Hello again from Carol

Dear members

Well James and Johanna are enjoying some well deserved leave, so I thought it would be a great opportunity to chat with you directly for a while. This year is certainly flying by, I can't believe we're nearly into July and Azura has already completed five maiden season cruises. The feedback from those who have travelled so far has been hugely encouraging and she has settled into the P&O Cruises fleet well.

In fact I’ve been on Azura today as part of the cruise convention that’s being held for travel agents in Southampton this week. Around 300 guests came and had a look around the ship and I had the pleasure of chatting to them whilst they had lunch in the Oriental Restaurant. I’m pleased to say they seem to have very much enjoyed seeing her.

I was also pleased to be able to chat with several of our Gold Tier Portunus passengers as they were relaxing in Malabar having just embarked. It was great to meet so many people who have travelled on several of our ships before and were trying Azura for the first time. I also met a family with two young boys who were twins; the only way you could tell them apart was by their different colour t-shirts – I think the Youth staff will have fun trying to work out who is who! And I was delighted to see some passengers again who had been on her Maiden Cruise – it’s super that they’ve come back again so soon.

On the news front, July is set to be another big month as we launch our largest ever world cruise programme, sailing in 2011 and 2012. We're thrilled to be able to offer customers more opportunities to see the world than ever before.

We have four ships offering five world cruises; two are sailing on east and westbound full circumnavigations, while the others will be exploring the continents in more detail, including a wonderful cruise for Adonia destined for South America. We'll release full details of the cruises online soon and you'll be able to book from Thursday 15th July.

I'll be blogging over the next couple of weeks, so if you’d like to post any comments or questions online I'll be pleased to come back to you.

With kind regards

Carol

6 comments:

John and Rita Mugford, Swansea said...

We returned yesterday (25th June ) from the Azura and what a wonderful ship she is. We must make a special mention of the Headliners Theatre shows , which were all 1st class - if there is a DVD available of the shows , I am sure it would be a hit with passengers.

Also, Sir Henry Cooper, both his talk and the Q&A were very well attended and proved to be both informative and entertaining

26 June 2010 18:01
chris said...

Dear Carol
Welcome back to the blog, which I must say is a brilliant way to keep us all interested before our next cruise.
Currently you offer freedom cruising on the Ventura and the Oceana, have you any thoughts of extending this across the fleet. I know that some people prefer to sit at the same table throughout the cruise, but there are others of us who like the mix of meeting different people. We have just completed a 5 week cruise on Oriana and next February we are on the Arcadia for 7 weeks. This is a long time to have to sit with the same people. Likewise they might find it a bit too much to have to sit with us as well. P&O give such marvellous variety in all it aspects this would just be another star to a fautless cruise line. It helps us also avoid the moaners who seem to congregate on the longer cruises.
Keep up the good work.
Chris

27 June 2010 11:26
Sheila Redstone said...

Dear Carol,
We love reading James' blog - but everyone needs a break from time to time so we are very impressed that someone in your position is willing to be on the receiving end of 'challenges' as well as praise. We are Gold Tier cruisers and therefore loyal to P&O. My concern is that, despite your marketing headline '5 reasons to book early' - which we did last year, on the priority Gold Tier day in April - we find, as we come to pay the final invoice for our cruise on Aurora in September, that we could now book the same cabin for £350pp less! You can imagine our disappointment. I presume others have met with this difficult situation and am afraid that its increasing regularity will encourage some to wait for the late offers.
We would appreciate your comments.
Terry and Sheila

28 June 2010 21:56
Anonymous said...

Can you please do something about latecomers to the dining room? On our past two cruises we have had second sitting on a table of 8 (they weren't travelling together) and the rest of the table appear about 8.55 p.m. - 9.00 p.m., which isn't fair to the waiters or other passengers waiting. If we want to see the show or do the quiz we then have to hurry our meal. I also notice that on J006 the second sitting meal was sometimes 8.30 p.m. and sometimes 8.45 p.m. meaning more of a rush to see shows etc. Also the syndicate quiz has now been brought forward to 10.30 p.m. when it used to be 11.00 p.m.

Gill

29 June 2010 08:28
Anonymous said...

I sent Carol an email a few weeks ago regarding Tate-themed cruises as on my last cruise (in June) on Aurora the one of the speakers said it would be the last of the Tate cruises. This would be a shame as the talks were well attended. Also asked whether P&O were planning any jazz-themed cruises, as the one they had on Oriana 2 years ago was a real winner and I can't get any information from the "Help desk" when I ring. To date have had no reply to my Email. Maybe someone will contact me? (Pam Jennings)

24 July 2010 09:33
James Cusick said...

Hi Pam
Thanks for your questions about Tate and jazz theme cruises.
After a fantastic 3 years of working with Tate, sadly, it's true that Tate talks will end later this year. It's been a fabulous 3 years and we've all enjoyed working with Tate enormously. If you are an art fan, we offer art classes on all cruises with 6 sea days or more, so do look out for that. And while on the subject of art, I hear that they have just introduced an art tour on Azura, which offers a fascinating insight into the works that can be found on board - very interesting!
As for the jazz, while there are no plans at the moment for a jazz theme cruise, jazz musicians will feature on Oriana's cruise X101.
James

27 July 2010 08:59

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