LA30

Hmm... The alternative is Britannia, which has a slightly less appealing itinerary, and, I understand, no promenade deck. As I normally walk 5 miles a day (at home, or on Arcadia or Aurora) I don't fancy that either! Maybe I'm just too fussy, or maybe we will just have to fly home from our stay in Barbados!

I know there is no set answer to this, but I am looking at a repositioning cruise from Barbados to S'ton in March 2025. It's not in school holidays and I quite fancy the itinerary. But I don't fancy being onboard with 5000 others! Have never sailed on the big ships. Any opinions?

I think it might vary according to the cruise. We have changed the P&O flights a couple of times on half world cruises, to allow for a long stay in Australia before or after. But on a two week Caribbean to Southampton repositioning cruise we had to pay the full price to P&O as well as arrange our own flights for a couple of weeks earlier.

Just looked at Australian government website. They say they don't need covid vaccinations. Is the P&O website just out of date? Again!?!

Just had an email from P&O with Important Information and checklist for the world cruise. Am I reading it correctly? In the destination entry requirements bit, it seems (to me) to say that we have to have a negative covid test before embarkation. Now I'm panicking. I didn't realise this. Am I right?? Help!!

We have also done this journey a few times, but we always have a "proper" stopover halfway, with a hotel stay so we can get a good sleep before the next leg. It makes the journey just about bearable!

Yes, special package I think. Maybe Barbados flights are chartered then, which might make it difficult (or at least more expensive) for the OP.

On the other hand, we are doing the half world cruise to Sydney in January 2024, staying two weeks in Sydney, then flying home. Flights included in the price. But that was booked through a TA. Don't know if that makes any difference.

We have done it the other way round - a couple of weeks in Barbados and then cruise home. All fine, BUT we did have to arrange and pay for our own flights as P&O reckoned their flight was included in their price for the cruise.

Thanks for your replies, guys. Sounds like we'd better look at the excursions! What a shame that after nine days at sea, this is P&O's first offering to us! It sounds great to say to friends that we're going to the Bahamas. Little did we know!

Does anyone have experience of this port? We normally do our own thing - often just walking around and soaking up the atmosphere. However, I'm getting the impression that this is one of those industrial ports with nothing at all for tourists. Maybe we need to book an excursion?

I think P&O always check ESTAs before they let you board.

I have just had an email from P&O refusing shareholder OBC for the half world cruise in January. I looked at their Ts & Cs and they are quite within their rights to refuse, but I've never come across this before. Rather disappointing. A good job we got an excellent price in the first place! I can confirm that we have been unable to apply your shareholder benefits to your forthcoming P&O Cruises holiday. The process for applying for shareholder benefit includes validation, and within this part it was flagged that the promotions applied to your booking are non-combinable with shareholder benefits. You have been given a net rate discount through your travel agent, therefore with this promotion given unfortunately its not combinable.

I would say that P&O give excellent value for money. But the feeling of luxury is rapidly disappearing. It's more of a three star hotel now. I guess in the end you get what you pay for.

Looking at P&O's own deck plans, the balconies on E Deck look fractionally larger. I know that those on D Deck are fractionally smaller.

I hope that is the case, and I hope it's ALL crew and staff. That's what I understood when the system changed.

It seems to me that the situation with tips on P&O has gone / is going full circle. Tips used to be 'advised' and envelopes were left in cabins with instructions on how much to give to whom. Then tips were included (which was much more convenient for a lot of passengers). Not sure what the crew thought about that as they weren't allowed to talk about it. Now I find that people are sidling up to waiters with envelopes on the last cruise day, and also leaving something in the room for the cabin steward. I must say, tips are a concern for me. Yes, the waiters work hard, but what about the Freedom Dining ones? What about the chefs? And who would want to be working in the laundry room or the engine room? Those guys never see any tips. Unless P&O really do distribute among the whole crew. Do others have any thoughts?

Chocolate on the pillow, after dinner fudge or chocolate, separate cheese board where you could choose what and how much you wanted, fruit and postif offered after dinner, peanuts in the Crows Nest, trays in the buffet, port guides / talks, flags and bunting at Sailaways, water in the cabins, etc, etc. All the luxury extras have gone. A shame, but I still think P&O offer great value for money. I just worry that they are becoming 'cheap'.

Sorry, don't know about Azura, but on Aurora last week they wanted £15 per class. Seems a helluva lot to me! Apparently (according to laundrette rumours!) they had one person the first day and thereafter nobody.

I see that Fred are currently offering a drinks package for £12.50 pppd. How can they do it? And why can't P&O?

Thanks, that's really helpful. Have now booked!

Sorry, I haven't read this whole thread, but have just looked at booking Sindhu. It says £10pp to book, which came as a surprise. I presume that's plus the normal menu prices. Is the £10pp taken off the final bill or is it an additional booking fee does anyone know? Is it still charged if you book on board? I've never come across this before!

We always use them and thoroughly recommend them. Glad you had a good experience. Hope your cruise was good too!

We also have insurance through our bank. Covers everything, including pre-existing stuff and about half the price we used to pay.

I wonder if anyone can throw any light... We have booked a saver fare on Aurora for a large outside cabin - KD minimum. Our booking confirmation says "Bed Configuration - Twin. No Convert". It doesn't actually matter whether we end up with twin or queen, but looking online I see there is a passenger review for cabins C305 & C307 on Aurora clearly showing queen beds in both and no obvious reason why they wouldn't be able to be twin if required. Does anyone have any info? Thanks.