Drastically needs improvements.

Embarkation was a nightmare. People everywhere with masses of suitcases, and no-one knowing where to go. No help what so ever. Would appear everyone had been told the same time to embark. Cabins were ok, but not nearly enough hangers and storage space for a 35 night cruise. The entertainment needs improving. The band Pulse had very good musicians, but the female singer should have been left at home. The busker was very good, but seemed to be always stuck in The Exchange. The headliners theatre group need to be taught how to sing in harmony – not screeching. The waiters in the Bay Tree Restaurant were very helpful, particularly as I’m difficult with my choice of food. One of the members of our party was unhappy as there was hardly any rice or pasta on the evening meal – just potatoes in any shape or form. And the vegetables were usually beans or peas!! The Horizon magazine often gave out the incorrect information – you’d book for a show, but when you turned up, it was completely different. The quizzes were only usually music ones in the afternoon, often run by the entertainment crew that didn’t realise how bad their speech was over a microphone. We all felt the daytime activities were not for “normal” people – too much relating to body and health issues – nothing “fun”. Having said that, the male entertainment host Mark was very good. The food in the buffet restaurant was too repetitive, particularly breakfasts. The reception staff did not know their job. For Dominica they put out signs saying that the currency was Euros!!!! Really – we were in the Caribbean. They then ran out of US Dollars and told us there was an ATM machine just outside the dock area. But what they didn’t tell us that if we were to use it we would be given East Caribbean Dollars, not US Dollars. Thankfully we didn’t use it!! When they did get some more US Dollars on board, they only had 100 Dollar notes – nothing smaller. We had a stabbing on board and several passengers removed from the ship in Madeira. Rumour had it that there was a paedophile on board and he was detained in his cabin for the majority of the cruise, with a security guard outside his cabin for the majority of the cruise. The usual ambulances were there, waiting on key side once we docked. The final straw was the disembarkation – what a joke!! Because of the volume of luggage (over 13,000 pieces evidently) disembarkation was delayed. With over 2000 passengers on a 5 week Caribbean cruise, it’s not rocket science to imagine the volume of luggage they would had to cater for. (Obviously this was the same problem with embarkation. We requested a time slot of 9.15 – 9.30 because of our cab, but we eventually got off at 10.15, then had to struggle to get outside, together with all the hundreds of other passengers trying to do the same thing. Thankfully we were some of the last to leave the ship – any earlier and the masses of people in the outside areas, waiting for cabs etc. would have been even worse. This needs improving. We eventually managed to meet our cab at gone 11.00. We have already booked our next cruise – Norway next Christmas on Aurora – and we are not prepared to loose our deposit, otherwise I doubt we’d travel with P & O again.