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P & O Baggage Allowance! Disgusted!!


Sunseeker1664
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Hi, just booked a 14 night cruise to the Caribbean on the Azura for March 7th 2013, paid to upgrade flight to Premium, then find out P&O baggage allowance is only 23 Kgs!!!! How do they expect people to go to the Caribbean on a cruise with 5 formal nights and 5 informal nights with a 23 Kg allowance. They must have lost the plot! This will be the first and last P&O cruise we'll be going on! Even tried to pay for an increase to the baggage allowance, they won't have any of it...Anyone else got a problem with the allowance? Regards:mad:

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It can be done .....just needs a bit of planning!! you will find that you will only need light clothing ....toiletries are provided so you won't need shampoo/shower gel etc....plan to 'mix and match' so you can create different looks..wear your heaviest clothes/shoes on the plane....its surprising how much 23 kgs is.... I can't actually lift a case weighing that much!! :)

 

I actually write down a list of my clothes for each day/night and don't take extra, wash underwear each evenng and hang in shower....John always takes dinner suit/shoes and we have always managed to stay under 23 kgs. :)

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Hi, just booked a 14 night cruise to the Caribbean on the Azura for March 7th 2013, paid to upgrade flight to Premium, then find out P&O baggage allowance is only 23 Kgs!!!! How do they expect people to go to the Caribbean on a cruise with 5 formal nights and 5 informal nights with a 23 Kg allowance. They must have lost the plot! This will be the first and last P&O cruise we'll be going on! Even tried to pay for an increase to the baggage allowance, they won't have any of it...Anyone else got a problem with the allowance? Regards:mad:

 

Not a new problem, however there will be 4 an 4, dressing up nights so you have save 2 outfits already.

 

This must have been the case for over 4 years.

 

 

Gan canny

 

Dai

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We managed (just!) with 23kg. But then I always overpack!

If you take a pair of floaty evening trousers and 2 spangly tops thats 2 of your formals sorted! Also try and double up with shoes - put these in hand luggage if you can. Buy suntan stuff on ship. you wont need many toiletries. Just take very small travel bottles that you can throw away on coming home. Double up with light trousers or skirts with floaty tops for casual nights.

At least with the Caribbean you know it will be warm so you can take light clothing. We are flying to LA for a cruise next May and the weather can be a bit unpredictable then. So will need careful packing!

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23kg is more than adequate - we have done 3 week trips to the Far East with 30kg between us.

 

Laundry facilities are provided if not being able to take all your wardrobe is a hardship and you won't be in Hello for wearing the same outfit twice in two weeks.

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We have managed with this for more than 5 Caribbean cruises now. If you have a jacket with pockets put heavy things like chargers in the pockets - in fact anything you can that is heavy. I usually put my husband's heavy black dinner shoes in his hand luggage - take up too much room in the case apart from being heavy. Just be careful what you take. Some people who have to fly to Gatwick from other parts of the Uk only have 20kg on their first flight and they manage.

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Hi, just booked a 14 night cruise to the Caribbean on the Azura for March 7th 2013, paid to upgrade flight to Premium, then find out P&O baggage allowance is only 23 Kgs!!!! How do they expect people to go to the Caribbean on a cruise with 5 formal nights and 5 informal nights with a 23 Kg allowance. They must have lost the plot! This will be the first and last P&O cruise we'll be going on! Even tried to pay for an increase to the baggage allowance, they won't have any of it...Anyone else got a problem with the allowance? Regards:mad:

 

We just did the transatlantic flying to barbados sailing back to Southampton on Ventura. We also struggled with the 23kg, but we had all threecases at 23kg exactly and all 3 bits of hand luggage at 5kg, but we took things that we ended up not wearing, so do think about realistically what you will wear. Wear heaviest clothes on the flight and buy all your toiletries from Boots once you get through security. some of those items were really heavy so we took them out and bought them once we were weighed and through.

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It can be done. We all managed at Christmas / New Year on Azura, even my daughter who likes to wear a different dress every night. We also managed on a two week New Zealand / Australia Princess cruise with a 5 night land tour afterwards, but obviously utilising the self-service laundry. As above, I would recommend buying your toiletries after security as they weigh a ton.

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Have managed a 14nt Caribbean, 15nt Panama Canal cruise and a 2wk American West Coast land tour and Mexican Riviera Cruise all on just 23kg. Like everyone else has stated, pack light weight clothing and buy toiletries after security at the airport. Also use the on board self service laundries. A good idea is to take a bottle of clothes freshner spray to spray on your evening clothes at night to keep them smelling fresh.

 

We only ever pack enough stuff for 1 week and wear it twice.

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Hi, just booked a 14 night cruise to the Caribbean on the Azura for March 7th 2013, paid to upgrade flight to Premium, then find out P&O baggage allowance is only 23 Kgs!!!! How do they expect people to go to the Caribbean on a cruise with 5 formal nights and 5 informal nights with a 23 Kg allowance. They must have lost the plot! This will be the first and last P&O cruise we'll be going on! Even tried to pay for an increase to the baggage allowance, they won't have any of it...Anyone else got a problem with the allowance? Regards:mad:

 

With the price of fuel all airlines are limiting weights. It isnt really P&Os fault and you could have found out this info easily before booking if it was an issue.

 

We travelled with my Mum and Sister over New Year on Ventura and they love to dress up. They planned carefully and managed to keep within the limits. Dont let it spoil your holiday.

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Whats the problem, my full pack for a 14 nighter including dinner jacket etc plus the case weight is only just over 16KG :D

 

Wear the heavy stuff to travel!

 

Make full use of the ships laundrettes. They are free on P&O

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Despite our initial concerns regarding luggage allowance for a fly-cruise, we have now done 5 and have found that we have managed to pack all we need within our 23 kgs (we are usually just on the line). I get out everything that I think I would like to take, then try it on, accessorise it, whittle it down by half and hey presto we are there. The only thing I have to cut down on are the amount of shoes I take, take a silver and gold pair for formal/semi-formal evenings, and a couple of others for the smart/casual evenings and a couple of evening bags. OH doesn't take as much as me so we spread the load. You just need to be very disciplined in what you take, we still find we take clothes we don't wear. It can be done and as has been said, don't let it ruin your holiday. We have throughly enjoyed our carribean cruises and we careful packing we are carrying on.

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Have done this a few times and it is quite do-able with careful planning.

 

The issue is caused by P&O chartering the flights but that keeps the cost down. For example I saw a Celebrity Caribbean cruise I liked for next year last week and got a quote including flight and the flights added £700 each to the cost which made it dearer than P&O.

 

The other point we have found is that they don't check the weight very strictly at the airport and one check in told us they allow a couple of kilos over anyway for the cruise charters and they don't seem to check hand luggage too carefully. Think it is best to use smallish hand luggage bags not to attract attention but then put heavy things in them (like shoes). We have been a bit over at times but haven't been pulled up for it.

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Nothing to do with the cruise charter planes but we went to Glasgow and back last week on a Flybe plane. At check in they were making everyone put their hand luggage into the size container thing to make sure the piece was not larger than allowed. They were being exceptionally strict. Trouble is at Gatwick going on a cruise flight you never know if the check-in personel are going to be lenient or not so we always keep within the weight guidelines using one of those digital weighing things.

 

Next year we are flying out to Barbados and doing a 21 night cruise ending up in Southampton - very irritating that although we are coming back to Southampton we will still have the weight problem going out - never mind, we'll manage - lots of pockets in a jacket, even if the jacket never gets worn again!:)

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It is the airlines that set the weight not the cruise ships. And 23 kilos is standard. We have always had that restriction in Australia.

 

Not strictly true in P&Os case. They charter the plane and crew. This means they own the freight capacity of the flight. On the outbound flight P&O will sell freight capacity as their is demand to get produce to Barbados. This demand does not really exist on the inbound flight. This is why there isn't really a weight restriction on the way home. The outbound flight has a defined luggage volume so they know how much freight weight they can sell.

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23 kgs is standard now, even for scheduled flights. Having said that, I have done P&O fly cruises to the Caribbean and land tours to the USA with this allowance and have never had any problem staying within it. I follow the rule of "if you think you might not wear it, don't take it"

Is it not time, however, for P&O abandon formal/semi-formal in the Caribbean. That would free up a lot of space in suitcases for important items like shorts and tee shirts. ;-)

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23 kg has always been the norm for weight on aircraft. Personally i think they should go back to when I started flying and weigh the passengers as well! The standard default weight of a passenger is 10.5 stone I think. :-(

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Have done this a few times and it is quite do-able with careful planning.

 

The issue is caused by P&O chartering the flights but that keeps the cost down. For example I saw a Celebrity Caribbean cruise I liked for next year last week and got a quote including flight and the flights added £700 each to the cost which made it dearer than P&O.

 

The other point we have found is that they don't check the weight very strictly at the airport and one check in told us they allow a couple of kilos over anyway for the cruise charters and they don't seem to check hand luggage too carefully. Think it is best to use smallish hand luggage bags not to attract attention but then put heavy things in them (like shoes). We have been a bit over at times but haven't been pulled up for it.

 

Cannot have been at Manchester Airport. Check-in "lady" had us taking 0.8 Kg out of a case for a cruise flight at the counter to get down to 23 Kgs. Sad thing was that it was the second case onto the belt and the first case had disappeared so couldn't adjust weight between the cases.

 

Ultimately what came out of the case went on the hand luggage!... Enough said!

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Cannot have been at Manchester Airport. Check-in "lady" had us taking 0.8 Kg out of a case for a cruise flight at the counter to get down to 23 Kgs. Sad thing was that it was the second case onto the belt and the first case had disappeared so couldn't adjust weight between the cases.

 

Ultimately what came out of the case went on the hand luggage!... Enough said!

 

No it was Thomas Cook, Gatwick

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Hi, I'm not really sure why you are " having a go " at P&O for these restrictions, as the luggage weights are pretty much standard on any fly holiday. In fact on our last holiday we were only allowed 20kg each.

As previous posters have said if you pack sensibly then you should have no problems. Unless you are like a relative of mine who always takes 14 different outfits for day wear then another 14 outfits for evening wear !:rolleyes: You may have problems if you do that. There is always the free laundry or the laundry service if you don't want to do it yourself. And as you are going to the Caribbean you will only need light clothes. I'm sure you will manage.

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