Megabear2

It's just a way for the airlines to milk more money from us. On a recent Greek flight in July no one had paid for the exit seats presumably as the price was too high. Crew members then came round and moved people into them for safety reasons. Laughable but true. On scheduled flights there's even less reason to pay as we check ourselves in and can move seats as we wish. It's a herd mentality we have been conditioned to.

That tallies with the information from Moley a month or so back about a delay, as well as my flight showing up. My contact is pretty reliable, she's in the CEO's office. As there were delays in releasing the flight programme it no doubt impacted sale of seats. I'm told that even though they are all TUI aircraft the seating is different on individual aircraft so until the airline says which plane is on which route it's not possible to sell the seats.

I spoke to my personal contact about something else and that is what I was told. Assumedly the information is correct but to be truthful I never book outgoing seats in advance as we are normally very early for check in going out - I'm very mean! We do book our return seats as we like an aisle each and as P&O allocate these onboard can't guarantee what will be allocated. Were your flights allocated earlier or has it only just appeared?

My flights for 16 December departure from Gatwick appeared earlier this week. Confirmed as TUI charter flight leaving 10.15, return flight 17.00. Seats apparently will be bookable next Friday. That would be right on schedule as it will be 14 weeks.

The OP was thinking of an early saver. Apart from his dining needs it presumably would miss the quarantine zones as P&O would be in charge of the allocation. Under those circumstances perhaps the deck D deluxe balcony would be his best option if he can overcome his worries on dining. For the very big mark up between select and saver for this cruise it would be essential to know exactly which areas of the ship to avoid with quarantine cabins. As far as I am aware no P&O ship has quarantine cabins mid forward or forward, unless of course anyone can advise me differently ...

18 March 2023 - a deck C midship balcony is currently £2,738 with £110 OBC so to guarantee the C deck balcony with any time dining you are looking at a difference of £630 to guarantee it. The early saver starting figure is between £1998 and £2098 for the standard balcony so position of the cabin makes little difference to the price. Again the deluxe has a difference of £720. In your case if the mealtimes are a deal breaker then it is a risk regarding anytime dining. There is normally a little flexibility on the allocated dining on a saver but there is no certainty you can change. Having said that we have been lucky on all but one occasion in our allocation and have had freedom dining allocated on all but one cruise in recent cruises, however I'm told this is most likely to our registered preferences with P&O over a number of years. The current promotion which is running ends on 5 September. This could mean a better offering may commence on 6 September but it could also herald more price changes either up or down. Overall it depends on how much of a gambler you are, either for the dining option or a possible new offer to your advantage. Hope that helps,.

Which ship and date are you looking at ? If its Iona or Arvia there are pitfalls which can be explained, there's also a huge price differential for some cruises for select.

Well none of this pretty squabbling is going to help the OP! I agree with Wowzz it's the onshore customer service and the dodgy website letting P&O down at present. The cruise experience for most recently reporting has been good and a lot of the negativity we read has been from cruises taken some time ago. Regarding NCL compared to P&O the one certainty is the pricing onboard will be better value. Take no notice of others and go with a open mind, enjoy yourself.

Regarding Greek islands with sandy beaches a lot aren't visited by cruise ships. The best sandy beaches on the "main" islands will be found in Crete, Mykonos, Zante and Skiathos. I used to work in Athens and had the pleasure of going to different islands every weekend and the smaller islands and northern Greek peninsular offered the sand rather than shingle. Interestingly The Times list of the best sandy beaches in Greece includes Myrtos beach of Captain Corelli fame yet the local Kefalonians say it is an inhabitable environment with huge undercurrents. Yes there are small sandy beaches elsewhere but not of the big wide picturesque variety.

Interesting. I have been advised recently on the boards that booking a local taxi for tours is a cheaper and better option. Are you talking about P&O tours or individuals doing their own thing? I'm currently booking my Christmas Caribbean excursions and have deliberately not booked places like Grenada, Antigua and St Lucia as we were going to take taxis for beach and local tours. Normally we book sea based trips in these islands but thought a change might be nice. Regarding Dubrovnik and Malta beaches research should have shown that these are quite virtually non existent in these places. Croatia in particular has very few sandy beaches offering mainly narrow shingle beaches along its coastline. Malta I recall as having a few man made smallish sandy beaches with Gozo offering the best ones.

Not my travel agent, as I said was my BIL who had the event described . I mentioned it to ease the worries of the OP. I have a different agent but at present book direct with P&O.

Sometimes if you've booked through a travel agent the transfer of the funds between the two does not activate immediately to show you have paid. Lack of staff in P&O accounts has on two occasions caused members of my family not to get cabin allocated until 48 hours before. They just booked excursions, reserved meals etc and it sorted itself online automatically.

I shall retire politely and applaud your restraint.

There are millions who work hard for very little reward. I'm sure a lot of them deserve a good cruise far more than I do but will never even get a week in Bournemouth or Blackpool.

Energy bills rose substantially in April for many and the doom and gloom has been as a result of the effect that has already had on many. There are people who had direct debits rise by 100% on the back of that rise alone. I had the offer of a one year fix from my supplier ten days ago as I have a long term fix ending 31 October. Fix then was at £249 per month, I currently pay £83pm and am £515 in credit - the company had tried in June to put by dd down to £49pm which I told them was ridiculous. Checked on Friday after new announcement for October and they now want £330 per month. Even though I'm in credit by a substantial amount and my usage is considerably below the average £3,500 figure they are telling me my usage will cost £3,990 within that year. Now that really is scary and in no way intended to be alarming.

Away from the doom and gloom for a second! My friend looking to join me on 29 October Iona has reported to me that on a saver fare the only balcony option showing is mid forward/mid aft cabins. The select fare so lots of available balconies on various decks and positions. Interestingly no forward Promenade deck 8 cabins are available. This would appear to indicate that P&O are allocating/filling up the worst cabins first, but I may be completely wrong. I have a deck 14 aft cabin which I booked following Grahams advice that these were a better option than the lower down decks. We could of course share that but would prefer to have two rooms. Any ideas what might happen if all these other rooms stay unsold at select fare? Do you think they'll start adding more into saver or will it become select only. Answers on a postcard via your crystal ball please!

The EU directive was updated earlier this year. I'm uncertain whether it has been amended since but I'm sure others on here will have information for you. It is however an individual country's right to set rules. Certainly there were 50 people leaving Regal Princess into quarantine in Rome when I disembarked there on 9 July. I have not heard of anyone offloading anywhere in Spain for a couple of months now that US people can return home without testing, but with the cruise lines not providing covid figures it is impossible to say. However I wasn't thinking of Europe more Canada, the Caribbean and the upcoming world and South American cruises.

Interesting classification class there Wowzz. This puts Aurora, Arcadia, Queen Elizabeth and Queen Victoria in the medium ships category with QM2 just squeezing in to the large one. Balmoral, Bollette and Borealis are also medium along with the Marella fleet. Having sailed on all for the former and Marella Explorer in her previous identity under RCI, the standout for me is that on QM2 she never feels full and I have heard some describe her as "soulless" as a result yet per passenger ratio and space she offers more than any of the other "medium" ships. This would seem to indicate for "classic" crusing the size isn't relevant but the cruise lines' use and ideas for the ships are. Cunard are sold as classic cruises whereas P&O tries to masquerade as classic crusing but only on these adult only ships. Therein possibly lies the answer to all the disillusionment.

The vaccination status isn't going to be the problem. Unless the insurance market has changed passengers who do not have a positive test for covid are not covered on insurance policies if they are quarantined. The current "honour" system P&O and Cunard have been offering has therefore been picking up the tab which the insurer doesn't meet. The relevant section of the new policy is: "This means P&O Cruises and Cunard will no longer offer FCCs to customers who have been unwell with confirmed or suspected COVID-19 or have been in close contact with someone with con-firmed or suspected COVID-19, within 10 days prior to their cruise, or to customers that are required to isolate on board during their cruise" . Assumedy P&O have done their homework with the insurance companies this time around but the wording does not mention anything to indicate who is picking up the tab or relocating any fly cruise passengers who are "close contacts" or "suspected COVID-19" cases. Losing days of your holiday for isolation should be covered under a decent policy of insurance if the cruise extension is triggered so hopefully passengers can claim up to their limit and at least get some money back. It should be remembered that some passengers choose to not purchase the extra cruise cover to top up their policies and these people will need to be particularly careful as if they are quarantined there will be no recompense from any source. Fly cruise passengers in particular should expect P&O at the very least to confirm what will happen to any passengers who do not provide a positive covid test but end up quarantined because they are "close contacts" or "suspected". There are still countries on P&O's itineraries who will isolate or offload people with/suspected of having covid and the cruise lines are muddying the waters without stating their clear policies once more. Financial loss is one thing as assumedly quarantine in your own cabin if you are a contact will occur and be covered by cruise extension insurance, but the situation regarding places where theoretically you could still be offloaded needs further clarification as to whether P&O will continue to assist with repatriation/travel costs. Currently numbers with covid are falling but if there is a winter surge countries may well tighten their restrictions and requirements again and then the passengers may find themselves back in the "grey" area once more.

So we go back to the close contact not being insurable. Assume that no one will be picked as a close contact going forward then.

P&O are showing not much availability or choice late November early December cruises. Clearly the bigger ships are selling better because they can keep the price down. I'd guess Fred's ships being smaller will fall into the trap Moley mentioned regarding Aurora/Arcadia capacity. The percentage to turn a profit is much higher than with the bigger ships. My aunt used fo sail Fred as her second choice after my uncle became restricted and wanted shorter journeys on smaller ships. When she looked at coming back to cruising she said the prices were astronomically high and she'd therefore no longer consider them.

We love Gary!!!! Bring him on ...

Saw Elton on his Million Dollar Piano at Ceasar's Palace in 2015, total magic. My friend surprised me with VIP tickets and I got to go on stage with Elton and about twenty others to sing Crocodile Rock. Marvellous memories.

Shows how much I know then! Reindeer will not be so happy after all

As the Captain usually has a role to play on Christmas Eve needing a nice red coat you might have hit the nail on the head about the white beard. N indicates Iona as the ship. As the Capitain/Santa appears at the funnel at least the pollution won't choke the reindeers ....