molecrochip

In response to feedback, all speciality restaurants are now not opening for booking in advance until a lot nearer sailing to avoid people booking and being cancelled. This is once crew availability schedules are more final. Also, cruises due to depart soon appear to now be book on board and the emails are going out to explain the situation.

Its better that they cancel a three day cruise than have to cancel another two week cruise later to finish the work. Its not utter contempt, its unfortunate. I'm keen to know what other post dry dock cruises have been cancelled in recent years. I don't recall any. The only actual cancellation I remember (pandemic excluded) was Ventura when she had engine problems in Tenerife back in 2019. Once someone has booked a cruise, it will always be too late to announce a cancellation however it has always happened in the cruise industry. In fact, the American based lines are the worst as they don't schedule dry docks as far out therefore normally always have to cancel multiple cruises once they schedule them in.

I believe Brexit supply chain issues were causing problems with the dry dock in Northern Ireland so that was 'abandoned' late on and Hamburg was found as a suitable solution. Sadly, its still not been possible to finish the works in time.

I've spoken to someone who disembarked and their view was very different. No afternoon tea, rubber collapsible kettles, crew and passengers coughing everywhere (high level of covid?), bar service a bit poor and surprisingly very little by way of hand sanitising stations. I'm not writing this to disagree with you view - I'm glad you were impressed. But it shows how two people travelling on the same ship at the same time can have very different views. I think the afternoon tea point is interesting as this is happening both on Princess and P&O and, for me, is a clear indicator of staff shortages. It seems key staff issues are either galley or waiting staff.

Its partly because Princess were crewed up in anticipation of having one more ship back in service by now but that's not happened. As for food shortages, its menu/brand specific. I understand that Emerald, sailing out of Southampton has been subject to speciality restaurant closures however she is sailing fairly full so staff are need in the MDR for example. On Enchanted, their sailings are not as full given that they only went on sale in March accordingly its easier to spread staff around without a noticeable impact on service.

I must remember, quick replies are never the thing to do. Sorry to anyone offended. I was focused on the comment that it was false advertising by showing restaurants that P&O know are closed. My point, made badly, was that cruise personaliser doesn't list these restaurants as open. It just lists the restaurants that are on the ship. They could be closed, fully booked or available to book on board. What I am seeing more and more is a passenger expectation that things are back to the pre-pandemic ways of working. This is despite being told that there are changes. Unfortunately, I fear we have these difficult times for a little longer.

Nothing to do with varying numbers of passengers on board. You crew up for the ship as even at 50% full, you still need the majority of your crew in the event of an emergency. You can't just move staff between ships. When new crew join any ship (or even re-join), they need to undergo a number of days of familiarisation - of the ship, the safety procedures, their specific role etc. Yes, additional staff have been, and continue to be recruited. Not at all. Arcadia was delayed once and the decision was made not to delay again. There are new crew joining all the time but perhaps just not as quickly as liked. Additionally, you can't account for someone testing positive the day before flying. It's not a case of having a hotel full of spare crew sat in Southampton. Also, the problem is not just staff, its supply chain too

Cruise personaliser had been listing 'enquire on board'. That doesn't say open, it says ask.

Would expect Aurora to leave Hamburg on Saturday.

That said, I believe that P&O is second behind CCL in % of available cabins occupied. In the investor call, it was actually noted that the UK brands had bounced back almost as well as CCL. Princess is hampered by its Asia/Oz market being closed still. Aida has been caught by the slower release of restrictions in Germany. Costa is hurting from having ships for China/South America it can't sail and also from the fact that its core market is Mediterranean, often fly to cruise, and Eastern European. So many smaller issues affecting Costa.

Maybe, but the ratios are in line with U.K. legislation for childcare settings. Having legally applicable operating practices in the kids club has always been a cornerstone in P&Os offering. Compromises can be made in some areas (stewards, bar staff etc.) but this isn’t one.

It appears there is a supply chain issue affecting the Glass House and Eppicurean menus. Rather than offer a reduced menu service, the decision was made to close and relocate staff to other restaurants where there were gaps. This is temporary and appears to affect supplies loaded in Southampton hence Iona and Ventura most at risk as most regular visitors. It really is turning into a challenging summer for P&O where delivering their core product is less than straight forward.

They weld around the outline of the lettering so as to make it easier to repaint the name in the future. the skirt is the stencil.

Usual cruising speed is 17 knots correct. Design speed is 21 knots. Doing 20-21 knots requires the four service engines to be in use at maximum capacity. This is only sustainable for so long as it does have a higher risk of failure. 17 knots is the magic 80% x 4 engines. 3 engines can get to 16 knots at full power, if one engine is out of use. On the passenger side, passengers will feel more movement when ship is doing 17-21 knots. Likewise you need the right sea conditions. If you're heading through the bay of Biscay in stormy seas at 21 knots the ride may be very uncomfortable or even unsafe.

P&O have certain ratios of adults to children to abide by. Staff shortages make this a problem hence the restrictions. This is purely health & safety of your kids.

Not so. Actually, there is a strong business case for new larger more efficient ships which replace older ships. The financing for ships is somewhat separate to the rest of their debt, and is a very specialised market. The debt is also secured upon the ship like a mortgage. It won't surprise me to see an agreement in principal announced later this year, once the new CEO takes over. This would be for ships to be delivered 2026 thru 2030. Yesterday's update was bright. Omicron has reduced 2022 optimism but they are now cash positive month on month (which includes paying their debt interest). This is a big step as it means they no longer need to find new liquidity. 2023 booking trends are still up towards the highs seen in 2019. This is great news. Onboard spend per passenger was at record levels last quarter but has dipped slightly - this really reflects the cost of living squeeze seen worldwide. Most importantly, the institutional investors on the stock market liked it. The US stock was up 12% by yesterday close. (I mention US stock here as that had a full trading day post the announcement whereas the UK stock only had 2.5 hours, although still made a 8.5% increase). You won't get such a swing from retail investors.

They will usually try to ensure a service of remembrance at some point in the day or two surrounding. Like Easter and Christmas, you may actually get a minister of religion travelling to conduct a multi-faith service, instead of the captain. Often the captain still attends and will do a reading.

It depends upon availability. I believe a recent Iona cruise basically sold out the Epicurean for the entire cruise, before the start of the cruise.

Clearly this is not standard operating practice and by Christmas, I’d anticipate crew levels being restored to normal. in practice, any venue closures will be short term as any staff shortages shouldn’t be enough to be noticeable.

That’s a misinterpretation of my post I’m afraid. Once a ship is fully staffed up, crew rotate in and off most weeks. it’s been one of the difficulties of the restart, getting the crew all back into their staggered rotas.

Some crew who are joining Arvia will start rotating off shortly. They may have up to 4 months at home before joining Arvia in late October - mid November for a 6-8 month contract. Others will join straight from another ship. With a new ship, the crew is normally always experienced crew taken from across the fleet. New crew backfill across the fleet. If you follow P&O on LinkedIn, you'll note that there is a big recruitment drive across India and Asia to increase their pool of staff to contract across the fleet. I've been asking around and understand that Virgin have not attracted many P&O staff. The bigger problem is that is that a) staff are not returning to cruising, instead choosing to remain at home or take on bigger family roles (e.g. following covid deaths in the family); or b) staff are still contracting Covid in their home country therefore not able to travel to take up their contract.

Not on Iona's run from Southampton - Fjords and from Fjords - Southampton. The timings are fairly tight and so I will be a real high speed run.

Actually, it’s four ships as Carnival Jubilee was originally destined to be a new build for Aida.

Venezia and Firenze to also move across ‘temporarily’ from 2023 and 2024 respectively U.K. become Costa by Carnival.

At airport, they will want to see your cruise ticket/boarding pass.