Help and Advice

Having on-board spending money means splashing out on some extra special treats on your P&O Cruises holiday. Simply use your cruise card around the ship to pay for speciality dining, spa treatments, shore experiences and much more. Click here for full details.

The Blue Light Card benefit is only available on Select fare bookings made direct and over the phone. We are unable to add the benefit retrospectively.

Our preferred visa provider CIBT offers a simple online solution to all your World Cruise visa requirements. British passport holders living in the UK can simply visit https://cibtvisas.co.uk/ for cruise-specific information and documentation. If you don’t hold a British Citizen passport, please contact the relevant embassy or consulate for advice. For more information click here or call CIBT on 0207 620 6487

Yes, you can embark together, as long as this is done on the latest embarkation time you have been provided.

Please note, we are also unable to amend individual embarkation times.

If you have linked your booking with another party, it does not guarantee that you will share the same embarkation time.

Yes, we have the P&O Cruises Peninsular Club points system. The more you sail, the more points you have and the more benefits you’ll enjoy on holiday with us. Membership starts from Pacific tier at 150 points (10 points = one night on board). Log into "My Account" to check your loyalty level at any time. See full details here.

The legislation related to the charging of credit card fees changed on 13 January 2018.

As a result, guests will not be charged a credit card fee on payment transactions made from 11 January 2018.

What to wear on a cruise during the day? 

During the day, you can dress in whatever you like.

What to wear on a cruise formal night? 

On all our ships, we have two dress codes that apply in the evenings: Evening casual and Black tie. Nights where the dress code is Evening Casual, you can bring out your best shirt, dress and smart, dark denim. For nights where the dress code is Black Tie, make sure to pack your best tux, suit or cocktail dress.

Fancy dress, novelty clothing or outfits that feature any inappropriate or offensive language or images are not permitted on board. We reserve the right to deny embarkation to guests who are inappropriately dressed.

There are some venues on each ship where dress codes don’t apply, so make sure to check your Horizon paper that’s delivered to your cabin each day to check where these are, as they vary ship by ship. For those travelling on family-friendly ships, dress codes also don’t apply to children aged 17 and under.

When you log in to My P&O Cruises, you’ll be able to see what dress code you can expect each day throughout your holiday. However, these are subject to change and final dress codes details will be confirmed when you’re on board. 

How many Black Tie nights will there be? 

As a guide, based on length of cruise:

Arvia and Iona:

2-10 nights – 1

11-14 nights – 2

15-19 nights – 3

Rest of fleet:

1-6 nights – 1

7-10 nights – 2

11-13 nights – 3

14-19 nights – 4 

Read our What to Wear guide for more information on our dress codes, as well as in the ‘Before You Sail’ section on the My P&O Cruises website, along with lots of useful information about life on board.

All our ships have at least two swimming pools onboard. Some pools are only for guests aged 18 and over, this will be clearly signposted onboard, but all our family-friendly ships have at least one pool that children can use. The temperature of each pool is monitored and maintained at an average of 29°C and we use fresh water, usually with less chlorine than you’d get in a pool ashore.

Children are welcome to use the family-friendly pools, but please note that children in nappies, swim nappies or pull ups, or those who aren’t completely toilet trained should only use designated pools.

Opening hours for all pools and whirlpool spas will be confirmed once you’re on board. Please note that during maintenance and   inclement weather conditions, pools and whirlpool spas may be closed.

Yes, we do offer military benefits to UK citizens. We are pleased to offer on-board spending money to:

Current serving personnel

Veterans

Reservists 

MOD Civil servants

NATO personnel in the UK

for the following service divisions:

British Army 

Royal Navy

Royal Air Force

Reserves

Royal Marines 

Merchant Navy

Home Guard

The offer is available to those that are currently serving in the HM Armed Forces and those that have previously served within the HM Armed Forces. Guests will need to quote their Defence Privilege Card membership number for the Military on-board spending money to be added to their booking.

The Defence Privilege Card membership is a paid for membership, the cost for which is £4.99 for 5 years membership. Guests can register through www.defencediscountservice.co.uk.  

To apply for the Military Benefits, you would need to supply your Defence Privilege Card Number to our Customer Contact Centre either directly or via your travel agent, either at the time of booking, or no later than 7 days before departure, along with the promotion code MLT. You may also be asked to present your card at the check-in desk on the day of embarkation, so please make sure you have this with you when travelling.

Military Promotions are not combinable with certain promotional fares including Early Savers, Savers, On board booking, Thank You For Cruising promotions, Ship Visit, Tesco voucher bookings and partnership benefits. If you have any queries on combinability, please call our Customer Contact Centre.

The amount of on-board spending money is applicable for the 1st and 2nd passengers in a cabin only and depends on the grade of cabin booked and the duration of the cruise:

Nights Sea View / Inside Balcony Suite 

2-6 £10 £15 £20

7-13 £20 £30 £40

14-21 £50 £65 £75

22+ £75 £90 £100 

Yes, you are able to make a partial payment. You can make payments online here where you can choose whether you want to pay the full balance or a different amount of your choosing.