Barnum42

Thinking about one other aspect. Berlitz guide says Ventura does not have a card room. We are not card players but like borrowing the other games. Is this still the case? 

15 minutes ago, AndyMichelle said:

This sums up how different we all are.

We love Britannia, lifts not an issue as needed to walk off all the gluttony, soot did not come near our balcony. Hated Astonishing, too screechy and predictable for us.

Andy

 

Different indeed!  Whilst we can at least get some idea of general condition of a ship, so much of it is personal. Our favourite so far has been Oceana, despite her warts - a little rough around the edges and prone to the motion of the ocean, there is just something about the atmosphere that appealed to us.

1 hour ago, Selbourne said:

 Alternatively, wait for Iona which has all of Britannia’s good points but none of her negative ones.

One of Britannia's negatives is the atrium that looks like an out of town shopping centre. From what I've seen of Iona, they've not strayed too far from that design. But at least they've learnt to keep the promenade this time. I do wonder if they'll think about putting it on Britannia. It's mostly there, just used by crew only.

We were on Oceana last year during Easter - it was a re-positioning cruise from Southampton to Valletta.

We did not go to Rome (which it turned out was packed due to being Easter). However, we took the trip to Ostia Antica https://www.ostia-antica.org/. It was amazing. Just wish we could have spent more time there. 

My wife and I are contemplating a summer holiday week long cruise and are looking at either Britannia or Ventura

We sailed on Ventura some years ago and more recently on Britannia.

I've seen some discouraging things about the state of repair of Ventura, so thought I'd ask you good folks for opinions of recent experiences.

From past experience, we liked that Ventura has a proper promendade and the main theatre provides a better rake.

Britannia had a better laid out buffet, with slightly less disappointing buffet meals, but we tend to opt for MDR and just hit the buffet if we miss the seating times.

The big plus that previously drew us to Britannia was that the price difference between inside and balcony was a fraction of that on other P&O ships. However, that appears to be a thing of the past as the price difference has shot up to about £300 more per person, so we'll be going for inside regardless of which ship we chose. 

The Headliner's shows are something we are also considering. Looking at the P&O site, it appears Britannia is still doing the same ones they were the last couple of times we were aboard. Nothing specific is listed against Ventura, but as it's been four years since we were last on her, I hope they have different shows.

So, who would opt for which and why? Are the tales of Ventura's poor repair exaggerated?

Thanks in advance.

Edit: An Azure cruise has just dropped in price, bringing it into the frame! We've not been on her, so that could affect our decision.

2 minutes ago, grapau27 said:

A friend of my wife has dyspraxia and she said Royal Caribbean was more suitable to her than P&O.

She is in her 30s and she said the single groups on P&O were much older than the ones on RC.

We have cruised on Royal Caribbean, and she enjoyed the teen clubs there - they had the advantage that they were open all through the day, P&O closed theirs for staff breaks.

Main problem with Royal Carribbean is that they seem to permanently have "limited time free booze" offers. As none of us are drinkers, it's not worth the hundreds of pounds each that Royal put on their fares to cover the "free" booze.

Thanks again for the replies. She's decided not to cruise, she's too worried about the "what if?" aspect.

Thanks for the reply. We'd probably be going on a family friendly ship. Daughter is happy to join us exploring ports, it's just the time on board she's worried about.

I've not flow with Jet2, but personally I refuse to pay any of the supplements. We've made three Valetta flights without reserving seats, on two we were right next to each other and on the third we were in the same row, but opposite sides of the isle.

If memory serves, you can do the check in online.

Hello

My wife an I are pondering booking a week-long P&O cruise over the school summer holidays (wife being a teacher, we have no choice but to holiday in the rip-off season)

We have in years past sailed with our daughter, who up until the age of 17 loved the independence of heading out to the teen clubs, making friends and hanging out with them. As she has dyspraxia (which is on the autism spectrum) she could have difficulty making friends, but the wide range of kids in the clubs mostly meant this was never a problem.

She will shortly turn 20, and has not been on a cruise since she was 17. We have asked if she'd like to come, but she is concerned about  having trouble making friends and so ending up spending most of her time in the cabin (which happened on the last trip as there were gangs of snotty little madams that ruined the club for her) . I have mentioned that there are single cruiser get togethers every day, but I've no idea about who attends these, their intentions and how successful they are. Has anyone experience of them? 

A couple of months ago I contacted Cunard customer services. The only reply I got was the acknowledgement.

I contacted them again after returning from a cruise at the end of last month and again just received an acknowledgement.

Do they even have customer services?

I was on your cruise I think - ex Southampton 31st August? I have just posted on Hattie's report about this being my first Cunard experience and I had a couple of niggles. The main one being the productions shows. They were all over the place, but as has been said, they are so busy! I watched quick change after quick change and that DID affect performances, no doubt about that! I know too that two dancers were injured and they had to fly someone out to Valencia to join Hollywood Rocks - I saw it on Celebrity as iHollywood, they bought that in from a production company. The worst one was the one about the artists. The dancers eyes were all darting about looking at each other as if to say "what do I do next? etc etc". I can't believe out of all the people who auditioned that they chose these. I agree that they are the worst cast I have ever seen on any ship.

Nearly our cruise, ours ended the day yours began.

Quick changes are no excuse to be unable to sing or dance in time. The costumes are designed for that very purpose and you should be well versed in getting changed.

I agree that the artist show was particularly poor. The material left a lot to be desired, and it was just made worse by the low grade performers.

We sailed onQueen Victoria for 28 nights in June this year. The Cunard Singers and Dancers had just joined the ship, it was theirfirst contract, some had not even been to sea before!

 

 

I can honestlysay that they were the best theatre group we have ever experienced on any ship;we have nearly 300 nights cruising under our belt, with six different cruisecompanies.

 

They were youngand enthusiastic, very professional, well-co-ordinated and could definitely singin tune. We felt they were West Endstandard and their performances had standing ovations we had not seen before onany other cruise.

 

 

Their contractwas to run until January 2019 – can this possibly be the same group you arereferring to?

There is no way it could have been the same group. The above lot must have been sent to another ship. The current lot are truly awful.

We've recently returned from our first Cunard cruise- a week aboard Queen Victoria.

One thing that we really could not comprehend is just how bad the resident theatre company are. The theatre band were terrific and thankfully had a chance to shine with other performers during the week, but the four vocalists of the theatre company were unbelievably bad.

I know it seem to be a tradition where a ship has a group of vocalists than one is a weak link, but all four are weak. One has the astonishing knack of just missing every note - how you can get so near and still miss is a mystery, another liked belting despite their voice being not up to it and the other two were just weak and boring. Even the dancers could not agree on when they should all move.

I'm hoping this group are not typical of the quality of performers cast by Cunard. Whoever put those shows together claiming to to be "West End" standard should be ashamed.

Looking around at others in the audience, and talking to our table-mates, I could see we were not alone, but I'm curious what others on here may think.

We were on Oceana (our favourite of the three P&O ships we've been on having also sailed on Britannia and Ventura) for the Easter 2018 cruise. Weather was not bad (once past Bay of Biscay). Saw plenty of kids on board, but other than taking over the main swimming pools they did not have much of an impact. Oceana has a little adults pool at the back for cooling off away from the kid melee.

It's a shame they don't do anytime type dining. That way you get to meet lots of different people. And if you encounter folk you'd like to dine with most nights you still can.

Been on both.

IOS has a lot more toys and activities.

But both has kids clubs that will keep the younger ones entertained. Our daughter (now over 18) enjoyed both clubs. The only negative with P&O was they would close it down for an hour for staff breaks, whereas Royal Caribbean kept them open.

Standard of the shows is comparable. I'd not be troubled by missing an abridged west end show on RC for the shows on Britannia.

IOS is a flashier, quirkier ship ship, wheras Britannia is a bit understated, with an atrium that looks like a shopping mall.

Food was comparable on both, buffet-wise IOS was better, but very repetitive.

Norway and balcony would personally seal the deal for me.

Having seen P&O up the auto gratuities in the space of a year from £5 to £6 to £7 per person per day (and finding this year and last year they implemented it just before we sail(ed) I emailed P&O. They responded with a phone call.

To my suggestion that they should cut the gratuities and just pay the staff a decent wage that the passengers don't have to subsidise with gratuities, I was told they are paid an above industry average wage which is "fair and proportional". He added that the gratuity is for service above and beyond. This goes against the general belief that they pay a poor wage which is only made worthwhile for the crew members once the gratuities are added on top. He also said that they have surveyed their passengers, and the majority don't want the gratuity included in the fare.

I got no real comment on the view that the gratuities have gone up so that those who still pay it are making up for the shortfall of those who withhold it.

He said that increasing the gratuity brings them more in line with other brands. He was not impressed that I pointed out that that seems to be a case of, "well if the others lines can screw more money out of the punters, then so can we".

I often hear accusations that the cruise lines line their own pockets with the gratuities. I was assured that for P&O, all of the gratuity money goes to the staff, none goes to the company. However, if a staff member is on a disciplinary, then they don't get their gratuity. Out of curiosity I asked where that money goes, but was told he was not permitted to say, but repeated that it does not go to the company. I'm still curious as to where it goes.

If you have no mobility problems, it's all an easy walk. We found a few tips online, basically follow your nose out of the port, walking past the monorail, over a red brick bridge with a petrol station at the end and turn right. You'll come to an open area, look for a bridge on the left and then follow your feet. There's lots of signs on the building to lead you to the main tourist areas and back to the port. Most travellers advise just follow your nose and get lost. It's a small island you can't go to far off the track.

Just been on Google maps, here's the aforementioned bridge: https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@45.438473,12.3187609,3a,75y,88.76h,97.63t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s00LqpMdSuxTQM0c9B84Egg!2e0!7i13312!8i6656?hl=en

The tourist office has maps with lots of nice walks. Just clicked Insanemagnet's link, which in turn will take you to said map on this page: http://flamsbrygga.no/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/160349-04-Flamskart-NoEn-High.pdf

Just saw a video of the inside of Britannia on another thread and thought she looked very metallic and glitzy. Not very appealing to me at all.

When you're on her, she's very beige and brown, apart from the atrium which is like a bland white shopping centre. (With a metallic sculpture dropping from the roof)

I've been on Azura's sister ship, Ventura and Britannia. I preferred Ventura. Britannia is a bit bland. It's aitrium is like a bog-standard shopping centre and the beige theme just sweeps out from there. Plus Britannia does not have a promenade, and one of my little pleasures on-board ship is taking a stroll around the promedade. It has something it calls a promenade, but it's more a walking track at the top of the ship.

HOWEVER! Having a balcony to enjoy the fjords is a big plus. The difference in price between interior and balcony on Briatannia is a lot smaller than on other ships (as all exterior cabins have balconies). That's why we happily took our second Norway cruise on Britannia, for the early morning sail in, slip out of bed, put on a cuppa and sit on the balcony drinking in the views.

Hi m'lady,

 

>with price being so much higher on Independence we would most likely take an inside. With P & O we could have a balcony.

 

I would urge you to have the balcony for a fjord's cruise.

 

Ira

I second the motion.

Usually I put the price difference between inside and balcony toward paying a huge chunk of the next cruise. However, when we cruised to the fjords on Britannia, the cost of the balcony was not that much more (give all outside cabins on her are balconies). The views are well worth the balcony. Were I returning I'd go for the balcony on P&O over the toys on Royal Caribbean.

We've cruised on Independence of the Seas, and enjoyed her. Lots of toys on board to entertain yourself with. But since Royal Caribbean keep doing their "limited" offers for "free" drinks (by jacking the price of the cruise up by a few hundred Pounds to cover their costs of the "free" drinks, we not gone back with them.

Regarding some of your other questions,

Can't comment on age mix in term time (being married to a teacher)

We've been on Azura's sister ship and found cabins comparable to Independence.

The stage shows are also comparable between the two brands. P&O still do the formal nights. Black tie or smart suits for the gents.

We don't drink, but P&O don't have the draconian attitude to your own drinks robbing them of the chance to rob you at the bars. I may have read that some restrictions have been put in place, but it's not the total ban Royal Caribbean operate. I'm also told that bar prices are far more reasonable than Royal Caribbean, plus they don't stick the 18% fine on top of each purchase.

But all said, I'd say the ability to have a balcony for a fjord cruise trumps all other considerations. That it will be cheaper is a bonus.

We had an obstructed Britannia Balcony. It meant we had the roof of a lifeboat in front of the balcony, so we could not look straight down. The rest of the view was fine. Though some cabins may also have to deal with the rigs that hold the lifeboats in place. But none of this will affect you if you are only after the sunlight.

Happens every year (well at least since I started cruising in 2015)

For the staff it won’t be a 16% increase, that £7 has to be shared between 3, 4 or more people. Not forgetting that if somebody marks the cabin steward less than excellent he might not get his share.

System definitely needs addressing but sadly seems p&o aren’t listening.

They won't change how they split the gratuity if you mark a cabin steward down. On Britannia a couple of years ago we had a steward with an appalling attitude. I wanted to ensure the waiters got their fair share, and the the steward nothing (he really was that bad) but was told if I reduced the gratuity payment, everyone would lose out. So all you can do in that case is cancel it all and tip directly those who deserve it. We did the opposite on another trip, where the cabin steward was great, but the wait staff lousy.

What I don't agree with is changing the goalposts after people have booked a cruise knowing they would be paying x amount.

Maybe the got the idea from telecoms companies?

In about a year they have gone from £5 to £7. That's a 40% increase in a year.