Having cruised before several times and with several other cruise lines, we decided to try P&O as we had not been with them before, there were six in our party, my wife and I, my sister and brother in law, and our freinds who decided to get married on board the ship, they hadn,t cruised before although the rest of us have.
We flew from Manchester air port,to Barbados, BEWARE ..! if you require any duty free tobbaco products or drinks,on the way out, you will have to get them at the airport, we made the mistake of waiting until we got on the plane, only to be told mid flight, that P&O,s policy does not allow for the purchase of these products on board the flight out.
Dont expect to get your holliday off to a refreshing start with a few drinks during the nine hour flight, as you will only be served one drink per customer per meal/snack service on board (three in total) throughout the flight, and you cannot purchase any extra,not wishing to sound desperate here,but nine hours is a long time, and having worked hard all year in order to pay for this holliday, a few drinks would have been nice, just to help relax and feel like our holliday had started.
The ship it,s self is lovely,cannot fault it, the cabbin was nice with a large double bed, dresser and adiquate storage space, it had a TV with programs on a loop but not that many, with most of the stations just pushing P&O advertising.
Most of the staff were freindly enough, but not all are as freindly as those on past cruises, infact we did encounter a few who were a bit offish.
We opted for freedom dinning, which for us with ours being a party of six was fine, but beware if you are traveling as a couple and require a table for two, you will encounter some frustration, as these tables are limited and you will begiven a pager to let you know when one is available, we met some couples who had got ready for dinner,and gone to eat, only to find that they had to go away and wait over a hour before they were called back.
The food on board was fantastic, and I cannot see why anyone could complain, other than they do not do any midnight, or even a gala buffet throughout the cruise, you can take late night snacks in the Piere Cardin but we found that the staff in there are a bit stand offish, and you just felt like thay diddn,t want you to be there, add to that the slow service even when quite, after the first couple of visits we tended not to bother.
The entertainment was naff..OK if you wanted a quiz every night in the yacht and anchor bar, or wanted to see the same guest artist ( no one really well known ) twice throughout your cruise, or sit in a stuffy theater to whach a show, which were not as good as those that we have seen on board other less expensive ships, where you can sit around a table, if you want daytime entertainment, forget it, it rarely happens, appart from the odd sale away party, then the staff will come around with drinks on trays, don,t think that these are complimentry, because as soon as you pick one up the payment slip comes out.
The drinks on board are about average in price to a normal pub, BUT..! if you drink shorts be prepaired to be ripped off with terrible mesures, my sister and I ordered a brandy on deck one evening, and it hardly touched the bottom of the glass, one waiter brought it and before we had even touched it, another one went to take it away, sounds farcical but it,s true, I thought it was just us until we started talking to other passengers, in the end many were buying a bottle at the first stop, taking it on board and then taking their own out with them in small bottles or flasks, not because they were being tight fisted, but just in order to have a decent measure in their glass.
There is an internet room on board, sounds good, keep in touch, check your Emails etc...Be prepaired to pay up to 30p per minute.
Over all this is the only cruise that we have been on where we felt we were being fleeced all the time, and with nine days at sea out of the fourteen, it soon became noticable, we have never felt this before, we are booking another cruise in the next few weeks but not with P&O ...
Travel operator:
Thompson
