ShelaghL

Applied via the email address I was given by my broker. Received email this morning to say that my application had been received and passed onto P&O - I should receive benefit within 5 days. Stockperks also told me they are working on a desktop pc version, which will be a great help to me and I'm sure others who either don't have one or find using a smartphone difficult. I much prefer a large screen and even find my laptop a bit small. My husband has cataracts and can't even see a mobile phone screen! I do hope this works - we have 3 P&O, a Princess and a Cunard cruise booked.

14 hours ago, NE John said:

I understand and I was trying to be encouraging. It’s getting harder and harder to live in a non-app world. The Cruise Critic site is actually the only social media site I frequent: good information, good people, and a few laughs…

Hi - I never thought of Cruise Critic as social media, but I take your point. I was referring to media such as Facebook and Instagram. The only tech I don't have is a smartphone - I have a desktop computer, a laptop and a very old pay as you go mobile phone that makes and receives phonecalls and texts, but nothing else - I last used it in 2021! My argument with Stockperks is that they will only accept applications via smartphone, though have since learnt that they have recently agreed to accept via an email address if the claimant, like me, doesn't have a smartphone. If I could apply using my pc I would do so. I understand through comments on line that the app isn't user friendly outside the US - the majority of the negative comments that I've seen seem to come from the UK and Canada.

13 minutes ago, D&N said:

Over ten years ago it was useful for me to look at an Android app on my laptop at work. My work phone ran on a more business orientated system.

I installed Bluestacks, which still seems to be around. It was a bit buggy back then, no idea if that's improved, but it did let me install and access the app.

 

Edit: I should add that I don't think anyone should be forced into taking such action.

Thanks - I'll look into that. It is annoying it doesn't work on desktops - I'm happy using one but don't need nor want a smartphone.

22 minutes ago, NE John said:

If one orders from Amazon or posts of social media sites, you already may have the technology to download the new shareholder request form app. Many people do more technology activities than they think. 
Worse case scenario, ask a young relative for help!

Hi NE John - I don't use social media either!

10 minutes ago, Victoria2 said:

I'm sorry to hear that. You will not be the only one who does not have the technology.

 

If it's of any use, when I phoned the broker, they diarised my requests and will send the required information as and when needed at the appropriate time.

I will check on this, again, at the appropriate time.

 

Could you do the same, that is of course, if you still want to retain the extra obc the shares 'give'?

From March 7 brokers cannot do this on clients' behalf and neither can travel agents. My broker has just sent me an email address for Stockperks as apparently they have relented and will accept claims by email for those that don't have a smartphone, so I need to see if that will work first, so sale of stocks now on hold.

15 minutes ago, NE John said:

If one orders from Amazon or posts of social media sites, you already may have the technology to download the new shareholder request form app. Many people do more technology activities than they think. 
Worse case scenario, ask a young relative for help!

Hi - I use a desktop computer and the app doesn't work on that and I have no relatives, let alone young ones, except my husband and he is 80!

On 3/13/2024 at 4:38 PM, Victoria2 said:

Have you tried?

 

I wonder how all the folk without the technology to use this App, will manage. I have the technology, although possibly not the know how, but will continue using the same method I started with, a year ago.

 

It doesn't seem broken, so I won't try and fix it. 🙂

I don't have the relevant technology and have told my broker to sell my shares. 

I asked my TA about an upgrade a couple of weeks ago before I got the invite to bid.  Her quote was £500 less than the bid price!!!

Maybe it depends how many of each category they have left.  I think our cruise is pretty full so maybe they only have 1 or 2 suites left.  I am disappointed with how P&O are operating this.

2 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

Which ship?  I had an offer for my Britannia one for £1,130pp from a deluxe to a suite.  It looks like some ships are getting far higher bid starting levels.

It's Britannia.  Seems to be they just pick a figure out of the air!!!!

Sorry - typo in message above - should say you can bid any amount!

On 10/20/2023 at 9:23 AM, Selbourne said:

I have been extremely surprised to receive the ‘bid to upgrade’ email this morning for our 65 night Aurora cruise in January, which we booked last week on a late saver fare via a TA. It’s wasted on us, as we couldn’t upgrade even if we wanted to, as there are no higher grade accessible cabins on the ship. However, the minimum bid prices were, shall we say, interesting 😂 

 

Mini-suite - an additional £12,920 

Aft Suite - an additional £24,360

Midships Suite - an additional £26,600 

Penthouse Suite - an additional £39,180 

 

I can’t imagine that there will be much take-up at those prices!
 

I wonder if those who booked on a Select basis (as we usually do) will be offered them at much lower prices? Has there been any evidence of that approach? That would seem like a much fairer system to me. Better still, when they don’t manage to sell the upgrades I would hope that those who paid Select fares are upgraded free of charge. Again, has there been much evidence of that since the bid to upgrade system was introduced?

Hi - I've just messaged about the high price we have been offered.  We always book select, so it doesn't seem to be that those on Select get a lower bid minimum. It's a joke.  On Princess there is no minimum bid - you can book any amount.

On 9/27/2023 at 10:10 AM, lancashire_cruisers said:

We also had the upgrade email and booked with a TA not that we’ll be bidding as we’re more than happy with our deluxe balcony cabin. For information the prices to bid for an upgrade are as follows:

 

Suite £470pp

Family suite £420pp

Conservatory mini-suite £240pp

 

This is on Iona and interestingly the email splits the conservatory mini-suites into Promenade and non-promenade categories (even though the price is the same).

This  is very interesting.  I've been invited to bid on a caribbean cruise in January.  We are also in a deluxe balcony.  Our minimum bid is over £1500 pp for a suite making the upgrade more expensive than it would have cost me if I'd booked the suite in the first place.  No cheap upgrades for us.

58 minutes ago, mklions said:

We are flying premium economy via Gatwick on TUI.

One problem we have is booking seats together, my wife will not travel ( nervous flyer) unless we are sitting next to each other and we cannot book seats until 14 weeks before our holiday.

In the past we have booked the seats at the time of booking, but this seems t have changed.

mklions

 

We've never been able to book seats at time of booking with P&O We've always had to wait. Been able to book at time of booking with Marella. The seat selector is playing up. P&O say they are working on it. I had an email on Friday saying I could book seats at 00.01 on the Saturday. I tried many times to get on the site but gave up at half past midnight.  I tried again at 05.40 and was successful but all the window seats had gone and only 2 lots of 2 seats together in the middle were left so booked one of those for me and husband we are in Premium. By the way all seats cost £45 each each way ie £180 for the 2 flights. Good luck. 

16 hours ago, mklions said:

Just a thought,

We are flying home from our Britannia cruise on 9th Feb next year and we are thinking of booking the lounge access at Barbados. Airport.

 

P&O always get you off the ship and to the airport extra early on disembarkation and maybe for a little extra comfort ( before our overnight flight) we should look to buy access into the lounge at Grantly Adam’s. 

Has anybody ever considered this as an option, and if so do they know the cost and the best place to book.?

Thanks,

mklions.
 

I thought I had already replied to this but I can't see my reply.  We've never found departures packed so we've never bothered with it and we've flown from Barbados many times.  You can book lounge on the day.  I'm flying back on 27 January and so can send an update.  Maybe best if you emailed me but I think it didn't publish my original reply as I included my email address and maybe that isn't allowed? I'll try and remember to log in to this string when I get back from our cruise - also on Britannia - you no doubt fly in when we fly out.  Do you know which airline you are flying with?

13 hours ago, mklions said:

Earlier this year I booked a Caribbean cruise (sailing on Britannia) through a well known TA who advertise extensively in the national papers.

 

They made a mess of our booking which originally we were  flying PE out of Birmingham. 

 

When I enquired a few weeks ago they told me that there were no PE seats available out of Birmingham and that we could only fly economy.

 

The advertisement in the paper clearly stated book a suite and get PE flights included in the price.

To be fair to the TA they recorded our booking and admitted the sales agent made a mistake in our booking.

 

As compensation the TA agreed to arrange private transfers for us if we agreed to fly out of Gatwick.

We agreed as long as we get the PE seats, which they said were booked for us.

We have checked online and see that it states a TUI flight, which is fine, however we cannot book our seats until 14 weeks before we fly. ( in two weeks time)

 

If they decide to swap aircraft and choose Maleth we will simply not go, as Malath do not supply a PE upgrade.

I am 6''4' and cannot be done with travelling 8 hours in economy.

millions.

 

Hi - I knew well in advance of the 14 weeks that we were flying with Tui - have you looked on the cruise personaliser as your flight should be confirmed if you are flying Tui, though seat reservations can't be made until 14 weeks beforehand and good luck with that.  I got an email on the Friday to say I could book seats from 00.01 on the Saturday.  I stayed up and gave up at half past midnight as I couldn't get on the site.  I got up at 05.40 and managed to get the seat selector up only to discover that all window seats had gone and there were only 2 sets of 2 seats still left together, so I booked one of those as I want to sit next to my husband! Since then I haven't been able to access the seat selector again and I've heard that there is a problem with the site that P&O are trying to rectify. By the way you will need to pay £90 EACH i.e. £180 to book seats - this fee applies to all seats (£45) per seat each way) not just PE.

When is your cruise? We are gong January '24 and fortunately we are flying with Tui, but many are now flying with Maleth Aero and even if they booked Premium they now can't fly premium as Maleth doesn't have it - P&O has refunded the premium payment.  The planes also don't have on board entertainment - on a 9 hour flight that could get awfully boring!

Just had an email from Princess that after 6 September don't need to be vaccinated to sail except in a few circumstances. No test for vaccinated but unvacced need to take a self test - as we know open to abuse. How long before P&O follow suit I wonder?  There is a big anti vac lobby in the US though so probably bowing to pressure.

5 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

I find that shocking! I'm in your next door county and am tested regularly, as I say full blood tests quarterly. I also have a personal health adviser I meet every four weeks outside of a medical environment, a free one year gym/swimming membership and an NHS diabetes prevention course attended over 18 monthly sessions to support healthy living. My friend has full blown diabetes and although there is no specialist nurse at the surgery he receives 6 monthly feet and eye check ups regularly.  It would appear therefore to be an NHS county decision rather than nationally.

Thanks Megabear2, you're probably right about it being more local.  I've never had the care you talk about though.  Never had a personal health adviser, though did go to the diabetes prevention course when I was first diagnosed.  Only ever had an annual check up which also has to cover my heart condition - I had a stent 12 years ago and a TIA 16 years ago. I've lived in Hampshire as well as Dorset and it was the same in Hampshire.

15 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

This is from Staysure online quote page:

 

Quote

For each traveller named on this policy, please select Yes if they:

1. have, in the last two years, suffered from any medical or psychological conditions and for which they've received treatment, been prescribed medication, attended any consultations, investigations or check-ups.
2. have ever suffered from or received treatment, investigations or tests for:
   • heart attack, angina, chest pain(s) or any other heart condition
   • high blood pressure, blood clots, raised cholesterol, aneurysm or any circulatory disease
   • any form of stroke, transient ischemic attack (mini-stroke) or brain haemorrhage.

Section a is the relevant part for minor problems.  You will see it refers to treatment, medication, consultations, investigations and check ups.  This is the catch all for my ear infection example. If you click you have pre existing conditions you will find very minor illnesses etc there.  For example you might have had antibiotics prescribed for the ear infection by a nurse over the phone. It will be declarable as it's on your medical record.  That is therefore an existing condition for the underwriter if it's in Staysure's two year area.

 

Ludicrous as it is ear wax will come up, colds, ingrown toenails etc.  They are there with no questions as they clearly aren't relevant for much but if they are on your recordd - say you had a cold that didn't clear up and you mentioned it in passing - the underwriter will look at it in the event of a claim.

 

Cheaper policies such as Staysure and Avanti (same owners, same rules) do not publish a list of automatically included minor illnesses so they are declarable.  Bigger companies like AXA, LV, Prudential etc publish a list at the quote point.  They cost more but don't pass the buck back to the customer and generally as a rule the insured person gets a quicker and easier resolution to their claim as the records are not inspected in minute detail for missed declarations.

Oh dear - you say Avanti is a cheap policy?  We are now paying around £1000 with Avanti.  My husband had a knee replacement last year - didn't affect the price of the policy.  When I renewed, he was waiting for the second knee replacement -- didn't affect the price of the policy.  When I phoned to tell them he'd had the second op, policy increased by a third.  I was going to shop around when we have to renew next year, but maybe I won't given your comment!

On 7/21/2022 at 10:25 AM, MX-Drew said:

I fear these maybe "old" T&Cs as these have been published for sometime but the big question is, will P&O update them when they hope this subject has been forgotten?

This was copied from just underneath the new guidance on testing, so FCC is still in place.

10 hours ago, Billish said:

Two points if I may 

1. If a passenger tests positive for his/her self administered test, will P&O automatically give them and their travelling companions FCC ?

2. If Covid is no longer seen as being serious or life threatening,  will there be no need for passengers who develop Covid to quarantine ?

Copied just now from the P&O website:

We’re unable to accept guests who, within 10 days prior to the cruise, have been unwell with confirmed or suspected COVID-19 or have been in close contact with someone with confirmed or suspected COVID-19. If you’re impacted by this, you would need to call our Customer Contact Centre on 0344 338 8003 (local call charges apply) and not travel to the terminal/airport. You’ll receive a non-refundable Future Cruise Credit (FCC) to the value of the cruise and we’ll automatically refund any pre-cruise purchases made through 

I note that people travelling in Sept have had emails.  We are sailing 2 October, but no email yet.  Wonder if they will be reviewing again before then?

12 hours ago, mickey1959 said:

We used Loyds Pharmacy worked fine for us really good despite poor reviews.

I think one of the problems for us is that we need a test on a Saturday.  A number of our local Lloyds are still offering tests, but not on Saturdays unfortunately.  Still hoping that testing will be scrapped.

Has anyone heard how the Iona trials are going?