P&O Cruises Reviews 11,520

Great holiday. Did half a world cruise from Auckland. Fabulous time and brilliant to be aboard one of fleets smaller ships. Adults only a bonus for this cruise. Keep Arcadia and Aurora doing the business!

P&O Cruises
Due to the war situation in Israel I was unable to travel and informed P&O Cruises in advance.
Despite this, I was offered only a 25% refund and no alternative such as credit or rebooking, even under clear force majeure circumstances.

I find this lack of flexibility unacceptable .other cruise lines offered credit or rebooking . Shameful!!
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This was a 75 days cruise of South America and the Caribbean. It was described by some on the ship as “amazing”, these are people who have done it twice before! It was far from amazing but nothing is ever amazing if you have done it before? We have had great cruises on P&O but this was not one of them. I will deal with my many gripes first but there were some good positives.
Locations:
We did achieve our aims in visiting many South American and Caribbean countries and getting a taste of what it is like but you don’t really get in depth only spending a day (sometimes two) in each location. If you undertake this cruise don’t expect exotic locations including the Caribbean. Normally each port day you rush to see the destination from the top deck to inspire you for the day. What you can expect, especially in South America, is one container port after another. In many places we were surrounded by container ships or simply cranes and containers piled so high there was no view at all. We heard complaints from those with balcony cabins there was noise all night as the container ports are 24hr. Oh the joys of a quiet inside cabin.
Incredibly didn’t have any rough seas in 75 days, even round Cape Horn.
Often the ship docked in a location far from anything worth seeing, was this to encourage you to take an overpriced your? I checked most of the local tours that were used by P&O and they were generally about half price what P&O charge. However, just plan ahead and organise yourself before you go. Getting around in South America is easy with Uber. They are cheap, safe and readily available. Why pay £35+ each for a return P&O coach when you can get there and back for £2 each way in an Uber!
While we found South America fascinating, reality check! There is appalling poverty everywhere. This is not a trip of super glamorous locations and in many cases quite the opposite. Shanty towns are everywhere and people on the street with nothing but a pair of trousers and cardboard to lie on. Beware that if you get off the beaten track as it is dangerous. We were warned NOT to wear any jewellery, watches etc. Guess what, some always know better and we had various muggings for necklaces etc. We would not recommend eating anything from street vendors; we are not snobs, just hang around and watch the hygiene standards. Good chances of “feedback” afterwards...
In most South American ports when the cruise ship pulls in there is a very large armed police presence which speaks volumes. We are not complaining as we were aware, we are just telling you how it is. Just before docking in Callao Peru we were informed that P&Os local agent had “just” told them that it was not recommended that guests enter Callao so we were bussed to Miraflores. Just told? From what we saw we would not have gone though in an armoured vehicle and it didn’t become like that overnight. We do wonder why Miraflores? Lima was closer and a really nice city and probably one of the best we visited. The cynic in me says that P&O were doing overpriced tours to Lima so why bus passengers there for free?
A good idea on the 2 day stopovers is to book a hotel and stay overnight. We did this twice and it was a great experience. In Peru we stayed in Miraflores and took an Uber to Lima. P&O though insisted on everything but my pant size before yielding passports before we were allowed to stop over. They are quite happy to leave you at other ports if you are not back on time. In Chilli and Peru the hotels require a PDI Tourist Card and Andean Migration Card respectively. This then avoids paying 19% and 18% tax on the hotel room. We asked P&O Customer Services for these: 1. First they knew nothing about this, 2: Oh, you don’t get those on a cruise ship (Oh yes you do). Rubbish, they just couldn’t be bothered. P&O you owe me £20!

Just back from another Caribbean Transatlantic (3rd one) and whilst the weather wasn’t at its best it for this one it didn’t detract from another wonderful, relaxing and thoroughly enjoyable P&O cruise. Arvia is awesome and as always the staff are second to none. Roll on the next three booked ones

Spent Christmas on Ventura. All had fabulous time. The ship was decorated beautifully The food was amazing we mostly used Cinnamon Dining room. We did however use the Buffett on occasions for breakfast and lunch. Spotlessly clean . Large variety of hot and cold foods and tables were cleared immediately after guests finished. There are so many things to see and do including Art Gallery, shops, library and the many shows and activities all day until late into the evening. The 3 special meals were great with all the men in black ties and ladies in their finery. The Christmas Day meal was amazing. Big thanks to the Chefs. Plenty of swimming pools for everyone. On the big day Father Christmas gave all the children presents and the Captain read a story to the children. On returning to our cabin every guest had a present on their bed. How lovely was that. It was my 1 st cruise but won’t be my last. Thank you P&O

Just came back from a week abroad Iona, travelling to Spain and France from Southampton. We had an amazing time and the ship was fantastic, from the cabins to the entertainment we couldn’t fault it at all! The food was out of this world and the drinks selection was perfect (especially that they had Thatchers Gold 😜) Big shout out to Georgia calling the bingo, she was great and made bingo some what fun! Would highly recommend to all

Had a fantastic first time cruise for me, with my mum. Every one was polite and helpful. Everything flowed brilliantly, from reaching the airport, right through the holiday and excursions to the flight ✈️ home. Rooms all clean and comfy had everything you needed. Will definitely go with P&O Cruises again. Thank you for a great holiday 😁

Storm David followed us on our Norwegian cruise but that didn't stop the wonderful experiences we had on board. Hats off to the crew who were outstanding at making us feel safe. The sail away from Olden was something to behold.

Great cruise the staff were wonderful helpful and nothing was to much trouble for them
The food was plentiful and good quality
The entertainment was of good quality a pleasure to watch.sadly the weather was poor but you can’t blame that on the company

We personally had no problems _ _ staff always helpful and cheerful

We travelled on the Ariva. The ship is amazing, so much to do for children. The food was fantastic and the drinks were not badly priced.
We are a family of 5 which makes it difficult to travel with most rooms only fitting 4, so it makes cruising expensive but if we go again I would recommend P&O for families with children of all ages

Just had a wonderful holiday with P & O cruises. Ship (Arvia) was fantastic, food lovely and available at all times, entertainment wide-ranging and excellent and the Norwegian fjords were spectacular. I would unreservedly recommend P & O cruises and I can’t wait for the next one.

Love P&O. Great ships, superb food and excellent personnel.

Me and my family had a best holiday ever in Ventura. The food, the entertainment and the service were excellent!!

Just returned from a week’s cruise to Norwegian Fjords on Arvia. Our first cruise and was really pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed it. Staff are so polite and helpful and always available and we enjoyed the entertainment on board with plenty of choices. Such a lovely well maintained ship and our captain was able to dock at all four scheduled ports despite a bumpy night or two! The excursions were great, you can get off and book your own easily but as first time cruisers we booked through P&O. Cabin was a good size and very comfortable beds, we had a balcony cabin on deck 14 and didn’t feel the force 11 gale much during the night we had bad weather. I would recommend P&O cruises to Norwegian fjords but P&O could do with supplying a nice snug blanket to use whilst sat on the balcony 😉

Couldn't fault them, great cruise, great food, excellent entertainment and enough space to get away from the crowd should you wish, Azura nice atmosphere, great ship.

Amazing holiday ! Fantastic ship and places I visited in Norway. Can’t fault anything was definitely one of my best holidays.

Back from a wonderful cruise to Norway. Staff so friendly and helpful. Food amazing. Facilities very clean. Entertainment was of a fantastic standard.

Superb holiday. Wonderful staff. Extremely clean and beautiful cabin.

The ship, Iona, is nice and the staff are great, but it's difficult to be positive when so much of the itinery that we booked for was cancelled. We booked a Norwegian fjord cruise with 4 port days and a fjord cruise by and ended up with just 2 port stops. Nothing was done to put anything else in place, we just got extra sea days. So that's a total of 5 days out at sea on an overcrowded ship. Meanwhile P & O save a fortune on port fees.