March Caribbean transatlantic back to Southampton

[WATB]

So tempting the thought of no long haul homebound flight, just hop off the boat and home in 30 mins, no jet lag ....yes please.

 

I think we are going to put this on hold til March 2014 and hope they do a 21 day one again, fingers crossed :)

 

Hope you all have a great time and please let us know what you thought of it.

[Best pressie]

Just booked this cruise, very interesting reading all the comments, can't wait!!

[little red rouster]

Did this cruise March 11 on the Ventura enjoyed it very much. We have booked on the Azura for March 13 for the same cruise on the 21st. Nice to be in the sun this time of year. Weather last time coming back to Southampton was not to bad after the Canaries.

[Midsomer Madness]

Next year they are reverting back to the 14 night TA back to us from what I can see.

[BrianI]

So tempting the thought of no long haul homebound flight, just hop off the boat and home in 30 mins, no jet lag ....yes please.

 

I think we are going to put this on hold til March 2014 and hope they do a 21 day one again, fingers crossed :)

 

Hope you all have a great time and please let us know what you thought of it.

There is no 21day transatlantic next year, only 14day.

It is only this year that it has come about due to the ship doing weekly turnarounds with half the ship changing each week. Obviously this was not a success and next year they have reverted back to the previous sytem of a two week turnaround over 2 days.

 

If you want a longer cruise, you can still do Caribbean round trips which are around 22days no flying.

Brian

[kersh]

We have just booked our flight-seats for the TA. flying from Manchester on 21 March.

 

Sue

[annieuk]

Haven't been able to book seats for 14th March from Gatwick yet. I know the top levels of the Peninsular Club have been able to book theirs but we are Mediterranean level so have no idea when will be able to book - I keep checking.

 

Carole

[annieuk]

The seat booker for us came online at midnight and I was able to book our seats - still no notification from P&O that the seat booker was available but I have had confirmation of our booked seats, so I guess that's what's important.

 

Carole

[andyrmanc]

Booked our seats this morning :) Unfortunately the exit seats had already gone, hey ho.

 

Only 9 more weeks :):):)

 

Cheers

 

Andy

[bobby67]

The sail back is not with a stop in Madeira but at Ponta Delgada' date=' Azores. According to their brochure for 2013/14 Azura transatlantic is 21/03/14 for 2weeks with a stop at Ponta Delgada and Ventura date is 14/03/14, also with a stop at Ponta Delgada - but this could change!!!!

I think that Azura was not supposed to be in the Caribbean this year, but they changed that as well and soooooo glad they did. Can't wait until 14/03/13 for our 21 nighter back to Southampton.[/quote']

Hi Carol pj we too are booked on this cruise. It is our first time with P&O, enjoying reading comments on this forum. I like the idea of sailing back it is much more relaxing than the flight. We have visted some of the islands previously but would like to meet up and share taxis for some tours. Anyone out there interested. Bobby and Carolyn

[bobby67]

The sail back is not with a stop in Madeira but at Ponta Delgada' date=' Azores. According to their brochure for 2013/14 Azura transatlantic is 21/03/14 for 2weeks with a stop at Ponta Delgada and Ventura date is 14/03/14, also with a stop at Ponta Delgada - but this could change!!!!

I think that Azura was not supposed to be in the Caribbean this year, but they changed that as well and soooooo glad they did. Can't wait until 14/03/13 for our 21 nighter back to Southampton.[/quote']

Hi Carol Thomson seat booker is now open. I booked seats yesterday 23/01/2013 Carolyn:)

[PJ's]

Hi Carolyn - seat booker still not available for me to book our seats in premium. I check at least 4 times a day and all it says is "unavailable". Are you in premium or economy? I've emailed P&O but not yet had the decency of a reply from them. As I booked through a TA all correspondence is supposed to go via TA. We are travelling with another couple (linked booking) and they are unable to book also. Really upset about this, never had any trouble before with other cruiselines.

[tring]

We did a return TA on Artemis not long before P&O got rid of her. We also did a Madeira to the Amazon on Minerva II (now Adonia) just before Carnival ditched Swan Hellenic. Does not sound good this does it? It was a Jaz cruise on Artemis, which was great and Swan Hellenic have such excellent speakers - so no boredom at all and the smaller ships have more space on deck so we got in lots of sun bathing.

 

We loved the TA sea days as it was brilliant weather throughout both cruises. On Artemis we were in Madeira on 2nd April and back in Southampton on 6th April and the Bay of Biscay was like a millpond with quite warm weather until the last day - hot until Madeira and the day after. However, I do know someone who did a return TA and they travelled back on Oceana with a storm, which travelled with them, (shower at your own risk sort of weather). No stabilisers for the first day as the Captain was trying to outrun the storm!! The weather systems tend to come from the west, so you could find yourself travelling with a set weather pattern, but time of year does not necessarily mean good or bad weather as any old seafarer will tell you.

 

The lack of a return flight was great though - we hate overnight flights, but we would not be interested in a round trip from Southampton as there would be too many sea days with very few ports and they tend to be in winter as well. The only down side in our opinion was the shorter days as we travelled accross time zones - going out was great as we had a number of lies in. Given they are cheaper cruises that means more hols for us, which can only be good, but a two week cruise followed by a return TA would be the ideal.

[bobby67]

Hi Carolyn - seat booker still not available for me to book our seats in premium. I check at least 4 times a day and all it says is "unavailable". Are you in premium or economy? I've emailed P&O but not yet had the decency of a reply from them. As I booked through a TA all correspondence is supposed to go via TA. We are travelling with another couple (linked booking) and they are unable to book also. Really upset about this' date=' never had any trouble before with other cruiselines.[/quote']

We are in economy seats so that must be the difference. Looking forward to M&G. Are you booking private tours before you go? I must start looking up some of the companies recommended. Carolyn

[nyree]

I totally agree with you about the overnight flight back to UK - so glad we don't have to do it this time. We are flying out from Manchester on 14/03/13 with Thomson and still patiently waiting for the seat booker to be available so we can book seats for the outward journey - check every day but no luck so far. Do P&O advise when the seat booker will be available or is it better to check every day and maybe hit lucky.

 

 

I never got an email but checked every day for weeks and finally hit lucky and got the seats I wanted and paid for them. Phoned P&O to check that the seats were definitely booked and they categorically confirmed yes all was booked and no problems. Checked Cruise Personaliser and it showed my seats.

 

3 months later (last week) while on the Cruise the Boarding Passes were delivered to the cabin 2 nights before the flight (as we were on the opposite transatlantic, sailed UK to Barbados and flight back) and it wasn;t the seats we paid for :(

 

They were not interested at all on board or on shore, they could see I had booked seats but said it was too late now they couldn't change the boarding passes as they'd re-sold my seats to someone else!!!!! They would not refund my money on board, so am now trying without joy at the moment to get my money back from on shore

 

So, don't rely on Cruise Personaliser and the fact that you've paid for seats to mean you will get those seats - P&O may well re-sell them to someone else!

 

So, if you definitely want the seats you've paid for I suggest you get to the airport early to make sure, and also if on board check with the flight department early in the cruise, once the boarding passes are printed it's too late to do anything

[PJ's]

Glad we only fly one way and don't have to worry about return flight. It looks as though even if you pay your money and book a specific seat it doesn't mean you will get to sit in it. Seat booker still not open for me but still checking. Think we'll just get to airport early and get whatever is available; just as long as I am sat next to hubby should be ok.

[PJ's]

Hi Carolyn - yes, must be because you're in economy that you've been able to book seats. The only reason we opted for premium is because of a bad flight we had some years ago (seats were allocated on check-in as we didn't opt to pre-book) when I ended up sitting six rows in front of my hubby; I therefore had approx 10hrs flying on my own next to a couple who never really entered into conversation with me, even though I tried my best. They just held hands for nearly all the flight and whispered to each other. We've booked tours with P&O for Tortola and Dominica. When we get to Barbados on 21st we're going to head towards Carlisle beach as this is where we went last time in Barbados and really enjoyed it. Taxi is about $5 each way but you can walk if you're feeling fit. We went to Harbour Lights last time and enjoyed it. Price for 2 chairs and umbrella is about $15.

[bobby67]

Hi Carolyn - yes' date=' must be because you're in economy that you've been able to book seats. The only reason we opted for premium is because of a bad flight we had some years ago (seats were allocated on check-in as we didn't opt to pre-book) when I ended up sitting six rows in front of my hubby; I therefore had approx 10hrs flying on my own next to a couple who never really entered into conversation with me, even though I tried my best. They just held hands for nearly all the flight and whispered to each other. We've booked tours with P&O for Tortola and Dominica. When we get to Barbados on 21st we're going to head towards Carlisle beach as this is where we went last time in Barbados and really enjoyed it. Taxi is about $5 each way but you can walk if you're feeling fit. We went to Harbour Lights last time and enjoyed it. Price for 2 chairs and umbrella is about $15.[/quote']

Hi Carol, not very nice a long journey with no "chat". I booked Xleg room as Bob has long legs. Carlise Beach sounds good. last time we were in Barbados we went on a catamarran snorkeling which I really enjoyed. But I think this time we will just go the beach. In Tortola last year we got the Happy Bus to Cane Garden Bay and had a lovely time, wasted lots of photos trying to get good ones of the pelicans, they were too fast for me. Look forwrd to meeting you. Carolyn

[PJ's]

Just noticed on the roll call thread for TA back to Southampton for Azura that Guadeloupe has been dropped completely. Thought I'd check on my CP and it shows we are now visiting Dominica on 19/3/13. St Kitts has been added instead of Dominica for the 23/3/13. Wonder if this will be a final itinary or will it change again ????????

[PORT ROYAL]

Just noticed on the roll call thread for TA back to Southampton for Azura that Guadeloupe has been dropped completely. Thought I'd check on my CP and it shows we are now visiting Dominica on 19/3/13. St Kitts has been added instead of Dominica for the 23/3/13. Wonder if this will be a final itinary or will it change again ????????

 

Shame about Guadeloupe - But then again, every week somebody gets killed! ;-)

[Azrar]

Hi we are Ventura on 8th March for the transatlantic back to Southampton. We did the same cruise on Azura last year and had a great time. We love the days at sea so this cruise really suited us especially as don't like flying so one less flight is great for me. The weather was great until two days out from Southampton although it was very breezy on the open decks. We took the advice from the forum and had booked a balcony cabin on the starboard side and had full sun all day.

 

Lorna:)