Fur coat and no knickers

[lincslady]

P and O's recent TV ads are calculated to appeal to a 'new' type of cruiser, IMO.  Multi-generational families, 'fun loving' folk etc.  They will need them to keep filling the big ships, and the cheap basic prices sadly will encourage not only less well off passengers but those who prefer to spend a lot on drinks.

[Interestedcruisefan]

5 minutes ago, lincslady said:

P and O's recent TV ads are calculated to appeal to a 'new' type of cruiser, IMO.  Multi-generational families, 'fun loving' folk etc.  They will need them to keep filling the big ships, and the cheap basic prices sadly will encourage not only less well off passengers but those who prefer to spend a lot on drinks.

 

This is a Christmas 2022 P and O advert

 

There's not even a single alcoholic drink shown

 

Multi-genrational - yes

Fun loving - more adventure loving I would say

 

Very wholesome lovely advert but certainly nothing whatsoever to encourage anybody who wants to spend a lot on drinks

 

Take a look

 

I disagree with the views on the type of clients P and O are aiming for. It's the opposite of party lovers looking for lots of drinks IMO

 

 

[Megabear2]

7 minutes ago, Interestedcruisefan said:

Only a very small fraction of new cruisers could possibly sit around skydome all day even if they wanted to Majortom?

 

Let's be honest about it

 

You are doing a huge disservice to new cruisers there IMO. And making a sweeping judgement which doesn't actually stack up

 

Some people will like what the skydome offers but on any given sea day it only houses a small fraction of passengers.

 

Furthermore not all of them choosing to be there will be new cruisers and only a small fraction of those that are there will actually be there on the drinks package

 

Whoever is on the drinks package could actually be anywhere on the ship as always. You have no idea. Unless you follow every guest to every bar

 

On sea days on Arvia all the spaces are filled all around the ship. I know as I walk around the decks on sea days constantly. So absolutely false to suggest all new cruisers go to the skydome all day on drinks packages. 

 

Maybe there's a very small fraction that do that. A very small fraction of a very large number of new cruisers

 

Don't tar everyone with the same brush it's unfair

 

You don't like the skydome yourself. Clearly some do just like many more don't.

 

Let the ones who do get on with it.

 

Some of the guests on the skydome may also go to talks as well

 

You are just guessing and making a sweeping statement tbh

Then I'm to be included I'm afraid. As I reported we had inclement weather in May. Being a swimmer I naturally turned to the Skydome but not once could I get in that pool during 14 nights due.  Even 15 minutes before opening time over 30% of all chairs and a good 60% at pool level had towels, bags and kids toys on them with hardly a soul in sight.

 

Apart from the one day the roof opened the pool level was rammed with people drinking copious amounts, the pool full of screaming kids and sadly food scattered all under the tables alongside the windows next to the burger outlet.  Food was abandoned at will with a small number of under pressure staff desperately trying to clear it.

 

I cannot say they were all on the drinks package but I can confirm many had imbibed way too much by late afternoon with the consequent loud screaming and raucous behaviour.

 

And in the interests of fairness Britannia last Christmas had a good few of these types of individuals too I'm afraid.

[paularmstrong]

Due to go on this ship in February , done a lot of other cruises around this area with many other cruise lines but first time with P&O . Did question the number of sea days as there are a LOT more than others . 5200 people on board , captive audience 30 degree heat , on holidays or am i being cynical . The drinks pack is capped at 15 per day , which seems okay at first . lets say a bottle of lager which holds around half a pint counts as one drink the 15 drinks per day seems not so attractive now , other cruise lines drinks packs are unlimited

[Interestedcruisefan]

 

And heres the latest Caribbean advert I could find (December 2021) 

 

I'm sure there's been one since ? But can't find it

 

How can anyone say P and O are targetting people who just want to sit and have drinks packages?

 

Total opposite IMO

 

Another lovely advert

 

I think P and O get way too much unfair criticism on here

[sandancer]

3 minutes ago, paularmstrong said:

Due to go on this ship in February , done a lot of other cruises around this area with many other cruise lines but first time with P&O . Did question the number of sea days as there are a LOT more than others . 5200 people on board , captive audience 30 degree heat , on holidays or am i being cynical . The drinks pack is capped at 15 per day , which seems okay at first . lets say a bottle of lager which holds around half a pint counts as one drink the 15 drinks per day seems not so attractive now , other cruise lines drinks packs are unlimited

You can have draft lager, so 15 pints a day. You don’t have to count coffees or soft drinks. Some other cruise lines have the same limit. Cunard and Princess do. Or are you referring to MSC?

[Interestedcruisefan]

19 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

I cannot say they were all on the drinks package but I can confirm many had imbibed way too much by late afternoon with the consequent loud screaming and raucous behaviour.

 

Yet on a ship with 5,000 ish passengers you are describing a tiny minority of guests with raucous behaviour MB?

 

And you can very easily remove yourself to be away from them

 

Noise from kids enjoying themselves around a pool all day. That's family holidays full stop. Try stopping them.  4 kids can make loads of noise round a pool. Busy pools on holiday. With noisy kids.  Hard to get sunbeds on holiday that's sun holidays in general in hotels and on cruises. Sunbed wars form the topic of most holiday complaints in hotels on land let alone on sea.

 

There's options to book adult only hotels and adult only cruises of course. Swimming in a cruise ship pool. Never going to be easy

 

110 per cent P and O are not targetting raucous adults though. It's very clear from their adverts that is NOT the target audience.  Do they get some bad eggs. For sure. It's inevitable sadly. 

 

I would avoid the bad eggs myself when that happens

 

 

Edited November 16, 2023 by Interestedcruisefan

[terrierjohn]

17 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

Then I'm to be included I'm afraid. As I reported we had inclement weather in May. Being a swimmer I naturally turned to the Skydome but not once could I get in that pool during 14 nights due.  Even 15 minutes before opening time over 30% of all chairs and a good 60% at pool level had towels, bags and kids toys on them with hardly a soul in sight.

 

Apart from the one day the roof opened the pool level was rammed with people drinking copious amounts, the pool full of screaming kids and sadly food scattered all under the tables alongside the windows next to the burger outlet.  Food was abandoned at will with a small number of under pressure staff desperately trying to clear it.

 

I cannot say they were all on the drinks package but I can confirm many had imbibed way too much by late afternoon with the consequent loud screaming and raucous behaviour.

 

And in the interests of fairness Britannia last Christmas had a good few of these types of individuals too I'm afraid.

But to be fair to ICF the Skydome pool area even when full will only hold a couple of hundred or so people, and clearly they cannot be representative of the entire 5500 passengers.

[paularmstrong]

I doubt the draught lager will be premium , Celebrity Tui NCL were not limited . 

[sandancer]

Just now, paularmstrong said:

I doubt the draught lager will be premium , Celebrity Tui NCL were not limited . 

Moretti, Corona, Carling just as an example. Not being a beer drinker I wouldn’t know what a premium beer was. My point was simply that you didn’t have to drink bottled lager. 

[SquishTheWhale]

" not adults only but by afternoon it was overtaken by kids "

How dare kids use a facility that they are allowed to use. I'm shocked and appalled. Maybe you should put up a sign next time informing people the pool is for your sole use?

Edited November 16, 2023 by SquishTheWhale

[Interestedcruisefan]

12 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

But to be fair to ICF the Skydome pool area even when full will only hold a couple of hundred or so people, and clearly they cannot be representative of the entire 5500 passengers.

Exactly my point. Youve actually really got to make an effort to put yourself in there as well to experience it. We don't want the noise. We also want sea views on sea days. So we avoid it during the day and mostly at night too

 

Will head their for snacks only

 

On an inclement weather sea day I certainly wouldn't head there expecting the chance for a nice swim either

 

I'm realistic enough to know what it's going to be like in that situation 

Edited November 16, 2023 by Interestedcruisefan

[Megabear2]

6 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

But to be fair to ICF the Skydome pool area even when full will only hold a couple of hundred or so people, and clearly they cannot be representative of the entire 5500 passengers.

I'm not suggesting it is. I'm saying Majortom's observations are as I saw them too.  As for the kids, I don't mind loud or having a good time, I do however object to the foul language coming from a lot of their mouths and also the way that good food was being abused.  It no doubt depends on the cruise, time of year etc but it's dreadfully naive to say anyone who doesn't like what is happening is totally wrong to comment.

 

As for moving away, well that's right out of the P&O guidebook when people are abused and assaulted as around 20 of us found last year.  So okay this minority - and it is a minority out of thousands - can do as they wish while the other decent people of all ages are wrong for disliking it.

[paularmstrong]

On other cruises the draught usually being fosters , carling etc are imo are not too good so to get a decent beer such as moretti , stella etc its bottled , the small half pint type also not all bars do draught  

[Megabear2]

2 minutes ago, Interestedcruisefan said:

On an inclement weather sea day I certainly wouldn't head there expecting the chance for a nice swim either

At 6.45am there generally aren't that many kids needing to use those facilities and I'm in no way alone the only person who wants a 15-20 minute swim. In fact there are quite often younger children and teenagers also wanting a "proper" swim as competitive swimming clubs train early morning, just because they are on holiday they still like those lengths.

 

I'm not stupid enough to expect that so please don't suggest I am.

[Interestedcruisefan]

2 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

As for moving away, well that's right out of the P&O guidebook when people are abused and assaulted as around 20 of us found last year.  So okay this minority - and it is a minority out of thousands - can do as they wish while the other decent people of all ages are wrong for disliking it.

Wouldn't know as I've never experienced and would purposefully avoid the places where any minority might possibly spoil it for me

 

On any holiday cruise or hotel or beach

 

Too many other places I would put myself instead

 

I choose the nice places I want to be to start with. And if ever they showed a hint of becoming something I didn't like I would move on. Can't remember having to do that since about 15 years ago in a 5 star all inclusive hotel in Turkey one evening where I would have ended up fighting with some Russian guests had I not moved away from raucous behavior from drunks

 

 

 

 

[Megabear2]

7 minutes ago, SquishTheWhale said:

" not adults only but by afternoon it was overtaken by kids "

How dare kids use a facility that they are allowed to use. I'm shocked and appalled. Maybe you should put up a sign next time informing people the pool is for your sole use?

I think the swim up bar is meant to be adults only yet I saw it being used for kids in fins and face masks.  The other pools are for everyone apart from the adults only pools.

 

The original post is easy to misinterpret if you choose to but the very frequent references to kids in the swim up bar area are on the P&O social media pages too.

[Interestedcruisefan]

8 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

At 6.45am there generally aren't that many kids needing to use those facilities and I'm in no way alone the only person who wants a 15-20 minute swim. In fact there are quite often younger children and teenagers also wanting a "proper" swim as competitive swimming clubs train early morning, just because they are on holiday they still like those lengths.

 

I'm not stupid enough to expect that so please don't suggest I am.

"As I reported we had inclement weather in May. Being a swimmer I naturally turned to the Skydome but not once could I get in that pool during 14 nights"

 

 

[Gettingwarmer]

6 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

 

The original post is easy to misinterpret if you choose to but the very frequent references to kids in the swim up bar area are on the P&O social media pages too.

Which is @Interestedcruisefan go to place. Where would you move on to if children were taking your space?

[Interestedcruisefan]

17 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

As for the kids, I don't mind loud or having a good time, I do however object to the foul language coming from a lot of their mouths and also the way that good food was being abused.  

 

 

It's just new complaint after new complaint MB

 

You surely aren't witnessing any of this at 6.45am when you went for your swim as you've now explained?

 

 

[SquishTheWhale]

13 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

I think the swim up bar is meant to be adults only yet I saw it being used for kids in fins and face masks.  The other pools are for everyone apart from the adults only pools.

 

The original post is easy to misinterpret if you choose to but the very frequent references to kids in the swim up bar area are on the P&O social media pages too.

I don't frequent the P&O social media so was only going off the statement the OP made they they were not adult only areas!

[Interestedcruisefan]

4 minutes ago, Gettingwarmer said:

Which is @Interestedcruisefan go to place. Where would you move on to if children were taking your space?

We go near the infinity pool and swim up bar at the back of the ship

 

We don't mind kids on holiday. 

 

If we did we would instead go on adults only holidays or pay to use the retreat or pay for balconies etc

 

Which everyone else who doesn't like kids near them on holidays has the choice to do

[jh1809]

Even including coffees not with meals, I can't imagine drinking 15 drinks a day. Four or five would be more like it: a couple of coffees; a cocktail, G&T or cider (I don't like beer); and a glass of wine or two with dinner. So the drinks package wouldn't be good value for me.

[Interestedcruisefan]

Also I have a question for those guests who don't like the big ships?

 

On the smaller ships I assume:

 

There aren't any favourite areas to sunbathe?

 

Nobody gets up early to choose their favourite sunbeds?

 

Andy nobody saves sunbed with towels?

 

 

It's some kind of perfect utopian world on these ships?

[Gettingwarmer]

3 minutes ago, Interestedcruisefan said:

We go near the infinity pool and swim up bar at the back of the ship

 

We don't mind kids on holiday. 

 

If we did we would instead go on adults only holidays or pay to use the retreat or pay for balconies etc

 

Which everyone else who doesn't like kids near them on holidays has the choice to do

So you are happy not to be able to sit at your favourite bar in the pool and will give it up to the children.