New adult only ship for P&O Cruises

[Beckyfaye-2008]

Oriana becomes the NEW adult only ship

When Artemis leaves the fleet next May the number of exclusively for adults cruises available for P&O Cruises will be reduced as Adonia, her replacement, is a smaller ship.

Therefore P&O Cruises have added a third ship to offer this type of cruise. when Oriana comes out of her refit in November 2011 she will become a ship exclusively for adults

There are 5 cruises that are currently on sale which will now become “exclusive for adults” and P&O will let all passengers know who are effected by this change.

[tom_uk]

Interesting. I don't think there's another major cruise line that does this at all, and now we have three P&O ships that will be.

Is there any information on what they are going to do with the space currently occupied by the childrens facilities? There's an opportunity there for another restaurant, perhaps, or something special.

[Elderflower]

Great news for us - a refit and child free in time for our world cruise in January 2012. Didn't expect too many little ones on this cruise anyway but it looks as if P&O are in the process of redefining their ships to fit their varying clientel. Wonder if they have realised that "one size fits all" does not really work.

Pat

[ovccruiser]

Originally Posted by tom_uk

Is there any information on what they are going to do with the space currently occupied by the childrens facilities?

Let us adults play with the kids toys, after all, we are all a buch of big kids really

[LibraLass41]

P&O Official release:


Changes to Oriana from November 2011

When Artemis leaves the fleet next May the number of exclusively for adults holidays available within the P&O Cruises programme will be effectively reduced as Adonia, her replacement, is a smaller ship. We therefore wish to add a third ship to offer this type of holiday. We are able to do this as Azura, the most recent ship to be added to our fleet provides additional holidays for families. Therefore, when Oriana comes out of her refit in November 2011 she will become a ship exclusively for adults.

P&O Cruises has seven ships in our fleet and after November 30th 2011 four will continue to welcome families (Aurora, Azura, Oceana and Ventura) and three, (Adonia, Arcadia and Oriana) will be “exclusively for adults”. We are totally committed to satisfying the holiday needs of both families and those travelling without children.

There are 5 cruises (X119, X120, X121, X122 and X201) that are currently on sale which will now become “exclusive for adults” we are communicating to passengers booked on these sailings as follows -

Passengers booked without children
All passengers are being sent a letter (via their agent as appropriate) which explains the changes to Oriana.

Passengers booked with children
All passengers are being contacted (via their agent as appropriate) by the Customer Service Team to discuss the changes and offer alternatives. If a suitable alternative cannot be found we will offer a full refund and protect agent commission.

We look forward to sharing with you our plans for Oriana. Full details will be included in our 2012/13 brochure but we will also make reference to the change in the 4th edition 2011 brochure which will be published on 1st December this year.

[jeanlyon]

Excellent news!

[tom_uk]

I see that the gap in Oriana's schedule is currently from 16 November (end of X118) to 30 November (beginning of X119). That's not especially long. They could do a lot of internal refurbishment (new carpets, new cabin facilities, etc) but not a lot of structural work.

X119 is a three-night Channel cruise, and X120 is a 14-night Canary Isles cruise. I wonder if X119 will get cancelled?

[Stackerman]

I hope they change the Curzon Room back to it's original configuration.

[Host Sharon]

A brilliant idea IMO. Move Oriana Rhodes to the kids' areas and restore the Curzon Room. Maybe expand the spa area too, but PLEASE do not extend the stern with more cabins!!

[daiB]

I vote for a bigger casino. The tichy one on Oriana is its only fault.

Happy Cruising








Dai

[Denarius]

Interesting!
This will leave P&O with 4 family ships, 2 "casual" and 2 "traditional", with a large and a mid size ship in each category. They will now have 3 adult ships, the existing 2 of which are "traditional". As not all adult cruisers favour "traditional", will P&O now make one of their adult ships "casual" to cater for those who prefer to cruise child free but prefer less formality? Some P&O stalwarts would not like it, but there could be good commercial reasons for doing so. This is, after all, what P&O originally planned for the old Adonia before they got cold feet!

[ejbmorr]

Hmm! No smoking- almost, no children- at all. Seems like quite an unfriendly cruise line. I wonder what will be banned next. Its might be fun to speculate.

[Elaine0138]

Originally Posted by ejbmorr

Hmm! No smoking- almost, no children- at all. Seems like quite an unfriendly cruise line. I wonder what will be banned next. Its might be fun to speculate.

Smoking on P&O is no different to many other cruise lines and there are 4 other ships for families at least P&O are listening to what their guests want.

[Denarius]

Originally Posted by Elaine0138

Smoking on P&O is no different to many other cruise lines and there are 4 other ships for families at least P&O are listening to what their guests want.

Or trying to reduce the passenger capacity on their "traditional" family ships due to lack of demand? It looks like a panic move to me.

[Elaine0138]

Originally Posted by Denarius

Or trying to reduce the passenger capacity on their "traditional" family ships due to lack of demand? It looks like a panic move to me.

They still have to fill Oriana there does seem to be a demand here in the UK for adult only ships.

If I was sailing with children from the UK I would actually choose to sail on Indy much more exciting for children.

[daiB]

P&o are aware of passenger bookings , therefore is this not a market lead change.




Happy cruising



Dai

[Pobman]

Well that was lucky as we were thinking for a while which world cruise to do in 2012, Oriana or Aurora, with an almost 4 year old... going with grandparents too... they prefered the Oriana but we went with Aurora as it seemed to get more 'great for kids' reviews.

I guess had we picked Oriana we would be moved to the Aurora anyway

[Pobman]

Originally Posted by Elaine0138

Smoking on P&O is no different to many other cruise lines and there are 4 other ships for families at least P&O are listening to what their guests want.

Yes but you have to feel for anybody who booked the Oriana and was really looking forward to it with there kids... no doubt they will enjoy the alternatives offered, but nobody likes having their plans changed.

[Elaine0138]

At least the families had plenty of notice about the changes, just over a year.

[Pobman]

Originally Posted by Elaine0138

At least the families had plenty of notice about the changes, just over a year.

And I guess we might get a few more kids on our cruise now too, which would be better than us having the only one