Drinks package/policy changes?

[Bazrat]

1 hour ago, terrierjohn said:

The only thing that makes whisky drinkable is a large dose of coke! (Don's tin hat)😉

Rum yes whisky no

[jeanlyon]

1 hour ago, Selbourne said:

I can’t abide whisky or coke! 😂 

Me neither !!

[Goosebear Mum]

Okay on Iona (she's big) how does one carry safely a glass of g&t all the way back from a bar to the cabin (9th deck) for use on the balcony? I am not buying a big bottle from P&O, as I don’t drink alcohol, and hubby likes one occasionally.  We’d end up bring most of it home (and we don’t need yet more here!)  

 

I was going to pack a few mini Edinburgh 5cl bottles (his favourite) but officially cannot now.  I am very anti paying P&O for one drink and then an extra £2.50 on top for them to carry that one drink to our cabin as room service (and wait how long?!)So how does one carry it without it spilling everywhere?  

 

This really spoils the spontaneity of having a late evening drink on the balcony, travelling through the Fjords!  If they still had drinks in the cabin ‘bar’ it would help. 

 

At least I can still take my cans of Fevertree Elderflower/Ginger for a spontaneous balcony drink in an evening!  (I cannot drink aspartame/sweetener which is in most non alcoholic drinks now 😞 ) 

Edited May 13 by Goosebear Mum

[david63]

2 hours ago, waddle said:

Or the only thing that makes coke drinkable is a large dose of whisky

I was once told that you need to put whisky into water to purify the water!

[JeanieC,Aston]

I love whiskey.

[Ardennais]

1 hour ago, Goosebear Mum said:

Okay on Iona (she's big) how does one carry safely a glass of g&t all the way back from a bar to the cabin (9th deck) for use on the balcony? I am not buying a big bottle from P&O, as I don’t drink alcohol, and hubby likes one occasionally.  We’d end up bring most of it home (and we don’t need yet more here!)  

 

I was going to pack a few mini Edinburgh 5cl bottles (his favourite) but officially cannot now.  I am very anti paying P&O for one drink and then an extra £2.50 on top for them to carry that one drink to our cabin as room service (and wait how long?!)So how does one carry it without it spilling everywhere?  

 

This really spoils the spontaneity of having a late evening drink on the balcony, travelling through the Fjords!  If they still had drinks in the cabin ‘bar’ it would help. 

 

At least I can still take my cans of Fevertree Elderflower/Ginger for a spontaneous balcony drink in an evening!  (I cannot drink aspartame/sweetener which is in most non alcoholic drinks now 😞 ) 

We were on deck 9 recently and it’s close to the bars, so shouldn’t be a problem. No different to people carrying their drinks up and down the stairs in the atrium. 

[CountryStyleMe]

On 5/4/2024 at 9:30 AM, AndyMichelle said:

Ooh, not claiming this is true yet, apparently it was sent to a travel agent from P&O... 

The big change is at the bottom, only wine and Champagne allowed to be taken on board, no spirits!!! 

Let's see how this pans out. 

Andy 

 

this is true its now written under "Alcohol Policy" found under the section  "Code Of Conduct" on P&O Cruises Website so people being told a change is not happening is false information and this comes into effect as of May 2024. this is to adhere to the "Health, Environmental, Safety and Security (HESS)"  

Edited May 14 by CountryStyleMe

[Ilovemygarden]

On 5/13/2024 at 1:23 PM, majortom10 said:

Cunard

Is that to give you Dutch courage to look at the wine menu?   And then add 15%. 🤔😀

[jual]

On 5/13/2024 at 6:40 PM, Goosebear Mum said:

Okay on Iona (she's big) how does one carry safely a glass of g&t all the way back from a bar to the cabin (9th deck) for use on the balcony? I am not buying a big bottle from P&O, as I don’t drink alcohol, and hubby likes one occasionally.  We’d end up bring most of it home (and we don’t need yet more here!)  

 

I was going to pack a few mini Edinburgh 5cl bottles (his favourite) but officially cannot now.  I am very anti paying P&O for one drink and then an extra £2.50 on top for them to carry that one drink to our cabin as room service (and wait how long?!)So how does one carry it without it spilling everywhere?  

 

This really spoils the spontaneity of having a late evening drink on the balcony, travelling through the Fjords!  If they still had drinks in the cabin ‘bar’ it would help. 

 

At least I can still take my cans of Fevertree Elderflower/Ginger for a spontaneous balcony drink in an evening!  (I cannot drink aspartame/sweetener which is in most non alcoholic drinks now 😞 ) 

 

[jual]

whats the policy on soft drinks please?

[CountryStyleMe]

3 minutes ago, jual said:

whats the policy on soft drinks please?

your not allowed to take them onboard when you embark anymore. the only thing thing you can take when you first embark the ship is wine and champagne. 

 

[AndyMichelle]

9 minutes ago, CountryStyleMe said:

your not allowed to take them onboard when you embark anymore. the only thing thing you can take when you first embark the ship is wine and champagne. 

 

Not sure about this? 

Your post above only says alcohol apart from wine and Champagne are banned? 

Can't find anything on the website to say you can't specifically take soft drinks? 

Andy 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[yorkshirephil]

9 minutes ago, AndyMichelle said:

Not sure about this? 

Your post above only says alcohol apart from wine and Champagne are banned? 

Can't find anything on the website to say you can't specifically take soft drinks? 

Andy 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The website still states 12 cans of non alcoholic drink.

[Goosebear Mum]

20 minutes ago, yorkshirephil said:

The website still states 12 cans of non alcoholic drink.

I can only find this on the P&O Australia company page, not pocruises.  Where have you found this for UK? 

[terrierjohn]

3 minutes ago, Goosebear Mum said:

I can only find this on the P&O Australia company page, not pocruises.  Where have you found this for UK? 

If the restriction specifically states alcoholic drinks, then by inference soft drinks are not restricted.

[Goosebear Mum]

2 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

If the restriction specifically states alcoholic drinks, then by inference soft drinks are not restricted.

Exactly the limit of 12 cans YorkshirePhil referred to, is only on the Australia page as far as I can find.  I have gone through the UK page and find nothing on soft drinks 

[yorkshirephil]

5 minutes ago, Goosebear Mum said:

Exactly the limit of 12 cans YorkshirePhil referred to, is only on the Australia page as far as I can find.  I have gone through the UK page and find nothing on soft drinks 

I had another look, it does look like that is Australia, so to me that means that soft drink is still unlimited for UK.

[Clodia]

On 5/10/2024 at 5:15 PM, GSPG said:

On board Britannia just about to leave.

We made the decision to buy bottles on spirits on board. There’s not much in it with buying outside, and thought P&O would be happy us buying it from them.

 

Just rang reception at 5.05pm to order a bottle of Bacardi. Response, we haven’t got that. Asked when are you going to get some. Response, we are not.

 

Not very happy. Have they not got any because they want us to buy this drink from the bar?

 

Not a good start with this change in policy!

This is unacceptable. If they prevent you from taking your preferred drink onboard then they must have what is advertised. 

My bottle went onboard, not saying how, but I decided to buy something else. Told it was not available, I asked to see the Hotel Manager.

Surprisingly  they found me what I wanted in 20 minutes.

[Lee Jones Jnr]

The rise of Karen-Culture onboard P&O is a real shame.

If you want to take bottles of spirits onboard, dress in leggings in the MDRs on formal night etc, then go on a ship where that is the policy.

[Ivanhoe road]

Don’t know if this has already been asked. But, are they scanning suitcases for alcohol. I usually take a bottle in my suitcase. Have done forever, never any mishaps

[david63]

1 hour ago, Ivanhoe road said:

Don’t know if this has already been asked. But, are they scanning suitcases for alcohol. I usually take a bottle in my suitcase. Have done forever, never any mishaps

All suitcases are, and always have been, scanned - whether anyone would pick up that there is a bottle of alcohol in the case is an entirely different matter, to which I doubt anyone can give a definitive answer.

[Derek5001]

I feel really bad now. I mentioned the new spirit rule to a regular P&O cruiser, who's going again in July, and she had no idea there had been changes.  Always takes a bottle of Pimm's on board for having a drink on her balcony. 

 

If I hadn't have mentioned it, she would have carried on as usual, oblivious.    Do they sell bottles of Pimm's on room service?

 

Wonder if any of us who are travelling on a pre-booked cruise (we're going in August) will be notified of the changes?

 

Can scanners differentiate between wine and spirits?

[cruising.mark.uk]

6 minutes ago, david63 said:

All suitcases are, and always have been, scanned - whether anyone would pick up that there is a bottle of alcohol in the case is an entirely different matter, to which I doubt anyone can give a definitive answer.

The technology definitely allows bottles of liquid to be detected, although perhaps not to differentiate between alcohol and other liquids - hence the 'naughty room' to which passengers have to report on other lines which do not allow alcohol to be carried on board if liquid (or other prohibited items) are detected.  

 

It will be interesting to see how committed P&O / Cunard are to the new rules.  if they wanted to prevent it (other than perhaps by rum rummers and the like, although I suspect the cruise lines are pretty alive to those methods by now), they could do so easily if they wished by one or both of (a) instructing the security staff to impound all suitcases containing bottles of liquid for hand search and (b) insisting that liquids can only be carried on board in hand luggage.  If they want to go that way (and I can understand why they would given that most of the other mainstream lines do not allow carry on above zero or very low limits, including soft drinks for some), it will be interesting to see whether individuals are willing to risk denial of boarding or other sanctions just to beat the system and bring their favourite tipple on board or save a few quid by paying supermarket rather than cruise line price.

[Selbourne]

2 hours ago, Ivanhoe road said:

Don’t know if this has already been asked. But, are they scanning suitcases for alcohol. I usually take a bottle in my suitcase. Have done forever, never any mishaps

I say this as someone who has never taken alcohol on board and never will, but I’d suggest that your chances of being ‘caught’ are significantly less than 1%. Security scanning is looking for bombs and knives, not bottles, especially as bottles themselves are not banned, just certain contents. Furthermore, the worst case scenario would be that your bottle would be confiscated and returned to you at the end of the cruise. Nobody is going to be denied boarding by attempting to take one bottle aboard in their luggage, especially when people could very easily claim ignorance of this policy change. P&O have already said that those who will be refused boarding are those who are under the influence.
 

Whilst I’m not advocating rule breaking, there’s a lot of scaremongering about what might happen if someone is ‘caught’. 

[david63]

46 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

Security scanning is looking for bombs and knives, not bottles, especially as bottles themselves are not banned, just certain contents.

Do we know for a fact that they are not looking for bottles?

 

As we all know certain liquids when mixed together in the right quantities can be used to make a bomb.