Selbourne

I suspect it’s just an error. There is no way to change it via the Cruise Personaliser I’m afraid. If you booked via a TA, a 2 minute call to them will sort it. If you booked direct I’m afraid you’ll have to phone them and endure the wait. I don’t think there’s an email address for this, but others may be able to help. I’d be surprised if P&O dispense with Club dining on Aurora, especially as a lot of us who have used Freedom from the start have been switching back to Club due to the problems that seem to have crept in to Freedom dining. I certainly didn’t hear any rumours when we were on her recently.

So would I, but I can’t see it happening. The adult only ships are mostly filled with retirees on presumably very good pensions. Sadly, that market is diminishing as the vast majority of those entering the world of retirement going forward won’t have anywhere near the same level of pension income, and those that do will have different expectations and want a more upmarket experience than P&O offers. Plus, of course, there’s the economies of scale issue that massively favours the big ships. The market direction that P&O is going in is the polar opposite of upmarket small ships. Having spent 65 nights on Aurora recently she’s looking and feeling a little unloved, which probably tells us all we need to know about the direction of travel.

I don’t think that I phrased my post very well. I was meaning that the insurers never suggested, when I specifically asked, that I needn’t worry about a medical evacuation at sea on the basis that whoever provides it (coast guard, air ambulance etc) would always do so free of charge. They said that they would cover the cost, which lead me to assume that there was one. I’m sure I’ve read somewhere that people, or insurers, have had to pay tens of thousands of pounds for such things but, thankfully, I’ve never had to find out! There have been a few on cruises that we’ve been on though, as well as unplanned port calls to drop off sick passengers.

That’s coincidental, because we’ve only been on Azura once and didn’t like her. We couldn’t put our finger on why, as we’d enjoyed Ventura the year before! We’d like to give her another go, but she only seems to do fly cruises now, which aren’t an option for us.

I think that there’s a reasonable chance that Ventura could become adult only when Aurora or Arcadia (or both) are sold in the future. I don’t think that Ventura would cut the mustard with the market that P&O is now targeting. Other adult only ships (Saga etc) are very expensive, so P&O may still see an opportunity in that arena, albeit at the (comparatively) budget end.

In a way it’s cosmetic, as there’s no way that I’d take the word of someone posting on a forum (even an esteemed forum such as this 😉) as gospel, and I wouldn’t dream of going on a cruise without comprehensive travel insurance, to cover all eventualities. I know that you are the same. However, whenever I’ve changed travel insurers I’ve always specifically asked about medical evacuation from a ship whilst at sea (in the knowledge that the cost would be devastating) and they confirmed it would be covered, never suggesting that it would be free of charge.

Interesting, although I wouldn’t like to test that theory!

As others have said, the dress code is smart casual.

It’s the ‘air fare’ off the ship that would worry me the most! 🚁💰💰💰💰💰

Personally, I wouldn’t entertain setting foot on a cruise ship without adequate insurance, whether it was a requirement or not. If one of you was taken seriously ill on board and needed a medical evacuation or transfer to a hospital overseas, you could very easily be looking at many tens of thousands of dollars.

The very fact that you care about this tells me that you will be fine. It’s a lot more relaxed than it used to be. When we first started cruising, on formal nights the overwhelming majority of gents wore proper dinner suits with the remainder wearing tuxedos. Very few just wore a lounge suit. Now the latter seems to be far more common than a proper dinner suit. When we were on Iona we went to the 710 Club on a formal night and it struck me that I was the only chap in there wearing a dinner suit. Also, it’s worth keeping in mind that some people can wear the official dress code but very badly and still look very scruffy. Whilst younger generations tend to ‘dress up’ differently from how us older ones do, IMHO they can look far smarter and tend to make far more effort.

@gmac00 Both are fine. Don’t worry. Just enjoy your cruise!

I’m not sure that’s practical in Southampton, where they use an air bridge at all terminals. We’ve not used self disembarkation but, as mentioned, one of our daughters used it disembarking Iona in August school holidays, when the ship was packed, and had no issue with it all. Any issues with regular disembarkation could easily be solved if P&O adopted the much better system that sister company Cunard use 🤔

You are wrong I’m afraid. Many folk using self disembarkation are carrying suitcases, not just hand luggage. They use the facility as they wish to get off early, not necessarily just because they are travelling light. Furthermore, as the husband of a full time wheelchair user, I can assure you that trying to get in a lift during normal disembarkation can be the most challenging time of the cruise, even when people just have hand luggage. If suitcases are added into the equation it adds another level of problems. That’s why self disembarkation is always early, to get those folk out of the way before the peak period of lift usage kicks in.

Exactly and this point has been made several times. Me thinks someone is being deliberately provocative 🤔