Want to take the kids away on a cruise? Will a P&O cruise suit?

Over the last few weeks as my granddaughter heads towards her 2nd birthday as a family we have been thinking about options for the next 12 months. I have to say my daughter has never fancied the idea of a cruise, but she is slowing coming round. 

So what have P&O got to offer families?

Family cruise holidays

Enjoy family cruises on the family friendly members of the fleet: Aurora, Azura, Oceana and Ventura. These super liners were created with family enjoyment and comfort in mind, and are dedicated to ensuring the very best for your family on our family cruises making sure your family have a wonderful time with us and return home with amazing memories.

The child and teenagers programme is called The Reef, with enthusiastic and well-qualified Reef Rangers who have extensive training and experience in planning a wide range of play and leisure activities ensuring that your children will always be in safe hands.

The Reef


The Reef is our exciting on board programme for 2 – 17 year olds, meaning we are the ideal choice for cruises for families. Split into four age groups, there are a whole host of exciting activities organised daily by qualified Reef Rangers, to keep children of all ages entertained and to ensure that they have the chance to make friends of their own age.

Splashers’ for 2 – 4 year olds ‘Surfers’ for 5 – 8 year olds ‘Scubas’ for 9 – 12 year olds ‘h2o’ for 13 – 17 year olds Accommodation The cabins are well equipped for the needs of the whole family. Many have additional beds. For example, in the majority of twin cabins, beds fold down from the ceiling or out from the wall. In cabins, mini-suites and suites, the extra beds are sofa beds. Other facilities in your room include: TV Telephone Refrigerator Tea and coffee making facilities Plenty of drawer and wardrobe space In-stateroom listening facility Teenage and adult pamper packs Bathroom

Family Dining Normally children join their parents for breakfast and lunch but since you might occasionally want to dine on your own, on our family cruise holidays, we lay on a special children’s tea every night featuring all the food that children will enjoy: sausages, fish fingers and pizza to name just a few. In addition there are many healthy options, such as salads, soups, fruit, vegetables and pasta. Shore Excursions On our family cruise holidays we have a whole range of tours designed especially for families, meaning your time ashore will be as stress free as the rest of your holiday.  With arranged transport, entrance fees and English speaking guides, all you need do is turn up and enjoy your time together. Typical family tours include: Beach transfers Water park trips Dolphin/ Whale watching Adventure trips Family city tours  So, has that helped? Don't forget that there are only a limited number of 3 or 4 berth cabins on each ship and the number of children in each age category are limited for health and safety purposes so I would always recommend that you book early.

Do the cruise lines really welcome back past passengers of other cruise lines?

So you've just taken your cruise, most cruise lines will want you to come back to them to try a different ship or itinerary. To entice their past passengers, not only do most offer some kind benefits for making that next booking onboard but they all have special clubs for 'repeaters', which include perks such as magazines, members sailing and even discounts.

But can you 'sort the wheat from the chaff'?


Well, each cruise line has something different to offer, these are summarised in the Complete Cruise Brochure for 2012, if you follow the link you can view the electronic version of this guide, then look at pages 86 and 87.

But can you benefit with one line having sailed with another?

Well I can't see Royal Caribbean giving you the benefit of sailing with NCL, you can get cross over between Royal and Celebrity but really at a high level and when P&O changed to the Penisular Club they stopped taking sailings with Princess into account.

However, recently I recevied a leaflet direct from Princess - now you probably know I have never sailed with Princess, and was surprised to see in the Captain's Circle they are giving benefit to P&O passengers. Now I know there isn't much to give away to a Gold member, see the image below, but its better than nothing!

I wonder then in these difficult times if others will follow suit? Perhaps Silversea or Regent will take into account your days on Thomson, would be very interesting!