P-L-B

Just noticed that no-one (including me) has answered your question re Afternoon Tea in the main restaurant. You will be able to ask for a table for 4 and there are plenty of them.

Thanks Andrew,

We have not taken afternoon tea on our recent previous cruises so the 4 of us will look forward to doing that soon on our next cruise. :)

Can I assume that OBC can be used in all of the shops as in the 'paid for' restaurants onboard Britannia? Are the loyalty 'tier' discount %'s also taken into consideration when purchasing items using OBC?

Yes, your OBC can be used for your purchases in the shops.

Your loyalty tier % discount is only applied to your purchases after your allocated OBC has been used up. You can't use your loyalty tier % discount and your OBC together. Hope that makes sense.:)

If you check out their website there is more detail on that, it seems the only extra effort you need is to ring them about 30 mins ahead of arrival and departure, so they can have a chauffeur ready to meet you. An added benefit I assume is that you would be directed straight to the taxi drop off point without having to wait your turn in the CPS queue, but after dropping your luggage with the porters you would drive to the short stay parking to meet your driver, and on return this is where your car will be.

Ok, Thanks for the information.

P.L.B

 

Do you run and organise the ice carving and chocolate fountains by chance?

Whatever gave you that idea. ;p:D

We did have ice carving on the Aurora world cruise in 2015. I don't take much notice of these events but I remember that one. I've never attended the chocoholics, I tried once but there was such a queue I decided not to bother.

To a true chocoholic the site of a couple of chocolate fountains and other chocolate goodies can be irresistible and worth the queue.:D:D

The Dawn French Vicar of Dibley chocolate fountain sketch springs to mind !! :D

Parking4Cruises is just as convenient, the short term car park is literally opposite the terminal. It's a one minute walk back to the terminal.

Must admit I wasn’t aware of that.

Can you please explain how the procedure compares to CPS when arriving and departing from the Mayflower Terminal?

Are you met at the terminal and are your cases taken by a porter.

What is the procedure on return?

I've never known P&O to do ice carving demonstrations. Only time I've seen one was on RCI. P&O do have a chocolate buffet, usually on a sea day towards the end of the cruise, but the one on our cruise this year was very poor and they seem to a) be scaling them back considerably and b) hardly advertising them at all. I'm not a chocoholic, but my son is and he was very disappointed with the offering this year compared to one on Azura 4 years previously.

Thanks for the reply.

Interesting to hear about you not experiencing a P&O Ice Carving Demonstration.

We have been to ice carving demonstrations on two previous P&O cruises. It’s fascinating to see the skill involved and what can be created from a block of ice. They usually do them on the Lido deck. Actually come to think of it, I seem to remember that they were poorly advertised.

I am a bit of a Chocoholic so usually end up going but do agree that they appear to be poorer than they used to be and I think we only found out by chance on our last cruise.

Looks like we will have to carefully check out the Horizon to see if they get a mention during the cruise.

Indecently, I was asking because we will be traveling with my Daughter and Partner this time and it will be there first cruise and was hoping they would have the opportunity to experience these events. :)

I have used CPS parking for our previous cruises and will be using them again soon.

We like the fact that you drive up right opposite the ship, met by friendly staff, cases taken away by porters and the terminal is minutes away.

Makes for a relaxing civilised start to the cruise.

Thats been our family's experience anyway :D

Just wondering.

Are we likely to have a Chocolate Buffet and an Ice Carving Demonstrastion on our sea days during our cruise? (5 sea days)

Also, can you ask for a table for four when taking afternoon tea in the restaurant or are you seated at a larger table ?

A experience never to be forgotten, for us the whole cruise was a never to be forgotten trip. We had storm Doris on the trip up to Norway.

Loved all the stops on the cruise,did our own thing in Tromso easy to get about using local bus service.

 

Docked on time in Alta, used the shuttle service to get into town in the afternoon for a look around, cathedral well worth a visit.

Back to the ship to get ready for the night trip.

Had a great trip with Glod, Sara our driver took us to three different locations to photograph the lights. Helped with camera settings they carry spare tripods a must for taking pictures of the northern lights.

 

Also they take a picture of you with the lights in the back ground, they will e-mail you all the photos they take.

 

For anyone having not seen the lights, they are magical, on the departure from Alta the top deck at 3am was still busy with people taking pictures. Spent a considerable time in the shower trying to defrost.

The benefit of taking the cruise in February was being able to take the dog sled ride and the ice hotel trip in Alta.

 

Personally we enjoyed the cruise we had no complaints, even suffering a gale force 11 on the way home, not recommended.

Thanks for the detailed information. (y)

Really looking forward to our cruise even more now !! :D

Am I correct in saying that the shuttle bus will drop us off near to the tourist information in Alta and then it is a short few minutes walk to the Scandic Hotel for our trip pick up ?

Sorry took so long to answer, yes we are going on that trip. We did the cruise excursion last time & we were lucky because we had a good show of the lights & it wasnt too far away from the ship. This time we decided to do the independent trip to have a different experience & up our chanced of seeing the lights. We are wondering what time the shuttle buses finish taking passengers into Alta to get us to the hotel

No problem.

First time for us so fingers crossed we all get to see a good light show.:)

As Innogy has pointed out, my understanding is that the shuttle buses run late and also Glod will return us to the ship after the trip.

We have also booked the independent trip with Glod for the northern lights and are being picked up at the Scandic hotel. Is the entrance we need facing the cathedral near the big sign post?

Out of interest, is your pickup time 7pm from the Scandic Hotel on your first night in Alta ?

The tourist information is close to the drop off point not in the coach park, if you google tourist information Tromso it will give a location map. You can by bus tickets for the local buses slightly cheaper than buying on the local bus,we took the local bus over to the cable car from town then after coming down from the cable car we caught the bus to the cathedral, then walked back over the bridge to town.

We docked in Alta on time.

For the pick up in town for the Glod trip theirs two entrances to the hotel pick up point, we choose the wrong entrance but they came through the hotel to find us.

It was a brilliant trip with Glod they take you to their headquarters for a lovely bowl of soup and tell you where they are going that night to find the lights, they know where the clear sky's are.

The night we went with them in March this year the temperature was minus 20 plus wind chill, they supply suitable clothing to anyone who needs it.

They took us back to the ship at the end of the trip at 1.30 am in the morning, brilliant trip, we also booked the ice hotel trip if its open.

Happy to post any other information if you need it, we learnt a few things which would be helpful for the next time we do the northern lights cruise, we thoroughly enjoyed it.

Thanks for the very useful information.:)

Hi I used Glod in Alta for the northern lights trip, although the ship uses the same company, we booked their independent trip direct with the company only slightly cheaper , but they check the local weather app to know where the clear sky's are. The boat trip is run on large coaches and they are limited to where they can go unlike Glod who use small mini buses.

I totally recommended this company if you look them up on trip adviser, going back to last March there a few posts on there including my own they are a well run and organised company the boat trip missed out on the lights, we had a absolutely brilliant display never to be forgotten.

People are right if you search each destination cruise ports you will find all the arrival times. Unless you want to do a boat organised excursion in Tromso I suggest using the free bus shuttle into town, they stop near the tourist information they will direct you to the local buses no26 witch takes you to the ski lift for a fantastic view over Tromso much cheaper than the boats trip.

We are also on this cruise in November and have also booked the Glod "Hunting the Northern Lights" trip on our first night in Alta.

I just hope the ship will arrive as planned in Alta at 1.30pm and is not delayed.

You say that the shuttle bus stops near the tourist information in Tromso.

I have just done a street view and notice there is a coach park opposite.

Would that be the shuttle bus drop off point ? :)

In my opinion the quality of photos taken during our last couple of P&O cruises appear to have deteriorated.

For example oversaturated and unnatural colours, slightly blurry or out of focus shots.

I do question the skill and experience of some of the onboard photographers.

I appreciate they do take soft focus shots but they usually inform you before they take the photo.

Anyone else noticed :)

I love the towel sculptures but we haven t seen one for a while and I suspect its because the stewards have far more cabins to look after than previously which means they probably just haven t got time.

Yes that’s what we thought.

It may be worth me having a friendly chat with our Cabin Stewart and mention that our daughter is on her first cruise and in the next cabin.

Probably worth a try. :)

Hardly slipping standards but has the occasional towel sculpture created by your Cabin Stewart stopped.

I remember on our first cruise returning to our cabin in the evening and being greeted with an elephant created from a towel at the bottom of our bed.:)

It’s funny how you remember these little touches.

Our daughter and partner will be cruising for the first time with us in November but unfortunately she will probably not experience this.:(

This is an extract from an email I have just received from our TA regarding their inquiry with P&O about a Dog Sledding excursion being offered during our cruise in November.

P&O CRUISES LTD - R720P

AURORA | 10 November 2017 | 13 Days

Good morning,

I have had a reply from P&O regarding the husky excursions on this sailing;

Hi Olivia,

The shore excursions teams have advised that there will not be the husky sledtour.

If you require any further assistance, please do not hesitate to raise on your next support call or email us. Anything urgent whilst we are not here, please contact the Customer Contact Centre.

Regards

Olivia Lowe

Fortunately we have been able to book directly with the same company P&O use.

They offer a Dog carting or Dog Sledding tour(if snow), hopefully we will get an enjoyable experience. :)

Yes. You could take any bus back on my excursion

Thanks :)

There are two possible dates and various times being offered for the 'In Search of the Northern Lights' on our cruise.

 

Thursday 16th November 14.00, 19.00, 21.30 and 22.30

Friday 17th November 19.00, 20.00, 21.30 and 22.30

 

Now, If only I had a Crystal Ball to find out the best day and time for sightings. :D

BTW. Is the 14.00hr tour on the 16th a little early? :confused:

Regarding the availability of buses that are used for this excursion.

I know that for whatever reason you can return earlier than your allocated time but does anyone know if you can stay longer than your allocated time if that makes sense.

Basically, if one went on the 21.30 allocated time slot could you stay and return on a bus during the 22.30 allocated time slot.

I thought I’d read somewhere that this was possible.

We have spoken to the company direct and they have booked us on their own tour for this November. Carting if no snow, sledging if there is. I suspect much cheaper than p&o would have been, very happy.

Hi, ModestlySublime

OK, I think I may have found the company online.

Can you please confirm, is this the tour company you have booked?

Holmen Husky Lodge (Alta)

They offer a 2.5Hr Tour Along The Alta River.

Carting if no snow, sledging if there is.

We have spoken to the company direct and they have booked us on their own tour for this November. Carting if no snow, sledging if there is. I suspect much cheaper than p&o would have been, very happy.

I have discussed this option with the family and we would also be interested in booking this tour. (y)

Could you please give me the contact details and location, Tromso or Alta.

Also dates and times available. :)

We didn't stay over but visited the Ice Hotel and saw the skins which you lie on and in, and they were a bit 'wiffy' and I certainly wouldn't fancy sleeping on them.

The visit was fantastic and I would recommend that.

The ‘Overnight at the Igloo Hotel’ excursion in Alta is not available during our November Northern Lights Cruise.

The reason as I understand it is that it does not open until Mid-December.

Perhaps just as well as apparently it cost £389.00pp. :eek: :)

We have spoken to the company direct and they have booked us on their own tour for this November. Carting if no snow, sledging if there is. I suspect much cheaper than p&o would have been, very happy.

That's good.

Pleased to hear you have been able to book directly with the tour company. (y)

I will discuss with the other members of our family traveling with us regarding our options. :)