P&O Arvia K307 - Not the experience we were expecting

[Interestedcruisefan]

4 hours ago, Megabear2 said:

ICF you were on a Caribbean fly cruise and these historically will differ from an ex Southampton departure.  Lots of older passengers can't or choose not to fly so the demographic will always be different on these types of cruise and young people particularly in the last 5 or 6 years have increased enormously on these cruises.  There's also been the slashing of prices to ridiculously low levels in the past couple of winter seasons and this coupled with the reluctance of some older people to risk being stranded with covid has also added to their number.

 

I'm someone who does year after year on P&O fly cruises to Barbados, often at Christmas/New Year and the attraction is more or less endless warmth and sun when it's cold at home,  every day an island to visit and only a handful of sea days, probably 4 or 5 maximum.  If you pick this type of cruise you're much less likely to be bothered about formality in dining rooms than those choosing to sail with more seadays and fewer ports. My experience over the past 12 years on P&O Caribbean fly cruises is that the age of passengers has always been generally lower than on any other cruises I take with the line. 

 

Ex Southampton is traditionally chosen by many for itinerary rather than the onboard ship activities, again the older demographic choose the longer more varied cruises on Arcadia and Aurora for exactly that reason - you only have to read of the disappointment at port changes such as the October dropping of Rhodes from Aurora's itinerary to get a feel for this.

 

Mediterranean/Atlantic isles 14 day cruises on Arvia/Iona appear to be offering only 5 or 6 ports of call on most sailings which is leaving a lot of sea days to be filled.  As others have said to fill the two ships in term time the older and often non working passenger is going to be needed which appears to be reflected in Terrierjohn and Majortom's observations.

 

You clearly loved Arvia, your blog and enthusiasm helped me decide to give her a go.  However in my experience there's a hell of a lot of difference between a 7.30am start for a full 8 hour slog around Florence or the Cinque Terre with coach journeys of a couple of hours each way in the heat of summer than there is an 8.30am start for 8 hours on a catamaran sailing for a lobster lunch on a Caribbean beach.  Arriving back after the former you're going to be very much less inclined to want a bunfight or an argument with an app to get a seat for your dinner. 

 

You mentioned lots of lovely beach based trips and excursions on your latest cruise and I've no idea what a Mediterranean trip would involve for you or whether you choose mainly relaxed activities there as well, but not many will take the beach option on European cruises choosing cultural destinations and sightseeing instead.  Places like Florence, Seville and Rome are the bucket shop destinations and they are a long way from the ports.  Tired but happy passengers mostly want to come back and relax with a drink and eat a good meal with someone serving them before being entertained without the hassle of have I got or lost my seat.

All great points

 

But for cruises do be successful ongoing - the older demographics will slowly but surely  be replaced by new cruisers who I honestly feel will be way less inclined to choose MDR ahead of the speciality, buffet and quays. When we first cruised it was the norm/tradition to use MDR every night. We knew no different then. 

 

I do believe avoiding school holidays is the way for those without children to ensure a much calmer cruise. Or opt for an adult only ship.

 

For the big ships if they are getting 800 kids on board imagine the size of the kids clubs they would need to accommodate them all?

 

If we were still travelling with kids we would be really disappointed if the kids clubs were full when we travelled. It's a huge benefit of cruising for the kids.

 

Maybe the ships need to limit the number of kids allowed on board? Would be a hard decision to take financially though?

 

Moleochip what do you think on that idea?

 

My biggest tip for adults travelling on Iona or Arvia would be to avoid school holiday cruises to avoid congestion problems AND to pay less for the same cruise

 

Or if you do have to travel in school holiday times - choose an adult only ship

 

I'm not sure I could advise families to cruise on Arvia at school holiday times if they ARE NOT all getting chance for their kids to use kids clubs  whenever they want

 

We never had that trouble on previous Xmas cruises on Azura, RCL and Carnival?

 

Never 

 

We never felt it was over busy on those cruises either

[Harry Peterson]

I noticed this on another forum:

Arvia Mediterranean 14 nights
Departure Southampton 16 Apr 2023
Arrival Southampton 30 Apr 2023
Stateroom Inside stateroom PF, GUAR
Fare Saver

Total price for 2 £1080

 

Quite some price £540, even for an inside!   Not selling too well?  Wrong demographic?

[Interestedcruisefan]

We always know where we plan to dine in advance for dinner and what shows we intend to watch (we book all the shows in advance). We book speciality in advance. If we think time will be short on return we plan to eat in the buffet or Quays which takes any stress to get somewhere for a set time away and leaves more time to relax in the evenings. We like to be organised like that

 

We would never face a battle with the app on return from excursions as a result. 

 

But I guess we are experienced cruisers and we have embraced the app and it's benefits and we've learnt what we like to do. If there are cruisers who haven't embraced the app or are new cruisers they may face more issues. 

 

 

100 per cent on our cruise on Arvia the buffet and quays were never anything else even remotely like a bunfight when we cruised. Never remotely any problem with tables of queuing. Better than all our previous cruises. Because although there were many families on board it wasn't peak holiday time like our previous cruises. And buffet design and quays design was just excellent. 

 

So I do think my point remains valid. Bigger ships don't automatically mean queues and MDR problems at all. School holidays are bringing the issues and it appears on bigger ships they bring bigger issues I can't argue with that at all. That would worry me if I had inadvertently booked a school holiday cruise

 

Posters on here though do not need to worry about issues described on Arvia or Iona at school holiday times unless that is when they are travelling

 

So most can relax and stop worrying IMO

 

 

Edited April 8, 2023 by Interestedcruisefan

[Interestedcruisefan]

32 minutes ago, Harry Peterson said:

I noticed this on another forum:

Arvia Mediterranean 14 nights
Departure Southampton 16 Apr 2023
Arrival Southampton 30 Apr 2023
Stateroom Inside stateroom PF, GUAR
Fare Saver

Total price for 2 £1080

 

Quite some price £540, even for an inside!   Not selling too well?  Wrong demographic?

We would be on that cruise at that price in a heartbeat if we had the time

 

I mentioned it to my wife. But we've just done 2 weeks Caribbean and we have Norwegian Fjords in May and although we are self employed we can't be on holiday every month

 

That's going to be a problem for P and O if they are chasing younger demographics

 

Younger demographic generally have jobs. And only so many times they can holiday each year

 

Guys its 40 pounds approx per person per night?

 

And the ships not going to be busy??

 

Truly incredible value for money!

 

You can barely get a decent bed and breakfast in the UK for that price nowadays!

 

We are working in Scotland during this time and I've just booked the Torridon Hotel for 3 nights after we've worked there. It's a fabulous 5 star hotel on the NC500. 

 

Costing us 117.50 per person per night in their cheapest stable rooms in comparison for bed and breakfast

 

100 pounds extra each for dinner in their restaurant each night (I wonder how much better than Epicurean it will be?)

 

3 nights with dinner, bed and breakfast in their cheapest rooms (out of high season) will be costing us 650 pounds each in comparison

 

No entertainment included!!

 

Nice views though!

 

 

 

Edited April 8, 2023 by Interestedcruisefan

[Megabear2]

10 minutes ago, Interestedcruisefan said:

We never had that trouble on previous Xmas cruises on Azura, RCL and Carnival?

 

Never 

 

We never felt it was over busy on those cruises either

Which totally proves the point. In over 50 cruises on everything from a bunk on a North Sea ferry for a weekender to Amsterdam in the 70's to a suite on Allure of the Seas I've never had any trouble with capacity causing the issues being described in this thread and elsewhere.

 

I am travelling on Arvia with an open mind in the same way I have done for all my holidays. I hope not to be disappointed and at the price I paid which is less than £1,000 for two weeks solo in a double cabin won't have much to complain about if it all goes wrong.  However of the thousands on board not everyone will have paid these prices, something that should not be overlooked.  Anyone paying the "normal" select fare might expect rather more be they old or young. 

 

Yes, I'm slightly older than your mid 50's but  not by that much that I would expect to be written off as only going to sail on the older ships or out of peak season and I'm pretty sure that isn't P&O's intention either.  

 

Reading the regular posters on here they seem to suggest with their praise for restaurants like Sindhu and Epicurean across the entire fleet that they will use paid for restaurants but what they also seem to be saying is I've paid for a product offering a seated MDR in my fare and I really want to be able to use it as little or as often when I choose without fear I might not get in or have to queue for a couple of hours. It doesn't really sound too much to ask, particularly for those who have paid the higher premium fares for balcony and above cabin grades.

 

Whilst I'm sure many do avoid the school holiday periods and bank holidays for personal reasons there really can't be an excuse to say such and such group shouldn't be able to choose any voyage at any time because the ship cannot cope.

[Megabear2]

23 minutes ago, Interestedcruisefan said:

We always know where we plan to dine in advance for dinner and what shows we intend to watch (we book all the shows in advance). We book speciality in advance. If we think time will be short on return we plan to eat in the buffet or Quays which takes any stress to get somewhere for a set time away and leaves more time to relax in the evenings. We like to be organised like that

 

We would never face a battle with the app on return from excursions as a result. 

 

But I guess we are experienced cruisers and we have embraced the app and it's benefits and we've learnt what we like to do. If there are cruisers who haven't embraced the app or are new cruisers they may face more issues. 

 

 

100 per cent on our cruise on Arvia the buffet and quays were never anything else even remotely like a bunfight when we cruised. Never remotely any problem with tables of queuing. Better than all our previous cruises. Because although there were many families on board it wasn't peak holiday time like our previous cruises. And buffet design and quays design was just excellent. 

 

So I do think my point remains valid. Bigger ships don't automatically mean queues and MDR problems at all. School holidays are bringing the issues and it appears on bigger ships they bring bigger issues I can't argue with that at all. That would worry me if I had inadvertently booked a school holiday cruise

 

Posters on here though do not need to worry about issues described on Arvia or Iona at school holiday times unless that is when they are travelling

 

So most can relax and stop worrying IMO

 

 

But you're stating all this based on one out of season cruise which you luckily enjoyed enormously and paid virtually pennies for.  Those sailing on the current cruise are not all in the same situation and because they may well have sailed on the rest of the fleet or other cruise lines at peak times expected, rightly, a smooth experience.

 

You also had no app problems (I did on Britannia at Christmas where even the IT staff gave up on trying to get it functioning) so had a smooth run.  However if you read the reviews on CC and elsewhere you'll note that it's not always people not being able or not wanting to use the app that's the problem, but that 50% of the time it seems to be failing for whatever reason.

[Interestedcruisefan]

5 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

Which totally proves the point. In over 50 cruises on everything from a bunk on a North Sea ferry for a weekender to Amsterdam in the 70's to a suite on Allure of the Seas I've never had any trouble with capacity causing the issues being described in this thread and elsewhere.

 

I am travelling on Arvia with an open mind in the same way I have done for all my holidays. I hope not to be disappointed and at the price I paid which is less than £1,000 for two weeks solo in a double cabin won't have much to complain about if it all goes wrong.  However of the thousands on board not everyone will have paid these prices, something that should not be overlooked.  Anyone paying the "normal" select fare might expect rather more be they old or young. 

 

Yes, I'm slightly older than your mid 50's but  not by that much that I would expect to be written off as only going to sail on the older ships or out of peak season and I'm pretty sure that isn't P&O's intention either.  

 

Reading the regular posters on here they seem to suggest with their praise for restaurants like Sindhu and Epicurean across the entire fleet that they will use paid for restaurants but what they also seem to be saying is I've paid for a product offering a seated MDR in my fare and I really want to be able to use it as little or as often when I choose without fear I might not get in or have to queue for a couple of hours. It doesn't really sound too much to ask, particularly for those who have paid the higher premium fares for balcony and above cabin grades.

 

Whilst I'm sure many do avoid the school holiday periods and bank holidays for personal reasons there really can't be an excuse to say such and such group shouldn't be able to choose any voyage at any time because the ship cannot cope.

But us experienced cruisers who do have  choices of when to travel and who care enough about our experiences on board enough to research and talk about cruising on here would be silly not to factor in what's happening

 

And have to take control ourselves a bit to avoid the issues

 

Use this forum to avoid mistakes whilst P and O figure out how to reduce issues at busy time. We can't solve those issues Megabear

 

But we can avoid them

[Interestedcruisefan]

1 minute ago, Megabear2 said:

But you're stating all this based on one out of season cruise which you luckily enjoyed enormously and paid virtually pennies for.  Those sailing on the current cruise are not all in the same situation and because they may well have sailed on the rest of the fleet or other cruise lines at peak times expected, rightly, a smooth experience.

 

You also had no app problems (I did on Britannia at Christmas where even the IT staff gave up on trying to get it functioning) so had a smooth run.  However if you read the reviews on CC and elsewhere you'll note that it's not always people not being able or not wanting to use the app that's the problem, but that 50% of the time it seems to be failing for whatever reason.

I can feel sorry for the current cruisers but I can also ensure I avoid those problems myself by avoiding school holidays as a result

 

And warning others to do the same I guess

 

There are posters in this thread worried they will face the same unnecessarily IMO as they aren't travelling at school holiday times

 

Like I say we book stuff in advance and to date haven't experienced app problems

 

And if the app went down on a non school holiday cruise at all I don't think we would have faced any problems walking in the restaurants  we want when we wanted. I can't worry about problems we've never faced.

 

Obviously if you were on a Xmas cruise on Britannia  Megabear then the app being down then was going to cause more serious issues for a ship which would be busier than normal so I do sympathise but its something I will be avoiding myself

[Megabear2]

25 minutes ago, Interestedcruisefan said:

We would be on that cruise at that price in a heartbeat if we had the time

 

I mentioned it to my wife. But we've just done 2 weeks Caribbean and we have Norwegian Fjords in May and although we are self employed we can't be on holiday every month

 

That's going to be a problem for P and O if they are chasing younger demographics

 

Younger demographic generally have jobs. And only so many times they can holiday each year

 

Guys its 40 pounds approx per person per night?

 

And the ships not going to be busy??

 

Truly incredible value for money!

 

You can barely get a decent bed and breakfast in the UK for that price nowadays!

 

We are working in Scotland during this time and I've just booked the Torridon Hotel for 3 nights after we've worked there. It's a fabulous 5 star hotel on the NS500. 

 

Costing us 117.50 per person per night in their cheapest stable rooms in comparison for bed and breakfast

 

100 pounds extra each for dinner in their restaurant each night (I wonder how much better than Epicurean it will be?)

 

3 nights with dinner, bed and breakfast in their cheapest rooms (out of high season) will be costing us 650 pounds each in comparison

 

No entertainment included!!

 

Nice views though!

 

 

Yes, lead fares are great. However, and it's a big however, as at this minute that cruise is also offering a saver fare mini conservatory suite at £2998 for two or a select fare of £3998 with £600 obc.  A full suite is currently priced at £6908 with the same £600 obc.  Not exactly a cheap last minute deal in my opinion and with the same problem to get reservations for restaurants plus of course the OBC can't be used to book pay restaurants before you're onboard.

[Interestedcruisefan]

Re what people pay for the cruise. I can advise my parents and friends and anyone who asks me to get the best deals possible.

 

And we've done enough cruises to know what we need on board. But everyone takes their choice and chance with what they want and what they pay. 

 

Each to their own with that.

 

 

 

 

[Interestedcruisefan]

8 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

Yes, lead fares are great. However, and it's a big however, as at this minute that cruise is also offering a saver fare mini conservatory suite at £2998 for two or a select fare of £3998 with £600 obc.  A full suite is currently priced at £6908 with the same £600 obc.  Not exactly a cheap last minute deal in my opinion and with the same problem to get reservations for restaurants plus of course the OBC can't be used to book pay restaurants before you're onboard.

 

But people would have to deliberately go past the heavily promoted headline brilliant deals to pay more

 

You know we are happy with inside cabins and we go for the food, drink and entertainment and port experiences (which we normally do DIY)

 

To me it's madness to pay more than you need to

 

To others it's obviously important to do so for the benefits they think they get in return.  And its a choice they make.

 

I can't really feel sorry for people who choose to pay way way more for me for what I consider to be needless extras we ourselves wouldn't get any real benefit from 

 

Makes no sense to me to ignore and click past the great deals. You can't exactly miss them!

 

Maybe they think there's a catch. 

 

I don't have a bottomless pit of money to spend and I hope to be cruising for another 30 year so I make my price choices accordingly

 

Ps Megastar be careful what you say!

 

P and O will take your “P” away and send it to me instead!!

 

Lol

Edited April 8, 2023 by Interestedcruisefan

[Megabear2]

11 minutes ago, Interestedcruisefan said:

But us experienced cruisers who do have  choices of when to travel and who care enough about our experiences on board enough to research and talk about cruising on here would be silly not to factor in what's happening

 

And have to take control ourselves a bit to avoid the issues

 

Use this forum to avoid mistakes whilst P and O figure out how to reduce issues at busy time. We can't solve those issues Megabear

 

But we can avoid them

Lots of people have been locked into these holidays years in advance they aren't all late bookers enjoying the bargains.  The 2025 offerings go on sale in a week or so so perhaps it will impact (along with the itineraries not changing much) on who books and when.

 

One final observation on more seasoned travellers: the wave period this year has apparently been enormous but could that have been it now?  Looking at Arcadia and Aurora cruises for this year not many are sold out in lower grade cabins and for the first time in years there seems to be much later availability at reasonable prices.

[Snow Hill]

Comparing a cruise cost per night to hotel cost per night is not based on the same criteria, hotels have higher overheads especially when it comes to employment law.

 

Wouldn’t be £40 per night if they had to adhere to

- minimum wage

- working time law

- National insurance contributions for each employee 

- Pension Contributions for each employee 

 

 

[Interestedcruisefan]

3 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

Lots of people have been locked into these holidays years in advance they aren't all late bookers enjoying the bargains.  The 2025 offerings go on sale in a week or so so perhaps it will impact (along with the itineraries not changing much) on who books and when.

 

One final observation on more seasoned travellers: the wave period this year has apparently been enormous but could that have been it now?  Looking at Arcadia and Aurora cruises for this year not many are sold out in lower grade cabins and for the first time in years there seems to be much later availability at reasonable prices.

Again learning curve for people who use these forums

 

Booking early in future may not be the way to go unless you really can't avoid it (ie need accessible cabins etc)

 

If price value matters to you

 

That's why we come on forums. To learn from what's happened to others 

[Interestedcruisefan]

1 minute ago, Snow Hill said:

Comparing a cruise cost per night to hotel cost per night is not based on the same criteria, hotels have higher overheads especially when it comes to employment law.

 

Wouldn’t be £40 per night if they had to adhere to

- minimum wage

- working time law

- National insurance contributions for each employee 

- Pension Contributions for each employee 

 

 

But that's a different debate Snow Hill

 

That's more like politics 

 

Doesn't change the reality of the great deals you get on cruising compared to Hotels

[Harry Peterson]

1 minute ago, Snow Hill said:

Comparing a cruise cost per night to hotel cost per night is not based on the same criteria, hotels have higher overheads especially when it comes to employment law.

 

Wouldn’t be £40 per night if they had to adhere to

- minimum wage

- working time law

- National insurance contributions for each employee 

- Pension Contributions for each employee 

 

 

Excellent points - but they never, ever, go down well in these forums for obvious reasons!  The old, old story is always the same - they’re earning more than they would in their home countries. Morality never comes into the equation.

[Megabear2]

10 minutes ago, Interestedcruisefan said:

Re what people pay for the cruise. I can advise my parents and friends and anyone who asks me to get the best deals possible.

 

And we've done enough cruises to know what we need on board. But everyone takes their choice and chance with what they want and what they pay. 

 

Each to their own with that.

 

 

 

 

According to the well know t/a's website Arvia has a total of 2610 passenger staterooms and max capacity 6264 (5204 lower berths). Staterooms include 121 Suites, 1496 Balcony, 174 Oceanviews/Seaviews, 819 Interior cabins. P&O Arvia has a total of 32 studios (single-occupancy cabins) and 55 wheelchair-accessible/handicap cabins (for disabled passengers).

 

If everyone booked the insides and ignored the bulk of the other cabins well over half wouldn't be sold!

[Interestedcruisefan]

5 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

According to the well know t/a's website Arvia has a total of 2610 passenger staterooms and max capacity 6264 (5204 lower berths). Staterooms include 121 Suites, 1496 Balcony, 174 Oceanviews/Seaviews, 819 Interior cabins. P&O Arvia has a total of 32 studios (single-occupancy cabins) and 55 wheelchair-accessible/handicap cabins (for disabled passengers).

 

If everyone booked the insides and ignored the bulk of the other cabins well over half wouldn't be sold!

Or else we all have to get free upgrades we never paid for!!

 

That's a thought!!

 

Lol

 

I guess I need the people to spend big money on the same cruise as me to effectively subsidise my cruise for me

 

Long may it continue!!

 

 

 

Edited April 8, 2023 by Interestedcruisefan

[Interestedcruisefan]

46 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

But you're stating all this based on one out of season cruise which you luckily enjoyed enormously and paid virtually pennies for.  Those sailing on the current cruise are not all in the same situation and because they may well have sailed on the rest of the fleet or other cruise lines at peak times expected, rightly, a smooth experience.

 

You also had no app problems (I did on Britannia at Christmas where even the IT staff gave up on trying to get it functioning) so had a smooth run.  However if you read the reviews on CC and elsewhere you'll note that it's not always people not being able or not wanting to use the app that's the problem, but that 50% of the time it seems to be failing for whatever reason.

February is not out of season for the Caribbean. It's just not Xmas/New Year peak weeks (although 1 week of our trip was school holiday thinking back. But we personally experienced zero problems from that)

 

Anywhere other than  a cruise you are paying peak season prices for holidaying in the Caribbean November to March

 

Low season in the Caribbean Is the summer months with risks of hurricanes etc

 

So yes I'm paying pennies in comparison. But it's prime time to be there

Edited April 8, 2023 by Interestedcruisefan

[Snow Hill]

11 minutes ago, Interestedcruisefan said:

But that's a different debate Snow Hill

 

That's more like politics 

 

Doesn't change the reality of the great deals you get on cruising compared to Hotels

Nothing to do with politics, it’s the law under which land based hotels have to operate, if cruise ships had to operate under same law then prices would be higher.

 

i mentioned employment law as this is usually the largest overhead of most businesses.

[Gettingwarmer]

24 minutes ago, Interestedcruisefan said:

can't really feel sorry for people who choose to pay way way more for me for what I consider to be needless extras we ourselves wouldn't get any real benefit from 

You seem to have an “I’m all right Jack” attitude and have very little sympathy for the problems these two new ships are causing for other people. They were built for families and are not coping. 

[Interestedcruisefan]

4 minutes ago, Snow Hill said:

Nothing to do with politics, it’s the law under which land based hotels have to operate, if cruise ships had to operate under same law then prices would be higher.

 

i mentioned employment law as this is usually the largest overhead of most businesses.

So are you suggesting  we should all boycott cruises?

 

And pay more to stay in Hotels ?

 

I thought you were a cruiser?

 

What's the point you are making?

Edited April 8, 2023 by Interestedcruisefan

[Megabear2]

5 minutes ago, Interestedcruisefan said:

February is not out of season for the Caribbean. It's just not Xmas/New Year peak weeks (although 1 week of our trip was school holiday thinking back. But we personally experienced zero problems from that)

 

Anywhere other than  a cruise you are paying peak season prices for holidaying in the Caribbean November to March

 

Low season in the Caribbean Is the summer months with risks of hurricanes etc

I'm fully aware of that. What I meant by "out of season" was a cruise outside school holidays and bank holidays.  If these cruises were being sold at £999 each they were clearly difficult to fill, weather etc not being relevant.  Thousands upon thousands of people go to WDW in July/August because it's when they can holiday but that is "out of season" as far as the Corporation is concerned and gives them a chance to fill rooms that their "normal" clientele prefer not to use.

[Interestedcruisefan]

17 minutes ago, Gettingwarmer said:

You seem to have an “I’m all right Jack” attitude and have very little sympathy for the problems these two new ships are causing for other people. They were built for families and are not coping. 

No I'm saying like every holiday people CHOOSE to book people can come on forums like this and learn from others experiences and book accordingly

 

If you checked my history posting on here I ask lots of questions before I book cruises to avoid mistakes and learn from more experienced cruisers than me

 

But i can't force people to do what I do.

 

I find what I get from P and O to be the most fantastic value for money experience ive had on holidays elsewhere

 

I can tell people my experiences and how to avoid issues if they can

 

And also to avoid worrying depending on when they are travelling

 

Do you want me to stop enjoying my own cruises and thinking I get fabulous value when I've NOT experienced problems others have faced?

 

And should I start paying  double or treble price I have paid just because others have chosen to do that?

 

Im just saying to people do your own research. Make your own choices. Choose what to pay.

 

And you can have brilliant value, fabulous holidays on P and O

 

I don't work for P and O. If there's things you don't like on P and O then take your problems to them to solve or take your business elsewhere. 

 

I sympathise with anyone who's faced problems before. Or faces them in the future. But it's upto them to take control and change how they book in the future to avoid similar problems.

 

I'm either just very lucky or I research well.

 

I believe it's mostly the latter. 

 

And if I do face a problem on board. I solve it onboard one way or another. I won't let it spoil my holiday. 

 

So far so good. You guys will be the first to know if that ever changes! Trust me!

Edited April 8, 2023 by Interestedcruisefan

[Interestedcruisefan]

10 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

I'm fully aware of that. What I meant by "out of season" was a cruise outside school holidays and bank holidays.  If these cruises were being sold at £999 each they were clearly difficult to fill, weather etc not being relevant.  Thousands upon thousands of people go to WDW in July/August because it's when they can holiday but that is "out of season" as far as the Corporation is concerned and gives them a chance to fill rooms that their "normal" clientele prefer not to use.

All the time we had no choice but to book school holiday peak cost Xmas/New Year Caribbean  cruises we used to be envious of the prices for effectively the same cruise one week after we got home

 

I can't imagine any situation now where we would pay the inflated prices as these times for essentially the same cruise just far busier

 

But obviously it's personal choice. I can't stop others making that choice.