P & O Cruises, Ventura, Spirit of the Caribbean

There is absolutely nothing ‘Special’ about a P&O Cruise anymore. Standards have plummeted to ‘lows’ that are unacceptable in view of the claims made in P&O Cruise Brochures.

For a company that sells its cruises on ‘The Fine Dining’ experience. Silver Service has gone, but they won’t tell you. – You have to find out for yourself. – Wine waiters have an impossible work load, not leaving their previous duty until they are already required for Dinner Service and then too many tables. – It’s blatantly obvious then that most tables are not even going to get their wine order taken until after they have started eating and most will not get their wine until they have started main course. – This is far from ‘Fine Dining’ and nothing like the claims made in the brochure about “attention to detail to the whole food and beverage experience.”

Dress Codes are now ignored with people without shirts regularly ignored by Crew in Self Service Restaurants. – Has anybody considered that a dress code requiring a shirt in a restaurant might actually have something to do with hygiene? – I don’t suppose for a minute that chefs are excused ‘whites’ in the kitchens and are therefore allowed to drip sweat over food. – Why then should a customer be allowed to visit the buffets without a shirt?

Claims in the brochure about Ventura “having places where you can find peace and relaxation” are simply untrue unless you retreat to your cabin. Firstly ‘Agadoo’ type Music is played all day on the top decks at such a high volume that it is difficult to talk and impossible to ignore. Secondly, you are hounded by ‘upselling’ as soon as you sit down. – Previously, the Restaurants that require a supplement to be paid, were only sold by crew outside of these restaurants, now crew are ‘patrolling’ the decks all day approaching customers that are attempting to relax quietly. On top of this drinks stewards are noticeably more pro-active sometimes approaching you before your empty glass even touches the table, and photographers approaching you three times as you leave the ship in port, within hearing of when you politely refused their colleague. – Yes, you could simply say “no,” but we go on holiday to relax and the brochure does claim that this is possible. – Well it isn’t!

This is just a small part of a lengthy complaint that has been sent to P&O.

4 adults ,in 2 balcony cabins taking re-positioning cruise April 2012.

We are experienced P&O cruisers and are noticing a substantial decline in standards over the years. P&O seem to have abandoned any pretence on maintaining dress codes. Even on formal nights, jeans and football shirts were in evidence. On one occasion, a passenger entered the Atrium bare-chested and was ignored even though he was standing next to a ship's officer ! Many passengers captured highly discounted fares for late booking. Now, P&O have addressed this anomaly by giving early bookers increased on-board spend, when they discount fares later, but late discounting does seem to attract a more boisterous clientele. A huge annoyance was the bar waiters. Even before I'd taken a sip from my first drink, one after the other, they would hassle me to by another. Sometimes I had to shout at them to leave me alone !

The speciality restaurants were well worth the cover charge, but the main restaurants were only OK.