NaomiW

1 minute ago, NaomiW said:

Eek, just booked for the 18th Sept.. Treated myself to a suite as its for my 40th and I got more like 60% off the website price-Its a total bargain! Couldnt be more excited.

With blue light card I should have said.. Hmm, Im actually starting to wonder if they gave me the wrong price cos its something like 56.4% off 🤔

Eek, just booked for the 18th Sept.. Treated myself to a suite as its for my 40th and I got more like 60% off the website price-Its a total bargain! Couldnt be more excited.

Has anyone heard which acts are going to be in the Limelight club for the staycation cruises? Also, I was just looking up the themed cruises and there is no mention of the strictly cruises anymore? Has the P&O/strictly partnership ended does anyone know-will be disappointed if so as I was hoping I'd see some of the dancers in the limelight club as previously promised

1 hour ago, Pink-belle said:

Have you checked the BLC prices? This morning Balcony £419pp, Deluxe Balcony £479pp (but very few left, only EB grade when I phoned)  😀

Yes, I cant believe how good value it is! Ok, thanks for the heads up, Ill get onto them tomorrow

18 minutes ago, indiana123 said:

Saturday 18th September, a week bobbing about in the Channel, round the Channel Islands and past Biarritz.

 

I will have chocolates, wine, and magazines  and will sit and watch the world go by.. well the French coast anyway!😃   Add to that all those lovely evening meals to look forward to etc etc.   It'll do for me!

Sounds heavenly. I personally love ship days so a week at sea is right up my street. Hopefully see you there! 😀

7 minutes ago, Pink-belle said:

I booked 18th September sailing, so fingers crossed I will be on a cruise ship for at least one day  every month for the next 4 months 😀

This is the one I want to book so hopefully see you on board! 😀🤞

4 minutes ago, indiana123 said:

So in theory we could be 5000 on Iona in September.  Oh well.. its booked now.

We thought we would give a big ship a go as it wouldn't be full.. or so we thought!

 

It could be that we love it.

I suspect it wont sell out but even if it does hopefully it will be fine! Its funny, when we went on Britannia it actually felt quieter than the smaller ships-I think because there are more venues to dilute everyone! Which sailing are you on?

Interesting!! I was assuming theyd be running a reduced capacity but I guess if they dont need to theyll try to maximize numbers (assuming the phase 4 doesnt get pushed back of course!)

Sorry if this has been mentioned elsewhere but does anyone know what the capacity will be for the staycation cruises and if everything will be open on board (as I imagine the select restaurants will be pretty quiet with reduced capacity)? Very tempted to book now my hubbie looks like he'll get his vaccines in time and with my 50% blue light discount it'd be criminal not to!

Just now, Presto2 said:

We've just finished for Easter so are happy to chill out the next 2 weeks 😉 Know what you mean though !!!!

Enjoy! I hope you get some decent weather.

2 minutes ago, Presto2 said:

Hi, sounds interesting for Azura - anyone got the dates for February 2023. Just wondering what will be happening in half term. (Close to the big 60 though so that COULD possibly be the last Feb half term we have to work around!!!)

 

Not wishing my life away though - my late mum would tell me off 😉

Its hard not to wish your life away atm though isn't it! 301 days until the cruise for my big bday (40) and Im counting down every day.

1 minute ago, grapau27 said:

Sailing from Southampton the first 2 and last 2 days are sailing through the Bay of Biscay.

I dont mind that really. For me that overrides the hassle of flying. I dont get seasick-thank goodness!

1 minute ago, wowzz said:

No, 14 days as well

Do they have different ports or just the same ones repeated?

Just now, grapau27 said:

A week in Tenerife a week before or a week after a 7 night's cruise sounds good.

Yes it does! Although I think Id be more tempted to just do the 2 weeker from Southampton on Iona. You'd get just as long in the Canaries but the full 2 weeks cruising. Plus I bet it would be nowhere near twice the price!

So the Azura fly cruises to the Canaries are all just 7 days? Are they all the same or are there variations so you could reasonably do back to back weeks?

11 minutes ago, gadabout60 said:

I have never been on Britannia - nor obviously Iona - though I do realise that as the newer ships the facilities are probably better than the P&O ships I have been on. However in recent years I don’t think of P&O as luxury and if there are no ports or scenic cruise bys  then the ship itself is the destination. £900 for 2 for 3 nights is far too pricy IMHO. I now live further from Southampton and would just not consider this for a short cruise to nowhere

For me the money would be better spent in a boutique hotel with better food and attractions locally to visit 

I have been on Britannia and to be fair it does feel very luxurious compared to the other ships in terms of quality of the decor. We had been on Ventura prior to that and it was considerably smarter and nicer, certainly on par with luxury/boutique hotels for me..

I should say aswell, the second time we had a suite it was on Britannia, and I got the impression the butlers were stretched a bit because there were quite a few more suites.. For example, when we had a meal in the cabin he would just bring the meals in and leave them with us, covered, for us to serve ourselves. All the courses at once, whereas on our wedding cruise on Ventura he would just bring one or two courses at a time and serve us and top up our drinks etc as if we were in the restaurant. Im not sure which of these is the normal experience but I was a tiny bit disappointed with the in cabin dining experience the second time compared with the first-perhaps I was expecting too much?

When we got married on Ventura kn 2013 we had a suite and we were in our late 20s.. Whilst most people were older there were still plenty people our age, and young families, and it was great getting to know all ages. We were a bit naive and didnt get all the suite benefits as P&O didnt tell us, so we turned up as normal.. There was a lady calling for suite passengers and directing them to a specific priority queue but when we got there she just waved us into a normal queue (presume because we looked too young to possibly afford a suite and I was too embarrased to say anything), so we didnt get on early, had to queue for ages and also noone during the process told us about the priority lunch for suite passengers so we missed that. It was fabulous from here on however-we had meals in our cabin a few times which the butler arranged, you get an exclusive venue for breakfast for suite passengers only so we mainly did this as it felt a bit more special. The butler can do all those things you mentioned, but we really only used him for meals, drinks and helping with the wedding preparations.. canapes were ok but a biy variable. The best part was the space, the big balcony and the gorgeous bathroom and free bottle of champagne! We did have a suite on one subsequent occasion and knowing what we had missed out on, turned up at 11.30am and we went straight through within about 5 minutes, and got our free bubbles at the welcome lunch. It was an absolute breeze!!

8 hours ago, wowzz said:

Not sure about the 45 minute checks. No proof that these are reliable.

Temperature checks -  inconclusive.

Shore excursions in a hermetically sealed environment.  Why bother?

MSC have an awful reputation for refunds.

Be thankful that your Iona cruise will be cancelled.

Well if my cruise is cancelled then I will be grateful for the refund. I am realistic enough to know that it is still unlikely to happen but this news offered just a little slice of optimism in what has been a pretty bleak few months. The cruise is still 5 months away, which is an age in pandemic terms, so whilst the rapid tests arent perfect at the moment, I am hopeful there will be improvements by then. I have to say, whilst this forum seems friendly for the most part, this sort of occasional mean spirited post is what puts me off posting-I guess Ill go back to being a lurker!

We are booked onto the Iona Canaries cruise on 16th Jan and if it goes ahead under these conditions I think Id definitely go! A 45 minute wait for a test doesnt seem such a big deal when you consider the waits at airports, and would make me feel safer. Equally a daily temp check should take seconds so no great hassle. Shore excursions are fine by me-especially of we get some for free! We are in the lower risk age bracket however and do have a higher grade cabin with balcony so these are all factors in favour. I suppose its all about us all doing our own individual risk vs benefit assessment!

I am so impressed with how reasonable the IONA prices are. I know the weather isnt great at that time of year and the seas might be choppy but we have preregistered for a suite for a 2 week Canary Islands cruise in Jan for jusy iber £4000! This is half what a suite would usually cost! Cant wait!

I would be disappointed if the sharing menus were dropped from the menu as me and my husband prefer this way of eating. The point is that menus these days try to cater for a wide range of diners and therefore not everything will suit everyone. As someone mentioned before, not all dishes will be suiable for vegetarians and pork based dishes won't be suitable for certain religious groups in the same way that sharing platters won't be suitable for solo passengers. I really don't think it's about discrimination but rather about offering a choice to everyone. As long as not all the dishes are sharing platters, by complaining and getting them removed from the menu this is restricting the experience for others who would enjoy this. I don't eat lamb for example but would never dream of complaining if there were a few lamb dishes on the menu, which is often the case, as I know other people love it. I am not trying to sound argumentative I am just offering a different point of view...

I'm my opinion it's not worth it but a lot of people would disagree. Another thing to bear in mind is that on the way back you have to check out of your cabin first thing in the morning but your flight might not be until later in the day. In our case the flight was not until the afternoon so there was a lot of hanging around at the airport before we could even get our flight. We did a 28 night round trip to the Caribbean from Southampton after this which was so much better! Good weather from about day 3 onwards. Obviously that is not possible for everyone with work/family commitments but if you can manage it, I would definitely recommend!!

This is disappointing. The NHS discount was a real benefit and was combinable with other discounts such as the past passenger discount so it made a big difference to the fare. Prices seem to be creeping up in general so looks like cruising is going to get more expensive for us! I am sure it won't stop us booking though, might just have to settle for a lower grade of cabin..:loudcry:

Sorry, I should have confirmed that this was the complimentary afternoon tea in the MDR that we went to and still appears to be alive and well. Perhaps the threads about it being removed relate to a one off cruise-maybe they had some staffing or operational issues that meant they couldn't offer it at that time?