Burgmeister

15 minutes ago, Bazrat said:

Obviously the incubation period is two weeks so after at least 3 weeks you should be ok but only you can make that decision if you want to go on your cruise or not. 

Thank you for your input but you haven't answered the question I asked. If PHE don't name you as being at risk of contact can you answer the specific P&O question regarding contact?

Well, we are due to cruise at the end of the month and today there was a confirmed case at my daughter's school. This makes the whole discussion slightly less abstract to us than a lot of people on here. Currently PHE are tracing who this student has been in contact with and will give advice on what to do. 

Assuming my daughter isn't someone contacted by PHE can I answer the P&O question as "no we haven't been in contact with anyone with the virus"

We are doing a 7 nighter round trip out of Southampton and, whilst this is just my opinion, I reckon if anyone goes down with Covid-19 they will either be removed and returned to UK for isolation or the whole ship will sail back to UK and everyone will be put in isolation until tested - but not on the ship!

Given the experience of the Diamond Princess, I can't see any government insisting on quarantining on a ship again - it blatantly didn't work

9 minutes ago, AndyMichelle said:

P&O policy was that your upgrade price would be what it would have been at the time of booking. 

We were told the same from our ta, so phoned P&O direct and they upgraded us from inside to balcony for £70 each for 7 nights. 

It seems they are being more flexible than the rules at the moment. 

Andy 

Sounds like you did well there Andy. 

We already have a balcony cabin and were hoping for a magic upgrade to a suite - it didn't happen. Not sure its worth phoning to upgrade as I don't really know what the benefits of a suite would be (never had one before)

2 minutes ago, AndyMichelle said:

My pleasure. 

 

I wouldn't stress the ladies about the black & white code too much. 

Michelle decided to be different and wear a beautiful blue dress on B&W night, only for one of our table companions to do exactly the same... 

Many do take part, but you will see plenty of other colours around. 

 

Andy 

Cheers. I don't think they will be rushing out to buy any new dresses (at least, I hope they won't!!!). 

Just now, AndyMichelle said:

Yes, one of the formals is usually black and white. 

It's easy for us men in our penguin suits.. 

Andy 

Ah OK that's fine then. I can just wear the same sort of thing for both formal nights then!

I'll have to tell the wife and daughter that they need to be white or black for one of the nights if they wish to join in. 

Thanks Andy

Thanks for responding Andy

Just for clarification, our details say that on our 7 night cruise there are 2 formal nights, 1 black and white night and 1 60s/70s night. Are you saying that one of the 2 formal nights is actually the black and white night?

Although most of my wardrobe is old I don't think I have anything form the 60s or 70s!

On our upcoming cruise there are, apparently, a black & white themed evening and a 60s & 70s themed evening. How many people usually join in with this sort of thing? 

Happy to dress up for the formal nights but just wondering what percentage of cruisers bother with the themed evenings

Thanks

We received our documentation on Thursday and our tags are for  the cabin we booked so no upgrade fairy visit for us

We were due to go to Hong Kong last month but cancelled due to the virus (everything I had booked was fully refundable). I then booked a cruise for the end of March - and then the Diamond Princess happened! I'm beginning to think I'm a jinx!

Anyway, as we are fully paid up we won't be cancelling unless P&O cancel it on our behalf. I simply can't afford to lose the cost of the cruise. If something happens that means that the insurance would pay out if we cancel then would need to review the situation but, as it stands, we are still going on 28th March.

Hi again everyone

Back again with more questions!

When you take your litre of alcohol onboard, does it have to be in your luggage or your hand luggage?

Also, is it 1 litre per person or can it be combined as 2 litres per couple?  i.e. could we take 2 x 750ml bottles and a 500ml bottle between us?

Thanks

1 hour ago, majortom10 said:

When we have boarded Princess at usually about midday in Southampton the cabins have always been ready to occupy straight away.

We boarded shortly after 12 and were told that we could access our cabin straight away. When we got there the steward was just finishing off our room. We dumped our bags and, by the time we had done that, the steward finished and left.

4 hours ago, Suebiker said:

 

We have always taken our hand luggage straight to our cabins and dropped it off before going to lunch. Never had an issue or been told off for doing this.  Obviously we don't stay in the cabin but it is handy to be able to drop stuff off.

 

The Glasshouse  is a speciality restaurant and charges for meals - so I wouldn't think it would be busy.  The Beachhouse is the buffet and will be busy!!!!!!!!

 

 

Ah, that's good. All we would want to do is dump the bags.

Sorry, I meant Beach House - see how new I am to all of this P&O stuff!! 😄

I guess we'll just have to face the chaos that is all Cruise ship buffet restaurants on embarkation day. A minor inconvenience but it certainly won't ruin the trip.

I understand tha there is a "Costa" on board where you can buy coffee and get snacks. Would this be open as an option to avoid the Beach House?

Thanks again everyone - really good info and feedback

4 hours ago, terrierjohn said:

P&O do not have fire doors closed to keep you out of the cabin as do RCI and Celebrity, but you might get black looks from your steward if you want to stay in it and he has not finished preparing it, but dropping off your hand luggage should not be a problem.

We have never seen an MDR open on RCI on embarkation day though, but we have only sailed with them out of Southampton.

We have definitely used the MDR on departure day from Southampton. The staff don't ever tell you that they are open - unless you ask.

9 hours ago, AndyMichelle said:

The Glass House etc are open for lunch on embarkation, don't think the MDR is. 

As for cabin availability, depends what time you arrive. 

We have been lucky most of the time, but our last cruise we had about a half hour wait. 

Most are ready by 2ish.

Andy 

Ah, shame about the MDR. On RC and Princess they have one of the main MDRs open and, as everyone else normally heads straight for the buffet, it makes a lovely start to your holiday to be served a nice lunch in a serene environment.

Oh, well, I'll just have to join the hoards in the Glass House.

Princes is the only line that we have been on where they let you get access to your cabin no matter what time you arrive - even if it hasn't been finished yet. Really handy to be able to dump your hand luggage prior to heading to the MDR for lunch. Have to say that was the only cruise where we have been able to do that. RC make an announcement around 2pm to say all cabins are ready and, IIRC, Norwegian was the same.

Thanks everyone for the answers to my queries.

Couple more questions.

1. Are any of the MDRs open for lunch on embarkation day?

2. Can you get access to your cabin as soon as you board (as on Princess) or do you have to wait until a certain time (as per RC and Norwegian)?

Thanks

21 hours ago, KnowTheScore said:

@

 

I have to say that picking a long 35 night cruise as your first on any ship is somewhat risky as any individual ship may not provide the experience you are looking for.   Better imo to try shorter cruises on different ships to find the ones that best suit your personal preferences.

 

Cheers

Thank you for your response but I'm not quite sure where you got the idea that I was signed up to a 35 night cruise? We have booked  a 7 night cruise

Disappointed to hear that kids run riot - that can absolutely ruin a cruise.

10 minutes ago, Josy1953 said:

Our experience on P&O ships is that the dress code is followed by the majority of passengers.

Thanks Josy and Andy

Looking back through the answers to my previous questions, I have a follow up to the question on taking alcohol aboard. I now understand that we can take 1 litre of alcohol per adult - is that a single bottle up to 1 litre or could you take 2 x 0.5 Litre bottles each? 

I know people have said that they don't really check for it but I am a rule follower

Hi again everyone

Well, turns out that this cruise is back on and we are booked on Ventura for our first P&O cruise.

I'm afraid I have another question. How strictly is the dress code followed on formal nights. 

We quite like dressing up for the formal nights as we don't do this at home, but would feel quite self conscious if we were in a minority of people joining in.

Thanks

17 minutes ago, AndyMichelle said:

Fantastic, we have started another tipping thread... 😊

I don't feel obliged to tip anybody and understand why most don’t, but I do like to reward when crew go above and beyond. 

On our last cruise, we moved cabin halfway through. The first cabin steward did her job, she did not get a tip. The second could not have been more helpful and friendly and added a bit of humour to our holiday, he got a tip. 

I don't care if I am right or wrong, I will give a few quid to those who do a little bit to make my holiday better. 

Andy 

 

Oops Sorry, I'll drop the tips comments!

You aren't right or wrong though. I don't think there is a right or wrong - it's what you feel happy doing. At least with P&O you have the option.

1 minute ago, wowzz said:

We don't tip unless the service is extremely good. No point including tips in the fare if you then tip as well .

I would always expect the service to be extremely good though - that is what people are being paid for and everyone should take pride in their work - shouldn't they?

Interestingly, when we went to Finland for a holiday a few years back we were told that tipping is seen as an insult. Apparently it appears to staff that you are saying that their normal service is substandard and you are only tipping because their service was good - an interesting take on it.

1 minute ago, AndyMichelle said:

Yep, no tips needed or expected. 

To my surprise, it seems most passengers now follow this, we seemed to be the only ones giving our wonderful waiters a tip on our last cruise. 

Andy 

Did you tip each night or just at the end of the cruise?

Just curious, did you also tip your cabin steward?

I, like many in the UK, have always seen tipping as odd. People get paid to do a job yet some jobs are expected to be tipped (waiting staff, cab drivers etc) whilst others don't have any expectation of this (pretty much everyone else!). Now that there is a legal minimum wage it seems even more odd to tip certain staff - for the avoidance of doubt, I'm talking about jobs "onshore" and I do tip as it is expected. 

Thanks Andy

That has always been my thinking but, obviously, others don't necessarily agree.

Just looked up the "gratuities" policy and was surprised to see that P&O have removed them. 

2 hours ago, wowzz said:

That would be my feeling as well.

I was wondering why the OP had the unsubstantiated impression that Ventura was not the "best" ship in the fleet.

I have read a number of reviews (admittedly not recently) that were not glowing in their opinions of Ventura. My response saying that I was aware that Ventura may not be the best ship in the fleet was in reply to Presto2's comment "Have to say --- to be  bit of a 'downer' sorry -- that Ventura was not our favourite ship though "

I think most of the reviews that were negative were from people that may not have been the target market for Ventura. As I understand it, Ventura is a large, family focused, ship  that doesn't suit everyone  - having said that I read similar reviews of the IotS before we sailed on her and we loved that ship.

Obviously, never having cruised on P&O let alone the Ventura, I can't offer any first hand opinion of her, however, as I said, the reviews I read were, on the whole, less than great. As you can see from my original query I have not let this put me off from thinking of booking on her.

On another point that you mentioned - the P&O FAQ. Thank you for pointing this out and its interesting to know that all of my questions could have been answered by reading that. I would, of course, not have received the other interesting titbits and opinions had I done that but I realise that some people get annoyed by forumites asking questions that could be found by doing their own research and for that I apologise. Personally, I am happy to answer anyone's questions regarding a ship I have sailed on whether they could get that information elsewhere or not - there is no substitute for real-world experience in my view.