P&o australia are dead, long live rci

[sludger]

RCI are coming with a 3 year old Celebrity SUPERLINER.

 

What chance have P&O Australia got now with their clapped out old tubs.

As I have stated numerous times before they need to raise their game and lower their prices.

 

I think we on the dark side are being listened to!

 

Let's change the name of this site now because it will be terribly confusing when P&O Australia are out of business.

[Rolls]

Yet another ugly oversized monstrosity ship hits the seas of Australia and New Zealand. Give me the smaller older (real) cruise ships any day. P&O Australia Forever!!

 

 

Rolls

[Kiwi Kruzer]

The Company has not been P&O Australia for quite a while now.

 

Its Carnival Australia.

 

I still believe that under the Carnival umbrella

P&O Au will be phased out

and the P&O brand will be marketed

as a very British experience.

[Rolls]

The Company has not been P&O Australia for quite a while now.

 

Its Carnival Australia.

 

I still believe that under the Carnival umbrella

P&O Au will be phased out

and the P&O brand will be marketed

as a very British experience.

 

 

Thanks David.

 

I guess I keep thinking P&O as that is what's on their ships, but yes I do recall that now.

 

Do you think Carnival will start to use their colours on the Australian fleet in time ? (but hopefully not their funnels);)

 

Rolls

[Australian family]

I wouldn't say that P&O are finished, but they now will have even more competition which means that they will have to smarten up their act with prices. People will have more choice, which can only mean better pricing for consumers.

[Billy and Charlie's Mum]

Yet another ugly oversized monstrosity ship hits the seas of Australia and New Zealand. Give me the smaller older (real) cruise ships any day. P&O Australia Forever!!

 

 

Rolls

 

Celebrity Solstice is not an ugly oversized monstrosity, not like the NCL Epic at all.

 

We enjoyed our Celebrity cruise on the Constellation last November. I for one am happy they are sending the Solstice to Australia. More Aussies will find out they are being charged too much for their cruises and Carnival Australia and Princess Australia will have to do big rethinks in regards to what they charge and the facilities they provide.

 

Look at the Pacific Sun at the moment...... need I say more?

[Kiwi Kruzer]

Thanks David.Do you think Carnival will start to use their colours on the Australian fleet in time ? (but hopefully not their funnels);)Rolls

 

Please , please....

Not the funnel,

anything but a Carnival funnel.:D:D

 

 

Celebrity Solstice is not an ugly oversized monstrosity' date=' not like the NCL Epic at all.

Look at the Pacific Sun at the moment...... need I say more?[/quote']

 

Totally agree.

Solstice has ....a bit of style about it.

We have to get used to bigger ships....

Thats the way of things these days.

If they stuck to same size mid ships,

cruising would be way out of most folks pockets.

 

The smaller ships will still be there,

but they will be moved up into the luxury bracket.

[thied]

The Phone call

Welcome to Carnival Australia the home of Costa,Cunard,P&O cruises,princess cruises, P&Ocruise world voyages and Seabourn

 

Web Site

http://www.carnivalaustralia.com/html/

 

 

very interesting site and how the P&O branding on the site seven times bigger then the others.

 

 

.

[Rolls]

Celebrity Solstice is not an ugly oversized monstrosity' date=' not like the NCL Epic at all.

 

We enjoyed our Celebrity cruise on the Constellation last November. I for one am happy they are sending the Solstice to Australia. More Aussies will find out they are being charged too much for their cruises and Carnival Australia and Princess Australia will have to do big rethinks in regards to what they charge and the facilities they provide.

 

Look at the Pacific Sun at the moment...... need I say more?[/quote']

 

 

Its really is what each person thinks about the look of cruise ships. It's only my few, but because they want to get more people on board per cruise, the ships today are starting to look more like large square boxes with the odd bend in the middle. I know they are very nice inside and on the upper deck, but to look at from shore, they have seemed to have lost their wonderful slender shapes of old.

 

It is a good thing that more companies are going to be operating cruises out of Australia and New Zealand as that will lower prices.

 

Rolls

[Shiprobbo]

RCI are coming with a 3 year old Celebrity SUPERLINER.

 

What chance have P&O Australia got now with their clapped out old tubs.

As I have stated numerous times before they need to raise their game and lower their prices.

 

I think we on the dark side are being listened to!

 

Let's change the name of this site now because it will be terribly confusing when P&O Australia are out of business.

 

Unfortunately this class of ships has the notoriously unreliable Mermaid Pod propulsion system, hopefully these issues are well in hand and that Celebrity are happy that there are adequate local facilities to drydock if/when required.

[thied]

Unfortunately this class of ships has the notoriously unreliable Mermaid Pod propulsion system, hopefully these issues are well in hand and that Celebrity are happy that there are adequate local facilities to drydock if/when required.

 

The Queen Mary 2 Mermaid Pod propulsion system as well.

 

Four 21.5 MW Rolls-Royce/Alstom "Mermaid" electric propulsion pods

 

 

Queen Elizabeth has

Two (2) x 17.6MW ABB Azipods podded propulsors.

 

 

 

Celebrity Solstice has Azipods

[Shiprobbo]

Celebrity Solstice has Azipods

 

Thied,

 

You are correct they are Azipods, however they still remain a very unreliable technology at this stage.

[Haoie]

The more, the merrier I say!

[The_Big_M]

Unfortunately this class of ships has the notoriously unreliable Mermaid Pod propulsion system, hopefully these issues are well in hand and that Celebrity are happy that there are adequate local facilities to drydock if/when required.

 

Aside from being the wrong mechanism, I haven't heard of any significant cruise impacts (e.g. cancelled cruises due to drydock) to the Solstice series of ships in the 3 years they've been running, that make them any more in need of drydock than any other class of ship.

 

In fact, on Millennium's last season here, a whole cruise was cancelled and another impacted due to the failure of its propulsion system, requiring dry dock.

 

Further, how many failures have we had from P&O's fleet in the past year?

[Australian family]

Aside from being the wrong mechanism, I haven't heard of any significant cruise impacts (e.g. cancelled cruises due to drydock) to the Solstice series of ships in the 3 years they've been running, that make them any more in need of drydock than any other class of ship.

 

In fact, on Millennium's last season here, a whole cruise was cancelled and another impacted due to the failure of its propulsion system, requiring dry dock.

 

Further, how many failures have we had from P&O's fleet in the past year?

 

The Pacific Sun has just had to cancel port visits in NZ due to problems, even Milford Sound.

[Shiprobbo]

The Pacific Sun has just had to cancel port visits in NZ due to problems, even Milford Sound.

 

To be fair, I did not comment on the reliability or otherwise of the P&O fleet, I mearly made point that Mermaid Pods were not the most relable of propulsion systems. When Thied pointed out that the systems were Azipods not Mermaid Pods I acknowledged that. My point still remains that podded propulsion systems have yet to be proved over a lifetime of service. Celebrity won a big court case over the Mermaid Pods and has since switched to Azipods for its newbuildings. These installations remain relatively new, lets see how they stand up to the test of time.

 

My other point related to maintenance if there was a problem, can either Cairncross, Captain Cook or Forgacs at Newcastle take a 130,000 tonne ship with pods protruding below it if needed for maintenance? I don't know the answer but would suspect that any drydocking would probably need to be in Singapore.

[The Fox]

RCI are coming with a 3 year old Celebrity SUPERLINER.

 

What chance have P&O Australia got now with their clapped out old tubs.

As I have stated numerous times before they need to raise their game and lower their prices.

 

I think we on the dark side are being listened to!

 

Let's change the name of this site now because it will be terribly confusing when P&O Australia are out of business.

 

 

Hi,

 

I have expressed my disappoint for years with P&O charging high prices for the standard of ships which are handed down to them.If I was cruising with a young family in a 4 berth cabin I think P&O are a great way for families to afford a cruise.I prefer not to sail P&O but we have to remember not one glove fits all.Most people can afford the deposit on P&O and can have time to save the balance or pay it off.RCI require normally 900.00 at the time of booking......out of the reach of a lot of people.

 

I expect Carnival to take over P&O and send out larger older ships which will increase capacity anyway which is the bottom line= money.The current P&O ships will be sold off......sadly as although I am critical of P & O I have sailed with them and enjoyed all the cruises.

 

I will reserve my opinion and judgment on the other brand ships once I have sailed them.

 

Cheers

 

Col:)

[Riffraff]

I for one love the P&O brand and hope they never leave. Yes I remember being disappointed when I found out that P&O had been taken over by Carnival, but the brand has grown since then and that's a good thing.

 

Everyone raves over these new ships coming down, and all this competition is good, but if you want to go on a local cruise with local currency and local food and wine, with locals, then P&O is the only option. And the best option. Lately they seem to be increasing the emphasis on their local feel, which is a good thing.

 

I wonder if anyone who has commented over recent times that P&O need to lift their game, etc etc, been on a P&O cruise recently to see that they have..(in my opinion, anyway.) Service levels on board have increased lately, we noticed on our December cruise.

 

If the Americans ever lose interest in coming to Australia and cruising around here, then the RCI will disappear back to the US fairly quickly afterwards.

 

This is just a personal view, but I would be very disappointed if the P&O brand disappeared. They are comfortable, relaxed ships with a good on-board atmosphere. They aren't the newest ships around, but they are not the oldest either, there are a lot more cruise ships in the world older than Pacific Sun. I can't understand what difference the age of the ship makes.

 

Can some people only have an enjoyable cruise if they are on a ship under a certain number of years old? If they are staying in a hotel on land, do they enquire when it was built? And do they realise that if they flew to the departure port, there is every chance they flew on a plane that is much older than any of the P&O Australia fleet!

 

Personally I prefer the older ships with history and character, to these ugly new boxes with people crammed in and ridiculous gimmicks like rock climbing walls, and real grass.

 

I know most people on here aren't all that fond of P&O for whatever reason, but they have given me lots of great cruises and I hope they can meet all the competition that we have now. Then we can all win with great deals and more choice.

[thied]

Thied,

 

You are correct they are Azipods, however they still remain a very unreliable technology at this stage.

yes they have had a lot of trouble with them in the ships, but they have been used in tugs for many many years.

 

 

 

 

.

[Shiprobbo]

I for one love the P&O brand and hope they never leave. Yes I remember being disappointed when I found out that P&O had been taken over by Carnival, but the brand has grown since then and that's a good thing.

 

Everyone raves over these new ships coming down, and all this competition is good, but if you want to go on a local cruise with local currency and local food and wine, with locals, then P&O is the only option. And the best option. Lately they seem to be increasing the emphasis on their local feel, which is a good thing.

 

I wonder if anyone who has commented over recent times that P&O need to lift their game, etc etc, been on a P&O cruise recently to see that they have..(in my opinion, anyway.) Service levels on board have increased lately, we noticed on our December cruise.

 

If the Americans ever lose interest in coming to Australia and cruising around here, then the RCI will disappear back to the US fairly quickly afterwards.

 

This is just a personal view, but I would be very disappointed if the P&O brand disappeared. They are comfortable, relaxed ships with a good on-board atmosphere. They aren't the newest ships around, but they are not the oldest either, there are a lot more cruise ships in the world older than Pacific Sun. I can't understand what difference the age of the ship makes.

 

Can some people only have an enjoyable cruise if they are on a ship under a certain number of years old? If they are staying in a hotel on land, do they enquire when it was built? And do they realise that if they flew to the departure port, there is every chance they flew on a plane that is much older than any of the P&O Australia fleet!

 

Personally I prefer the older ships with history and character, to these ugly new boxes with people crammed in and ridiculous gimmicks like rock climbing walls, and real grass.

 

I know most people on here aren't all that fond of P&O for whatever reason, but they have given me lots of great cruises and I hope they can meet all the competition that we have now. Then we can all win with great deals and more choice.

 

Well said. Some of the best cruising opportunities are on older and more interesting ships, in my opinion. Classic International operate some of these older ships and offer a great product with some interesting itineries.

[thied]

I for one love the P&O brand and hope they never leave. Yes I remember being disappointed when I found out that P&O had been taken over by Carnival, but the brand has grown since then and that's a good thing.

 

Everyone raves over these new ships coming down, and all this competition is good, but if you want to go on a local cruise with local currency and local food and wine, with locals, then P&O is the only option. And the best option. Lately they seem to be increasing the emphasis on their local feel, which is a good thing.

 

I wonder if anyone who has commented over recent times that P&O need to lift their game, etc etc, been on a P&O cruise recently to see that they have..(in my opinion, anyway.) Service levels on board have increased lately, we noticed on our December cruise.

 

If the Americans ever lose interest in coming to Australia and cruising around here, then the RCI will disappear back to the US fairly quickly afterwards.

 

This is just a personal view, but I would be very disappointed if the P&O brand disappeared. They are comfortable, relaxed ships with a good on-board atmosphere. They aren't the newest ships around, but they are not the oldest either, there are a lot more cruise ships in the world older than Pacific Sun. I can't understand what difference the age of the ship makes.

 

Can some people only have an enjoyable cruise if they are on a ship under a certain number of years old? If they are staying in a hotel on land, do they enquire when it was built? And do they realise that if they flew to the departure port, there is every chance they flew on a plane that is much older than any of the P&O Australia fleet!

 

Personally I prefer the older ships with history and character, to these ugly new boxes with people crammed in and ridiculous gimmicks like rock climbing walls, and real grass.

 

I know most people on here aren't all that fond of P&O for whatever reason, but they have given me lots of great cruises and I hope they can meet all the competition that we have now. Then we can all win with great deals and more choice.

I too have to agree with liking the older ship to cruise on but only if they are maintained proply,

 

and now we have Holland America to establish Australian operation, and deploy ms Oosterdam here, so they will have to change thread/ post of P&O Australia to may it should just (CRUISE SHIPS OF AUSTRALIA AND NZ) or the way it is going lately (A TO Z CRUISE LINES AUSTRALIA AND NZ)

[rugbypopsie]

I don't agree that if you sail on one of the other lines other than P & O you wont be able to cruise with "locals". On the Voldendam the Aussies and Kiwis far outnumbered anyone from anywhere else...as for our choice of beers etc..they were or at least were until they had drank the ship dry of them...and the crew were stuck with the brands we don't like for their bars.

 

As for the currency issue it really is not an issue especially at the moment when our dollar and the US dollar are pretty much on parity.

 

I don't think P & O are finished but they need reliable ships and competitive pricing. Australians and Kiwis booking conditions need to be in line with those enjoyed overseas.

 

 

[Kiwi Kruzer]

I too have to agree with liking the older ship to cruise on but only if they are maintained proply,

 

and now we have Holland America to establish Australian operation, and deploy ms Oosterdam here, so they will have to change thread/ post of P&O Australia to may it should just (CRUISE SHIPS OF AUSTRALIA AND NZ) or the way it is going lately (A TO Z CRUISE LINES AUSTRALIA AND NZ)

 

I like that one.:D

or perhaps just

All Cruise Lines Australia and NZ.

[Australian family]

I don't agree that if you sail on one of the other lines other than P & O you wont be able to cruise with "locals". On the Voldendam the Aussies and Kiwis far outnumbered anyone from anywhere else...as for our choice of beers etc..they were or at least were until they had drank the ship dry of them...and the crew were stuck with the brands we don't like for their bars.

 

As for the currency issue it really is not an issue especially at the moment when our dollar and the US dollar are pretty much on parity.

 

I don't think P & O are finished but they need reliable ships and competitive pricing. Australians and Kiwis booking conditions need to be in line with those enjoyed overseas.

 

 

I agree currency shouldn't be an issue, as you can pay your shipboard account with your credit card. You don't need to worry about changing currency to USD beforehand and how much.

 

When we were on the Volendam it was mostly Americans, from memory about 900.

[thied]

I don't agree that if you sail on one of the other lines other than P & O you wont be able to cruise with "locals". On the Voldendam the Aussies and Kiwis far outnumbered anyone from anywhere else...as for our choice of beers etc..they were or at least were until they had drank the ship dry of them...and the crew were stuck with the brands we don't like for their bars.

 

As for the currency issue it really is not an issue especially at the moment when our dollar and the US dollar are pretty much on parity.

 

I don't think P & O are finished but they need reliable ships and competitive pricing. Australians and Kiwis booking conditions need to be in line with those enjoyed overseas.

 

 

if they base there ships in Australia for the season which is about 5 - 6 of the year or if they based there ships here all year round, may be they will to change to australian $ and either way with the ships cruise out of Australian port and returning to the same ports one would think that we will be cruiseing with locals. 7,8,10,12, 14 night cruises or longer ones.

 

Princess use to be in US $ and then changed over for us Australians.

 

 

 

 

.