wetterthanwater

Yes, on QM2 in May. The letter in the cabin said it was a requirement of Bermuda to do a full drill every certain number of months (may have been six), so we all had to go to the muster with our lifejackets.

Thank you PP. ExpressVPN seemed to work better than ShurfShark for my cruise. They throttle the speeds with a VPN on the cheaper package but it was a workaround.

I know the $34 dollar a day internet package allows VPN usage, but does anyone know if the $24 package does too? Thanks!

Hi all, I have, maybe foolishly, paid £100 extra when booking for the "Fantastica" experience on Virtuosa. I know this waives the tray charge but is there actually anything "complimentary" on the menu, or does everything incur an extra fee? Equally, does the room service breakfast include hot items or just cold? Thanks

This is for a Virtuosa cruise. Considering prebooking a couples spa treatment - do they let you choose the specific massage once there or is it just a Swedish/general style massage that you get? If we don't book ahead of time, can anyone remember the type of onboard deals that they do? Final question - if you go for a massage/treatment does it include use of the spa facilities after?

I'm guessing P&O took the cheapest bidder and thus Maleth was chosen for the charter flights. You reap what you sow.

Probably some light relief for the crew on Iona who won't have to hear the same jokes and announcements for the 69th Fjords cruise in a row. 😁

Well it's a (half) British cruise line sailing from England, and I guess the majority of guests are English/British. I have no interest in football but I think it's reasonable that for the above reasons and for one night they can justify the "wall to wall" England atmosphere.

I was on this cruise albeit for the last 3 night sector. Overall I really liked QA. Only negatives were that the service was somewhat meh in the Britannia restaurant. It wasn't bad, it's just obvious the staff are rushed off their feet and aren't happy to be there. And also didn't appreciate the loud announcements every 15 minutes from 0630 on disembarkation day with the immigration arrangements. I get they want everyone out of bed, but if you're letting us stay in the room until 9, I don't want to be woken up so early...

I doubt the Mitie staff will care at Southampton unless they have been incentivised by Carnival. But I guess they're contracted by ABP who also shouldn't care. All the ports on the 15th June Iona Norway cruise were "on-ship" security ports, so I guess those are more likely to be problematic because they are the P&O security officers.

I had the gyros dish last week on Iona. It wasn't like any gyros I've had in Greece, which is what I was expecting it to be like. It was extremely dry! I also didn't get the amuse bouche, that explains why - to be honest, I think they should have offered it or explained that. And yes that is a crew only deck/pool area.

P&O have a habit of calling a certain dish by a particular name and it tastes or looks nothing like how you expect it at home, in a land restaurant or heaven forbid the country it originated.

Unfortunately I was in a solo balcony cabin, you couldn't swing a cat in there - let alone have space for swinging.

It's a fair criticism that I should have mentioned it to the steward early in my cruise. I guess a combination of not wishing to give the guy extra work and not using my balcony that much lead me to "ignoring" the problem. Plus like on the FB pages it's fun to watch the loyalists meltdown. The fact is P&O should have a cleaning schedule that sees the balconies hosed down on a regular schedule. It's quite clear mine hadn't been done for a long time. I also love the discussion over whats a pube and what's not.

I didn't hold it against the steward, he was thoughtful and extremely friendly - I don't question his cleaning abilities. I didn't post the picture in the expectation of a retrospective moan, just as a bit of fun.

I was going to post that picture on one of the P&O Facebook groups, but then remembered the lynching I got for calling the food "school dinnery" last year. Should I have mentioned it to the cabin attendant? Yes. But he does hard enough job, as well as whatever P&O are paying him a pittance to do in the hours he is not cleaning the rooms. I admit to not scientifically analysing the hairs, but if it looks like a pube, curls like a pube, has the length of a pube... it's probably a pube. I don't want to misrepresent anything so here is another, a bit closer.

Oh these pubes were baked on and were a pre-exisiting condition. Clearly the balconies haven't been hosed down in a while. I've mentioned it in the after cruise survey - but not to the steward. He was busy enough and it looked like a wider issue.

Just disembarked Iona and my goodness.. my balcony was filthy! Covered in pubes and other dirt. I've seen cleaner pavements. 🤣

There might be some fleet differences then. I'm sure on Koningsdam the bar "stations" had automatic bean to cup machines.

They had live country music on in the rock bar sometimes.

Although if one is a coffee snob, the bars/cafes that have barista made coffee should be preferable. The lido machines are automatic bean to cup machines.

The thing is you could ask 20 different people and get 20 different reviews. I had my first "cruise" on QM2 at the weekend, and on QV in January. I much preferred the feel of QV, however slaughtered I might get for saying that.

Given the bathrooms are identical to those on the HA Pinnacle ships, they need to keep on top of the grouting on the plastic tiles. It looked awful on Koningsdam.

Maybe I'm being unduly critical but I thought the seminars in the World Stage on Koningsdam were a bit weird. They were given by the cruise director who wad reading off an autocue. Kinda wondered what the point was..

I'd take the Canadian inside passage over most of those tourist trap ports in Alaska. I'd take the Canadian inside passage over most of those tourist trap ports in Alaska. The CIP was absolutely glorious on Friday on Koningsdam.