On this episode of Luxury Cruising, Dr. Krystal Sodaitis welcomes back Bradley, a lifelong cruiser with over 60 voyages, for an honest deep dive into Britain’s favourite cruise line. They compare the iconic Penthouse Suites on the classic Aurora with a large modern suite on the giant Iona, while exploring what P&O suite class really includes. Perfect for North American listeners curious about this very British cruise experience.
What do you actually get when you book a suite on P&O Cruises, and is it worth the upgrade?
Dr. Krystal Sodaitis sits down with returning guest Bradley to give listeners a comprehensive P&O Cruises primer; from its rich British heritage as the Peninsula & Oriental Line to how it compares with Princess Cruises.
Bradley shares his personal experiences sailing two very different ships and two very different suites: the legendary two-storey Penthouse Suites (Piano and Library) on the classic, adult-oriented Aurora versus a spacious modern suite on the family-friendly megaship Iona. The conversation covers the evolving vibe of P&O ships, the huge differences between classic and contemporary vessels, and a candid look at suite benefits, including butler service, priority boarding, specialty breakfast, and where the experience falls short compared to other lines’ ship-within-a-ship offerings.
Listeners will hear Bradley’s balanced take on P&O’s strengths, alongside honest feedback on inclusions like no free Wi-Fi, no drinks package, no exclusive dining for dinner, and limited priority services, even in the top suites. The episode also touches on P&O’s dress code, British cultural immersion, and why loyal fans keep returning despite the gaps.
Episode Highlights:
About the Guest:
Bradley, creator of Explore with Bradley, is a lifelong cruiser from South Wales, UK. Having sailed on nearly 60 cruises across every major and luxury line, he brings candid, firsthand insights to his growing online community. His content is known for being open, honest, and authentically self-funded—showing what travel really looks like beyond the brochure.
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About the Host:
Dr. Krystal Sodaitis is a pediatrician, executive, and life coach for neurodiverse physicians—and the passionate host behind Luxury Cruising. She brings expert insight and honest excitement to every interview, helping curious travelers elevate their adventures at sea.
📍 Website: luxurycruising.net
📧 Email: luxurycruisingpodcast@gmail.com
🔗 LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/krystalsodaitis
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[00:00:00] Welcome back to Luxury Cruising. I'm your host, Kristal Sodaitis, and once again, we have one of our favorite guests for the Luxury Cruising podcast. We have Bradley with us and I'm really excited about this topic because Bradley's gonna talk to us about a cruise line that we really don't hear about very much, in North America and Canada.
I guess Canada is North America. But we'll say North America at all. And that is p and o. And he traveled on two different p and o ships on two different types of suites. And so we're gonna get kind of a p and o primer and then we'll talk about their suite class and what they offer and maybe don't offer.
So Bradley, please remind the audience anything you want them to know about you. Well, as everyone probably knows now I'm Bradley and it's quite simple. I am madly in love with cruising. Anything and everything to do with cruising, then I'm there simple as [00:01:00] amazing. And, um, we'll definitely talk about your, TikTok, Instagram, YouTube channel.
But I just love watching your content. It always makes me smile even When I saw you in the waiting room for the recording, just seeing you made me smile. So if anyone hasn't followed yet, please do follow. It's just fun. It's so much fun. Uh, so back us up and just tell us about p and o in general as a cruise line.
Yeah, so p and O is Ally British. as we were saying earlier, it's pretty much the sister company to Princess. So you have Princess Cruises and we have p and o cruises all owned by the Carnival Corporation, but it's our sort of. A stable of British sort of Britishness, should we say, in which they've been around for many years.
Um, they have many different ships from very small up to very large. And that's the comparison that we're gonna do now. Um, it's very much a line in which is good quality, you know, [00:02:00] good pricing for different points, different categories of cabin, good solid sort of service, food, entertainment.
Every ship is different, should we say to a point. Um, and yeah, it's just something that's been sort of a, staple through traditional cruising for many years. I remember when I was a child, gosh, 26 years ago when I first went on my. first p and o ship, should we say. and I know my grandparents used to go on p and o, so it's been through the generations multi-generational cruising for us as well.
and it's been a company that's always been there. Um, it used to be at the top of its game. It really was. P and o was the upper sort of level of cruising back then, but it's now changed, it's now a completely different demographic of, individuals that go on the cruising. But Cruising's changed in general, as we all know.
You know, it's gone from mostly the older generation and those who could afford it to now being universal for every sort of demographic to go on this. So PO has certainly adapted with the times, but has gone more down the route of [00:03:00] a more affordable line of cruising, should we say. Yeah. And you said, um, it's more akin to Princess, which we would consider a premium line.
Over here. And do you agree, do you think it's a premium or more on the contemporary Norwegian Royal Caribbean level? Yeah, it's more of contemporary Medium range should we say in which you get what you pay for. Yes, there is our Dons that you can pay for, and yes, if you go in a suite, you do get some benefits.
Nowhere near the. Benefits of other lines, uh, should we say, which we'll talk about. But certainly, it's no way a budget cruise line. The prices can be budget. 'cause some cruises and some deals that they offer are fantastic. It's cheaper to go on the ship than it is to stay at home, you know, and keep the lights on, especially in today's world.
But, um, yeah,it's a good mid-level cruise. You know, it's something that, as I said, you get what you pay for and you certainly get your money's worth. Should we say. Yeah. What's the general vibe of their [00:04:00] ships? this is a good question because p and o as I said, the smaller ship that they currently have is one called Aurora, which is my favorite.
She is a classic. Ocean going vessel. She's not an ocean liner, but she's very much one that's got that one main promenade deck. So she's just got that one deck that goes all the way around the ship, should we say with the open promenade. Um, she has the main atrium and then she has, I think it's probably about 12 decks in total, which in today's, you know, size of vessels is nothing.
Um, a couple of thousand of passengers. even under 2000, she's a lovely, classic, opulent vessel. A lot of mahogany, a lot of wood, you know, a lot of artwork should we say, and little rooms like there's one, you know, bar, which is all sort of old furniture and fireplaces. Of course not working fireplaces.
But that's sort of o and beyond should we say, and that's sort of traditional. Bygone era of cruising. And then you've got the ultra modern, should we say, the [00:05:00] Iona and the Arvia, who are huge vessels that are sister ships, but they have different looks and feels to them to a certain degree and they cater for multi-generational cruising.
For anybody and everyone. There's something to do. Different bars, different restaurants, you know, different entertainment venues. Many different categories of cabin. It's more floating city should we say. So p and o cater for anyone and everyone and their ships are catered for those who, if you want that more sort of traditional contemporary style cruising, they've got the ships for that, the adult only ones as well, because that's what they're good for.
They have adult only ships, Aurora Arcadia, you know, they're adult only ships. And then a lot of them then are family oriented vessels that cater with the kids clubs and Pools and all that sort of thing. So yeah, it's a very universal outlook on it with their ships. especially the newer ships, like the Iona?
I've seen a lot [00:06:00] about that one, but I don't know off the top of my head. Do they have some of the sort of like bells and whistles that we talk about, like the rock climbing wall and like a roller coaster and Giant butterflies . Yeah, it doesn't have that. Um, this is where it's a bit different.
The Royal Caribbean, American Americanized, if that's even a word, you know, the Smeal, should we say, of the American sort of vessels where it's the rock climbing, Aussie ice skating, you know, the big Broadway shows. Yes, we have that entertainment on board, but it's more of a British sort of theme to it.
And they're excellence West End sort of style performances. They're really good, really diverse. Fantastic. Do they have a lot of, areas for kids? Yes. They have their pools, their splash pools. They have all and deck games, big chess pieces and uh, games and table tennis, but nowhere near.
Royal Caribbean, they don't have the rock climbing walls, they don't have ice skating, none of that. they have a dome, um, which is in the middle of the vessel, which they [00:07:00] have the acrobats and different sort of entertainment there. But it's not something that you can do yourself, if that makes sense.
Like you can, there's no surf wing or anything like that, so yeah, they haven't, I've got a funny feeling that they might branch out into that, but yeah, they haven't done that as yet. That's just specifically the American sort of line, should we say. Great. Awesome. So now take us to the suites.
What suites were you in? Um, and just tell us like compare and contrast the two based on the small ship and the big ship. Absolutely. So first of all, then we'll go with Aurora. She is one of our favorite ships. One of the first ever ships that I ever went on a classic traditional. Gorgeous ship should we say.
Now, her iconic suite is called a penthouse suite, and that's exactly what it means. A penthouse, massive mahogany wood spiral staircase, should we say, up to the master bedroom. A massive lounge with. Windows at the front of the ship. You know the beaming lights coming [00:08:00] in two balconies, not big balconies, but on the ground floor and the sort of first floor.
There's two, there's a grand piano and there's a library one. We were lucky enough on our VO to have the both of them, so we had the piano pento suite and the library Pento suite just. Iconic. It was something, the story behind it was my late grandmother, she always wanted to stay in them and we could never afford it.
And you could never get in one. And of course, as you get older and you start making your own money and things change and we still couldn't do it. We. But it got to the point where she passed away and I said, look, you know, I want to tick off everything of the list. 'cause as you know, we started cruising because of my grandmother.
Mm-hmm. And I've said, I'm always gonna try and tick off her bucket list. And a voyage came up and it was two and a half years in the making. And as soon as it came out, within eight minutes, we'd booked, uh, via our agent. And two and a half years later, then we had the two pent out suites and the second suite down.
So we had three different, well there's two different variations. 'cause the suites are the [00:09:00] same. But yes, it was something special because no other ship in the p and o fleet has a penthouse like that and will never have it again because her sister ship Ora, which is now being sold, she didn't even have it.
It's just the Aurora that has these suites. and they were just, iconic . Yeah. Then on the flip side, then you have Iona, which we went on in March and one of the big suites on the ship at the, after the ship this time.
So the penthouse is at the front on Aurora, on Iona, right at the back. Gorgeous suite, much more modern, but on one level, nowhere near as. Big. and I shared that with my parents, but as you saw, there's two rooms. There's sliding doors, which are great because I had my own room, you know, my own toilet, my own entrance, my own balcony.
Fabulous. if that's what you're looking for. 'cause we've got big families, you know, and cruising can be expensive if you've got lots of people, it works in both ways. As you know. If you have one cabin with lots of people, it works out cheaper. But if you're looking to go in the suites and they're charging full [00:10:00] price.
Then that can work out. Very expensive, as you know. So we had a good deal where the third and fourth passengers were 50% off. So it worked out as you know. Fantastic deal. The suite itself, excellent. Fitted four people. Marvelous balcony, butler service, um, you know, fabulous marble bathrooms. Really nice. But as I was saying, not a lot of benefits with the p and o suites.
That is something that we are getting into now. But yes, that's the contrast of the two suites. They're very, very different, but there are different sort of, levels of suites within that as well, on different p and o ships. Got it.
Yeah. So tell us about those amenities, like what did or maybe didn't come with. So, as we've been talking about lots of times, on this podcast, in the luxury market of cruising, then when you get to that stage, a lot of is included.
a lot of, yes, there may be some upsells and there may be one or two restaurants that you know, need to pay extra for, [00:11:00] but everything is pretty much included with p and o. You pay a lot of money for sweets, okay? Yes, you can get deals, but you pay a lot of money now. The only main benefits that you have, you have Butler service, but everybody has a different outlook on a butler.
You know, should they do this? Should they do that? Do I ask for this? Do I ask for that? It's lovely to have, and yes, he's very good and he can arrange things for you, and he's always there if you need them, and you can do certain things. However, with p and o, you get. Uh, priority boarding. Should we say you get a welcome on board lunch or buffet, whichever ship you're on with free alcohol.
'cause remember now p and o is a pay-as-you-go line or you buy a drinks package like many other cruise lines. Um, so no drinks package included, no wifi included. No special restaurant, only for breakfast. So you do get a specialty restaurant for breakfast, which is nice, but you don't get it for lunch. You don't get it for dinner.
No special deck, nothing like that. So nothing like the other lines. MSC, yacht Club, the Haven and [00:12:00] NCL, you know, princess Sanctuary Collection, all of that sort of, um, different, nothing like that. On p and o, that is where they falter, not even on the new ship. No, not even on Iona.
Navia. What you get is the priority board in you get that little welcome on board lunch. You get your breakfast every morning in a specialty restaurant and you know, a few upgraded things within the cabin. I can't list them all, but nothing like no wifi, which I think is. Awful. I think if you're paying that money, you should have a basic thing like wifi included.
Alright. Not so much a drinks package, but you should get some sort of inclusion. You get a bottle of champagne or Prosecco in embarkation, which this be honest is quite normal for, you know, any sort of luxury line or any sweet. Um, but apart from that, there isn't any benefits at all, which I think is wrong and I really do, especially when you're paying that money.
Especially 'cause it sounds like you're in the highest end suite. Like if you're in an entry level suite, I would say like, okay, well, but if you're in the highest [00:13:00] level suite they have, there should be some, at least wifi and drinks. Absolutely. Like a soda package. Come on. Yeah, absolutely. Thank you and glad you agree.
It got to the point where, like on that penthouse one in Aurora, should we say, uh, we did have something, they called the special touches, which was you had. Two liters of, alcohol, so you had a liter reach for each passenger, which is lovely, which is great. But then when you went to order your mixers, so I have a Sprite with my gin.
My mom has diet Coke. You'd think then, oh, if they've given you the liter, you'd have a few mixers. They would all charged, you know, little things like that. And I just thought. Come on. You know, you're paying thousands and thousands of pounds or thousands of dollars and little things like that, like wifi room service on p and o isn't included.
You have to pay. But in suites, you do get it included. So they charge you. this is where it's tricky because if you don't go and look at your bill the last day and it's still on there, then you end up paying for it, which I think is wrong. You've gotta ask the [00:14:00] questions. They're not always sort of open with you, should we say, and that's what I don't like.
it should be clearly explained. People might have had different experiences. Of course, I'm not saying that, but p and o are one of the companies which I will openly say Are falling behind when it comes to their suite class. And of course everybody's different. And of course they're not a luxury line, so I'm not expecting all bells and whistles.
But if you're paying that much money for a suite, I generally believe there should be quite a few inclusions eg. A basic wifi package. Come on. You know, something like that. Yeah, I agree with you. What about throughout the ship, like the performances or anything like that? Was there any reserve seating?
Anything like that? No, nothing at all. As I said, probably the main benefit you have is the fact of a butler, um, priority embarkation, and that little, you know, welcome on board lunch with the drinks. But apart from that, no other priority. On the ship. Um, you do get priority tender access cards that if you've got a [00:15:00] tender port, but they never work.
I dunno why they give them out because you're not gonna go down to the tender and then look at the queue and push past people and then give 'em a tick. If they had a separate line, for sweet guests, I'd understand. But it makes you feel quite, you don't wanna push past all these people.
Um, but no priority seating, no reserved seating in restaurants, nothing like that. Nothing at all. Wow. Yeah, that would be disappointing. That would be Disapp. Very much disappointing for sure. Absolutely. Give us a sense from a percentage, right, because I think you have sailed Princess Suite class, havent you?
Oh yes, absolutely. And I love it. Yeah. Fantastic. So just give us a sense in terms of like percentages of price for a Princess Suite class where you know, you've got your medallion and maybe you've got some sanctuary access. Is it more expensive ? Less expensive by like two thirds? what do you think?
Put it this way. First and foremost, I'll say this openly. Princess Sanctuary Collection Suite Class blows p and o out the water. Straight and simple, and I would pay much more [00:16:00] for it because of the amenities that you get. Simple. there's no as and graces in me. I'll say it as it is again, personal prep.
I understand, you know, everybody's different. However, this is where it gets interesting. You can get some ridiculously good deals on p and o for suites if you catch the right ship and the right time, which are unbeatable. But then if you wanna go at. School holidays or cruises that are popular, put it this way, my parents went for two weeks in August on Azura, which is like the same class ship, I think it's a Vista class as like, um, Sapphire Princess and Caribbean Princess, that sort of, a grand class,
And they pay 10,000 pound. For two weeks. Yeah. In the suites. Right. Over August, which, when you say height of summer, you know, I get it. But they could have gone on a luxury explorer cruise for the same price. Yeah. For the same, but had, Everything included. When I say 10,000 now, they had to buy a drinks package and everything like that, and the wifi, so it came to [00:17:00] 10,000.
Well, if you go and look on Explorer and you go a two week cruise, you could easily get it for 10,000 less. Oh, easily. And that's a six star ship, And. Yeah. It's just to me, there's no comparison. If you had the money, of course everybody's different. Everybody has different budgets, and I completely understand.
But if I had 5,000 pound to spend on a two week cruise or a week cruise, and there was a suite on p and o and a suite on explorer, or even princess, hands down, I'm going princess or explore. You know, but yet again, we say that and what makes me laugh is you get the die hard p and o loyal members like myself.
'cause I've done 30 cruises on p and o, I can't say any different the suites sell out first. You know, that's what makes me laugh. p and o have got this thing where they have guests like myself who love the ships so much on the brand.
They specifically get it for a Pacific cabin number or suite number because they love it, and there will cruises the suite score first, the mini sweets score first, you know, [00:18:00] you're talking 40, 50, 60, 70,000 pound. not include drinks. Yeah. And still have to, and you still have to pay your wifi for Yeah.
You know, 120 days or however long. It's, don't get me started on that. I just think that's, you know, we've got a thing over here called Premier Inns, and they're very cheap hotels. You walk in the lobby, then you get free wifi. you go to the supermarket. Now even my cars got wifi,
But then I spend thousands of pounds to go on a cruise, and then I gotta pay, the prices are extortion for wifi, and it's just wrong. Yeah. On so many levels. Yeah. I think so too. I mean, it almost seems likeI would equate it to the people who love Disney. They know they're paying more.
They don't care. They just wanna go on Disney . You've hit the nail on the head and exactly like me with these penthouses, for example, on Aurora, because there's two of them and only two in the entire world. And I hate to say it, but within the next year or two, I'm going to say that Aurora's gonna be sold.
She'll be following her sister Ariana, and it's going to be a case of they have their loyal customers, and the first [00:19:00] two cabins that sell out are the penthouse. And it makes you laugh. Yeah. But then I'm a hypocrite for saying that because what did I do? I'm the one that had one too, you know? So yeah.
it's something they've got. it's like when somebody has a hold on, someone, you know, these penthouses and they have a hold on people, and I've been there so I can save. Openheartedly, yes, I've done it. I wouldn't do it again because I've done it. It was special. It was amazing. Would I pay the price again?
Absolutely not . But it wasn't for that, it was a bucket list moment. So I could raise a glass to my grandmother and say, right, Nan, we've done it. You know? And it was wonderful. And I've done an article on it and it was fabulous. And a lot of people have read it and seen and reminisce with it because a lot of people do multi-generational cruising and, yes.
it was just wonderful. And that is one benefit to it and that's what I think is a benefit to sweet class on any contemporary and even premium line, is that maybe there are parts of your family or people in your family who can't afford that, but still wanna be part of the celebration.
Absolutely. And so you get in on one of those [00:20:00] deals and they're like, look. All we could do is an inside cabin, but we wanna come and join you in the suite when you do your remembered celebration . Yeah. And that's what my parents used to do when we were younger, because we could fit in the suite.
You know, the four of us when me and my sister were young. Of course, when you get older then, and you've got a brother and a sister, you don't really wanna be sharing beds. And of course you get into teenage years. Well. It worked out better because we didn't always go to breakfast 'cause we were teens, so we never made that special restaurant, should we say.
So my mom and dad would have the suite and we would have an inside cabin opposite. Of course, the way it works is one adult just had to go with one, thing. But you know what it's like you just swap around. But that's what it was because it was perfect. You know? What more did you want? Yeah.
I'm doing that over New Year's. Thanks because my kids don't like Coastal Kitchen on Royal, and I'm like, why am I paying for a suite for you? So my husband, husband and I are in a suite and they're in a balcony. Damn right. Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely.
Absolutely. You're on the same ship. They don't care. we'll meet you somewhere. [00:21:00] We're next door and my oldest will be 18, so I'm like. Peace out kits all the best. Bye bud. we'll come past the buffet. We'll see you with some cookies and milk. Yes, exactly . Exactly, exactly. Well, I really appreciate anything else about p and o that you think the listeners should know about.
'cause there's a lot of American listeners, as you said, north American . They'd be very surprised because it's a British, sort of line, even though it's owned by an American parent company. Try it because it's always good to try different things. Just remember that if you are going for a suite, do not expect any benefits that you do.
On the American lines, go for it because the cabins are lovely. But remember with p and o, just like a lot of other, should we say apart from royal carbon, I have a lot, but a lot of lines have different classes of ship. Be very careful 'cause not every suite is the same. So do your research. That's all I say.
And be prepared that you're not gonna get what you normally get if you [00:22:00] go on these different lines. But give it a go. P and o are one of the oldest lines out there was the, uh, peninsula oriental line. that's what it's called. But the heritage, they're steeped in history.
Um, and yes, certainly give it a go. be surprised for not getting as much, bang for your buck as we say. So, yeah. Yeah. Especially in the suite. Unless you go, I mean, I definitely wanna try it. I've got a cousin who lives in Liverpool. She went on it and it looked absolutely.
Absolutely gorgeous and fun. And so I definitely would want to definitely check it out. Plus, it's nice to give different perspective, right? Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. But the ships are all different. There's loads of the same ships, but as I said, the class of ships are all different. Do your research.
Look at the reviewers. Don't listen to every review. 'cause everybody's review is personal. People now want to agree with what I've said. 'cause they've got different Of course. Absolutely. That's what the world is about. Free to say whatever you want, you know, and you all have different opinions, but give it a go.
And I have a lot of American friends who've physically come over here to do the British Isles [00:23:00] cruises and will pick p and o because they do that itinerary and they know that it's close to Princess. And some of them go, they absolutely love p and o because they're not drinkers, so they don't have to buy the package and they can pay as you go.
So it suits many different people. You know, so, yeah. And it seems like a really culturally immersive experience, right? Absolutely. Like you're doing the British Isles on a British line, there's probably gonna be a large percentage of British people. It's like Absolutely. Go and be immersed in. Absolutely.
that's another thing too, just in terms of, like culturally. On PO, is it? When we talked the last time about ard, you know, a lot of it is very quintessentially British. Do you feel the same way about PO? People are like dressed a little bit differently, like they're still doing afternoon tea.
Yes. A lot of the same. You said the entertainment was still very more West End and it is p and o used to be very, I'm not gonna say very formal, but they used to have formal, semi-formal and casual. This was years ago now. Now it's just a celebration evening.
So on A [00:24:00] seven night cruise, you'd have two nights where you can dress up every other night, resort casual, you know, or whatever you fancy. But two nights out of a one week cruise, it'll be celebration night, which means gents can put on a tux, ladies can put on a dress, you know, or a cocktail. Oh, you don't have to.
But it's recommended that you do. But it's very good because a lot of people do, and it's great. You immerse yourself in there. you look at each other, walking past, everybody's dressed the same and it's lovely and it gives you that little buzz. Not everybody likes it, but p and o cater for that. You know, you don't have to do it.
And there's different venues that cater for it. You can go to certain restaurants that don't. That means that you can, be casual. You can go to other restaurants that more people dress up and bars and all that sort of thing. it's not set in stone that you have to wear it, you know, not walking around in shorts and t-shirts, should we say for an evening.
But yeah, um, it's very accepting. Should we say. Yeah. Good to know. Awesome. Well, what's on the agenda coming up? what trips do you have? Well, in 18 days time, we are on my first AZA [00:25:00] Ma crew. So I can't wait to come back and talk to you about that, because that's gonna be excellent.
Yeah. We are going all around Spain and France. It's an intensive itinerary, nine nights. Different port every day, um, on Asmar request. So I cannot wait for that because that's another luxury line that I'm ticking off the list. So when I'm back, I'll come back on and we'll talk everything Asara. Exciting. I can't wait.
As always. Well, thank you so much again for being here, um, to listeners. Thanks again to you too. And until next time, I wish you safe and luxurious cruising.