P&O’s create a stir with new policies….

You may or may not have heard about the new policies recently introduced by P&O that will come into effect early next year. There are two changes that have been made, the first a change to their alcohol policy, the second to their dress code. Changes in policies can often cause a stir and these have done just that especially the one relating to…yes you guessed…alcohol.

So what’s all the fuss about…well from the 1st February you will only be able to take one bottle of alcohol on board at the start of your cruise, this could be a bottle of wine, or champagne or a 1 litre bottle of spirit.  Also new is when when buying alcohol in port you will no longer be able to take this to your cabin, P&O will store it for you until the end of your cruise. This policy has changed from them allowing passengers to take a reasonable amount of alcohol on the cruise and also allowing duty free alcohol bought in port to be taken to your cabin.

P&O for a very long time have been very lenient compared to other cruise lines and passengers have been very lucky to be able to take advantage of this. I think on the whole the alcohol policy over the years has been respected by most  but there has always been those passengers that cross the line..is this the reason for the change???

Although P&O haven’t confirmed a specific reason for the change there are a few possible reasons that jump to my mind.

Firstly it will bring them in line with other cruise lines who have very similar policies to those they have introduced and of course policies do have to change from time to time to make them current and up to date.

The financial gain for the cruise line has to be a major factor, if you aren’t able to drink your own bottles brought on board you are more than likely going to buy them from the bar/restaurant instantly increasing the sales. One bottle of wine isn’t going to last the duration of your cruise so you will be forced to buy on board.

Another possible reason  I’m guessing  is that as I mentioned earlier part of the issue lies with those passengers who have abused this leniency and taken way more than a “reasonable” amount on board leading to lots of alcohol related issues on board. I do think the word “reasonable” is a difficult one to define, what’s reasonable to one passenger is of course not reasonable to another. P&O have seen an increase in hen parties and stag parties especially on their mini cruises, which when talking to passengers returning from some of these cruises sound more like booze cruises than anything else. What’s a reasonable amount of alcohol to a group of men on a stag party would be way different to that of an elderly couple who enjoy no more than a couple of drinks in their cabin.

Reading comments about this new alcohol policy it seems customers are very split, some are for the new policy and some are very against it! What do you think, are you in agreeance with P&O on this new alcohol policy or do you disagree? I can honestly see it from both angles and agree alot of the points I have read both for and against….only time will tell!

Will it affect you cruising with P&O? As always I would love to hear your thoughts on what I’m sure will be an ongoing debate, more about the dress code policy next time.

Thanks Abbi x