Holidays 2019

Carole

Well-Known Forumite
Been off line since last Friday. P&O charging £12.50 a day for internet.
.

Out of interest, how did you find P&O?

We’ve done two cruises with them previously, a Fiords cruise and a New Year Caribbean cruise.

We really enjoyed both at the time, but have heard negative reports of late so I’m interested to hear what you think.

We’ve got a cruise booked for later in the year with Celebrity on one of the new ships (Edge) which we are thoroughly looking forward to.
However, Celebrity have stopped the formal nights, which is a shame, it does make the packing easier, but with P and O, I did love watching everyone dressed up in their gorgeous outfits.
 

arthur

Nixon Garden Neatness
I'm back on the forum after a long time - been sooooooo busy with community project that I had very little time for social media - but I'm having one of my insomnia night (which I don't get that often now) so I just though I would plug the business at bit. LEWIS PLUMBING 07770423483. Probably cant sleep because I'm going on my hols tmw Orlando for a week and then a cruise.
 

Trumpet

Well-Known Forumite
Out of interest, how did you find P&O?

We’ve done two cruises with them previously, a Fiords cruise and a New Year Caribbean cruise.

We really enjoyed both at the time, but have heard negative reports of late so I’m interested to hear what you think.

We’ve got a cruise booked for later in the year with Celebrity on one of the new ships (Edge) which we are thoroughly looking forward to.
However, Celebrity have stopped the formal nights, which is a shame, it does make the packing easier, but with P and O, I did love watching everyone dressed up in their gorgeous outfits.
I've noticed a general decline on the last couple of P & O cruises but thought that the food had changed for the better this time but service has definitely gone downhill probably due to the new 'no tipping' policy. No toothpicks, no face flannels, quality of entertainment has dipped.
We are thinking of going with another line next time. We've cancelled Dubai and Thailand in October but Mrs T has seen a Caribbean cruise she fancies instead. Can't remember which line but not P & O.
 

arthur

Nixon Garden Neatness
I've noticed a general decline on the last couple of P & O cruises but thought that the food had changed for the better this time but service has definitely gone downhill probably due to the new 'no tipping' policy. No toothpicks, no face flannels, quality of entertainment has dipped.
We are thinking of going with another line next time. We've cancelled Dubai and Thailand in October but Mrs T has seen a Caribbean cruise she fancies instead. Can't remember which line but not P & O.

My daughter and I have just returned from a royal Caribbean cruise - I'm sure some people love cruising but now I have done one I don't want to do another. The positives are the food and the shore excursions - the negatives are the queuing for everything, the entertainment (ok but not up to London standards) and the cancellation of events (when your near to a hurricane and there are 7 foot waves) I realised that staying in a good hotel with all the activities within the town or within travelling distance is much more appealing.
 

proactive

Enjoying a drop of red.
My daughter and I have just returned from a royal Caribbean cruise - I'm sure some people love cruising but now I have done one I don't want to do another. The positives are the food and the shore excursions - the negatives are the queuing for everything, the entertainment (ok but not up to London standards) and the cancellation of events (when your near to a hurricane and there are 7 foot waves) I realised that staying in a good hotel with all the activities within the town or within travelling distance is much more appealing.
Not to mention the rediculous amount of pollution those hulking great things spew out.
 

Carole

Well-Known Forumite
My daughter and I have just returned from a royal Caribbean cruise - I'm sure some people love cruising but now I have done one I don't want to do another. The positives are the food and the shore excursions - the negatives are the queuing for everything, the entertainment (ok but not up to London standards) and the cancellation of events (when your near to a hurricane and there are 7 foot waves).

I’m sorry that you didn’t enjoy your cruise, @arthur . Cruising isn’t for everyone but all cruise lines are different and it’s unfortunate that you had a negative experience.
A question though.....what were you queuing for?

It’s a bit like trying to compare food shopping.
You want to buy a chicken pie. You can go to Aldi, Waitrose, Harrods food hall, Marks and Spencer, the corner shop, Sainsbury’s, Tesco.
You can buy your pie in any of them, in some you will have to queue, in some the experience will be far nicer, in others the actual pie will be nicer and all of them will have a different customer demographic.

What I’m saying is that cruise lines all have different selling points.
We’ve been on ships where the entertainment was fabulous but there were other aspects we didn’t like.
We’ve been on cruises where the food and clientele was to our personal liking but there was nothing going on in the evening.
We’ve found positives in all the cruises we’ve done, but we do like to try different cruise lines.

However, if the first cruise that I’d been on was Royal Caribbean then I probably be put off for life too.
 

arthur

Nixon Garden Neatness
I’m sorry that you didn’t enjoy your cruise, @arthur . Cruising isn’t for everyone but all cruise lines are different and it’s unfortunate that you had a negative experience.
A question though.....what were you queuing for?

It’s a bit like trying to compare food shopping.
You want to buy a chicken pie. You can go to Aldi, Waitrose, Harrods food hall, Marks and Spencer, the corner shop, Sainsbury’s, Tesco.
You can buy your pie in any of them, in some you will have to queue, in some the experience will be far nicer, in others the actual pie will be nicer and all of them will have a different customer demographic.

What I’m saying is that cruise lines all have different selling points.
We’ve been on ships where the entertainment was fabulous but there were other aspects we didn’t like.
We’ve been on cruises where the food and clientele was to our personal liking but there was nothing going on in the evening.
We’ve found positives in all the cruises we’ve done, but we do like to try different cruise lines.

However, if the first cruise that I’d been on was Royal Caribbean then I probably be put off for life too.

The queue's were for everything - the tables we had booked for dinner - the entertainment we had booked - the zip wire and surfing experience - the shore excursions. Queues to get on and off the ship when there were shore excursions - jet skiing on their private island - you name it there was a queue for it. I think I'm just used to land holidays where if you want to do something you just do it.
 

Mikinton

Well-Known Forumite
It was seeing the queues to return to ship at Kos that put me off. (That and a few other things.)
 

Trumpet

Well-Known Forumite
The queue's were for everything - the tables we had booked for dinner - the entertainment we had booked - the zip wire and surfing experience - the shore excursions. Queues to get on and off the ship when there were shore excursions - jet skiing on their private island - you name it there was a queue for it. I think I'm just used to land holidays where if you want to do something you just do it.
Odd, apart from a one or two minute wait to be seated at the silver service restaurant (no booking required) we only queued once on our last cruise and that was for the coach back to ship in Amsterdam. Waited about 15 minutes but in fairness it was late afternoon and loads of people descended on the pick up point all at once.
 

staffordjas

Well-Known Forumite
Just had a fortnight in Puerto Del Carmen, Lanzarote. Our first visit to the island , enjoyed it so much that we hope to go back to the same hotel next year.
 

proactive

Enjoying a drop of red.
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arthur

Nixon Garden Neatness
Going in January so technically should be another thread, but I just booked flights to Jordan. Always fancied seeing Petra.

I've booked a holiday to get over the Florida and cruise holiday - I've told Steph this is a mummy holiday - all spa's rest and relaxation and only one water park and one Zoo and I don't think there is a theme park with rides in Tenerife (Well I'm hoping and praying there isn't)
 
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