Our First P&O Cruise: Booking Tips and Experience

In February of 2023 Sarah went on her first ever cruise aboard P+Os Iona for the Northern Europe City Escape, visiting Hamburg in Germany, Rotterdam in the Netherlands and Zeebrugger in Belgium. 

BOOKING THE CRUISE

So this was a very last minute trip booking just two weeks before Iona was due to sail from Southhampton, it was very easy to do and took about 5 to 10 minutes direct through P+Os website.

It’s probably best to book a bit further in advance to avoid disappointment if there’s a particular place, cabin or trip that you want, especially if it’s during the school holidays when the ship is likely to be at capacity.

For the cabin, we went for the standard balcony with twin bed configuration.

If you’re not fussed about having a view or balcony and want to save a bit of money we’d recommend an interior one as aside from sea days where you’ll likely be spending your time elsewhere on the ship.

At the time of booking, all single and family cabins had sold out, as had general sale for parking at the port, which was unavailable to anyone who hadn’t chosen it from the extra perks of select price during the booking process which is what we did.

The price of select price and perks may fluctuate throughout the year but definitely give it a look over and see if this is worth it for you. 

With select price you can choose the location of your cabin on the ship which is great if you want to be closer to certain restaurants or the kids pool if you’re travelling with children.

A more central location also seems to be less effected by the movement of the ship if you’re concerned about sea sickness but the shops on board offer patches and tablet remedies if you forget your own.

With Select Price there’s also a choice of an extra benefit which can be car parking, coach travel to and from Southhampton or on board spending credit. This can also give you the option for possible cabin upgrades, however if you’ve already got the cabin and location you want on the ship it may be best to untick this.

If you’re paying on a credit card we’d definitely recommend checking if you get any perks like cash back or air miles to make the most of any extra savings.

Once we’d paid we received a confirmation email which includes the booking reference number, holiday details like itinerary, passenger information, grade of cabin and pricing summary which also includes any on board spending credit. It’s always good to double check these details are correct when you get it.

A few days before we were due to sail our cabin was upgraded from a Standard Balcony to a Deluxe Balcony Cabin. You can receive this email about upgrades any time after booking so it’s really important to pay close attention to the emails that you get from P+O since this upgrade changed our boarding time from the morning to later in the afternoon.

PARKING OR COACH TRAVEL AT SOUTHAMPTON PORT

As for parking there were a couple of options at the port and in the local area. We used CPS parking, and you’ll need to print the documents they’ll send you before you travel as some information will need to be displayed on the dashboard.

The designated parking area at the port is well signposted and all details will be included in the emails sent to you before you travel. When we arrived we joined a short queue and were asked to remain in the car until someone checked us in.

This involved someone taking photos of the car to record any damage prior to parking. We were then asked to leave the key and empty the car of everything we needed including our luggage, before a member of staff took the car to park it.

If you’re not interested in driving to the port as we did and selected return coach travel as your perk on select price, which is only available on cruises of 7 days or more, this must be confirmed at least 35 days before your cruise.  We’d recommend taking a look at the pickup points and contacting P+O’s coach partners as soon as you’ve booked to get it all sorted.

CHECK IN EXPERIENCE FOR A P+O CRUISE

Now the online check in process is similar to when you board a flight and anyone in the party can do this by entering the booking reference, their first and last name and their date of birth at the login page. 

You are required to enter your passport information, insurance which has cruise cover, a credit card for any purchases made on board, and take a photo of yourself. The photos were accepted at the time, however  during boarding, like many other passengers, we had a new photo taken by a member of staff. 

Once you’ve checked in online you will be able to print your boarding pass and luggage tags. Each piece of luggage needs its own tag which includes your cruise number, name, room and deck number. The full details on how to attach your luggage label are included. We printed our tags once we received our email about the cabin upgrade a few days before we were due to sail as this would have changed the room number on our tags.

To add a little extra protection Sarah picked up some luggage tags but these are not essential and if they rip at any point during the cruise you can request tape from the staff.

As for travel insurance, after booking P+O have details on the level of cover you need and it’s essential you pay attention to this as without the correct level of cover you will not be able to board the ship.

To get the best deal for travel insurance we used a comparison site and then checked with top cash back to see if there were any further savings, which there were so it’s always worth a look.

HOW TO BOOK ENTERTAINMENT, RESTURANTS AND EXPERIENCES ON A P+O CRUISE

To book any entertainment, Resturants, or trips, anyone from the party can log in with their name, date of birth and the booking reference number. This is great for larger groups so there’s no one person responsible for adding everyone’s information or organising things if you have different interests.

You can book some excursions or trips from the moment you’ve booked your cruise. Full payment is required at the time of booking as some popular trips sell quickly. If you have something you’d really like to do we’d recommend booking in advance, just go to the shore experiences section on ‘my holiday’ and you can see more details there.

You can also make bookings on board the ship. 

In your room you will have a leaflet with a QR code and by scanning this you will have access to the My Holiday webpage app. 

Here you can book shows, resturants, join virtual queues, book spa or salon treatments and order room service. You need to put your phone into flight mode to be able to access this. 

We’d recommend saving this to your homepage on your phone so you can access this anytime without the need to rescan the QR code.

If you’re not into using your phone while on holiday or don’t have a smart phone you can visit the spas or restaurants and book in person.

Speciality restaurants like Sindu, which we loved, can be booked 2 weeks prior to travel. These sell out very quickly and which we’d recommend setting a reminder for to avoid disappointment. 

P+O will email to remind you, however, we received these emails much later after the booking window had opened so don’t rely on this and make your own alerts in your phone or calendar.