Christmas Cruise to Caribbean

Aurora cruises 2016
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JillD66
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Christmas Cruise to Caribbean

#1

Post by JillD66 »

The two of us are booked on Aurora Christmas cruise. The only Christmas cruise we've done before was on adult only Arcadia, so no children - obviously Santa made an appearance though!

Any advice gained from similar cruises would be appreciated!

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barney
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Re: Christmas Cruise to Caribbean

#2

Post by barney »

Not from me Jill.

Have never done one and I'M NOT JEALOUS ;)

On the down side, you'll be missing The shots Xmas fixtures :lol:
Empty vessels .. and all that


Snoozen82
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Re: Christmas Cruise to Caribbean

#3

Post by Snoozen82 »

We're on this one...... Wedding on board too! Last xmas cruise we did was before kids, this time we'll have a 3yr old in tow so i'm excited/dreading how it turns out :)

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Re: Christmas Cruise to Caribbean

#4

Post by qbman1 »

We've done both Aurora and Arcadia Christmas cruises to the Caribbean, Jill, and enjoyed both. We will be in the Canaries on Oriana this time.

Whilst I confess that we usually avoid "child-friendly" ships wherever possible I have to say that there were not a huge number of children on Aurora and they were well catered-for and certainly not a nuisance. In fact, the overall atmosphere on the ship was preferable to a Christmas on Arcadia, possibly due to the slightly younger demographic and, dare I say it, the excitement of the children.

I am sure you will have a great time. Do let us know how you get on.


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Re: Christmas Cruise to Caribbean

#5

Post by Snoozen82 »

:o Just seen the email from P&O changing the port rotation....!!

Not happy as we had independently booked tours for each and now the new dates can't be accommodated as they're fully booked!!! Why do they do this last minute??? I've had these excursions booked for a year! I take it there's no room to complain as they were independent trips?

:(

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JillD66
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Re: Christmas Cruise to Caribbean

#6

Post by JillD66 »

Thanks for the comments just realised that there's only just over 4 weeks to write cards and buy pressies!

Hope the wedding goes ok snoozen82 - what date is it, so that I can be nosy and keep a lookout!

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Re: Christmas Cruise to Caribbean

#7

Post by qbman1 »

I think you should get an invite Jill !


Snoozen82
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Re: Christmas Cruise to Caribbean

#8

Post by Snoozen82 »

ha ha! The wedding is taking place on New Years Eve. I'm sure you won't miss us - its the mother in laws wedding and she's turned into a bit of a Bridezilla recently :lol:

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Re: Christmas Cruise to Caribbean

#9

Post by qbman1 »

There you go, Jill - remember to pack your hat !!

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Re: Christmas Cruise to Caribbean

#10

Post by JillD66 »

Perhaps if I swap one of our suitcases for a cabin trunk - there'll be room for a wedding hat!

Really excited now! - where's the confetti?


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Re: Christmas Cruise to Caribbean

#11

Post by Snoozen82 »

you laugh, what started out as just being a small intimate wedding at sea has turned into a lavish wedding at sea plus wedding number 2 the weekend we return home! :shock:

Be sure to give us a wave Jill................I'll look out for your hat!!

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Re: Christmas Cruise to Caribbean

#12

Post by qbman1 »

Probably better to look our for Jill's poor husband - bent double from the exertion of carrying all that luggage !


Snoozen82
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Re: Christmas Cruise to Caribbean

#13

Post by Snoozen82 »

Just printed the E-Tickets - can't beleive its nearly here :)
Also quite pleased we got a 13:00 embarktion time - I was expecting a 3pm!
A bit of advice please (as last time we went there were no allotted times) do we need to be in the check in desk queue for 13:00 or just arrive at the terminal for 13:00? Our parking is through CPS so if we need to be in the check in queue for 13:00 im guessing we'll need to get there at least an hour before to queue for the parking, unload baggage etc?

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Re: Christmas Cruise to Caribbean

#14

Post by david63 »

Snoozen82 wrote:
do we need to be in the check in desk queue for 13:00 or just arrive at the terminal for 13:00?
Just arrive when you are ready and you will be given a coloured card. You then sit and wait for your "group" to be called to check-in - which may be earlier, later or on time.
Snoozen82 wrote:
Our parking is through CPS so if we need to be in the check in queue for 13:00 im guessing we'll need to get there at least an hour before to queue for the parking, unload baggage etc?
Unless there is a major problem with parking you should not have to wait more than about 15 minutes - and often less. most times we have just driven straight up and there may have been one, or two, cars in front of us.

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Re: Christmas Cruise to Caribbean

#15

Post by qbman1 »

1pm is usually a fairly busy time for arrivals but CPS seem to process them pretty quickly. Lately, we have not had to wait more than about 10 minutes for the car to be checked in and the baggage unloaded. You can check in anytime after your allotted spot but if you are there early and there is not too much of a queue, they will put you through anyway. Personally, I would aim to arrive at about 12:30


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Re: Christmas Cruise to Caribbean

#16

Post by Snoozen82 »

Thanks David and qbman! I think we'll aim for 12:30 traffic permitting - we'll be travelling from the Suffolk coast so I hope the M25 is kind to us!
Sounds like CPS have sorted themselves out as on our last cruise from Ocean Terminal in 2012 we had almost an hour wait in a car holding area before they called us forward :(

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Re: Christmas Cruise to Caribbean

#17

Post by qbman1 »

Both the Ocean and Mayflower terminals seem to have been fine on our last few visits. I'm no fan of the QEII layout, though !

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Re: Christmas Cruise to Caribbean

#18

Post by towny44 »

I don't know why I seem to be the only person who thinks the CPS system is rubbish, they rarely have enough drivers to keep the unloading process flowing freely, resulting in long queues waiting to be called forward. On our August cruise if we had arrived at our 3:30 allotted time, we would have joined a queue of 6 long rows of cars waiting to be called forward, and not been on board until about 5:00pm.
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david63
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Re: Christmas Cruise to Caribbean

#19

Post by david63 »

towny44 wrote:
I don't know why I seem to be the only person who thinks the CPS system is rubbish, they rarely have enough drivers to keep the unloading process flowing freely, resulting in long queues waiting to be called forward. On our August cruise if we had arrived at our 3:30 allotted time, we would have joined a queue of 6 long rows of cars waiting to be called forward, and not been on board until about 5:00pm.
I think that it is very much "hit and miss". Non of our recent cruises have been a problem, but I have before now queued over an hour just to get to the terminal building.

With this type of operation there are always going to be issues on the day (such as a ship arriving back late) that are going to affect things.

On our last cruise we were in Soton on one of the busiest days of the year with five ships in port, Southampton Boat Show, Southampton FC playing at home and it was a weekend and there were virtually no queues

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Re: Christmas Cruise to Caribbean

#20

Post by qbman1 »

towny44 wrote:
I don't know why I seem to be the only person who thinks the CPS system is rubbish, they rarely have enough drivers to keep the unloading process flowing freely, resulting in long queues waiting to be called forward. On our August cruise if we had arrived at our 3:30 allotted time, we would have joined a queue of 6 long rows of cars waiting to be called forward, and not been on board until about 5:00pm.
Must be because you are on the Calamity payroll !

Seriously, though, since the time we had to join a queue of cars snaking around the block at Mayflower about 8 years ago and took about an hour to reach the front, we have really experienced no problems and have never taken longer than about 15 minutes from arrival to being in the embarkation hall

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Re: Christmas Cruise to Caribbean

#21

Post by towny44 »

qbman1 wrote:
towny44 wrote:
I don't know why I seem to be the only person who thinks the CPS system is rubbish, they rarely have enough drivers to keep the unloading process flowing freely, resulting in long queues waiting to be called forward. On our August cruise if we had arrived at our 3:30 allotted time, we would have joined a queue of 6 long rows of cars waiting to be called forward, and not been on board until about 5:00pm.
Must be because you are on the Calamity payroll !

Seriously, though, since the time we had to join a queue of cars snaking around the block at Mayflower about 8 years ago and took about an hour to reach the front, we have really experienced no problems and have never taken longer than about 15 minutes from arrival to being in the embarkation hall
There is a reason for this Cubie, ITS BECAUSE YOU'RE A GOLDIE. The rest of us peasantry have to wait till you have had your curly canapes, before we are allowed to arrive.
The result is that your views on parking and embarkation are not worth the paper you keep writing them on.
And even if I am not on Celebrity's payroll, Iam still allowed to state that they definitely have a much more eqitable way of organising embarkation than Posh & Ordinary.
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Re: Christmas Cruise to Caribbean

#22

Post by qbman1 »

Just sharing my experiences, dear !

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Re: Christmas Cruise to Caribbean

#23

Post by towny44 »

qbman1 wrote:
Just sharing my experiences, dear !
Unfortunately it will my June 2018 cruise before I can experience them for myself, dahling!
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Mervyn and Trish
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Re: Christmas Cruise to Caribbean

#24

Post by Mervyn and Trish »

Well we're not Goldies or Caribou or whatever they're called now. We're steerage. And our most recent experience, arriving for our allocated time, the waiting time for CPS was approximately nil and we were on board, in our cabin, about 20 mins after arriving at the terminal.

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Re: Christmas Cruise to Caribbean

#25

Post by qbman1 »

I know - I think FK is victimised because of his Calamity leanings !

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