tacticalbanjo

On my first cruise post-baby I was very surprised to find that my buggy didn't fit through the door of the cabin. So every time we had to unfold it in the hall then load baby and get all the assorted baby related gubbins in the basket. Then reverse the process when we came back. I was expecting to keep the folded buggy in the cabin but thought I'd be able to wheel it in and sort ourselves out in the cabin instead of having to do it all while blocking the hallway. I was new to cruising I might have been tempted to just leave it out in the hall and justify it that the cleaning carts are out for long periods each day so what difference does a buggy make.

When I was on Britannia on the 23rd June sailing we were on first sitting to suit my little one so at the same table each night. We got treated to a little boy being taken to the toilet midway through dinner each night. How did I know that? Because mum carried the kid's potty openly through the restaurant not in a bag or anything so mum's bare hands were touching the used potty. 🤢 I should be thankful the kid was taken out to the toilets rather than just being sat on it in the middle of the restaurant I suppose. I don't understand why Britannia doesn't have any passenger accessible stairs midships. I thought Sky Princess (which is essentially the same ship) was bad for lifts but at least some people could take the stairs at midships but they are locked away on Britannia. I ended up doing a lot of going up to come down because I don't like to carry my toddler up/down too many flights of stairs (I trip a lot due to ADHD clumsiness) and if we were getting off she was in her pushchair.

I've been on a Cunard (QM2), a Princess (Sky) and a P&O (Britannia) all since December. There are pros and cons of all the ships. I found the food on Princess, particularly in the buffet which I usually try to avoid, to be the best of the three. But service was hit and miss on our sold out sailing. I love the old school vibe on Cunard. The dress code makes dinner an event every time. I also love how much live music there is. And a proper wraparound promenade deck is a big plus point. On P&O I liked the low drinks prices and all the activities on offer suitable for people of all ages. I'll likely be doing a lot of multigenerational cruising in the future so knowing that there's loads to do for grandparents, parents and the kiddo is important. If I could pick and choose I would want the ambience of Cunard, the ents programme from P&O and the food from Princess. Plus the medallion which I found myself really missing on Britannia even for simple things like the door unlocking as you got to it. We got Princess Plus for £40 and it's so relaxing not having to worry about drinks prices. Even my teetotal mother said she missed the convenience of being able to order on the app and have a drink delivered anywhere, even to your cabin. I highly encourage everyone to try all three lines if they find an itinerary they like.

You won't be able to register until 14 days beforehand. The link can be found under Before You Sail. Then click on Life on Board. Then scroll until you see the Children's Club heading. The link should be there already but it won't work until 14 days before. I really can't imagine that it will be a problem if you need to do it onboard. Have a lovely trip. I did QV in October and QM2 in December with my little one and we had a great time. I can't wait until we are on QV in November.

I've just had my first cruise with P&O after 12 with Cunard and 1 with Princess. I have a one year old so my cruising priorities have changed somewhat and I was excited to try P&O because the kids facilities looked very good. So off I went to Norway on the 23rd June on Britannia with my mum and my toddler. Overall: You always find things you do like and things you don't like but overall we had a good time and the good bits far outweigh the niggles. We will definitely be back to P&O. Holidays are easier with grandparents in tow and the Britannia was absolutely perfect for a multigenerational cruise. Kids facilities: As we hoped for, the kids facilities were really good. We knew the staff were shared with Cunard so knew what to expect from staff but not the actual rooms. The stay and play for under 2s was basic but they had a good range of toys which were rotated all day. My little one is a crayon connoisseur so was happy to see the tub of crayolas out most days. Very tasty! We were very excited to try the water facilities and my toddler loved the splash area. The Lido pool was slightly less successful. Who on earth decided that the one pool open to kids in swim nappies should have a shallow end of 5'5"? It would have been much nicer to be able to touch the bottom of the pool instead of trying to float while supporting a non-swimmer. The night nursery was absolutely fabulous and my little one was out like a light each night. It was so good to be able to leave her for a few hours in the evening knowing that she was being looked after by properly qualified staff. I know some people like to keep their kids with them in the evening but I much prefer to know that my little one is having a nice deep sleep in a dark quiet room. The night nursery will be a big factor in booking P&O in the future. Food: We had first sitting club dining and found the food in Meridian to be of a good standard. The service was a little lacking compared to what I've experienced in the past. Plates left in front of us until the next course was ready to be served instead of being taken away when we were done but that's just a small thing and clearly the way it's done on P&O. The buffet was fairly disappointing. It felt like there was very little choice especially in terms of vegetables. I will admit that the buffet I experienced on the Sky Princess last month was incredible and spoiled me for other buffets but I found myself missing certain items like mushrooms and peaches at breakfast and a wider bread selection. I also found it strange that there appeared to be just one ice machine and fruit juices weren't available outside breakfast. But the standard of the food in the MDR meant we were happy enough. We had a night out at The Glass House and really enjoyed it. Because we weren't sure what time I'd get my toddler up to bed we didn't join the virtual queue and just rocked up at 8pm to see if we could get in. There was a queue of 8 and we were told to expect about an hour but there must have been some no shows because as soon as I'd got a drink at the Sunset Bar I had a message to say our table was ready. The food was excellent and at a very reasonable price. Entertainment: My mum loves hosted games so she was pleased to be back on P&O with all the shuffleboard and deck quoits competitions. We also liked listening to live music in the evening. We went to the silent disco twice and had so much fun. There's a lot to do for everyone including the kids. We didn't go because they were either a bit old for my child or at nap time but I saw magician shows and workshops and there was some interactive Wallace and Gromit things like a make your own plasticine Gromit and a Shaun the Sheep dance session. We did go to Shaun the Sheep story time and my little one was absolutely made up to meet Shaun. Room: We had a standard balcony cabin. I'm used to having a sofa instead of a chair and worried about finding somewhere to store the buggy but the room was plenty big enough. The beds were very comfy. The pillows were a lot better than the ones I had on Princess last month. One slight downside was that the shower tray was worn enough to look constantly dirty. Especially when combined with the stray hair we found on embarkation. But the room was kept very clean. A baby bath was no problem and there were plenty of high chairs in the buffet. When asked what he wanted us to do with dirty nappies, our steward provided a weeks worth of red biohazard binbags.

If you can’t work out how to register the kids then you can do it the day you board. I couldn’t get the link to work the first time I took my daughter on Cunard and didn’t bother the second time. It didn’t make any difference except that I had one more thing to do on embarkation. The registration is to do with allergies, medical issues, who can sign in and out of the kids club.

I got off Britannia yesterday. It’s Jude’s brand.

I'll be on board this trip with my mum and my toddler. I'm going to have fun packing three million outfits for the toddler in case of any eventuality! I've created a link on my phone homescreen to the My Holiday webapp. You can find it here - https://myholiday.pocruises.com/. It will start working when you connect to the ships WiFi.

Banks have to refund fraudulent transactions whether it has been done on a credit or debit card unless you've done something really daft like give your PIN to someone. But with a credit card you wouldn't have to pay your bill immediately giving you time to fix the problem. With a debit card you might get direct debits bounce depending on when in the month your account gets cleared out and how long it takes the bank to refund you.

I think the point about airports and cruise terminals is interesting. Can you imagine being told you must turn up at the airport after 3.30pm but no later than 4pm? I can't imagine anyone would comply with that. No matter where you are travelling from, even just crossing Southampton, traffic could easily cause you to be late given such a small window. But P&O seem to think you can time arrivals that precisely. And it's all very well saying that you can go for a stroll but for people with limited mobility or families with children, it really is easier said than done.

P&O's Peninsular Club rewards both lifetime and current loyalty in their upper tiers. For the top tier Ligurian you need 250 nights with at least 20 being in the last three years. P&O also manage to give on board spend discounts to all their tiers which is a nice touch. The problem for Cunard is that unless you made Platinum and Diamond conditional on sailings in the last few years then you'd only have all but the most frequent travellers on Silver and Gold. And if you introduce new tiers on the top and want to restrict priority embarkation to those new tiers then you risk upsetting passengers by taking away a perk from them. Unless they did some sort of complex grandfathering thing.

I'm on Britannia towards the end of the month on what looks like a very similar itinerary. I'm hoping MDR service will be improved. I'm travelling with my mum and we're both regular cruisers so we will both notice if the service is lacking. Even the toddler might! This is her fourth cruise with two Cunard and a Princess trip under her belt. Also hoping that Haugesund will be more open in the middle of the week as I will be cruising with my one year old which puts lots of excursions out of the picture because I can't guarantee she'd have a car seat. So walking about it is! We've got plenty of years of travel left ahead of us and I've been to the fjords before so this is really a test of whether we like the kids facilkites now that such things are important to us instead of bars and atmosphere.

If Cunard want to make sure people comply then they need to allow for people being late and push final boarding back several hours after their last allotted check in time. It's not acceptable to most people to be given a 3pm check in time when final boarding is 3.30pm and if you miss it because of traffic tough luck. Last time I cruised it took me about 20 mins just to get from the dock gate to the terminal because the traffic was so bad. Even if we were to stay in Southampton instead of doing the hour or so drive in the morning I could end up being late and missing the ship. I'm platinum with Cunard so it doesn't matter for me but I understand why others turn up early.

The kids club was a major reason to book with P&O. I know we have to stay with her and she might have to stay in the nursery but that isn't a problem. I just want her to have a safe space to run around in. I used the night nursery on Cunard which is a similar set up. In fact, the youth team are shared between the two lines so I expect the whole set up will be fairly familiar to me even though I've not been on P&O before. On previous cruises when I've asked my steward what they want don't with the nappies they've asked for them to be bagged in nappy bags then placed in a red biohazard bag presumably so they don't go off for rubbish sorting. I'll ask out of courtesy when we get on board and do what I'm instructed. If they don't mind then I'll just put in the bathroom bin.

I’ve just been on Sky Princess where the rooms have a similar layout so I know I can put the baby in the wardrobe and we will still be able to use the bathroom as long as we are quiet. This means we can use the balcony which is great. This will be little one’s fourth cruise so we know the general cruising with toddler bits but not P&O with toddler bits.

I'll be heading off to the Fjords next month on the Britannia with my mum and my 17 month old. It's my first time with P&O but not my first cruise. Anyone have any tips for P&O in general and also for P&O with a toddler? I understand we can use the Lido Pool even though kiddo is still in nappies - very surprised we can use anything except the water play area outside The Reef. Are there any places near by for a quick change of little one before and after a swim? I don't want her getting cold and I'll want to get her in an absorbent nappy asap after we get out of the water. Does anyone know about the baby change situation? Will I have to be taking her back to the cabin each time? I know to let the steward know we will need the red bags.

Just come off Sky Princess where I surprised myself by liking the Medallion. During the day I wore it on my wrist in a watch strap type thing and at night I popped it out of the strap and put it in my clutch. No outfit ruining necessary! And I didn't have to worry when I wore clothes without pockets. I liked that I could find the rest of my family at any time - my husband might not have liked the ease at which I could track him to a bar. Also liked that my room unlocked as I approached. Not having to fish around in my pockets for a key card while holding the toddler/drinks/snacks from the buffet was really helpful for me. Trying to juggle clutch, nappy bag and baby last year on QV and QM2 was a bit of a challenge. It's waterproof too so no worrying about leaving my card lying about while I take a solo swim. I believe the technology uses radio rather than NFC so it does need power which rules out putting it in cards. But no reason why they couldn't have both options available - my toddler was given a key card because under 2s aren't allowed medallions. Sky also had Starlink. Very reliable 3Mpbs all over the ship at any time. And we even had signal in our cabin. The WiFi is super patchy on Cunard and the internet itself very slow. Last time we were on QM2 we couldn't get any signal at all in our room - not idea when you want to browse the internet at 3am while you feed the baby! Whatever they do change on the QM2 I hope the changes are as successful as Carinthia Lounge which went from a disliked part of the ship to one of my favourite parts of the ship.

The internet is now provided by Starlink and we were seeing around 2.5-3Mbps down. Very reliable, no up and down speeds. I’ve seen speculation on another thread that the speed is throttled so that everyone gets more or less the same service all the time rather than one person being able to hog all the bandwidth. I managed to stream tv on my iPad with only a few buffering pauses. Very happy with the internet on board.

I had a glass of Malbec in the Crown Grill tonight and my husband has had it in the MDR. Can be more specific than ‘Malbec’ though. This is my first Princess cruise having done 11 with Cunard. Some things like the room, the buffet and medallion (so good for travelling in a group) I really like. Others like slow service, fairly uninspired menus and general crowdedness I haven’t. I have my toddler with me and the staff have been excellent with her.

Could it the reduction in formal nights be a money saving exercise? I know a lot of cruisers expect to see a higher level of food in the MDR on a formal night. So if you reduce the number of formal nights you also reduce the food bill. It's not much but when your ledger is billions in the red every little helps. I also suspect that Cunard aren't as bothered about the opinions of existing passengers as they are about the opinions of potential passengers. It's no good catering only to your shrinking pool of existing customers to the exclusion of new passengers or you'll eventually go bust. So if potential passengers are saying that formal nights are offputting they'll get rid. I was worried before my first trip with Cunard but find its something that I enjoy now. But I did have to buy a lot of dresses for that first trip because like most people my age, I don't own a lot of formal wear. It's just not called for these days.

I got one too. It's made the wait until my November trip to Norway on QV seem like that much further away.

I love dressing for dinner on the QM2 but if I didn't I'd still love the relaxed vibe, the great insight programme, the amount of space per passenger, sitting at the bar in the Golden Lion with a beer and a book, the uncertainty of how the Atlantic will behave and the sense of coming home I get when I step on board. Honestly, with the way some people want to drive away customers who don't like things exactly like they do sometimes it seems like half this board don't actually want Cunard to be a financial success and remain a viable line long into the future.

It's the promise of the pudding trolley that makes me get the iPad out! I simply have to do my best to get to those delicious desserts 😄

Believe me, I tried all the toys I could think of but my daughter likes to be moving and doing instead of sitting and they just ended up being flung on the floor which was disturbing for other guests. She wasn't a big eater at the time so food didn't distract her for long. The iPad ended up being the best tool for the job at that time (9 months old) but I expect to phase it out as she gets older and able to sit still for longer and take part in conversation more. We don't have technology at the table at home but we don't have three courses at home either.

In the weeks leading up to my baby’s first cruise I was so worried but we enjoyed it so much that we have four cruises booked over the next 2 years. It’s so much less stressful than the airport if you sail from Southampton. You roll up with a car full of baby crap, get on board and it’s waiting for you in your room. You can take as much stuff as you like. You don’t have to worry about needing a car seat at the other end if you stick to walkable ports. There’s always a big variety of food available so you don’t have to worry about finding something to eat. My baby had chicken and veggies cooked specially for her every night. You don’t have to spend half the day searching for somewhere suitable to eat. There are toys on board and an evening baby sitting service for sleeping babies run by staff that are properly qualified. Many of the staff have children of their own and love interacting with kids. Many of the passengers have children and grandchildren and love interacting with kids. My baby soon figured out that she could wave as she was carried about the ship and gets lots of attention. Sure, you might come across some people who disapprove of children being on board but they will be in the minority. As long as you aren’t annoying other passengers - swift exits if little one gets upset at dinner etc - then you are only enjoying something that Cunard themselves are advertising. The whingers can find an adults only line.