majortom10

We have visited before on a Sunday and was surprised how many shops were open.

If its sold out you wont get anything.

Unfortunately Dai has only ever cruised with P&O and often in m any forums bleats how good they are and clearly has nothing to compare it with wake uip and try Princess, Cunard, RCCL and Celebrity then you might think differently.

British Travel Awards are going to be biased towards P&O because more people from Britain travel on P&O than any other cruise line in Britain. Obviously law of average says that more will vote for P&O while wearing there rose coloured spectacles but as P&O once said "there is a world out there" and more should realise that when they are thinking P&O are great and good value for money they should try others to compare and realise they aint that good.

On Azura November 2012 they cancelled the 1030 show and everybody crammed into Malabar and Manhatten. It was like a workingmens club in Manhatten young children running on dance floor during show, lying on seats asleep at midnight when other people were standing and some groups who had obviously been there since dinner were the worse for drink.

For the uninitiated Marco Pierre White was Head Chef and owned his own restaurant by the age of 24 and by 33 he was the youngest chef to be awarded 3 Michelin stars and has trained Gordon Ramsey, Heston Blumenthal and Bryn Williams. These are top class chefs in their own rights and shows the ignorance of some cruisers to comment when they know so little about one of the top chefs this country has produced.

What a shame to lose the silver service - I always thought it one of life's little luxuries when cruising!

 

 

I too spotted the little paragraph informing me that they are no longer going to serve the vegetables separately at dinner, but have them already served on the plate "so your waiters have more time to get to know you and talk to you" - who are they kidding!!!

 

It just means less waiters - the waiters who are there will now have more tables to serve. On every voyage we have gone on, half the fun was getting to know your waiters through their service - one who served the main meal and the other one coming behind with the veg etc. Have they thought about waste - we object to being served with vegetables we don't like!!

 

We always thought silver service was the order of the day on P & O as on other shipping lines.

 

We are disappointed as we have to experience this new service for ourselves on 28th June 2014 on J408 to the Norwegian Fjords.

 

What do others think?

 

Anyone else on this particular cruise next year?

Very few cruiselines actually do silver service and P&O havent done proper silver service for many years.

The rate you pay for calls at sea is determined by your phone company. It is their maritime roaming rate. For internet you need to sign up for and use the ship's wifi; the rate is set by the cruise company. Best to limit internet access if possible to ports of call, many bars and cafes offer free wifi to customers.

No it isnt if you are at sea and on the ship all calls are connected by satellite system used by P&O and on my last cruise was about £1-80 per min.

Its a fallacy about P&O stopping silver service in main dining rooms they have not done proper silver service for many years all they do is bring meat and some veg plated and then serve other vegetables silver service. I for one am glad they are doing plated meals because when you are on a table for 8 and everyone has been served their main meal and then you had to wait while everyone was served vegetables was fed up of eating cold meals.

Well not quite.... Ryanair have a fleet of 300+ aircraft with a capacity of 57.000 seats. with a constant need to maximise seat occupancy You appear to have missed the point, it was whether it is a wise marketing strategy for P&O to be known for offloading last minute giveaways ( perhaps a better name than getaways)

 

Cb

Problem is Ryanair staff dont rely on tips to top up their wages, unlike waiters/cabin stewards, so they couldnt care if seats were empty in fact would prefer it because it would mean an easy journey. Also Ryanair dont make the majority of there profits from onboard spend during the 2 hr flights unlike most cruise companies who make most of there profit in that manner so therefore do not want to sail with any empty cabins.

Yes I have lost total trust and confidence and will not be booking anymore cruises with them in the future. Oriana in March, booked in May 2012, will be our last and we have seriously considered cancelling that. We have usually done at least 2 cruises sometimes 3 a year with P&O but have not sailed with them at all during 2013 instead cruising with Princess which is a far better cruising experience with better food and entertainment and full days in port.

You can pre book Seventeen but not the actual day just a general booking you then have to confirm the date and time when you get onboard. To my knowledge you cannot pre book Sindhu until you get onboard and even when onboard unless you go for the Tasting Menu in Glass House you cannot pre book at all.

Well,

 

We have done 20+ cruises all with tables of 8 and had wonderful times, never had a bad table or indeed anyone we would not want to sit with.

 

People who ask for a table of 8 tend to be the sort of people who like to chat.

 

 

 

Gan Canny

 

 

 

Dai

:cool:

Well you have been very lucky then we have done nearly 30 cruises and always ask for a table for 8 but have unfortunately had 1 or 2 bad tables. One couple were Welsh and never spoke the whole holiday to anyone and when they spoke to each other while sitting at the table they did in Welsh causing an atmosphere. Another occasion with a mother and daughter her mother complained about every main meal to the waiters and tried to encourage the rest of the table to complain by telling waiters the rest of us were not happy with our meals when there was no complaint whatsoever.

Freedom dining for us every time whichever cruise line we are with and if its available. Sounds lovely and warming having a table for 8 and making good friends but if you are unlucky enough to have a miserable sod or couple on your table and you have to eat and suffer with them every night it can ruin your cruise.

We have been recently looking at a holiday in Torquay just in case we cannot get a cruise for September/October. The hotel which we have used in the past which is not a top notch hotel but very nice in a basic room want £64pppn for dinner,bed and breakfast for September and £54pppn for October so that shows just what good value a cruise is when you consider it includes lunch, afternoon tea, late night snacks and all entertainment.

It depends on the cabin class and time of year. £50 is about right for an inside or outside but a bit low for a balcony on P&O.

 

We always have a balcony and only sail in the spring and autumn as the summer is too hot for us. Fortunately this is when they have most trouble filling the ships. I usually book about 4 weeks before the cruise and would not pay more than £80 pppn for a balcony cabin. We've only had 2 P&O cruises (1 pre-Getaways introduction and 1 post) with a balcony cabin price of about £70 per night. I find the Vantage prices ridiculously high and expect the Getaway price on the cruises I'm interested in to be less than 50% of the Vantage ones.

 

Other cruise lines seem to manage with lower prices! Our 7 day RCI Adventure of the Seas cruise in April last year cost $832 (£525 at the time) for a balcony cabin. This was the total for the 2 of us including gratuities. This works out at about £30 pppn without the gratuities.

 

I was looking at a couple of Costa cruises earlier this year where the prices for a 7 night cruise were £149 inside and £199 balcony!

If you think £50pp is about right for an inside cabin try and book a half decent hotel in the UK for bed, breakfast and evening meal for that price and you will be surprised and then think what fantastic value for money it is when on a cruise for whats included.

I love them. The reality is that the product offered is worth the getaway fare, but it's not worth the vantage one. £50 a night or so seems right for the food etc offered by p&o.

 

I understand the frustration of people who pay the excessive fare and feel they're subsidising the cheaper fare though because they are!

If you think £50 a night is about right for Full English Breakfast, Lunch, Afternoon Tea, Dinner, late night snacks, room service and all entertainment inclusive I shudder to think when you last booked a land based holiday and how much you paid per night for it. This day and age it is very hard to get a half decent hotel for breakfast and dinner alone for £50pppn in the UK.

We have done lots of cruises with P&O but have never attended or liked any of the sailaway parties. Nothing wrong with having a party if thats what you like and nothing wrong in being proud of your country but to play the theme from the Dambusters and wave Union Flag at a German cruise ship is the height of bad manners and is embarrassing and P&O and the Cruise Director should be ashamed to allow it to happen.

What a completely narrow minded view you have!

 

Low prices attract all sorts of people. The couple who can fit another holiday into their year because it's a good deal or people like myself and my husband who have 3 very young children who are not yet at school meaning we only have one income coming in, plus a huge mortgage to pay for, so we can't afford expensive prices but can grab a cheap getaway priced cruise to have a couple of days away together. Maybe people like us shouldn't be allowed on a cruise then as we don't meet your upper class standards :rolleyes:

It also attracts the people that normally go to Benidorm but go on the cruise because as a Getaway it is better value and then end up drunk and fighting in bars which has happened.

Good things about Getaway fares? - Other companies are also lowering fares to compete and now I can travel with 5* lines for the same price or less than P&O Vantage :) Three of my four cruises this year have been/are with lines other than P&O.

Do not think other cruise lines are lowering there prices to compete with P&Os Getaway prices they are reducing them because like every cruise line in current financial climate they are struggling to fill ships.

You never know what will happen in the future but Ventura is only based in the Med for the summer not permanently and all depends if it is a success or not. They might if it is a success do it again next year with Ventura or change for Azura (I hope not) or if not a great success put a smaller ship there i.e. Aurora or Oceana.

IMO all the more reason you should of asked to speak to the head waiter/maitre'd and if that did not satisfy then you should have gone to the Hotel/Restaurant Manager. Have always found the staff to be more than willing to accommodate and rectify any problems. Sorry the special occasion was not as you planned.

I did complain went straight to Pursers desk they took details what happened and said somebody would be in touch the next day. There was no response so went again to Pursers desk and went through the complaint again and was told again that somebody would get in touch. Finally got a phone call from somebody from restaurant manager department after 2or 3 daysand he knew nothing about my complaint he only found out because the maitre'd had to fill in a report to explain why we had not paid for our meal. He was very apologetic and said he would make sure the people involved would be spoken to and offered us a complimentary bottle of wine with our meal in dining room that evening in Sabatinis which was superb with excellent service.

In tears?? Disappointments happen and your experience was horrid but tears?

It was a special birthday occasion for the wife and the reason why we booked the cruise. Thank you for your caring attitude

What happened? We are on Caribbean Princess at the end of September.

Sat us at our table and took our order and served us first course. Then after we had finished that they then moved us to another table which in their opinion was better. When they bought main course mine was wrong so they left the wife's with her side orders and took my main course away. She had to start eating hers because it was going cold, by the time my main course was right she had finished her meal and then because my side orders were by now cold they took them away and I then had to wait while my main course was going cold while they cooked me fresh side orders. It was total fiasco and the waiter tried to blame me for the main course being wrong so I told him to clear everything away that we didnt want any dessert and we left the restaurant. At no time did the head waiter/maitre'd come to the table and apologise so we left with wife in tears. I have never on any cruise ship whether it be a speciality restaurant or main dining room encountered such poor service.

We did not have a happy experience in Crown Grill on Caribbean Princess in May we walked out halfway through the meal and to make matters worse it was to celebrate wife's birthday and she was in tears.