Celebrity cruisers trying P&O

[sandancer]

For the past few years we have chosen Celebrity for most of our cruises, a couple of Royal Caribbean and a couple of taster cruises with Cunard. We have booked our first P&O cruise for this December on the Azura and would be interested to hear from anyone who has sailed with both lines, what differences we can expect. It is a 14 night Caribbean cruise. One stand out for us is that P&O still have formal nights (I understand they are called black tie nights) and Celebrity have changed to Chic nights where the dress code is more relaxed. Other than that we really don’t know what to expect. Anyone able to help with this?

 

 

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[terrierjohn]

We sailed quite a few times on Eclipse and that would rate almost 5 stars from me whereas P&O is somewhere just under 4. Service standards, cleanliness and food quality is higher on Celebrity; entertainment and size and number of venues is better on P&O.

P&O are mainly Brit passengers, with an occasional Australian or European, which does affect the character of the cruise experience. But drinks and auto gratuities are lower on P&O, although they don't have drinks packages and therefore never offer them free, also don't expect to negotiate a discount on speciality dining, best you will get is a free bottle of house wine, however the prices are lower.

Caribbean fly cruises with P&O do have benefits though, check your luggage at the UK airport and next time you see it is outside your cabin, on the return leave it outside the cabin on the last night and pick it up at the UK airport carousel; but you will need more hand luggage as flights mainly depart late afternoon onwards, and you don't need to leave the ship till about 2/3 hours before departure time.

[sandancer]

Thanks John. We know it will be hard to keep from making comparisons but we are determined to go with open minds. I had to smile at some reviews where it was said that some people brag about how many cruises they’ve taken. I think that’s pretty consistent across the industry and it’s not just P&O. We chose the cruise for the itinerary and the non stop flight to Barbados. If I never go through immigration at Miami again it’ll be too soon and if you want the Caribbean then that’s usually the norm with the US cruise lines.

 

 

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[Emmandjay]

we too were staunch Celebrity cruisers, but their prices seemed to be creeping up and up to a level where we weren't comfortable so we decided to give P &O a go. Since then we have enjoyed three cruises on Britannia (as we like the bigger ships).

P&O have a slightly more British feel, with the staff polite, friendly and efficient rather than the American 'have a nice Day'enthusiasm.

Drinks are definitely cheaper on P&O.

They still have formal nights -some like it, some don't.

Celebrity embarkation at Southampton is much, much better.

Definitely try P&O - you'll like it.

[cocowills]

Have done Royal Caribbean, Celebrity and P&O, food is better on Celebrity but P&O have a lot going for it, Drinks are cheaper and if you like sporty things they do something twice a day you can take part in, still do Formal nights which I think it’s good if you don’t want to take part you can always go to self service, Generally being British pound it’s cheaper, go with open mind and enjoy it

[blueboo]

Have only done Celebrity Eclipse from Southampton to Baltics 3 years ago. I found Celebrity to be slightly classier than P and O in that they seem a bit more corporate and sleek in their customer service BUT they were also all about the hard sell all the time whereas P and O do try to upsell but they are certainly not in your face about it. I like that P and O have kettles in the cabin on all ships (unlike Celebrity which only put them in cabins out of UK sailings) .

P and O have more and better entertainment IMO, I got a bit bored on sea days with Celebrity whereas P and O seem to have a really packed schedule of quizzes, talks, films, dance classes, keep fit and lots more shows than Celebrity. I liked the food better on Celebrity and also they had more special offers on speciality dining venues (Qsine is just fabulous )

If you like bingo (we do on our holidays for fun ) well Celebrity is just extortionate pricing and their payouts are pitiful compared to P and O. Celebrity cabins were nicer and seemed better kept and their TV's were much better, shops nicer on Celebrity but pricey. I love that P and O provide free launderettes. I think I prefer P and O overall.

[sandancer]

Thank you very much to all of you. It sounds like we will find P&O to our liking. I really like the idea of being charged in sterling. I seem to spend all my time on other lines mentally converting $ to £.

 

 

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[Presto2]

From reading your posts I think that you'll have a great time. We like both P&O and Celebrity and love different things about them for different reasons. We don't loathe anything about either cruise line and if you do your homework, know what to expect and go wanting to have a great holiday you will. :-)

[tartanexile81]

I've cruised with various lines - Celebrity for our first ever cruise and we've been back since. However we've cruised with RCI, Princess, Fred Olsen, Cunard and P&O. There is something we like about each line but overall P&O has it for us. We only cruise from Southampton so P&O offers a great range of cruises and we also do longer cruises with more sea days and IMO the entertainment on P&O is the best. Azura is one of the bigger ships in the fleet and we like her a lot. The layout of the cabins is great and the balconies on C deck in particular are really big. There's a good range of entertainment and dining venues and we've never had a problem finding sunbeds etc. I think it's a HUGE bonus flying into Barbados and you're going with the right mind-set so hopefully this won't be your last cruise on P&O.

[yuvraj]

Most of my sailings have been with Royal Caribbean. Done one or two with Celebrity, Princess, Cunard. Sailed with P&O eight times in recent years, making it the second most cruise line I have sailed with and probably my second favourite. I am saying this to provide some context.

 

Standards of service are not as good as the premium lines IMO. I would rate some aspects of service to be 3 star and in line with budget offerings. Frustrates me why P&O chooses to go in that directions as it has many outstanding USPs.

 

Main appeal is that it has a down to earth British offering. Black Tie, food catering for British tastes, tea, reasonably priced drinks, excellent speciality dinning offerings where you will enjoy premium service although still not as good as Celebrity's speciality dinning offerings.

 

Some aspects you will either love or hate. Tribute acts are common as are in house productions. Guest entertainers are basically the same as on other ships. The spend and hence quality of main theatre productions is not in the same league as Celebrity.

 

Afternoon tea is in my opinion a superior experience to Celebrity with a very British feel. Choice of wine is excellent with quite a large choice available by the glass and reasonably priced.

 

There are themed buffets based on different cuisines and effort is made on Black Tie nights to offer a special menu in MDR with things like lobster. Expect some food to be really good and other dishes to be a big disappointment. Expect service in MDR to be at a level where waiter takes your order and drops a plate of food in front of you. For sophisticated service you have to go to speciality dinning.

 

I did one fly cruise from Barbados. Amazing experience with no passport control or customs. Straight off the plane and onto a bus to the ship. The cruise around Caribbean was really great and it was worth paying for access to the retreat. Great VIP treatment with comfortable loungers.

 

Expect a unique British experience with a few flaws and you will enjoy your cruise. Especially if you have the odd meal and glass of wine in the Glass House. I would recommend the other speciality dinning venues as well. If you take up their early bird offer, a bottle of wine is included. If you draw up a check list and start comparing service levels with Celebrity, you may be disappointed.

[sandancer]

We always eat in the speciality restaurants on Celebrity 3 or 4 times on a 14 night cruise and anticipate doing the same on Azura. Whilst the X restaurant offerings are usually great, especially Murano, the cost is getting to be more than we are happy to pay. I think it was $120 a couple last time. One thing which amused us mightily was when our travel agent told us that fancy dress and offensive t shirts were banned. Shame that, we’ve never tried to wear either on any of our many cruises and now we never will. (Thank goodness)

 

 

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[Presto2]

We always eat in the speciality restaurants on Celebrity 3 or 4 times on a 14 night cruise and anticipate doing the same on Azura. Whilst the X restaurant offerings are usually great, especially Murano, the cost is getting to be more than we are happy to pay. I think it was $120 a couple last time. One thing which amused us mightily was when our travel agent told us that fancy dress and offensive t shirts were banned. Shame that, we’ve never tried to wear either on any of our many cruises and now we never will. (Thank goodness)

 

 

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We like the speciality restaurants and what always annoys us is when some people compare those on Celebrity to those on P&O. Why? They are a fraction of the cost !! We loved the Glass House on Ventura and even I ate at Sindhu's (though I don't like Indian food at all!!) Loved both. Really enjoyed the Beach House (though the menu has changed and it is not to my liking at the minute - others may love it). Basically, we love to try all of the different restaurants and with P&O it really is not that expensive. (You are talking less that £10 each).

 

I think the fancy dress and t shirts etc comes from those short 'booze cruises' where lots of people used them as stag parties. I am guessing that they have sent out the message that these extremes are not welcome as I think it was getting the cruise line a bad name.

 

We are on Asura for the first time in April 2019 so we are really looking forward to it. :-)

 

PS Just remembered the Epicurean at the back of the ship. It is more expensive for P&O but really beautiful !!

[mrsgoggins]

As my signature shows, I have taken a few Celebrity cruises but only one with P&O, which was a week on Azura earlier this month. I was pleasantly surprised by how much we liked it considering the poor weather we had, which resulted in crowding in the public areas and so often hard to get a seat at the Costa coffee place in the atrium.

 

We missed cafe al Bacio on Celebrity, (or the International cafe on Princess) their wonderful sweet treats and the comfortable seating. You only get the option of a cake if you are purchasing a drink at the Costa outlet, and the choice is very limited in comparison.

 

We liked the fact that P&O had a MDR open even on port days, especially as the traffic flow in the buffet on the Azura is not good with the food concentrated in a small area with little room to move around when in regular use. We are generally happy with food on each line we have sailed, with only Viking Oceans truly standing out, which is not surprising given the price. Although we dined on a very nice table for two in the evenings, we did choose to share for breakfast and lunch so met a lot of adults and children throughout the week. Most were nice, interesting folk and the children delightful. We did meet a few moaners ..... food quality not what it was, entertainment leaves a lot to be desired, wouldn't have booked had we realised it was in the school holidays etc etc ..... but you can find them on any line!

 

Our servers in the MDR were okay but not that attentive, which surprised us and they missed out on the additional tip (we leave the recommended one in place) we usually leave. Most of the staff appeared to be from the India subcontinent as opposed to the mix of nationalities you get on Celebrity. We did meet excellent staff when we were dining around at breakfast and lunch however. I would say that meals looked more like I would have plated up at home rather than any fancy presentation you are likely to get on the American-based lines. This is just an observation and not a criticism - we both enjoyed the food and appreciated the larger portion of vegetables you get with P&O.

 

There were a few small things we were not so keen on, but nothing worth mentioning. We went on this cruise because it went to cities we wanted to visit and it was a good price. Great that port shuttles were included in the price we paid. I had expected it to be a 'one-off' but we are already planning on taking our family on the same cruise next year. I still think that if I can get Celebrity at a price that suits me (getting very difficult!) it would be my first choice, even without a kettle in the cabin :D.

Edited April 24, 2018 by mrsgoggins
Grammar

[sandancer]

Thats an interesting comment about the dining staff. The only really poor service we have ever had in the dining room was on Cunard. Thought the first time we were just unlucky and then the second time (big birthday, not even a happy birthday) it was the same. Maybe I was expecting too much of Cunard as it is sold as a luxury line. We’ll keep an open mind about P&O. We much prefer open dining so have requested this.

 

 

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[mrsgoggins]

Thats an interesting comment about the dining staff. The only really poor service we have ever had in the dining room was on Cunard. Thought the first time we were just unlucky and then the second time (big birthday, not even a happy birthday) it was the same. Maybe I was expecting too much of Cunard as it is sold as a luxury line. We’ll keep an open mind about P&O. We much prefer open dining so have requested this.

 

 

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We also normally have open dining, and we have done a few Celebrity cruises in Aqua using Blu, where it is all open. When using Celebrity's MDR, after a day or two we normally find a location and servers that are good and stay with them - we always dine early so that is easy to accomplish. Please don't think the service was poor on Azura, it was usually adequate, but for instance DH drinks copious amounts of water with a meal and this is usually recognised early in any cruise, but not on this one ... he waited and waited, even after drinking mine too. It was also often slow and you might be half-way through your meal when sauces (mint, horseradish, cranberry etc) were brought round. The other thing we found strange was that the service comment card, which was on the table nightly, was put in front of us and we were asked to complete it on about the second or third evening. This could have just been our servers of course and as I said, dining around the ship in the other dining rooms for lunch or breakfast, we found plenty of waiters who were great, even though we were not likely have them again.

 

Your comments about Cunard are interesting and I agree that expectations play a part. We did not have high expectations of this cruise and so it was easy to say it exceeded expectations!

[Ergates The Ant]

We have cruised quite a few times with Celebrity, our preferred cruise line, and also 3 cruises on different P and O ships.

On Celebrity, we enjoyed the modern bathrooms,

Very good in room tv with on demand films.

Spacious well laid out buffet with good choices

Very friendly staff, from serving staff to cleaners

Elegant and spotlessly clean ships

Coffee shop with range of snacks

Smoke free interiors including casino

Good on site parking at Southampton

More nationalities on board, leading to more interesting experience

 

Didn't like

Repetitive itineraries ( one reason we tried P and O)

Limited day time entertainment, too many poorly disguised sales drives

 

P and O

Liked the entertainment, speakers, choir etc

Drinks and 'gratuities' were less than on Celebrity

On board spend in GDP

More variety of itineraries, and a longer cruise season from the UK

 

Didn't like

Cramped bathrooms

No snacks with bought coffee, apart from a pastry, strictly one pastry per coffee!

Food was not as good as Celebrity in my opinion, less choice, themed buffets limited mainly to the evenings theme, not good if you don't like the theme!

Southampton parking limited to handing your car and keys over to be driven off site. We booked hotels with parking for our P and O cruises to avoid this

 

And the biggest downside, although there were some exceptions, including our excellent cabin stewards, we found many waiting staff, bar men etc, unfriendly, even sullen, and gave us the impression that they were above the work that they were doing. I had menus just shoved at me, seen staff in the coffee shop chatting while carefully avoiding catching passengers eyes. I'm pretty low maintenance and not a fan of being grovelled at, but the everyday pleasantries of smiles with the pleases and thank yous, were in short supply. Really noticeable after our other cruises on US orientated cruise lines.

If I had a similar experience at my local coffee shop or restaurant in the UK, I wouldn't be returning, and we have decided not to consider any further P and O cruises.

[sandancer]

Thanks. You mentioned choirs. Is that something can join in as you can on Celebrity or do you mean choirs that are part of the entertainment. ?

[smj777]

My experience on various P&O ships.

 

80% Happy and efficient.

10% Quiet and efficient.

8% Happy but a bit dopey.

2% Grumpy.

 

Anyone agree or disagree?

[smj777]

About service staff I mean.

[amajaa]

Thanks. You mentioned choirs. Is that something can join in as you can on Celebrity or do you mean choirs that are part of the entertainment. ?

 

Depending on how many sea days most ships organise a passenger choir, normally rehearsals at midday on sea days. Sometimes we have seen the performances in the theatre others in the atrium.

 

 

Btw quick look at the subject line of this thread and I thought it was about Celebrities i.e. famous people travelling on the ships. Silly me

 

Oh and yes we have on our 12 or so P & O Cruises found the majority of the crew to be happy and friendly.

[Presto2]

Thats an interesting comment about the dining staff. The only really poor service we have ever had in the dining room was on Cunard. Thought the first time we were just unlucky and then the second time (big birthday, not even a happy birthday) it was the same. Maybe I was expecting too much of Cunard as it is sold as a luxury line. We’ll keep an open mind about P&O. We much prefer open dining so have requested this.

 

 

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Just a tip re freedom dining. If you find a table / area that you enjoy request it when you book in for your meal. You may have to wait for the specific area but they will do what they can to help and it means that you get to know the staff as if it was set dining ;-)

[Presto2]

My experience on various P&O ships.

 

80% Happy and efficient.

10% Quiet and efficient.

8% Happy but a bit dopey.

2% Grumpy.

 

Anyone agree or disagree?

 

We find that most are ok - we treat them as we would like to be treated and most are fine. Some just shy. I think that many are not from countries where people are naturally out going so you wont be greeted with 'Have a nice day' everywhere you turn.

 

Actually agree with the percentages :-)

 

Having said that, have just got back from Oceana and we had to admit that the staff were brilliant - particularly the bar staff across the ship. A fabulous team.

[daiB]

My experience on various P&O ships.

 

80% Happy and efficient.

10% Quiet and efficient.

8% Happy but a bit dopey.

2% Grumpy.

 

Anyone agree or disagree?

Is that staff or passengers [emoji2]

 

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[daiB]

Is that staff or passengers [emoji2]

 

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Just seen your second post [emoji3]

 

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[Ergates The Ant]

It was a choir for passengers to join. We met on sea days to rehearse, and gave a show on the last sea day.

It was great fun, pleasantly challenging with two to four part harmonies, and we learnt songs from the King and I, Les Miserables and other shows. No auditions, we could all join in, I just had to mouth the high notes I couldn't reach! I really enjoyed myself, as did the other participants.

I'm pleased that others had better experiences with the service staff than we did. I am not a fan of the false, have a nice day, culture, I have experienced in some parts of the US, but both my other half and I felt at times that our presence on the P and O ships was a bit of an inconvenience. Not everyone of course, some charming servers and clearers in the buffet, the manager who found me a supply of hot chocolate for my bedtime drinks all stick in my mind.

But so did the waiter who slapped my afternoon tea down in front of me without a word, the waiters in the coffee shop who ignored me for as long as they could, the grumpy maître de, and enough others to reduce my overall enjoyment of the cruises. Luckily there were lots of good bits to enjoy, but it did mean that my preference is now for an American orientated cruise line.