First time cruiser. Any advice?

Any tips. Not Ant

P and O cruises are an entirely separate company (owned by Carnival) to p and o ferries.
I have been on 15 cruises, love them. Mainly Cunard (quite formal), P and O (less formal) and Princess - informal, but you can dress up if you want.
If you can stretch to it, I’d recommend an outside cabin or balcony, especially for the fiords.

Choose you deck carefully, always go for one that has cabins above and below. You don’t want to be above the disco!!
Mid ships is more stable than forward or aft, a consideration if you may be sea sick.
We have NEVER been I’ll on board in any way. Just follow all the rules re hand washing etc. and you’ll be fine.
We currently have 4 cruises lined up, having had at least 6 cancelled. We love them as the places come to you! And we like sailing out of Southampton as my DH came from there and my DS now lives there.
Loads more tips I could give you, any specifics let me know.

* ill not I’ll ?

Thanks Soroptimum.

Where would you park your car in Southhampton for a week?
Are there designated long stay carparks. like airports have?

snowberryZ

Where would you park your car in Southhampton for a week?
Are there designated long stay carparks. like airports have?

Yes, very efficient. Called CPS. You drive up to the cruise terminal, get your luggage out, give them the car keys and off you go. The big cases are then left with staff waiting to collect and you don’t see them again til they’re outside your stateroom. Keep hold of you hand luggage though, just in case!

We've not sailed to the fjords but Mum and Dad enjoyed several trips there with P&O.
From what they said drinks ashore in Norway were quite expensive.

Have a look on the website at the prices of the excursions when you're working out your budget.
If an inside cabin makes it more doable then you can always watch the scenery go by from the deck or a bar!

Our favourite cruise destination is the Caribbean, we're treating ourselves to a week over Christmas/New Year in honour of a biggish birthday each this year ?

Norwegian Fjords is a great choice for a first cruise. I too would suggest a balcony if your budget can stretch to it as the early morning peaceful sail along fjords is beautiful. Celebrity are a good line that we really like, cunard can be a bit over formal for.our taste but this is a personal decision

I have to agree that you must have an outside cabin ( if possible).

P & O excursions are very reasonable. Expect to pay between £40 - £60 each for half a day, £70+ for a full day. Of course, some are very expensive if you want a helicopter ride for example!
We always use the ship organised ones. They guarantee that the ship will wait for you if the tour is delayed getting back to port.
Once in St Lucia, the ship wouldn’t anchor so we couldn’t go ashore. So we got a full refund for our tour. Others who had booked something independently lost out.

We have always gone with P&O and been very satisfied. One thing we learned on our second cruise, you do not have to have breakfast in the self service restaurant. A bun fight. There is always a designated restaurant , with waiter service, which is much, much, nicer.

P&O is fine. Never had a problem with them. I would add to the advice to have a balcony cabin. I once had an inside one to economise and it affected my equilibrium very much indeed. I would rather cruise every two or three years with a balcony than every year and have to be inside.

Thanks for all the tips.

I got so far with the booking and it said the only available deck is deck 8 (aft) on Britanica. Any other decks they say there's extra charge.
Also, Rw there any catches if I tick coach to Southhampron as my 'extra'?

Ate people booking a whole year in advance? It seems all the choice spits are gone

Another stupid question is
My passport needs renewing.
Can I go ahead and book the cruise before renewinf my passport?

Far better to go by car and have the parking as your ‘extra’. Lots of hassle with going by coach. E.g you arrive along with 30-40 others…. We always ignore the time for embarkation and go early to have lunch on board, always been ok ?
Yes, you can book before renewing passport.

snowberryZ

Ate people booking a whole year in advance? It seems all the choice spits are gone

We’ve got one booked for November 2023 ?

If you book before renewing your passport do be aware that the passport office seems to be inundated just now and there are reports of people waiting a long time for the new one to appear. I think the recommended time to renew is at least 10 weeks before you need it.

The cheap headline fare advertised will most likely be an inside cabin very low down on the ship.
If you want a higher deck, or an outside cabin, or a balcony cabin, or a suite, there will be an extra charge each step of the way.
It's a personal decision whether you think it's worth paying these extras or not.

It's a good idea if your itinerary includes a sea day to do some exploring on the other decks for future reference.
We had a C-deck balcony cabin on P&O Azura one year. Those balconies are twice the size of the balconies on the decks above.
A couple were walking along our corridor and said they'd booked one for the following year so I invited them in to have a look, they were very impressed and reassured.

As for booking ahead: we went for Christmas and New Year on P&O Ventura to the Caribbean one year.
Booking opened on a Monday in March of the year before, so 21 months ahead.
There were flights available from several UK airports, but by the Friday of that first week the Manchester flight was full ?

Passports are taking up to 10 weeks so sooner the better. People cruising sometimes book a few years in advance but you don't have to. I wouldn't have an inside cabin - we have usually had a window or port hole but that is just me. Never had a balcony but not done Fjords however any time we have had early spectacular views have gone up on deck as you can see both sides and move about more. Having said that I wouldn't cruise just yet. I'm on Celebrity Facebook page and have just seen a post about catching Covid and being isolated in a cabin with no open window/balcony - little information and not much to do once you feel better but still test positive. Though you get whatever meals and drink package you have paid for. Ships not travelling full yet but the Covid isolation deck is cabins without fresh air.

I had to renew my passport at Christmas and the delivery time given online was 5-6 weeks. The new one arrived in 6 days. My recommendation is to renew online.

Cruising is easy travel, total opposite to independent travel. Not something we did until well into retirement.
There is a place for it and it can be cheaper to go via this mode of transport than booking independently.
When I costed out visiting the islands in the Pacific Ocean it was far cheaper by a mile to go by cruise ship from California.
Any number of companies do cruising, we found the American companies are very different to say the European cruise companies.
We base our bookings on where the cruise is going not the company. Some people only sail with a certain cruise line, there is some snobbery, I've heard people say oh they couldn't cruise with such and such a cruise line.
If we particularly want to do a certain cruise itinerary but it was expensive to book an ocean view cabin we would go in an inside cabin to save money.
Cruising is not for everyone but it as a place in travel.
Best of luck

Passport renewals are taking 10 weeks from what Ive been told.

Norwegian Fjords is a short trip in a smallish ship we did it in the Celebration years ago. Don’t worry at all, the crew will look after you but you are in the North Sea which is not always calm. Take sea sickness tablets with you, in our case the captain came on the tannoy and told us to take them one evening - it did get quite “exciting”.