P&O Cruises Travel Agency in Southampton

Reviews

1. Brian Grimshaw ★★★★★

   2 years ago Ist ever cruise with wife, son and his partner who introduced us to cruising. Sailed on the Iona to the fjords. From parking up the car the staff were great taking care of us to being welcomed on board by the crew. Cabin with a balcon. Luggage was waiting for us in our cabin. First rate cabin with all the facilities. Meals weather in the wide selective restraunts with full table service is first rate some need to be reserved in advance. Plenty of choice of on board shows and entertainments. Shore excursion were well organised with plenty of time to explore. The fjords were spectacular. Overall being the ist time cruising would certainty have no reserves in recommending cruising to anyone. Are looking forward to joining P & O cruises in the future

   almost 7 months ago
2. Helen Sinclair ★★★☆☆

   We went to the Norwegian Fjords with P&O, on the Iona. This is a huge ship, with a 3 screen cinema, umpteen restaurants, a gym, swimming pools, kids’ clubs, you name it they provide it. The room service was great and we really like our room attendant, he was 100% polite and friendly. The restaurants were good, some specialised, and some more casual. The everyday buffet was great, such a choice of good quality food, but strangely the Indian restaurant- which was way nicer to sit in- didn’t have great quality food and small portions. It was a disappointment. The Celebration Night was where we were required to dress up, with black ties for the men and glamorous dresses for the women. We had high expectations for the night but were really disappointed when we learned that we wouldn’t be eating in one of the nicer restaurants, but in the buffet restaurant. It was a bit of an anti-climax to be sitting in our posh clothes in the buffet restaurant where we’d had breakfast that morning alongside hundreds of other people. The cabins are nice though, we had a balcony cabin which was great for the views. There was a huge thunderstorm on our last night, unlike anything I’ve ever seen, with almost constant lightning and thunderclaps, and as visibility was extremely low and it was dark anyway, the captain had to sound the horn just to alert our presence. The balcony was great for watching it all from. The shore trips organised by P&O were ok, some better than others. The trip to the Viking village was a waste of money, it consisted of two women dressed up as Vikings, and a ‘village’ which consisted of two or three buildings. That was it. Then a walk to a church where at least the woman there was interesting and funny. But it was all very rushed and timed to the second. I wouldn’t recommend it. The trip to the Briksdal Glacier was really nice though, we had a lot of time for that as it was a hike, though not a strenuous one. The Iona is really too big a ship for us, and we found it very impersonal even compared to Celebrity cruises which we’ve been on. We found it uncomfortable with the sheer number of people, and coupled with the food quality and the disappointing shore trips we decided we probably wouldn’t go on another P&O cruise again.

   almost 9 months ago
3. Paul C ★☆☆☆☆

   I have just read with amazement the CEO of P&O cruises comment about the maiden voyage of ARVIA I will be generous in saying he was lied to by his staff. 99.9% of passengers were happy??? He obviously arrived on the ship AFTER the debacle of disembarkation. The xmas dinner was a farce with some not getting their meal until 11.00pm or later, New Years Eve was a slight improvement but on both occasions the food was lukewarm at best and the vegetables were under cooked. The staff did not know where the tables were in the main restaurants resulting in them wandering around like lost souls with passengers in tow trying to find their table, sometimes finding other people already sitting there presumably because a previous staff member had given up and just sat them down anywhere. On Xmas Eve I was LUCKY!!!!! to be first sitting when I came down from what was laughingly called THE CHEFS TABLE ( In reality a corner of the Horizon Buffet Restaurant ) I was confronted on Deck 7 with the 2nd sitting waiting to go into one of the main restaurants. The queue stretched from the restaurant through the shopping area into the Main Atrium more than 100 yards ( being generous ) I was going to the Theatre and lo and behold as I entered the Casino I was confronted by another queue coming the other way from the theatre a distance of maybe 20 yards between the 2 queues. I could write a book about the failings on this cruise, such as IT patchy, Crew ( through no fault of their own ) not fully trained etc. If it was such a success why did the Captain have to publicly apologise over the tannoy for the problems and then late in the cruise give the first two passengers in every cabin £150 each to spend on their cruise card. Mr Ludlow needs to wake up to reality and see that his company ruined a lot of peoples Christmases and admit their mistakes instead of making ridiculous claims in the travel industry sites. P & J COTHAM

   almost 3 years ago

1. Dave Taylor ★★☆☆☆

   Recently returned from a wonderful cruise on Iona however this was tarnished by the Gary Barlow and teenage cancer trust event, We are not Gary Barlow fans and as such had no desire to see him however one morning tickets were left on our bed, we thought nothing of it and didn’t go to the show. A couple of days later we noticed that we had been charged for them, I queried this with reception three times and was fobbed off, on the third occasion I was passed to the events manager who initially said I had filled out an application for them, when I asked to see this he said he would refund our account before the final bill, this never happened and I now realise that he only said this as we were due to disembark early the next morning. Once home I contacted customer service who didn’t reply, it seems that P&O are only interested whilst taking your money. Yes, it was a charity event but I reserve the right to choose when and to whom I give charity. Without P&O behaving in this manner they would have recieved 5 stars.

   almost 3 years ago
2. Martin Harrison ★★☆☆☆

   Just returned from 7 night cruise on Iona. As a nearly new ship the condition is great but after that most other parts of holiday were very poor. P &O have made so many cuts to save money this is no longer a premium brand , it has slipped to a budget brand trading on past levels. Food is extremely low quality with poor choice and service levels so poor as staff levels cut too far. Cabin service now only once a day , no evening service , towel change, bed turn down etc. Drinks package is ridiculous try to order 2 drinks at 1 time for example a wine and a water and you cannot do this even though you have paid for your drinks in advance. The buffet has slipped so low it’s similar to food served at a well known holiday camp, poor choice, low quality and poorly cooked. I feel that now there are many other cruise firms that offer better standards and value for money than P &O. Such a shame they have spoilt the brand, I would love to challenge the president to come on 2 cruses with me so I could show him why they slipped so far.

   almost 3 years ago
3. Tmoodz20 ★★★★☆

   Excellent holiday to Spain and Portugal, abit to many kids for my liking but great family holiday, spacious rooms with good views.

   almost 3 years ago

1. Terry H ★★★★☆

   Just done a short cruise on Ventura 1st April 22 ..cueing up for nearly 3 hours in the freezing cold outside to take a Covid test when all the restrictions in the UK are finished with and forced to wear a mask inside terminal is ridiculous most people including staff were not happy..once on the Ventura no need for a mask and the rest of the cruise was great lovely food friendly staff and the Ventura was a great ship so my message to P&O is to sort out the check-in side of things was going to book another cruise but will wait and see if the check-in problems improve

   almost 4 years ago

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