Live from Britannia

[Selbourne]

[TigerB]

Good report, again.👍

I'm not surprised you were proper knackered after all that backwards and forwards, and up and down.

 

It's been 35 years since I was last in Oslo, as a 20yr old with not much money, and was caught (intentionally) fare dodging after three successful attempts. When the ticket inspector came along the tram repeatedly calling, "billeter", my girlfriend at the time was ready to throw the towel in. I did all the talking, and in my best ignorant Brit abroad performance, feigned ignorance of the system and managed to purchase two tickets. 

I'm keen to go back, and I expect it is unrecognisable to how I remember it. I will though pay the proper fare.😉

 

I'm glad your second visit to Epicurean was better, and a good result on the partial refund 👍

[DamianG]

Another great update and particularly lovely to see the photos of Vigeland Park which we’ve visited a few times in the past. It’s very different in winter but equally spectacular especially if there is snow around. 
We had a similar tram problem in Rotterdam until I fortunately found an actual paper ticket machine but only in a station.

[mrsgoggins]

14 hours ago, Selbourne said:

 

DAY 7 (Oslo)

 

On our previous visits to Oslo we have always berthed right in the heart of the city centre by the Opera House. As we were the largest ship in the port today we were relegated to the other side of the harbour, further out but still walkable. 

 

Just one minor gripe today which I will quickly get out of the way. P&O seem to have stopped telling people (in Horizon) where the ship will berth the next day and what passengers options are for getting to the centre. How difficult is it to say that it’s a 10 minute walk or that there are port provided shuttles? It costs nothing to do this and is good customer service, yet we have been left completely in the dark each day so far and have to work it all out for ourselves when we get ashore. I use maps on my iPhone but older or less confident folk may be a bit fazed by it and probably end up paying for transport that they might not need. 

 

 

I do so agree with the emboldened part above!  It was so refreshing to receive a 4-sided A4 leaflet at the start of our Princess cruise with exactly the sort of information you would want. I hope (🤞 ) to show below the inside pages. We had already pre-booked our excursions, and added one more whilst on board, and so the information did not change our plans, which I guess is what the cruise companies fear - and I know P&O are not the only ones with scant assistance to independent passengers.

 

 

[Britboys]

On 7/13/2023 at 6:49 AM, Selbourne said:

DAY 5 (Continued)

 

We ended Day 5 with the Limelight Club and Joel Harper Jackson. We arrived 15 minutes early having heard about queues on other ships, but they were already admitting people so we had no wait at all. We were shown to a table in a great position and I have to say that we had a thoroughly enjoyable evening. The scallops starter wasn’t the best we’ve ever had, as the little pea fritters weren’t the best accompaniment, but they were at least cooked as they should be (unlike Epicurean) and the beef main was lovely. The deconstructed cheesecake was different with very nice flavours. Service was good. 

 

As for the performance, it’s changed since we last went and is now shorter in duration. The performer used to sing a few songs at the start of the evening and then return for a full set after the meal service had concluded. Now they do a bit of a Q&A early on (no songs) and then a (shorter) set after the meal. During the Q&A he mentioned that his parents were on the cruise and they had been complaining about how difficult it had been to get dining reservations on the ship. He was having to go along to the restaurants and try to negotiate bookings for them! It was all done and dusted by 10pm and the actual performance felt like it ended a bit too soon. As a singer, Joel was certainly a lot better than the Headliners but not quite as good as Darren Day, who we had seen in the Limelight Club on a previous cruise. He is, however, a really nice guy and his personality carried it. I’m glad that we went as it was a different and pleasant evening. 

 

My wife didn’t want to do anything afterwards but I fancied a hot drink (which we weren’t offered in the Limelight, even though some others were) so I made a rare trip to the buffet at 10.30pm after I had deposited her back in the cabin. I’m no expert on the buffet, as we avoid it like the plague usually, but I fancied a tiny bit of cheese and biscuits. I’m not sure if this is how it’s always been done, but between 10.30pm and 11.00pm there is no food available whatsoever. I had assumed that at least one of the buffet stations would be open at all times? One chap said to me “This is the first time I’ve been on P&O and I’ve never known this on other cruise lines, but I did manage to find a few scraps down there” as he showed me a little bowl with a shrivelled sandwich and sad looking pastry in it. I didn’t dare ask what his first impressions of P&O were 😂 . 

 

DAY 6 (Sea Day)

 

I spoke too soon on Day 2 with my praise for the fact that MDR breakfasts are now last entry at 10am on sea days, rather than 9.30am. Day 6 is the second sea day and last entry is back to 9.30am. I therefore withdraw my previous praise! I can only  assume that day 2 was a one off due to the clocks going forward? We booked a table on the app and were called very quickly. Whilst having breakfast, I noticed that both MDRs were showing queue full by 9.15 am and remained so. This seems to be a daily occurrence now, so those who intend to use the app need to be aware of this. 

 

We aren’t huge fans of sea days and see them very much as just a way of breaking up port visits, but we have enjoyed a number of interesting special interest talks over the years. Not on this cruise (so far, anyway). Whereas there were usually two guest presenters on the ship at any one time, one in the morning and a different one in the afternoon, this appears to have been reduced to just one on this cruise so far, and his second talk is the same subject matter as his first - Viking’s. Consequently, there was not a single thing happening during the daytime that interested us. As we’d had to go to breakfast earlier than we’d have liked, we killed some time by attending this sole talk anyway, and it seemed that everyone else had the same idea as it was a full house! In fairness, whilst the subject matter wasn’t of huge interest to us, he was a good presenter. 

 

We had our second challenging time with the app at lunchtime. I have become accustomed to the ‘Queue Full’ message from 15 mins before the last entry time, but today it was impossible to book on the app for the entire second half of the MDR  lunchtime service. I started trying (unsuccessfully) at 1pm and kept refreshing the page, assuming that bookings would open up again. They didn’t, and at 1.25pm we gave up trying and decided to do a walk-in. There was a long queue of people trying to get into the MDR and we were all issued with pagers. Having started to try to get a table from 1pm we eventually sat down at 2pm, 15 minutes after the restaurant was due to close! We overheard a few other people saying that they had been waiting for an hour or more as well - and that’s just for lunch!. As a sea day doesn’t come as a surprise, I can only assume that there was an organisational problem. 

 

During the afternoon, with nothing else to do, we watched a film on the cabin TV. Thank goodness that the cabin TVs on Britannia are considerably better than those on the older ships. At 5pm I popped up to the buffet to get a little treat for our afternoon cuppa. Yet again, the buffet was closed, but this time for an hour until 6pm (other than the kids tea, which was being carefully policed). Again, I’ve no idea if this is a new thing as we use the buffet so infrequently, but this part time buffet thing had passed me by. I’m curious to know from those who regularly frequent the buffet - is this normal? I tried unsuccessfully to find an officer to ask. 

 

It was the second formal night so, conscious of the long wait for the MDR on the first formal night, we joined the virtual queue at 7.10pm whilst listening to the excellent singer Angelika Ecklund in the atrium. When she finished her set we still seemed to be moving very slowly in the virtual queue, so we headed up to the Crows Nest. We were eventually called to our table at 8.25pm, which was about the time we wanted to eat, so our plan had worked, but you will note that’s  some 75 minutes after we joined the queue. Thankfully we had a first class waiter and the meal was good in parts. The Parmesan mouse that came with the Parma ham starter was missing any trace of…Parmesan. The mains were good and served piping hot again. My wife decided agains the Cherries Jubilee pud saying that it wouldn’t be a patch on the one we had on Cunard recently. I decided to go for it. My wife was right. Not even remotely close 😂 Thankfully I had asked for cheese as well and that was excellent. I had said to the waiter that I liked the Stilton Bon-bons but they were very small, so if he could smuggle me a second one I’d be grateful. He bought me three of them! We had a good laugh with the waiter when my wife asked him what flavour was a ‘Cambridge’ Crème Brûlée. With a smile, he shrugged his shoulders and said, I’ve no idea madam and if we ask the kitchen they say we will let you know and they never do!

 

To end the evening we went to the Vinylettes second show. The patter between the songs was cringeworthy in the extreme, but thankfully the singing was good and you can’t go wrong with Motown. Oslo next stop.  

Your Parmesan Mousse reminds me of the Limoncello Pannacotta that was missing any trace of Limoncello (or even lemon flavour...).

[Britboys]

20 hours ago, P&O SUE said:

Re the buffet, they often have  one side closed at times but not both?!

 

We’ve developed a habit of going to the Glasshouse for lunch on sea days ☺️

IIrc, I noticed last summer on Aurora that there were various periods where all the buffet counters were closed down at the same time. As someone who always has late sitting dinner, I sometimes fancied a hot drink and slice of cake maybe shortly after 5pm but there was no food available at all.

[Britboys]

16 hours ago, Selbourne said:

 

DAY 7 (Oslo)

 

On our previous visits to Oslo we have always berthed right in the heart of the city centre by the Opera House. As we were the largest ship in the port today we were relegated to the other side of the harbour, further out but still walkable. 

 

Just one minor gripe today which I will quickly get out of the way. P&O seem to have stopped telling people (in Horizon) where the ship will berth the next day and what passengers options are for getting to the centre. How difficult is it to say that it’s a 10 minute walk or that there are port provided shuttles? It costs nothing to do this and is good customer service, yet we have been left completely in the dark each day so far and have to work it all out for ourselves when we get ashore. I use maps on my iPhone but older or less confident folk may be a bit fazed by it and probably end up paying for transport that they might not need. 

 

A couple of lifts had gone out of service again but we managed to get one OK. I was quite amused that two senior British Officers got in the lift and when someone mentioned the lack of midship stairs one responded immediately with “This ship is badly designed”. How refreshing!

 

We went ashore earlier than most days as there were a few places that we wanted to see. The walk in to the centre was actually very pleasant. We wanted to go to the Vigeland Sculpture park but it was some distance and I was pushing my wife in her wheelchair so I wasn’t quite sure how I’d manage it, but on the way into the centre we saw a tram and, by luck, I noticed on the map at the tram stop that it went to the sculpture park. As with everything these days, you can’t buy tickets at a machine or from a person, you need an app. I downloaded it but hadn’t worked out what we needed to do by the time the tram came in. I intended to seek help and buy a ticket on the tram, but there was no ticket person on it so I’m ashamed to say that we are now officially fare dodgers. 

 

The sculpture park was very different. Lots of sculptures of naked people (an artist would describe it as depictions of the human form 😂). Many impressive beds of roses as well. We enjoyed our visit. We returned to the tram stop and just missed a tram, which was annoying as they are only every 15 minutes. When the next one eventually came in it was an old one and it wasn’t accessible as there were three large steps up into it. The driver was all for helping me lift my wife in the wheelchair, but that would have been extremely dangerous so we waited for the next tram which was thankfully accessible. There was a ticket inspector on this one, so rather than risk a penalty fare I did the ‘idiotic foreigner’ act and he very helpfully showed me what ticket I needed on the app. As he was so helpful I asked the best way to get to the Munch museum (our next destination) and he told me to change at the next stop and then get the number 13 tram to a certain station, which we did. When we got to said station, I checked the route to the Munch Museum on my phone only to find that it was a hell of a distance away. Now cursing him, I proceeded to push my wife around 1.5 miles over bridges and up several very steep hills before finally arriving at………..what USED to be the Munch Museum 😡 Google Maps has a lot to answer for. The young chap at the info desk said “oh dear. You need the ‘new’ Munch Museum”. Where’s that I asked. Yep. You guessed it. Just a few hundred yards from where the helpful chap who I had since cursed had told us to get off the tram 😂 

 

Having eventually made it to the new Munch museum we started at the top and worked down. The top is an overhanging view point. We looked around the whole museum but all I really wanted to see was “The Scream”. There are a number of versions and 3 are on display - a black and white lithograph, a crayon sketch and an oil (the one that we associate with this work). They will only allow one to be displayed at any time and every 30 minutes automatic doors close over one and the next one opens, which also adds some theatre to it. By the time we got to see it the black and white version was showing with the crayon one coming up next. We saw both. However, after 30 mins it was going to be the black and white one again before the one that I really wanted to see was briefly ‘exposed’, so we went for a drink and had a piece of pizza before going back up to see the big unveiling 😂 

 

By the time we came out there had been a thunderstorm so we waited until it stopped raining and then walked the length of the main drag towards the Royal Palace before cutting down towards the water and back to the ship. Unfortunately, when we were around 500 yards from the ship the heavens opened and we had to take shelter under a tree. After some time a lovely couple from the ship stopped and offered us their umbrellas as they also had coats with hoods. My wife borrowed one and was extremely grateful.  I duly returned it when we got back on the ship. 

 

I was parched after all the walking, so headed up to the sunset bar to get a pint of Bierra Moretti which I really fancied. It was very windy and the barman suggested that I went to the port side, but that is cancer corner (as I call the smoking areas) so I took it back to the cabin. 

 

For dinner we went to Epicurean for our second visit. Much better than the first night and even though my wife ordered the same starter and main as last time she said that both were cooked properly this time and she described it as a completely different meal. I had the fillet of beef which was also excellent. The manager apologised for our poor experience the first night and I asked about the lack of table side prep and the previous lovely petit fours and he blamed Covid. Not the best thing to say to me as that excuse is complete hog wash, as I told him (not using those words), so although the meal and experience was lovely it gets 8/10 for the weak excuses as to why it’s not 100% operating as it should. He kindly waived one of our cover charges for the first night problems, which was fair, and we left happy and will return next week for the other menu. 

 

We didn’t bother with the show as we’ve seen it countless times and besides the ship didn’t leave until 9.30pm so we preferred to watch the transit down Oslo fjord from our cabin. 

 

Finally, some praise for our cabin steward Neville. Most of his cabins are suites yet he still manages to get our standard balcony cabin serviced whilst we are having breakfast every morning. He’ll definitely get a decent tip at the end of the cruise. Sea day tomorrow so no more updates until Copenhagen on Saturday. 

 

I absolutely loved the Sculpture Park on my last visit to Oslo. Several of the pieces left me feeling quite emotional and it takes a lot to do that as far as sculpture is concerned.

[P&O SUE]

16 hours ago, Selbourne said:

 

DAY 7 (Oslo)

 

On our previous visits to Oslo we have always berthed right in the heart of the city centre by the Opera House. As we were the largest ship in the port today we were relegated to the other side of the harbour, further out but still walkable. 

 

Just one minor gripe today which I will quickly get out of the way. P&O seem to have stopped telling people (in Horizon) where the ship will berth the next day and what passengers options are for getting to the centre. How difficult is it to say that it’s a 10 minute walk or that there are port provided shuttles? It costs nothing to do this and is good customer service, yet we have been left completely in the dark each day so far and have to work it all out for ourselves when we get ashore. I use maps on my iPhone but older or less confident folk may be a bit fazed by it and probably end up paying for transport that they might not need. 

 

A couple of lifts had gone out of service again but we managed to get one OK. I was quite amused that two senior British Officers got in the lift and when someone mentioned the lack of midship stairs one responded immediately with “This ship is badly designed”. How refreshing!

 

We went ashore earlier than most days as there were a few places that we wanted to see. The walk in to the centre was actually very pleasant. We wanted to go to the Vigeland Sculpture park but it was some distance and I was pushing my wife in her wheelchair so I wasn’t quite sure how I’d manage it, but on the way into the centre we saw a tram and, by luck, I noticed on the map at the tram stop that it went to the sculpture park. As with everything these days, you can’t buy tickets at a machine or from a person, you need an app. I downloaded it but hadn’t worked out what we needed to do by the time the tram came in. I intended to seek help and buy a ticket on the tram, but there was no ticket person on it so I’m ashamed to say that we are now officially fare dodgers. 

 

The sculpture park was very different. Lots of sculptures of naked people (an artist would describe it as depictions of the human form 😂). Many impressive beds of roses as well. We enjoyed our visit. We returned to the tram stop and just missed a tram, which was annoying as they are only every 15 minutes. When the next one eventually came in it was an old one and it wasn’t accessible as there were three large steps up into it. The driver was all for helping me lift my wife in the wheelchair, but that would have been extremely dangerous so we waited for the next tram which was thankfully accessible. There was a ticket inspector on this one, so rather than risk a penalty fare I did the ‘idiotic foreigner’ act and he very helpfully showed me what ticket I needed on the app. As he was so helpful I asked the best way to get to the Munch museum (our next destination) and he told me to change at the next stop and then get the number 13 tram to a certain station, which we did. When we got to said station, I checked the route to the Munch Museum on my phone only to find that it was a hell of a distance away. Now cursing him, I proceeded to push my wife around 1.5 miles over bridges and up several very steep hills before finally arriving at………..what USED to be the Munch Museum 😡 Google Maps has a lot to answer for. The young chap at the info desk said “oh dear. You need the ‘new’ Munch Museum”. Where’s that I asked. Yep. You guessed it. Just a few hundred yards from where the helpful chap who I had since cursed had told us to get off the tram 😂 

 

Having eventually made it to the new Munch museum we started at the top and worked down. The top is an overhanging view point. We looked around the whole museum but all I really wanted to see was “The Scream”. There are a number of versions and 3 are on display - a black and white lithograph, a crayon sketch and an oil (the one that we associate with this work). They will only allow one to be displayed at any time and every 30 minutes automatic doors close over one and the next one opens, which also adds some theatre to it. By the time we got to see it the black and white version was showing with the crayon one coming up next. We saw both. However, after 30 mins it was going to be the black and white one again before the one that I really wanted to see was briefly ‘exposed’, so we went for a drink and had a piece of pizza before going back up to see the big unveiling 😂 

 

By the time we came out there had been a thunderstorm so we waited until it stopped raining and then walked the length of the main drag towards the Royal Palace before cutting down towards the water and back to the ship. Unfortunately, when we were around 500 yards from the ship the heavens opened and we had to take shelter under a tree. After some time a lovely couple from the ship stopped and offered us their umbrellas as they also had coats with hoods. My wife borrowed one and was extremely grateful.  I duly returned it when we got back on the ship. 

 

I was parched after all the walking, so headed up to the sunset bar to get a pint of Bierra Moretti which I really fancied. It was very windy and the barman suggested that I went to the port side, but that is cancer corner (as I call the smoking areas) so I took it back to the cabin. 

 

For dinner we went to Epicurean for our second visit. Much better than the first night and even though my wife ordered the same starter and main as last time she said that both were cooked properly this time and she described it as a completely different meal. I had the fillet of beef which was also excellent. The manager apologised for our poor experience the first night and I asked about the lack of table side prep and the previous lovely petit fours and he blamed Covid. Not the best thing to say to me as that excuse is complete hog wash, as I told him (not using those words), so although the meal and experience was lovely it gets 8/10 for the weak excuses as to why it’s not 100% operating as it should. He kindly waived one of our cover charges for the first night problems, which was fair, and we left happy and will return next week for the other menu. 

 

We didn’t bother with the show as we’ve seen it countless times and besides the ship didn’t leave until 9.30pm so we preferred to watch the transit down Oslo fjord from our cabin. 

 

Finally, some praise for our cabin steward Neville. Most of his cabins are suites yet he still manages to get our standard balcony cabin serviced whilst we are having breakfast every morning. He’ll definitely get a decent tip at the end of the cruise. Sea day tomorrow so no more updates until Copenhagen on Saturday. 

 

Thanks for the detailed report!

We went to Oslo in 2019 (on Princess) and we went to the sculpture park on the HoHo bus. We had an experience too as when we waited for a bus afterwards the heavens opened and two buses came round and we couldn’t get on either of them - no one got off because of the weather and several people pushed in 😡 When we finally got on the third bus we had intended to get off at the Viking boat place but we were so wet we just went back to the ship!

Edited July 14, 2023 by P&O SUE

[9265359]

20 hours ago, Selbourne said:

I believe that the black tie nights have changed from what was initially stated and, after tomorrow, the last one will now be the sea day before Hamburg. 

They have certainly changed from what was shown on the cruise planner before we left - so bad luck for anyone booking specially restaurants to coincide with those nights.

 

Presume it was the usual P&O right hand not knowingly what the left was doing. 

[Dermotsgirl]

3 hours ago, mrsgoggins said:

I do so agree with the emboldened part above!  It was so refreshing to receive a 4-sided A4 leaflet at the start of our Princess cruise with exactly the sort of information you would want. I hope (🤞 ) to show below the inside pages. We had already pre-booked our excursions, and added one more whilst on board, and so the information did not change our plans, which I guess is what the cruise companies fear - and I know P&O are not the only ones with scant assistance to independent passengers.

 

 

That is very helpful for the Princess passengers

 

I remember when P&O used to do port presentations, the port lecturer would give that sort of information and show slides  to illustrate. I used to find it very informative

[gsmt47471015]

We have had the pleasure of Michelle on our last two cruises dealing with the port presentations in the theatre ( would prefer it too be a little later in the morning) and she is excellent ,not just with the ships excursions but also the basic info , shuttle buses, port wi fi ,toilets distance to town from port , luckily she is also doing the world cruise with us in January👍

[Bill Y]

24 minutes ago, Dermotsgirl said:

That is very helpful for the Princess passengers

 

I remember when P&O used to do port presentations, the port lecturer would give that sort of information and show slides  to illustrate. I used to find it very informative

Yes, P&O.s port presentations and port guides were much better than Princess offered, Such a shame that they have gone. Is it the new mentality that the ship is the destination and the ports are just thrown in as an extra?

[P&O SUE]

2 hours ago, Britboys said:

IIrc, I noticed last summer on Aurora that there were various periods where all the buffet counters were closed down at the same time. As someone who always has late sitting dinner, I sometimes fancied a hot drink and slice of cake maybe shortly after 5pm but there was no food available at all.

Hmm that’s a shame.

[Selbourne]

17 hours ago, mrsgoggins said:

I do so agree with the emboldened part above!  It was so refreshing to receive a 4-sided A4 leaflet at the start of our Princess cruise with exactly the sort of information you would want. I hope (🤞 ) to show below the inside pages. We had already pre-booked our excursions, and added one more whilst on board, and so the information did not change our plans, which I guess is what the cruise companies fear - and I know P&O are not the only ones with scant assistance to independent passengers.

 

 

Yes, that is 100% the sort of info that I was suggesting, so it CAN be done!

[Selbourne]

14 hours ago, 9265359 said:

They have certainly changed from what was shown on the cruise planner before we left - so bad luck for anyone booking specially restaurants to coincide with those nights.

 

Presume it was the usual P&O right hand not knowingly what the left was doing. 

Yes, the cruise planner definitely showed different dates, because I remember saying to my wife that it was odd that the black tie nights weren’t all on the sea days. When they corrected the info a week or so before we sailed I had to cancel our Limelight Club booking and re-book for a different night (as we use the MDR on formal nights). Many would have missed this change. 

[Selbourne]

 

DAY 8 (Sea Day)

 

The virtual queue for breakfast, whilst very short, seemed to be moving at glacial speed this morning, so we decided to go down the the MDR and we were seated straight away! 

 

After breakfast we visited the library to see if the books that others had beaten my wife to on day 1 had been returned, but they hadn’t! There’s a lot of fiction readers on this cruise. The shelves looked like there has been a raid 😂 When we got back to the cabin I could see some coastline, so decided to look at the navigational chart on the TV to see which part of Denmark it was. According to the tracker, we were heading in the opposite direction to our destination of Copenhagen and back out to sea. I assumed that this was a mistake, so ignored it, until I checked again just before lunch to see that we were turning around and the tracker had been correct, so what I had thought was Denmark was in fact still Norway! I assume that the distance from Oslo to Copenhagen takes a lot less time than the 34 hours allowed and the detour was to kill some time. Probably explains why we have been plodding along at 10-12 knots! 

 

At midday we headed to the Meridian restaurant for our first ever Caribbean lunch (the cruises that we had been on since reaching Caribbean tier were 7 nighters and you don’t get the lunch on those). We were greeted on arrival by the captain and other officers and shown to a table with two other couples, one of which was also attending their maiden Caribbean lunch. What a fantastic experience this was. The food was amongst the best we have had on the cruise so far and the complimentary champagne and wine was really appreciated. We also very much enjoyed the company of the other two couples. I was very surprised that there are only 135 Caribbean passengers on this cruise. I had expected several times that number. Perhaps there are larger numbers at the Baltic and Ligurian lunch? In addition to the much appreciated priority boarding, this feels like a genuine appreciation for our loyalty. 

 

Later in the afternoon the Captain announced that the most travelled passenger on this cruise has spent over 2,300 nights with P&O which equals six and a half years. Still, as we have heard said many times, it’s cheaper than a nursing home and the scenery changes 😂 

 

We have been extremely lucky with the weather on this cruise (bar the brief thunderstorm in Oslo) and today was no exception. Very sunny and flat calm seas. As we don’t sunbathe and none of the daytime entertainment appealed, we decided to watch another film on the cabin TV and I was pleased to find that the Kenneth Branagh film ‘Belfast’ was listed. After we watched that we watched a fascinating documentary on a  mountaineering family where both the Mum and her son had been killed 25 years apart on different mountains. The interactive TVs on the new ships really do put the rubbish ones on the rest of the fleet to shame. 

 

Late afternoon I received a call from one of the senior food and beverage managers asking for my feedback on the dining experiences around the ship so far this cruise. I’ve no idea if it was as a result of this review or purely coincidental, but it was a long chat where I gave a fair assessment of what we had found so far. In summary, I said that apart from our disappointing first night in Epicurean and the first Marco Pierre White menu (which a week on remains the weakest MDR meal to date) the food had been good and was always served in a timely manner and hot. Service had been excellent throughout. I mentioned the nice touches that are now missing in some of the specialty restaurants.  

 

I then talked about our experiences of using the app. I explained that we had been determined to embrace it and use it for all MDR meals and with a few exceptions it seemed to work ok for breakfast and lunch. The problem is at dinner time, not for those who dine early, but for those of us who prefer to eat later. I mentioned that the 2 formal nights had resulted in 75 and 90 minute waits, which was far longer than we ever had to wait under the old ‘first come, first served’ system. I said that I felt that the problem was having several systems running at the same time and them fighting against each other (those using the app, those doing walk-ins, some of whom are being admitted immediately and others getting pagers) and that when the pressure was on it was easier for the restaurant staff to close the virtual queue than have disgruntled passengers stood in front of them. As a result, those using the app were being penalised when in reality they should be given priority. 

 

At the end of the call he said that he had found my feedback to be extremely insightful and that he had made extensive notes and would like to call me again next week to see how things were going. If my constructive feedback helps in any way then I am more than happy to oblige. 

 

Prior to dinner we went to the Live Lounge to see the Ed Sheeran tribute act. I thought he was really good but my wife was less convinced. It was the 3rd formal night yet the MDR queues seemed far less busy than the previous 2. I think this may have been because some wanted a more casual night (having only had a formal night two nights before) and it was also Asian night in the buffet. Even so, Peninsular was showing ‘Queue Full’ for a while so we joined the queue for Meridian. Shortly after, Peninsular opened for bookings again so we joined that queue instead and were called within 15 mins. We were surprised how quiet the MDR was. Our meals were perfectly OK and service was good. 

 

After dinner we watched an acrobatics show in the theatre. I thought that it was a real step up in quality from the usual singing shows and the visual and musical accompaniments were very good. Once again, my wife was less convinced than me, but that just goes to show that entertainment is entirely subjective. 

 

For someone who doesn’t like sea days, I have to admit that it was a really enjoyable day. 

[TigerB]

1 hour ago, Selbourne said:

Later in the afternoon the Captain announced that the most travelled passenger on this cruise has spent over 2,300 nights with P&O which equals six and a half years. Still, as we have heard said many times, it’s cheaper than a nursing home and the scenery changes 😂 

 

I've not heard that before, but didn't half laugh.🤣   Something to think about for the future 🤔

 

Good report again; hopefully, they will take your feedback onboard🤞

[grapau27]

1 hour ago, Selbourne said:

 

DAY 8 (Sea Day)

 

The virtual queue for breakfast, whilst very short, seemed to be moving at glacial speed this morning, so we decided to go down the the MDR and we were seated straight away! 

 

After breakfast we visited the library to see if the books that others had beaten my wife to on day 1 had been returned, but they hadn’t! There’s a lot of fiction readers on this cruise. The shelves looked like there has been a raid 😂 When we got back to the cabin I could see some coastline, so decided to look at the navigational chart on the TV to see which part of Denmark it was. According to the tracker, we were heading in the opposite direction to our destination of Copenhagen and back out to sea. I assumed that this was a mistake, so ignored it, until I checked again just before lunch to see that we were turning around and the tracker had been correct, so what I had thought was Denmark was in fact still Norway! I assume that the distance from Oslo to Copenhagen takes a lot less time than the 34 hours allowed and the detour was to kill some time. Probably explains why we have been plodding along at 10-12 knots! 

 

At midday we headed to the Meridian restaurant for our first ever Caribbean lunch (the cruises that we had been on since reaching Caribbean tier were 7 nighters and you don’t get the lunch on those). We were greeted on arrival by the captain and other officers and shown to a table with two other couples, one of which was also attending their maiden Caribbean lunch. What a fantastic experience this was. The food was amongst the best we have had on the cruise so far and the complimentary champagne and wine was really appreciated. We also very much enjoyed the company of the other two couples. I was very surprised that there are only 135 Caribbean passengers on this cruise. I had expected several times that number. Perhaps there are larger numbers at the Baltic and Ligurian lunch? In addition to the much appreciated priority boarding, this feels like a genuine appreciation for our loyalty. 

 

Later in the afternoon the Captain announced that the most travelled passenger on this cruise has spent over 2,300 nights with P&O which equals six and a half years. Still, as we have heard said many times, it’s cheaper than a nursing home and the scenery changes 😂 

 

We have been extremely lucky with the weather on this cruise (bar the brief thunderstorm in Oslo) and today was no exception. Very sunny and flat calm seas. As we don’t sunbathe and none of the daytime entertainment appealed, we decided to watch another film on the cabin TV and I was pleased to find that the Kenneth Branagh film ‘Belfast’ was listed. After we watched that we watched a fascinating documentary on a  mountaineering family where both the Mum and her son had been killed 25 years apart on different mountains. The interactive TVs on the new ships really do put the rubbish ones on the rest of the fleet to shame. 

 

Late afternoon I received a call from one of the senior food and beverage managers asking for my feedback on the dining experiences around the ship so far this cruise. I’ve no idea if it was as a result of this review or purely coincidental, but it was a long chat where I gave a fair assessment of what we had found so far. In summary, I said that apart from our disappointing first night in Epicurean and the first Marco Pierre White menu (which a week on remains the weakest MDR meal to date) the food had been good and was always served in a timely manner and hot. Service had been excellent throughout. I mentioned the nice touches that are now missing in some of the specialty restaurants.  

 

I then talked about our experiences of using the app. I explained that we had been determined to embrace it and use it for all MDR meals and with a few exceptions it seemed to work ok for breakfast and lunch. The problem is at dinner time, not for those who dine early, but for those of us who prefer to eat later. I mentioned that the 2 formal nights had resulted in 75 and 90 minute waits, which was far longer than we ever had to wait under the old ‘first come, first served’ system. I said that I felt that the problem was having several systems running at the same time and them fighting against each other (those using the app, those doing walk-ins, some of whom are being admitted immediately and others getting pagers) and that when the pressure was on it was easier for the restaurant staff to close the virtual queue than have disgruntled passengers stood in front of them. As a result, those using the app were being penalised when in reality they should be given priority. 

 

At the end of the call he said that he had found my feedback to be extremely insightful and that he had made extensive notes and would like to call me again next week to see how things were going. If my constructive feedback helps in any way then I am more than happy to oblige. 

 

Prior to dinner we went to the Live Lounge to see the Ed Sheeran tribute act. I thought he was really good but my wife was less convinced. It was the 3rd formal night yet the MDR queues seemed far less busy than the previous 2. I think this may have been because some wanted a more casual night (having only had a formal night two nights before) and it was also Asian night in the buffet. Even so, Peninsular was showing ‘Queue Full’ for a while so we joined the queue for Meridian. Shortly after, Peninsular opened for bookings again so we joined that queue instead and were called within 15 mins. We were surprised how quiet the MDR was. Our meals were perfectly OK and service was good. 

 

After dinner we watched an acrobatics show in the theatre. I thought that it was a real step up in quality from the usual singing shows and the visual and musical accompaniments were very good. Once again, my wife was less convinced than me, but that just goes to show that entertainment is entirely subjective. 

 

For someone who doesn’t like sea days, I have to admit that it was a really enjoyable day. 

Very interesting read @Selbourne.

Hopefully the food and beverage manager takes onboard your feedback to improve their service.

[P&O SUE]

1 hour ago, Selbourne said:

 

DAY 8 (Sea Day)

 

The virtual queue for breakfast, whilst very short, seemed to be moving at glacial speed this morning, so we decided to go down the the MDR and we were seated straight away! 

 

After breakfast we visited the library to see if the books that others had beaten my wife to on day 1 had been returned, but they hadn’t! There’s a lot of fiction readers on this cruise. The shelves looked like there has been a raid 😂 When we got back to the cabin I could see some coastline, so decided to look at the navigational chart on the TV to see which part of Denmark it was. According to the tracker, we were heading in the opposite direction to our destination of Copenhagen and back out to sea. I assumed that this was a mistake, so ignored it, until I checked again just before lunch to see that we were turning around and the tracker had been correct, so what I had thought was Denmark was in fact still Norway! I assume that the distance from Oslo to Copenhagen takes a lot less time than the 34 hours allowed and the detour was to kill some time. Probably explains why we have been plodding along at 10-12 knots! 

 

At midday we headed to the Meridian restaurant for our first ever Caribbean lunch (the cruises that we had been on since reaching Caribbean tier were 7 nighters and you don’t get the lunch on those). We were greeted on arrival by the captain and other officers and shown to a table with two other couples, one of which was also attending their maiden Caribbean lunch. What a fantastic experience this was. The food was amongst the best we have had on the cruise so far and the complimentary champagne and wine was really appreciated. We also very much enjoyed the company of the other two couples. I was very surprised that there are only 135 Caribbean passengers on this cruise. I had expected several times that number. Perhaps there are larger numbers at the Baltic and Ligurian lunch? In addition to the much appreciated priority boarding, this feels like a genuine appreciation for our loyalty. 

 

Later in the afternoon the Captain announced that the most travelled passenger on this cruise has spent over 2,300 nights with P&O which equals six and a half years. Still, as we have heard said many times, it’s cheaper than a nursing home and the scenery changes 😂 

 

We have been extremely lucky with the weather on this cruise (bar the brief thunderstorm in Oslo) and today was no exception. Very sunny and flat calm seas. As we don’t sunbathe and none of the daytime entertainment appealed, we decided to watch another film on the cabin TV and I was pleased to find that the Kenneth Branagh film ‘Belfast’ was listed. After we watched that we watched a fascinating documentary on a  mountaineering family where both the Mum and her son had been killed 25 years apart on different mountains. The interactive TVs on the new ships really do put the rubbish ones on the rest of the fleet to shame. 

 

Late afternoon I received a call from one of the senior food and beverage managers asking for my feedback on the dining experiences around the ship so far this cruise. I’ve no idea if it was as a result of this review or purely coincidental, but it was a long chat where I gave a fair assessment of what we had found so far. In summary, I said that apart from our disappointing first night in Epicurean and the first Marco Pierre White menu (which a week on remains the weakest MDR meal to date) the food had been good and was always served in a timely manner and hot. Service had been excellent throughout. I mentioned the nice touches that are now missing in some of the specialty restaurants.  

 

I then talked about our experiences of using the app. I explained that we had been determined to embrace it and use it for all MDR meals and with a few exceptions it seemed to work ok for breakfast and lunch. The problem is at dinner time, not for those who dine early, but for those of us who prefer to eat later. I mentioned that the 2 formal nights had resulted in 75 and 90 minute waits, which was far longer than we ever had to wait under the old ‘first come, first served’ system. I said that I felt that the problem was having several systems running at the same time and them fighting against each other (those using the app, those doing walk-ins, some of whom are being admitted immediately and others getting pagers) and that when the pressure was on it was easier for the restaurant staff to close the virtual queue than have disgruntled passengers stood in front of them. As a result, those using the app were being penalised when in reality they should be given priority. 

 

At the end of the call he said that he had found my feedback to be extremely insightful and that he had made extensive notes and would like to call me again next week to see how things were going. If my constructive feedback helps in any way then I am more than happy to oblige. 

 

Prior to dinner we went to the Live Lounge to see the Ed Sheeran tribute act. I thought he was really good but my wife was less convinced. It was the 3rd formal night yet the MDR queues seemed far less busy than the previous 2. I think this may have been because some wanted a more casual night (having only had a formal night two nights before) and it was also Asian night in the buffet. Even so, Peninsular was showing ‘Queue Full’ for a while so we joined the queue for Meridian. Shortly after, Peninsular opened for bookings again so we joined that queue instead and were called within 15 mins. We were surprised how quiet the MDR was. Our meals were perfectly OK and service was good. 

 

After dinner we watched an acrobatics show in the theatre. I thought that it was a real step up in quality from the usual singing shows and the visual and musical accompaniments were very good. Once again, my wife was less convinced than me, but that just goes to show that entertainment is entirely subjective. 

 

For someone who doesn’t like sea days, I have to admit that it was a really enjoyable day. 

I’m so pleased you were able to give feedback, let’s hope they listen! Formal night on Britannia for us last year was frustrating with about an 80 minute wait.

[DamianG]

"Is it the new mentality that the ship is the destination and the ports are just thrown in as an extra?"

That is definitely the case on our forthcoming Arvia Mediterranean cruise with just 6 ports scheduled over 2 weeks.

Edited July 15, 2023 by DamianG

[DamianG]

2 hours ago, Selbourne said:

 

DAY 8 (Sea Day)

 

The virtual queue for breakfast, whilst very short, seemed to be moving at glacial speed this morning, so we decided to go down the the MDR and we were seated straight away! 

 

After breakfast we visited the library to see if the books that others had beaten my wife to on day 1 had been returned, but they hadn’t! There’s a lot of fiction readers on this cruise. The shelves looked like there has been a raid 😂 When we got back to the cabin I could see some coastline, so decided to look at the navigational chart on the TV to see which part of Denmark it was. According to the tracker, we were heading in the opposite direction to our destination of Copenhagen and back out to sea. I assumed that this was a mistake, so ignored it, until I checked again just before lunch to see that we were turning around and the tracker had been correct, so what I had thought was Denmark was in fact still Norway! I assume that the distance from Oslo to Copenhagen takes a lot less time than the 34 hours allowed and the detour was to kill some time. Probably explains why we have been plodding along at 10-12 knots! 

 

At midday we headed to the Meridian restaurant for our first ever Caribbean lunch (the cruises that we had been on since reaching Caribbean tier were 7 nighters and you don’t get the lunch on those). We were greeted on arrival by the captain and other officers and shown to a table with two other couples, one of which was also attending their maiden Caribbean lunch. What a fantastic experience this was. The food was amongst the best we have had on the cruise so far and the complimentary champagne and wine was really appreciated. We also very much enjoyed the company of the other two couples. I was very surprised that there are only 135 Caribbean passengers on this cruise. I had expected several times that number. Perhaps there are larger numbers at the Baltic and Ligurian lunch? In addition to the much appreciated priority boarding, this feels like a genuine appreciation for our loyalty. 

 

Later in the afternoon the Captain announced that the most travelled passenger on this cruise has spent over 2,300 nights with P&O which equals six and a half years. Still, as we have heard said many times, it’s cheaper than a nursing home and the scenery changes 😂 

 

We have been extremely lucky with the weather on this cruise (bar the brief thunderstorm in Oslo) and today was no exception. Very sunny and flat calm seas. As we don’t sunbathe and none of the daytime entertainment appealed, we decided to watch another film on the cabin TV and I was pleased to find that the Kenneth Branagh film ‘Belfast’ was listed. After we watched that we watched a fascinating documentary on a  mountaineering family where both the Mum and her son had been killed 25 years apart on different mountains. The interactive TVs on the new ships really do put the rubbish ones on the rest of the fleet to shame. 

 

Late afternoon I received a call from one of the senior food and beverage managers asking for my feedback on the dining experiences around the ship so far this cruise. I’ve no idea if it was as a result of this review or purely coincidental, but it was a long chat where I gave a fair assessment of what we had found so far. In summary, I said that apart from our disappointing first night in Epicurean and the first Marco Pierre White menu (which a week on remains the weakest MDR meal to date) the food had been good and was always served in a timely manner and hot. Service had been excellent throughout. I mentioned the nice touches that are now missing in some of the specialty restaurants.  

 

I then talked about our experiences of using the app. I explained that we had been determined to embrace it and use it for all MDR meals and with a few exceptions it seemed to work ok for breakfast and lunch. The problem is at dinner time, not for those who dine early, but for those of us who prefer to eat later. I mentioned that the 2 formal nights had resulted in 75 and 90 minute waits, which was far longer than we ever had to wait under the old ‘first come, first served’ system. I said that I felt that the problem was having several systems running at the same time and them fighting against each other (those using the app, those doing walk-ins, some of whom are being admitted immediately and others getting pagers) and that when the pressure was on it was easier for the restaurant staff to close the virtual queue than have disgruntled passengers stood in front of them. As a result, those using the app were being penalised when in reality they should be given priority. 

 

At the end of the call he said that he had found my feedback to be extremely insightful and that he had made extensive notes and would like to call me again next week to see how things were going. If my constructive feedback helps in any way then I am more than happy to oblige. 

 

Prior to dinner we went to the Live Lounge to see the Ed Sheeran tribute act. I thought he was really good but my wife was less convinced. It was the 3rd formal night yet the MDR queues seemed far less busy than the previous 2. I think this may have been because some wanted a more casual night (having only had a formal night two nights before) and it was also Asian night in the buffet. Even so, Peninsular was showing ‘Queue Full’ for a while so we joined the queue for Meridian. Shortly after, Peninsular opened for bookings again so we joined that queue instead and were called within 15 mins. We were surprised how quiet the MDR was. Our meals were perfectly OK and service was good. 

 

After dinner we watched an acrobatics show in the theatre. I thought that it was a real step up in quality from the usual singing shows and the visual and musical accompaniments were very good. Once again, my wife was less convinced than me, but that just goes to show that entertainment is entirely subjective. 

 

For someone who doesn’t like sea days, I have to admit that it was a really enjoyable day. 

 

I'm so glad to read that you enjoyed the Caribbean Tier lunch, we always do and I've said exactly the same as you in calling it a real benefit in return for our loyalty. If you get really lucky in future your table will be hosted by the food and beverage manager (as it once was for us) which results in the wine waiter constantly replenishing your wine glasses.

 

 

[Fionboard]

No hosts at lunches post covid but the wine has been very generous! 

[Selbourne]

12 minutes ago, DamianG said:

 

I'm so glad to read that you enjoyed the Caribbean Tier lunch, we always do and I've said exactly the same as you in calling it a real benefit in return for our loyalty. If you get really lucky in future your table will be hosted by the food and beverage manager (as it once was for us) which results in the wine waiter constantly replenishing your wine glasses.

 

 

Whilst officers were there to greet us, the captain said that they weren’t back to hosting the tables yet (doubtless “because of Covid” 🙄). When we saw the restaurant manager in the evening we said how much we had enjoyed it and he said that they call it the ‘posh lunch’ which it certainly was! 

[Angel57]

Just now, Selbourne said:

Whilst officers were there to greet us, the captain said that they weren’t back to hosting the tables yet (doubtless “because of Covid” 🙄). When we saw the restaurant manager in the evening we said how much we had enjoyed it and he said that they call it the ‘posh lunch’ which it certainly was! 

That sort of harks back to the old days when the Peninsula Club was the POSH club!

Glad you enjoyed it. I’ve always have.

[Fionboard]

At least the cocktail parties are back now (except when Noro on board like last month!)