I am a freelance copywriter and marketing consultant and am very interested in consumer issues, both...
I am a freelance copywriter and marketing consultant and am very interested in consumer issues, both from a business and private perspective. I am also a very keen amateur photographer and do as much travelling as I can!
Member since:19.02.2004
Reviews:6
Cruises are brilliant, there is nothing like it. So far I have now been on the Aurora, the Oriana and the QE2 (yes, I know that's not a P & O ship!). All amazing but quite different in some ways.
If you are planning a cruise, book early. They do 30% discount if you book just after the next years' brochure comes out. I'm going again in July and we booked last July - saving around £500 each. Another way to get the cost down is to get 4 people together and book a 4-berth cabin. No good for couples really but great for friends! The cabins look small on the website but they are not too bad actually and yet get quite a bit of wardrobe space for all those ball gowns!
If you don't want to fly then you will go from Southampton. This is great as you get a 'champagne (not free alas) and streamers' departure with a brass band and everything. Last time I did one we got two departures as they had to come back after 5 minutes to collect some latecomers - so we did it all twice.
The good thing about going in and out of Southampton is that you don't have to mess about with flying. The bad side is that for a 7 day cruise you are limited on how far you can get. Pretty much the med, the Canaries,
Norway etc. Longer ones go further but get very pricey. Or you can fly somewhere (like the Carribbean) and meet the ship there.
With 4 people you can get a 7 nighter for as little as £600 in the cheapest cabins - which are fine as long as you don't mind not having a window. When choosing a cabin - go for one in the middle of the ship if you can as there is less noticeable 'movement' - definitely a plus if you get seasick. They also do little 2 and 3 night ones which are good if you want to try it out to see if you like it before booking something longer.
The P & O website (www.pocruises.co.uk) gives loads of info with ship plans, itineraries, cabin layouts and allsorts - but for booking have a look at www.savensail.com. They get some great bargains and can email you when new offers become available.
On Oriana and Aurora (Ocean Village is different) they have 'formal', 'informal' and 'casual' nights for each cruise and they tell you how many beforehand. For a 7-nighter it's usually 2 formal, 2 informal and 3 casual. One of the formal ones ties in with the 'captains cocktail party' and one is always on the penultimate night - not the last night as you have to get up very early on the last day! The cocktail party is a must - it's in the 'Crows Nest' bar which is right at the front of both ships with a huge panoramic window - definitely a favourite haunt for champage on any night - or hot chocolate in the mornings!
For formal and informal you can be pretty much as over-the-top as you like. Any long dress, posh trouser suit, ballgown or whatever will do. I've seen some sights! For informal - not jeans but pretty much anything else goes. They often have a fancy dress or theme night which they tell you about in the daily on-board newspaper - which is a pain as you don't get much time to plan - but it's often something like 'black & white' night - so quite easy to improvise!!
Restaurants are fab and you get a set table for the whole cruise. You can choose early or late sitting (late is much better) but have more chance of getting the one you want if you book early. Also, you can choose to have a table to yourselves or sit with a mixed group of others if you feel brave! Food is fantastic and waiters are brilliant. You can order wine for dinner earlier in the day and this is a good plan as, if you order it when you sit down, it often doesn't arrive until halfway through the meal - which I think is a bit of a logistical issue!
If you don't fancy the posh restaurant there are a few others to choose from such as the lido (Oriana) or the Orangery (Aurora) and so on. You can eat at other times there - or go if you just don't fancy dressing up one night.
Entertainment is very varied - shows, cinema, nightclub, bars, casino etc. loads to do. You only pay for alcohol and posh coffees and it all goes on a ship credit card which you pay off at the end.
There are usually a good selection of day trips - you will get a mix of 'land days' and 'sea days'. When you go on-shore it's sometimes a gangplank - if they can get close enough - or otherwise a tender (little boat) which can be a bit of a scary experience. We hit the side of the boat in rough sea off Guernsey and broke a window! You generally get a whole day - or an evening if it's that type of location (such as Amsterdam).
Service throughout is brilliant. On the Oriana my son had given me his toy dinosaur to take with me to 'look after me' (as they do!) and I left it sat on a wall light. When the steward came in to turn the beds down he put the light on and left the dinosaur there. I have no idea what would have happened if it had been there all evening but luckily I went back to the cabin and caught it at the 'singed and slightly melted' stage. I went to see the Purser to complain - more for safety reasons than because of the injured dinosaur - and they were terribly apologetic and gave us a botle of champage. Then when I came back to the cabin there was an Oriana teddy bear sitting on my pillow!
As to tipping - we gave it to our steward on the last day rather than odd bits here and there (he was great and brought us tea in bed every morning). As we were a cabin of 4 we gave £10 per day between us (£17.50 each for the week) which was fine. You can probably get away with less - but base it on how good they were to you.
Anyway, if anyone is trying to choose which ship to go on the following might help. I'm also going on the Oceana in July so I'll add that to the list then too!
I do prefer P & O ships over the QE2 - although I have to say that the QE2 is a world apart - the service is like nothing you have ever experienced and I would do it again. But in comparison to the fantastic new P & O ships there is that feeling of 'faded elegance' and even after the re-fit ,QE2 is still a little shabby in places. When I have saved up I'm going on the new Queen Mary 2!
Anyway - back to P & O. Oriana or Aurora? Both are fab but there are a couple of things where each scores better.
Plus points for Aurora over Oriana:
- has a covered swimming pool - very handy when the weather was bad in the Med in Summer 2003.
- more 'ad hoc' eateries. The Orangery is great for food when you don't want to eat in the main restaurants. The lido and the pizzeria on Oriana are nothing like as nice.
- very nice head waiter call Errol ;o)
Plus points for Oriana over Aurora:
The nightclub opened earlier so you could go straight there from dinner and have a good dance - when I went on Aurora the following year the nightclub did not open until much later and people were less inclined to wait around - so from that point of view the 'nightlife' aspect was a bit disappointing.
Hope this all helps - send me a message if you would like more info!
I am considering a cruise as my other half will not fly!!!, it would be great if you did add more in it, to help me understand, what are the rooms like, what features, dress code, entertainment value, do you stop anyway for sday trips!!!, and cost is a biggy, how much does one of these cost. Where do they go from... Let me know if you update and I will come back and re-rate ... ty :-)
BournemouthLad 19.02.2004 21:43
I LOVE cruises... and I LOVE P&O!!! Aurora is my favourite ship... she was built after Oriana and they certainly learnt some lessons... off on my next one in April :-) Andrew
Sean_lawston 19.02.2004 18:02
In general it is better if you DO go into the nitty gritty, dull as that may sometimes be.
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likka75 22.08.2008 (22.08.2008)
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Feb 19th, 2004
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