Selbourne

8 hours ago, Megabear2 said:

Selbourne, I believe Queen Anne's actual naming is going to completed in the same way Arvia's was last year in Barbados - I posted a video link of that on the roll call last week.  The Liverpool port area with it's tunnel etc is presumably not going to host the viewing area, most likely more along the front where Eurovision was when we were on QM2 last year.

 

My Cunard PC indicated to me that fireworks/music will be much grander than the hastily arranged Coronation effort, more in line with the 175th anniversary ones which were very spectacular and not just shoreside, hence the large crowds expected.

 

 

That’s interesting. Thank you. I guess that would mean that the ship would still be quite close to the quayside, so those of us remaining on board might (hopefully) be able to see and hear something ‘live’ from from the ship (albeit the back of the performers) rather than just on screen?

If you recall, when we were on the Coronation cruise, QM2 was berthed with the starboard side against the quayside. When the ropes were let loose, the ship reversed back some way to the Cunard building, where she sounded her horns before progressing forward again. Could be a similar process with the ship holding in that position for the ceremony?
 

I know that we have been told that it will all be explained once we are on board, but I don’t think that being stuck ashore in a standing only area for hours would be comfortable for us. 

We are thinking of staying on board as well. My wife is disabled and whilst there is a dedicated viewing area for wheelchair users, the time that you have to be ashore is too long, especially as it’s standing only (for me) and we’d both need to use toilets at least once during that time!

Does anyone know the reason why the ship is moving off the berth and whether we would be able to see anything from the ship other than on the TVs? I wonder if the stage will be open or have a backdrop (which would screen it from the ship)? We were on the QM2 Coronation voyage and when we were in Liverpool there was a music and fireworks display which we were able to watch in comfort from our starboard side balcony. We are starboard on QA as well so was hoping we could do the same, but this may be optimistic?

6 minutes ago, jh1809 said:

I booked this cruise on P&O's website on the 16th, opting for the Select fare. I'm sure I asked for Club dining, but on the confirmation email that arrived the same day I've noticed that it says Freedom dining. I can't see anywhere on my cruise personaliser that would allow me to change it (even though I could change my bed configuration from queen to twin if I wanted to). Am I missing something, or will I have to undergo the palaver of ringing up P&O? Or, as it's hardly urgent at this stage, would emailing them get them to change it for me? If so, which email address should I use?

 

I did wonder if perhaps they are planning to phase out Club dining on Aurora at some point before summer 2026 and if that might explain it. Has anyone heard any rumours?

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.

12 minutes ago, FamilyCruiserUK said:

I hope they do build modern adult only ships, or even maybe have adult only cruises certain times of the year on Iona and Arvia.  🤔

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. 

2 minutes ago, david63 said:

Although you could argue that "free of charge" is, from their perspective, covering you.

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. 

28 minutes ago, Presto2 said:

Sadly we didn't like Ventura for some reason.. though we loved Azura! Think we would be disappointed if this was the only adults only option. 

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. 

1 hour ago, pete14 said:

I appreciate what you say, but some of us of a certain age group would also like to be considered in the future. The two adult only ships in the fleet are the smallest, which is not a problem, but they are also the oldest, most expensive to travel on and probably most likely to be taken out of service and sold. Of course the family market is important and increasingly so, but so is the adult only market. This I think is a dilemma for where P&O are and where they place themselves in an increasingly crowded market.

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. 

2 hours ago, terrierjohn said:

Check out post 10.

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. 

18 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

Helicopter medevac is apparently provided free by the coastguard.

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

2 hours ago, FangedRose said:

At long last I have reached he dizzying heights of Caribbean. What is the dress code for the mid cruise Loyalty Lunch? I seem to remember seeing people in suits and cocktail dresses at midday but not more recently. 

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

4 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

Out of interest, in case this insurance question pops up again. Does your personal medical insurance cover you for any problems that occur on a cruise; and would that include airfares back home if you were admitted to hospital whilst on your cruise?

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

19 minutes ago, roomba920 said:

I received a response from my travel agent at Vacations To Go this morning, and he stated;

 

"Insurance is no longer a requirement for US citizens. The requirement is only for UK citizens so you will not have to worry about it. Before it was a requirement and we had to tell you up front but that is not the case anymore". 

 

Whew, well that answers that.

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.

4 minutes ago, gmac00 said:

My wife keeps telling me this 😬......I'm just a stickler for rules and don't like breaking them. I also like to be comfortable on holiday so it's a fine balance!

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!

1 hour ago, david63 said:

The self disembarking/timed disembarking problem could easily be solved by having two exit points - this is done when the ship is in port.

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 🤔

6 minutes ago, MyriamS said:

If you're referring to me, I assure you I was not being provocative. I just assumed self-disembarking passengers would not have much luggage (it would be highly impractical to drag several large suitcases around the ship and terminal, even with lifts!) and disembarking passengers would have almost none (since they left it outside their cabins) so the lifts would not be too crowded. But clearly I am wrong. I'll keep my suggestions to myself in the future. 

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. 

1 hour ago, happy v said:

I think the point is. To get everyone with lots of luggage away from the lifts so there is room for passengers.

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

4 minutes ago, pete14 said:

The cruise to view the eclipse in Iceland in August 2026 which we had pre registered for is now confirmed with our cabin. The suite allocated to us was absolutely fine but I have changed it to one with a much bigger wrap-around aft balcony a deck lower on Arcadia. Happy days. 😊

We had B165 on Arcadia (a corner one with wrap around balcony) and the balcony was great, as it was part shaded and part open, so usable in all conditions. We viewed one on another deck and the balcony was entirely covered, so made the suite very dark and it was like looking out through a tunnel. This wasn’t apparent on the deck plan. Just thought I’d flag this whilst you still have options. 

7 minutes ago, ohnonotmeagain said:

Genuine question, not being snarky, what is the position of asking for self disembarkation (7.30_8.00ish) but actually getting off the ship at say 9 and just walking off? Would anyone actually stop you/ care?

You don’t actually register for self disembarkation and nobody ever checks what disembarkation time you have been allocated when you leave the ship during normal disembarkation, so technically this is possible. However, this would only work for those with hand luggage who are relaxed about what time they leave, given that there can sometimes be a pause between self and standard disembarkation if baggage trolleys are still being offloaded. However, if you attempted to do this with suitcases then you would rightly be challenged, as lifts are at a premium during normal disembarkation.

3 minutes ago, sandancer said:

No, you only submit a statement once. I’ve been granted obc on two cruises. One Princess, one P&O. Only had to submit a statement for the first one. Just go to PERKS on the app and choose which cruise line, fill in the booking ref etc and a few hours later the second one was granted. Same day had an email from P&O confirming the obc. 

But presumably you applied for both within a fairly short period, which wouldn’t necessitate having to prove the shareholding twice? The interesting thing will be applying for OBC for another cruise say 6 or 12 months after providing the proof of shareholding. I’m not sure if this service has been going long enough to know, but I’d expect to be asked to confirm shareholding again. 

11 minutes ago, david63 said:

That remains to be seen but I am guessing that I will have to submit a new statement for each claim.

I would assume the same. I’ve no idea who knows what, but my guess would be that if Carnival had a way of knowing whether or not people were still shareholders they wouldn’t be paying to use the services of StockPerks. After all, Carnival still have to do the work in applying the OBC, so the only way in which StockPerks could save them time is by verifying shareholdings. 

25 minutes ago, david63 said:

Not disputing that may be the case but it really does not make sense. You could book several cruises at the start of the year, apply for your OBC and then sell your shares the next day.

I think there’s always been the risk of people selling their shares once the OBC has been applied, but prior to the cruise. I’ve not tested it personally, as my shares have appreciated in value by 50% since I bought them and, on top of that, I’ve had about 150% of the outlay back in OBC in less than a year, but given how poor the IT systems are that Carnival use I have no doubt that this would be possible. 

3 minutes ago, david63 said:

That is not strictly correct. There have been instances when due to various circumstances the ship has been late docking. One instance that I recall was on Oriana some years back when she got stuck behind a slow moving cargo ship and dis not reach the dock until 11:30. There are several reports that due to bad weather ships have been late docking.

It’s extremely rare though and I don’t think that the OP needs to worry about that with Iona. Oriana left P&O 5 years ago!

4 hours ago, AndyMichelle said:

Seems like promising news... 

La Voix has posted and her cabin has been refurbished with new carpets etc. 

So at least some of the cabins have had some attention, she is on deck 8.

Andy 

Have a great cruise Andy. Are you doing Club dining this time?

1 hour ago, MyriamS said:

Thanks for your feedback, but I'm bit confused about the "wait for regular disembarkation". Why would I need to wait? I always thought they staggered disembarkation times because people have luggage, sometimes a lot of it, so they don't want everyone to try and grab their suitcases at the same time. But my luggage is with me, so I can just... walk off the ship at basically any time and not be in anyone's way, right? 

To be clear, normal disembarkation doesn’t always start as soon as self disembarkation has finished. There can be a pause, for safety reasons, whilst the porters are moving large pallets of luggage around the luggage pick up hall. During this time, nobody is allowed off the ship. 
 

If you want to self disembark (which given your train time you will) then you cannot wander off at your leisure. You have to leave within the designated time slot (it’s at least a 30 minute window, but always early). The good news is that you don’t have to register for self disembarkation, so you could wait to see what disembarkation time you are allocated and then take a view, but if you wish to use normal disembarkation then you have to put your luggage outside your cabin as you go to bed the last night.

If you are travelling light and will be time limited, I would just self disembark as you are guaranteed not to have any delays in getting off the ship, trying to find luggage, getting through customs etc. We went on Iona in the August school holidays with 5,750 others and whilst the ship felt crowded, disembarkation was very good. One of our daughters decided to self disembark and was off the ship, collected her car and on the road by 7.30am. She was very impressed with it.