cimarron42

End of this cruise - Captain said in his announcement last night that the passengers and crew had done an amazing job with washing hands etc. 

He said the number of tummy bug cases seen during this week was no more than the standard baseline that would be expected for this time of year. 
 

Just a small update after a few days onboard Ventura:

Buffet service quite slow - long queues are common throughout the day. Then you also have to queue to get water, tea and coffee as they are made for you at the machines rather than self service. I’ve found the food in the buffet this cruise to be much worse than previous P&O cruises. 
No food being served at all in the Glass House - disappointed as we had OBC we were going to use in there.  
Restaurant food has been good but the choices are limited in my opinion. Too many repeat dishes on offer each night. 
Getting drinks in a bar area is okay when it’s quiet but when full there doesn’t appear to be enough staff vs the number of guests. I’ve waited over 20 mins some evenings for a waiter to come and take a simple drinks order. I’ve tried going directly to the bar to be told to sit down and wait for service. 
Buffet again - late night snacks from 10.30pm have been massively scaled back. No hot food at all. Just very small sandwiches, biscuits and cheese. 

Making the most of what we’ve got today. We went straight to the restaurant for evening meal, now sat having drinks in Metropolis. With only half a day today not going to get much value from my drinks package!  

Captain has just done his safety announcement. Enhanced protocols in operation - the buffet will not be self service.

I’ve also spotted - no salt and pepper on tables. Butter is given to you when you ask for bread, it isn’t on the table. No drinks menus around in Metropolis at the moment. 

Sail away set for 9pm. 

Boarded Ventura just over an hour ago (6.30pm Sat 25th May). At the terminal they were sticking to the ‘arrival time on boarding pass’ + 4hrs almost to the minute. 
Our original arrival time was 1pm - due to queues for the CPS valet parking we didn’t arrive at the terminal until 5.55pm (took about 45 mins from entering dock gate 10). 

We were allowed to enter the terminal straight away (they were just shouting 2.00pm - 2.15 to the massive queue). 
It took exactly 30 mins from entering the terminal to checking in, security and then boarding. 
At the time we boarded there were hundreds and hundreds of people queuing up outside the terminal - many in for a long wait if they’ve arrived too early. 

Got this email today regarding my Ventura cruise on Saturday (25th May)

I’m on Iona in about 10 days.  Is it worth waiting until I’m on board to book another cruise that I’ve seen for May?  I’ve found a good price at a TA but don’t know if there are extra perks or better prices for booking on board?  The TA price is about £180 cheaper than the P&O website. 

Thanks

Our apps have stopped working too. Must be a central IT glitch. We sail tomorrow…

The new packages for Plus and Premier don’t start on Sky Princess until the next Southampton departure on 19 August. 

There was only one line at the QEII terminal in Southampton back in May. We were in the queue and at the check in desk for a total of around 2 mins. 90 seconds of that was the staff member walking away to fetch our medallions from the box.  It felt quite slick and fast moving.  Will see what it’s like on Aug 19th…..

Still a lot of confusion despite reading all 56 pages and reading all the Princess info. 
I’m on Sky on 19th August, so the first cruise with these changes for this ship. 
I only booked about 7 weeks ago so paid the higher price for Plus (£50). 
 

My main account screen shows the package as purchased (red). But the bit I’ve highlighted in green at the bottom states to check the ‘travel summary’ to show exactly what is included. When I check that there is no mention of casual dining, OceanNow or room service. 
 

Complete madness for these changes to be implemented so quickly. 

Shows have been at 8pm and 10.15pm. 
No idea about dining rooms as we eat early (5.30 - 6.00pm) and there is plenty of tables available. 

Skagen is back on, Zebrugge now removed. 
 

Launched in 2019, but was only in dry dock last month so I would have thought serious maintenance would have been done then. 

Been to zeebruge many times before. Nothing for me there. Already been to Bruges before too. 

Just had notification that our itinerary has changed due to maintenance on the diesel generators overrunning. 
Shame that Skagen will now be missed and less time in Copenhagen. 
Really not fussed with Zeebrugge as a replacement- won’t bother getting off this ship. 

My original reservations were made weeks ago, on the day they went live. I had my pick of every time and restaurant. 

Noticed when looking on the website yesterday that my cruise (May 27th) and others in May are showing as ‘Currently Not Available’ rather than ‘Sold Out’ etc. there were lots of cabins available on my cruise a few days ago. 

Anyone know anything? Website glitch?

By a coincidence on the same day, all my dining reservations for 5pm (private table for 2) have been moved to 5.40pm. Surely the restaurants are less busy at 5pm?

Thanks

I was on Enchanted in the summer and I grabbed all the menus I could from the QR codes around the ship. 
See this thread

We were on this cruise and I have to say it was the worst cruise we’ve ever done. Massive drop in standards from previous P&O experiences. Nothing really major wrong and if it had been our first cruise we’d have ranked it okay. However there has been clear penny pinching by the company and the ship felt understaffed. Will give P&O a wide berth for a bit until we hear things have improved. 
 

12 hours ago, memoak said:

Haven’t seen the Lynchburg Lemonade on new menus does anyone know if is still offered ?

Yes it is...

Photo taken on Enchanted end of July 2022.

It's also one of the standard cocktails that you can order anytime on the app.

Never sailed Princess before so was interested to see how the medallion and ordering drinks worked in real life...

Each bar etc had a tablet computer which displayed the photos of anyone stood nearby (see attached photo).  The server would simply tap your photo to process your drinks order.  It looks like there were symbols next to each photo that showed if you have a drinks package or not.  Never got charged for any drinks whilst on board.  Found the whole ordering process extremely quick and efficient. (we had the plus package).  Never had to scan/swipe my medallion once for drinks.  Delivery to my table/area after ordering on the app was quite good too, although I did have two orders never arrive and I had to go to a bar to get them made.

I'm sorry that one of you has reported a virus problem - no idea how that has happened.  I've scanned the files myself and can't see any issue.  The majority of the PDFs are simply copies of the web-browser page that appears once a QR code is scanned - this has then been converted to PDF using the Dropbox app on my phone - the only potential thing that may bring up a 'threat' is that the PDF contains a hyperlink/URL back to the original page (which you can't access unless you are connected to the ship WiFi).

I can't answer the question regarding prices in Good Spirits - I've already uploaded the only menu I found in there.  I did 90% of my drink ordering in Take Five - outstanding service from Jeny.  If anyone is onboard soon and sees her, tell her 'Phil with the Jack and Coke says hi!'.

Our cruise started in Southampton and went to Norway and Iceland so I've no idea where the wine stocks came from.  I don't drink wine so the stock (or lack of) never bothered me.

Just got off Enchanted yesterday (5th August).  Thought some of you may appreciate sight of the latest bar menus that you get when you scan the QR codes around the ship.

World Fresh Marketplace Menu Ocean Concierge.pdfWake View Bar Menu Ocean Concierge.pdfVista Lounge Menu Ocean Concierge.pdfTake Five Lounge Menu Ocean Concierge.pdfSeaView Bar Menu Ocean Concierge.pdfSabatini's Italian Trattoria Menu Ocean Concierge.pdfrs-gs-digitalmenu-originaldrinks_v5.pdfPrincess Casino Menu Ocean Concierge.pdfInternational Cafe Menu Ocean Concierge.pdfCrown Grill Menu Ocean Concierge.pdfCrooners Bar & Lounge Menu Ocean Concierge.pdf

Same here. Make sure you complain. The more of us that do and the message not to be so deceptive may get through

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

I dropped them a friendly email - not angry, just stated the price difference on the booking between then and now (£812). Got a call out of the blue today from a lovely lady at Celebrity. She said she had read my email and was prepared to upgrade the booking to a concierge class room.

So we have been upgraded from a 2C obstructed view veranda, to a C3 concierge class veranda and we keep our drinks package and OBC.

The final balance hasn't changed.

Extremely positive outcome and I told her that P&O had never even responded to our similar comments in the past and that she had given us a great impression of the Celebrity Cruises.

We booked our July 2017 Eclipse cruise about 5 weeks ago (before all the big price rises). Under the new 50% promotion our exact booking would be £812 cheaper, although we would lose the $400 OBC. All in all the new promotion is about £500 cheaper. Since the deposit was £450 there is not point cancelling and re-booking.

Not that thrilled for our first Celebrity Cruise experience. We fell out with P&O after their price drops and vantage fair broken promises.