First time with another cruise company!

[shoreham01]

I think the formal wear problem is caused by not having much weight allowance if you are flying. The beaded very formal dresses are extremely heavy.

[Presto2]

On our Celebrity cruise in September/October last year, the dress was incredibly formal, even on casual nights, considerably more so than on our P&O cruise. Caught me slighly on the hop:eek:.

 

Must depend on time of year and itinerary plus, perhaps, how early the cruise books up.

 

Mary

 

Hi, we went in August and were overwhelmed with Italians -- don't get me wrong, I love Italy, but most did not want to do the dress code. Most of the folk from the US were limited by the weight restrictions on luggage.

 

Whatever, we loved P&O and really enjoyed Celebrity - very different but both had their pros and cons. Would we go with either again - well, we are back in the same cabin, on the same Celebrity ship - though same itinerary - for Aug 2012 and we are already hoping that P&O get some better itineraries for Aug 2013 so that we can join them again! :D:D

[LibraLass41]

Caryl - there is a poor review also, from a friend on Auroras Christmas cruise too - poor entertainment, no atmosphere, food fair. PLUS they had Noro virus as well onboard ! At least you didn't have that little Gem as well!

 

What the hell is going wrong? I am paying £400 a night for a balcony on Oriana soon, I expect very good service and excellant food, if I don't get it, its back to land holidays again in 4/5 star hotels...

Sorry, but no one needs to be so blindly loyal these days.!! This year we had 2 excellent land holidays in Lake Garda and Paphos, after 12 cruises in 5 years, I am back onboard in 4 months time, but if its poor it will be the last time.

[lostinvegas]

Some interesting comments. I have been on both Celebrity Eclipse (from UK) and RCI Oasis of the seas (from US) and I prefer Ventura over both those ships. I personally found the formal nights on RCI from the US were not enforced T-shirts and shorts in the dinning room etc....

 

I also found that on RCI and Celeb they were far more pushy at selling you things like drinks and extras which I did not like. I also found that on RCI there is a bit of a class system with suite customers and gold members taking president over regular customers.

 

I think Entertainment is subjective, I found apart from the water show on Oasis which was the most incredible show I have ever seen P&O in general had better entertainment for my tastes.

 

Its taken traveling on other lines to realise how good P&O is.

[Essexlass2]

Hi, we have just booked with P&O for th first time(usually go with Princess) but being from the UK they have a good variety of cruises from southampton. What should we expect to find in terms of differences?

We do already posess formal attire as in our experience with Princess , passengers do dress for dinner!

 

Hi

Which P&O ship have you booked? We did the pre-Christmas cruise on Azura and it was really nice. Dress codes strictly adhered too, formal nights were almost magical, semi-formal not much different for many, definitely nothing other than smart casual on other evenings in the MDRs.

 

Hope this helps! :)

[Thejuggler]

Only done two Ventura trips so far, but a Grand Princess trip from Southampton has caught our eye so we may well give it a go. Tried 6 agents for a price and the only difference between them is that three are offering some OBC, basic cruise price is the same.

 

One agent said all the prices will be the same and to book with the company which you feel gives best service. They had no OBC offer!

 

 

Confusion reigns over whether our existing Portunas points will be converted to points which can be used on Princess.

[umbertsmum]

Only done two Ventura trips so far, but a Grand Princess trip from Southampton has caught our eye so we may well give it a go. Tried 6 agents for a price and the only difference between them is that three are offering some OBC, basic cruise price is the same.

 

One agent said all the prices will be the same and to book with the company which you feel gives best service. They had no OBC offer!

 

 

Confusion reigns over whether our existing Portunas points will be converted to points which can be used on Princess.

 

Hi, we have been on the Grand and it was lovely. As far as transferring the points goes, I understand that they get added after your first cruise. Princess counts each P&O cruise as one credit (equal to a Princess cruise) and P&O count a Princess cruise as half the number of points as a P&O.

[jeanlyon]

There is no way I would be loyal to any cruise line or travel agent. I choose my cruise or holiday based on itinerary, dates. My cruise would not be spoilt by those who didn't dress for dinner or the entertainment. I love the days on board, the relaxation, the ports. Why do I care if someone doesn't dress for dinner. I dress because I enjoy it, if they don't, then it doesn't spoil my night.

 

This year we are trying Fred O, purely for itinerary. I may well book Oriana or Aurora for 2013 simply because we haven't been on either ship. Don't fancy RCI or Celebrity - far too big for our taste and don't like the 15% service charge on every drink.

[notts cruiser]

Just returned from Azura had a lovely time most followed the dress code . Only let down entertainment was very geared to the older age group .We tried all bars but same age range in all areas so we wont be booking again back to RCCL Celebrity . Hopefully the younger new cruisers will not have been put off . Also got fed up with people complaining about children being onboard from what we saw they were very well behaved wish the same could have been said from some of the older passengers .

[CASPALL]

"Just returned from Azura had a lovely time most followed the dress code . Only let down entertainment......."

 

 

Judging by most reviews of the various P&O Xmas cruises. the entertainment has been the weakest link.

 

Caryl

[bazzaw]

Due to fly out to Arcadia in a few weeks time, my allowance is 20kg. My suitcase weighs 4.75kg. Looks like formal night will consist of a dickie bow and a pair of 'budgy smugglers'!!!!!! :D

 

We are in a similar situation - flying to the UK for Cunard cruise(s) and then going to Germany by train. We do have a 30 Kg allocation on the airlines - but will deliberately limit the weight of our suitcases to 20 kg.

 

Last time we cruised we had no weight limitations (no air travel) - so this time I have been weighing individual items of clothing to get an idea of what I can take and what I can't. My Tux and suit only weigh 1 Kg each., Blazer jacket weighs 500 gms, 2 pair shoes =2 Kg, 8 long sleeved shirts = 2Kg.

If you just only take what you NEED, you can easily get in under 20 Kg :D

 

Barry

[bazzaw]

Who are you flying with? we have 30Kg each

 

Cb

 

You may be allowed 30 Kg - BUT can you handle a 30 Kg suitcase yourself?? I have always found when travelling that there is always somewhere I have to physically man handle my case for some distance.

 

Barry