These new ships are clearly a turning point for P&O.
Paul Ludlow was interviewed on Talking Money today and said that the average age of an adult cruiser through the summer is now in their 40’s.
This is due to the family friendly ships like Britannia, Iona and Arvia.
The days of the ‘traditional’ cruise are numbered from P&O. I expect that Aurora will be gone soon and followed by Arcadia.
The traditional cruiser will have to change company.
Not according to Captain Love barney who thinks she'll be around for another five years. But who knows. Like you I can't see her being around for too much longer.
We personally won't be going on her again as we now find her too small with not enough going on. But as the saying goes, never say never. I think it would take an exceptional itinerary for us to sail on her again.
We personally won't be going on her again as we now find her too small with not enough going on. But as the saying goes, never say never. I think it would take an exceptional itinerary for us to sail on her again.
I agree - Aurora is our least favourite P&O ship but I know that many love her.
You still get the complimentary water on arrival, or at least we did, but it's now in cans. Perhaps it's only complementary in certain grade cabins. We had a Deluxe cabin on Aurora which apart from being a bit bigger than a standard cabin with a bath and shower over you got bu99er all else for you money.
We didn't on Iona, not even in the deluxe cabins. Maybe this roll out starts there. I guess it has to come with the personal bottle filling points.
Last edited by Mervyn and Trish on 23 Aug 2022, 16:39, edited 1 time in total.
I’d call the ‘traditional’ cruiser as someone who ‘hates’ large ships without ever going on one
I would say it's someone who doesn't yet realise he has passed away.
I have today challenged the old Butlins at Sea analogy trotted out by the dinosaurs of Facebook, wondering if they have ever actually been to Butlins. When I was a kid it was the best holiday we ever had and in it's modern incarnation offers a great value family holiday experience. So I guess that's pretty much what P&O aim to deliver on the new ships.
Can you ‘ just ‘ turn up for freedom dining or do you have to book on the app.?
Usually we just turn up at around 8-30 ish.
I would suggest using the app, at least at first. On Britannia there was about an hour's wait at eight o'clickish from what I could glean from those in the bar around that time.
I would suggest using the "App" too if you have a smart phone. It's very easy. If you use the virtual queue facility you'll very quickly get the idea of how far ahead you need to do it in order to eat at your preferred time. You can go the restaurant to join the virtual queue but of course that involves two visits. There wasn't an actual physical queue at the restaurant.
You still get the complimentary water on arrival, or at least we did, but it's now in cans. Perhaps it's only complementary in certain grade cabins. We had a Deluxe cabin on Aurora which apart from being a bit bigger than a standard cabin with a bath and shower over you got bu99er all else for you money.
We didn't on Iona, not even in the deluxe cabins. Maybe this roll out starts there. I guess it has to come with the personal bottle filling points.
Strange Merv. I would have thought they would be throwing everything at Iona, including our empty cans
Last edited by Stephen on 23 Aug 2022, 17:52, edited 1 time in total.
Can you ‘ just ‘ turn up for freedom dining or do you have to book on the app.?
Usually we just turn up at around 8-30 ish.
It’s up to you.
We never used the app, just turned up and never had a problem with queuing. But then we always pitched up at 6.30…. 8.30 maybe a different kettle of fish.
All you can do is try both and see what best works for you.
Not according to Captain Love who thinks she'll be around for another five years
It reminds me of Arcadias first season. People on the P&O board, who had 'connections', or knew somebody 'in the know' or had talked to 'well informed' crew, said that Arcadia would be 'moved on within a year'. She is now a favourite of many P&O cruisers. I don't think the crew (right up to captain level) know any more than anyone else (beyond chinese whispers).
It will be the bean counters back at HQ that will make the decision. Once Arvia is delivered P&O will probably have a choice of keeping an older ship or getting a new ship and I would be pretty sure they will go for the newer one. A new younger cruising demographic is less into the smaller ships ... so P&O has to do what it has to to attract new cruisers or it will die along with its old customer base.
I think the difference it makes is they have more capacity to be flexible and make Freedom Dining work better. Use of the app wasn't compulsory. There was the alternative to ring a number to book. And seemed to be the option to turn up to join a virtual queue. No idea how that actually worked if you didn't have a phone unless they still hand out pagers. But there were no physical queues waiting to get in on spec and just turning up wasn't advertised as an option. Everyone who arrived when we did, usually at 6.00, already had a table waiting.
If you have a smart phone, then using the My Holiday app is extremely easy. I was pleasantly surprised that P&O IT had managed to create such an easy to use feature, which seemed to work well, and if everyone uses it there should be less queues and speedier operation.
On Aurora whenever you tried to book a show in the Curzon it showed No availability. When I askwed one of the entertainment staff he told me it was a glitch but other than that I found the app easy and a useful tool to use.
You specify your party size. And I'm pretty sure there was an option to share or not. Never affected us this time as there were 5 of us. And to be fair who'd want to share with us!
You specify your party size. And I'm pretty sure there was an option to share or not. Never affected us this time as there were 5 of us. And to be fair who'd want to share with us!
You specify your party size. And I'm pretty sure there was an option to share or not. Never affected us this time as there were 5 of us. And to be fair who'd want to share with us!
There is a glitch in the App if your party is over 6 people. We found this on our Easter cruise as both my granddaughters were with us and it just wouldn't let us input 7 - we just block booked for the whole week at the time we wanted with reception in the dining room. We didn't share either Merv
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