P&O crises what should I know

[MummyShah369]

Just booked a P&O cruise in August from south Hampton. I just don’t know what to expect as I have not done it before… also WiFi was expensive and have not taken the drink package… going to Norway so any tips / considerations welcome…

Have been on Arvia, Iona's sister ship.

You can share WiFi but only one device can be logged on at a time and you cannot hotspot.

Food is amazing. We prefer to use the main dining room rather than buffet, but love The Quays on shore days for breakfast and for late lunch once back on board. Do use the 'app' to get in the virtual queue for MDR; it shows how many are ahead so you can have a drink or whatever rather than standing in the line.

The medical centre is incredibly well equipped but you do have to pay to visit. I think I paid £80, but it's more expensive overnight.

Join the Facebook groups, a wealth of information from experienced cruisers.

Check the rules for taking alcohol onboard, I think you can take a litre of wine per person for consumption in the room. We took a (decent) wine box for ease which fit in the fridge. And soft drinks are unlimited. Take snacks for the room if you like crisps/nuts as those are £££ in the gift shop.

Other things we take:
Laundry detergent sheets
Large net bags for the laundry just in case someone decides to empty your machine
A small bag for onboard, for cruise card, hand sanitiser etc.

There will be a formal night but no need to go over the top. The menu is slightly elevated in the MDR, so we usually book Epicurean for another night. And check who is on at the Limelight, that can be a good evening.

The live music is really good generally and my favourite is the 710 Club but you have to be quick to book it (it's free but very small venue).

Be careful with that, on Iona 2024 we were separated from our group a couple of times because we weren’t wearing the right clothes to go into some of the venues. There were women wearing mini skirts that hardly covered their bums, but one of our party wearing a tshirt was not allowed in.

When did you last cruise on Arvia? We haven't had an issue with sharing WiFi via hotspot and being online at the same time since they upgraded everything to Starlink.

I love Azura, she's my favourite ship. She's older than the others but has so much character, with lots of hidden little nooks and crannies.
She even has a lovely little library.
Top tip is to go to the art lectures in the gallery as they serve very nice cocktails for free 😄.
She's currently about to undergo a complete refurbishment so she will be resplendent when you board.
Very very friendly staff, we are still Facebook friends with our waiters and Captain Neil is a total nutter. Best MDR imo is the Oriental. Even if you are allocated a different restaurant for dinner, go to the Oriental at least once for breakfast, it's just lovely.
There are midnight snacks served in the buffet.
Downsides:
They can't cook bacon in the buffet, it's just soggy.
The WiFi isn't worth paying for, it's impossible to get onto it. Just do a digital detox and save your money.

Thanks for these tips! Most useful indeed.

I had heard about the refit. It's currently underway I think 🤞

Im following as I’m going on the Iona in August to Norway so thank you everyone for the tips!
Does anyone know anything about the kids clubs? Are they the kind where you can leave your child? Do you have to prebook?
My kids are 12 and 5 and was thinking of sending the 5 year old at some point.

Azura is a wonderful ship, we’ve been on her 4 times and we’re going on her again next year.

I love the size of her and the pool at the back of the ship and planet bar are favourite places. She is older but I think it’s lovely, classic styling.

You’ll have an amazing cruise😎

Thank you 😊

@Acc0untant that's good to know. We were on her in December but I confess we didn't bother with onboard wifi as it's very easy to find wifi in port, free or for the price of a beer.

Yes makes sense, a lot of people do the same :)

I love Azura too! Fabulous ship, Manhattan and Malabar are great venues. Also the terrace pool at the back as someone else has said. You can take your plate of buffet food onto a little outdoor area overlooking this pool.

A little shabby nowadays but only a little and not enough to affect your enjoyment.

Good luck. Literally everyone I know that's been on a p&o cruise has been struck with Noro - they're like Petri dishes on water apparently.
Be strict with handwashing etc and hopefully you'll be ok. X

How many people do you know who have been struck with NV on a P&O cruise?

Myself 100+ nights (over 20+ years)
My DH / Children : 5 weeks
My sister and her family 3 weeks
My parents 4 weeks.
Out of my NCT Mummy friends group of 10 mummies, at least9 weeks (for them their DH + 2 DC)
Another very good friend 2 weeks
2 of my close collegues: 4 weeks between them

These arnt random people who i "know of"... these are all my closest friends and family.
Between every single person above we have a grand total of 0 amounts of NV or any other contagious D&V on board.

Literally none.

3 of my cruises have been immediately after a deep clean after a recorded NV out break on the cruise immediately before.... and where we have had letters reminding us of hand hygiene etc delivered to our cabin as a result.

I myself have never spoken to anyone onboard who is having any NV issues.

I'm not for a moment saying that these things don't happen.... clearly they do.... but to suggest that going on board means you are likely to get ill, is, in my experiance wrong and scare mongering.

The vast majority of people who go on cruises do NOT get NV.

We are always meticulouse with hand hygiene, avoid the buffet, and so far its worked out fine. Can't wait to be on board again in a couple of months time, and I haven't / won't give NV a second thought, beyond hand hygiene on board.

The newest ships are brilliant because the toilets are touch free (even the main doors to go into the toilets are automatic to reduce touch points)

What’s the main difference between Azura and Iona, I did not even consider the ship just looked the the destination… surely if Nano virus was such an issue it would be all over the press

Azura is smaller. There are guides to the various ships on you tube and P and Os own website where you can see all the differences. Arvia and Iona are sister ships - the same size, carbon copies build wise but different layouts. Arvia has a dome over the swimming pool that retracts on sunny days, Iona’s doesn’t. I really recommend going on you tube and searching for the particular ship and route you want to go on, you’ll find so many vlogs.

Many groups on facebook as well - like this one -
https://www.facebook.com/share/g/1Ed21JGgVF/?mibextid=wwXIfr

Azura is the sister ship of ventura

She is smaller: so has less places to eat... doesnt have "the quays" or "olive grove" or "limelight club"

Being a smaller ships she can also anchor at sea and then passengers use tenders to to boated to the shore. (The bigger ships dont do this, you will always walk on and off the gangway) IMO tendering is a pain... the queues for the boats can be long at peak times. However it means these smaller ships can visit ports that larger ships can not.
It can also be nicer to only have 3000 people looking around the local area rather than 5000 (although of course some ports may have more than 1 cruise ship docked at a time so still many thousands of tourists in the immediate local area on the same day / time)

They are also more intimate, and less crowded, and seem to have more pool space per passenger.

The smaller ships may offer fixed dining (rather than freedom)
Fixed dining means you eat at the same table at the same time each day and have the same waiter.
Freedom is where you turn up when you want to / suits you, but might need to wait for a table:
The big ships only do freedom dining.
The smaller ships offer fixed and freedom choices (ie 1 main restaurant is freedom, the other has 2 fixed sittings for those passengers)

Neither is better, they are just different with different pros and cons

Just to add weather wise, we visited the Fjords in April last year and weather was mid 20's on some day; it was fabulous sunbathing whilst looking at the stunning vistas.

There is no app that you can download before you go so not in App Store. It is ships intranet that you download once you are on board. You do not need Wi-Fi to use it