CaptainPedantic

Thanks to feedback from the lovely people on this forum, we used P4C for the first time last year after 'defaulting' to CPS time and time again, and seeing similar huge increases. Very impressed and like others have said, the slight inconvenience of a less-than-5-minute walk is well worth the savings (and actually was quicker too). Recommended.

Really?!? I haven't experienced this with them - but I'm not surprised if it makes it easier to take our money!

We had a fabulous 14n cruise on Caribbean Princess last May, no issues with illness or overcrowding, wouldn't hesitate to book again

Is there still a night nursery available for the under 5s? When our kids were little (a long time ago!), we were able to regularly make use of this excellent facility and enjoy our evenings safe in the knowledge that they were being well looked after, and we could easily be contacted by pager if needed.

Princess made changes to their process last year to allow UK passengers to request any outstanding refundable onboard credit in cash before disembarking. I was told of this when trying to get a refund from a Caribbean Princess cruise in May 2023 (which was later paid via NatWest PayIt) and by the time we were on our August 2023 Island Princess cruise, we received a letter in the cabin telling us we could do this. They've done this because they can't retain non-US card details after the cruise, so can't issue refundable credits automatically.

+1 for this... as long as they are spicy... we find the curries are 'dumbed down' for the masses and miss some heat!

We got this too - discount code JANSALE24M if anyone needs it

Agree with your comment on 1903 - we tried that but much preferred the Escape lounge, and it was cheaper (although both had the long queues)

Hubby will probably be even more disappointed if he has to be dragged around the shops 😉

As others have said... you do get fast-track but you don't get lounge access included. There's a dedicated check-in desk/queue for premium economy, last month it was the very last of the P&O check-in desks, and there are always staff on hand to help direct you. They will give you fast-track tickets/stickers at check-in so you can breeze through security. But no lounge access unless you buy it separately... and the last two times we've been on these P&O fly cruises, we've had to wait 20+ minutes to get into the lounge even though we pre-booked - both times due to P&O premium economy passengers trying to argue their way in for free (unsuccessfully). Hope you have a great cruise 🙂

Hope you have an amazing time, looking forward to reading all about it 🙂

The ship did feel pretty quiet. I suppose there will have been a combination of people making the most of their first full day in Barbados, people recovering from long flights, and those leaving the ship early for a last trip or beach visit before going home. The pool area was definitely quieter than any other day on the cruise - even at 10am there were sun beds available poolside. MDR was quiet for breakfast and lunch too. The only busy times I noticed were when dropping off our hand luggage at 9am - everyone must have had the same idea after vacating their cabin but even then, it was less than 10 minute wait. And it was busy in the waiting areas naturally.

Here are a few of ours... This year, thanks to cruising, we have: Bobbed along in a RIB with a pod of humpback whales Seen and touched icebergs Ridden a horse through a Caribbean rainforest, onto a beach and into the sea Zip-lined through a rainforest and a cave Swam with a dolphin in the wild (that one was a complete surprise!) Snorkelled with turtles, stingrays, so many colourful fish and over a shipwreck and an underwater sculpture park We feel so privileged to have been able to do these things, and yes while we could organise land-based holidays to do similar things, for us, cruising is the best way to travel 🙂

Over Christmas, me and Mrs Pedantic were reflecting on our first proper year back to cruising since the pandemic, and all the wonderful experiences we have had in 2023... We definitely had started to take cruising for granted before Covid, and we are very grateful to have been able to have so many brilliant experiences this year. Not to mention all the lovely people we have met along the way! So as we get close to the end of the year, I thought it would be nice to hear all your cruise-related highlights for 2023 in one thread 🙂 look forward to hearing your stories!

Last year on Britannia, we took the Turtle Snorkel tour on disembarkation day on Britannia, and it worked perfectly - back to the ship for 12, quick shower and change in the gym (and btw lots of people had left their toiletries behind there if you forget), lunch in the MDR and all ready for our 2pm disembarkation. Which was delayed to 3pm so we even got to keep using the drinks package for a little longer 🙂 it was a great way to end the holiday before flying home. You can leave your hand luggage in the theatre too, to allow you to do what you like without having to lug things around with you. So good, that we had booked exactly the same tour for our Britannia cruise earlier this month, but unfortunately it was cancelled a couple of days before due to low bookings. So apart from a quick walk outside the terminal building, we spent the morning sunbathing by the pool instead. I did note there was also a beach excursion available which would take you directly to the airport at the end, instead of returning to the ship (in which case, don't leave your hand luggage in the theatre 😄). One other note... If you're doing Friday to Friday, you will need to go through immigration on the morning of the last day. They ask all those with tours booked to go through immigration first - it was at 7.30am on Britannia this month, although due to a late arrival it was more like 8am and the queue was huge! Once they started to process the immigration, the queue moved quickly, but if you have an early tour booked, it's worth getting to the immigration early...