pete14

I'm not sure why you think a bigger ship would lead to a Butlins experience?

 

All the new mega ships from RCCL are very cleverly designed, the amount of and choice of entertainment venues increases, the amount of free and paid for dining venues increase, on port days they open many more doors for disembarkation so there are no queues, more lifts, more staircases, more bars, bigger gyms, bigger casinos, bigger nightclubs - everything increases in line with passenger numbers.

 

They are very good at managing people numbers without making passengers feel managed. So they would not have a theatre show start or finish at the same time as a movie in that area. They would not have a street parade at a time when people are leaving a dining room.

 

They might have an ice sculpt demo at the same time as a cocktail class and a cookery class but all in different parts of the ship to keep things flowing etc.

 

Yes you might struggle for a lounger on a sea day but that is common on smaller ships as well due to limited deck space.

I don't think a bigger ship leads to a Butlins experience. This was first mentioned by sealoveragain yesterday. If I was expecting a Butlins experience, I would not have booked onto Britannia. I am just curious why some feel that a large P&O ship which no one has yet sailed on is akin to Butlins or Benidorm by virtue of it's size when equally large ships from other companies and countries are not.

It's quite ironic how two quintessentially British holidays - Butlins and package holidays to the Costa Blanca are been used to describe American cruise lines.

 

The closest I have come to a floating Butlins would be P&O and none of the U.S. Lines we have sailed could be described as such.

I did not describe American lines as being akin to Butlins and Benidorm. I just raised the point that if size of ship leads to a Butlins experience, presumably this applies to all lines with large ships? How you can now differentiate by saying the large American ones (including Disney?) do not, but a ship nobody has travelled on does defeats me. When a number of people have sailed on Britannia, comparisons of all sorts can be made. Until that day, it is grossly unfair to use speculation and expectation as fact.

If P&O are the closest to a floating Butlins, perhaps I need to revisit Butlins because they have obviously had a spectacular improvement since I last holidayed there with the kids 20+ years ago.

No doubt you mean me. No, I haven't been on the Britannia obviously. Yes it's a huge ship and yes there are other huge ships. None of them appeal to me. I suppose they are more cost effective because they can squeeze in a lot more passengers and that's why cruise companies build them. I haven't actually been to Butlins but some of the American huge ships remind me of Butlins and why I wouldn't cruise on them. They all remind me of Benidorm hotels that we've all seen if not experienced. I'm sure lots of people will be very excited to cruise on this sort of ship. I simply think it's disappointing that ships are becoming bigger and bigger and are not really my idea of a cruise ship. As I've already said I hope you enjoy your cruise. I'm just giving my opinion if you are happy with your choice, why should it bother you.

I am not bothered with my choice and I am perfectly happy for you and others to express your opinion. I share your disappointment that cruise ships seem to be getting bigger and bigger because there is obviously a place for smaller ships. I am cruising on Adonia next month because I think she is a lovely relaxing ship. It would be good if ships that size were still being built rather than being passed around different cruise lines, refurbished and repackaged.

However, I do think comparing Britannia and other large ships to Butlins and Benidorm hotels is wide of the mark even though in terms of cost, especially on saver fares, the difference in price is not that great. Pound for pound, cruising wins hands down in my opinion regardless of ship size.

P&O are obviously trying to appeal to a new market of people. It seems they really are becoming the 'Easy Jet' of the cruising world. A HUGE ship with small cabins and tiny balconies so that people think they are getting something special because they have a balcony. It's a shame really. Personally I would never book a cruise on what really is ( and I know it's been said but it really does apply here) a floating Butlins or worse a 3* Benidorm hotel.

All these judgements about a ship that hasn't even been finished yet and which no cruiser has set foot on. Yes it is a huge ship but it is not the only huge ship sailing or scheduled to sail. Are they all Butlins or a Benidorm Hotel? As others who have posted here, I love having my own private space, fresh air and views and noise of the sea. We are booked on her maiden cruise and thoroughly looking forward to it. Nobody made us book it, we chose to do so.

In the MDR, you have waiter service of your choice from a daily set menu. There is plenty of choice in each of the three courses.

Just try and impress upon them that they should not use too many seats at the table please.

We have a small multi media box we usualy take with us on cruises which you normally just plug into the TV this lets us watch programmes that our sons have down loaded for us, in march when we tried to use this on our TV on Ventura they had put an overide on all the buttons on the TV does anybody know how to overcome this

Presumably if they override the buttons there is a good reason why. If so, you should respect it, not try to overcome it.

There is no "official line" Pete. I just didn't want a new member to consider that was all that CC was about.

Fair enough!

Welcome to Cruise Critic. I am sorry your first experience of cruising hasn't been all you expected but I am sure you forget all that when you actually board ship for the first time.

 

I would say the Cruise Critic is not really for venting frustrations but for exchanging information and ideas, "meeting" people before your cruise via the roll calls and generally benefitting from the vast experience of everyone on these boards. Now comes the fun part of planning what you will do ashore etc.

I hope that is not the official line Sharon. Posts that are venting frustration or expressing opinions that may be contentious, provided they are genuinely held thoughts and opinions must have their place. What you suggest does also have it's place of course but if the forums are restricted to that, they will become bland, dull and boring. I accept that trolling has no place here but this does not appear to be an issue on these forums (apart maybe for the odd Norwegian night time posting from fjord cruises)!

Please explain?? How is it silly.

 

Seriously P&O gave these passengers whoever they are a bottle with wine equal to what the waiter thought was remaining in their bottle. Now the contents of the bottle had to go somewhere.

 

1. If the waiter tipped it down the drain then that is just waste.

2. If the waiter tipped it out and into another bottle for consumption by other passengers then that is a health and safety risk. Its akin to tipping wine out of a used glass back into a bottle for someone else.

 

If staff on ships are doing such things with wine then it leaves me with little confidence in their food handling practices and they probably should be reported for that.

We will never find out what happened with the contents. All suggestions are mere speculation based on no evidence. To make judgements about food handling practices from such speculation is a ridiculous thing to do and most unfair on P&O staff who serve us all so well.

Sorry Dai - perhaps it's just as well that P&O do not publicise the difference. I think they have now made the miship minis more expensive than the aft when it used to be the other way round - goodness knows why - I suppose because they are midship and most people think that is preferable.

Maybe because the aft mini suites potentially suffer from horrendous up and down movement that nobody in their right mind would want to travel in one;););)

Well said pete14. This might make going on holiday unaffordable for most in the future :-(

Thanks for the support. Rather unexpected I must say!

Because it has only become a recent law that any flight delay over 3 hours...and up to 6 years old can be compensated.

I probably didn't realise that you could until a couple of days ago on this P & O thread..I think that it is with the Ventura...they are claiming for a delayed flight.

OK it may not be a great amount of money in the grand scale of things but we were a party of 8 and at £ 500 pp that adds up.

If you think its best to let it lie that's your perogative but sometimes people take what they are entitled to.

This appears just another example of the compensation culture that is blighting our society at the moment. Whilst I know nothing about the delay, presumably you were provided with immediate needs including overnight accommodation. My guess is that the delay was probably because the aircraft developed a possible fault which meant it was grounded until it was rectified. Not unreasonable if that was the case. Of course out of pocket expenses and a day's loss of earnings if losses were incurred should be paid but £4000 for 8 people seems to be completely over the top, especially if the delay was for safety reasons. Compensation in my view should be recompense of loss, not a common entitlement. Parasitic legal companies acting on 'no win no fee' are making undeserved millions out of the 'entitlement attitude'

Sorry if you don't like this but it is something I really feel strongly about.

Hi....was anyone on the Manchester to Barbados flight for cruise E026 Oceans departing 06/12/2010. The return flight was from Acapulco and we had a very long delay...ended up in a hotel in Acapulco. I have started to look into the compensation for flight delays but the only flights that can be found are the ones for Newcastle and London. Has anyone had any success with this?

Without wishing to appear unkind, if it has taken nearly 4 years for you to start looking into compensation (which is unlikely to be substantial?), what are you hoping to be compensated for?

I have just returned from a 7 day cruise to Norway on Arcadia. Absolutely brilliant. Ship coped well with gale force winds and rough seas, captain and crew were excellent as was the food. I couldn't fault anything about it. If it is getting worse every year, I haven't noticed over the dozen or so P&O cruises I have taken. Can't wait for the next.

Not forgetting some lovely people we met including our 4 evening meal companions, everyone we shared a breakfast table with and the three ladies who I kept bumping into onboard and also off the ship in Geiranger and Stavanger. If you are reading this, you know who you are!

I don't believe that P&O would be concerned about a few trouble makers but the the truth always hurts. Carnival has done P&O no favours what so ever or Cunard I still cruise with P&O every year but every time i do its getting worse

I have just returned from a 7 day cruise to Norway on Arcadia. Absolutely brilliant. Ship coped well with gale force winds and rough seas, captain and crew were excellent as was the food. I couldn't fault anything about it. If it is getting worse every year, I haven't noticed over the dozen or so P&O cruises I have taken. Can't wait for the next.

If you search for who the senior officers are in the 'how can we help' tab, you will see that the list of senior officers for each ship is up to date with most positions listed until at least October 2014, some until Jan 2015. Seems entirely reasonable to me. I regret the removal of the forum on the P&O website, it was taken down well over a year ago, possibly 2 years. I seem to remember the reason being that it made the whole site more unstable. True or not, I could never really work out why they provided and funded a forum that allowed some of the derogatory and untrue comments to be made along with some total drivel.

 

 

On P&O there was BBC World News, Sky News and Sky Sports news, and also Sport 24 - but we were advised that was only in rooms for the world cup. There was some cheap paid per view films that were cheap (£2) but not a big selection and not very new. There were also a selection of free TV shows (a variety of stuff like Doc Martin, Downton etc).

Maybe we should not remind P&O that the World Cup has finished. Sports 24 was available in cabins on Arcadia this week.

Got off Oriana on Friday at Mayflower. The lift situation is ludicrous; one lift, takes 3 people and suitcases or one wheelchair! This was self help disembarkation as we had early train to catch. It took 25 minutes to get near the front of the queue, and in the end we took our cases down the escalator. The woman said no at first, but given that we were not elderly and pretty fit, she let us go down as we could lift our large cases and our hand luggage was in small backpacks, which are a useful way of doing self help disembarkation very easily.

They definitely need a ramp so that suitcases can just be wheeled down for early departures!

Arrived at Mayflower today, noticed only one small lift and no apparent change or refurbishment in arrivals. Maybe all the money has been spent on departures.

Menus changed part way through our week long cruise that finished today. East is a fantastic place to eat (£20 supplement and well worth it) and the grill is also very good. We did not eat there on formal night but I think dress code applies. The food was of a very high standard throughout and the new 'plated' system of service worked well.

Many months ago we booked select fare cabins on Arcadia leaving next Friday and Adonia leaving early November. The deal we got on fares, parking and OBC when we booked has never been better. Select fares have risen and early saver / saver fares, based on the higher current select fares are still more than we paid for select. Of course we also get the select fare benefits. :)

The old getaway fares seemed to offer some great bargains. I am not sure that saver fares do the same especially as the select fares they are compared with may not the lowest select fares that have applied to the cruise.

Never seen any cats on board P&O so don't know where they get all that urine from😄

I think they collect it from Southampton moggies of a certain vintage. Only Carling on Oceana a few months back so the felines have obviously been quite productive around the dock area. At least they had some bottles of Pedigree at room temperature although they took a while to be found - mostly in the fridge - sacrilege!

This is what I thought, having been on the 2nd voyage on the Ventura and seen that there was still some small snags to be ironed out. I just wondered if perhaps more of the celebrity chefs etc would be on board, will there be a special sail away from Southampton ? We have sailed several with Paul Brown as captain and know that he is up for a fun time. I am hoping that the cruise director will be Neil Oliver because he is definitely the best cruise director that we have had and made the Azura really buzz on our cruise last year.

According to the 2015-16 brochure, James Martin and Eric Lanlard will be celebrity chefs for part of the maiden voyage. Presumably James Martin is setting up and starting off his onboard cookery school. Never been on a maiden voyage before but looking forward to this one. They may even restore the Southampton embarkation band for our departure!:)

I know that waiters have areas but if they aim for a 50/50 split between first and second sitting in order that waiters are able to serve both sittings and changes to times change the split to 60/40, there will be difficulties. Ditto the galley staff. This is not reasonable. Of course P&O are a service provider but they have to see the bigger picture and run the operations efficiently for the benefit of all rather than just people who want to change their dining arrangements having booked a fare that does not allow a preference to be expressed.

Whilst in theory it should be easy for anyone to change their dining types and times regardless of their booking type, nobody seems to have looked at this from the point of view of P&O and those who work on the ships. Presumably, waiters are allocated their tables and even which restaurant they are due to be working in based on lists compiled before the cruise sets sail. Ditto people working in the galley preparing meals. Wholesale changes of times and restaurants from 3:00 on embarkation day will have a knock on effect on these arrangements which is hardly fair on those who serve us so well. I guess it is easiest for them to have similar numbers on first and second sittings and maybe this is what they aim to achieve when allocating times or freedom dining to saver passengers. Doesn't seem unreasonable to me.