Selbourne

I’ve never been one of those who laps up positive reviews whilst discounting negative ones, but that’s hardly the most robust review! Give me a good balanced review any day.

The way to cope with all the new rules and regulations Avril is to take a bottle of the strong stuff on board with you to ease the worries. Oops. No, sorry. You’re not permitted to do that anymore 🤣 On a serious note though, as @Megabear2 rightly says, those who use this forum and ask the right questions will be fine. The on board needs declaration is very straightforward and, touch wood, we’ve never had any issues. The biggest worry is that they don’t always acknowledge receipt, or that it’s been processed, so you are left wondering. Thankfully on the Cruise Personaliser for our booked cruises it shows that my wife has been allocated an evacuation chair, so I know that we are sorted. Worst case scenario, I can’t see them denying boarding to someone with a walking stick who just uses it to steady themselves, if they can manage stairs fine. All the reports that I have seen in the press about people being denied boarding have been people turning up with undeclared scooters or wheelchairs.

Although, to be fair, many wheelchair users who can cope with their arms propelling the chair may struggle with their legs, especially climbing steps. That used to be the case with my wife. When she still had some use of her legs I would lift her legs, one at a time, to get on a coach. Now even that’s impossible, so we have to use wheelchair accessible transport.

Every single question across the entire form has an asterisk against it, yet there is no key to say what it means 🙄 I can only assume that it means that you must answer the question.

Now that’s an interesting question. I’ve just checked the On Board Needs form that I submitted for our Cunard cruise next week (I kept a copy just in case), which I think is the same as the P&O one, and this is the second question (which I hadn’t remembered answering for my wife); What level of assistance do you require in case of emergency evacuation?* ✓ I require evacuation chair assistance and I am under 128 kg (282 lbs) I require evacuation chair assistance and I am above 128 kg (282 lbs) One would assume that if you don’t tick either box then you are self declaring that you don’t need an evacuation chair. However, they may determine from answers to subsequent questions that you do. It’s all very confusing!

You don’t request one. They are allocated by P&O.

In which case I think you have very good reason to be extremely unhappy with P&O. Your experience highlights that the whole system needs urgent review. It seems completely unacceptable to me that P&O accepted a booking, you correctly completed the required declaration and they take 3 months to flag a problem. I guess that you now have the dilemma of either not taking the wheelchair and struggling during the cruise, or taking one and risk being denied boarding. Not that I’m advocating rule breaking, but Mobility at Sea will either allow people to collect rented wheelchairs just inside the terminal entrance (which means that you have to check-in with them) or they will deliver them to the cabin (which means that you don’t) 🤔

I’m dreading these lifts, especially as I will be pushing my wife in her wheelchair. It sounds as though a strategy meeting is needed at each lift lobby, with each waiting passenger designated to ‘mark’ a lift and then the winner stands in the doorway to hold it for the others 😂

We are saying the same thing. Impossible to know who is at fault until that very specific question is answered!

I’ve asked the same question (twice) and am still not 100% sure that the OP specifically stated on the very first Onboards Needs Questionnaire submitted immediately after booking that they intended to bring a wheelchair. This is the absolute crux of the issue. If they did then P&O is at fault. If they didn’t (or relied on the TA, or Mobility at Sea, to do so - or didn’t mention the wheelchair until the second submission in April) then, unfortunately, the fault is the passengers. Jury is out for me until that is specifically answered!

My last post was removed as well, possibly because I replied to the post that mentioned the TA. To repeat my point, there is one critical question that I don’t believe has been answered. When the OP completed the onboard needs questionnaire immediately after booking, did they state at that time that they would be bringing a wheelchair and state the dimensions (as is required)? If they did, then the fault lies with P&O. If the passenger was deemed to need an evacuation chair but no more were available, the booking should have been cancelled at that stage. Conversely, if the OP did not state on the Onboard Needs Questionnaire that they were bringing a wheelchair, or somehow assumed that by informing their TA or by booking one through Mobility at Sea that they would be covered, then P&O would deem that the fault lies with the customer for not declaring the wheelchair on the Onboard Needs Questionnaire. It sounds pedantic, but this seems to sum up all the issues that I have read here and elsewhere when people have run into problems. One of the many issues that P&O (and other Carnival brands) need to resolve is that they don’t always acknowledge receipt of the Onboard Needs Questionnaire and that issues flagged have been noted. This leaves the customer with at best a nagging doubt that they might run into difficulties, or at worst being refused embarkation at the terminal.

The problem with MS, especially at the early stages, is that a persons level of mobility can vary enormously from day to day, especially if the person still has a degree of mobility. Some days they can cope reasonably well without much assistance, whereas other days a wheelchair may be essential. I remember this well when my wife was at the earlier stages of the disease. It is therefore quite feasible that someone may be able to make their way to the muster station unaided some days but not others.

I’ve just taken a screenshot of our Cruise Personaliser showing that an Evacuation Chair is required for my wife for our cruise next week, just in case!

The whole system definitely needs reviewing urgently. As well as issues such as these being highlighted on this forum (and no doubt others) there have been several reports in the press recently about passengers with wheelchairs and scooters being denied boarding. Whilst we understand the issue here, the press don’t and the articles are all painting P&O in a very poor ‘anti-disability’ light, which is not the case.

What a nightmare. You say that you completed the on-board needs questionnaire in January. Did you declare that you were intending to bring a wheelchair at that time? If you did, then you should have been told at that stage that you couldn’t be accommodated, not 4 months later. If you didn’t, and have only recently declared that you are bringing a wheelchair then as @molecrochip states, if the limited number of evacuation chairs are already taken then you cannot be accommodated. It’s not discrimination, it’s safety. My wife has secondary progressive Multiple Sclerosis and is now a full time wheelchair user. We have to use an accessible cabin and we declare the wheelchair immediately when we book and an evacuation chair is allocated. On that basis, once they are all allocated you’d assume that further bookings wouldn’t be accepted from those who need to bring wheelchairs. If I’d declared it in January and it had taken until 4 weeks before the cruise to be told this I would be furious. As well as clamping down on people turning up at the terminal with an undeclared wheelchair, presumably as they have a need, it’s high time that P&O also clamped down on the abuse of the assisted embarkation and disembarkation by those who don’t genuinely need it. Folk who cope perfectly adequately walking around the ship and the ports throughout the entire cruise, but then claim that they need to be transported on or off the ship in a wheelchair when they perceive that there is some advantage to be gained by doing so. Even though we have a genuine need, we avoid assisted disembarkation now as it annoys me so much

I can’t abide whisky or coke! 😂

Yes, I can see the logic, as long as runners don’t feel that they have priority and everyone else has to stop, move to the side etc. Walkers are in the majority and the runners should run in such a way to avoid them, not the other way around. If they want a completely unhindered running route then I would have thought that the running machines in the gym are a better bet!

We are on the same cruise as you and also like to ‘promenade’ around the deck. From the videos I’ve seen, the Prom Deck does seem very narrow on Queen Anne and my view is that those who wish to jog will have to accept that they can’t expect everyone to keep ‘pulling in’ for them and will have to wait until it’s wide enough to pass.

Websites such as National Rail Enquiries will often suggest going Cross Country to Reading and then GWR from there. Apart from the fact that Cross Country is hideous, this is quite a roundabout and expensive route. The other option is Southampton to Salisbury (around 30 mins) which connects with the Waterloo to Exeter route. If the timings work, it can be quicker and cheaper - and you avoid Cross Country which is always a good thing!

We live ‘down south’ where prices are more inflated 😉

I just don’t accept that P&O drink prices are a rip off. As previously mentioned, they are no more than any pub or restaurant that we use ashore. You just cannot compare the cost of a bottle of booze bought from a shop versus the individual drink price in a pub, restaurant or cruise ship. As with any service business, the cost to buy the product is only a small amount of the cost of supplying the service.

I completely understand that, as I do hidden disabilities etc, but the difference with a wheelchair user is that they need more space. Those who are just elderly or have hidden disabilities can usually stand in a lift (or the disability isn’t hidden) and therefore can still get into busy lifts. The issue we had on Iona was that most lifts were arriving half to two-thirds full and, as a result, we couldn’t get in as the lifts were ridiculously small. We’d not had the issue on any other cruise ship and were hoping that this wasn’t going to be an issue with all new builds.

Oh dear. That’s the last thing that I wanted to hear given that my wife is a full time wheelchair user and we have no option but to use lifts. We’ve mostly cruised with P&O and, other than disembarkation morning which is always a nightmare, we’ve usually coped OK. However, when we went on Iona the lifts were a nightmare. Far too small given the fact that it’s such a huge ship that everyone was using them. Also, on other ships, during the safety announcement the Captain always asked people to give those in wheelchairs etc priority at lifts and there were often signs to that effect at the lifts themselves. On Iona there was none of that and to make it worse the lift etiquette was appalling, with able bodied people charging ahead of us to get into lifts when we had been waiting ages. It was so bad that my wife refuses to go back on that ship, or sister ship Arvia. Is it a naive hope that Cunard customers may demonstrate better lift etiquette and that our cruises on Queen Anne won’t be spoiled by the same issue?

We were really looking forward to the Planetarium when we were on QM2 last year. We saw both shows that were running and were extremely disappointed with both. I was expecting something akin to the London Planetarium, where almost all the show is the night sky and showing the marvels of space whereas, in reality, it was more like a large screen documentary with much of the subject matter being based on Earth. We didn’t even find it interesting and yet I love Space subjects.

Cunard Queens Grill is an entirely different experience to having a suite with P&O though, so not comparable IMHO. Using speciality restaurants every night wouldn’t appeal to us, other than perhaps on a 7 night cruise, as I’d find the menus too restrictive and repetitive. I like the choice and variety of the MDR menus, even though with P&O the menu descriptions can sound fabulous whereas what actually arrives at the table can be a little less impressive! One thing that could persuade us back to higher level accommodation (than a balcony cabin) with P&O would be if they could come up with the equivalent of Cunard’s Britannia Club. When we went on QM2 (admittedly in Princess Grill, but similar concept) we absolutely loved having a fixed table that we could turn up to whenever we liked for breakfast, lunch and dinner for the whole cruise, with no pagers, apps or queueing whatsoever. It was ten times better than what we’d been used to with P&O and massively enhanced our cruise experience as a result. By contrast, when we stayed in suites with P&O, the sole dining privilege was breakfast in a speciality restaurant and even that we abandoned some days as the experience had been spoiled by a screaming baby and some unruly toddlers whose parents didn’t give a damn about the fact that it was ruining it for everyone else (admittedly that’s a bad parenting rather than P&O issue though, so can happen on any ship).