Shelley61

We asked if he could get us a reservation at Keel & Cow and he said it didn't work - he'd tried with other guests but they wouldn't take bookings in advance. That was a shame as we wanted to go there on the last night. He told us to join the virtual queue at around 6pm, but when we tried it was already full for the night. It seems everyone wanted K&C the final night! The MDR menu didn't appeal and we'd already done 6SD and Olive Grove and didn't fancy it again. Our last night was the one and only night we ate dinner in the buffet! Keel & Cow wasn't one that was pre-bookable anyway though, so it might be different for other restaurants such as Beach House or Sindhu. We'd pre-booked the other speciality restaurants before we got on board, but I imagine the butler would have been able to book them for us otherwise. We noted he'd reserved us a breakfast table at Epicurean, though we didn't ever get round to using it as it was closed by the time we'd dragged ourselves out in the mornings!

Strange. We only had one MDR booking on the second formal night. The rest of the time we just used the virtual queue. My comments re booking came from another guest's posts on Facebook where they said they had a standing booking each night for a table of six. Another couple said to us on the first night that they'd been told by the waiter they could have the same table every night if they wanted.

My husband woke up for a wee in the night and peeked out the window and said "why is there land in front of us?". I was too sleepy and just ignored him and went back to sleep, then the next morning we noticed the strange tracking on the map that proved he was right (he was delighted he was right about something!) We didn't hear a thing with the helicopter though as we were at the front of the ship. As a PP said, the Mum of the little girl posted on facebook recently to say her daughter couldn't be stabilised after severe heat stroke. We'd just left Cadiz and had two sea days back to Southampton. They were still in Spain a few days after we'd got back.

We found it easy to get a table using the Virtual queue. One thing they don't advertise though is that you can book a table at the same time every night, even after 6.30pm. You just can't do it before you go. On your first night, go through the virtual queue as usual, then ask to reserve a table each night. We were in a suite and our butler booked a table for us that they showed up in the "My diary" section of the My Holiday pages on our phones.

I believe the ship isn't actually docking but will be anchored off shore, with guests on board watching from the ship and, presumably, on the big screen. The itinerary shows it as a sea day. The actual number of people on shore will be quite limited I imagine.

I wonder if it's a crew area? Officer's quarters perhaps? It's not obvious from the external pictures either - there's definitely windows there. I've found a review of one of the end cabins on deck 17 on FB and they mention there was a crew door opposite their cabin (on Iona), but that they only heard it a couple of times during the week. I've also checked any reviews for the cabins on Iona on deck 16 directly under that void and they've all said they're really quiet cabins. One mentioned "no cabins above", but said it was quiet.

Excuse the TikTok link, but I saw this the other day - Overflowing infinity pool It was from November 2021 and the pool does look less empty on OP's picture, so hopefully doesn't happen quite so dramatically now!

We've booked one of the forward facing corner suites and a couple of videos I've found of the Iona show a solitary sunlounger (yup - just the one!) as well as some more relaxing chairs and a set of standard chairs and a table. In fairness, the forward facing balconies aren't particularly deep, so it would be difficult to have another sunlounger. The aft suites look like they have a couple of proper sunloungers. You Tube shows even the deluxe balcony cabins at the aft, with their enormous balconies, only having regular table and chairs.

Yes, that's a good idea. I'll take a proper look at the excursions and ports this weekend. I looked last weekend very briefly and there didn't seem many listed. I suspect that's because we're still reasonably far out from next July, so they haven't organised everything themselves yet. We tried to book one excursion on RCI but it was sold out, but managed to nab some slots on boarding day as they had kept some spaces open. On there the key seemed to be getting on board early and going straight to the desk before the masses. We do have priority boarding, so will try and do this if there's something we really want to do but haven't managed to book online. When you break it down, the OBC comes to the equivalent of around £45 a day for 2 people, which actually doesn't make it sound like very much and could easily be swallowed up, especially if we have a bit of a blitz on formal night! I normally resist glasses of wine on cruises as they don't seem the best value (I stick to gin instead!), but perhaps I'll just treat myself! 😄 Thanks everyone!

Also makes sense. Darn they think of all the loopholes! 😂

Thanks - makes sense. We’ll certainly make sure it’s spent one way or another!

Thanks Zoe - that's helpful. We'll have to decide whether we want to book excursions in advance and use the money elsewhere or take the risk and book them once we're onboard and hope they're not sold out. RCI used to reserve some slots on trips for people to book on board (specifically for those cruisers who might struggle to book online I think). Do you (or anyone) know if P&O do similar? I'm sure the money won't last as long as I think once we're on board, but I want to make sure we use it, rather than it go to waste. Good to know you can use it in the shops though - worst case scenario we stock up on gin on the last night to use the last of it up!

Hello all As my signature shows, we're new to P&O, so feel a little "inexperienced" as cruisers again! We have a fair amount of OBC to use on our trip next year (we booked through a TA if it makes any difference in terms of how it can be used). If I remember rightly, when we had this with RCI you could book excursions in advance of the cruise and use your OBC. Our TA suggested that this wasn't the case with P&O? Can anyone advise please? We don't see the value in the drinks package, so will pay as we go, which would obviously use some of it, plus we'd want to do a couple of the speciality restaurants. The prices for these, however, are significantly more reasonable than what we're used to with RCI, so we won't use much. I might be tempted by a spa treatment maybe... Is there a sneaky way to withdraw it in cash in the casino at the cashiers' desk?? What do you use yours for? Thanks in advance! 🙂

This has reminded me that I should pack some eyedrops for our next cruise. We've just come back from another Air Con heavy holiday and my eyes were so, so dry and uncomfortable. Best be prepared! It is a shame to read that in this day and age though that there is no encouragement or enforcement to hand washing or sanitising. I've only ever done RCI cruises before and even pre-pandemic they were encouraging use, especially in the buffet (obviously due to Noro risk, rather than Covid, but still).

We booked at the weekend with an agent and they made it clear at booking what the current protocol is (vaccinations required but testing only recommended). They did say that it was down to us to keep on top of any changes in P&O's requirements. If I were susceptible to potentially serious issues from contracting Covid, I don't think I'd book a cruise any time soon. The UK particularly is going down the route of "Covid? What Covid? No such thing anymore", so it wouldn't surprise me none if P&O followed suit as soon as they can (i.e. no isolation in cabins, etc). Having had it back in January, and knowing quite a few people that have had it recently, for the majority it seems to be nothing more than an annoyance, just like a cold. I do appreciate that for some people it can be much more serious and, as I say, if I was someone that was likely to have a serious problem from contracting it, I'd stay well away. If a policy has changed since a booking (i.e. going from required testing to none), I would have thought there was an argument to say you should be entitled to a refund. That said, I know of a few people that went on cruises where testing was required, yet Covid was still rife on the ship.