john watson

You may also get the cabin steward to reconfigure double to twin beds or vice versa once on board. There have been cruises when I was sharing with my daughter and beds needed to be separated. Regards John

The situation with P&O is that passengers sailing out of United Kingdom had very few different cruise lines to choose from and a huge proportion of them chose P&O. Over the years this led to a high proportion of top level loyalty passengers. On a number of occasions they decided repeatedly to have a different cut off dates to calculate the points accrued. The idea being to level the playing field somewhat and give newcomers a chance by reducing ancient points. At one point Princess and P&O cruises were counted by both lines evenly. After they were separated by Carnival, Princess accepted P&O cruises at full value and P&O accepted Princess cruises at half points. The situation changed when Princess, who only had a short ex-UK season changed to operating all year round out of Southampton. When this happened both cruise lines decided to make their loyalty systems independent. Princess cut off at 17 December 2017 and cruises sailed with P&O prior to this date were still counted by Princess but only for passengers who had completed an actual Princess Cruise by that date. Regards John

This explains why the cruise wants double occupancy in every cabin as a basic minimum. This is not my problem if I only drink water from the cabin sink and never go on shore excursions and have a big win in the casino. Same as Mrs. Watson. Not my concern that we are not spending on board You still have not explained how you have total confidence in your second passenger. Regards John

I think you have missed the point when you say the person did not gain anything. They attempted a booking with just one passenger listed and the cruise line refused to accept the booking. When suggest it is not a good idea to book someone who in the end wont show up. How confident are you that when you book a cruise that the other passenger wont become sick, have a close relative die, just change their mind etc etc. Regards John.

Why would you get a bill when a full amount of money has been paid for two passengers and you have turned up. Princess would need to pursue a legal case with a non-existent person Regards John.

When we were on Sky Princess, I had booked S219. It has a standard size balcony on Deck 17, Sun Deck. Instead of having inside cabins across the other side of the corridor you have a glass wall and a view of the Retreat Pool for quiet swimming. Very atmospheric late at night when you traipse back to the cabin You are also near to public toilets in case someone hogs the shower. Plenty of towels available near the pool. Regards John

Nini, I took a look on YouTube and found some Dolphin Deck Balcony videos of the big balcony type. They are of the more aft Premium Deluxe run. I was thinking these stick out a lot and above wont stick out the same amount but conversely wont not stick out at all. Regards John

A nice, well placed hotel in Southampton is Leonardo Royal Southampton Grand Harbour Hotel. You can see some of the berths and ships, from the hotel. It is opposite Holiday Inn, Herbert Walker Avenue, which is cheap and cheerful but the restaurant is a bit basic there. The cruise berths are very spread out at Southampton. The taxi guys know which ship is where. Regards John

They are larger balconies on Dolphin and I am pretty certain they are 50/50% covered/open. Regards John

If you are willing to pay 200% single supplement, can you not just book a second person on your booking and tell them at the terminal they are running late knowing they are a no show? Regards John

On P&O (UK) the top two tiers have a set number of nights for each of the two tiers relating to the last three years. On top of this you need to have an overall number of nights sailed. The latter relates to all tiers but the cut off date is quite a while back. Regards John

If you need to change terminals at Heathrow. Studying the London Underground map should help. All the terminals are linked on a loop with T5 on a spur. The easiest way to work out the route is on the Transport for London website London Underground Map. Regards John

One of the basic rules which the cruise line advise is that parents are responsible for supervising their children while they are in the pool. It might have a few swimmers in the pool but other cruise lines have experienced tragic outcomes where children were not directly supervised. Regards John.

You cannot be serious. Regards John

The greatest superstar who carried off the mock turtleneck genre of dress brilliantly was Wilfrid Wimble. He was a major star for many years in the Beano with the Bash Street kids and was highly respected in the United Kingdom. "Don't stick your neck out, you don't know what's out there" was his motto. Regards John

When you say Victoria Station, most Londoners are thinking you mean the railway station. Victoria Coach Station is the place where long distance buses run from. They are quite a distance apart and it is important to say "Coach" to any taxi driver to prevent misunderstanding.. Regards John

I should arrive more that one day prior to sailing and stay in London. Travel to Southampton and stay overnight in Southampton for one night. This gives you some touring in London and peace of mind by being within a few minutes of the ship on the day of embarkation. Regards John

They can add another level above Elite and then the passengers who qualify for the new higher than Elite level could then have future benefits that current Elite people enjoy. The nonqualifying for promotion Elite passengers would assume the current Platinum level benefits. Similarly the current Platinum level people would assume the fewer benefits the Ruby passengers get and so on. The cruise line would likely be thinking along these lines as it would save a bit of revenue. Regards John

The two most dangerous places for children are the Balcony of your cabin and the Promenade Deck. In cabins a high bolt can prevent the doors from opening. If parent is on balcony and comes in to make a drink etc. all children need to come in from the balcony for the duration. Until you can confidently let your children cross a 40 mph road I keep them from being alone on Promenade Deck. In my opinion you need to monitor what they are doing and the time of day etc. Comparing this to how they are at home in and away from the house alone. Regards John

I have not taken children on cruises for a while but had a fifteen year period of doing so on various lines, P&O, Princess and Cunard. My experience is that typically first day of joining, the Youth Team go through the rules with parents and children. As far as I recall P&O's rules include. No children allowed to enter cabins other than the ones their family are booked into, no unaccompanied children in lifts, adults are not allowed to disembark leaving children alone on board (they must be supervised on board by someone eighteen years or older who is a relative or adult friend who knew them prior to embarking). Nobody under eighteen may disembark alone. P&O have a policy of parents need to sign children in and out of the club until they are thirteen. The theatre, first three rows do not permit children to sit there, even with parents. Youngsters cannot leave the club on their own decision. There is no specific age at which children can walk about the ship alone as far as I know, the same as in UK leaving children alone on your house at home. Princess has a mobile Youth Security team usually a man and woman with a walkie talkie who patrol the ship in response to any incidents reported to reception. P&O do not. The main risk of unaccompanied children about the ship is not that they might have a negative affect on other passengers cruises. It is that as vulnerable people the children are at risk from inappropriate behaviour from adults. Stranger danger is a problem because the cruise ship is not a totally safe place. Regards John

The thing which has the biggest influence on one's cruise is who is in your sailing group. I have sailed with my parents and brother, or with wife and child, or just with my daughter or with daughter and her fiance or just a male friend or a female friend and alone. This makes cruises totally different and if you are sensible other passengers have very little impact to be frank. I think a lot of people often sail as a couple of different ages and expect things to be pretty similar to the last cruise by comparison. Things have changed radically over the years with ships and I do not like comparing them either as you cannot get better and better cruises they are just different and you need to focus on the positive. Some cruises I have been on were technically disastrous but I see the funny side of things. Regards John

The main problems Carnival currently have is postCovid debts and lower market growth thought to be around 3%. There are two major ships coming for Princess 4,300 pax each. They might want to redistribute a Grand Class ship to P&O UK, similar to when they allocated them to P&O Australia. They would get cash back from selling off a P&O ship. Regards John

All cruise ships have a useful life before leaving service. If you examine the ages of ships within fleets many seem to be withdrawn which were built around the year 2000. If people think these ships will be with P&O in 5 or 10 years it is very unrealistic. Regards John

I am just pointing out the focus of the thread. Related issues are interesting, no problem. I think Aurora will be the first to go. I base this on the design of the balcony cabins and proportion of them available relative to number of cabins. This is what the cruise industry predominantly sells. If they need two Adult Only ships, and I think they will go this way Azura is my best guess .Regards John

Yes this is currently true but one or both might be withdrawn from the fleet and experience should tell you this has not always been the case. The designation of Adult Only tends to shift from one ship to another and one would think will remain the P&O policy. It is possible they might withdraw one and redesignate another from the rest of the fleet. The important part is will one go. Regards John