WARNING: P&O cost cutting.

[Nixi]

The Aurora's service speed is quoted as 24 knots.. but mostly we only did 18 to conserve fuel..

[Denarius]

The Aurora's service speed is quoted as 24 knots.. but mostly we only did 18 to conserve fuel..

Aurora's engines are not as powerful as Oriana's, 40,000kw compared to 47,750kw. Azura'a and Ventura's produce 42,000kw but they are considerably bigger ships. On paper at least Oriana should be the fastest.

[daiB]

Oriana is the fastest ship in the fleet, remember she was built to cross the Atlantic and do world cruises.

 

 

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[Winkster]

I do not agree that I am in a minority of P&O cruisers in enjoying a generous time in port.The fact that people are back onboard in good time before sailing does not mean that they would be happy with less time. I suspect that the reason that a majority of people who have been ashore independently get back on board a considerable time before sailing is that they build a good safety margin in their schedule. Essential in case of unforeseen circumstances. The ship may not wait for us if we are delayed.

 

I agree.

 

We were on the Aurora cruise too and, although we were back on board in plenty of time, we did so to he safe rather than sorry - the short time ashore was still frustrating.

 

We did the walls in Dubrovnik but would have liked to have done the cable car or the boat to Cavtat. Sadly, we didn't even have time for lunch!

 

Same applied in most other ports - enough time to look around but not enough to look around and enjoy a lunch or do anything else.

 

Shame.

 

 

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[Host Sharon]

It departs at 3 pm! I checked on port operations. And P&O actually state early afternoon. Azura also is schedule 0800 to 1500. She is much bigger and faster than Oriana.

 

Oriana is still the fastest ship in the P&O Cruises fleet and has the Golden Cockerel to prove it :)

 

I suspect the reason most people are back on board early is the same as mine - in some ports I would like to do a half day tour in the am or pm and explore on my own for a few hours as well. With the shortened port times, I can do a tour but then there is insufficient time to go back on my own, especially if a shuttle is required.

[daiB]

Oriana is still the fastest ship in the P&O Cruises fleet and has the Golden Cockerel to prove it :)

 

I suspect the reason most people are back on board early is the same as mine - in some ports I would like to do a half day tour in the am or pm and explore on my own for a few hours as well. With the shortened port times, I can do a tour but then there is insufficient time to go back on my own, especially if a shuttle is required.

 

Only when I made my comment I was talking of departures up to 1800. Very few people streach the stay to the very end.

 

Gan Canny

 

 

Dai

[jeanlyon]

Ah ha - I didn't know that about Oriana's speed. Interesting. Even sadder that we have to leave Malta at 1500 :-( Only reason is cost cutting then.

[terrierjohn]

Ah ha - I didn't know that about Oriana's speed. Interesting. Even sadder that we have to leave Malta at 1500 :-( Only reason is cost cutting then.

All depends on your next port and how far away it is, don't forget to allow in some extra insurance time, and that nowadays most cruise lines only operate at about 18-20 knots normal maximum cruising speed.

[jeanlyon]

It;'s Venice and we have a day at sea in between. It;s 516 miles by road which is a lot longer, so let's say 450 miles. 41 hours to do 450 miles?

[terrierjohn]

It;'s Venice and we have a day at sea in between. It;s 516 miles by road which is a lot longer, so let's say 450 miles. 41 hours to do 450 miles?

Valletta to Venice is 810 knautical miles according to this web site,

http://www.snapadministration.com/snapdatafiles/files/viset/634643089270031250.pdf

so for the 41 hrs Oriana will need to maintain 20knts, which seems about right to me.

Jean, I think the answer is that you need to study the itineraries in a bit more detail if you want to maximise your port time.

[jeanlyon]

Actually John that distance is way too much. I checked it here http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/distances.html?n=255

 

530 nautical miles which is about what I measured.

 

Hey ho, never mind, but actually you can't check timings until way after you book. I did a US/Canada on Arcadia and we were told 2 full days in Quebec City. Guess what we left at 1400 on the second day.

 

Jean

[jeanlyon]

This one is interesting http://sea-distances.com/

 

This gives 745 nautical miles - different again, but at 18 knots reckons 1.7 days.

[davecttr]

Google earth gives a distance of about 770 nautical miles so 18 knots is about right

 

that 530 nm was as the crow flies across Italy

[Blackrat]

Is there any way of checking how long your port stay is likely to be at the point of booking?

 

Cheers,

BR

[terrierjohn]

This one is interesting http://sea-distances.com/

 

This gives 745 nautical miles - different again, but at 18 knots reckons 1.7 days.

http://ports.com/sea-route/porto-di-venezia-venice,italy/port-of-valletta,malta/

Jean, This one gives 867nm, I suppose it depends on the channels and exactly which route you take, but certainly 745 or 867 is still a lot further than your original 530nm, and a good reason why Oriana needs to depart at 15:00.

[majortom10]

Getting rather silly about distances between ports but at the end of the day P&O are leaving ports now much earlier and cruising at a lower speed to save money on fuel and to have us onboard spending money. For that reason for the first time in 13 yrs I have not done my usual 3 cruises with P&O but a big fact zero and cruised with Princess and looking to cruise with them again in October. Just for your information you know before you book with Princess the times of the port visits and the service onboard is far superior than on P&O of late.

[silver wedding]

Another part of this is,if the time in port is short you are more likely to take a trip. On our Med cruise in April a few people told us this.

[jeanlyon]

Actually I would be less likely to take a trip, because we like to explore on our own and doing a trip takes up too much time.

 

We are not doing a single P&O excursion in 17 days. All the ports are easy to do on your own.

[burnoutbabe]

On our baltic cruise on Auroror we pretty much had a full day in most places, it was only Brugge we got back early (worried about missing trains as DIYing it) and Warnemunde and Tallinn as not much to do there.

 

But also, a full day siteseeing is SHATTERING, off at 8am, having had clocks go forward as we travel, seeing a few things all over town. So you run out of puff quite soon! (well compared to an organized coach tour)

[Gettysburg]

I have just received an email advising me that the cruise I have booked on Aurora in Sept will now be leaving Lisbon in the afternoon!!

 

Not sure why this is

 

Thanks

[Lancashire Lass]

On our baltic cruise on Auroror we pretty much had a full day in most places, it was only Brugge we got back early (worried about missing trains as DIYing it) and Warnemunde and Tallinn as not much to do there.

 

The last time we were in Warnemunde, about 8 or 9 years ago on Oceana, we had an early morning arrival and very late evening departure, so that coaches could take people on day trips to Berlin. There are other extremely interesting places in Germany within reach of Warnemunde by train - but not if you have to be back onboard by 2:30pm, which seems to be the case on many current cruises. Disappointing for those of us who like to explore more than the immediate vicinity of the port. I feel cheated by short port stays.

[CCFC]

I booked a 7 day Princess cruise yesterday without even thinking about the port times and to my surprise they are as follows:

 

Rome (civitavecchia), Italy Embark Ship

Sun 6 Oct 13 Sicily (Palermo), Italy Arrive 9:00am Depart 6:00pm

Mon 7 Oct 13 Tunis (La Goulette), Tunisia Arrive 8:00am Depart 6:00pm

Tue 8 Oct 13 At Sea for 1 day

Wed 9 Oct 13 Florence/Pisa (Livorno), Italy Arrive 7:00am Depart 7:00pm

Thu 10 Oct 13 Genoa, Italy (for Milan) Arrive 7:00am Depart 7:00pm

Fri 11 Oct 13 Monte Carlo, Monaco Arrive 6:00am Depart 2:00pm Tender Required,

Wheelchair Access Limited

Sat 12 Oct 13 Barcelona, Spain Debark Ship

How does that compare to P&O?

And yes I have cruised P&O many times before anyone accuses me of being biased, I go where the sun goes!

[daiB]

I booked a 7 day Princess cruise yesterday without even thinking about the port times and to my surprise they are as follows:

 

Rome (civitavecchia), Italy Embark Ship

Sun 6 Oct 13 Sicily (Palermo), Italy Arrive 9:00am Depart 6:00pm

Mon 7 Oct 13 Tunis (La Goulette), Tunisia Arrive 8:00am Depart 6:00pm

Tue 8 Oct 13 At Sea for 1 day

Wed 9 Oct 13 Florence/Pisa (Livorno), Italy Arrive 7:00am Depart 7:00pm

Thu 10 Oct 13 Genoa, Italy (for Milan) Arrive 7:00am Depart 7:00pm

Fri 11 Oct 13 Monte Carlo, Monaco Arrive 6:00am Depart 2:00pm Tender Required,

Wheelchair Access Limited

Sat 12 Oct 13 Barcelona, Spain Debark Ship

How does that compare to P&O?

And yes I have cruised P&O many times before anyone accuses me of being biased, I go where the sun goes!

 

It is what one would expect as the ports are quite close. P&O to Norway have longer stops because the ports are close together.

 

P&O would cover this are in 14 nights to and from Southampton and would not do as many ports as this. Perhaps it will be different with Ventura next year.

 

 

Gan Canny

 

 

 

Dai

[kruzseeka]

I was quite frustrated when planning our recent P&O cruise to just have approximate departure times e.g early afternoon as a say, +/- 2 hour margin makes a great deal of difference if planning a DiY approach.

 

The cruisett site does provide some info but is often incomplete with some ships which are in port not recorded. This is another useful port schedule site and I find more comprehensive and worth cross-referencing. It too gives details of other ships in port on a given day which can also be relevant when assessing availability of taxis etc and how busy a destination will be. It can influence planning.

 

http://www.cruisetimetables.com/

[PRINCESSTHE BEST]

Just when I thought it was safe to start booking excursions on R315 i've just gone onto the P&O website and PORTLAND AND QUEBEC ports have been altered to AFTERNOON sailing........and people wonder why P&O is held in such low esteem. Who on earth wants to sail 7 days across the Atlantic for a half day visit to a port. Beggars believe. Thank god I didn't pay top dollar for this cruise!:mad: