MidsomerMadness

Had the same from Cunard today, no doubt they will send something out from P&o shortly

It seems ridiculous to open for registearing interest from tomorrow but not give people at least a weekend to look at what is on offer. I have seen the cruises on an agent’s website this morning and there are few surprises. Not many from Southampton partly because there are some of 25+ days and the shorter ones that are there are a mix of Canaries, Spain, Portugal, party cruises and at least 2 Norway including Arcadia at end of Nov.

Which agent?

The late 2019 ones aren't showing, (well I think Azura is for New Year A932) not sure why they haven't put those on, perhaps they forgot!

Put the code in the search box

If it's a fly cruise and booked through p&o you should mention it when booking, they will then send you a mobility questionnaire and, if your flight is a p&o charter flight they will advise the airline accordingly. We have used this system many times with p&o fly cruises to the Caribbean and we have never had any problems. There is a little hut opposite the premier inn at gatwick north and we have just turned up there with our luggage and always been on the list..they then take you to check in and through security and then on to either a seat in departure lounge, an exec lounge or one of the bars etc and then come and collect you when it time to go to the gate...

Does anyone think that P&O will amend this policy, I agree that 2-3 nighters are/have become booze cruises & need sorting, but this is like hitting a wart with a sledge hammer. I think most normal length cruises avoid the hen party groups.

Why not have a ban on all alcohol brought on board for the short length cruises but allow checked reasonable amount allowed on board for the normal length trips ???

As for tipping !!!! I can see some people tipping extra to cabin stewards to get them to smuggle extra booze on board.

Or of course get the mobility scooter brigade on smuggling runs !!!

 

Malc

People posting photos all over social media of small bars being taken on board have no doubt helped to bring in this policy, people saying "take as much as you can" and then encouraging people to drink it around the ship, we saw people on Azura last year openly pulling bottles of gin and wine out of bags and pouring it into glasses, in front of bar staff. It's not on. Why people have to ruin it for others is beyond me, but sadly they do.

I never doubted you either Sharon, Christopher Edgington told me early this year they were reviewing alcohol policy

There seem to be a lot of cruises embarking and disembarking in Germany so i suspect they are trying to attract the German cruisers....personally I don't want 2 weeks in the sun with p&o, i really liked our 7 night fly cruises we have done the past couple of years in September and I'm really annoyed they have stopped doing the fly cruises on Queen Victoria, I have of course made my feelings known on their Facebook page! We are doing the Baltic with Celebrity next year and they will no doubt be continuing to base a ship or two in the Med during the summer so I suspect they will pick up our bookings, as much as we love Cunard, we may well not be tempted back!

Did you send complaint to P&O as well as Titan? We will be claiming too. We hadnt heard the bit about the aircraft being at Manchester since 2.30 am! Glad it didnt spoil the cruise for you we really enjoyed it too, the ship was lovely just a shame about the shambles getting there and back. It didnt set off to a good start when I nearly choked on my branflakes at 4am on seeing the flight said cancelled on Manchester Airport website.

 

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I sent a complaint off to David Dingle whilst sat in Manchester airport I was so incensed at the lack of communication from Cunard and Titan.

Upon our return I emailed again to voice our displeasure at Titan Airways in general (not to David Dingle).

I had a response on board in relation to my email to David Dingle, but no response to my other email (doubt i will get one as it was more a request)

Never seen such disappointing itineraries...as a sun loving Brit there is very little there for me.. no fly cruises on the lovely QV, we have done these the past two years and loved them...far too many northern cruises and it seems to me they are definitely aiming at the German market rather than the British one...afraid to to say they have lost our custom...

They've emailed me a claim form today. Fingers crossed

 

 

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Me too, already completed and sent back. Wonder how long we will have to wait to receive the compensation

Have you applied to Titan for compensation for the delay on the 2/9 too?

 

 

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Yes, I sent off my complaint etc yesterday, no doubt they will try and get out of paying!

We ŵere on that Titan flight on 2nd Sept, it was a shambolic experience, we had the misfortune of returning on a Titan flight on Saturday as well, hour delay leaving because it was "apparently raining in Manchester" even though we were still in Venice..arrived back in Manchester and the luggage took an hour and 15 minutes to arrive on the belt..I will never travel with Titan again, they are beyond useless. That they and Cunard knew the night before that flight on 2nd September that the flight would be delayed (replacement plane arrived in Manchester 2.30am Saturday morning and crew needed 12 hours rest) yet nobody advised us and they still made us check in at 5.30 am is really not acceptable.....i made my feelings very clear to David Dingle by email whilst sat in T2! The cruise itself was lovely but the getting there and home was just awful!

Far prefer Cunard...we have just returned from QV and there were a lot of first time Cunard cruisers on board, many of whom have previously cruised with P&O and most of whom did nothing but moan about the price of the drinks! We have done a fair few cruises with both P&O and Cunard but feel Cunard is our cruise line of choice now, we don't find the drinks that expensive but then again we don't drink excessively...

We cruise with cunard a lot and they have totally overhauled their drinks on board, used to be a US measure for spirits (almost a double uk measure) and included the mixer in the cost..they now do single or doubles and you have to pay for the mixer, plus of course the 15% on top...so p&o in comparison are still quite reasonable....a double on cunard is $9 plus $1.75 for the splash and then 15% on top....

I think this will happen, if not in the New Year it will be soon. There is a new brochure due out, perhaps it will be in there.

Having been on Azura last Christmas I was astounded by the amount of people we saw taking their own booze out of bags (especially on deck) and pouring it out, right under the waiters noses..now if we saw it, you can be sure they saw it too. On some FB groups people actively encourage people to not only take a small bar with them when they board but to drink it on the open decks and bars etc without paying corkage (on bottles of wine or champagne etc) because "if the bar waiters don't say anything then it doesn't matter if you do it" wrong attitude and by doing that they will only make p&o change their alcohol policy.

We often take a couple of bottles of champagne with us which we take into a bar and tell the waiter we wish to pay corkage, they then get a nice ice bucket and glasses and serve it for us, they get their commission on the corkage and everyone is happy.

People need to stop abusing the goodwill or it will, quite rightly, be withdrawn.

Also now available to MOD staff it would seem.

I received a reply, by Royal Mail, to the email I sent to one of the VP's. The reply was from customer services and was a standard corporate response saying now and again they have to increase prices..nothing was mentioned about the decrease in mixer size and the removal of mixer, so I have emailed the VP again to ask if perhaps somebody would actually read the question and answer appropriately!

I can't wait for the reply! Looks like they are updating the website at the moment...

Please don't do that. Protest by telling Cunard. Protest by sailing on another line. Don't protest by screwing over the people who work hard to ensure you had an enjoyable cruise and, more importantly, didn't make the decision to raise prices.

I have asked Cunard on their Facebook page and have emailed a senior Vice President, I have received no response from either.

We always tip extra to staff who serve us so I doubt they would actually miss out but the pursers desk doesn't know that......push comes to shove I probably would feel awful doing it, so I probably won't....

I am just really cross at the way they have implemented this.

I'm more annoyed with the underhand way they have gone about it, slipped in via the back door, website still showing now out of date measure sizes and prices....we aren't great drinkers these days (long gone are the days we spent our $900 OBC in three days) but still have a few of an evening so it will have an impact on our spending...someone mentioned cutting back on the gratuities and we might well do that as a protest on our upcoming cruise and when they ask why at the pursers desk we will tell them! I know it might not be fair on the staff but the increases in prices and decreases in measures are not that fair on passengers...I see Cunard have still not responded over on Facebook!

Added my 5 penneth worth over on FB too. I actually emailed one of rhe senior Vice Presidents on Monday about this, didn't receive as much as an acknowledgement...very poor indeed but sadly the Carnival effect is now ruining Cunard as it has done with P&O....

I posted the question re future cruise deposits on Cunard's Facebook page today and they have replied saying they are not stopping them, when I asked about the missing link on website they said "ongoing maintenance with website".

Someone sailing next week is going to report back once on board as to whether FCD are still available.

Clearly I am not as sophisticated as you, because I found the PG tips tasted a little better than the previous Twinings Everyday tea.

:D We all have our preferences...but for me Twinings is far superior to any other! Used to like Yorkshire but since we've moved it doesn't taste the same....

I'm more worried about the fact that P&O have moved from Twinings Tea to the awful PG Tips and hoping that Cunard don't follow suit!

PG Tips? Good grief...could they get any worse?