P&O Cruises Complaints: What’s True, What’s Not, and Why I Still Recommend Them for Families

If you’ve spent more than ten minutes in a cruise Facebook group, you’ll know that P&O Cruises gets a lot of criticism.

Some of it’s fair, some of it’s wildly exaggerated, and some of it is just people mixing them up with an entirely different company.

I’ve sailed with P&O plenty of tim es — most recently a two-week summer cruise on P&O’s Arvia with my two young children. I’ve experienced both the “what were they thinking?” moments and the “this is brilliant” surprises.

Here’s my take on the most common complaints you’ll hear, whether they are fair, and why I still think P&O can be a great choice for families.

🚪 The Cabin Location Controversy

The most-vlogged P&O gripe online is about P&O Arvia’s conservatory mini suites on Deck 8. On paper, they sound lovely — private conservatory space plus a balcony. In reality, your balcony is directly on the promenade, and anyone walking past can wave at you while you sip your coffee. Some are even right next to hot tubs that seem permanently occupied.

The truth is that, it’s a significant design flaw if you value privacy. We specifically booked a Deck 9 conservatory mini suite instead — one deck higher, with a proper balcony and no foot traffic. You can watch my P&O Arvia cabin review for more detail on those issues here.

📌 Tip: Always check the deck plans before booking. Location, location, location!

✈️ The Maleth Airlines Mess

This one’s hard to defend. In 2023 and 2024, P&O used Maleth Airlines for long-haul P&O Caribbean fly-cruises. The aircraft had no entertainment, were cramped for eight-hour flights, and often didn’t turn up on time.

We were caught up in a 13-hour delay at a closed airport in Antigua with minimal communication. This was not unusual — I haven’t heard of a single Maleth P&O flight that ran on time.

I also have a severe nut allergy, and despite notifying the airline in advance and again on board, nuts were served on the flight. The crew had to make a last-minute announcement asking people not to eat what they’d just handed out. Not exactly reassuring.

Refunds for delays are still in limbo. We’re owed over £1,500, and the process is painfully slow. Due to the ongoing legal dispute between Maleth and P&O, it doesn’t look like any compensation will be forthcoming.

P&O has now switched to TUI and Norse Atlantic for their upcoming Caribbean sailings, which should be more reliable, but for some passengers the Maleth episode left a lasting bad taste. I get it; being locked in a dark airport with a sobbing two year old was not a highlight of my cruise.

💸 Cost-Cutting Claims

Post-pandemic, many guests say P&O has trimmed back the extras:

• 👥 Fewer staff, slower service
• 🍽️ Dining changes and extra charges
• 🧹 Housekeeping less frequent (and no more evening turndown service)

I agree some changes are noticeable, but others feel more like a shift in the industry generally. For example, I don’t personally miss turndown — I can live without a chocolate on my pillow.

Some people frame this as a P&O customer service issue, but in my view it’s more about knowing what’s included before you book. Manage your expectations and you’re less likely to be disappointed.

⛴️ The P&O Ferries Confusion

This one drives me up the wall. P&O Cruises and P&O Ferries are completely different companies. The ferry company made headlines in 2023 for mass redundancies and poor treatment of staff.

P&O Cruises had nothing to do with it, but plenty of people still think they’re the same organisation. They’re not. End of story.

🌟 What P&O Does Better Than Most

Now, before we all start packing pitchforks, I want to be fair — there are things P&O does really well. The staff? Brilliant. We’ve had so many crew members go out of their way to help us, whether it’s finding an extra bread roll for my toddler at 4pm or just remembering my favourite coffee after a hard night with our baby. And the fact you can sail straight from Southampton without a flight, all year round? Game-changer when you’re travelling with small kids, pushchairs, and a family-sized stash of Calpol.

But for me, there are two things P&O does that tip the scales in their favour for families — and they’re the kind of benefits you might not even know about until you’re onboard.

🧳 1) Bonded Luggage Service — The Airport Fairy Tale

If you’ve ever flown long-haul with children, you’ll know the horror: weaving through a crowded arrivals hall, pushing a buggy one-handed while dragging a suitcase, a Trunki, and possibly a toddler who’s decided now is the moment to practice her best unicorn gallop.

P&O Cruise’s bonded luggage service makes all of that disappear. Here’s how it works: if you’re on one of their P&O Cruises Caribbean fly-cruises (and a few other itineraries like Malta), you check in your suitcase at your UK airport. You don’t see it again until it’s outside your cabin door on the ship. No baggage claim. No customs hall balancing a wriggly child on one hip and a 23kg case on the other. You just step off the plane, get on the transfer, and go straight to your holiday.

If you’ve ever thought “I’ll wait until the kids are older before doing the Caribbean,” this might be the thing that changes your mind.

🌙 2) The Night Nursery

Every cruise line will tell you they’re family-friendly, but very few back it up with something as genuinely useful as P&O’s night nursery. Between 6pm and 2am, you can drop off your baby or toddler (up to age 4) for supervised sleep while you enjoy a grown-up evening on the ship.

It’s completely free (no babysitting fees, no booking a year in advance, no limit on usage) and it’s staffed by trained childcare professionals who will call you if your child wakes up and needs you.

For parents, this is gold. You can have dinner in a speciality restaurant without trying to eat a £35 steak in under three minutes. You can go to the theatre without worrying about bedtime meltdowns. Or you can just sit on your balcony with a drink and remember what silence sounds like.

And because it’s P&O, the nursery is indoors, quiet, and secure — not a noisy kids’ club corner. It genuinely feels like an extension of your own bedtime routine, not a compromise.

For me, these two services alone make P&O one of the most family-friendly cruise lines.

⚖️ My Verdict

P&O isn’t perfect. There are real issues worth knowing about, and they’re not for everyone. But they also do some family-friendly things better than most other lines — and for some, those benefits outweigh the downsides.

Would I book again? Yes. I have, in fact. I’m going on a Caribbean cruise on P&O Arvia in January and I’m already so looking forward to it! Take a look here and read about my review of P&O’s Avia in Europe in 2025 to see all the things I loved.

📌 Over to you: Have you experienced any of these complaints yourself? Or do you have a different P&O gripe (or compliment) to add? Let me know in the comments on my YouTube video or drop me a message on Instagram.

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