cruiser1955

Booked Q915A on QE this morning. Japan to Alaska for 17 nights. Going by the availability at my TA, it looks like I have booked the last forward glass fronted balcony on deck 4, talk about timing it right:) Also booked flights/transfers with Cunard as the price seemed to be good and it makes life easy.

BTM, I think you have hit the nail on it's head. Over the last few years I think that cruise companies in general have cut as much as they feel they can get away with. My last cruise on Ventura was less than I paid for a similar cruise in 2010, which was nice, but some of the staff are very overworked

Looks like the rest of my post was lost in the ether! I was having a rant. Never mind.

Cunard for me isn't much better. Was on QE in December and although the ship still had a wow factor, service was very poor with orders in the MDR not being taken until 21:10 on second sitting.

BTM, I think you have hit the nail on it's head. Over the last few years I think that cruise companies in general have cut as much as they feel they can get away with. My last cruise on Ventura was less than I paid for a similar cruise in 2010, which was nice, but some of the staff are very over

I've just done a review on may last cruise on Ventura. It's being reviewed by the administrators so may not be available for a day or two. It may help ease your minds. The review is called

Eating in Epicurean, Sindhu and the Glasshouse while cruising to Iberia

Providing you aren't expecting a 5 star line, P&O for me are hard to beat at the price they charge. They aren't perfect, but there again, none of the lines I've been with are.

Pre-registered for N903 when on board last week. Email from P&O this morning confirming booking. Got the grade of cabin and 4th choice of cabin. Thought that it would be popular given the way that the 2018 version of the cruise has gone up in price.

Cunard seem to have put their prices up over the last few months. I did a Canaries cruise on QE in December and the Cunard prices were generally 50% higher than P&O charged when I went back in January. Previous years there hasn't been much difference between the two companies. Of course the drop in value of the GBP against the USD hasn't helped.

Highest price I've seen for an excursion though was $3,299 per person on Holland America - a flight to Antarctica from Punta Arenas and it was sold out!

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So you think we could consider a trip to the top on Adonia?

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Adonia is a great ship for going to the more out of the way places. As Minerva II, I did the Cape of Good Hope, Cape Horn and a trans-Atlantic (Cape Verde to Amazon) and had no problems with her. So much easier to board/disembark with less than 700 passengers. Just don't expect as much entertainment on her. Did Svalbard on Arcadia and we had to tender in whereas Adonia should be able to berth (Minerva II did)

I'm considering Adonia's trip to Spitsbergen next Jun, I reckon that could be a bit of a fun roller coaster.

I did that in June 2005 when she was Swan Hellenic's Minerva II. Went via the North Sea though rather than Ireland and the North Sea was a bit bumpy the first night. Other than that, the only other slight problem was having to leave Tromso early to avoid icebergs on our way to Svalbard. Great sights especially if it is clear as you pass Bear Island.

This is on one of the P&O closed groups on Facebook

"the weathers not wonderful nor is the sea !Just sailed past Lisbon we re not stopping too rough!"

Should have looked in the booklet first :)

All excursions will be shown as waitlist 72 hours before departure. Should a waitlisted excursion become available, we will make a booking on your behalf and all charges will be applied to your on-board account.

I do not know if it is related but every single excursion for all ports is now waitlisted for N706. There were none waitlisted a couple of days ago.

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Only 3 days to go and now past the time you can book on the CP. I think that 3 days is the cut off point for booking excursions, etc before departure

13th March in the UK

......... So if it's a special occasion, make sure you book. .......

Good advice Chris especially if it is a short cruise.

I was on Ventura in January and found the food and service in Epicurean, Sindhu and the Glasshouse to be very good, Epicurean had a third off for dinner on the first night of the cruise. Epicurean and Sindhu both had special offers of a free bottle of house wine for bookings up to and including 18:30 on several nights. Apart from these special offers, I found that there was no need to pre-book. Glasshouse also does a paired wine/food meal at £30 which is a change from the usual offering (5 wines and 4 courses).

If you are travelling in a balcony or lower on P&O or Cunard, you pay a supplement between 40% and 80% on the full fares. What makes it even more unfair is that cruise prices offered by P&O and Cunard include port fees and taxes and in some cases, the air fare. Solo travellers get charged the single supplement on these in many cases - typically the late saver fare or the fly/cruises. Celebrity and Holland America, take any taxes or fees off before adding on the single supplement - not sure if this only applies to non-European cruises as I've only done long haul with them. Also, some offer OBC per cabin rather than per passenger - very annoying when you are paying double and only get OBC for one.

Even when solo cabins are available, these do not offer much of a saving over a standard cabin with supplement added.

Over the last 15 years or so, I've seen the single supplement go from 20% to a more typical 60% on P&O (75% on Cunard) but both still are offering this sort of supplement on the early saver fares unlike a few years ago when solo travellers were not allowed to book an early saver.

I would say that is the Epicurean. We did not eat there but heard good reviews

Agree, it will be the Epicurean. Eaten there many times and the food & service is very good.

Would that be for the whole of 2019 or just the World Cruises up to May? (details of which were found on US agent's websites a couple of weeks ago)

Just the Worlds plus Christmas18/New Year 19

That US site made for interesting reading Ray. Looking forward to see what the QE Asia/Alaska cruises will cost. No doubt we will have to wait until September time for the 2019 summer itineraries and again what will be offered on QE if that US website was correct.

Itineraries available from 13 March

Itineraries available from 13 March

Also on the P&O website

http://www.pocruises.com/explore/articles/ships/explore-the-world-less-travelled-on-adonia/

One menu each week on a 14 night cruise. May switch more frequently on shorter cruises

There are a good selection of excursions available in St Petersburg ranging from 3-4 hours up to full days. There are also some evening excursions offered which tend to be about 4 hours long. I've done a few of the evening ones and the folk show is very good - nothing like ones I've seen elsewhere in Europe.

Russian visas are needed for any DIY trips and are quite expensive - last time I looked circa £100. All the ship excursions will return you to the ship, so little time to try doing anything on your own.

Enjoy the city - it is very picturesque. About 30 minutes after the ship departs, you will pass Kronstadt on the starboard side - well worth being on deck to see it. Have a look at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kronstadt_rebellion

Sailaway's on Cunard, weather permitting, are a bit of a damp squid ( unlike P&O) why not enjoy a leisurely pre dinner cocktail in the elegant surroundings of the Commodore Bar with glorious views of the sailaway and the solent. :)

A very good suggestion. You'll have time to have a look around the ship before departure and you will see that Southampton isn't the prettiest of ports to depart from. Be up on deck for a sail away from warmer climes where there will be better sights.

You'll be spoilt doing your first cruise on Cunard. The ships are so elegant. Enjoy the cruise.

We did this trip earlier this year and it was fantastic! One of the highlights was New Orleans - not unexpectedly and we did the P&O evening excursion to the Palm Court Café. It was fully booked out by P&O so you wouldn't be able to do that venue independently. It wasn't cheap but worth every penny; decent Creole menu and excellent pecan pie :), superb musicians and great atmosphere. We'd definitely recommend it.

Thanks for that comment. I'm not going until 2018 on Ventura. I've been several times to NO but good to hear of a good night out - will have to keep an eye out for that excursion. I did a trip to the Hilton on one land tour and that was also very good.

Good point with NO is that the French Quarter is within walking distance from where the ship berths.

I've done quite a few of these over the last 15 years and have enjoyed all of them. The rule of thumb seems to be expect the weather to be good from Madeira or the Azores. However, you can be lucky. In January 2013 it was warm enough to sit on decks from day 2. Last year I did the 24 night on Arcadia in November and weather improved from Madeira. On the way back it wasn't so good and we were unable to dock in the Azores - Vigo was substituted.

I did the 35 night on Oceana this January and the weather was better, as we made the Azores and Madeira. For me though, I did not find the ride to be as smooth as on Arcadia.

For me, I would now, subject to availability, only consider doing this type of cruise on Arcadia or one of the Cunard ships as they can handle rough weather better - QM2 does Southampton/New York/Carib/New York/Southampton so weather generally not as good. Having said that, I have booked the 35 night cruise on Ventura in February 2018 as it is a great itinerary.