Compare to Cunard?

So far I cruised several times with Cunard and especially enjoyed the Caronia. Yet she is going to leave in just a couple of weeks, thus I am looking for alternatives.

Would one of the P&O ships be a good choice? P&O is not marketed in Germany as Cunard is but if it is recommendable I will be happy to try.

How does P&O compared to Cunard in terms of food, service, hostesses, formality etc. ?

Don't know yet, we leave tomorrow (apologies now - I have had a few drinks & have already made a few mistakes - I think I have corrected them, but may miss a few :D ) - I will say that again (its been a diffficult few days, my brothers passprt only arrived today!!!!!) we leave tomorrow - Oceana - Mediterranean Marvels -

Been on Caronia (my first crusie - loved Caronia) & Oceana is going to be very different (2000 + pax), should will be able to answer in 12 days (or so).

I wanted to do Caronia again, but needed a second mortgage to get on for her last few cruises so went P+0 (I live in Southampton, so it was the logical choice! :rolleyes: ), plus brother wanted to do Monte Carlo!.

Packed & Ready to go :cool:

Karen

It's a few months since I was on Oriana so things may have changed, but I did not find the food as good for my taste as with Cunard (QE2 & Coronia) Cunard was just classier and P&O more like "school dinners". Also as you would expect more Brits on one and more Yanks on the other. Pays your money etc.

David.

I have not yet been on Cunard (Booked on the QE2 crossing from Southampton to NYC on 15 dec) so cannot comment on that yet. But have been on P&O's Aurora. Both admittedly short trips. Overall we really liked the P&O Aurora. We had a mini-suite which was very nice indeed (370 sq feet with balcony), there were many formal nights and the food we had was excellent. I think that without a doubt these are "UK" and they are very clearly marketed at the UK cruising public (and I see in the "colonies" as I see they seem to have a large marketing set up and website targeting the Australian, New Zealand markets).

I have seen quite a few reviews where US based travellers have not felt as "at home" on the P&O ships as it does have a very definite Uk slant (e.g. the entertainers are all UK known names, the drinks UK popular brands and of course the on-board currency is UK £).

But we thought they were great. But again we are from the UK. I suspect it is the same fo us as we think about doing a Caribbean cruise. We are debating if we would being on a P&O ship from the Uk (where they do a lot) or a US based ship.

I can tell you a better comparison after the QE2 and then again after we go on the new P&O Arcadia in July...

Gary