Alan Flett Posted August 16, 2018 #51 Share Posted August 16, 2018 I remember someone saying last year that Gibraltar port always has their cruise schedule up early - so I googled it. Britannia and Azura seem to be stopping frequently there in 2020. I hope this doesn't mean Britannia is not going to Norway as Iona is going constantly?? Also noticed Ventura not stopping there after March so wondering where she's going - stuck with Canaries all year? We got off Britannia last Sunday and when we attended the Peninsular Party, Captain Paul Brown said they are doing something quite unique with Iona, Britannia, Ventura and Azura in 2020 but couldn't say what it was. He said the details will be out in September when Iona goes on sale. Obviously this means Iona is only sailing to Norway as I don't think that had been announced when the party was but I can't be sure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Britboys Posted August 16, 2018 #52 Share Posted August 16, 2018 We got off Britannia last Sunday and when we attended the Peninsular Party, Captain Paul Brown said they are doing something quite unique with Iona, Britannia, Ventura and Azura in 2020 but couldn't say what it was. He said the details will be out in September when Iona goes on sale. Obviously this means Iona is only sailing to Norway as I don't think that had been announced when the party was but I can't be sure. Hmmmm. Unique can of course mean a lot of things. After seeing P&O Sue's post above about Gibraltar, I had a look at their schedule on the website myself. From that, it appears that Britannia will call in to Gibraltar every two weeks between 20/5 & 9/9, on a Wednesday, staying from 0800 to 1400. Azura calls in every 4 weeks, on a Thursday, between 14/5 and 1/10 staying from 0800 to 1400. To me, this suggests that these two ships will be sailing the same either one or two itineraries for the whole Summer. Maybe out of Southampton or maybe fly-cruise - who knows. The other thing of interest is that Oceana doesn't feature at all - the whole year. Maybe she is still going to be doing fly-cruises or perhaps... Fully accept that I could be completely wrong with my conjecturing! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
molecrochip Posted August 16, 2018 Author #53 Share Posted August 16, 2018 Hmmmm. Unique can of course mean a lot of things. After seeing P&O Sue's post above about Gibraltar, I had a look at their schedule on the website myself. From that, it appears that Britannia will call in to Gibraltar every two weeks between 20/5 & 9/9, on a Wednesday, staying from 0800 to 1400. Azura calls in every 4 weeks, on a Thursday, between 14/5 and 1/10 staying from 0800 to 1400. To me, this suggests that these two ships will be sailing the same either one or two itineraries for the whole Summer. Maybe out of Southampton or maybe fly-cruise - who knows. The other thing of interest is that Oceana doesn't feature at all - the whole year. Maybe she is still going to be doing fly-cruises or perhaps... Fully accept that I could be completely wrong with my conjecturing! This suggests Britannia does two week med cruises, Azura is likely to be doing longer eastern med cruises leaving Ventura to cruise the canaries? Oceana is likely to do Dubai then Med fly cruise then back to Dubai. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
terrierjohn Posted August 16, 2018 #54 Share Posted August 16, 2018 This suggests Britannia does two week med cruises, Azura is likely to be doing longer eastern med cruises leaving Ventura to cruise the canaries? Oceana is likely to do Dubai then Med fly cruise then back to Dubai. Out of interest I notice from checking the Gibraltar port schedules that RCI look as though they will have both Independence and Anthem OTS sailing out of Southampton in 2020. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare P&O SUE Posted August 16, 2018 #55 Share Posted August 16, 2018 Hmmmm. Unique can of course mean a lot of things. After seeing P&O Sue's post above about Gibraltar, I had a look at their schedule on the website myself. From that, it appears that Britannia will call in to Gibraltar every two weeks between 20/5 & 9/9, on a Wednesday, staying from 0800 to 1400. Azura calls in every 4 weeks, on a Thursday, between 14/5 and 1/10 staying from 0800 to 1400. To me, this suggests that these two ships will be sailing the same either one or two itineraries for the whole Summer. Maybe out of Southampton or maybe fly-cruise - who knows. The other thing of interest is that Oceana doesn't feature at all - the whole year. Maybe she is still going to be doing fly-cruises or perhaps... Fully accept that I could be completely wrong with my conjecturing! That’s what I think, disappointing for me! I agree with your conclusions except Oceana will be on the fly cruises! Sent from my iPhone using Forums Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare P&O SUE Posted August 16, 2018 #56 Share Posted August 16, 2018 Out of interest I notice from checking the Gibraltar port schedules that RCI look as though they will have both Independence and Anthem OTS sailing out of Southampton in 2020. Yes I wondered that unless Anthem is based in Barcelona or somewhere. Sent from my iPhone using Forums Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruisefan2012 Posted August 16, 2018 #57 Share Posted August 16, 2018 Could Britannia be based at Gibraltar and sail Med cruises from there?... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
molecrochip Posted August 17, 2018 Author #58 Share Posted August 17, 2018 Could Britannia be based at Gibraltar and sail Med cruises from there?... Not with only 6 hours in port. This is typical of a final stop before home. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
terrierjohn Posted August 17, 2018 #59 Share Posted August 17, 2018 Could Britannia be based at Gibraltar and sail Med cruises from there?... Not certain that Gibraltar airport would be big enough to cater for the number of flights and passengers involved, but certainly Barcelona would, if in fact P&O are contemplating Med fly cruises. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Britboys Posted August 17, 2018 #60 Share Posted August 17, 2018 This suggests Britannia does two week med cruises, Azura is likely to be doing longer eastern med cruises leaving Ventura to cruise the canaries? Oceana is likely to do Dubai then Med fly cruise then back to Dubai. The regular calls in Gib suggest that Azura is probably doing a series of 14-night cruises, so that would probably rule out longer Eastern Med itineraries as these are normally 16 or 17 nights. Perhaps the ones stopping in Gib will have the same itinerary each time and those not calling in at Gib will be different each time??? In some ways, I am surprised that Gib is still being used so frequently as there will not be any tax advantage once we leave the EU. Having said that though, I think fuel is probably significantly cheaper there as the ships normally re-fuel whilst alongside. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Flett Posted August 17, 2018 #61 Share Posted August 17, 2018 Hmmmm. Unique can of course mean a lot of things. After seeing P&O Sue's post above about Gibraltar, I had a look at their schedule on the website myself. From that, it appears that Britannia will call in to Gibraltar every two weeks between 20/5 & 9/9, on a Wednesday, staying from 0800 to 1400. Azura calls in every 4 weeks, on a Thursday, between 14/5 and 1/10 staying from 0800 to 1400. To me, this suggests that these two ships will be sailing the same either one or two itineraries for the whole Summer. Maybe out of Southampton or maybe fly-cruise - who knows. The other thing of interest is that Oceana doesn't feature at all - the whole year. Maybe she is still going to be doing fly-cruises or perhaps... Fully accept that I could be completely wrong with my conjecturing! Unique may mean they are changing some ports as they have become pretty much the same itineraries every year now! Don’t know why the big secret though. Sent from my iPhone using Forums Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Britboys Posted August 17, 2018 #62 Share Posted August 17, 2018 Unique may mean they are changing some ports as they have become pretty much the same itineraries every year now! Don’t know why the big secret though. Sent from my iPhone using Forums It may - but as these are large ships, it does limit the number of ports that they can visit - unless tenders are deployed, which they seem to prefer not to do. Secrecy builds up the intrigue & interest. Feed a little tit-bit of information and the interest grows - and pax talk about it like we are now :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Britboys Posted August 17, 2018 #63 Share Posted August 17, 2018 Just received a mail-out from P&O for Iona's Norway season. One of the pages clearly says "A week of wonder", so it looks like they will all be 7-night cruises. Something else mentioned that I have not seen anywhere else is that one of the pools will be an Infinity Pool - but maybe I have just missed that in the past? It also mentions a "waterfall feature" from deck 18 (presumably down to deck 16 where the Infinity Pool is). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sweep2907 Posted August 17, 2018 #64 Share Posted August 17, 2018 7 night Iona Cruises was confirmed when they made announcement so no surprise there. This was mentioned on my last cruise in June that the new ship would only be able to do 7 night cruises to start with due to fuel issues. I thought it strange when I heard it but comfirmed on other posts on the forum. The uptake for colder cruises as opposed to med or Caribbean on Iona will be much lower. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
majortom10 Posted August 17, 2018 #65 Share Posted August 17, 2018 Very disappointed that Iona will only be doing 7nt cruises from Southampton so that certainly cancels us out of cruising on her as we dont do cruises of anything less than 12nts. Pity as will be the first P&O maiden cruise we will miss since 2000. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sweep2907 Posted August 17, 2018 #66 Share Posted August 17, 2018 Very disappointed that Iona will only be doing 7nt cruises from Southampton so that certainly cancels us out of cruising on her as we dont do cruises of anything less than 12nts. Pity as will be the first P&O maiden cruise we will miss since 2000. I agree with you but am making an exception for this cruise as haven't done a maiden cruise or fjords. Will do longer cruise later in year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
majortom10 Posted August 17, 2018 #67 Share Posted August 17, 2018 I agree with you but am making an exception for this cruise as haven't done a maiden cruise or fjords. Will do longer cruise later in year. Maiden cruises are not these days as special as they used to be and becoming just a normal cruise even though hyped up by P&O Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dorsetdumpling Posted August 17, 2018 #68 Share Posted August 17, 2018 Surely Iona will not be undertaking the full six month period to the Fjords as the Season ends early September & approx seven weeks are left until the end of October. Perhaps by then refuelling facilities will be available in Southampton. The real question where Iona will be going from late October 2020!. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
majortom10 Posted August 17, 2018 #69 Share Posted August 17, 2018 Surely Iona will not be undertaking the full six month period to the Fjords as the Season ends early September & approx seven weeks are left until the end of October. Perhaps by then refuelling facilities will be available in Southampton. The real question where Iona will be going from late October 2020!. I dont think refuelling in Southampton is the problem I think the reason is that there are not many ports in the Med who have the facilities to refuel LNG. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
terrierjohn Posted August 17, 2018 #70 Share Posted August 17, 2018 I dont think refuelling in Southampton is the problem I think the reason is that there are not many ports in the Med who have the facilities to refuel LNG. I would expect that by May 2020 there will be enough Med ports with refuelling facilities for LNG. After Aidanova does it's initial Canaries season this coming winter, it is due to do 7 night itineraries between Barcelona and Civitavecchia, so presumably both these ports will have refuelling facilities. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
P-L-B Posted August 17, 2018 #71 Share Posted August 17, 2018 Just received a mail-out from P&O for Iona's Norway season. One of the pages clearly says "A week of wonder", so it looks like they will all be 7-night cruises. Something else mentioned that I have not seen anywhere else is that one of the pools will be an Infinity Pool - but maybe I have just missed that in the past? It also mentions a "waterfall feature" from deck 18 (presumably down to deck 16 where the Infinity Pool is). We have just received that information from P&O through our letter box. That port of calls mentioned are. Stavanger, Bergen, Olden, Hellesylt and Geiranger. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
majortom10 Posted August 17, 2018 #72 Share Posted August 17, 2018 We have just received that information from P&O through our letter box.That port of calls mentioned are. Stavanger, Bergen, Olden, Hellesylt and Geiranger. Hellesylt is not normally a port of call just a drop off point for those booking excursions through P&O and pick up the ship at end of excursion in Geiranger. If they dont actually use the floating walk way in Geiranger I shudder at how long it will take to tender 5200 across the fjord and the thought of 4-5000 people in Geiranger is mind boggling. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Britboys Posted August 18, 2018 #73 Share Posted August 18, 2018 ... and the thought of 4-5000 people in Geiranger is mind boggling. Totally agree with you there. Geiranger is such a beautiful LITTLE village. I'm so glad I called in on a ship that only carried about 600 pax - especially as we were the only ship in too! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jh1809 Posted August 18, 2018 #74 Share Posted August 18, 2018 Hellesylt is not normally a port of call just a drop off point for those booking excursions through P&O and pick up the ship at end of excursion in Geiranger. If they dont actually use the floating walk way in Geiranger I shudder at how long it will take to tender 5200 across the fjord and the thought of 4-5000 people in Geiranger is mind boggling. That's probably why Flam isn't listed as a port of call. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PRINCESSTHE BEST Posted August 19, 2018 #75 Share Posted August 19, 2018 What must the locals think. I wonder if they were consulted about in excess of 5,000 passengers plus crew descending on their little towns and villages? Sent from my iPhone using Forums Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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