Back from first cruise with P&O and....

[Scriv]

PS The food and service aboard Oriana late June was first class!

[the english lady]

I genuinely hope the two people I responded to didn't feel I was having a go at them or slanging them.

 

I agreed with most of what they said and, even if I didn't, I support their right to hold their views.

 

My only comment related to the reference to American ships being big when, in fact, most P&O ships are bigger version of these so called big American ships.

 

Genuine apologies for any offence taken

 

None taken by me. I tend not to look at size/weights of ships, more how many people would be on board.

I just don't fancy going American.

[jeanlyon]

I want to be like jeanlyon when I get older.

I wouldn't be able to keep up now!:D

 

My husband is 76 and he's just the same. Always up for a dance and stay up late!!

[jeanlyon]

Although we are fairly new cruisers (13) compared to a lot of people on here we have tried P&O, princess, royal Caribbean, thomson and the island escape in its ill fated first season. I still get the wow factor as soon as I see the ship before getting on. I could find faults on every cruise we have done but the good things have always outshone the bad. Nothing wrong with people sticking up for their favourite company, I personally like everyone we have been with and just feel grateful that we are still able to pick and choose where and with who we want to cruise with. I love to hear a good balanced review and really don't think there is a necessity to criticise people because you don't agree with their views. Looking forward to Oriana in October and fingers crossed the plumbing problems will be sorted by then.

 

Are you on 9th October?

[jeanlyon]

I always find it amusing when people make comments about the age of cruisers. On our first cruise, when we were in our late 20s/early 30s, we were put to shame by people in their 70s and 80s who were drinking, laughing and dancing until the wee small hours, long after we had retired for the night! We marvelled at their joie de vivre and stamina and hoped that we would be as energetic and getting as much out of life as they did when we reached that age.

Everyone's different, and that's what's so fantastic about cruise ships - there are discos and bars for the night owls, there are quiet lounges for the more retiring, you can do as much as or as little as you want, and vary it day to day to suit your mood.

 

Hee hee - you got it in one!

[Presto2]

For goodness sake! Everyone likes different things. Book what you enjoy and stop moaning! Sad!

 

 

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I agree - if we try something and don't like it then we don't do it again.

It is just not us - not the ship's fault - just not us. Eg

We tried the IOS with RCI and though it was a good 4 day break we know that it isn't for us. The ship was lovely and many people loved her... she just wasn't 'us'

 

Horses for courses

 

:)

[robanddiane]

Are you on 9th October?

 

27th October for us Jean, nice 10 nighter with a couple of new ports for us in Lisbon & La Corunna.

[jeanlyon]

We are on a 14 nighter on the 9th, must be a 2 dayer in between? Also, Suites, Mini suites and balconies are all sold out, and the Early Saver wouldn't have saved us anything yet!

Edited July 18, 2014 by jeanlyon

[brillo]

Both PO Cruises and Princess Cruises are fully owned by the Carnival Corporation of of America !!!

[gadabout60]

I am a cruising newbie compared to many as I have just returned from my 7th cruise - 5 with P&O (3 x Adonia, 1 x Arcadia and 1 x Oceana) and 2 with Celebrity Eclipse.

 

My favourite ship of all of these is Adonia and am pleased to be going on her again at Christmas. In the 3 1/2 years since I have started cruising though I have noticed a change in "standards" on P&O though overall I still enjoy cruising with them.

 

Having just come off the Celebrity though on a 14 nighter to Iceland and Norway I have to say I was blown away by the quality of the food. In terms of choice and quality it is miles ahead of P&O. There is nothing wrong with P&O but in the main dining room I feel you could be dining at home - on Eclipse you knew you were in a top quality restaurant.

 

I have always found service to be great on P&O but actually it was better on Eclipse. Your needs were anticipated and the restaurant waiters and wine waiters were very attentive and nothing was too much trouble for them.

 

The speciality restaurants were far better than those I have tried on P&O. The buffet again was just in a different league - P&O's buffets to me are tired and uninspiring.

 

I always have a balcony cabin and on the Eclipse these are much bigger than any I have had on P&O and the bathroom is far superior - great showers and plenty room to move about. The in cabin TV also offers loads of information, account details, room service, tour details, live TV channels and films both free and on demand - much slicker than P&O.

 

I am not much for entertainment on any ship - and I found much of Celebrity cheesy. It is refreshing though to have more nationalities on board - lots of interesting people to chat to. There were the usual moaners but you get them everywhere. Someone mentioned earlier that they don't like converting from dollars to sterling but its a quick and easy conversion and any of the shop assistants would tell you an approximate UK price if you can't convert it yourself.

 

There are several things I think P&O does better - e.g. the library and the prom decks.

 

We like to cruise from Southampton and we prefer ships with few or no children on them so we are restricting ourselves in terms of choice. We have booked Celebrity again for next summer as it really is a quality product. But as I mentioned above I am very fond of Adonia and am looking forward to my Christmas cruise on her.

[Cloudyrain]

I think that different companies probably all have something to offer.

 

We found P&O (Ventura) food far below the standard that we found on NCL: not really much difference in quality, but options and availability were very far superior on NCL. I know the OP mentioned night time availability and I have to agree. I understand that not everyone wants burger and chips at midnight, but we often enjoy a bit of a snack (I eat little and often due to my health and don't indulge in the 5 course extravaganza in the MDR) and a few chips, a cookie or some fruit are quite nice after a few drinks. I know that room service is available, but I don't think my midnight munchies warranted that so ended up having to get stuff from the MDR earlier in the day and leaving it in the fridge for the evening because there was close to nothing in the MDR. I also found the daytime buffet selection dreadful - I have had a better buffet experience in a 3* hotel in the Costa Del Sol! It didn't help that the pizzeria was closed for half the week we were there.

 

That being said I felt that the pool areas were loads better on the Ventura than on both the NCL ships we had been on, and the entertainment was better than on the Epic. The rooms were also lovely and well laid out, and I thought the whole ship was well designed.

 

For us one big thing that let the Ventura down was the Casino. It was very small (which we expected having the reviews) but was well used. However, it was disappointing in terms of opening hours - closing early even when not in port. The slot machines took up more space than they warranted, but the tables were often busy and lively. I know a lot of people don't like gambling, but there were plenty of people there to warrant them expanding it a little.

 

Sadly, if price and itinerary was equal, we would probably choose an American line over P&O in future due to a combination of the food and casino issues: which for us mean more than having everything in £s or better pools.

 

 

 

Obviously I haven't been on many cruises but I don't think that makes my views any less valid. We are all different and view things differently and have different experiences. I also think that negative reviews (although I don't think there are that many on here about P&O) are useful and need to be accepted as true of one persons unique experience.

[daiB]

I think that different companies probably all have something to offer.

 

 

 

We found P&O (Ventura) food far below the standard that we found on NCL: not really much difference in quality, but options and availability were very far superior on NCL. I know the OP mentioned night time availability and I have to agree. I understand that not everyone wants burger and chips at midnight, but we often enjoy a bit of a snack (I eat little and often due to my health and don't indulge in the 5 course extravaganza in the MDR) and a few chips, a cookie or some fruit are quite nice after a few drinks. I know that room service is available, but I don't think my midnight munchies warranted that so ended up having to get stuff from the MDR earlier in the day and leaving it in the fridge for the evening because there was close to nothing in the MDR. I also found the daytime buffet selection dreadful - I have had a better buffet experience in a 3* hotel in the Costa Del Sol! It didn't help that the pizzeria was closed for half the week we were there.

 

 

 

That being said I felt that the pool areas were loads better on the Ventura than on both the NCL ships we had been on, and the entertainment was better than on the Epic. The rooms were also lovely and well laid out, and I thought the whole ship was well designed.

 

 

 

For us one big thing that let the Ventura down was the Casino. It was very small (which we expected having the reviews) but was well used. However, it was disappointing in terms of opening hours - closing early even when not in port. The slot machines took up more space than they warranted, but the tables were often busy and lively. I know a lot of people don't like gambling, but there were plenty of people there to warrant them expanding it a little.

 

 

 

Sadly, if price and itinerary was equal, we would probably choose an American line over P&O in future due to a combination of the food and casino issues: which for us mean more than having everything in £s or better pools.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Obviously I haven't been on many cruises but I don't think that makes my views any less valid. We are all different and view things differently and have different experiences. I also think that negative reviews (although I don't think there are that many on here about P&O) are useful and need to be accepted as true of one persons unique experience.

 

 

Casinos on P&O tend to be smaller than on American ships because less people use them. I am a constant in the casino and on some ships in the evening there were no tables being used. The staff were there but no punters. BTW Ventura's casino is one of the largest in the fleet. :) . You would not like the one on Oriana.

 

With reference to the buffet I think the P&O buffet is like it is because, especially in the evening they tend not to be well used and so the people who run the buffet do not put out masses of food to be wasted.

 

I suspect you will get better variety of food in the NCL buffet because they are catering for more people. I have passed through the buffet on a number of cruises when the staff greatly outnumbered the passengers, this would be between 7.30 and 8.30.

 

As for a midnight buffet, I have not known one on P&O at all and I have cruised since 2001.

 

The best P&O ship for late night eating is Aurora because of Cafe Bordeaux.

 

 

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[Cloudyrain]

I agree DaiB, gambling is often not as popular with the Brits, and early in the evening it was always very very quiet (not like NCL when people are sat waiting to at the slots for them to open!) but later in the night they were super busy and closed tables full of gamblers at 1/2am even though people were there: though I'm obviously only going on what it was like on the 1 week we were there, but we (mainly Mr C) were fixtures every night until closing! ;)

 

The Spirit was smaller than the Ventura so catered for less people, but with more food variety. I just think it's a weakness of P&O to be quite narrow in the selection and variety. It wouldn't hurt to have more than one soup in the buffet, and no ice cream in the buffet was a real surprise, though it's obviously a money making exercise to help sell the ice cream cards (which are a good idea and worth it). We loved the Beachouse, but getting a table was like gold dust (had to be there before 7pm to get a buzzer for about 9pm) and i still cannot believe they charge £3.50 for the flambed fruit! It didn't help that the evening buffet meal selection was limited by their decision to have themed nights every evening offering little alternative for people who didn't like the theme.

 

Sorry, it's not called a midnight buffet, but the waterside had "late night snacks" every night from 9.30pm until 6am.

[daiB]

I agree DaiB, gambling is often not as popular with the Brits, and early in the evening it was always very very quiet (not like NCL when people are sat waiting to at the slots for them to open!) but later in the night they were super busy and closed tables full of gamblers at 1/2am even though people were there: though I'm obviously only going on what it was like on the 1 week we were there, but we (mainly Mr C) were fixtures every night until closing! ;)

 

 

 

The Spirit was smaller than the Ventura so catered for less people, but with more food variety. I just think it's a weakness of P&O to be quite narrow in the selection and variety. It wouldn't hurt to have more than one soup in the buffet, and no ice cream in the buffet was a real surprise, though it's obviously a money making exercise to help sell the ice cream cards (which are a good idea and worth it). We loved the Beachouse, but getting a table was like gold dust (had to be there before 7pm to get a buzzer for about 9pm) and i still cannot believe they charge £3.50 for the flambed fruit! It didn't help that the evening buffet meal selection was limited by their decision to have themed nights every evening offering little alternative for people who didn't like the theme.

 

 

 

Sorry, it's not called a midnight buffet, but the waterside had "late night snacks" every night from 9.30pm until 6am.

 

 

Always busy on a short cruise. We now tend to do 14 days +. Even on Azura in April I had to sit and wait some nights between 10.30 and 11.00 for other people to join me at a table. The slots were pretty well used.

 

They had 2 roulette tables and often only one was working and that could be for two people. It is certainly the fact that the ships are full of British cruisers which means small and often underused casinos.

 

 

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[tetleyt8]

Going on my first cruise with my mum who is in her 80's and she has always wanted to cruise...not sure ,with what I have read, that its all going to be plain sailing...excuse the pun.

We sail from Southampton in September on the Oceana to the Western Med.

[daiB]

Going on my first cruise with my mum who is in her 80's and she has always wanted to cruise...not sure ,with what I have read, that its all going to be plain sailing...excuse the pun.

We sail from Southampton in September on the Oceana to the Western Med.

 

Is that the 19th of September? If so we have a roll call for the cruise. I am on that one as well so if you have any questions just join in and ask

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2033990

 

 

Gan Canny

 

:cool:

 

Dai

Edited July 22, 2014 by daiB

[babs135]

To the OP

 

I'm sorry you didn't enjoy your cruise and whilst I can't comment on Oriana as we can no longer cruise on her since she became adult only I would like to express surprise at your comment about the vegetarian food selection.

 

As a veggie myself I've always felt very well accommodated on a P&O Cruise, more so in fact than any other cruise line I've sailed with so far so I'd appreciate a bit more detail as to what was so poor in respect of vegetarian food on your cruise.

 

I'd be very disappointed if P&O had reduced their offering in this aspect :(

 

Debbie

 

In the MDR it was bland, boring and if you like pasta you will be okay. Only the one choice as well. Nothing adventurous, just run of the mill. The gentleman we spoke to said he 'was sick of pasta' and ate mainly in The Conservatory where the options were similarly poor. His main grumble was that he found the choice of hot food so limited that he had ended up eating cold meals, such as salads, etc and even that had got 'boring' after 14 days. As I said in my review, I got the distinct impression that he was saying that 'he felt hungry'. Not ideal.

[daiB]

In the MDR it was bland, boring and if you like pasta you will be okay. Only the one choice as well. Nothing adventurous, just run of the mill. The gentleman we spoke to said he 'was sick of pasta' and ate mainly in The Conservatory where the options were similarly poor. His main grumble was that he found the choice of hot food so limited that he had ended up eating cold meals, such as salads, etc and even that had got 'boring' after 14 days. As I said in my review, I got the distinct impression that he was saying that 'he felt hungry'. Not ideal.

 

 

So what has changed. Any vegetarian we have sat with always had the choice of what was on the menu and every night the head waiter would come round with an extensive menu so they could choose for the following day. There were about 20 items on that menu. I have not heard that it had been withdrawn, so are you saying it has?

 

 

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[babs135]

So what has changed. Any vegetarian we have sat with always had the choice of what was on the menu and every night the head waiter would come round with an extensive menu so they could choose for the following day. There were about 20 items on that menu. I have not heard that it had been withdrawn, so are you saying it has?

 

 

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Don't know because we didn't go veggie. I can only repeat what the gentleman told us whilst we were sat having breakfast. Maybe he didn't know to ask? I can only go by what we saw ourselves.

[dgs1956]

P&O are excellent in dealing with food intoleances etc etc. They always come around with a "special" menu. My friend is a coeliac and he was given the menu on the evening before. You often see the waiters taking the menu around. It sounds to me like this gentleman hadn't informed the waiter that he was a vegetarian. If that's the case then its a shame that P&O are being criticised.

Edited July 23, 2014 by dgs1956

[tetleyt8]

Yes it's the 19th September we sail. ROLL CALL????

[daiB]

Yes it's the 19th September we sail. ROLL CALL????

 

Yes it is part of this forum for pepple going on a particular cruise. If you follow the link above it will take you to the roll call for our cruise. Will be organising a get yogether for the group on the ship.

 

Gan Canny

 

 

Dai

[lancashire_cruisers]

P&O are excellent in dealing with food intoleances etc etc. They always come around with a "special" menu. My friend is a coeliac and he was given the menu on the evening before. You often see the waiters taking the menu around. It sounds to me like this gentleman hadn't informed the waiter that he was a vegetarian. If that's the case then its a shame that P&O are being criticised.

 

That's exactly my experience too in over 200 nights onboard P&O ships. The MDR staff can't do enough for you and really go the extra mile for passengers with dietary needs.

 

I've even had the chef offer to make something off menu for me :D

 

It's a real shame that the gentleman concerned didn't think to speak to either the MDR staff or shoreside before he left. P&O aren't at fault here.

 

Debbie :)

[daiB]

Don't know because we didn't go veggie. I can only repeat what the gentleman told us whilst we were sat having breakfast. Maybe he didn't know to ask? I can only go by what we saw ourselves.

 

 

There is a danger of using hearsay to put a cruise line down when you get the facts wrong.

 

 

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[babs135]

P&O are excellent in dealing with food intoleances etc etc. They always come around with a "special" menu. My friend is a coeliac and he was given the menu on the evening before. You often see the waiters taking the menu around. It sounds to me like this gentleman hadn't informed the waiter that he was a vegetarian. If that's the case then its a shame that P&O are being criticised.

 

I agree. We made friends with a couple and she is intolerant to a variety of dairy products (not all). Every night the maitre d' would come to our table - Freedom Dining so we were on different tables every night! - and show her the following days' lunch and dinner menus. She would choose and, if necessary, ask for things to be replaced and without fail it was done. They never got it wrong the whole cruise.