Itinerary change

Hi, we are shortly leaving on 29th August Britannia cruise to the Norwegian Fjords. P&O have swapped all the ports around, how do I find out the arrival/departure times for the updated itinerary? P&O don't state precise timings and haven't responded to my email. I have checked with websites like cruisett and the different port websites but they don't have the updated itinerary either- very annoying when trying to plan our own trips. Any thoughts? Thanks[emoji4]

As things have transpired, this cruise has now the exact itinerary to a previous cruise we took on the Ventura c ouple of years back.

In thinking that the arrival/departure times will be something similar we were alongside at the latest by 0830 with departures between 1700 and 1800.

Hopefully this will be able to give you some idea of the likely times.

You can check by looking on the local Port Authority websites.

When we did a P and O cruise last month I wanted the arrival and departure times as I was arranging our excursions (never book the ship's). I just rang P and O and they gave them all to me. Couldn't have been easier.

You can check by looking on the local Port Authority websites.

 

When we did a P and O cruise last month I wanted the arrival and departure times as I was arranging our excursions (never book the ship's). I just rang P and O and they gave them all to me. Couldn't have been easier.

How soon before your cruise did you phone for arrival/departure timings? We're on Ventura from 27th Sep - did you think this is too early to call?

Tinsoldier

We only booked the cruise 6 weeks before departure, so I probably rang 4 to 5 weeks before the cruise. Sorry, I can't remember exactly. I know I had started to check out the local port authorities, but thought there must be an easier way of doing it.

However, any reputable tour company will know the arrival/departure times, which has always been our experience.

Hi, we are shortly leaving on 29th August Britannia cruise to the Norwegian Fjords. P&O have swapped all the ports around, how do I find out the arrival/departure times for the updated itinerary? P&O don't state precise timings and haven't responded to my email. I have checked with websites like cruisett and the different port websites but they don't have the updated itinerary either- very annoying when trying to plan our own trips. Any thoughts? Thanks[emoji4]

This site is usually useful - I've picked up your cruise but guess it is probably the original itinerary. If you click on the 'Sept 2015' tab at the top it will give you the rest of your ports in September.

http://ships.cruisett.com/schedule/PO_Cruises/Britannia/August_2015/

Interestingly, our similar cruise on the QE has reversed all our ports of call in the last week of August too! :confused:

How soon before your cruise did you phone for arrival/departure timings? We're on Ventura from 27th Sep - did you think this is too early to call?

It may be worth ringing up for confirmation, but this is what it's showing for your cruise on cruisett:

http://ships.cruisett.com/schedule/PO_Cruises/Ventura/October_2015/

Assuming the ports haven't been swapped around of course!

P.S. This also gives you an insight into which other ships are in port and the possible pressure on the tourist infrastructure if there are a lot of them! If you click on the other ships, you will be able to see what their port times are too - it will give you a heads up on who's there first to nab the taxis/hoho's etc! :D (Definitely worth knowing at such ports like Santorini to get a feel of just how many are going to be homing in on the cable car - definitely a bottle neck issue!!)

It may be worth ringing up for confirmation, but this is what it's showing for your cruise on cruisett:

 

http://ships.cruisett.com/schedule/PO_Cruises/Ventura/October_2015/

 

P.S. This also gives you an insight into which other ships are in port and the possible pressure on the tourist infrastructure if there are a lot of them! If you click on the other ships, you will be able to see what their port times are too - it will give you a heads up on who's there first to nab the taxis/hoho's etc! :D (Definitely worth knowing at such ports like Santorini to get a feel of just how many are going to be homing in on the cable car - definitely a bottle neck issue!!)

Thats really helpful = thanks very much Kruzseeka

This site is usually useful - I've picked up your cruise but guess it is probably the original itinerary. If you click on the 'Sept 2015' tab at the top it will give you the rest of your ports in September.

 

http://ships.cruisett.com/schedule/PO_Cruises/Britannia/August_2015/

 

Interestingly, our similar cruise on the QE has reversed all our ports of call in the last week of August too! :confused:

Thank you so much for this. Very helpful.:cool:

Thanks everyone for the input, I phoned P&O as suggested and they gave me the times straight away, I didn't have to wait on hold for ages either[emoji106]

I asked them why they didn't put the itinerary details on their website and they said incase of changes such as this.

This will be my 2nd cruise with P&O and now both times they have switched ports round and on my last cruise with them missed a port out.

I've never experienced this with Celebrity or other cruise lines and get the feeling by reading the forum that this is a common occurrence.

We're going Amsterdam and zebrugge next year and I'm holding off from booking excursions myself as I've a feeling the days will change. .strange they don't put any times in port ..

Thanks everyone for the input, I phoned P&O as suggested and they gave me the times straight away, I didn't have to wait on hold for ages either[emoji106]

I asked them why they didn't put the itinerary details on their website and they said incase of changes such as this.

This will be my 2nd cruise with P&O and now both times they have switched ports round and on my last cruise with them missed a port out.

I've never experienced this with Celebrity or other cruise lines and get the feeling by reading the forum that this is a common occurrence.

If they make changes to your itinerary like swapping days around or even substituting ports altogether whether they originally gave you berthing times at those ports becomes irrelevant anyway - you won't even be there! No, refusing to give docking times is a deliberate move and if they think you shouldn't know in case of changes, why then are they prepared to give that information to you when you ring up?

Other cruise lines (though not Cunard) declare arrival and departure times, no doubt with a rider somewhere in the small print about possible operational changes. It's obvious sea conditions and the weather can affect progress so timings can't be set in stone but I find it disingenuous of P&O to persist with this policy. The information is out there - we can often find the information with a little persistence through cruisett or port websites or a phone call to P&O(!) so why make passengers go to that trouble? I feel sure it's got more to do with making organising DiY excursions in port more of a hassle hoping many will settle for ship's trips instead.

P. S. for Esk. Just as a matter of interest, did the port times match those on cruisett albeit the ports were in a different order? Of course changing the order could affect things with overnight timings on different legs changing.

P. S. for Esk. Just as a matter of interest, did the port times match those on cruisett albeit the ports were in a different order? Of course changing the order could affect things with overnight timings on different legs changing.

Hi, thanks for your help- I had a look, Cruisett still have the old itinerary and all the port times have changed. We usually find this website very helpful especially with P&O's secretive approach to port times!