Poor do P&O

P&O have certainly slipped in quality – we have been cruising with them for some 3 decades, but not any more I’m afraid. This Christmas and New Year cruise was expensive, so we expected it to be something special. From the start we were deceived by P&O pre-booking advertising saying there would be 2 days in Madeira – this to be our highlight and sole reason for booking. In fact, we didn’t get there until 11pm at night just before the firework display, and left by 9 the next morning with an announcement that they “could not take us ashore by tender as it was too rough” – how then did other ships use tenders later that morning? Previous cancellation of a dock in Lanzarote (reported bad weather) was disappointing when other ships changed route and docked in other islands. Consequently our 17 day cruise only managed 5 stops – 12 days on the high seas with some on board jokingly began calling the prison ship!!!. We did book The Glass House for a special occasion evening meal, pre-booking the day before and choosing of menu for the 7 of us – we arrived on time and waited over an hour to be servered, but no food came, so we went off to the buffet. Poor service at times due to a shortage of staff that worked very hard to please fellow passengers. Entertainment staff very good, but as new acts couldn’t board the ship due to missed ports of call then the choice was limited and the sailing day activities poor. Certainly showing signs of age and wear on the ship, and the little extra’s that made P&O a class fleet for cruising has now in my view gone. Perhaps those not cruising with P&O will enjoy the experience, but for long-term returing clients of P&O it is simply not the cruising delights we expect and is not good enough.