P & Queue

If this had been our first cruise we would probably never cruised again.

The title of this review, P & Queue, is an overall impression of this cruise, it appeared that every couple of days we had to queue.

Manchester Airport
Arrived early after stopping over night at an airport hotel, had to queue for 2 and a half hours to check in, only one check in desk manned, the P&O representative said there should have been 7 and blamed Thompsons, but our contract was with P&O and they should have seen that the agreement they had with Thompsons was enforced.

Flight
OK, old plane very ordinary meals and service.

Barbados Check in.
We queued for 1 and half hours to register and then 1 hour to get through security. (Only 2 scanners for about 1500 passengers??)
Bags did not arrive at our cabin until after 10.30pm, we landed at 5.15pm.

Booking Gala Meals
Booking for Christmas Day and New Years Eve meals was a farce, we queued for 2 and a half hours for the second sitting, people booking for the first sitting had to wait longer, also people “missed” breakfast due to the time they had to wait. One lady, a solo passenger, told us she had to queue for 4 hours and when she got to the front was told “as a solo she didn’t have to queue as they could have slotted her in anywhere”.

Flight Back to Manchester
2 Thompson fights leaving at the same time from the same gate, very confusing and more queuing.

Some of the restaurant staff were rude and hurried us out of the restaurants after breakfast and lunch as they were in a hurry to prepare tables for the following meal. (Not enough staff??)

Our last cruise with P&O was in 2009, every thing went like clockwork, staff were excellent and all the service we received on board was perfect, following this we recommended P&O to our friends, never again, we have now booked another cruise with another Company, we never looked at P&O alternatives.

Very disappointed Passenger, now booking with other Company’s.