shallwe

I booked this same cruise last year when they were first announced - on a Select fare.

Still waiting for my upgrade.

Just saying.

In probably not the person to ask as I love white knuckle rides. But our first cruising last year was during the time of all the March storms coming across the Atlantic. Oriana was moving about all over the place, I loved it. My wife was thrown out of bed at night - I told it was storm ;-)

The next cruise a few months later and on the same ship it was very calm, boring in a way.

Shorts and tee shirts for a formal evening - I don't think so!

I'm sure it'll be fine if I wear a bow tie at the same time ;)

I recently read a review which said that a pax's electrical devices had either failed to charge or stopped working, in particular hair straighteners. The pax bought new straighteners on board and these also failed on first use in the cabin. A member of P&O staff said there was a problem with the electrics and this appeared to be borne out by the onboard shop having virtually sold out of hair dryers, hair straighteners etc.

Strange that the on-board shop sold out of hairdryers when each room has one included in their inventory. Surely you would request a replacement from the reception?

In my case, sadly its not worth having a hairdryer :(

On our last Thomson flight from Gatwick to Barbados we were only allowed one bag (handbags had to be inside that bag). Duty free doesn't apply as you go through check in and security before buying duty free - had no trouble taking carrier bag with duty free in. At check in we were asked to show our hand luggage but it wasn't weighed. However, the couple in front of us who had very large pieces of hand luggage had to have theirs weighed and were told it was too large and too heavy - we saw them having to put things in their hold luggage. A couple on our table had to pay quite a lot extra to have their overweight luggage put in the hold.

I didn't realise that shorts and T-shirts weighed that much. After all, that's all you need for the Caribbean ;)

Well, good for you! Obviously it is of some importance to me, or why would I be asking?

Just saying.

Chill out.

Yes, of course, I thought it went without saying that one considers those issues too. I am asking because embarkation time could be another factor to take into consideration. Thought that would be clear! If it is indeed in the lap of the gods, then obviously it won't be a factor....

As long as I get on board I don't worry about what the time is.

I'm going to email them to say that I'm a travel writer and ask for a free cruise ;-) you never know :-)

Well done Nix11 and P&O

I'm definitely taking my DJ with me on to Britannia next month.

We are on the 4/5 December Britannia cruise, we picked the cruise for the ship not the itinerary, we have done all the islands before so are looking for some options. We love a nice beach that's easy to get to, not to far from the port. Not to much walking.

 

Antigua - done Millers beach

Tortola - done Nanny Cay & Cane garden

Dominica - ashamed to say only done the town and am sure I am missing something

St Lucia - done Colsol a couple of times and don't want to do a full day trip would like a nice beach - cannot remember what we did last year but sure I didn't stay on board.

 

Your help is appreciated

Well done soobs for this post. we're on the same cruise and are looking forward to the replies.

For your information we have booked on to Lionheart catamaran in Tortola (Aristocats.com), Cosol Tours for St Lucia (that you have already used) and Royston Tours for St Kitts.

Based on the replies, there could be quite a few good ideas.

It is a lovely stroll to the cable car station. We then walked straight to the ticket office and bought return tickets including the botanical gardens at the top. We had a lovely walk around the gardens then got the cable car back down. You have to break the cable car journey if you are going to the very top as they are two separate cable cars, but the ticket I recall is for both.

We didn't do the toboggan ride so I'm not really answering your question, although we were thinking about it as we were descending. However Funchal is so easy to do on your own.

I gather you get 10 points per night of cruising and will get onto the first tier (Pacific) when you get to 150 points. In our case, we did two 14 night cruises before we officially received any discounts. This is because they don't give you the discount if you hit the particular tier on a cruise.

As others have said though, the discount isn't great and to me it's not actually an incentive. Nice, but not a deal breaker.

There is a 'Travelmoneymaximiser' on the Moneydsavingexpert.com website. Invariably the cheapest are Debenhams, Asda & Tesco.

We will be going on a fly cruise next year our first fly cruise that is so will be buying a couple of bottles of spirits to take on with us and to drink in the cabin.

The only thing to make sure with this is that you are complying with the local customs allowances with bringing spirits into that particular country. If it is a European country then there shouldn't be a problem. However, countries outside Europe may have other rules.

A few have mentioned the cruise terminal is well over an hour from the airport up hill and down dell, so to speak

Ahh, I see. I thought that the flight in was being referred to, not the journey to the cruise terminal.

I was on a normal holiday when I went, and to be fair we did have an hours minibus ride through some small dilapidated villages to get to our resort. It certainly showed the other side to life there, harsh, a lot of poverty and unforgiving.

I've also heard that flying into And out of St Lucia is not a very good experience.

Flew to St Lucia a few years ago, I don't remember anything wrong with it.

Last week I checked out the Limelight club acts for our upcoming December cruise. All I found was 4 nights of Eric & Ernie (I'm not into tribute acts per-se, although it may be difficult to have the real Eric & Ernie), and one night of Darren Day.

 

To say that I was underwhelmed is an understatement.

Just seen that Dean Andrews has been added to our cruise now.

Last week I checked out the Limelight club acts for our upcoming December cruise. All I found was 4 nights of Eric & Ernie (I'm not into tribute acts per-se, although it may be difficult to have the real Eric & Ernie), and one night of Darren Day.

To say that I was underwhelmed is an understatement.

I wasn't aware that you could stay overnight in an hotel and then park there for two weeks, or that it can be cheaper than airport parking, so will look into that pronto. Can I echo Dorset Cruiser's question to natross1110 - which hotel do you stay in that only involves a walk across a bridge?

Many hotels in Crawley offer this facility. The Europa hotel a few minutes away from where I live offer this as part of a package with airport transfers also. I wouldn't particularly recommend that hotel as it is a Britannia hotel with awful reviews, and the parking is atrocious.

However, there are loads of hotels in the Crawley area offering the same parking facilities.

Living a 5-minute taxi ride away from Gatwick, I can roll out of bed a few minutes before check-in close ;)

Thank-you, shallwe. Did you enjoy the trip or think that the two stops were too much? Maybe more time in Florence?

I was thinking of the train, the more I look into it, the more my head spins! Weighing up the money saved against the convenience of a organised tour!

 

 

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Sorry for the late reply.

The two stops were fine for a first time visit for us to get an idea of the two places. We stopped off in Pisa for about an hour which meant that there were plenty of photo opportunities but not enough time to actually go inside the various buildings.

Then in Florence, we had pre-bought some tickets online for the Doumo and the various attachments. I'm not sure whether it was much cheaper doing it that way but it meant that you didn't need to queue anywhere to get it.

I would certainly need more time in Florence in any subsequent visit as I fell in love with the place. What we saw in the time permitted (I think it was about 4 hours?) wetted our appetite.

Last year we went on the P&O 'Pisa and Florence on your own excursion'. It was expensive in some ways - £43 each I seen to recall, but we got stuck in traffic on the way back. If it had been a private trip there's a good chance we would have been stuck there!

I'm flying from Gatwick this December to Barbados. The flight time is 9.30am.

Hope this helps although there's no guarantee that next year will be the same.

Thank goodness I live a 5 minute taxi ride from Gatwick airport.

I've looked previously myself and couldn't find the full details. Someone else may have found the magic page?

You always hear about the moaners here on the P&O forum and I'm sure that some of the problems are worth moaning about. But, has anyone ever written to P&O praising them for their cruise holiday?

I know that I fill in the end of cruise feedback form in truthly, and 98% of it is praise, but I do tend to feel guilty about never yet writing to a holiday provider with actual praise for my nice time.