AndyMichelle

One of the diversions is 58 miles!!!

I live in Southampton and am battening down the hatches for the weekend, it is going to be a nightmare....

I would suggest coming down the A3 towards Portsmouth and heading across, rather than the M3, at least there is a few options to the docks from the East rather than the West...

Good luck everyone.

Andy

I wish they would put it on the website so that I can book it before i go on 19.10.18.

I think you have to book onboard, I don’t think there is an option to book in advance.

Have a fantastic time.

Plenty of people still seem to have fantastic holidays on her, so I wouldn’t worry too much.

I agree it doesn’t look great, especially the mattress, but I can honestly say I would not know if I had slept on worse as never checked, our linen has always been spotless.

What a shame you cannot name the good TAs.

We now use P&O direct after terrible service from 2 of the biggest ‘Cruise Specialsts’...

We are very easy going people, but blatant lying to get your order and then offer no customer service to resolve the issues is not acceptable...

On both occasions P&O resolved the issues with no fuss...

Very interesting....

I am just off to the review pages to ask some questions....

Glad you had a good time.

I’m being quoted on CC

 

TANDEM FAMA

 

 

 

[emoji23]

 

 

 

 

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A bike for your family???

Of course it will suit passengers to be able to take 2 litres of spirits on board (per couple) AND enjoy cheap bar prices but that clearly isn’t to P&O’s advantage and means that they’re lagging behind other lines in regard to their drinks revenue. Something has to give?

 

 

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Not so sure ‘something has to give’, well, not soon anyway.

P&O have thousands of extra spaces to fill every week in a very competitive market.

That is their first goal, if that happens quickly, then maybe prices will creep up, but my feeling is they will use the flexibility at reasonable prices as their USP.

They need to attract new customers without losing us faithful many.

But I don’t know what will happen, nobody does....

Suum cuique

I don’t understand the furore over the introduction of a drinks package tbh - it’s not compulsory after all! Buy it if you like to have a fair few drinks on your cruise - don’t buy it if you don’t drink much or you prefer to just drink your 2 litres of grog brought onboard in the cabin

 

 

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Me neither...

Suum cuique

suum cuique

 

 

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Totally agree, now I know what it means....

A lot of people do not agree with you, and will not be purchasing it.

I am on the cusp....

On our previous cruises, our on board spend would not justify it, but I do see the attraction of knowing your spend in advance.

But I do know plenty of cruisers whe would get full value and more from the offer.

Personally I don’t think the drink prices will increase by much anytime soon, P&Os primary concern will be to fill the ships as their capacity is increasing massively over the next few years.

There is another thread running called Drinks package on Azura and some say P&O have confirmed that it will roll out fleet wide on 30th September 2018.

I haven’t seen anything official, but it sounds like others have.

I think the big give away is that you can no longer buy the existing soft drinks passage anymore.

Although most people who post on here prefer ta, we are the opposite.

This is due to 2 bad experiences with different, supposedly reputable, cruise specialist ta’s who effectively lied to get our bookings...

P&O direct have always been helpful and honest with us, so no plans to change.

Perhaps we have just been lucky.....

Have you started one, but had no replies?

Nah, I shouldn’t complain as I have been leaving it for someone else, but seems everybody is as lazy as me...

I will give it a go and let you know how it goes...

Not at all - i was just trying to be clever [emoji23]

 

 

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Very clever, I will be using it all the time now when trying to sound clever.

She was found safe and well...

The official line seems to be that she was ‘somewhere she shouldn’t have been’.... Read in to that what you will!!!

suum cuique

 

 

 

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Had to Google it, but you have summed up what everybody on this forum should realise...

TO EACH HIS OWN....

Sorry if I should have known this, but I am also the guy who has just learned it is poor etiquette to take your jacket off when sitting for dinner on a formal night.... Shame on me...

Hi Everyone,

Just wondered if any of you had used the Roll Call forum on here and if so, did you find it useful?

I put a post on there a while ago and not sure if it gets used, or maybe I will be the only person on the cruise I have booked for May 2019 on Azura.

Maybe cruisers will post on there when it gets closer to the cruise date, or maybe not!

I like the idea, but like you, have found that not many others seem to use it.

We are on Aurora in December, no roll call....

We have OBC but it’s not much (£70 each) and we’re putting that towards a wine package for dinner.

Just as a guide, with exception to your wine package, if you had 5 more drinks each daily, you would spend probably not more than £60 per day between you.

I have based this on about £6 per drink average.(cocktails £6.95, beer/small wine less than a fiver).

Have a fantastic time.

Are there any benefits when booking your next cruise whilst on board?

 

Do you need to do your research before going to the desk or are they happy to spend a bit of time going through various options? I only ask being a solo cruiser it seems that quite often a twin room for one is cheaper than a single cabin.

 

I am already assuming I will love my first cruise so much that I will need another one early next year!

They do give you extra obc plus low deposit, but not sure if you really get an amazing deal?

We found them helpful with good advice and were happy to run through our options.

I would suggest visiting them early for information, but give yourself a few days to decide before booking, they are not going anywhere that you are not.....

We have enjoyed all sizes of ships with different cruise lines and our first P&O cruise was on Aurora on one of her maiden cruises lol and it wasfantastic not just the ship and its newness but the atmosphere with the staff. Over the years we have progressed to bigger ships so havent sailed regularly on smaller ships except for once on Oriana and hated the ship even though the cruise was fantastic and we picked it for the itinerary (Northern Lights) and not the ship. Of all the P&O ships we prefer Britannia because there is a lot more to do and more facilities so for this reason I think that if we returned to Aurora we wouldnt enjoy it so much and be bored.

We quite like to relax on our cruises, so hopefully we won’t be bored on Aurora...

Over indulgence on cruises is my thing, so as long as the food & cocktails are good, coupled with efficient staff and friendly passengers, all will be fine...

It's been interesting to see the variation in all the responses. I was trying to get an idea of how popular the ships were if all the votes were added up and averaged out. So I've just done a calculation based on the position each ship was placed in everyone's list and divided by the number of times each ship was mentioned. The current standings are:

Aurora

Arcadia

Oceana

Oriana

Azura

Britannia

Ventura

Well it was something to do when Bodyguard finished - and I'm hoping my calculation method is sound!!!

Fantastic info, thank you.

We have not sailed on enough different ships to have entered, but absolutely loved Britannia, surprised to see her so low down.

Our next 2 cruises are on Aurora, so very happy to see her at the top of the list.

Thanks again, what will you do next week when Bodyguard has finished for good??

Before the introduction of drinks' packages, the American Dollar ships did charge more than P & O for drinks but not to the extent they do now.

 

Since the introduction of the packages bar prices on Dollar ships have increased dramatically to where they are today. I am sure they have done this as an inducement to take their packages.

 

I only hope that P & O don't go down the same route but I think that they will. Over the past few years they have increased their prices stealthily. Last year I did four P & O cruises and noticed 5 or 10 pence increases regularly occurring as opposed to a one off annual adjustment.

 

Over the past five years prices have certainly increased faster that the rate of inflation.

 

It would be nice to think that P & O have introduced these packages as a result of customer demand but I think that would be rather naive of me.

 

I'm sorry if I come across as cynical but I have been cruising for many years before and after P & Os takeover by Carnival and I think the writing is on the wall.

You are probably right, but at this moment in time, even with the increases, I find the overall P&O offer good value.

If the drinks prices increased drastically, then I would take the package, but make sure I got my money’s worth and more...

I think/hope P&O will settle on a happy medium like the offer that was trialled that works for some but not for others.

We will see...

Been looking at a cruise for the past few weeks over Easter, by the time I could confirm the time off at work the cruise has sold out in our preferred cabin grade (inside or outside), I am loathe to pay the extra £1000 for a balcony so rang up P & O who offered to put me on a wait list for an inside/outside, very helpful and understanding lady who helped us took my details and advised me we would have first refusal if a cabin is made available, what I'd like to know is is this going to be likely or should I be looking at alternatives for our Easter break? Any help appreciated.

It’s that 90 day thing again, not likely to be many cancellations before payment is due. Hopefully someone will upgrade.

Tricky one to call, but I think I would be keeping my options open.

Best of luck.

I think I must sail on different pando ships to other people. Ive never had to wait too long for a drink in any of the bars. I have never felt I needed to give any money over to get quicker or any service. They do get a % of any drink they sell. Finally I do not know what I want to drink before I go into a bar, it varies..so someone who sees me and thinks oh shes a XXXX and CCCC will be on a hiding to nothing. Is there someone else in the bar getting quicker service because they have bribed the bar man, possibly, but they must be deperate for alcohol to have quicker service than we get...so there you go.

Totally agree, I have never had a problem getting a drink on any deck in any bar on any P&O ship...

Plenty have complained of over zealous waiters asking if you want another drink before you have finished the one you have? This does not fit with anybody getting preferential treatment for tipping?

Perhaps it will all change with the introduction of the drinks packages, who knows...