Do P&O cater more for first timers cruiser's?

[oldtimer]

The reason I say this, is on our first cruise everything was a new experience, however we are going on our 8th cruise with P&O soon, and although we think the Headliners Theatre Group are excellent, we have seen all the shows before many times. Even the props and songs are the same, songs from the Swinging 60's for example. We are fortunate enough to be able to do two cruises a year, but when you have seen the same shows over and over again and they are performed to the same script in the same way they lose their appeal. Also we have seen the Cuban Magician and others two cruises in a row, with same tricks and jokes, so it now becomes a problem what to do after dinner. Also we have been to the Med many times and Iberia and ships always stop at Gibraltar, We are fed up of Gibraltar, once you have seen the Apes there is not much else. Why cannot P&O have some variety in their ports of call and at least change the entertainment every couple of years, why is it the same on every ship? The alternative of course is to use another cruise line, but surely it is not beyond P&O to inject some variety into what they offer for regular passengers. At Sailaways they can also stop saying "You are the best crowd of passengers we have ever had" unless of course the passengers have got better and better every cruise.

[qbman1]

Fair point, but it all boils down to simple economics and logistics

So far as the Headliners shows are concerned, they cost so much to set up and stage that it is simply not cost-effective to run them on the ships for just one season any more so they reckon to have a shelf-life of 4 to 5 years per production show. With many of the other acts, I suppose there just aren't enough doing the cruise circuit to go around to have different ones booked all the time so you are bound to get some duplication.

[arcadialover]

We are also a bit fed up of the same. If one of the headliners wasn't able to dance I am sure I could step in we have seen the shows so many times. This year we saw a singer for the first time, Lorraine Brown and she was like a breath of fresh air. There must be lots of very good entertainers out there that P&O could tap into.

[barney]

Sounds like you are just a bit fed up with the whole thing Oldtimer

Maybe time for a change, either to an alternative company or a different type of holiday

If we are lucky, we get two holidays in a year. One is always a land holiday so I can get a bit of Scuba diving in.
Given the choice of only one, I'd plump for the diving.

By the way, I believe that Gibraltar is something to do with tax, not because it is a great place.

[Quizzical Bob]

Yes, I was told that the cruise has to call at a port outside the EC in order not to charge VAT on on-board sales.

[Southwinds]

Yes Gibraltar visit is required as they have to call at a non eu port to get ....duty free status..

[Gill W]

After several cruises, it's difficult to keep having that fresh first time feeling.

I don't think it's really practical to have different Headliners shows on each ship and to keep changing the shows, the cost would be prohibitive.

Also, if they did find fresh, new young acts for the cabaret, a lot of the regulars wouldn't like it - they prefer the traditional acts.

We did four cruises between May 2011 and July 2012, and were in danger of getting cruised out. We actually cancelled a November 2012 cruise to the Western Med, as we'd done all the ports before, and we realised we'd booked the cruise just for the sake of it.

We've now tried to make our bookings so that we can have at least a few new experiences each time. This time we went to the Black Sea, so there were many new ports for us. Next summer, we are doing a river cruise, so that will be totally new for us. Our next P&O cruise will be Arcadia Christmas 2014 - the first time we've been away over the festive period.

Then we'll be looking at Britannia - a completely new ship and maybe our first maiden voyage.

Then we might want to do the USA and Canada cruise.

We're trying to keep things fresh by making sure there is a 'first' on each cruise.

[Southwinds]

We happily avoid a show knowing we can catch it next year, but the speciality acts are often unique, it's bad luck to get the same acts two years in a row.....
They drop one show and add another each season.
I love new ports but also enjoy revisits and the familiarity of ports ...and often there is something else to see.....

[Manoverboard]

We rotate our sea Cruises with Coach Tours and/or Riverboat Cruises and if we happen to do a couple or more P&O Cruises on a stretch then we skip the Headliners and do something else.

Familiarity breeds contempt ' OT ' ... you need a change from the ' same old same ' routine that you are stuck in.

[Dark Knight]

here's a real left field idea

try a different cruise line....gasp...shock..horror

there are many others and they are not all the same as PandO, you may find that once you have been with another line, that the "glamour" omes back and you realise PandO aint all that

[Boris+]

We seem to have stuck pretty much with the same cruise line for a couple of years now, and ok - we've lost the 'fresh first time impression' feeling, but it's been replaced with the 'just like coming home and seeing pals again' feeling.

Maybe - but I could be wrong - the 'coming home again' sort of feeling is better than the 'fresh first impression' sort of feeling (well from our point of view, anyway) because there are hardly any 'unknown quantities', which means less risk and higher chance of complete enjoyment.

Ok, it could be post outing romantic fuzziness - best get back to the chores!

Em

[woodlander]

Do P&O cater more for first time cruiser?
Well I think they have a incredible brand awareness in the UK and if you asked someone to name a cruise line they would probably say P&O or Cunard and if you were contemplating your first/second/third? cruise there is a greater probablity that you would go for P&O or Cunard. They are good mainstream cruise lines which will give you a really good (hopefully) experience, an introduction to cruising if you like.
After that I think people get more discerning/experienced about what they want out of a cruise. The choices are endless - cruising from Southampton, fly cruises, overnights in ports, sea days, itineraries, length of cruises, drinks packages, entertainment, all inclusive, bigger ships, smaller ships....... you get the idea.
Everyone is different and everyone is looking for something different out of their cruise holiday.
After 3 cruises with P&O we feel we prefer smaller ships and not necessarily out of Southampton all the time.
So we are trying Azamara in Feb (a smaller ship and an interesting itinerary Singapore to Hong Kong which fits into the time we have available).
We would probably return to P&O on Adonia if the itinerary was good and suited our circumstances at the time.

[emjay45]

We are relatively new cruisers. We picked P&O because they do round trips from Southampton. We have had a Caribbean cruise, a Med cruise and a World cruise, all different. I can understand people getting a bit jaded if all they do are cruises to the Med time and time again, I think I would. As far as entertainment it really isn’t the main reason for us choosing to cruise and I rarely go to the theatre anyhow. I would like to try other cruise lines but we are limited because we don’t want to fly. I don’t think it’s so much about P&O catering to new cruisers but more the fact that if a person has cruised for many years they will invariably find everything about cruising mundane. Perhaps then it’s time to try a new type of holiday.

[Boris+]

We are trying to ensure that we do something different when we return to a port we have done before - but that's just us. Mightn't suit everyone.

Em

[emjay45]

We are trying to ensure that we do something different when we return to a port we have done before - but that's just us. Mightn't suit everyone.

Em

I think that's the thing to do Em. We will be going to Barbados for a third time and having done the Turtle snorkel twice, we have plenty of other excursions to choose from next time.

[haveabeer]

We found the same repeat shows but like others we opted to do other things casino or quite bar or maybe a act that we had not seen before we only visited the theater a couple times but there is always plenty to do.
This year we had friends round one evening sat on the balcony a few drinks and a lot of laughs fantastic
But next year we are going with Celebrity so will be interesting to compare there entertainment

[CaroleF]

I have found that the things we do on a cruise has changed as we have been on more cruises - mostly with P&O. Initially when everything was new we seemed to be dashing all over the place trying to do as much as possible - we had our first cruise with Fred Olsen on Braemar and of course as the ship was so much smaller there wasn't as much to do so when we boarded the old Adonia it seemed like a different world. As time has gone on we find that we don't try to do so much - maybe more time spent relaxing with new found friends in one of the bars after dinner, rather then rushing off to a show. Yes we have seen some of them before but there are some we have enjoyed more than once.

I still have that excitement when the date for a cruise is drawing near and the extra excitement when boarding the ship. Maybe if that all goes it might be time to look at another form of holiday - but not yet!

Carole

[Kendhni]

All cruise lines cater for the first time cruiser very well, P&O is no different to any other. The problem is that you can only ever be a first time cruiser once and therefore the things that made it special or different are hard to achieve on subsequent cruises ... hence all the moaning we often read.

People need to stop complaining that their last cruise on the same ship on the same line with the same entertainment was not as good and try something different .. try a different line, a different size of ship, a different itinerary ... that is the only way of keeping things fresh. Viva la difference, some will be better, some will not but you will never know until you have tried something different.

[Cockers43]

Ken,
Seems you found a different holiday. Sounds like you had a great time. We visit Sharm on our next cruise - any recommondations for things to do?
Ian

[tonyl1956]

Like others, we'd become a bit bored with repetitve shows, menus, etc. I think the Mercury tribute has been on the last three P&O cruises we have been on - I didn't like Mr Mercury when he was alive, so I haven't seen the tribute show. The Headliners also serve up the same shows cruise after cruise, not their fault of course. However, they do seem to have more energy than talent.

Give another line a go would be my advice. After 6 cruises with P&O (Victoria twice, Oriana, Azura, Ventura and Oceana), plus one with Fred O, we've just had a week on Azamara Journey and had a great time. Taking into account the included tips and drinks, the late booking price was not a lot more than some P&O Getaways, though we had to spend extra on flights to Rome and back. The senior staff are visible, approachable and friendly, from the captain standing in the lobby to chat with anyone on boarding to the cruise director at the bottom of the steps as you leave. Time in ports was very generous, our shortest call being 7 hours, and we had overnights in two ports. Nice was cancelled due to weather and we stayed in Monaco for the remainder of the second day - a credit appeared on our account for port fees and the ship also offered to refund public transport costs for anyone to go to Nice and back. Look and learn P&O (and Fred O).

Any cruise is a good cruise, though, and we are also looking forward to returning to Oriana next September.

Tony

[katiecrunch]

We're not first time cruisers and although we've only done 4 cruises (3 with P&O ) we're thoroughly addicted! Sadly we can't do 4 cruises a year or anywhere near that. That does mean we haven't found a lot of repetition in the entertainment or anything else. We'd like to try other lines but do enjoy the familiarity of P&O and worry that the on board costs will be more with some of the others. I think we'll mainly stick with P&0 for now and hope to enjoy lots of cruises with them before getting to the stage of getting bored with things!

[Mervyn and Trish]

I think it is unrealistic to expect P&O to completely refresh entertainment, menus, ports etc often enough to fully satisfy those who cruise every year, in some cases more. There are some new shows and new guest artistes each year and, with a choice after dinner each night, if we've seen a particular show and don't fancy it again we choose something else. Equally if we're in a port we've been to before we either find something new to do there (let's face it can you say you've done Venice, Rome, etc if you've only ever been there for a day?) or stay on board and enjoy the facilities of the ship free of the crowd and sometimes, for example in the spa, bargain prices on a port day.

[Manoverboard]

Unrealistic ?

Certainly not, there are several other Cruise Lines who can provide the Port intensive variations that P&O seemingly cannot.

Why should we go to Rome every year just to please P&O ?

[poole boy]

mob
surely that's the problem you like port intensive cruises we don't, you like flying to start your cruise we like going from Southampton and having a couple of days relaxing to start our holiday surely none of us should be trying to change other peoples holidays just for your own ends, as you say there is plenty of choice to suit everybody and it is up to the individual to pick a holiday that suits them not moan about the other holidays people like.

[Cockers43]

Manoverboard »

Certainly not, there are several other Cruise Lines who can provide the Port intensive variations that P&O seemingly cannot.

Have you checked out Adonias little tour of the Carib in Feb 2015?

Me I like a good mixture. Too many ports in too few days and I'm worn out! Not the relaxing holiday I desire!