Selbourne

Exactly the same with us.

I was about to make a similar point, but you have explained it better than I would! Carnivals debt burden is almost like that of a small country so, as you say, the operating profit is but one part of a much bigger picture. You only need to look at the share price pre and post Covid to see the damage that debt mountain has had on the value of the business. It’s worth less than 25% of what it was at peak, in spite of all the new ships.

Certainly the last two launches have had what I would describe as ‘ambitious’ prices. As a result, but also due to not wishing to commit two and a half years out due to my wife’s health, we haven’t made any bookings. I remain optimistic that, as with last year, we may pick up the odd cruise well within our price cap, especially after balance due date, but if we don’t then so be it. Like you we have branched out beyond P&O now, but certainly not abandoned them - even though we currently have no future cruises booked with P&O. Our next two cruises are with Cunard. Both are in Britannia Club on Queen Anne. The first one is expensive (booked at launch - lesson learned) but the second one was booked well after launch and is much cheaper. There is no equivalent of Club on P&O (although I would argue that, cabin size aside, the benefits of Club are far better than having a suite with P&O) but after deducting OBC (inc shareholder benefit) the cheaper cruise nets out at £136 pppn. So there are even bargains to be had with Cunard!

Whilst I agree that there have been a large number of changes, and the combined effect is that the P&O product has evolved from a mid-market to mass-market product over the last 10 years or so, I personally feel that the prices (in the main) reflect that shift and consequently can still offer good value. The way that we got our heads around it was to revise down the price that we’d be prepared to pay for a P&O cruise to a maximum of £100 pppn for a balcony cabin. This is quite easy to achieve on the family ships, but challenging on the adult only ones, which is why we book far less cruises on those ships now as we don’t feel that they represent value for money any more. That being said, our recent 65 nighter on Aurora cost us £73 pppn for a balcony cabin and we considered that to be exemplary value. In fact, deduct from that the money we saved by not being at home for that time during the winter and it was a net cost of around £50 pppn. I don’t think we could have done that on any other cruise line. So yes, it’s not what it was, but neither are the prices (if you look hard enough).

I hope that you enjoyed your cruise and found Club dining to be up to scratch? Would you be kind enough to share what the fixed a ‘La carte additions are (those that you can remember)? I’d be most grateful.

I agree. Where it’s possible, we prefer to walk into places rather than use shuttles, even though we usually book Select fares, but Haugesund is one of the few places where I think that P&O really should provide a shuttle, especially as the free one provided by the town has gone. It’s not just the distance, but the bridge. At the very least, they should provide an accessible shuttle, as my wife ends up staying on the ship there.

I couldn’t have tolerated that even for 5 minutes. I’d have challenged them directly (much to my wife’s annoyance) as it would absolutely infuriate me and I would call for the deck manager every single time they did it. If they still carried on after deck manager intervention I’d be pushing for them to be removed from the ship at the next port.

You posted at the same time as me! I had assumed that the shuttle was arranged by P&O as we didn’t pay and were on a Select fare, but I’ve no reason to doubt your info. Either way, it’s now a pain for wheelchair users.

When we first visited Haugesund in 2018 there was definitely a shuttle bus paid for by P&O. It dropped off by the Cathedral at the top of the town. It was free for Select fare passengers. We visited twice last year and, as you say, there is no provided shuttle, just pay for options. My wife stayed on the ship both times as the bridge is challenging for manual wheelchair users (even with me pushing) as it’s quite steep and the pavement is narrow.

Yes that is factually correct.

I make no judgement on whether the policy is right or wrong, nor on those who choose to pack a bottle or two within their luggage. As I have said, it makes no odds to me as we have never taken alcohol with us and don’t intend to start. My point was simply that this policy is unenforceable, as suitcases generally aren’t opened, passengers wouldn’t be with them if they were, and even if they can see a bottle via a scanner it could be anything. Port security aren’t looking for bottles, they are looking for terrorist related threats. I stress, I am not advocating rule breaking, merely pointing out that it’s very easy to do so.

but, again, impossible to enforce.

My wife is a full time wheelchair user. The issue that you are referring to is that Britannia doesn’t have stairs midships, so everyone has to use the lifts, even if they would normally use the stairs, so this puts added pressure on the midships lifts. We don’t find it to be a major problem, other than disembarkation morning (which is a challenge on most P&O ships for those with mobility aids). The way to cope with the lifts is to try to use the forward and aft lifts. If your cabin is midships the trick is to use the lifts nearest to where you end your day (which is often forward or aft, as that’s where most entertainment is), travel up to your deck and then walk along the corridor to your cabin. Quicker and easier than walking to the midships lifts on a busy deck. Hope that helps. You shouldn’t have any major issues though. The only ship we really struggled on with lifts was Iona, as they are tiny, everyone uses them and lift etiquette was poor.

We found the MDR food to be generally fine on Iona, Britannia and Ventura last year, but Aurora this year was below par. Seems to vary not just by ship, but by cruise as well!

In order to settle a very minor argument between my good lady wife and me, we brainstormed all the ‘cutbacks’ that we noticed and got to about 30. I did a thread on it at the time. In reality we don’t miss 75% of them and for many we found work arounds. MDR food isn’t as good as it was (choice etc) but, other than on Aurora, was still OK and the prices reflect it. So will we still cruise with P&O? Yes. But we have lowered the maximum price per night that we are prepared to pay. We have 2 Cunard cruises next and will be very interested to compare. My expectations will be much higher given the price we are paying.