Are P&O much cheaper?

[millarmagic]

First timer, trying to get to grips, but am l right that P&O are much cheaper? Can get a family cruise in the Med for 14 nights including flights to Malta for £4.4k next summer, but Princess look like £6k for similar and Royal Carribean at least £6k no flights included. Really good variety of ports too on the P&O. Just a bit off-put as l wanted the RC experience and heard that P&O are a bit straight laced and British which doesn't sound as mich fun for my teens, but at those prices maybe we could manage!

[mskitty]

Which ship is it on? Some of the older ships are still geared up to an older crowd but the newer ships are trying to attract a younger audience. They still aren't RC but they are ships rather than the big floating resorts that RC have.

[katiec68]

Originally Posted by millarmagic

First timer, trying to get to grips, but am l right that P&O are much cheaper? Can get a family cruise in the Med for 14 nights including flights to Malta for £4.4k next summer, but Princess look like £6k for similar and Royal Carribean at least £6k no flights included. Really good variety of ports too on the P&O. Just a bit off-put as l wanted the RC experience and heard that P&O are a bit straight laced and British which doesn't sound as mich fun for my teens, but at those prices maybe we could manage!

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Well there are lots of things to consider.

We travel as 2 adults and this is what we look at.

Ports of call is our top and price is second, although it has to be value for money!

For instance - we did a transatlantic from Southampton, Iceland, Canada to New York for £3000 for both of us - now a similar cruise is about that each!

We paid £2000 for P&O to the fjords in 2016 and have just paid £2500 for Celebrity to the fjords in May this year - however the Celebrity price included the drinks package.

Now Celebrity are doing a "basic" package - basically cruise only - and adding on the next level package of (most) drinks, internet and tips will cost about £35 a day - and we drink no-where near that much so adding on the extra is not worth it for us.

So you need to compare like for like - P&O do a drinks package at £35 a day each, but their prices are pub prices so if you dont drink that much the package can work out expensive. (You can also take on a bottle of wine each and we take diet cokes with us so that also keeps the cost down).

I feel P&O are maybe not so geared up for kids as say RCI, but then if you are on a weeks cruise with 5 ports you wont have that much time to spend on board.

Thats not to say P&O dont offer anything for kids - they do - but just not as much as maybe some other cruise lines.

P&O are defiantly not straight laced, and you will find that all the kids tend to stick together - you will often find a large table of teens at the midnight buffet - all very good natured!

You can find lots of videos on YouTube to give you and idea of what your ship is like, and also join some of the Facebook groups - although beware a lot of them are quite miserable whatsits and can give - in my opinion- quite negative or picky reports!

I have also found on doing my research that if a cruise line has a "new' ship - like Celebrity Beyond (it was only launched in May) - that ships cruises will be more expensive than the older ships - but maybe thats just me!

i think it also depends where you are going - friends have just come back from Alaska where the things available on the ship were not as important - where as if you have lots of sea days you will maybe want a few more things to do!

So - if the cruise has the right ports and is the price we like then everything else comes in second place.

The other thing to consider is whether it is worth paying the extra to pick your cabin - again I would say that depends on the price difference.

We have just booked a new year 23 cruise to Spain and Portugal for 2 weeks with P&O at £1800 in a balcony - we have gone for the saver option so dont get to pick our cabin as the "select" option was nearly £1000 more. Having been on the ship twice already we didnt feel the need to pick our cabin this time. If the difference had been around £400 we might have chosen the other option and picked our cabin.

If you are unsure as to where to pick your cabin midships and the lower decks (not the lowest decks) are best - say deck 9 or 10 out of 15.

DH hates anything to do with ferries etc and always has his seasick tablets- it was only when the captain pointed out that we couldn't dock due to force 9 winds that DH even noticed it was rainy outside

We have only cruised P&O/Princess and and older Celebrity ship - but i am reliably informed that RCI is the way forward for entertainment! I would avoid MSC like the plague - its like a posh ferry around the Med, rather than a cruise ship (so i am told!)

Happy planning!

[Mexy02]

We are first timers and booked for a canaries cruise next Dec for 7 nights with p&o. Costs us just over £500 each including flights . We will take a 1 litre bottle of spirits each on board ( at duty free) which will last us the week easily ( probably end up bringing one home ) .
What I have found is the snobbery aimed at p&o from cruise forums . Not been on one so cannot comment but to me as above if the ports are good and the price matches then that’s enough for our first cruise . We may hate it, who knows 🤷🏼 But I don’t want to so spend a fortune and with flights and full board we thought it was dirt cheap for a cheeky week away near Christmas .

[Smilesonfaces]

We went on P & O Iona last year and loved it. The ship was lovely and new. We were on a staycation so onboard for a full 7 days with no ports. There was plenty for us to do but we were 2 adults. The food was a little geared to British tastes but was very good. We paid extra for a couple of speciality restaurants, Epicurean and Sindhu which was contemporary Indian food.
For £500 each you can’t go wrong really. There wasn’t a lot of daytime entertainment but we had fantastic weather so didn't. need it. Now passengers will be getting off at the ports most days.
Probably not a great deal for teens but if you are off the ship most days then in the evening there is entertainment, a silent disco, cinema, plenty of restaurants. There will be a teens club if they like joining in that kind of thing.
Our teens did love Royal Caribbean but it does come at a price. P & O also include tips in the price, Royal Caribbean do not.
I think a lot of the forums are full of Americans who probably don’t know P & O cruises. People also associate them with P & O ferries which is unfortunate as there is no connection with them.

[vampiress88]

I’m very much of the mind that you get what you pay for. Unfortunately Royal Caribbean and Disney price me out so I go with p&o. Have been with them three times now, twice with kids but they are 7&6 currently so no ideas about teenagers. We have two more p&o cruises booked and also two msc. Slightly worried about the msc ones now after the comment above.

I thought P&o was for old people and it is more of the older generation there but they aren’t stuffy, I’ve not had many issues with it. As a family we prefer to dress up so that doesn’t bother us.
We go for value for money and the ports.

We don’t get the drinks package ever. We always go to the speciality restaurants and have found the kids club for ours good.
We won’t be doing restaurants on msc by the looks of it though. Too pricy. P&o are definitely more reasonable for drinks etc.

[katiec68]

Originally Posted by Mexy02

We are first timers and booked for a canaries cruise next Dec for 7 nights with p&o. Costs us just over £500 each including flights . We will take a 1 litre bottle of spirits each on board ( at duty free) which will last us the week easily ( probably end up bringing one home ) .
What I have found is the snobbery aimed at p&o from cruise forums . Not been on one so cannot comment but to me as above if the ports are good and the price matches then that’s enough for our first cruise . We may hate it, who knows 🤷🏼 But I don’t want to so spend a fortune and with flights and full board we thought it was dirt cheap for a cheeky week away near Christmas .

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There is definately a lot of snobbery aimed at P&O and having done a few cruises with them i really dont know why!

They are no different to a TUI AI anywhere in the world!

You get all sorts - if you dont like the company next to you there are lots of other places to move away to.

Im a real travel snob - I love a 5* hotel- but I also love my cruising.

Id love to travel on the Celebrity new ship Beyond, but its a little out of my price range - if I want more than 1 holiday a year

People will say about dressing up for formal night - I for one like to dress to the nines on formal night - and I do think that as there is a dress code it should be adhered to - and as you know the dress code before you do then you shouldn't complain about it - there are plenty of cruises you can go on that dont have a dress code!

For us formal night is a fab excuse to dress up up, but we do dress up most evenings anyway. I wouldn't wear shorts and a vest top to dinner in the main dining room (well maybe posh shorts and heels ) but if i didnt fancy putting my glad rags on the buffet is a great place for an evening meal and to watch the world go by!

On a fjords cruise we spent several evenings in the buffet watching the world go by as you can get right next to the window, which isnt always possible in the main dining room!

My DH was really really reluctant to go on a cruise - now he's the one that goes searching for the good deals!

[BevS97]

We did a P&O cruise around Norway a few years ago, and are heading to Greece from Malta this summer.
I would have liked RCL or NCL but they were more expensive with a lot of extra expenses onboard. Charges for speciality restaurants and activities. P&O don’t have as many speciality restaurants and bar prices are very reasonable.

When we did Norway our daughter was 15 and said it was her favourite holiday. She liked visiting the ports and seeing new places. She didn’t join in with the kids clubs. But was happy on deck relaxing. It wasn’t a hectic holiday but probably the most relaxing holiday we’ve ever had.

I’ve only got DCL to compare with, and the food was much better on Disney, and it’s got that Disney special something but it was about twice the price and Disney drink prices were significantly more expensive.

[florida addict]

My teens loved Azura in 2018 to the ffords.
We are off again next week on Britannia and they absolutely cant wait. They are 18 and 16.
The kids club is excellent when fully open and a good teens club too.

For the price its super value. My eyes were watering looking at DCL while its a dream i couldnt justify it.

[millarmagic]

Originally Posted by mskitty

Which ship is it on? Some of the older ships are still geared up to an older crowd but the newer ships are trying to attract a younger audience. They still aren't RC but they are ships rather than the big floating resorts that RC have.

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It's the Azura. No clue if that's an older or newer ship 🙈