Where are the P&O cost savings?

I just got back from a NCL cruise and what I experienced got me wondering just how much value for money our P&O cruises are. On NCL I prepaid my gratuities so it was an eye watering $11 approx per day. If you did not pre pay it was over $15 :eek:. P&O is only £5.50?, how do they do this or where are they making cost savings to allow this?

I presume crew costs are broadly similar across the industry and if so the low auto tips on P&O means either a lower profit margin, something that Carnival would not like, or savings are being made elsewhere to maintain the profit level :confused:

I noticed there was a great range of food on NCL, including 'free' items like all day availability of soft drinks and fruit juices, milk, iced tea, lemonade etc. also free ice cream, either a choice of 10 varieties in the buffet or 2 self serve ones. The buffet was something of a revelation, 2 choices of soup, themed evenings, wide range of Asian, pasta etc etc and most surprising, even at 'bunfight' times there was always a choice of tables. The quality of the offerings was better than I have experienced in P&O main dining rooms. As a solo cruiser I had access to the studio lounge with our own bar from 5 to 7 in the evening, free non alcoholic drinks, cookies etc etc available 24 hours and to cap it all a dedicated crew member to arrange dinner and show reservations. Pretty impressive and almost as good as the solo program on TUI Discovery.

I was thinking, P&O don't offer this, on the last 2 cruises I found the mdr food mediocre and the xmas dinner awful. The buffet is boring and repetitive, the solo 'programme' is almost non existent, however we have cheap tips. Are Carnival exploiting the 'mustn't grumble' attitude of the british to provide a cut to the bare bone product while maintaining profit levels? I sure would like to see the performance figures of the different Carnival brands but Carnival won't say :rolleyes:

I'm sure Pando would dearly like to raise the level of tips to what is normal on more "American" lines, including Cunard, but I guess they take note of the numbers of deleted tips and realise that if they did, even more would be removed. I'm also sure that they make up the deficit to the staff and as you say make cuts elsewhere.

Many people claim to love the P&O food: I would class it as about the worst of the major cruise lines, so possibly that's one saving along with the poor maintenance reported here aboard Britannia.

David.

Drinks work out cheaper on P&O than most of the American lines even when you have one of their a drinks packages !!

davecttr, as a matter of interest, what was the price of drinks on NCL?

Expensive, but the bar price of drinks on NCL is a bit of a red herring.

NCL have a virtually permanent offer of free drinks for any booking, including inside cabins. The only exceptions being for cruises booked within 30 days of departure or guaranteed rooms (i.e. the equivalent of Saver bookings).

So few people actually pay for any drinks. For American customers they have to pay an 18% gratuity on the their free drinks, but for UK customers it is included in the fare price.

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Expensive, but the bar price of drinks on NCL is a bit of a red herring.

 

NCL have a virtually permanent offer of free drinks for any booking, including inside cabins. The only exceptions being for cruises booked within 30 days of departure or guaranteed rooms (i.e. the equivalent of Saver bookings).

 

So few people actually pay for any drinks. For American customers they have to pay an 18% gratuity on the their free drinks, but for UK customers it is included in the fare price.

 

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I had the UBP package (unlimited beverage) and all drinks below $15 are free. Standard spirits were about $8.50. I asked how big the measures were but they were in ounces :confused: I did notice the drinks tasted very strong and bartenders often just used the 'glug glug glug' technique for pouring. P&O drink prices are not very good IMO, for example the standard measure for spirits is 25ml compared to say 40ml on Thomson for the same brands at a similar price. They also have free beverage packages for early bookers and from next summer their two Discovery ships will be all inclusive.

Back on topic. Are P&O making savings on the quality and variety of food? I know they have pared the entertainment team down so much they are running around just to keep up and can't spare the time to interact with solo cruisers for example.

Another thing I noticed about NCL is the hard sell was not much in evidence and there were only a few announcements per day.

What are they hard selling? The only people who ever bother me on P&O are the photographeres and the spa!

What are they hard selling? The only people who ever bother me on P&O are the photographeres and the spa!

That's all I have seen too and most of the Spa hard selling is in the mailbox outside the cabin.

What are they hard selling? The only people who ever bother me on P&O are the photographeres and the spa!

I think he may be referring to the bar staff. If you remember years ago, it used to be incessant, waiter after waiter kept asking if you wanted a drink. But after so many complaints they changed the system and you are now asked once and if you don't order anything, the waiter merely places a paper coaster on the table, so other waiters know you have already been asked.

I noticed the lack of hard sell on NCL which I found surprising because you were constantly pestered on American cruise lines. Waiters never asked if you wanted a drink except once in the buffet :)

Whilst I agree NCL can't be beaten for solo cruisers (we even got a free bottle of wine at dinner), I found the ship (Escape), dark, gloomy, badly laid out and unbelievably noisy in the evenings with loud music in every bar bleeding into the next door bar causing a cacophony of noise, which prevented conversation. I don't know if all their ships are similar. Regulars said they preferred Epic to Escape but it certainly didn't encourage me to book another.

Drinks work out cheaper on P&O than most of the American lines even when you have one of their a drinks packages !!

Not when you get the package for free as part of your booking [emoji898][emoji481][emoji482][emoji482][emoji483][emoji484]

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What are they hard selling? The only people who ever bother me on P&O are the photographeres and the spa!

Have you never had to wend your way through all the stalls outside the shops, or weighed the ton of flyers they distribute every night? Or maybe its because on the smaller ships they recognise that the passengers keep a tight rein on their discretionary spending.;):rolleyes:

Have you never had to wend your way through all the stalls outside the shops, or weighed the ton of flyers they distribute every night? Or maybe its because on the smaller ships they recognise that the passengers keep a tight rein on their discretionary spending.;):rolleyes:

Maybe Jean's interpretation of "hard sell" is the same as mine which is being approached by individuals trying to get me to purchase something. The tat stalls outside the shops are a nuisance but no-one there has ever tried to stop me moving through or asked me to buy anything and the flyers simply go into the bin if the steward brings them into the cabin otherwise they stay outside where they were originally left.

They no longer have port and Stilton every formal night, only the first and the last [emoji24]

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We made a complaint to P&O about cost cutting on our last two cruises, they denied there was any. The food in MDR and buffet is poor quality and repetitive. We have now had enough and doubt we will book with them again. The only benefit I can see is the low grats and low cost drinks. I would rather pay more and get a better standard. The cost cutting has now gone to far. The entertainment is not as good as it used to be with no interesting speakers on our last cruise. We always pay select and feel that we are subsidising the late offers. Our next cruise in January is on Cunard, hopefully we will fare better with them, yes it's costing more.

At the end of the day you get what you pay for.

We made a complaint to P&O about cost cutting on our last two cruises, they denied there was any. The food in MDR and buffet is poor quality and repetitive. We have now had enough and doubt we will book with them again. The only benefit I can see is the low grats and low cost drinks. I would rather pay more and get a better standard. The cost cutting has now gone to far. The entertainment is not as good as it used to be with no interesting speakers on our last cruise. We always pay select and feel that we are subsidising the late offers. Our next cruise in January is on Cunard, hopefully we will fare better with them, yes it's costing more.

At the end of the day you get what you pay for.

I agree entirely we have cruised only once with P&O in the last 2+years that was on Britannia maiden which we thoroughly enjoyed . We now cruise with Princess and Cunard and we have one cruise in 10 days time on Britannia which we booked straight after the maiden. Cannot see us booking again with P&O in the future and never read 2018 brochure sent.

Florry

Did you ask for it, on our last cruise Port and Stilton was offered to my wife every night after she indicated to our waiter that was her preference , in addition after the first formal night I was asked if I would like an additional main course.

We were on Freedom dining and asked for a table within the same section on every night we attended the MDR this request was complied with on every ocassion albeit on some evenings with a slight delay where we were issued with a pager.

If you don't ask you don't get.

The tat stalls. We call 'common street traders'. Lol. We don't think these are hard sell they are simply in the way when trying to get from A to B on the ship!

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I think he may be referring to the bar staff. If you remember years ago, it used to be incessant, waiter after waiter kept asking if you wanted a drink. But after so many complaints they changed the system and you are now asked once and if you don't order anything, the waiter merely places a paper coaster on the table, so other waiters know you have already been asked.

The waiters can never win, either they are bothering guests or on the other hand a guest can never get a waiter to take an order, it would appear the waiters are always in the wrong what a fickle crowd we guests are.

I have found a polite No Thank You works wonders.

But there again I'm not looking for something to come onto a forum and complain about.

I never refuse a drink. It is rude. :)

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The waiters can never win, either they are bothering guests or on the other hand a guest can never get a waiter to take an order, it would appear the waiters are always in the wrong what a fickle crowd we guests are.

 

I have found a polite No Thank You works wonders.

 

But there again I'm not looking for something to come onto a forum and complain about.

People come on to a forum to both praise and complain. It's a forum. A place for discussion and debate, so if you take offence at people complaining.....don't come onto a forum. That's that dealt with!

P&O did go through a phase of pushing their waiters to keep asking and they did because they were set targets. Recently, it's been ok, but at one stage, you were asked every two minutes and sometimes by the same waiter.

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The waiters can never win, either they are bothering guests or on the other hand a guest can never get a waiter to take an order, it would appear the waiters are always in the wrong what a fickle crowd we guests are.

 

I have found a polite No Thank You works wonders.

 

But there again I'm not looking for something to come onto a forum and complain about.

Ah but you've come into the forum to complain about the people who are complaining about the waiters. So that makes you a complainer too...............I think.[emoji848]

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ChrisPbacon

I will come onto the forum and I will certainly make my view known as long as it is not offensive, and I certainly will not be ordered about by you or any other forum member , to use your own phrase "There that's dealt with"