SomersetS

I think you can only claim for ports which were on the itinerary when you set sail. I am not sure whether there is a way to claim for itinerary changes before you sail but after you have paid your final balance? Do the cruise companies have any obligation to offer a full refund if your cruise itinerary changes significantly? Or do they cover themselves for this in the Ts&Cs?

It was £25.90 to extra to add extra cruise cover (which covered missed ports and presumably other things) to our standard travel insurance (around £100) (which included basic cruise cover). This was for a 7-night cruise. I don't know whether this was a particularly competitive price but it turned out to be worth having for Iona because missed ports seem to have been a recurring problem in recent weeks.

I got the impression from the onboard Reception staff on Iona that they only printed out letters for passengers who specifically requested them. I wonder how easy/difficult it would have been to get one after disembarking? It is interesting to see the range of compensation amounts paid out by different providers. I think the policy recommended by P&O includes payment for missed ports but only if a substitute port has not been arranged. I will definitely read the smallprint for each provider before our next cruise.

If anyone needs to claim on their travel insurance for missed ports I thought it might be helpful to post my experience. The most important thing was to get a letter from the P&O reception desk whilst still onboard, detailing the ports missed and the reason (adverse weather in our case). They print out individual letters for each passenger. We were on the 2-9 July Iona cruise to the Norwegian Fjords and did not stop at Hellesylt or Haugesund which were on our itinerary. We had a Staysure travel insurance policy with extra cruise cover which included compensation for missed ports. It was a bit confusing trying to work out which claim form to use but I spoke to their customer service who said to use the one for "Travel Delay". I was able to complete my claim online and upload copies of the letters from P&O. My claim was approved and processed the same day, with the money being paid into our bank account the following day. The amount paid per missed port was £75 per person per port. I don't know how that compares with other insurance providers. It was very straightforward but it looks as if you can only claim if you were not compensated in any way by P&O. It was our first P&O cruise so maybe there was better compensation being offered onboard to anyone who complained but we didn't explore that possibility!

The laundry rooms were definitely open when we were onboard Iona (2-9 July) and never seemed busy. We took our own washing tablets with us so didn't notice whether you could buy washing powder but I am assuming you can. Washing machines and tumble dryers were plentiful and free to use. There are also irons and ironing boards there too. I can't remember the opening hours but they were pretty good. There is a paid-for laundry service. I think it was about £4 to have a shirt washed an pressed (but please don't quote me on that!)

We recently paid £159 per person for a week, which was 7x 2-hour sessions. I think the charge for a single 2-hour session was £39 per person.

Did you book directly with P&O or through a TA? I booked direct but you would expect them to want feedback from everyone. One of the sections was specifically covid-related so maybe it's something new that they are trying.

P&O emailed me today with a link to the questionnaire. Look out for an email with "Welcome home! We'd love to know how your holiday went..." as the subject.

We have also just returned home after a week on Iona. We also felt unwell yesterday. We have also just tested positive for Covid. I have fed this back to P&O via their post-cruise questionnaire.