cuatbar58

Same as you strange prices. I do think P&O could push things too far.

I think the discount comes off the initial price when paying online. When we have looked at the drink package it shows a 10% discount. I assume we will see 50p on all drinks which will add up over 14 nights.

Just booked Epicurion on Arvia. It came up as £28 before loyalty discount. I am assuming that is the price after 20% discount which makes price £35. Lat time we booked it was £30. I am wondering if all prices have gone up or 20% off not being applied.

The next drink package deal appears to be 10% off at time of booking. I think this points to them keeping the package at the same price and hoping people will buy the package if the bar prices increase by much. Good luck getting served on the Iona if too many people take the bait.

In TigerB’s excellent recent report he mentioned speaking to a manager who informed him there would be price increases in May or June. I was wondering if they might be pushing the limits a bit. I am not bothered because the more they put things up the less we tend to spend. I am sure we can afford another increase but certain things might no longer be worth paying for. It seems the more people that don’t spend means the cruise companies try to get the missing profit from the rest.

- Or for sunbeds!!!! I thought my meaning would be understood. But better than the weird quote above lol

I am sorry that I seemed to have lost track of this thread. I thought the main subject was about people arriving early and being made to wait outside. We are all given an arrival time so no need to get in early to book a time. We are still at the mercy of the roads and public transport so will still have people arriving at the wrong time. i can’t help thinking the people who can’t wait to get on are the same people who put towels on beds at 6am. i hope nobody thinks of charging us extra for an early embarkation.

I honestly can’t see how being able to book your embarkation time would change anything. It would just mean the people who can log in the quickest can get on early to avoid spending anything on food or drinks while waiting in Southampton. There will still be people arriving early even if they pick their own time. I have just printed my boarding pass there was no embarkation time just a time to arrive at the terminal they are trying to make it simple for us old folks.

What would happen if you had a 8pm restaurant reservation but arrived at 7pm do you believe that they should allow you in or get someone with an earlier booking to wait for your table so you can have theirs? The fact that the original poster wanted an earlier embarkation time and even after reading posts they still said they would arrive 1hour 45 minutes earlier and hope for the best highlights the problems P&O face. I have been upstairs in the Ocean terminal when it has been packed it was not a pleasant experience I much prefer arriving on time and breezing through. I don’t think it would be good if there was a fire or another incident trying to evacuate a full terminal. I would also like to say it’s ok for me to reserve two sun beds on both sides of the ship it’s only four beds but please don’t everyone do it otherwise nobody will be able to find a bed.

Hi Eddie What an amazing gift I’m sure you will have a great cruise now. You might not remember much though lol. I am looking forward to your posts as we are on the Iona to the Canaries in a few weeks. Like yourselves we booked an outside cabin on deck 4 a change from our normal balcony cabins. On our last winter cruise we found that we hardly used the balcony and thought being closer to decks 6/7 would be more useful than the sun decks.

majortom10 I am sure we are on the same side but the rules don’t really make sense if someone spends &1000 on their account but brings onboard a bottle of wine to drink sitting on their balcony in the sun yet someone brings on their 1 litre of gin on board and spends £50 and follows the rules is ok. Taking drinks out of the cabin is shameful I agree

amurray88 the done thing is what ever you feel comfortable with. If you choose to buy a bottle of the local wine etc, to drink in your cabin go for it. I hope you have a great cruise

We have been on all inclusive holidays and have still brought alcohol from supermarkets to drink in our room/ balcony. I certainly would not feel guilty for bringing anything on board for the same reason. We are more than happy to buy spirits to be delivered to the cabin which in the past have been reasonable priced but not willing to pay room service to bring us a beer. Believe me we certainly contribute to Carnivals profits when we are out of the cabin lol

I only noticed this practice on my recent cruises. I am sure it has been happening a while but once you see a smartly dressed gent leaving their cabin with glass in hand you tend to notice more. I can never get over the penny pinching some people do.

We recently brought a deluxe drink package. The reasoning behind our purchase was that we qualified for 2 soft drink packages for our grandchildren and the deluxe included doubles and large glasses of wine. We did not keep a tally but I believe we probably broke even. The main advantage was we did not come home to a large credit bill. We would not consider having the package for just the two of us unless we got some kind of special deal. It cost us with discounts £1260. If you don’t drink much on first day or last day or feel unwell for any part of a your cruise the package starts to look poor value. I would also say most of the wines are very average when you look at the menu ignore the price they are wines that cost £7 to £8 pounds in a supermarket and probably half that in a Spanish supermarket. I do not think too much of P&O cocktails either. There is a great selection of beers though. I believe as time goes on the packages will start to look like a better deals as I am sure P&O will be putting up their bar prices on a regular basis. I noticed in a national newspaper a P&O cruise advertised with an included drink package could be the way things will go. My advice anyone who has brought the package Just enjoy it’s been paid for and there is no need to count or justify the cost the money has already been spent.

We recently had the drink package and at times I would hand over four cards at once. There were no problems. Remember with deluxe page you can have all the good mixers etc.

I agree with TigerB there is never much of a wait at the Quays it really is fast food. I quite like Fusion but not every day. It is a good spot for breakfast.

We had our best ever cruise on the Britannia went with my son and his partner to the Caribbean. We are hoping they will get married on a ship one day. We saw an amazing site in Lisbon of thousands of jellyfish floating past the ship. Love going under the bridge. Carry on having a fab time

That’s great hope we are not the only happy people onboard

Thanks TigerB I’m sure you will have a great time. It seems a happy ship at the moment. The glorious weather must have helped. We are going again in February won’t be so hot but better than UK

We have just returned from a excellent cruise on the Iona. I’m afraid it was all positive from start to finish so we had to book another cruise while still onboard. The staff on board were the friendliest we have ever experienced on a P&O cruise and we are into double figures on cruises taken. Embarkation was smooth and quick we were onboard by 12:00 and leaving at the end of our cruise was the same. As always the bars were all a bit hectic for the first few days but then settled down I assume this happens when people start looking at their onboard accounts or their onboard credit runs out. As we had a drinks package for the first and last time it was not a problem. The package worked out well for as with the free children’s package and without counting everything we had I am sure we came out ahead. We did not get anywhere near having 15 drinks a day by the way. This was our second cruise on Iona but a little different than the last as we had two grandchildren with us. The major difference was we had to use the dreaded buffet more. The main problem here is that other people have the cheek to use it the same time as me. Joking aside it is peoples lack of common sense or consideration that causes problems in the buffet. I thought the food here was far better than some try to pretend. There was a great choice and there were some excellent curry’s that I would have been happy to pay for at home. It can get boring if you eat there 4 times a day every day and put several different dishes on your plate at once. The quays make a good alternative. The grandchildren loved the kids club which meant we were able to enjoy some nice meals in the Keel & Cow and the Glasshouse. The times we used the MDR were few but we were happy with what we had. I do not intend to do a full review because that has been done so well by others on this site as well as some fantastic bloggers. I would just add the P&O is still excellent value for money and until we see a real drop in standards they will have our custom. As we prefer the larger ships we feel they have given us far more extras than they have taken away. I am more than happy to answer any questions. Best wishes to all

Thanks for your positive review. You had more than enough setbacks to upset a lot of people but you got on with having a great time. We will always carry on cruising while there are people like you sailing

Drinks package just paid for. £1267 for 2 adult deluxe and 2 children’s refresh packages. Thank you all for your great posts on this subject. We are very happy about the possible benefits we will enjoy but I will promise to update the board on how it pans out. The price we paid does include our 8.5% loyalty discount.

I must admit OBC certainly complicates the package. By using the OBC you have to pay approximately £150 more per couple. The majority of our onboard spend goes on drinks so we would have no use for it if we pre paid. We only have £150 shareholders benefit on our cruise which will be spent on ice cream etc for the grandchildren. I know you can use OBC in the shops etc but feel this would be wasted I treat OBC as real money that I have paid for when buying a select fare.

Yes you do get the discount and your loyalty bonus. I would never suggest that it suits everyone but because of our grandchildren travelling with us we will have to give up our long lunches ashore so it will work for us. I have looked at the wine selection and you can have large glasses of wine that would could cost £12+ and other drinks that we probably would have denied ourselves. We are approaching retirement and I am am aware that a drink package will not appeal in the future so going for it now.