Ship advice

hi all - we are new to this page. Having previously cruised with Royal Caribbean we’d like to try P&O

Europe or Greek island cruise.

Any suggestions and recommendations for itinerary and more importantly ship pkease

hi all - we are new to this page. Having previously cruised with Royal Caribbean we’d like to try P&O

 

Europe or Greek island cruise.

 

Any suggestions and recommendations for itinerary and more importantly ship pkease

P and O ships and cruises are very different from Royal Caribbean. I have recently returned from Symphony. P and O are British and somewhat traditional. Please do not expect a large number of dining venues, massive amounts of active activities or flashy entertainment.

Britannia is the most modern P and O ship. It has the most options for food, activities and entertainment. Some passengers find Britannia too busy. This would be followed by Azura, Ventura and then Oceana. All these four ships are family friendly. Arcadia, Aurora and Oriana are the most traditional and attract an older passenger contingent. I do like Oriana. She is very calm and relaxed. These three ships are child free or being converted child free.

If you are trying to replicate the big Royal Caribbean ships I fear you would be disappointed with P and O. If you are looking for a different type of experience then you might enjoy P and O.

Whichever ship you choose P and O do not offer unlimited alcoholic drinks packages but generally the price of most things on P and O is very reasonably compared to Royal Caribbean.

P and O offer two types of fare. Select fares offer your choice of cabin (not always), choice of dining (subject to availability), free port shuttles, onboard credit and other perks. Saver fares are cheaper (not always), do not offer the perks, and p and o make the cabin and dining choices for you. Each cabin grade usually offers the two fares.

I hope that helps.

Best wishes, Stephen.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

P&O actually offer 3 types of fares Select, Early Saver and Saver all not always available at any one time for booking depending how far in advance. To find out accurate description of different types of fares and what you get I would suggest going to their website where all is explained.

Hi...very hard to recommend a particular ship to anyone ....depends what you are looking for. If you are looking for something that compares with RCI I don't think you will find it with P&O....a totally different experience but you may find that you enjoy it just the same. I would choose your cruise with itinerary being the priority and take it from there.

For a totally different, small ship experience I would recommend Oriana. Quiet, not so crowded, offers a traditional cruise experience which I really enjoyed. None of the bells and whistles that RC offer.

For a large ship experience, I prefer Ventura and I suspect Azura is similar. I have not been on Britannia so can't comment but it is a newer ship so will be more up to date. On Ventura, it is a large ship feel with plenty of families and people from all age groups. Caters for the British with down to earth entertainment which I like but not in the same league as RC. No ice show etc. I find that Ventura has really nice speciality dinning venues which are reasonably price, the choice of wine on board the ship is really great and the drinks prices are very reasonable. To avoid the crowds on deck you can pay extra for access to the Retreat.

My two favourite cruise lines are RC and P&O and the two are totally different. If you like speciality dinning and trying different types of wine then the larger P&O ships will appeal.

One last observation. Expect lo-tech. You will not be able to check your account on your TV screen or dinning menus or anything else.