P&O the Walmart of Cruising

Good point. I wonder how much input Carnival put into the alcohol decision. Quite a lot I would imagine, as it was making their alcohol policy in their other lines look parsimonious.

 

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Carnival Corp Bean Counters would have made the decision re alcohol policy. They want to sell more on board.:')

While in M&S outlet at Dalton Park Murton County Durham yesterday they had a selection of suits for £69.

At that price people have no excuse to not wear a suit on formal night.

And quite acceptable, about what I paid in Sydney for my cruise formal suit, colour - dark gray at Lowes, not as upmarket as your M&S though, about one cut above your Primark.:o

Only time I wear a suit these days, formal night on the ships.

 

Only time I wear a suit these days, formal night on the ships.

And funerals.......

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And P&O are owned by Carnival - but that doesn't mean P&O and Carnival are the same.

That implies P&O is a separate entity, but in its shareholder publications Carnival simply refers to P&O as a "brand".

Carnival Corp Bean Counters would have made the decision re alcohol policy. They want to sell more on board.:')

The next cunning bean counter scheme will be to charge for tender transfers. £10 for one way and £20 return. That will increase the on board spend :evilsmile:

That implies P&O is a separate entity, but in its shareholder publications Carnival simply refers to P&O as a "brand".

Indeed it is and my Carnival share dividends are in dollars. Which is probably why P&O are seeking cost cuts to offset the decrease in dollar revenue due to the fall in the value of the pound.

The senior officer needs to get his Retail analogies correct. Stack them high and sell them cheap was a phrase made famous by Jack Cohen, the founder of Tesco. And, is P&O the Tesco of British based cruising? Probably :)

With Thomson and CMV being British-based, I would suggest P&O are the M&S of our cruising, with maybe Thomson as Tesco and CMV as Lidl... :)

I totally agree with you. We are just back from an Azamara cruise and next year we shall be on Aurora and later next year another Azamara. 2 totally different products but both equally enjoyable in their own way. We always do our homework before we book a cruise and when asked which is our favourite ship our reply will be " the one that we are on at the time". I feel very lucky that I am able to enjoy such fabulous holidays - many people can only dream of such luxury.

Great post - thanks. What I don't get is that people come on to the P&O forum to completely rubbish the product. Fine if that is what you think but then surely you will no longer cruise with them so why bother looking into a P&O forum. I suppose it is the same as the moaners pax meet on board at times who complain about everything but then trot off to the future-cruise desk!

I challenge anyone to go onto YouTube search for "WALMARTIANS" and think these people remind me of P&O passengers.

Regards John

I challenge anyone to go onto YouTube search for "WALMARTIANS" and think these people remind me of P&O passengers.

 

Regards John

The actual Cruise Line was not evident to confirm the video/s as being P&O.

Therefore, please clarify the dress code; P&O Casual or Carnival Formal?

With Thomson and CMV being British-based, I would suggest P&O are the M&S of our cruising, with maybe Thomson as Tesco and CMV as Lidl... :)

And Cunard as Harrods (?)

And Cunard as Harrods (?)

Harrods if you are sailing in Grill Class, Selfridges or Harvey Nicks if not :D

And Cunard as Harrods (?)

Maybe we should give it a go then. I was under the impression it was Grace Brothers ;)

Great post - thanks. What I don't get is that people come on to the P&O forum to completely rubbish the product. Fine if that is what you think but then surely you will no longer cruise with them so why bother looking into a P&O forum. I suppose it is the same as the moaners pax meet on board at times who complain about everything but then trot off to the future-cruise desk!

That's what I don't get either. Not only that, they cannot handle it when someone says they like P&O. They become obsessed with trying to prove their point. Its pathetic.

During a Peninsular lunch recently one of the guests at our table said that he thought P&O standards were dropping, the senior officer hosting our table replied that he thought P&O was heading towards being the Walmart of cruising, pile 'em high and sell 'em cheap! I think they are more likely to become the Ryanair of cruising.

A few months back, we were on a P&O cruise, and we found that the quality of food offered, especially in the buffet has come down. I knew one of the senior officers from a previous cruise and I asked her what had happened and why had the standard of the cuisine become so poor. I said the food was much better when I was on another P&O cruise ship she was working on. She seemed rather embarrassed and she mumbled something about cost cutting and some of the food had since been manufactured in factories before being brought on board (thus presumably affecting quality and taste).

Believe you me, that was the only cruise I had experienced where the general level of cuisine was so poor I had actually LOST WEIGHT after the cruise , instead of gaining weight !!! I could not believe it until I went on the scales after getting home . This subject has been made earlier in a different thread , and I gave a list of examples why the cuisine, I had thought were poor, so I will not repeat them ere. As expected , as in any discussion, there were some people who agreed, and some who disagreed).

Sure, there will still be people who will go on their (P&O) ships , especially the P&O "die hard" supporters and those who do not mind the falling standards of food, or are not very particular about what they eat. However, there are others , like us , who feel that excellent standard of cuisine on board a cruise is one of the most important things to make a cruise an enjoyable experience.

We are seldom on the P&O discussion board on CruiseCritic.com these days, and even less contribute our thoughts, because since that last cruise with this cruise line, we have moved on to travel other cruise lines - the last one being on Holland America which was wonderful including the cuisine, and next one will be with Viking Ocean (no formal dress code evenings on that cruise, hooray!!)

Sadly, we have deleted P&O off our list of cruise lines to book for future cruises. We are not moaning, we just say it as it is, and we have moved on.

It is quite a shame really, because, apart from the poor standard of cuisine, other things on P&O were actually quite good. If P&O goes back to its older standards and improve the quality of their cuisine again, we will not hesitate to go back and support them. Meanwhile, we will just cruise with other companies.

 

Sure, there will still be people who will go on their (P&O) ships , especially the P&O "die hard" supporters and those who do not mind the falling standards of food, or are not very particular about what they eat. However, there are others , like us , who feel that excellent standard of cuisine on board a cruise is one of the most important things to make a cruise an enjoyable experience.

 

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Your post was generally OK as it was your opinion to which you are entitled to but you spoiled it by this insulting and offensive comment. This is the kind of comment that really gets my back up. Who do you think you are? Do you really think that this is an acceptable comment? To me it makes you look like an arrogant and supercilious person.

Your post was generally OK as it was your opinion to which you are entitled to but you spoiled it by this insulting and offensive comment. This is the kind of comment that really gets my back up. Who do you think you are? Do you really think that this is an acceptable comment? To me it makes you look like an arrogant and supercilious person.

My apologies if it upset you. Perhaps I could have chosen my words better. No offense meant or intended.

My apologies if it upset you. Perhaps I could have chosen my words better. No offense meant or intended.

I really appreciate you saying that. Thank you.

Yes, I must say that the comment "not very particular about what they eat" rather annoyed me too. No, P&O does not offer 'fine dining' any more but they do offer exceptional quality mass catering food, and I feel it is commensurate with the prices they charge. Having been on 2 P&O cruises earlier this year, I actually felt that both the choice and quality had improved on the previous couple of years. Out of 23 nights aboard P&O this year, there was only one dish (a dessert) that I was particularly unhappy with and had to be returned uneaten. As I have said many times before, the cost of cruising is now much lower than it was years ago so it is obvious that standards cannot remain as high.

Yes, I must say that the comment "not very particular about what they eat" rather annoyed me too. No, P&O does not offer 'fine dining' any more but they do offer exceptional quality mass catering food, and I feel it is commensurate with the prices they charge. Having been on 2 P&O cruises earlier this year, I actually felt that both the choice and quality had improved on the previous couple of years. Out of 23 nights aboard P&O this year, there was only one dish (a dessert) that I was particularly unhappy with and had to be returned uneaten. As I have said many times before, the cost of cruising is now much lower than it was years ago so it is obvious that standards cannot remain as high.

Agree entirely. We really enjoy our food and are fortunate enough to have dined in countless top notch restaurants, including many Michelin star establishments. We are entirely happy with the standard of food in the main dining rooms on P&O ships and find that the Select Dining restaurants, especially the Epicurean, compete with the best ashore. You do get the odd meal that you don’t particularly enjoy, but that can be said in any restaurant. How they can produce such vast numbers of good quality, well presented, always hot meals from such a wide ranging menu is a minor miracle in my view. And the mostly Indian waiters provide a standard of service that has all but dissapeared in most land based restaurants. The food is actually one of the main reasons that we continue to book cruises with P&O!

Maybe we should give it a go then. I was under the impression it was Grace Brothers ;)

And who is Arkwright's corner shop (Open All Hours)?

And funerals.......

 

 

 

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Perhaps but many Australians wear smart casual to funerals, even polo shirt and shorts, tis sub tropical you know.:halo:

Now I am going to a niece's wedding in the Cotswolds next year, should I wear my bag of fruit? Have to cart it on the aeroplane anyway for formal nights on the three Princess cruises after.

I really appreciate you saying that. Thank you.

Nice comment, shows P&O people are decent.:halo:

I challenge anyone to go onto YouTube search for "WALMARTIANS" and think these people remind me of P&O passengers.

 

Regards John

Some strange people visit Walmart, check out 'People of Walmart.':o

Perhaps they cruise with Carnival Cruise Lines' for a 'Fun Day at Sea.'

With Thomson and CMV being British-based, I would suggest P&O are the M&S of our cruising, with maybe Thomson as Tesco and CMV as Lidl... :)

What about Fred Olsen, 'The Aldi of Cruising?' Fred has to be one cut above CMV-Lidl. ;p