UK staycation cruise details launched

[majortom10]

2 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

It has always been the case that people booking a cruise to Guernsey end up being disappointed, as around 50% of the calls there end up being cancelled due to sea conditions 😉 

Dont know where you have that figure of 50% from or its just your estimation but we have been on Round British Isles cruises on Princess 5 times with Guernsey the first port of call on every one and we have only missed Guernsey once.

[Selbourne]

I know it’s said in jest, but cruises ‘around and around’ the Isle of Wight are very unlikely. The channel between Cowes and Yarmouth is very shallow and can only accommodate very small cruise ships and only in certain tidal conditions. In fact, we have seen hundreds of cruise ships pass the island over the years and can only recall one ‘turning right’ before Cowes! 

[Selbourne]

1 minute ago, majortom10 said:

Dont know where you have that figure of 50% from or its just your estimation but we have been on Round British Isles cruises on Princess 5 times with Guernsey the first port of call on every one and we have only missed Guernsey once.

I made it up 😂. We have only been there once on a cruise ship (several times by air) and managed to get ashore by tender, but I recall a thread a year or two back where people were complaining about the number of cruises calling at Guernsey due to the large number of aborted visits. I have a recollection that someone quoted a figure of around that nature - may have even been someone who lived there. Happy to stand corrected on the exact figure though, as I was just being ironic 😉 

[Esprit]

6 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

I know it’s said in jest, but cruises ‘around and around’ the Isle of Wight are very unlikely. The channel between Cowes and Yarmouth is very shallow and can only accommodate very small cruise ships and only in certain tidal conditions. In fact, we have seen hundreds of cruise ships pass the island over the years and can only recall one ‘turning right’ before Cowes! 

I did see QE 2 sail in via the Needles years ago but I’m guessing that approach required regular dredging so became unviable.

[ann141]

Princess have now cancelled all their UK sailings until 25 september 2021 and are going to release some short cruises for late summer

[tring]

24 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

I know it’s said in jest, but cruises ‘around and around’ the Isle of Wight are very unlikely. The channel between Cowes and Yarmouth is very shallow and can only accommodate very small cruise ships and only in certain tidal conditions. In fact, we have seen hundreds of cruise ships pass the island over the years and can only recall one ‘turning right’ before Cowes! 

 

We sailed out of Southampton on Adonia to the West of the Island and the view was stunning with the sun on the Isle of Wight at the westerly point and the colours of the cliffs in the sun.  It was the first season Adonia sailed for P&O and I think it left in the last couple of days of August for the cruise, which was a 17 night Med cruise.

 

There were a number of yachts about though and the Captain gave a vocal hoot at a yacht which decided to sail in front of the ship.  The steam gives way to sail rule is all very well, but when you are talking Adonia going through there, not really practical.  

[grapau27]

25 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

I made it up 😂. We have only been there once on a cruise ship (several times by air) and managed to get ashore by tender, but I recall a thread a year or two back where people were complaining about the number of cruises calling at Guernsey due to the large number of aborted visits. I have a recollection that someone quoted a figure of around that nature - may have even been someone who lived there. Happy to stand corrected on the exact figure though, as I was just being ironic 😉 

We have been to Guernsey 7 times on various ships  and fortunately have managed to get into Guernsey every time.

Graham.

[grapau27]

4 minutes ago, ann141 said:

Princess have now cancelled all their UK sailings until 25 september 2021 and are going to release some short cruises for late summer

Thanks for the information Ann.

[tring]

3 minutes ago, ann141 said:

Princess have now cancelled all their UK sailings until 25 september 2021 and are going to release some short cruises for late summer

 

I wonder what will happen to our 22nd October cruise then.  Definitely a case of wait and see.

[zap99]

34 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

Possibly because you might still have to quarantine for 10 days when you get back.

Might, but might not. Lots can change in the next few weeks, or so.

[ann141]

2 minutes ago, tring said:

 

I wonder what will happen to our 22nd October cruise then.  Definitely a case of wait and see.

Hopefully  Princess will have done some small 'test' cruises before 25 september (details to be announced later, so similar to P and O )There will still be 4 weeks before our cruise which will hopefully go ahead

[zap99]

40 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

It has always been the case that people booking a cruise to Guernsey end up being disappointed, as around 50% of the calls there end up being cancelled due to sea conditions 😉 

We have only been on one cruise that had a stop in Guernsey. It didn't, so 100% for us. We were on a long weekend in a hotel once and Britannia was anchored in the bay, so we know some folks can get lucky.

[Manx buoy]

24 minutes ago, tring said:

 

We sailed out of Southampton on Adonia to the West of the Island and the view was stunning with the sun on the Isle of Wight at the westerly point and the colours of the cliffs in the sun.  It was the first season Adonia sailed for P&O and I think it left in the last couple of days of August for the cruise, which was a 17 night Med cruise.

 

There were a number of yachts about though and the Captain gave a vocal hoot at a yacht which decided to sail in front of the ship.  The steam gives way to sail rule is all very well, but when you are talking Adonia going through there, not really practical.  

Adonia would’ve had movement restricted by draught so has right of way over yachts

[amajaa]

We have just had our Princess British Isles cruise cancelled for August as well now. Princess are giving us the option of moving to the equivalent cruise in 2022 for the same price. Sounds like a deal to me as the price for next year is currently showing as double this year’s price. 

[wowzz]

A few weeks ago, I would never gave considered it, but I am coming round to the idea of considering a 7 day sea cruise.  It would be a chance to relax, eat reasonably well, and be entertained,  and hopefully the weather would be good enough to enjoy a balcony cabin.

Which has got me thinking - how much would everyone be prepared to pay for a 7 day  cruise in a standard  balcony cabin ? And where do you think P&O will pitch the price, given that P&O and Princess between them will have to fill around 20,000 berths a week ?

I think my tipping point would be in the region of £100 pppn. Anyone got any other ideas,  or am I just being unreasonably cheap? 

[zap99]

4 hours ago, Selbourne said:

I know it’s said in jest, but cruises ‘around and around’ the Isle of Wight are very unlikely. The channel between Cowes and Yarmouth is very shallow and can only accommodate very small cruise ships and only in certain tidal conditions. In fact, we have seen hundreds of cruise ships pass the island over the years and can only recall one ‘turning right’ before Cowes! 

I think it's called the shingles bank between Hurst point and the needles. We ' turned right ' on a decent sized Stena ferry from Southampton to Cherbourg a good few years ago. Not the big Cruise ships nowadays. I think the bank that the ships need to avoid by going towards Cowes and then turning left is a different bank. The locals will know. Where's Andy when you need him.

[wowzz]

2 minutes ago, zap99 said:

Where's Andy when you need him.

I thought his expertise was in pile depth! 

[zap99]

1 minute ago, wowzz said:

A few weeks ago, I would never gave considered it, but I am coming round to the idea of considering a 7 day sea cruise.  It would be a chance to relax, eat reasonably well, and be entertained,  and hopefully the weather would be good enough to enjoy a balcony cabin.

Which has got me thinking - how much would everyone be prepared to pay for a 7 day  cruise in a standard  balcony cabin ? And where do you think P&O will pitch the price, given that P&O and Princess between them will have to fill around 20,000 berths a week ?

I think my tipping point would be in the region of £100 pppn. Anyone got any other ideas,  or am I just being unreasonably cheap? 

£100 pppn is a reasonable price for a balcony cabin. About £150 if it lands anywhere. It will be interesting to see what P&O do.

[zap99]

Just now, wowzz said:

I thought his expertise was in pile depth! 

Quite so, but I think they sneak down to Lee on Solent for a bacon butty on Sunday morning.

[Britboys]

I remember sailing through the Western channel years ago on Victoria. She was less than 29,000 tons but built as an Ocean Liner so still had a deep draught of over 8.5 metres. Perhaps they dredged the channel more often in those days...

[tring]

16 minutes ago, wowzz said:

A few weeks ago, I would never gave considered it, but I am coming round to the idea of considering a 7 day sea cruise.  It would be a chance to relax, eat reasonably well, and be entertained,  and hopefully the weather would be good enough to enjoy a balcony cabin.

Which has got me thinking - how much would everyone be prepared to pay for a 7 day  cruise in a standard  balcony cabin ? And where do you think P&O will pitch the price, given that P&O and Princess between them will have to fill around 20,000 berths a week ?

I think my tipping point would be in the region of £100 pppn. Anyone got any other ideas,  or am I just being unreasonably cheap? 

 

Cheap - yes.

 

Unreasonably - no

 

Must admit though I am not so sure they will have to fill a load of cabins, considering they say they will start with one ship and presumably only field others as some are sold.

 

DH just pointed out crew will have to be brought here, (or not), so perhaps you are right that they would have to make a certain amount of commitment.

 

 

[Selbourne]

18 minutes ago, zap99 said:

I think it's called the shingles bank between Hurst point and the needles. We ' turned right ' on a decent sized Stena ferry from Southampton to Cherbourg a good few years ago. Not the big Cruise ships nowadays. I think the bank that the ships need to avoid by going towards Cowes and then turning left is a different bank. The locals will know. Where's Andy when you need him.

Bramble Bank is the raised sandbank in the middle of the Solent that all cruise ships (and other large ships) have to do a ‘hard to starboard’ followed by ‘hard to port’ manoeuvre between Calshot and Cowes. Once a year it is completely exposed and a cricket match takes place on it! I once saw a small cruise ship pass the other side of Bramble Bank, past Lee on Solent, but never before or since, just as I’ve only seen one or two head down towards Yarmouth and the Needles. 

[No pager thank you]

7 minutes ago, wowzz said:

Which has got me thinking - how much would everyone be prepared to pay for a 7 day  cruise in a standard  balcony cabin ? And where do you think P&O will pitch the price, given that P&O and Princess between them will have to fill around 20,000 berths a week ?

I think my tipping point would be in the region of £100 pppn. Anyone got any other ideas,  or am I just being unreasonably cheap? 

I have been wondering the same thing today to be honest:

 

Carnival problems in generating on board spend:

 

1) Tax free sales hard to achieve.

2) No 100% mark-up excursions.

3) Drinks package may switch to the passengers benefit if you can't leave the switch and the clientele on the smaller ships won't accept American prices.

4) On board paid for dining - severely restricted income opportunities due to social distancing.

5) Not sure about any restrictions on the casinos and gambling.

 

All in all, much harder to get discretionary spend, but they will have a captive audience on board all the time.  Plus, they have a pricing benchmark for a cruise with stops in summer season at around £100-130 pppn and it's hard to say this experience is better, despite the words of the marketing team.  Reference to the entertainment being a draw made me chuckle.

 

On balance, I tend to think that they will go cheap as culturally that's the model particularly for inside cabins, and go for 75% fill rate or so.  About £75 pppn for those, assuming 3-7 nights with some good discounts for 3-4 "bubble" passenger groups.  Balconies (£150 pppn) and suites (£250-300 pppn) will be dearer.

 

Just a guess...

 

If it was much less than £75pppn and I knew everything that moved had been jabbed, every conceivable surface sprayed, and I could isolate at home, then hmmm...might be tempted - but not for a week, maybe three days. 

 

If you could disembark at UK ports then yes, I would more seriously consider, but without this then what's the benefit over a decent hotel where you can come and go as you please, say half-board, without the rigmarole of going to Southampton for the pleasure?

 

[Dorset cruise fan]

25 minutes ago, zap99 said:

I think it's called the shingles bank between Hurst point and the needles. We ' turned right ' on a decent sized Stena ferry from Southampton to Cherbourg a good few years ago. Not the big Cruise ships nowadays. I think the bank that the ships need to avoid by going towards Cowes and then turning left is a different bank. The locals will know. Where's Andy when you need him.

We turned right on Oriana a few years ago. Captain announced that was what we were doing so we stayed out on deck to watch and it was very scenic.

[tring]

27 minutes ago, zap99 said:

I think it's called the shingles bank between Hurst point and the needles. We ' turned right ' on a decent sized Stena ferry from Southampton to Cherbourg a good few years ago. Not the big Cruise ships nowadays. I think the bank that the ships need to avoid by going towards Cowes and then turning left is a different bank. The locals will know. Where's Andy when you need him.

You mean the bank where they play cricket once a year.  The Bramble Bank.