Cathygh

 

That did not happen on Azura - someone choked at our table on very dry salmon, pork was overcooked and inedible, steak was hit or miss. I don't each fish so if people are choosing fish and it good - well that's great. All I can say is the amount of food wastage I saw on Azura at our table of 6 was astonishing

I have to ( partly) agree about Azura. On a recent 2 nighter the food in the MDR on the first night was cold, overcooked etc. The 2nd night was a totally different experience - freshly cooked, and a delight to eat

Cathy

Hi

When I was on a cruise with Marco he went to a different restaurant each night and posed to have his photo taken with anyone who wanted to. He was surprisingly charming! The talks were full but I wasn't bothered as I wanted to sunbathe. I am sure they will find opportunities to meet him

Regards

Cathy

If you live in Southampton work out the best financial option for you. I live not far from Southampton and taxis are very expensive out here into town, sometimes more expensive than paying for parking for 2 weeks! I would take the OBC and ask a friend to drop off /pick up if possible

regards

Cathy.

How recently did you book as we have Premier HSBC accounts and I can t find the 5% discount offer but it would be great if that is the case

Hi

The end of March. I don't know about Premier Accounts, but if you google "HSBC Advance account cruise" the offer comes up. Hope you can get the discount

regards

Cathy

Having sailed with both I think Simonpjd has given an accurate analysis. Also if the weather is bad and outside activities are cancelled Cunard will put on something else inside. I did find Cunard menus to be similar to P&O but better quality & service. It is true the quizzes etc have a US slant. Only in the US is the Irish potato famine known as Black 49. None of my Irish educated friends have ever heard of this! On my last Cunard cruise we just fell about laughing in the quiz and turned it into a race to the bottom.

I also enjoyed the Cunard wine tasting. None of the usual swill, see, sniff, swig and spew. More- these are wines of the world - help yourselves and see what you like!

I think P&O should deliver what Cunard does, but in £s not $s.

I have just done 2 nights on Azura and fortunately got to the future cruise desk early. Booking any holiday seems to take ages but it took us longer to get a final price because the assistant did not know that HSBC advance account customers get an extra 5% discount and it took a while to verify this. They could have done with extra staff. Also I think they should open ( early) on disembarkation day. That way if you get a quote on one day, you can think about it and then book before you leave. I don't recall seeing the option to leave a card any where. My TA was able to beat the price. the only advantage to booking on board was the low deposit.

Cathy

I was on the weekender to Bruges after the TA. I totally agree about the buffet. I don't like buffets at the best of times but it had gone down since our last cruise in December 2015. If you got there towards then end the food was dried.

I didn't see much of the entertainment except for the beginning of Evolution which looked fab if you like that type of thing. Frankie Glicksman is still murdering Skyfall on the piano.

The rest was great. Cabin, MDR etc all good.

Having just returned from Azura I think the buffet has deteriorated since our last cruise on her in late 2015. If you are not there early the food is dried up and luke warm. I am no fan of buffets and only went there for snacks. And why can't P&O provide sandwiches, toasties or baguettes at lunch? Having to wait until 3 for the tasteless afternoon tea sandwiches is a pain.

I have also booked for 1st March as they seem to be selling fast. I have never booked a holiday so far in advance, we tend to be last minute so I don't know how I will get through the next 2 years!

To labour the point, the DDA is about ensuring a level playing field and that individual needs are met. It is not abut treating people the same. Would a customer with a hearing impairment want to be treated the same as a wheel chair user? Of course not- their needs are different. P&O are in breach of the DDA by not taking into to the lady's needs, regardless of her designated arrival time and especially as her needs had been discussed in advance.

Do we really live in a society where some of us seem to find it acceptable that this lady received poor customer service?

The poster has a valid point about P&O in this instance. So why don't we all just say something like" yes P&O got it wrong this time," and move on?

Cathy prices may be going up slightly, but are still no where near where they were in 2001 when I started.

 

 

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Hi

One of the reasons prices are not as high as 2001 is that crew are now paid less than in 2001.

However a cruise I did in 2013 cost me £1700. Prices crashed after I booked and passengers in the same cabin grade paid around £1000. The cuts were beginning to show. If I booked the same cabin & cruise for 2018 I was quoted over £2500. Not a slight rise but I would expect service and quality to be much higher than it is today. P&O are just getting greedy, and their shares are doing well so they can afford to reinstate some of the little extras you higher tier customers used to have. I am not a higher tier but I can see there are fewer cleaners, waiters and cabin stewards.

I just love forums, such fun!

Cathy

As I said earlier I am now reporting back my embarkation experience. Yes we turned up early, got through with no delays although the terminal was busy we were all boarded quickly. We asked how boarding times are allocated and was told it was by deck number. ( this obviously excludes suites and loyalty card higher tiers). However there was a very bad accident on the M27 and many of those travelling down on the day were delayed, which did delay sailing time a bit. Fortunately it was not a crew changeover day which could have made the traffic situation worse. Also there was only 1 other cruise ship in.

We were also told P and O are more strict on Britannia. There was a message on the back of our parking notice to that effect.

BTW there are accidents most days on the M3 and M27 especially in the morning but it can cause delays well into the late afternoon and gridlock the roads.

Re the poster with the 102 year old mother. I am quite shocked at your experience and hope you have complained to P&O. The point of the DDA etc is that people are treated as individuals according to their needs. I believe there is quite a lot of case law around this issue so I hope you pursue a complaint and get the assurance you will not be treated like this on your next cruise.

As to quality of service etc. P&O prices have rocketed but sadly they have not spent their extra income on service yet. We have had a few years of price cuts matched by cuts in crew numbers etc but now prices are going back up they really should be thinking of improving things and cold stale food in the buffet, cold dry toast in MDRs for breakfast, in fact all food in the MDRs was cold on Friday evening but much better on Saturday night, staff looking tired etc

Cathy

hi

You are fine to take any drinks but there is a £15 corkage charge if you take them into the restaurants. For formal nights, (as opposed to semi formal, evening casual or whatever else they want to call it) I believe gentlemen are still expected to wear black tie. Happy to be corrected.

When you board lunch is normally served on Lido deck by the pool, there is usually some live music. You can wander around and find your bearings or sunbathe if the weather is good.

Regards

Cathy

I'll let you know what happens when I get back! Also I would think they would want customers like us who live near the port onboard early so it will help stop the Southampton traffic becoming jammed especially if there is more than 1 ship in and also if it's a crew changeover day.

Cathy

Hi

Thanks for the advice , I will take my chance and go at a time more suitable for us.

I remember when disembarking my first ever P&O cruise in Southampton at about 9.30am new passengers were already boarding. This is about 7 years ago.

Shame it has changed, it would be good to get on board early

Regards

Cathy

Hi

I would appreciate some clarification on this. If I arrive early for P&O embarkation will I be made to wait? I have been allotted a 3.30 embarkation time but was planning to turn up at noon.

Thanks

Cathy

Hi

Not sure if any one mentioned the Gingerbread house displays- you can smell it! We also got a small Xmas cake in our cabin. The Xmas decs are fabulous. We also took some decs for the cabin.The only negative was the actual Xmas dinner in the MDR. It was the worst meal of our trip.Some opted to eat in Sindhu or the other restaurants and I would probably do that if I ever did another Xmas cruise.

Whenever you go, I am sure you will have a great time

Cathy

Hi

Thanks guys for all your help.

FYI the machine was not full, the person who removed the clothes from the tumble dryer had been very aggressive toward other people waiting and I was gone less than 5 mins!

However I have learned my mistake was to use the hot wash, medium for me next time. I would love to avoid the launderette but as it is a 2 week fly cruise I will need to wear some clothes more than once so I may need to wash some tops and clothes for when we return as we are not going straight home.

Cheers Cathy

Hi

As we will be going on a 2 week cruise soon, could someone please advise about using the lauderette? A couple of years ago I used the launderette on Oceana but must have made a mistake somewhere as my washing took hours to was, came out soaking wet and took hours to dry. In fact it never dried properly and when I nipped to the loo someone else came along and pulled my washing out of the dryer so I had to dry it in the bathroom.

So what are the quickest washing machine programme and tumble dyer selections? I don't want to spend 3or more hours of my holiday in the laundry room.

Many thanks

Cathy

Hi

We would like to do a cruise in November/December, somewhere warm but with very little chance of rain or storms. Can I have some recommendations please?

Thanks Cathy

Thanks Yoshikitty that is a really good tip

Hi guys

Thanks so much, that is what I was thinking

Regards

Cathy

Hi

We will be shortly cruising around the med. It is along time since we were on a Cunard ship and can't remember if we need to take any dollars with us. We will of course have euros for shore visits. Will we need to take dollars as well, mainly for use on the ship

thanks

Cathy

The problem with tipping is that by doing so we allow the employers to continue to exploit the staff. The employers are also exploiting us the customers. We all pay enough for our cruises, staff should be sufficiently paid so they are not dependent on our tips.Service and quality standards have slipped in recent years, sooooooooooo much greediness.