Cruisemeister2002

I have recently change allegiance to Princess from P&O and found that they have this bidding system as well. Apparently other cruise lines outside of the Carnival group have been doing this for a while and now it seems they are introducing it. I am lead to believe that a bid of say £200 would be per person for a higher grade cabin, this isn't the amount you have to bid it's up to you but the amount you bid would be x two unless of course you are a single traveller, but then I am lead to believe that single fares are the same or almost the same as two passengers sharing a cabin. The bidding is allowed 5 days after the cruise balance is paid and although I cannot remember exactly it can continue up to a day or so before your cruise. It is apparently best to bid on several cabins although if successful you will only get one and be charged for one and again the cruiseline will contact yourself to inform you that you can bid.

Since the pandemic CCL stock did rise in the UK from a low of a little over £5 to a peak a few months ago to £13.75. I purchased 100 at £6.99 before our cruise in April for which I got £150 onboard credit. When they reached £13.40 per share I sold them making £600 profit as being in my 70's I wasn't sure how many more cruises I would embark on and even if I did four cruise where I received the maximum onboard credit of £150 it would be four years before I was in an even situation and if I spent £150 onboard I would receive 10% off as we are Caribbean Tier on P&O.

To be honest if I was one of these top chefs putting my name to some of the fare dished up on our March/April cruise to the Caribbean, Mexico and the US I would think pretty long and hard as to whether I wanted to be associated with this food. I do believe that since we first started cruising back in 2002 that the food quality has gone down considerably. During this 35 nighter onboard Ventura I can honestly say that only four evening meals were good. Three at Sindu, excellent and one at the Beech House which was good. The food in the MDR was bland, varied between cold and warm. Desserts that were Rum or Pina Colada infused tasted nothing of either. Custard was thinner than water. One reason put forward was the fact that many of the crew were new recruits. I felt sorry for our main waiter as he spent most nights asking why people on our table had left a lot of the food. Yes I know that cruising is probably cheaper than before but I would rather pay another £10 or £20 per head per day to get better quality food. The same applies to excursions that include meals. They always remind me of coach type tours in the UK where it sometimes seems that a hotel or restaurant that gives the cheapest deal is chosen and again the food is substandard compared with customers who come from off the street to eat.

When I was at school I started with two fingers. The teacher clipped me round the ear. Can't think why ?

Trouble is even if you send it back and they know rhere's a problem it's whether they do anything about it. Myself and wife went on a P&O cruise on Ventura, 35 nights to the Caribbean, Mexico and North America in March this year. Sadly the only cruise I have ever wished to leave at least 10 days before it docked in Southampton. It just went from bad to worse. Cabin changed the day before, upgraded to an outside rather than an inner, great. Pity that only ourselves and a few others seemed to know. But getting on to the subject of food definitely the worst we have had on any cruise and this was our 17th. Luke warm, custard thinner than water and soup and desserts no resemblance to description. The best four meals during the entire cruise were three at Sindu and one in the Beach house. Waiters always enquiring was there a problem, but despite various complaints food remained poor. To add insult to injury we had two glasses of Sauvignon Blanc one evening at dinner at it cost me £19.

Every cruise I have ever been on I have taken cash. Maybe not the most sensible thing to do, but hey ho. Never had a problem. Obviously I take a cc with me and put the cash in the cabin safe and depending on the port of call I take what i think I will need. I don't think in 17 cruises and endless ports of call I have ever not had enough money on me and in 99 out of 100 I will take money back to the ship. As for onboard it really depends. Take for instance my next cruise where all drinks are prepaid and any excursions we on go on will be booked pre-cruise. So what I allow for each day will be less than previous cruises as drinks and coffee's are prepaid. The wife will probably want a handbag and I will no doubt get a bit of duty free. Think whatever that unless you have an endless supply of money it's necessary to budget. I'm not saying that x amount per day has to be strictly adhered to but you have to be sensible. No point having a great cruise only to get home staring at a chasm in your bank account.

That in itself is a good idea as the old type questionaire was open to people either saying they didn't attend such and such an artist or that they were o.k. when in fact they were very poor. I think we have all been subject to talks or some other form of entertainmnet that's cringeworthy. we did a cruise on Ventura in March/April and two tribute acts apart the rest of the fare dished up was pretty poor. Worst cruise I have had in fact. That's the main reason for trying Princess as opposed to P&O.

In reality isn't everything like this, to maximise profits. Who cares ? I certainly don't. The info they gain from me and the wife won't exactly be earth shattering. I could basically tell any cruiseline what I will do during my cruise. Eat, drink, sleep, wander around the shops, take very few shore excursions except for places I haven't been and even then it would depend on the cost, whether I could do it cheaper myself. Suffice to say I wouldn't wander that far away from the ship taking into account dangers and ability to return on time. Go to shows, talks and take in a few speciality restaurants. Wife probably buys a handbag (she always does) I look at the watches, but have tempered my need to buy one. Sit about on deck, weather permitting. Cups of tea, coffee and the odd cocktail or whiskey and canada dry. Get some duty free spirits and the wife has her eyes on some nice chocolates. Make use of the MDR's and generally have a great time.

Would there be any machinery if they were Luddites ?

I am booked on a Princess cruise next year and this will be my first shot at Medallion Class. But don't you think that everything is going the way of passengers being more responsible for making their arrangements such as with P&O you have to print boarding passes, luggage tickets and during the pandemic proof of Covid jabs etc. Esta's for the USA. According to Princess the Medallion allows you basically to order whatever wherever you are on the ship. Correct me if I am wrong.

Yeah, fights and drunkeness and that was just the crew.

Not aware of this problem and have read a few comments regarding Arcadia's ship shape or otherwise. Was booked on a cruise on Arcadia for October 24, but have cancelled and gone for one on Sky Princess to Canada and New England, that will be the fourth time for us to that destination, the other three being on P&O ships.

I personally am surprised that Aurora is still sailing to be honest. Before those that love her start getting heated under the collar, I love her to. But seeing as both Oriana and Oceana have both gone and Aurora is 23 years old she must be nearing the end of her fabulous career.

Hi appreciate you answering my question. Not sure of your point though. With respect to what you have said I can fill you in on the difference. P&O was a 19 night cruise and the Princess is 31 nights. The package I took with Princess is the middle one of three. As you say 15 drinks at a max of $15 per drink with a 15 minute gap in between. That includes juices, coffees, wines and spirits. I did note that some of Princess excursions were quite expensive. But then we have been to many of the locations already and done most of the excursions. Some we have done via the cruiseline and some on our own. I may booked a couple more if they take my fancy.

Having done all bar one cruise with P&O, the other funnily enough with Princess I have switch allegiance to Princess as our last cruise with P&O was a bit of a disaster. You name it and it went wrong. Room changed day before but obviously only we and a few others were aware. So card key on arrival at cabin was someone else's and also wrong dining arrangements. I had paid for a Celebration package and phoned P&O several days before travelling to check that it would be available on arrival. It wasn't and it took me 15 days of a 35 night cruise to receive all of the package. Immigration was a nightmare. Food was poor in the MDR. The only good or should I say excellent meals were in Sindu. We had booked a cruise with P&O to give them a last chance, but due to having watched cruise programmes on tv Princess looked wonderful ships. The cruise we have booked has 12 more nights and all drinks included, 2 x desserts per day and various other extras and cost £1600 more, so looks a relative bargain to me. Please feel free to fill me in on whether I am a bit deluded or that I am a genius.

Went on a P&O cruise in March through to early April. 35 nights. Had no problem booking speciality restaurants. But in many cases glad I did as I thought the food in the MDR was pretty ordinary. Sindu which we frequented (That's posh isn't it ?) on three separate occasions was superb. I do feel though that you shouldn't have to be forced to go to speciality dining to get a decent meal. Breakfasts were so, so, toast was shown to the toaster, eggs benedict were never the same two days running and one day my Wife didn't even get her's, jam and marmalade after a while ceased to be in small jars. I suppose, to me, soup at dinner was the best course. Steaks were ropey, food occasionally cold, brocolli with everything except dessert (that was surprising) and it gradually got yellower or browner. Desserts that were Pina Colada or rum infused I would suggest never saw a bottle of either. The Captains cocktail party was a find a waiter and as usual the wine was only fit for cleaning a sink. I really don't know why they continue to bother with these events if they can't be bothered to dish up something decent.

P&O used to have a questionaire when onboard which you were asked to fill in and post by a certain date at reception. I believe this has now stopped. But I always felt the questions were loaded in favour of the way P&O wished to operate in the future. These included formal evenings and dining preferences and as they say in the Bible " And so it came to pass" Formal evenings are still taking place, but many don't take part. Either because they don't have formal wear or because they don't like the formality of it. Dining on new ships are now all Freedom, well Arvia and Iona anyway, Club has disappeared. Many will point out that cruising today relative to 10-20 years ago is cheaper. But although I am not in any way loaded like the questionaires I do long for how things were when I started cruising. It had a certain wonder about it. The fellow passengers, the overall ambience and the little nice to have extras such as Chocoholics, toiletries in a P&O bag, sandwiches and cocoa at midnight, chocolates on a turned down bed. Now it's all geared to getting people into specialised dining, wine packages, spa treatments, paying extra for a better sunbed in an exclusive area, paying to go to a club with Special guest etc, etc. Maybe it's just me getting old and sad ?

At least you get two other ports. We went on a 35 nighter in March/April. Before we had even boarded Key West was thrown out. On sailing we had a couple of days before LaCoruna we were then due to call in at Bermuda overnight following six days sailing. It turned into 10 days sailing as the Captain, several days before arrival decided the weather wouldn't allow us in. I wish I had a crystal ball as good as his. No replacement was forthcoming. I do question, bearing in mind that Cunard used to cross to New York in 4 days and even P&O ships did it in 5 days why does it take 6 days to get from Port Canaveral to Ponta Del Garda and a further 3 days from there to Southampton. Meaning that discounting other sea days between ports just crossing both ways across the Atlantic took 19 days.

This doesn't just happen unfortunately with Debit Cards. My Daughter-in-Law bought my Son-in-Law a bicycle a few months ago on one of these schemes where you pay so much per month. What she didn't realise that unlike Companies like Clearpay and Klarna who take the initial payment and then others at a set time they did what you have encountered with pre-authorisations so a lot of her money was frozen. This caused her some financial problems and she ended up paying it all off in one go which wasn't what she intended to have happened.

Mine didn't cover missed ports despite paying nearly 2k for my 35 nighter to the Caribbean and USA, most due to underlying health issues. Perhaps I am a bit sceptical, but my feeling is that on many occasions ports of call are missed to save cruise companies money and whilst I fully understand that if a P of C is missed due to bad weather I am not one to be up in arms about it as some seem to be. Take for instance our P&O cruise alluded to above. Key West was taken out several months before the cruise was due to depart, of which we were informed. Then on sailaway day Ventura was some 5 hours late into port and 5 and a half hours late leaving Southampton. First P of C was La Coruna, then we were due to sail for Bermuda. Which as I said was missed due to the Captain declaring several days before docking that the weather wouldn't allow us in. Not being an expert, but being able to view the weather from cabin and on deck it did not look rough at all. Due to missed port it was ten days sailing before we reached land ( Freeport Bahamas). The return journey was another six days from Cape Canaveral to Ponta Del Garda and another three after that before Southampton. Now forgive me for being a bit questioning on this situation. But why couldn't Ventura have called in at Bermuda on it's way back to the UK. Before these days of extending sea days Cunard did New York transatlantic in 4 days and P&O ships did it in 5 days, therefore why does it take 9 days to get back to the UK. Don't tell me, Iv'e guessed, could it possibly be to do with having passengers spending onboard for longer ?

OBC, Oh what a wonderful thing to behold. Or is it ? What is it really worth given that many items onboard are hugely overpriced such as bottles of wine that you can get in say Asda or Morrisons for under a tenner costing at least double that. I ordered two glasses of wine , Sauvignon Blanc on a recent cruise and my gasted has never been so flabbered when I saw they cost me nearly 20 pounds. Another item with a huge mark up are bars of chocolate and sweets. My ideal would be that all the food in all venues was upgraded even if it cost a tenner per person per day extra. That drink at the table was cheaper instead of throwing OBC around like confetti and that if you went to the Spa it wasn't their intent to either flog you more treatments or products that if you turn down there seems to be a definite change in the attitude of staff. Not being a positive one at that. Also that it isn't compulsory to have to pay extra to get a decent sunbed. Not bothered about being away from the main group of passengers by having to pay twenty quid per person per day.

Sorry but didn't ask the Italian waiter his name, do you remember what Peroni look like ?

Obviously depends on the time of year. Travelled on Ventura to the Caribbean and USA this March/April, but wasn't actually on deck but below the domed area near the swimming pool and it was quite warm. Sadly our first Port was missed, due according to the Captain because of the weather. Think he had a better crystal ball than many of the passengers because it was announced four days before we reached Bermuda and P&O had already informed us a few months before we set sail that Key West was removed from the itinerary. Strange they still have it on next years 35 nighter. To be honest and I know I am viering away from the question. But why is it that you can now cover missed Ports on your insurance, but get no recompense from the cruise company who frankly get out of their responsibility by using terms and conditions to cover their backsides.

Hi, hope you are all well ? Inside or Balcony. We recently did a 35 nighter March through to April. We booked an inside, which frankly had never been a problem before as we had done similar cruises, same length of time but different itinerary . Sadly this cruise was the exception. Gratefully we were upgrade to a Sea view otherwise they would have needed to cart me off in a straightjacket. The cruise started badly and sadly didn't get much better. Ship five hours late into Southampton which meant that bearing in mind we had already had several hours on a coach, having already travelled a forty five minute journey to pick up said coach, then massive queues at Southampton with cases stacked high along the loading are. The ship sailed five and a half hours late. The upgraded cabin although informed it was ours had someone else's key cards in the slot outside the cabin door. I had paid nearly four hundred pounds for a Celebration Package, which took me 15 days to sort out. Many onboard were coughing and my wife ended up having to stay in the cabin for three days, don't know what it was but did a check for Corona Virus, but that was negative, then not well myself. Food onboard in MDR was poor and entertainment was poor although the two tribute acts were excellent and the food in Sindu was fabulous. The speakers consisted of day upon day of someone talking about photography. Issues regarding immigration in New Orleans, very slow and many yards of walking. Three medical emergencies and one rescue of a yacht. First Port of call was La coruna then ten days of sailing as we missed Bermuda, due according to the Captain, the weather. Although how he could know that the weather would be unsuitable to dock four days prior to docking I don't know. My belief and I must stress it's a personal belief although fellow passengers were of the same opinion was that we missed Bermuda due to the five and a half hour delay sailing from Southampton and that it was also to save money. Although judging by the numbers of fellow passengers who said they had been keeping a diary of all their issues onboard I don't know if or how much profit P&O made on that cruise. We were re-imbursed 800 pounds and a hamper. Although you can't make up for a lost holiday. Getting back to your original point, go for a balcony if you can afford it as I am not a huge fan of air con as I believe all it does is spread germs around the cabins (Again, a personal view )

Put him in the longboat and make him bail her ?