Joline21

Sorry Adammara !

Thank you Adamma, Was this a private cruise or one through P & O ? The one we are hoping to book is a private one. We are hoping we do not have to go far to pick up the private one.

We are thinking of taking this evening canal cruise on the short break we are taking on Azura soon. Can anyone tell me how near the canal cruise boat would be to the ship? We do not know Amsterdam very well.

We did a New Year cruise on the Arcadia. We thoroughly enjoyed it. The ship was decorated beautifully. The New Year Gala Dinner was very good and the Haggis was piped in, which was great. There were several venues around the ship to choose from to see the New Year in. We finally decided to go to the deck party and grabbed a glass of champagne to see the New Year in.

We were in the Canaries at sea and it was quite warm. It was one of the best New Years we have had since seeing in the year 2000. Hope you enjoy yours as much.

The Aurora is a beautiful ship. She has really warm feel about her. She is one of our favourite P & O ships. She has a great Crows Nest with fantastic views too. You will love her. Have a great cruise - sounds fantastic.

Hi Wisden, The lovely dresses you described would be great on Informal nights on Cunard. I would keep your cocktail dresses for Formal evening, to wear as a change from a long dress. Of course, you can wear some if you wish and they won't be out of place. But a lot of ladies wear very smart trousers with dressy tops, and nice skirts and dressy tops as well. You definitely have a lot of choice. Have a wonderful cruise. Cunard is fabulous.

Also make sure your cabin is not directly above the Theatre. We had one and found we could hear rehearsals during the day. We turn in quite early and could hear the late show.

It is very easy to catch the train into Rome. It is a 10 min walk from the Port Gates, you turn right. You are allowed to walk to the Port Gates but keep your eyes out for passing traffic (not too much). It takes about 15 minutes.The trains are frequent, clean, fast and very reliable. You get out at the St. Peter's stop and you can see the dome of St. Peter's Cathedral, so its easy to find your way there first. If you have a map (easy to get one locally if you don't) you can get around Rome on foot quite easily. Of course, buses, taxis and the metro are available too. Coming back (we had a return ticket) is easy. We just walked onto the right platform - trains come up on lit up signs above - and a train came within 15/20 minutes and we were back to the Port in no time. Hope this helps.

We got off the ship with everyone else and went to Miami Airport with our luggage. There we left it in the Left Luggage place. We then took a taxi into town and near the beach for the day. This worked very well.

Yes, we do. Will do I expect.

Thanks Florry and Wilson 2579. We are really looking forward to cruising on Aurora. She is one of our favourite ships. Hoping to get some warmer weather after our rather depressing Summer.

We are cruising with P & O in a couple of weeks. I have just had a look at our Personliser and I was amazed to see that we are now only ticked as having a Priority Check In Queue (whatever that means). No tick for Early Embarkation or a Terminal Hospitality Lounge in Southampton. We had both of these on our last two cruises & were checked in on arrival at the port immediately.As others have said it took some time and loyalty to P & O to get to Caribbean and if we do lose these benefits we will vote with our feet. We are Elite on Princess and the treatment we got from them was second to none. I hope P & O will rethink this change to Caribbean.

Thank you everyone. All of this information is very helpful. Glad to hear we may be able to get off at the port gates. If not, it is not too far to walk to the Station.

Thank you all for this information. It is very helpful and will help us plan our day out to Rome.

We will soon be on Aurora and going to Rome. Is the Shuttle Bus from ship to port entrance in Civitavechia a complimentary one and therefore free, or is it put on by P & O and therefore has to be paid for if you are a Saver passenger. Also, does the ship still berth about a 10 minute walk from the port gates to the train station? We want to catch the train to Rome and have heard the berth may have been changed to further away from the station, and we need to know how far it is to walk. Many thanks.

Thank you both for your replies. That sounds promising. We will arrive at our normal time and all should be well. Looking forward to sailing on the Royal Princess.

We are due to sail with Princess for the first time on Royal Princess. We have just received a Booking Notification regarding check-in at Southampton. It is giving specific times for check-in depending on which deck you are on. Has anyone come across this recently and is it adhered to?

We cruised with HAL to the Caribbean and as I wasn't sure how formal it would be, I decided to compromise. I took a very smart black cocktail dress and my husband his usual black tie suit. I also took a formal long black dress in case it was more formal. I wore the cocktail dress on the 1st formal night and I felt extremely overdressed. I could count on one hand how many long dresses I saw and very few cocktail dresses. We didn't see many men in black tie either. Most women were wearing sparkly tops or sparkly jackets and black trousers or skirts. Some in floaty dresses or skirts. For the rest of the cruise I wore my sparkly tops and black trousers or skirt and my husband wore a jacket or suit and tie. From other reviews it seems different cruises to the med etc. can be more formal. So I recommend covering your options like I did.

My husband and I dined one night with a fellow passenger that was the image of David Niven. It was uncanny. Even down to his moustache. When we mentioned this to him he said he was always being told this and had got used to it.

Hi Magicdi, The dress code for each night is on my Cruise Personaliser. It should be on yours too.

We are going on our first New Year cruise on the Arcadia to the Canaries. We will be in Lanzarote all day but will be at sea at midnight. I'm glad to say it is a formal night which will be great! Can anyone tell me if they think there is any chance of our ship staying near Lanzarote and if so could there be fireworks?

Also, will our experience be similar to yours on Azura & Ventura?

Thank you all for your replies. We have contacted our Agent and since found out that there is an earlier Cunard flight. It goes out very early but does get you to the ship at a more convenient time. It gives you enough time to go for a meal on arrival and then some time to unpack before Safety Drill. We have changed our flight to the earlier flight now. In answer to your comment Keith we are on a chartered flight with Cunard, so should there be a delay I presume the ship will wait for us. However, I feel a lot more relaxed about the journey knowing I arrive at a better time.

This is our first fly cruise with Cunard and we are wondering how it is all organized. Our flight leaves from London at 12.50 and should arrive by approx 6.30pm Athens time. How long does it take to get to the Port and when do they do the Safety Drill? What time does the boat sale? We will miss dinner, are special arrangements made?. It all seems to be a bit rushed. Anyone done this before? Your comments would be gratefully received.