P&O Cruises — Local services in Southampton

From Southampton to Amsterdam on the Ventura in February (7th to 12th).

Supposedly 4 days, became more 3 and 1/2 days (the cruise left port at 5ish pm on the Wednesday), reached Amsterdam at 5pm Thursday. What was never advertised ANYWHERE on the booking website was how long it would stay docked in Amsterdam until (11.45pm on Friday). A full day at sea on Saturday and then back in Southampton on Sunday by 7.30am (being forced out of the rooms at 8am).

freedom of movement between ship/Amsterdam city - no curfews or restrictions, apart from when the ship was due to leave. (The only negative was the lack of transparency regarding travel/arrival/departure times - the ship left at 5ish pm on a Wednesday and returned on a Sunday where they had us leave the rooms by 8am (then wait around for 1h 30m until 9.30am to leave the ship and port).

the (freedom dining) Breakfast/Lunch/Dinner at the Saffron restaurant on deck 6 was decent enough (food wise). On more than three occasions I was told I couldn't take a seat in the restaurant and start ordering my breakfast because I had to wait for my wife to join me and apparently the waiting staff wouldn't serve me until everyone was at the table - the one time we both showed up together, we were seated in a sharing table and no one would approach it for at least a good 15m after sitting down. Only when I decided to get up, did someone acknowledge me and told me to sit back down and someone would be around 'shortly'. When asking for sweetener, same story, I had to get up and get it myself as two of the waiters/runners around were 'too busy' cleaning empty tables around us and making exactly 0 eye contact with guests). Overall 'free' dining experience wasn't great at all, but compared to the school lunch style buffet on Deck 15 - had ordered a burger on by the pool and someone simply took it out warmish out of a cupboard, no sauces, the saddest looking lettuce ever, stale buns with paper stuck to it and cold fries).

hot water tubs, sauna and steam room in the Oasis Spa were in excellent condition (some of the staff at the reception desk was also quite xenophobic and rude - having an Italian name and surname doesn't warrant someone to make fun of what someone's accent may be in your opinion - if you wouldn't make fun of an elderly white English gentleman, then one would assume you probably shouldn't make fun of someone else's nationality/ethnicity/accent - especially when someone is leaving, hearing three members of staff laughing at your name behind your back wasn't exactly a service standard highlight of this holiday).

The Reception staff was absolutely useless (robotic, lack of confidence, not rude but not friendly either, no straight answers and a total lack of compassion regarding complaints/queries - having upgraded the Internet plan from 'essential' to 'ultimate experience' (£48 per person to £72 per person), requested a refund for one of them and was asked to upgrade by paying the premium instead, not the difference - still no refund and they would answer some vague 'today, tomorrow, 5to7 working days' - on Wednesday afternoon I made the refund/switch request, still no refund as of Sunday afternoon).

Overall experience was for me a 2/5, would have been 1/5 if it wasn't for the 5/5 entertainment on board (Comedian Tucker and the onboard Theatre Company were absolutely amazing and extremely engaging with the audience and talented).

The lack of transparency on the website regarding departure/arrival times meant that on the way back home we had to resort to purchasing last minute train tickets which came at a whooping £62 per person! Had we known weeks in advance we would be out of the ship with luggage in hand by 10am on the Sunday, we would have been able to book them for 1/3 of the price.

A lot of the crew members look extremely bored, unhappy, and unmotivated half of the time, extremely sleepy and tired the other half - some reportedly having to work 14h shifts for a minimum wage, it's no wonder the service lacks sorely in the...

So we have just got home from our first cruise aboard the Arvia. The ship itself is absolutely beautiful and very very big. The check in process at the ocean cruise terminal in Southampton was fantastic and very quick. In no time we found ourselves aboard the ship where we headed to our cabin. We chose a deluxe balcony cabin midship and had my older teenage son and his girlfriend with us which we were anxious about with one cabin but it’s fare to say this was a decent sized cabin for all 4 of us. The bed was huge and comfortable and there was plenty of storage space as we had taken quite a lot of cases.

We found the choice of food on board was great with plenty of restaurants to choose from and in all honesty we couldn’t fault the food. There was plenty to choose from and it was always hot. We explored to try out some of the non inclusive restaurants and these also didn’t disappoint. I must say the epicurean and beach house were 5* for us. The food was absolutely amazing. Staff on the ship, in general are very welcoming and very helpful. The entertainment on board was absolutely wonderful with some world class performances including a singer, soul band and magician.

Now for some negative points. The organised p and o excursions aren’t what I expected. There were 2 that stood out and that was visiting pisa and Florence in Italy and the dolphin and whale watching in Spain. Our catamaran trip got cancelled so we rebooked it for a different port in France and on the day of visiting the French taxi drivers were on strike so that also got cancelled. Our organised trip to Barcelona was an absolute joke of a trip that really wasn’t worth getting in the coach for and so I mentioned this back on the ship to the shore excursions representative and, to be totally honest, he wasn’t interested in what I had to say and did absolutely nothing about it or to try and sort it out, there were many complaints towards the end of the cruise to the shore excursions team and I’m not surprised at all. The onboard photography team were fantastic and I had the pleasure of meeting the captain and having my photo with him.

I was surprised that some staff didn’t recognise certain drinks and others knew exactly what they were. Not all bars on the ship serve the same type of drinks which again I found a bit unusual.

One thing that was really annoying is that some of the theatres such as the clubhouse and the limelight club have pillars in the way which restricts your viewing and when I’ve paid good money like everyone else who doesn’t have a restricted view I wouldn’t expect a great big pillar in the way

There were game shows on board which were all digital and I can’t help but feel they’re a scam. The lifts can be a bit of a nightmare and I was shocked as to how the hand sanitiser kept running out. The paper towels in the toilets is just a mess whichever toilet you visit and after paying for the ultimate WiFi package I have to say it was a bit of a nightmare. Nearly every time I needed the internet I had to log back in and sometimes it freezes and can be very slow. Again when raising this with reception they didn’t really seem Interested in reaching a resolution about it. I purchased it so I could still run my very busy demanding business from the ship but it proved very difficult many times.

In general here’s my summary. For nice food head to the horizon restaurant or the quays and you’ll be fine. Definitely check out the free onboard entertainment. The headliners theatre is fantastic. Think twice about your p and o excursions and consider getting shuttle buses instead. Be prepared to wait a while for a lift and remember this regarding the ship, port side is left of the ship as port and left have 4 letters in them so the starboard is the right side of the ship. Be prepared to get a bit confused which direction you’re going and you will get lost. Your cruise card is very important so keep it safe. Thanks p and o for the experience. We won’t be hurrying to book another cruise with you but we will be back at some time...

Unfortunately, I have had a bad experience with P&O Cruise Booking. My story starts as follows:

In October 2022 I had a serious motorcycle accident. We had a booking in the Caribbean in January 2023 which we had to cancel.

This booking was paid out by our bank insurance, with P&O retaining the money. The value of this holiday was £6,764.00.

As it was my wife's 50th Birthday we decided to re-book the holiday of the cancelled Caribbean cruise. The booking was made for January 2024.

Due to health issues with myself, we decided to move the booking under P&O Terms and Conditions to January 4th 2025. This was kindly done by the P&O Customer Services Team. The cost of this holiday was: Total Holiday Cost £6576.00 Deposit Paid £834.00

Going on to my my wife's 50th Birthday, we decided to make a booking for 29th January this year for 2 weeks on Azura around the Canaries for her missed birthday. The value of this booking was £4698.00.

Unfortunately, we had to cut this cruise a week short due to my illness due to the motorcycle accident and we had to fly home. We could not believe that my infection in my leg had risen its head again. Major Trauma at Southmead Hospital said I needed to come home straight away.

We visited Reception and requested to change flights. Reception on the boat was very good and managed to change our seats on the plane a week early.

The cost of losing the weeks holiday, excluding drinks package, was £2349.00 + £140.00 (Drinks Package)

Whilst on the holiday, we received a voucher through the door into the cabin. There was an offer on our cruise already previously booked for 4th January 2024 for the same cruise with Balcony for the value of £2,199.00 per person with flights equating to £4,398.00.

We decided to visit the onboard booking service where we met Page. Wee told her the complete story, as detailed in this review, and she kindly sent Customer Services an email. Page kindly costed the holiday up on the basis of the offer and the difference between the two bookings was as follows: Previous Booking £6576.00 with Premium flights. Adjusted above booking, excluding premium flights removing £509.00 per person £5,558.00.

The difference between the booking cost and on board ship cost £1009.00.

After having to return from holiday last week I had to contact P&O Customer Services for a response from Page's email detailing the story. The response that I received from Scott today is that:

P&O are standing by their Terms and Conditions and are not willing to compromise any booking conditions in any respect to my bookings.

I would just like to say how disappointed I am with P&O Customer relations in respect of my bookings made and wish them well with the unused money received from me.

Summary of Money in payment made to P&O cruise for 7 nights completed holiday: Cancelled Booking £6,764.00 Deposit for 2025 Booking £834.00 Azura Canary's £4698.00. Total £12,296.00

I will not be traveling with P&O in the future and this applies to our parents not making future bookings along with some other friends. You certainly do not get a better deal by booking a year in advance. Look at the cost of the holidays throughout the year and closer to the time.

From an unsatisfied previous Customer. Mr Paul Ludlow (Carnival UK President), I hope you...