WG’s Summer Cruise, June 2026 – Part One

The Prologue

I booked this cruise while onboard P&O Arvia in the Caribbean the Christmas before last (2024). P&O are a bit artful, they leave a copy of the latest cruise brochure in your stateroom, as they like to call the cabins. They also have a place on board called Future Cruise Sales and, when you book there, you get a small discount. But what I rather like is sitting with the Future Cruise salesman, who only sells P&O cruises, knows the product inside out and whose computer is connected directly to the P&O company network, despite being thousands of miles from their Southampton HQ.

Having a direct link allows the salesman to see what cabins are available immediately, in a travel agent, they rarely have that ability and must contact P&O or whoever you are thinking of sailing with, to find out what is available. Finally, once you have made an onboard booking, it can be transferred to the agent of your choice. I decided that I wanted a Mediterranean cruise out of Southampton and preferably one that had me away over my birthday. I do like to eat in the Epicurean Restaurant on my June birthday, it is a super restaurant.

Anyway, the cruise I selected departed Southampton on 10 June and was a bit longer than my usual fortnight, not returning until 29 June. It was on board P&O Arcadia, the same Adults-only ship I had booked for last Christmas, and called at Lisbon, Alicante, Livorno, Civitavecchia, Palma, Casablanca (overnight), Tangier and Vigo before returning to Southampton. However, about six months ago, I got a message from P&O to say that they had been informed by the Spanish authorities that Palma was overbooked for cruise ships on 20 June and the ship would be calling at Cartagena instead of Palma. Fortunately, it makes no difference to me as I have visited both ports several times before.

One other thing that is different this cruise is that I have secured a rare single balcony cabin. A single cabin is a bit of a compromise, it is not as big as a double, but it is quite adequate and has all the facilities that a double has. But it does not cost the normal double the fare for single occupancy of a double cabin. I have seen a video on the internet, and it is big enough for me with a bed that is somewhere between a single and a double.

The single cabins were not in the original build, when the ship was handed over to P&O, way back in 2005. They were added during a dry dock in 2008 when 10 were added and then 6 more were added in 2014 and inside cabins were added more recently. There are now 23 single cabins (7 are inside cabins) and one single suite. They occupy an area that was originally open deck on the Sun Deck (deck 10), where there used to be tables and chairs, and are conveniently positioned within staggering distance of the Crows Nest bar.

This year’s booking has been slightly complicated by me changing my car a few weeks before the cruise. As you might remember me telling you before, when you purchase a ‘Select Fare’ on a P&O cruise, the normal arrangements give you the choice of free coach travel from anywhere in the U.K. to the ship, or £150 cabin credit, or free car parking at Southampton. However, there is always a however, P&O do not offer a coach from anywhere near me, so that option is out. The whole South, Southeast, Southwest of England and Northern Ireland are excluded. I could take the cabin credit and pay for my own travel to the port, but that would mean a cab to Worthing Station, a train to Southampton and a cab to the ship. All of which adds up to very nearly the same as the cabin credit, puts me at the risk of strikes and means a lot of manhandling my own luggage. So, I normally take the free parking.

This holiday is no exception, but I had to ring up the parking company to tell them I had changed my car. There is a number on the parking confirmation email for changes, so I rang it with some trepidation. It was answered on the second ring by a very helpful woman. She first asked my booking reference and had the details in seconds. Then she asked my new car’s registration and immediately read back its make, model and colour, before saying the alteration was done and I would get a confirmatory email in the next few minutes, but I could print out the amended paperwork immediately. Now that was what I call service, no messing around and all done and dusted in two minutes flat.

That left me one or two little jobs to do. The first of which is claim my cabin credit from my shareholding in Carnival Cruises. I have mentioned it before, but anyone owning 100 or more Carnival shares get a cabin credit for every cruise they go on with Carnival or one of its subsidiary companies and P&O is owned by Carnival. You used to have to phone Barclay Stockbrokers, and they filled in a form confirming your holding and sent it to P&O, who eventually got around to issuing a replacement invoice with credit on it.

A couple of cruises ago, Carnival realised this was all a bit of a fuss and hired an American company called “Stock Perks” to take over the administration. The first couple of cruises under the system, it was a little flaky, but this holiday they have got their act together and it worked well. Having been registered with Stock Perks for some time now, it is a simple two-part process. You use the website to upload proof of ownership. A digital photo of the appropriate page of the Barclays Stockbrokers biannual statement can be uploaded on the Stock Perks app.

Later that day, I got an email to say my proof of ownership had been accepted. So, I made the cabin credit claim, which involves entering the P&O booking reference and date of departure. The following day, I got an email to say the cabin credit had been applied to my on-board account and an amended invoice would be sent to my travel agent. I got this the following day. Of course, there are one or two rules, like you must have paid for the cruise in full and you must apply within a window of 8 weeks and one week before departure.

The other job can only be done after three weeks before departure, you have to check in online. Simple for most people, but not for some little old ladies, but a decent travel agent will do the job for you. There is a certain amount of personal information, date of birth, passport number, its expiry date and insurance details. None of which is very taxing, just a little frustrating as it is the same as the last time I cruised with P&O and the time before that. The one thing I do get fed up with is having to upload a head and shoulder photo, like a passport photo. Supposedly, if you have one on file, you can use that, but the P&O software distorts the picture, making it miles too big, so instead of head and shoulders you get a giant nose! So, I always use the alternative to take a photo that uploads. Unfortunately, this also distorts and squashes your head, so it is too tall and thin.

Not that it matters, the girls on the desk, when you arrive at the cruise terminal, invariably take a new photo. The photo is used when you come and go from the ship at the various ports of call, at the top of the gangplank a security man sits at a computer terminal and you wave your cruise card over a pad to check in or check out and the photo pops up on the computer screen, so they do not get intruders and they know where everyone is onboard.

Speaking of paperwork, I was surprised to learn that, unlike on British cruises, many cruises out of the US, going to the Caribbean, do not demand a passport. Yanks, it seems, can get away with a photo driving licence, armed forces ID or something similar. The other big difference is holiday insurance, sail with a British cruise company, and I believe European, holiday insurance is compulsory and must cover for at least £4 or £5 medical expenses and recovery to the U.K. My own annual insurance is unlimited. But on American cruises, holiday insurance is optional, I wonder if this is because so many yanks already have private medical insurance.

Once you have successfully checked in online, you can print out your luggage labels and boarding pass. I usually have a problem here, the luggage label just appears on the screen of the device you are using to check in, be it phone, tablet or PC, and you can then print off as many as you need. One thing perhaps worth noting is that you can take as many suitcases as you want on board, the only rule is they must fit in your cabin. Fortunately, the beds are designed to store cases under them. However, it is the boarding pass that I always struggle with, it comes as a .PDF and automatically goes to your “downloads” file. For some unknown reason, it is never visible when viewed from my iPad or iPhone. But if I look in the same file, it is in the cloud, from my Apple Mac, it is there! So, I email it to myself as an attachment and file it in the downloads file, and as if by magic it appears!

It is now you discover what boarding time you have been allocated, it is printed on the boarding pass together with which of the five cruise terminals you will be sailing from. With P&O, it is usually the Mayflower Terminal, smaller ships, or the Ocean Terminal, bigger ships, but it could possibly be the Queen Elizabeth 2 Terminal. This is normally used by Cunard but, as they are a sister company of P&O, it occasionally happens when the port is extra busy. The QE2 Terminal is interesting in that it is the only one that has a rail track that runs right up to it. It is rarely used these days, as the dedicated boat trains from Waterloo are a thing of the past. Although I did see it used a year or two back when a special charter train ran from Glasgow and called at several points to pick up cruiser. Two days before departure, the departure has been switched to the Ocean Terminal, but we return to the Mayflower Terminal. P&O promise the cars will all be in the right place!

This holiday I have been allocated a 12:15 boarding time, so I should be in time for lunch. It seems the higher you are in the P&O Peninsula Club, the earlier boarding time you get. The various levels in the Peninsula Club are allocated on a points basis, you get ten points for every day you have spent at sea in the preceding years, I have reached the dizzy heights of the Baltic Tier and have over 2501 points, tiers are named after seas and oceans. This is the second highest tier, I doubt I will ever reach the top tier as, although you only need 2501 or more points, you also need over 201 nights at sea in the last two years.

But the Baltic level means I get a number of extras, like a special lunch on boarding, a glass of Champagne as we sail out of Southampton, hope it is not raining, a half bottle of Champagne on the first formal night, a pair of P&O slippers, a four-course gourmet lunch one sea day, with free booze all meal, an invite to the captain’s cocktail party, more free booze but it only lasts 3/4 of an hour, a 10% discount in the onboard shops and bars, priority check in at the terminal, no queueing with the plebs, and one benefit I have not ever used, 50% off the ship laundry.

I have checked with Google, and it says 1hr 11 mins from the WG residence to Dock Gate 4 for the Ocean Terminal. I shall make that 1hr 30 mins for the inevitable road works. That means leaving at 10:45, so I will be in no rush to leave on the 10th.

 

© WorthingGooner 2026