berrywood

We won a cruise in 1976 on the Ellinis, a ship of the Chandris line which later became Celebrity. Had a wonderful time but then we had children. I did 3 school cruises when I was teaching in the 90's which were enjoyable despite my colleague and I having 20 teenagers in tow. Since our children flew the nest , in 2003, we've been spending their inheritance with P&O and Cunard. It also helps living in Southampton.

Not sure which brochure you have access to, but the one we have is dated July 2017 to March 2019 and in that one every single ship only goes to March 2019.

 

Sent from my Sony Z1 Compact.

The brochure that does not list Adonia cruises after February 2018 is the new one that was issued on Monday and that is January 2018 to October 2019.

The traffic on the M3 and along the M27 to the M271 today was really bad due to people going to the Bournemouth Air Festival which is still on tommorow.

She sailed at 22.41. I understand they were waiting for a technician and then an unwell passenger had to be off loaded so the sailing slot was missed.

The latest we left Southampton was 4.30 am on Oriana in 2014 as it took until then to complete repairs. Only one hour late into first port, Stavanger, 27 knots up through the North Sea!

If the tides are very high, the likes of Arcadia can go down the western channel and out via the Needles. Likewise, smaller ships, Braemar, can go through the north channel, if they are heading east down the channel. We did the north channel once on Adonia.

Oriana was having technical issues, hence her late departure.It's not unusual for ships to depart late evening if there are problems and the day visitor ships such as the Aida ones leave after 9pm.

P and O have been doing British Isles cruises for a good few years. We have done two, one in 2012 on Arcadia and again in 2013 on Adonia. Oriana did 2 this year and is doing 2 in 2017 and 2018.

I was told by someone who worked in security at Southampton, that now if an illegal item is detected in a case when scanned , the case is not allowed to be loaded onto the ship. If you miss the call to go to security the case remains in Southampton for the duration of the cruise. They said it happens quite frequently.

If you get the dreaded noro the last thing you will want is food! Having said that, when I had it, clear soup and dry toast was sent to the cabin in the evening, it wasn't room service and I don't think you would get room service.Cleaning is done by a special team, in PandO's equivalent to haz-mat suits, who appear and clean round you and when you are back out and about they come in and do a deep clean. Only the person who is ill is confined and I believe their cruise card is blocked, although it would be better to confine all occupants of the cabin.

Prevention is better,keep washing your hands, don't touch lift buttons with your fingers etc and enjoy your cruise.

When I put this post on the P and O facebook group yesterday, the signs up were saying a week for the lane closure. The latest reports are that the work will be finished this Thursday,so hopefully it will not cause any problems.

We also feel the same after 13 years and doubt if we will book anything for next year, unless of course Adonia comes back and is doing Seville. Cruising is convenient as we are only 5 minutes from the terminals but there is a huge amount of GB that we haven't been to and would like to see.

Bee-ess you made the statement that "The port do what the Cruise Company want, not the other way round." I would be interested to know why you think that is so and what facts you have if it is indeed the case.

Somerset. We'll leave with plenty of time to get back. If the ship is able to stick to the current port schedule in August T/A weather there'll be loads of time to play with.

You don't say whereabouts in Somerset, but it takes us just under 2 hours to drive from Southampton, very near to the docks, to Bath in Somerset. The roads are not the fastest. You would probably have to be back on board by 3.45- 4pm at the latest as they close boarding then as QM2 is usually scheduled to sail around 4.30-5pm. Personally I wouldn't want to go all that way with the risk of getting held up on the way back, it only takes one accident to cause hold ups for hours and the traffic in Southampton can be horrendous at any time of the day. Why not meet in Salisbury which is a good halfway meeting point.

I know you were not meaning 365 days a year for a shuttle bus, there are a great many days when we have no ships in Southampton.

As a resident of Southampton, I can assure you that as much as Southampton CC would like to ease the traffic problems, their coffers are empty! However I don't really think the traffic is the problem, more that P&O don't want everyone turning up at 12 and overloading the terminals. So they should sort a shuttle out :D Has anyone actually suggested that to them by writing to Christopher E?

 

Southampton manages to run the City Link bus for ferries starting at Central Station and with a couple of stops in the town. Why not something on cruise days (to town centre only) but not starting until after passengers have disembarked otherwise the taxi companies would complain loudly.

It would be uneconomical. Red Funnel operate 365 days with a sailing every hour, most of the year, from early morning to late at night and carry approx 2.8 million passengers a year.

Re RCL photo, I believe you can take your own photo on your pc and attach this to your on line check in. Failing this they use their i-pads to take your photo.

But I don't think its the photo that adds time to the P&O check in, more the general inexperience of their check in staff as compared to the ones Celebrity use, and they still take your photo at check in.

I've just spoken to a friend who works on the security team for the terminals. There are 2 companies who run the meet and greet (Check-in) teams at the terminals and the majority of the people work for both companies. Therefore they might be checking in Celebrity or RCI one day and P&O the next. So no difference in experience of the staff. How boarding is conducted is up to the particular cruise line. Security for the terminals is one company, so again they might be on Eclipse one day and Britannia the next.