Considering which cruise line to choose for your next family holiday at sea? There are so many things we love about sailing with P&O Cruises, but after hours of deliberation, we think we have found our top ten!
Cruising has really evolved over the last 20 years, and it is now the fastest growing area of the travel industry thanks to the range and diversity of cruise lines and ships. This means that, now more than ever, there really is a cruise for everyone! But how do you know which cruise line is right for you? My advice – speak to a travel advisor who has experience with the cruise market right now.
Having been a travel agent for almost a decade, I have had guests sail with many cruise operators, and I’ve even sailed with 5 of the major cruise lines out of the UK myself (P&O Cruises, Princess Cruises, Disney Cruise Line, Royal Caribbean & MSC so far). Having sampled a good variety of ships and brands, I can now say with some certainty that P&O are my favourite cruise line. In fact, our next two voyages are already booked with them! Let’s find out why…
1) The Reef
If you ask my son, Teddy, what he loves most about cruising, he will tell you it’s “the place where I go to play with my friends but you can’t come in”. [Charming!] But he genuinely loves it in there! He has been fond of the kids clubs since he was 3, going in to Splashers (aged 2-4 years) first on Iona, then Surfers (5-8 years) on Arvia. He can’t wait to try out Azura’s offering later this year! Before I became a parent, I used to say “I don’t understand why people take their kids on holiday if all they are going to do it throw them in the kids club”, but now I am the parent waiting for the doors to open at 10:00 the next day! We have meals together, explore the ports as a family and make sure we see lots of entertainment, but for just a few hours each day, it’s nice for us grown ups to catch a break knowing he is also making new friends and creating amazing new holiday memories of his own. The schedule is always jam-packed, particularly on sea days, and the staff are always so kind and welcoming. He often comes out with crafts he has made, and on the last night of the cruise they always have some sort of celebration too.
2) Relaxed Atmosphere
P&O is an informal cruise line, although there is typically one formal night for each 7 day cruise. Dressing up for dinner is encouraged in the main restaurant, however it is completely optional. Whilst it is nice to put on a posh frock once a week, if you really don’t fancy it, there are plenty of alternative restaurants to dine in on the designated formal evening too, such as the Horizon buffet. There are also plenty of food and drink options around the pool areas too, but more on that later! As families are welcome on all but two of the ships in the fleet (Arcadia and Aurora are adult exclusive), you will feel right at home wherever you are.
3) Family entertainment
From theatre shows to acoustic duos, live pop music to magicians, there is so much to see on a P&O Cruise, and unlike some of the other liners, the majority of the activities are multi-generational. The thing we love about P&O in particular is that they very much cater to a UK audience, so the music and media are things we are all familiar with. Having sailed with mediterranean and American cruise likes, I can tell you that this makes a difference when it comes to finding things the kids will enjoy. There is also a cinema on board showing a mixture of genres for families and grown-ups alike, and its all included – no hidden costs – just check out your daily schedule for showtimes!
4) Dining
Something we struggled with on the other cruise lines was the range of food that our son would eat, not because he was particularly fussy, but because he likes to eat food that he recognises! You would think fruit, vegetables, pasta, potatoes, bread etc would always be available in its natural form, but it has not been our experience on the other cruise lines! You could say that’s because British food is bland, ‘meat-and-two-veg’ etc., and whilst that is available, there are exotic and decadent meals available too. That being said, when your kids are overwhelmed with choice and just want an apple and a bread roll, its nice to be able to get them!
The kids offering in the main dining rooms has recently been updated on P&O cruise ships, in association with Annabel Karmel, to provide healthier options and an overall more balanced offering for young sailors. Of course they can still get fish fingers or chicken strips, but they can also now choose to have grilled fish, fillet steak or even a fruity chicken curry!
If the formality of the main dining room isn’t your thing, then I would recommend taking your little ones to the ‘Kids Tea’ in the Horizon Buffet. Open exclusively for children, the earlier dinner time (usually from 17:00-17:45) and more simplified selection of family favourites will give your kids exactly what they want without the stress of waiting to be seated or sitting quietly at the table whilst waiting for your food to come. This way, when it comes to the grown ups turn for dinner, there are no hangry tantrums! For ultimate peace-of-mind, why not let them loose in the kids club whilst you enjoy a quiet dinner without the stress of parenting – it is honestly one of my favourite things about cruising. No negotiations, no cutting up anyone else’s food, no washing up, just dinner and conversation like the good old days!
Another perk of travelling with ‘Britain’s favourite cruise line’ is that they have products and brands we all know and love. Think Heinz ketchup, HP Sauce, PG Tips tea and Kelloggs Corn Flakes. It might seem trivial, but when travelling with children, the familiarity of their favourite sauce might be just what they need after a day of overstimulating new cultural experiences.
5) Wallace & Gromit and Shaun The Sheep
Uniquely British and perfectly huggable, these iconic characters from the team at Aardman Animation make the ideal travel companions on any P&O Cruise. Teddy loves Shaun the Sheep, and meeting him on each voyage is a real highlight, particularly when they show up at Kids Tea! We have a fantastic video of him dancing with Wallace and giving Gromit a tentative little pat on the head on their first magical encounter. The way that these characters have been creatively woven into the activity offerings throughout the ships is also lovely to see.
6) Activities
The schedule onboard a P&O Cruise, particularly on a sea day, is quite frankly overwhelming… in a good way! I am ‘that person‘ who can’t wait to get back to their cabin after dinner to read through the next day’s schedule, highlighting everything that I think the family would like to do! There is so much to do! Crafts, game shows, dance lessons, yoga, karaoke, silent discos and shopping events, and that’s in addition to the normal holiday stuff like swimming and relaxing with an ice cream. The two newer cruise ships (Iona and Arvia) have even more amazing facilities such as splash zones, plus Arvia has a high ropes course and an escape room too! Phew! I’m going to need another holiday to get over this one!
7) Photo opportunities
As the chief photo-taker in our family, I am often absent from the majority of our holiday snaps, but that is another think that P&O does so well! Of course the photographers are out in force on formal night for the obligatory family portrait, but they are also there on arrival in every port, plus often around the ship during other parts of the voyage. Of course these photographs are not free, but you can get a good look at them before deciding if/which ones you would like to buy, and in digital format too! The photographers are great with kids, and one of my favourite pictures is of Teddy in a Captain’s hat taken by a P&O photographer on Iona in 2022 (below). Of course if you don’t want to purchase any of the official photographs, the ships and destinations also form the perfect backdrop to your own photographs too! Keep an eye out for the new giant P&O deck chairs on the pool decks!
8) Cabins
For some people, they don’t care what their cabin is like as it’s just somewhere to lay their heads, but for us it is still important to have a cabin that works for us. You may not even notice when a cabin is great, but when it is all kinds of wrong, you’ll remember it! When travelling as a family, the bed arrangement is a key factor in choosing a ship or cabin that it suitable, and P&O has a variety of options including a limited number of interconnecting cabins and suites. It’s not just how many beds there are in each room that you need to consider, but also the layout. Sometimes you can sleep 4 in a cabin, but they are 4 single bunks (2 top, 2 bottom with the ladders in the middle). Not always great if you’re taking granny and grandpa! On some ships, the extra beds can block the balcony door when in operation, rendering your balcony useless for seeing sunsets or sunrises. This is where an experienced travel planner can really help you to choose the ship, cabin and bedding arrangement that works for you. My best advice is to book a ‘Select Fare‘ with P&O so that you can actually pick a cabin you are happy with. ‘Guaranteed’ cabins are cheaper, but you could end up with a less desirable one, like we did on Arvia. It was a beautiful ship, but we had a hot tub full of people right outside our balcony at all times, and it meant the balcony, and quite frankly the window, was made redundant as we felt on display all the time! Another great feature of P&O is that they don’t shy away from putting kids entertainment on the in room TVs. The American & European cruise lines tend to limit the offering in the cabin to get you out and about (spending money) so your kids don’t drive you crazy, but we like to take a break in the afternoon and chill out with a movie and a cup of tea in the cabin before getting ready for dinner.
Above are some photos of our balcony cabin on our last P&O cruise (cabin number 8333, a GZ Balcony cabin on the promenade deck, Arvia, October 2025). As you can see, the sofa bed and upper berth are stowed away each morning, giving you optimum space in the cabin during the day. If you have young kids, you might want to ask your cabin steward to leave the extra beds out all of the time so that they are available for afternoon naps, but how practical this is will depend on your cabin layout.
9) Value for money
Although P&O are not always the cheapest (MSC do have some eye-wateringly low lead-in prices), if you can fill a cabin (as we do), there are often great deals to be found, including an occasional offer of ‘3rd and 4th passenger go free‘. Also, it is worth noting that with P&O cruises, gratuities are included in the price of the holiday, meaning it is not expected that you tip staff onboard as is customary of most of the other operators. This is very popular with us UK guests as tipping is not something we are used to. To give you an example of the impact of this, we took a 5 night cruise with Princess last year, and having $17 per person, per day added to our bill was a bit of a shock – that was £350 we were not wanting to pay in addition to our cruise price (and we didn’t pay it – we asked for it to be removed at guest services after encountering some issues onboard – but it came with a lot of guilt and not the negativity I want to be considering on holiday).
10) The Crew
A concern of many passengers is that the crew may be less attentive on a P&O Cruise as they are not working for cash tips, however I believe this is what makes the service better. Every guest is treated equally, staff are there when you need them and are not hounding you to buy something around every corner, and everyone we have encountered has been polite, friendly and welcoming. We even looked forward to our delightful daily briefing from the Captain!
Side note: Captain Wesley Dunlop really was a standout character on our first two P&O cruises, however Disney Cruise Line has since snapped him up, so only time will tell whether his replacement will be capable of filling his role in an equally memorable fashion!
Top Tips:
- Book Early. Pay the deposit (usually 10%), then spread the cost. Did you know, you can book up to 30 months in advance? We have found balcony cabins on a select fare in the school holidays for as little as £27 per person, per month!
- Book a ‘Select Fare’. This was you can choose the specific cabin and make sure you get the layout, bed arrangement and location you want. No surprises!
- Pre-book dining. This is particularly important on Arvia & Iona because the freedom dining system actually means you have to pre-book or join a lengthy virtual queue system onboard which is nothing short of a nightmare. If you know your family likes to dine early (at 18:00 for example), book a table every night or select “first seating” when you book.
- Visit The Reef on embarkation day. This will not only make your little sailors excited for their cruise ahead, but it will also give the grown ups an insight in to how they will be spending their time.
- Don’t forget to register your child for the kids clubs at The Reef! This can be done from 14 days prior to departure.
- Take reusable water bottles & squash (cordial). If you want to save yourself a small fortune, make the most of the refill stations around the ship and save the costly soft drinks for meal times. There is no limit to the liquids you can take onboard if sailing from the UK apart from alcohol, so stock up before you board. May as well make use of your in room fridge!
- Pack laundry detergent. Some of the most under appreciated facilities on P&O ships are the self service laundry facilities, available on each deck. Just take a couple of your normal detergent pods in your luggage and thank me later. I usually do a couple of loads of washing on the last sea day so there isn’t much to wash when I get home! They are all equipped with washers, driers and irons.
If you enjoyed this article, check out our other Cruise posts here!
Have you cruised with kids before? Which is your family’s favourite cruise line? Do you have a question about sailing as a family? Get in touch via the comments!
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