madison quest

9 hours ago, Ranchi said:

I see a couple of posts mention travel insurance not being interested if you have been given an offer of a credit. This may be the case (not saying it is fair) but our daughter’s ski trip was cancelled and the travel company refused to refund as they claimed the chalet was still being available (in France, really?). The company did however issue each member of the group ( it was a single group booking ) with an individual invoice. The insurance company paid up (-excess) straight away. 

With regards to cruising though I would be a bit concerned as some passengers will have booked a cruise this year and may due to age & medical history have paid quite a hefty insurance premium. If they are given  a future cruise credit then they will have to pay another hefty premium for next year. 

my insurance company have transferred the insurance that we had booked for may,  to our future December one with no problem,  and no other fees needed.  she said as it was the same itinerary and the same number of nights she just changed the dates and voila. the insurance company is "insurance with" if any body is interested. 

1.  the journey down to Southampton

2.  the departure lounge and the excitement. (will not mention the panic at the desk,  as I search for the passports even though I have checked they are there at least twenty times since we left home! )

3.   sea days say no more.

4.   the first formal evening and seeing everyone In their finery.

5.   the shear bliss of knowing that I have nothing to do apart from enjoy it.

3 hours ago, Confused.com said:

Here's a question.....

 

If you were to "transfer" a May booking to Aug, would you be able to transfer the additional £400 obs for 14 nts?

 

Surely you transfer everything over including on board spend 🤔

no, you would be making a new booking, and as such you would get the onboard credit for that particular cruise.  I know as I changed our booking this afternoon.  I must admit I was not happy that they had reduced the fcc to 110% but with the situation being changed on an almost weekly basis I lost my nerve !!,  and I had been following their advice to not call their call centre until it was closer to the time of going. but it is better than nothing and we booked a cheaper cruise in December so will have n extra £800 to use for next years booking. which we are yet to book. 

On ‎4‎/‎1‎/‎2019 at 2:55 PM, majortom10 said:

I thought P&O were still charging £7pppd at the moment automatically charged to your account . If so I wouldnt tip anyone anything unless they had gone well above expectations for a particular reason. Once they are removed across all the ships then I wouldnt tip any extra as it defeats the object of including them in the price. If everyone still tipped extra then butlers/stewards and waiters would become to expect it as the norm and are then getting tipped twice.

totally agree, the tips are now included just enjoy your holiday. 

to be blunt, I my experience most people do not tip the shore excursion guide or the driver.  in fact if they open the rear doors of the coach that's where most people get off! 😂 the ones that get off at the front might drop a few coins into the tray. 

I've decided the penthouse suite is defiantly for me,   all I have to do is tell the hubby. 

thankyou for the photos they are brilliant. 

We need 8.30 sitting to allow for digestion of the afternoon tea at about 4..... Also have never missed a show by eating at this time.

As we keep saying, each to their own and it is good we have choice. Long may it continue...

you see it is each to there own, we have never been to afternoon tea on board , in fact we very rarely eat at all after breakfast. the odd tea and coffee through the day is enough for us. so early club dining time comes along....and we are quite hungry, ;p not first in the queue hungry, as we wait to at least 6.35 before we turn up at the doors!! so que sera as they say..

1. Arcadia

2. Ventura

3. Azura

4. Oceana

5. Oriana

not done Aurora, as we didn't like Oriana very much and assumed she would be similar. not been lucky enough to go on Britannia yet.

Had a word with the customer service department of our TA, they will be ringing up everyday for cancellations, it’s the best they can do.

 

 

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eddiecat, you have done all you can for now. hopefully things will come right in the end for you (yn) In the meantime look forward to a wonderful sunny, warm, cruise on Oceana she is a lovely ship, and the places you visit will mean a lot more than the beds in the end. good luck.

I really hope this works out for the OP.

 

It raises a question, as to why Select bookings should offer Guarantee cabins? I know they do, as I recall paying something like a £30pp ‘premium’ to take the next (inside) cabin grade up from the lowest (guarantee) when booking a very cheap Oceana repositioning cruise. We really didn’t want to find ourselves in the cabins ‘behind/in front of’ Cafe Jardin, which make moving around that deck difficult.

 

So, should P&O cease making Guarantee available to Select bookers, or should customers pay a relatively small amount more to chose their cabin when booking? I think the former. I can’t see how a ‘pot luck’ cabin can constitute a ‘pay the highest amount to tailor your holiday’ Select booking

totally agree with your comment. a benefit of booking select was always that you could choose your cabin number from anywhere available on the ship. they have narrowed this down over the last year to make a few more pounds out of the "punter" oh sorry I mean guest/ customer. :o:o its not good enough if you are paying full amount you should have full choice.

We shared a dinner table with a charming couple from South Wales on Azura. On the second night they told us they always cancel the tips and if the service is good they give envelopes at the end. We just let the auto tips ride which get added to our final bill like a lot of folk do.

 

On the last night after the sweet service they called the waiters over (who'd done a great job throughout)and gave them an envelope each, the waiters were made up and seemed delighted. The waiters then looked at us two when no further envelopes were forthcoming as though we were a pair of freeloaders, certainly made us feel awkward even though we'd paid the tips by auto deduction.

 

Perhaps the envelope tipping is the way to go.

I understand how you felt, this has also happened to us on the last night. perhaps all the "service charge people" should get a sticker to wear on the last night :o:D

in my opinion if this cruise falls in the school holidays there is going to be a limited amount of late deals, as the canaries are a particular favourite holiday for families. if you are willing to take a late booking with the choices all made by p&o you might have a better chance. good luck.

hi tinsolider,

we have stayed on d deck in cabin D617, it is the obstructed view one mid ships. it was a nice cabin and the view was not that obstructed.

we have also been on e deck E353 near the shops (outside cabin), a good position mid ships and no noise. I would suggest that for quietness you avoid the cabins over the theatres if you are lucky enough to be choosing. so for that reason your second choice of F deck would be better.

we love oceana and I'm sure you will have a great time.

hi there,

p&o do have the maps and details of the ports that your cruise will visit . they will be in the welcome pack in your room when you board.

they also do port talks during the sea days when on board, these are also shown on the TV's in your room on the main channel.

also, you will get a chance six weeks before you go to view the shore excursions on the cruise personaliser (sp?) on line. hope this helps.:)

I think that p&o are taking the Michael out of us by putting the service charge up year on year, in my opinion they should pay the staff a fair wage, and put it on the price of the cruise. Having said that, we go on holiday, leave the service charge on, and don't even think about it again. I am sorry if this will upset some, but we would never give more than the required service charge, the people who work on the ships know the pay when they accept the job.

nice photos you must have a steady hand on the remote!. those drones can be hard to control.

we have cruised every year in December for 7 years, and every year has been different weather wise. we've had very calm still seas in the bay of Biscay. (that was different!) and stormy heavy seas other years. it's a lottery really, but as long as you are a good sailor it will be fine.

the canaries are usually warm enough to sit on the beach, and have about 6 hours of sunshine, but remember December is their rainy season!. so an umbrella is very handy as the showers can come sometimes.

I would much rather wait at the terminal for the cleaning to be through than get noro virus, good luck to you hope you have a wonderful cruise.

Hi,

 

We're looking at booking the Ventura on the early saver rate (usually always book the standard rate). In regards to dining options, we've been told that we can only request our preferred dining option (freedom dining) and we're then pretty much at the mercy of whether p&o can accomodate our wishes. Has anyone had this experience and have you found that you usually get what you want?

 

Thanks

Carl

hi carl

in our experience in November we also booked an early saver, and were told we could request our dining option (we were actually told there would be no problem with this and you usually get what you request!).

we requested a table for 4, (there was 3 of us), first sitting..

we got a table for 8 second sitting...

there was a good reason why this was not a good deal for us, and after explaining to the head waiter he managed to move us to a 4 table, still second sitting, which was fine, and we were happy and grateful. but I would never again book a early saver fare as we need know where we are going to be.

so if this is important to you maybe bear in mind that you cannot always get what you want when on board.

can't stand the sun beds any way they kill my back after 1/2 hour. :D:D

I posted earlier about our Ventura cruise re:noro virus, I'm pleased to say that after a week I am now feeling much better as is my husband.

I have to say that the hand washing/ gelling we did on board was very rigorous (two full happy birthdays at least):halo::halo:, by both of us, and we always attempt to keep our hands clear of stair rails etc, but we still succumbed, the first time in 12 years of cruising, so I believe its just being at the wrong place at the wrong time. but incidentally we did have a very persistent fly in our state room. just a thought. but it certainly may have contributed.

we have just returned from a cruise on Ventura and I contracted noro in the last three days of the cruise, it is one of the most horrendous things to get and I'm sure would be very serious indeed for some one elderly. my sides and ribs still ache after three days of heaving and I am still only eating dry toast as its all I can tolerate. my husband has now developed the symptoms and has not eaten for two days.

the crew did indeed come to the cabin dressed in their space suits, some were more through than others at their cleaning duties. but I would not have fancied there job for the world.

apparently there was 27 of us afflicted on this cruise but I cannot be certain of these numbers as they didn't confirm these numbers, only got the information from the space cleaners.

p&o were deep steam cleaning the ship as we left and all people were being requested to leave the ship even those doing the back to back cruises.

me: I was just very relieved to get home and get some rest in my own armchair I would not have stayed on board even had it been free. I certainly hope to never have to go through that again.

on rough or windy sea days usually both of the stair access's will be off limits with chains across. though to be honest its hard to fight the wind tunnel that is created let alone run through there! but if you get a good calm day you can be like rose on the titanic with arms out stretched. :'):'):')

seems you all do well on your american ships. did very well on our last cruise on p&o ventura. got £500 jackpot on da vinci diamonds and £500 on a machine called party time so was a very happy cruiser, it paid of our on board account and still returned with some spare.. happy days i'm sure it will not happen this year. roll on december:)

tut ,tut, you youngsters, you must look older than your years "todareistodo". lol.. just to let you all know it's 18 0n p & 0, ships