sandancer

I chanced my arm and tried for the Jan leg as well. That was refused as expected. 

27 minutes ago, ighten said:

Used the app for a last minute just booked on Britannia... 4 days and applied has to be a new record (impressed) --- unlike the  "my dining" which still seems to be crashed..

 

Can you apply up to December? I have two before then and have been holding back thinking i needed to wait lol

Yes. It’s been applied to our Dec cruise on Iona. Applied on the app yesterday, confirmed this morning and a new invoice from P&O arrived this afternoon. Impressive. 

Impressed with Stockperks. Downloaded the app and applied for obc on an August Princess cruise and it was confirmed 3 days later. Then I applied for a December P&O cruise yesterday and today confirmation arrived. I was really wary of the new arrangement but I have never had it applied so quickly. In fact the first time I did it through my stockbroker and it was not applied until 2 days before the cruise and that was due to the intervention of our TA. 

We have pre registered for the 21 night Britannia in June. We need an adapted cabin and it’s a big birthday cruise so we will be very happy if our TA comes up with the goods. 

22 hours ago, LA30 said:

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?

We did this same cruise in 2023. It was our first “big ship” in the P&O fleet. Since then we have been on Iona twice and the Arvia TA was certainly the least busy. In the interests of clarity I should say that we don’t eat much in the buffet or MDR and these are generally when you would notice the crowds. There were a lot of young families on our recent Iona cruise, many with under 5s so school holidays were not an issue. Being realistic, if you choose a ship with that capacity you are looking at a busy cruise. 

I thought of that Phil but our first P&O cruise was in 2018. Before that we cruised only with US cruise lines. 

No. Just a balcony. 

Definitely Tiger. On Iona in March a guest was trying to book the Olive Grove and was kicking off big time because he would not accept that there were no tables available and he refused to book in advance. He got nowhere and I am certain the staff would have been much more accommodating if he had not raised his voice. By the time he left the queue was about 10 deep with people who had booked. 

Yes, it can be cancelled and it will be refunded to the cc on file. However, cancellations within 24 hours carry a £10pp cancellation fee. Someone posted that they had been charged the full £10 for the Beach House even though they didn’t pay that much. They will allow changes once on board but tend to tell you what time rather than allow you to choose. Understandable as they can only fill empty slots. 

There are some items on the Beach House menu that carry a supplement and you will be charged for those at the time. If you eat from the standard menu then then the cover charge is all you will pay and that will have been charged to your cc in advance. 

All pre booked restaurants are charged to your credit card on booking. That includes the Limelight Club. 

Sorry if this subject has been raised a 100 times before. It is some time since we cruised with Princess (all recent have been with P&O who have black tie nights) and not sure if Princess still have formal nights. This is a British Isles cruise so not a casual Caribbean where you would not expect to wear anything formal. 

I always take a photograph of the port agents details printed in the Horizon. Also have photos of passports, emergency contacts for travel insurance and prescriptions for both of us on both phones. There was a time when it would never have been thought of but as circumstances change with age and health it’s reassuring to have this information to hand. 

I know the OP is querying the Beach House but worth mentioning that when pre booking Sindhu you pay a £10 pp deposit. When you get the bill there will be a 20% discount taken off in line with other restaurants you are able to pre book. Definitely worth booking Epicurean in advance as it is £30 pp on board (that is if you can get in). 

No, it’s only our 3rd Princess cruise. I can’t think why but maybe it’s a UK thing. 

7 hours ago, CruzerDeb said:

Welcome! The Medallion app has been replaced by the newer Princess app - try that. Seems that, along with the new app, you can now only make dinner reservations once your cruise is paid in full. At least that’s how it was for me last time I checked. 

Our cruise is end of August so not paid in full but I have made dinner reservations for the whole cruise on the app.

1 hour ago, Josy1953 said:

We came back with Eavesway yesterday from Princess and like on P&O we were asked to try to be on board by 8:30 but we didn't leave on time because the Eavesway driver said that there were 4 missing people according to his list and had to ring his head office to check whether he could leave without them and them wait for the office to call him back after they had checked with P&O.  He didn’t say what had happened to the missing people but he got the go ahead to leave without them.  I agree that there are often some passengers who stroll up.

Baggage collection in Southampton was chaotic because the ship was given permission to disembark everyone but when we got into the arrivals hall a lot of the baggage was not yet there.  I have no idea whether it was Princess's fault that the baggage hadn't all been  unloaded or whether it was a port problem, our bags arrived about 10 minutes after us.

We were given a debark time of 9.15 on Iona. Not only were we on the coach but also had booked assistance. I tried to explain to the agent on reception that the allocated time really wouldn’t work but they were adamant that 9.15 was the correct time. Decided to make an executive decision and go to the meeting point at 8.15. The assistance staff told us that it was the right thing to do. The coach left at around 9am - whew!

We had until 11pm to put our bags out on Iona although they do request an earlier time if possible. Unlike most other cruise lines P&O do not issue return bag tags so remember to leave the original ones on your luggage. We invested in some of the plastic bag tag covers and they’ve been invaluable, we’ve used them several times. No worries about losing the flimsy paper ones. 

22 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

I thought all room service now had a delivery charge?

They do. £2.50 charge on account for each delivery regardless of how many items. This was on Iona. 

On 3/24/2024 at 12:39 PM, smj777 said:

Just ring room service and ask for a carton of milk and then keep it in the'fridge

 

And pay £2.50 for it. 

We had the Bon Voyage package on Iona. They were offering 14% discount for Valentine’s Day (our cruise was not until March) so plus loyalty discount it was worth a punt. This is what we received. 
Flowers, chocolates, bottle of champagne, robes and slippers, portrait photo and champagne breakfast in bed with half a bottle of champagne. I think we paid £113 and it was a really nice treat. For a birthday it would work for us. 

You must tell P&O even if you don’t take your own wheelchair. The assistance desk has a list and unless you are on it you won’t get the required help. 

As you say that your DH can not walk far without a wheelchair then I would have thought so. I assumed you were taking a wheelchair with you. 

 Eavesway will drop off at the coach stop. You won’t have to deal with your luggage, the driver will take it to the porters and it will be outside your door later that day. 

2 hours ago, pennib said:

Apologies if this has been covered before but I was wondering how it is possible to get from a coach to the  check in area in Southampton cruise terminal for a cruise. I cannot stand in queues and DH cannot walk far without a wheelchair. If it requires a booking for assistance who do I arrange that with please?

You need to complete a passenger assistance form which is accessed through your P&O account. Even if not taking your own wheelchair you should contact P&O to ask if you can have assistance to board. There are wheelchairs and pushers in the assistance area in the terminal. It is essential that you arrange this in advance. As for the coach, there is a coach lane outside departures but you have to get from there to the terminal. Are you on an Intercruises coach?