P&o cruises

[Weddingexitement]

Hi everyone
first time cruiser here…

we are looking to go on P&o aurora in March to Norway.

We are trying to understand the dining options. If we book saver then we don’t get to pick club or freedom I believe ? If you get club does that mean you have to eat with other people or can you get a set table for 2?

any cruise tips or advice would be appreciated please!!

We had club dining. They give you a set time and restaurant, on our cruise it was 6.30pm or 8.30pm, we didn't get to choose, though I believe you can ask to switch times. We were allocated the same table for the whole cruise which was shared with others, I think it sat 8 people. There are plenty of other restaurants though, some of which charged a bit extra, and there's the buffet restaurant.
The set time and shared table thing bothered me before we went, but actually it was fine. People make polite conversation then talk amongst themselves, so no big deal really. The waiting staff were excellent and made a real effort to remember our names and asking about what we said we'd be doing that day. They were great with DS.

We’re going on Iona in May. There’s a facebook page for this ship thats always full of good advice - if you search on FB you’ll see there’s one for Aurora too.

We did freedom dining with P&O. We had a set restaurant which was fantastic but we could go for dinner whenever we wanted. Sometimes we had to wait a few minutes or they gave you a pager and we went for a drink. We never shared a table. The food and service was brilliant! We loved it!

@Coolblur thank you that’s really helpful you had a great experience !!

@elizabethcharlotte did you pay extra for the select package then to be able to select freedom dining please? Which ship were you on thanks a lot

Sorry but it was about six years ago now so I can't remember what we paid. With the select package we had some onboard spending and free parking. We chose select because we really didn't want to have to share a table with strangers! We were travelling as a family of four and wanted to enjoy our time together. We went to the Norwegian fjords on the Azura. We loved it and will definitely go on another cruise. We booked our cruise with P&O through Iglu cruises as we found it cheaper than booking direct.

Depends on what ship you are looking at Iona and Arvia only have Freedom dining, so no need to book Select for that. The other ships there is a choice, freedom, when you can eat when you like and share a table or ask for table for 2, or club dining, which is 6.30 pm or 8.30 pm and then, yes, you get put with other people at dinner. If you pay Select, then you choose your cabin or at least a guaranteed grade of cabin, choose either freedom or select for dining, you also get onboard credit or parking if you book select. If you book saver and are on one of the other ships that isn’t Iona or ARVIA then you don’t know your dining options until you get onboard. You can try and change to freedom once onboard by asking the Restaurant Manager.