarely in our case.

And yes, apps are a big part of life these days. But they are proper apps, well put together and fit for purpose, P&O's doesn't seem to be. Not in my experience,  and not from what I read on here.

Not picking a fight here, BTW, just trying to get my head around the reasoning.

 

And Andy, have a great return to cruising. The ships are still full of nice people! 

I don't think you should have to book shows on any of the other ships. However on Iona, so I guess Arvia too they let the entertainment staff know how popular they are. If everyone hasn't been able to book the first night they will repeat the show. This is possible as the other acts can perform elsewhere.

For the restaurants it is much easier to book rather than traipse around the ship only to find where you wanted is full and have to set off somewhere else.

Edited May 27, 2023 by happy v

[Happy afloat]

6 minutes ago, happy v said:

I don't think you should have to book shows on any of the other ships. However on Iona, so I guess Arvia too they let the entertainment staff know how popular they are. If everyone hasn't been able to book the first night they will repeat the show. This is possible as the other acts can perform elsewhere.

For the restaurants it is much easier to book rather than traipse around the ship only to find where you wanted is full and have to set off somewhere else.

Hi, that's exactly the point I was trying to make, in the past we haven't  experienced an mdr being full, so why now? Reduced capacity? Reduced staffing levels? Removal of club dining?

We never used to traipse around before, you were allocated an mdr and never had an issue. Don't understand why there's a problem now?

Edited May 27, 2023 by Happy afloat

[Interestedcruisefan]

Any families who want to eat early would have no problem either booking MDR with app with no wait or just doing walk ups

 

Anything early is easy 

 

Theres also a buffet for families only at an early time. Can't remember when but we accidentally walked into it at some stage

[happy v]

4 minutes ago, Happy afloat said:

Hi, that's exactly the point I was trying to make, in the past we haven't  experienced an mdr being full, so why now? Reduced capacity? Reduced staffing levels? Removal of club dining?

I think we are talking at crossed purposes here. We didn't have to queue for any restaurant. We tried most of the options. Some we had a time slot others we used the app., but no physical queueing

[zap99]

7 hours ago, JeanieC,Aston said:

This is from a review I wrote re our Iona cruise in Feb

Its what happened to us when the App went down,,,,we only got to dine at the time we did was because many of us flooded the desk demanding to eat before they shut the lights out………

 

“The worst night was Gala night,,,,,the ‘app’ had been down all day so you couldn’t join a queue so the did it with a buzzer,,,to think it would be quicker we asked to share a table,,,,,wrong!we waited from 19:00 to 20:45 to be shown to a table for 8,,,a lovely mix.
But then the incompetence shone through.
After 15 minuted the waiter came to ask for our order,,,,,,,can we have the drinks list first please,,,,you want drink?
After ordering we asked for water….you want water?
Then the starter came,,,can we have some bread,,,,,you want bread?
Then one guy asked were is wife’s bottle of wine was she ordered,,,,you ordered wine?
Then came the main Lobster,Giant prawns…what a let down,,,a small pice of lobster and 3 small prawns in a bit of pastry with cream sauce.
Can we get another drink please…you want another drink.? I will get someone,,,,they never came.

Then I notice the Amuse Busch sat on the serving station,,,,you forgot the Amuse Busch,,,,you want Amuse Busch?

No thank you,,,,no desert either,,,,I’m off might just get to see Pulse in the Club at 22:30”

Perhaps it will be better next time.

[lincslady]

1 hour ago, zap99 said:

Perhaps it will be better next time.

 

It would be struggling to be worse.

[zap99]

14 hours ago, Eglesbrech said:

I suspect you were very lucky then. I still had the list of cancelled orders on my phone for the last cruise far less the most recent one and the bars manager admitted it was an known issue.

Was that on P&O or Princess ? . I'm getting confused .

[Eglesbrech]

10 hours ago, zap99 said:

Was that on P&O or Princess ? . I'm getting confused .

Sorry for that Zap, Princess. We had very few issues with the P&O versions. I shouldn’t have veered off topic, apologies.

[zap99]

23 minutes ago, Eglesbrech said:

Sorry for that Zap, Princess. We had very few issues with the P&O versions. I shouldn’t have veered off topic, apologies.

No problem. At least we avoided dragging Saga, or Fred into it.🤣

[JeanieC,Aston]

19 hours ago, zap99 said:

Perhaps it will be better next time.

Hi.

I’ll never know,it’s once and done and I’m sticking to Britannia and Ventura.

[Britboys]

23 hours ago, Happy afloat said:

Hi,

 

Some well made points there, but they themselves raise more questions. 

Firstly,  I myself would have thought that those with younger families (the focus point for the new ships and the demographic you mention) would be aiming to eat earlier? 

Do the hotels you mention ask you to use an app to book a spot to dine? I don't know, not stayed in a resort hotel for years.

You've always had to book for some of the smaller venues on P&O (sindhu, epicurean etc), but not the main dining rooms. So why now?

Also, I don't think any of the theatres on any ship are big enough to cater for the entire pax, but booking was never required. Is it a case then, that by giving you a bigger choice of venues, they have unwittingly made them too small to cope with the amount of pax on board? If you were to total up the entire entertainment capacity, is it sufficient? Have they massively underestimated the popularity of, say, the 710 club?

I agree about the entry cost, we're not paying any more, and often much less, than we did some years ago. But are we getting the same for our money? Does the reduced staffing levels, and therefore service, impact us to a point where our cruise experience is poorer than back then?

As for the couple on Fred, I think we've all had the misfortune to occasionally be sat on that table. Thankfully,  rarely in our case.

And yes, apps are a big part of life these days. But they are proper apps, well put together and fit for purpose, P&O's doesn't seem to be. Not in my experience,  and not from what I read on here.

Not picking a fight here, BTW, just trying to get my head around the reasoning.

 

And Andy, have a great return to cruising. The ships are still full of nice people! 

I think there are a several issues here. One is that (apologies for bringing this up again) P&O are currently trying to be all things to all pax. The two new ships are, I feel, designed solely for the new target demographic that the company is trying to attract. It is just a sop to 'old timers' to name one or two bars after longstanding venues such as Anderson's and the Crows Nest. Understandably however, P&O also need those longstanding pax to book the new ships because there are so many berths available, especially outwith school holidays. Many of those pax expect things to be the same as always and then have a rude awakening once on board.

Also, I would question the wisdom of incorporating small, intimate venues holding one hundred or so people aboard a ship carrying between five and six thousand. To my simple brain, that seems to be a recipe for disaster.

Finally, I will just say P&O IT.....

I'm sure all or most of the issues will be resolved over the coming years but in the interim I think there will continue to be concerns raised.

Edited May 28, 2023 by Britboys

[Old_tilly_billy]

The major problem is that the app is not an app it’s just intranet pages. I’m sure the reliability would be improved if it was an proper app that had been verified by App Store providers 

[Interestedcruisefan]

10 minutes ago, Old_tilly_billy said:

The major problem is that the app is not an app it’s just intranet pages. I’m sure the reliability would be improved if it was an proper app that had been verified by App Store providers 

Doesn't matter who an app is verified by if Wi-Fi goes down

 

I'm assuming most problems involve Wi-Fi issues rather than the app?

 

 

[CarlaMarie]

3 hours ago, Interestedcruisefan said:

Doesn't matter who an app is verified by if Wi-Fi goes down

 

I'm assuming most problems involve Wi-Fi issues rather than the app?

 

 

 

The app problems are not solely related to Wi-Fi issues.

[zap99]

On 5/27/2023 at 1:46 PM, happy v said:

Andy you will be fine. You are much younger than us. I have only had a mobile phone for two years and found no problems. I am definitely not tech savvy. I used to book our evening meal while we were getting dressed. Once I had pressed 'we are on our way' I left the phone in the cabin for the rest of the night.

We didn't experience any queues either on the ship or for shuttles.

It is a new type of cruise but so full of different entertainment and food. 

 

We got on the virtual queue when we started getting showered. Normally by the time we were dressed we got notification that the table was ready. Press the in our way button..phone off..put in safe..job done.

[zap99]

18 minutes ago, CarlaMarie said:

 

The app problems are not solely related to Wi-Fi issues.

Not everybody has problems.

[CarlaMarie]

8 hours ago, zap99 said:

Not everybody has problems.

 

I didn't say they did. I was responding to the question and answered that the app problems which arise are not just down to WiFi issues. 

[davecttr]

8 hours ago, zap99 said:

Not everybody has problems.

Some people will always have problems with the App for medical reasons so P&O have to cater for them without any significant disadvantage to what their holiday experience would have been pre App. Or maybe they are following the herd and marginalising those who don't have a car, smart phone, computer etc.

[zap99]

21 minutes ago, davecttr said:

Some people will always have problems with the App for medical reasons so P&O have to cater for them without any significant disadvantage to what their holiday experience would have been pre App. Or maybe they are following the herd and marginalising those who don't have a car, smart phone, computer etc.

Seems to be ' trendy ' not to have a car.....Just stop Apps.... Booking shows and meals can be done without having a ' device '. It seems to be causing a good deal of excitement. Perhaps Brian will need to order his drinks at Haven on an app. We did a couple of years ago. The medical thing can't be a big disadvantage as I have 2 NHS apps and can't book a doctors appointment without doing it through the app, or the website. That's the way the world's going.