Mrk2868

On 12/12/2021 at 8:45 AM, cublet said:

Hello,

 

I am not seeking to defend P&O but misleading excursion descriptions are not unique to them.

I sail chiefly with RCI & X and have often been caught by surprise with the difference between the description and reality. I don't mind walking but not in Mediterranean heat and was once less than impressed to find myself on a walking tour.

I think two things: (1) The itineraries are written by the excursion companies and not the cruise lines; (2) In order to give the impression of 'choice' many excursions are repeated under different titles but listing points of interest in a different order or with greater emphasis than others.

One lasting memory of the calibre of excursions sales staff is being in Malaga and the sales girl not knowing the difference between Grenada and Granada.

 

Regards,

 

Cublet

Hi, Yes I agree with all you say.  The issue is that charge a lot of money for shore excursions, and for a lot of people they are a major part of the cruise experience.  Hence they should be more professional about it.  Like a lot of things COVID is used as a reason for poor service.  My view is that they should offer a "Shore Excursion Satisfaction Guarantee".

On 12/11/2021 at 7:16 PM, nosapphire said:

If the tour was materially not as described then claim a refund.

There is a big difference between the reality not living up to expectations, and the tour not including the main points of the tour.

If the local situation changed after booking, before the tour, enough to make a substantial difference (it does happen), then you should have been given the option to cancel.

I have more than once claimed (and obtained) full refunds (from Saga) when the tours were not as described - in one memorable case it could never have been as described because the time allotted to the tour was simply not long enough to get there and back and also do the visit, walk, etc.

Be very clear that your refund claim is not because you were disappointed, but because the tour was not as described, i.e, did not include the specific items that were described as if they were the main part of the tour.

Make it clear that you expect a full refund (do not say "compensation") and be prepared to argue.

Good luck.

I've just received a personal email acknowledge from Carnival Group, saying they will look into it in more detail.  Will be interesting to see how seriously they take it, and how quickly they respond. Luckily I did ask for a full refund.

I wonder if anyone can confirm if anything has changed with these excursions?  Have the excursion descriptions or the costs been changed to reflect what is actually provided?  Or do the excursions provided now match the descriptions?  I suspect nothing has changed.  
 

So far not received any response from P&O to my formal complaints.

Just got an got an automatic response from email sent to guestsupport@carnivalukgroup.com So it is a valid email. Note the automatic response took 90 minutes.  Not seconds as with most automatic response emails! 

I’d still appreciate finding out any other emails to use.   

What are the best email addresses to use to contact P&O following a cruise? I have been told guestsupport@carnivalukgroup.com , but I'm not sure if the emails are getting through.  I have already used the P&O onlince contact from but I get the impression that I won't get a reply for several weeks if at all.  The contact centre can't even confirm if the email has been received.

9 hours ago, bbtablet said:

Mrk2868 - I am on a Cunard Caribbean cruise in Jan/Feb 2022 and the same title tour is currently on offer at $128:

Discover the art of chocolate making in St Lucia’s exquisite Hotel Chocolat.

After short stops at the Morne Fortune viewpoint for panoramic views of Castries, and at the Marigot Bay viewpoint, you’ll stop in Soufriére at the Hotel Chocolat, on the historic Rabot Estate.

Lying in the shadow of The Pitons, this peaceful retreat is part of the island’s oldest cocoa plantations. Here, on the scenic balcony of the plantation house, you’ll be shown the delightful process of cocoa bean tasting, de-shelling, and grinding. You’ll learn about recipe formulation and receive a host of chocolate making tips, before having the opportunity to create your very own chocolate bar.  

Then soak up the lovely views of the majestic Pitons, as you enjoy a delicious lunch of both sweet and savoury dishes, inspired by cacao cuisine.

Sounds like your description?

So no change in description all the weeks it has been for sale.

Interestingly I have had two other booked tours where Cunard have recently sent an email saying the tour has been changed, but the details are identical to those we originally booked EXCEPT for the word "drink" not appearing on the revised description so it may be that some refreshments are being scaled back for COVID reasons. No price reduction though!

In the light of your experiences I am sure many passengers will be checking very carefully that they get what they paid for or else there will be a lot of visits to the Tours Office on board asking for some sort of refund.

Thanks for your posts.

Hi bbtablet.  Yes that is the identical wording used by P&O - very interesting.  As for cost P&O charged £95 which is near enough 128 USD. They provided water and one lime & soda with ice. Nothing alcoholic or inspired by chocolate.  I have a feeling that the original wording did mention drink, but as soon as the excursion has taken place you can no longer pull up the wording unless you have another cruise booking.  Luckily a kind person on another forum posted a screenshot of the P&O description. 
 

I’d agree about getting Cunard to confirm exactly what you will be getting for your 128 dollars.
 

So far P&O have provided an inadequate partial refund.  Now I’m back in the U.K. I’m planning to write to them. Just landed this morning.  Really they should provide some form of excursion satisfaction guarantee. I wonder if other cruise line do this?  

A word of warning. Whilst on Britannia I went on 2 excursions that were not as described. 

1. Black Gold & Diamond Chocolate in Grenada. This excursion should have included a  visit to the Nutmeg Processing facility and a factory tour of artisan chocolate being made.  Neither happened. 
2. Chocolate Experience in St Lucia. This  very expensive tour was meant to include a tour of the Rabot Estate coca plantation (owned by Hotel Chocolate) followed by a sumptuous lunch overlooking the famous St Lucia Pitons. What happened was was a street food lunch (value 35 USD) with no special view.  Nor was there a tour of the coca plantation or a explanation of what makes the Rabot estate coca special. Tasting of their chocolate products was not included.  The tour included was the street food lunch and making chocolate but nothing else.  Arrived back at the Boat an hour early. 

I’d be interested to know from anyone booked on the forthcoming Caribbean cruises if P&O have changed the description of excursions to reflect the above?  Unfortunately as the trips have taken place I can’t view the current description.  

I went on 2 excursions that were not as described. 

1. Black Gold & Diamond Chocolate in Grenada. This excursion should have included a  visit to the Nutmeg Processing facility and a factory tour of artisan chocolate being made.  Neither happened. 
2. Chocolate Experience in St Lucia. This  very expensive tour was meant to include a tour of the Rabot Estate coca plantation (owned by Hotel Chocolate) followed by a sumptuous lunch overlooking the famous St Lucia Pitons. What happened was was a street food lunch (value 35 USD) with no special view.  Nor was there a tour of the coca plantation or a explanation of what makes the Rabot estate coca special. Tasting of their chocolate products was not included.  

I’d be interested to know from anyone booked on the forthcoming Caribbean cruises if P&O have changed the description of excursions to reflect the above?  Unfortunately as the trips have taken place I can’t view the current description.  

3 hours ago, Glitterati said:

I’m in a few social media groups for P&O and have read first hand accounts. Very mixed dependent on the airport.

 

Both Gatwick flights took off within 30 mins of scheduled departure time, with people saying the drive thru testing was quick and took 30 mins max. 
 

Both Manchester flights took off over an hour late (one was 1h40 late). People were saying the testing took over an hour, and check in was a nightmare. Some lady said by the time she had checked in it was time to go to the gate. 
 

A lot of people were saying that check in took so long as some people had not printed/filled out all the relevant documentation. The flights took off so late as it took so long to check everyone in. 

No mention of the bus situation at Gatwick, but I had read that some people were dropped off at the testing centre in a taxi and got the shuttle back.

 

We fly Christmas Day and are staying overnight before hand. We had booked parking for 15 nights, but the car park won’t let you exit and re-enter. So we have had to move hotels, use their parking for the 1 night and then drive to our parking next to the terminal. We tried to amend the parking into two bookings, but it was going to cost and extra £150. Absolute nightmare. 

 

However you look at it, it’s all very complicated and stressful.  
 

Onboard Britannia We have met 2 couples where one member of the party had not received their PCR test results by the time they got to check in.  Luckily in both cases they did finally receive the results but it was within 15 minutes of the gates being closed.  Not a good start to the holiday, especially as one person had paid a lot extra at the airport for Rapid PCR test only to be told that was not acceptable…  

On 11/8/2021 at 7:19 AM, Castle25 said:

Any update from any cruisers who went out from gatwick at the weekend?  where is the ltf test taken?

 

At Gatwick The LFT test was taken at an offsite parking location at the next motorway junction further south than the Gatwick Airport one.  APH Parking from memory.  To get there you have to walk to Bus Stop 6 which is a good 5 minutes walk from the Premier Inn North Terminal.  Luckily P&O had laid on lots of buses to take you to the test site.  So no waiting in the cold at the windswept bus stop!  Each Bus can take about 16-18 people plus lots of luggage space if needed.  Personally we left our luggage in the hotel room.  The whole process took just over an hour.  The journey each way is about 15 minutes plus 15 minutes wait test result.  
 

As for check in and security delays I did not see any evidence of them but we had paid premium economy.  Got impression this was a big issue at Manchester Even if you had paid extra for premium. 

Something I should add is that there is drive thru option at Gatwick for people in cars.  That looked very quick with no queues. But no good if came on public transport.  Then it’s Bus Stop 6. 
 

Sent from Britannia currently in Bonaire.  

8 hours ago, bbtablet said:

That's a good tip.

What was the browser that worked? Was it Chrome?

I have heard others say that Chrome works.

Yes it does seem to be browser dependent. Still Won’t work on my iPad (uses Safari) or my PC using Firefox,  but did work on my PC using Opera.  
 

So yes give Chrome a try.  I would hope it works with Chrome as I believe it’s the most commonly used browser.  Given P&O IT this is not guaranteed!  Tell us how you get on. 

I've had a lot of problems trying to print my Luggage Labels & My E-Tickets.  All but given up.

In the end I logged out of the P&O website, and then logged in using a different browser.  Amazingly this worked!  

21 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

How do they get you there, surely not another communal bus?

I believe so!

Just discovered that when you get to the airport the P&O free lateral flow test takes places away from the airport.  With Gatwick it's miles from the North Terminal!  What are P&O playing at.  I just assumed the testing would be done in the terminal building.  As there is not a lot of time at the airport to get everything done even arriving 3 hours beforehand.  

On 10/21/2021 at 9:16 AM, Mrk2868 said:

There are 2 tests to be done before flying to Barbados. 72 hour PCR test that we have to pay for (expensive) and LFT that P&O are conducting at the airport. The latter is free.  
 

So do we get refunds or FCC if we fail either test or just the airport LFT?  Like others have mentioned here I can’t find a clear answer on the P&O website!

Just spoke to P&O.  They said that if you fail either the 72 hour beforehand PCR test or the LFT at airport they will give FCC for a future cruise.  Good to hear this as will avoid insurance clams etc. 

25 minutes ago, heslopali said:

We are flying from Manchester airport  in November and we must pay for a PCR test upto 72 hrs prior to departure. No free tests

 

There are 2 tests to be done before flying to Barbados. 72 hour PCR test that we have to pay for (expensive) and LFT that P&O are conducting at the airport. The latter is free.  
 

So do we get refunds or FCC if we fail either test or just the airport FCC?  Like others have mentioned here I can’t find a clear answer on the P&O website!

What happens if you get to the departure airport or departure port and fail the P&O (free of charge) COVID Test?  Do P&O provide a refund or cruise credits or do they expect you to claim on Travel Insurance?

Has this happened to anyone here?

Apologies if this has been covered elsewhere.  Did have a look at the P&O website, but could not find the policy clearly stated.  

39 minutes ago, crusingdan said:

So I’ve checked every cabin deck and that corridor is closed on all of them. 

 

You can kind of see the doors that are closed on the deck plans, it’s all cabins in mid-aft up to the aft stairs that are closed off. Cabins 601-631 on all decks.

That is really bad as it means the only stairs one can use will be right at the Bow of the ship and it will make the situation with the midships lifts being overcrowded even worse.  Never mind no laundrettes!  Plus no easy access to the Oriental MDR.

Change of subject.  Are the laundrettes open on Britannia?  Is washing powder provided?

So in summary, although there is WiFi, it's very poor.  And one really needs to get of the ship, except that the Barbados authorises are only allowing people off for organised tours - such is life. 

Thank you to everyone who has responded.  

9 minutes ago, Bazrat said:

We received an email explaining what was required, we booked our pcr tests received the confirmation code and completed our plf and even booked our seats, we are not alone in completing all the stages on another site dedicated to the TA the bulk of them have completed the above steps, it as been a long drawn out procedure but we are living in difficult times.

Re PCR test was this for the flight out to Barbados or the return to the UK?  My understanding is that the PLF is associated with the return to UK. 

Do you mind me asking who you used for the PCR test?  A lot of the ones I have come across assume you self administer the test - this neither acceptable to P&O or the Barbados authorities.  

Unfortunately I have booked directly with P&O which means I haven't got a friendly TA to talk to, or a TA web site to use

Before Britannia departs on it's Caribbean Cruise it's due to spend a day moored up in the Barbados Cruise Terminal  Is there WiFi?  How well does it work (I hope it's better than the satellite WIFI aboard the ship).

Will it still work if you stay on the boat?  it my understanding the Barbados Authorities are only allowing people off for organized trips.  

I finally got through to P&O, and asked why P&O had not formally told myself and many other fly/cruisers that they will an healthcare administered PCR test.  They claimed that an email was sent on 11th September but I can find no such email anywhere on my email system.  I pointed that other cruise companies were providing such tests free of charge or at least on a subsidized basis.  And I asked what will happens at the airport if customers have had the wrong type of test.  Will they be refused boarding?  As far as I know the 5th November departures are the first flights of the winter fly cruise season.

TBH they did not seem that bothered.  I guess the call centre staff are very overloaded. 

My booking is direct with P&O.  Have others received an email from them?  All other emails from P&O are getting through without a problem.

All the above does not make happy reading.  Dues to go on Britannia in a few weeks time and it's a bit off-putting to say the least.  As for the lack of a proper app to book restaurants etc.  this is crazy Princess Cruise have the Medallion App.  Why can't P&O use that?  Plus on a recent Princess Cruise it was possible to do everything from the smart TV in the stateroom.  Including booking the MDR, specialty restaurants + display the various menus.

I suspect I will have to go down the route of sending WhatsApp messages and getting people to check how my mother is.  The mobile provider I'm with does not offer a roaming package outside Europe, and want nearly as much as the satellite phone on-board per minute.

Video/Voice calls over WhatsApp/Facetime etc. are no good as my mother does not know how to use internet or smart phones.  Just regular BT Landline.  

Any more ideas much appreciated.

Whilst on a forthcoming Caribbean cruise I need to be able to call an UK landline, from the ship or port.  I'm quite happy to restrict the calls to port days.  As it's a landline then solutions as WhatsApp, Facetime & Skype can be used.  If I use mobile phone roaming or satellite phones service on-board then cost of calls are very high.  £2-£3/minute if not more.  Any ideas of a cheaper way to call home?