icklemonster

I've just tried to go on the points website and can't see anything to click so have emailed them. I must say there is no legal need as far as I can see for P&O to require as per GDPR for us to say we want to stay in the scheme. It would fall within legitimate business interest for P&O to keep these details, and simply updating their privacy policy would have likely sufficed. I worry they either have very poor legal representation or they are using it as an opportunity to wipe clean lots of loyalty points. :confused::confused::confused::confused::confused:

I find Land-Based holidays really dull since starting cruising. I love the fact you can have a quiet or fun-packed day on a cruise whether you are at sea or in port. I love visiting places and sampling a taster of an area/country :)

I also love the effort the staff put into making sure that you have an amazing break. The effort just always seems to outshine any land-based holiday which would cost the same as a cruise fare :)

I have done Carnival, NCCL, and Royal Carribbean. I have really enjoyed RCCL because of their entertainment, food, service and ports of call. However, I was recently very disappointed because they retained my $900 deposit for a cruise that was over 155 days from departure. BEWARE - make sure you purchase cruise protection coverage because the cruise lines does not consider extenuating circumstances for a cancellation.

 

Since I am a Diamond member, I am dump-founded how their retaining my $900 deposit would equate to losing a customer. There was no sense of fairness or customer care for their loyal patrons.

 

I was diagnosis with Lupus just one week after my reservation, but Celebrity/RCCL refused to issue a future cruise credit. I didn’t even ask for a refund – just a future cruise credit.

Even though my my cruise confirmation wasn't issued until 18 days after my reservation, Celebrity takes no responsibility for the delay in issuing my confirmation and have retained our $900 deposit. It wasn't until 18 days after my reservation that I noticed no travel insurance had been added to my reservation. It was too late to take insurance to cover pre-existing conditions.

I wish you much success in your cruise search. Just be careful of all the cancellation policies.

I am sorry to hear of your illness. The Customer Service division at RCCL is truly diabolical. I really hope you continue to fight and get a credit note. When we complained when RCCL accidentally charged my credit card 3 times for shore excursions and the alcohol package, they gave us a bottle of wine to apologise. Which was handy with the alcohol package (hence we didn't drink it) :rolleyes:

On every cruise with the exception of one, we have got to know our cabin steward better than any other staff member. You can't help everyone but even helping the one closest to you can make a difference to that person. Have you ever heard the Starfish Story? ;)

Sometimes it is the small things which can make someone's day and just because you are paying them it doesn't mean you can't offer to do something nice in return on top of the usual tip etc :)

We are serial cruise-line jumpers as we like to try different things!

That said, before DD was born I did fall a bit in love with Celebrity but it didn't seem ideal for really small children, so we reverted to P&O & RCCL once DD was born. We are now trying Carnival as they are meant to have a really fantastic kids club. Now our cruises are more about children entertainment, and I would rather have a great kids club than feeling like I'm surrounded by total luxury which I can't enjoy with a bored DD.

DH always says one of his top cruises was on the Thomson Destiny, which was ridiculously cheap, lowest rated star of any ship, but he said that because it didn't take itself too seriously, the crew were truly amazing (even though the staff passenger/ratio was the worst we have been on - the show staff were doing departures at the airport!) and the passengers were so friendly, he had an amazing trip.

I think you need to try different things, just because it is the most expensive/luxurious, it doesn't always mean the best vacation. I think it depends where you are in your life, and what kind of things you get enjoyment from.

Also I think a big impact is the passengers on board - on our last cruise on RCCL the passenger age was the lowest average we have ever experienced, and being in our early 30's meant it was refreshing to have people of our age group around.

I think there are too many factors with every line / ship to give a truly fair answer on what is the best!

I think it's a lovely idea :) I will definitely ask on our next cruise at any port where we plan on visiting shops.

I completely disagree that cruising isn't cheap if you really search around!

My Mum is leaving this week on a P&O cruise with flights to the Caribbean totalling £2200 for her and her OH. They originally booked a balcony in the P&O January sale for £2000 for both of them incl flights, but then got a call a week ago saying would they like to pay £200 to upgrade to a 1A suite!! So for £2200 they are flying from the UK to Caribbean return, and spending 2 weeks in a SUITE on Azura. (Thats $123 dollar pppn)! DH & I paid just that for 4 nights on a land-based holiday to Santorini and that was self catering and flights only!!!

110% worth it!! Some of our most amazing food experiences on land or on water have been in speciality restaurants. It is beyond a bargain the tiny amount you have to pay as a cover, compared to a restaurant on land for that quality of food and service :)

You can usually board around 11:30 even thought they say 12:30. When you get on board go the buffet for lunch. Plan at least an hour+ to get to the port. How are you getting there? Are you renting a car then turning it back in at the port? I have read here of different ways to get to the port. I know there are shuttles to the port from Orlando. Try searching here on cruisecritic for ways to the port. Or someone here may be able to give you different ways to get there.

We are hiring car which we have to drop off at the cruise port. Some nice people on the Carnival board recommended some tips on getting there, and I have just emailed our travel agent to check where we are returning our car is not going to add too much extra time to our journey! :)

Thanks so much everyone for the advice We'll avoid WDW that morning then.

I posted on he Carnival board (as suggested above) and was given the idea of going to the Kennedy Space station. I love the Kennedy space station idea - DH is an engineer and bit of a geek so he would really enjoy going there, if even for a few hours. The prices look a lot more favourable too for a short visit compared to WDW.

We have a 2 year old DD who is bound to have jet lag so we'll be up ridiculously early (hence the reason for wanting something to do in the morning or she'll go crazy stuck in a hotel room) so figure we can set off super early and arrive for when it opens at 9am, then stay until just before noon. It says on Google 27 minutes commute to the cruise port, so think I'd feel comfortable with that.

Thanks so much everyone for the advice :) We'll avoid WDW that morning then.

I love the Kennedy space station idea - DH is an engineer and bit of a geek so he would really enjoy going there, if even for a few hours. The prices look a lot more favourable too for a short visit compared to WDW.

We have a 2 year old DD who is bound to have jet lag so we'll be up ridiculously early (hence the reason for wanting something to do in the morning or she'll go crazy stuck in a hotel room) so figure we can set off super early and arrive for when it opens at 9am, then stay until just before noon. It says on Google 27 minutes commute to the cruise port, so think I'd feel comfortable with that.

Thanks for the tips on having quarters for the tolls too, will remember that.

Hi, we are sailing out of Port Canaveral on Liberty on Sunday Jan 11. The ship is due to depart at 16:00. They have given us a boarding time of 12:30 - 14:30. I've never sailed with Carnival before so I'm just wondering what time boarding actually opens and closes?

We are spending a couple of nights at Disneyworld before and I'm wondering whether we should spend the morning in one of the parks then head over to the ship to maximise our Orlando experience (we're travelling from the UK).

It looks like it takes about an hour from Disney to Port so thinking if we set off at around 12.30 we'll be there by 14:00. I'm just thinking if we hit some traffic on route (is this a bad route for congestion on a Sunday?) and don't make the 14.30, is boarding actually still open until after that?

Also if we decide against the above, then we'll want to board earlier than 12.30?

Any advice would be appreciated :)

Thanks, I'll hunt out the Carnival board :)

So 14.30 is the final allowed boarding time for everyone? With other lines we have sailed you have been able to board closer to the departure time. I know the boarding times they usually assign you are just for crowd control but in fact you can often board from about 11am to 1 hour before departure. Is this not the case with Carnival?

Hi, we are sailing out of Port Canaveral on Liberty on Sunday Jan 11. The ship is due to depart at 16:00. They have given us a boarding time of 12:30 - 14:30. I've never sailed with Carnival before so I'm just wondering what time boarding actually opens and closes?

We are spending a couple of nights at Disneyworld before and I'm wondering whether we should spend the morning in one of the parks then head over to the ship to maximise our Orlando experience (we're travelling from the UK).

It looks like it takes about an hour from Disney to Port so thinking if we set off at around 12.30 we'll be there by 14:00. I'm just thinking if we hit some traffic on route (is this a bad route for congestion on a Sunday?) and don't make the 14.30, is boarding actually still open until after that?

Also if we decide against the above, then we'll want to board earlier than 12.30?

Any advice would be appreciated :)

Just to add - I guess it depends on how you view the statistics. Looking at our cruise in 2012, the chance of a flight being delayed by over 3 hours from London GTW to Barcelona was 0.46% in 2012 (http://www.flightontime.info/londonbarcelona/index.html).

It's a 2 hour flight so we always aim to arrive around 8am. Therefore, I figure statistically I'd have to take 217 med cruises before I 'might' not make the ship (I say might as I allow 6 hours for delays and this only gives a figure for over 3 hours).

This has confirmed my belief, it's not worth booking the extra day off work as holiday, which I can use for my next cruise for such a short flight.

On 5 cruises we had fixed dining on group table; 3 of which we had brilliant table mates, and became friends and are still in contact with 3 of the couples. So fixed can be good, but it is a gamble.

On 2 cruise we just didn't gel with the other people and it was awkward having to eat with them every night.

On another cruise we asked for a fixed time group table but they gave us our own, we really missed the group conversation :(

So then we decided to go down the freedom dining route.

I'm all for having a couple of nights of romantic dining in a speciality restaurant but love to hear the experiences of others on the others too.

On our last cruise we did freedom dining. Only on 1 night did we not gel with out table mates. Every other night we had a ball!

We have booked Freedom dining again on Liberty for January. Hope the people on board that ship are as much fun as on Splendour. Looking at the roll call thread it looks like the youngest cruise we will have ever been on, so fingers crossed we'll have lots in common :D

Get an excursion with the cruiseline. We did a morning excursion, river tubing which was fab. In the afternoon we decided to venture off the ship for a walk around the town and within 100m of the ship some guy bumped into DH and asked him if he wanted some 'snow'. DH joked we left that back home in the UK, but obviously he was referring to drugs. It was probably the most intimidating place we have stopped for a cruise!

P&O have 4 ships which have great kids programmes (Ventura, Azura, Aurora, Oceana) & accept children in their kids clubs from 24 months, for those younger than 24 months they have a free night nursery! Just to give you the heads up, it is nearly all Brit's on board. We sailed with our DD at 9 months around the canaries and the night nursery was great and the staff fantastic.

Pre 24 months it only cost £100 for a 12 night cruise for DD. It goes up quite a bit once they can go in the kids club from age 2.

The other great thing about p&O was they give you a baby bath, steriliser, kettle, fridge etc. The nursery room is opening during the day as a giant playroom, albeit you have to supervise them playing. Super child friendly ship.

We also sailed around the Med with Royal Caribbean Splendour of the Seas in June when DD was 17 months. They also had a good nursery on board, and on sea days and evenings you can arrange babysitting in there with lovely staff. It cost $8 an hour per child but well worth it - DD loved it. 30 months and under won't be allowed in actual kids clubs though.

ETA - also check out Cunard! They run a similar programme to P&O, with kids clubs starting at age 2, and a free night nursery for those aged 12 - 24 months. Never sailed with them though so can't personally recommend them.

If cruising in Winter I always fly at least a day before - but if winter this means a trip across the Atlantic. That said on our P&O cruise around the Caribbean they chartered flights especially for the cruise packed with Brit passengers and I'm pretty sure they guaranteed to get you to the ship. They flew out the same day.

On summer med cruises cruising from destinations like Venice or Barcelona where there are numerous flights leaving the UK we always fly out the morning of the cruise.

Thank you for the reply, I'll go ahead and book, and email them just to confirm that our LO has been added :)

Sorry to revive an all thread but can I ask OP, did you ever get this resolved? I am trying to book some shore excursions for me, my hubby and our 2 year old on Liberty in January. I'm getting the same message as you for my 2 year old, and when I go to pay it says there are only 2 guests booked :confused:

Or if anyone else can help? We've never cruised with Carnival before, and other lines have let us book our daughter as a shore passenger even if she hasn't had to pay.