terrierjohn

13 minutes ago, tring said:

I keep declining cookies and am asked again at every page I then go into, which makes this site more or less unusable.  Do not know if that is the intention of cc, but a shame if it is as I have used it a lot, but will probably skip it in future if it remains unusable in that way.  Approving ads does not sound like an improvement either, as will probably be bombarded by them.

 

Are others having the same problem?

 

Not noticed that problem, yet!

13 minutes ago, cruisingiscool said:

Thankyou for your advice molecrochip. I will check. Can my TA  do this or do I need to do it myself?

Your TA should check that an evacuation chair is available before they accept your booking, but it depends how experienced the agent is, as to whether they will.

23 minutes ago, Tin can said:

We have our first P & O cruise booked next year and the secrecy surrounding this by the line I find disconcerting.

 

We have other cruises booked in 2025 and 2026 with the line we usually travel with and we knew the arrival/departure times when we booked on the website.

 

I guess you regular guys here who sail P & O are used to it and it all works out ok for you.

 

 

It can be annoying for new cruisers, however all private excursion operators know the port times from the port authority, so they tailor their excursions to them, and will know if there is a planned change.

2 hours ago, brian1 said:

Morning Kalos,same here,ours will be 9 years in March.We did our last 3000 mile round trip in March and have hardly used it since other than driving 25 miles to Sevenoaks to see our daughter now and then.Only 60000+ on the clock.Biggest worry will be ULEZ if they move the goalposts as it's a diesel,OK at the mo,Brian.

My car will be 10 yrs old in October, but we are only doing about 2000-3000 miles a year mostly to Southampton for cruises, and we are trying the coach for our next cruise so it could be a lot less in future, and it's a diesel so only £20pa road tax and only done about 26,000 miles, so only just run in. So really a no brainer to keep it as long as it is still running.

22 minutes ago, Snow Hill said:

Went out for lunch today, I had the Ploughman’s Lunch

Keep away from the scales, and any more food for a few days.

2 hours ago, Fionboard said:

Tap water is the same as you get in the restaurant and bars. Tinned stuff tastes, surprisingly, tinny!

Totally agree,I tried it once and it was diabolical, the tap water in your own bottle then chilled in the fridge is fine. All this social media rubbish about it tasting salty and causing your feet to swell is rubbish, it tastes OK once it's chilled.

25 minutes ago, mrsgoggins said:

I've only taken quick glances at the posts here just recently as life was happening at at pace!  So I've skim read a few more pages today and thought I would chip in on the BBC chat with something that really puzzles me.

 

I'm largely supportive of the BBC (I didn't approve of the cuts to local radio last year, and some of the salaries paid and DH was always irritated by the pay of Gary Lineker and Huw Edwards).  My beef with them is the amount of duplication of staff to cover news stories in the regions which also have national interest.  Just why?  For my money, the local BBC team of journalists are very good so why can they not be used to do the same stories for the national news?  Time and time again you see the BBC news reporting the same stories, from the same spots with the only difference being the presenters!  

 

I still regard the BBC as something to be treasured but that doesn't mean it should be free from scrutiny.  It feels good to get that off my chest, as I've moaned about it for years 😉

 

 

And why is it necessary to fly out studio news presenters to cover overseas events, just to stand in front of a recognisable feature and do exactly what they could have done just as well,  if not better, back in the UK studio.

5 hours ago, zap99 said:

Quite right. How much do the beeb pay for Eurovision....? Too much..I bet

 

Even though I don't bother with Eurovision, the fact that it gets such good viewing figures is probably why the Beeb continue to highlight it.

23 minutes ago, Bloodaxe said:

 

Can be either, the last twice ours has been a plain Black one with no markings, they are increasingly using contractors and notTitan

Saga own Titan, but they currently seem to operate both brands separately.

You might want to check Cruise Mummy, that site had good info.

1 hour ago, wetterthanwater said:

I'm guessing P&O took the cheapest bidder and thus Maleth was chosen for the charter flights. You reap what you sow.

According to Moley, Maleth were the only bidder, it was either accept them or cancel a large chunk of bookings.

9 minutes ago, Snow Hill said:

Check the use by date on the box. 

We had one box well inside the use by date, but some of the test liquid vials had virtually dried out.

1 hour ago, delgirl said:

So do I. We both have cancer so I have got away with it lightly. Hopefully he will also. Just got a frog in his throat at the moment which is how I started.

Did you use a new test kit, or an old one from the pandemic era. We have some old ones left but I wonder if they are still accurate?

49 minutes ago, majortom10 said:

Yes but what was total OBC if dropped FP and chose extra OBC on top of OBC given with FP.

That is the difference, my last 2 P&O cruises I chose P4C, but because I wanted to ensure I could cancel and get a refund, the P4C price was, from memory, £135, meaning I could have saved £15 by giving up £120 OBC. But I still felt it was worth paying the extra to ensure I could drive straight in to the drop off lane, and not have to wait in a CPS waiting lane.

2 hours ago, sandancer said:

We also have an Annual policy with SS and we will be one day short on our cover. Have recently realised that our 35 night cruise won’t be covered as they allow a maximum of 35 DAYS. i.e. 34 nights for our age group. Their solution was for us to purchase a single trip policy to cover that particular cruise. Given that we paid well over 4 figures for the annual policy it’s not encouraging that we now have a further cost. Having in the past used Nationwide (they won’t cover us now due to medical issues) who allowed you to pay a small supplement to increase the length of the trip, it never occurred to me to check it with SS. Lesson learned. 

Maybe you could check with other insurers to see what they would charge for the extra day(s), you might find one cheaper than SS.

1 hour ago, majortom10 said:

Check what OBC you would have without CPS and instead taken extra OBC which is available with Select and then booked P4C and I bet you would be much better off.

I have to admit that for 14nt cruises, which is what we normally do, there is now very little financial benefit to opt for P4C, but we have had so many boarding delays with CPS waiting in rows for the chauffeur vans to return, that the speedy arrivals process with P4C is worth even paying a slight premium.

9 hours ago, zap99 said:

On our next cruise we could pick parking with CPS, or an extra £80 OBC. Parking 4 cruises price for the same cruise is £98, so actually a few quid in our favour. 🤣

It has often been said that CPS beat P4C on the shorter cruises, but lose badly on the longer cruises.

11 minutes ago, posford said:

Yes. Sounds good.

 

However, many years ago the biggest cruise agent was Gills.

They went under and I had 3 cruises booked through them, two having paid the full amount.

P&O stepped in and honoured all the bookings and did all the claims from ABTA.

Though it was a fraught couple of months.

 

i have booked direct ever since.

All monies paid via my TA goes straight to P&O, so exactly the same thing would apply now if my TA went bust, with no worries at all to me.

21 minutes ago, posford said:

Always book direct, I’m afraid.

It gives you another month before you have to pay.

Depends on your TA, mine only asks for 7 days more, but gives me a discount, and saves me the hassle of having to ring P&O for any minor problem.

3 hours ago, Boku said:

Please stop recommending P4C. Before you know it they will be as busy as CPS with service to match!

There are 2 or 3 other regular parking companies that offer a similar experience, but I have no idea of their prices or reliability.

54 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

It's out there if you look for it and I donjust mean face ache.  Last week I was astonished to find Paul Ludlow being challenged on LinkedIn which is a professional site.

 

There are links via Radio 4 money programmes, Martin Lewis and also the trade magazines. 

But if you don't know about it, you won't be looking for any links, hence you won't find it.

1 hour ago, Megabear2 said:

How ironic. In this case it appears to be having the opposite effect and making the passengers batten down and be more determined than ever. Instead of going away it looks set to rumble on even if only through social media and news outlets.  

TBH MB, this is the only place I see this issue, and I imagine for most people this will also be the case.

So any rumbling on is likely to have a limited impact on potential P&O passengers.

1 hour ago, Peanut006 said:

I completed a form for P & O on 22/7 for my cruise Feb 25, yesterday I got an e-Mail inviting me to complete one!! Very frustrating indeed.
It then gets you thinking have they received it? Have I to complete it again? Are they just behind on work? Should I ring up and check? 

Procedures need changing/ updating.
A basic check/tick box like “has a form been received?” The next question “has form been completed in full?” could be the next stage to stop needless e-mails and worry for customers

 

Michelle

We have had the same problem, I just put it down to the usual P&O IT inadequacies.

2 hours ago, Windsurfboy said:

 

Publicity is like advertising,  it has slow cumulative effects.

 

Bad publicity is like a few termites eating away at foundation of sales. At first it has no effect but if it keeps happening then given time they collapse. 

 

Good publicity is like someone adding  a few extra beams to foundations or spraying preservative.

 

If you only care about current sales then no need to do anything, if you are in it for long-term that's another matter. In the end P&O is  a brand, a good image can add hundreds to prices , a bad image and it's discounts and down hill

 

Sounds credible, but experience tells me that PR comes quite a long way down the importance list for P&O, and it seems to have served them very well over the last 20 years.

11 minutes ago, Windsurfboy said:

 

Goodwill  , good publicity 

If they are filling their ships,despite the Maleth problems, then why would they feel the need?