ascot2012

We have booked to arrive in Vancouver a few days before our cruise departs, and with a little bit of smart booking we got an extra night post cruise, by traveling home a day later we were able to book a night in the Pan pacific hotel and still save money compared to the Cunard fare, therefore we shouldn't have any issues with flight delays affecting our cruise.

Well fingers crossed!!!!! 

We are like you from the UK, we originally booked the flights with Cunard via our very good independent TA, this was booked before the flights had been released by the airline.

When details of the Cunard flights were released our agent gave us the details and we were able to book direct with BA quite a lot cheaper, we even managed to get PE seats for less than the Cunard economy price, and the agent was able to cancel the Cunard flight.

We are sailing out of Vancouver for Alaska though, therefore our flights are London Gatwick to Vancouver.

11 hours ago, Charlcon said:

Now I am very concerned that this may not have been the right choice. This will be my first P&O cruise. I have previously cruised with Royal Caribbean and Celebrity although not at that time of year. Was the rest of your cruise on Azura ok? Also did ship have Christmas decorations 

Thanks

Hi, first of all we had a very enjoyable cruise in the whole, the ship was still decorated for about a week ( we got on on the 27th December) I couldn't tell you when they removed them as one day they were there and the next day they were gone. Food was normal P&O fare, we find it good, a few night I found it difficult to find something for me and other I could have had 4 or 5 dishes.

The entertainment was good (on the whole) if not always to our tastes, though the Headliners were the worst we have ever seen, 3 out of 4 male singers either couldn't sing or were just not singing songs that suited there voice/style, after a couple of shows we just went else where. we would book P&O to the Caribbean again and at New Year, we find P&O no better or no worse that RC, but can't comment about the standards of Celebrity. 

On 1/21/2020 at 9:45 PM, Charlcon said:

I have booked for New Year on Azura  this year having viewed YouTube videos from previous New Year cruises on Azura which showed black tie and party countdown on deck so will be very disappointed if the same as you have experienced. Can you tell me if there was a countdown or what did happen at midnight.

Thanks

There was a party on deck that from what we were told was good with count down etc, we were in the Planet Bar, and if I remember right there was a count down but not the fan fare we have had on other ships a little bit low key

7 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

I don't think you need to worry too much, you will be in the Caribbean so the weather will be fine for a midnight deck party and I assume that NYE will be a formal night.  

We sailed on Indy last year and food in their MDR was not quite as good as P&O, however the RCI breakfast buffet was better with a lot more choice.  Its 4 years since we last sailed Celebrity and at that time all food was a higher standard than P&O, but I have read that it's declined recently.

The main P&O benefits are in costs, there is no service charge, no gratuities added to the list price for drinks, and they are much cheaper as well.

Finally the entertainment on P&O is, IMO, much better than Celebrity, but they don't have the Grease type West End shows or Ice Dance shows that RCI have, but there are more entertainment venues on P&O.

Overall more similarities than differences, but no water slides, flowriders, climbing walls or Splashaway bay features.

As per my original post NYE was NOT black tie it was casual.

We have recently returned from Azura over New Year, upon boarding there was a Horizon in the room giving details of the trip highlights, we noticed that for New Years eve it stated smart casual, my wife and myself came to the conclusion that it was a miss print but no when we got the Horizon on the night of the 30th December for the next day and night it proved us wrong that infact it was casual night to celebrate New Years eve. It became obvious that some people were infact making it an unofficial Black Tie night which is just what we did, it just seemed wrong that one of the biggest nights of the year was very poorly organised with little to no celebration of the UK new year.

We have been on other New Years eve cruises with other companies and they made a lot more of the whole event.  

8 hours ago, oxygenbanditnot said:

Was that a Marella AI cruise, if so then it is all included. Not sure if that is the case with Pando.

 

No we were on a TUI charter flight to and from P&O Azura.

Hi, We flew back from Barbados with TUI on Friday 10th January, we had a main meal and either afternoon tea or breakfast included, with the main meal we had the option of wine or juice, followed by tea/coffee, there was at least 1 drinks service on the return and I think it was 2 on the way out, there was beer, wine, shorts with mixers and pop all included.

I've just looked at ship tracker and it now looks as if Azura is headed away from St Kitts and it says it's next destination is Philipsburg St Maarteen, nothing as yet has docked in St Kitts and there is a couple of ships going to St Kitts

15 hours ago, msk1955 said:

Does anyone know why Azura is now docked in Martinique?  According to her current itinerary, she should be under way from Bridgetown to St Kitts.  Hope it's not a medical emergency detour.

We have just got off Azura last Friday and we had a change of timings and arrived in Bridgetown at around 1ish (the captain said I was fast asleep at the time), This was due to high winds and the sea swell, all day Friday was very windy so I would think the changes are weather related.

Having just returned from Azura, we have noticed a few things have altered, the main thing for us was that New Years Eve wasn't formal night, there were a lot of discussion on board about the lack of formal night on such a special night, most were very disappointed us included. There was no chef's parade in the MDR but that's neither here nor there, we had plastic water bottles in the room (the FOC ones), we had a ships log delivered on the last night, flowers were in the room and on the tables after the decoration had been removed.

On 1/10/2020 at 11:56 AM, Sussexboy said:

@Grinch99 We did the forum recommended Cosol tour on St Lucia. It was an all day tour which got you back to the ship in plenty of time for about USD70 per person plus tips. For that you got a lot of tour. We visited a banana plantation, stopped at view points for photo opportunities, had a massive Caribbean buffet breakfast, a boat ride to a beach between the pitons, a volcanic mud bath at Souffriere, followed by a shower under a waterfall, some more photo ops and a bit of lunch on the way back. It was a fantastic day and good value.

We have just returned from Azura and we did the Cosol tour in St Lucia, we would recommend this tour and have done it before, but we paid $80 US each, we haven't done any P&O tours this time, mostly due to price, picked up a local taxi tour in St Kitts and had a arranged local tour in St Vincent, we were due to do an ATV tour in Granada but had to cancel last minute.

All the tour operators were very aware of all on board time and we had no problems. For us small groups are better than large tour buses, in some islands ALL buses are only the mini bus type due to the road network, but in some islands they have regular size buses

I've had this happen twice with Cunard and I have chased up the refund including the 10 pence for the difference in the exchange rate form Dollars to Pounds, I know that it sounds petty and not worth it, but if it's a few pounds from each account, each cruise this soon adds up and it's fraud.

So please cash the cheque and everybody check you statements and if it's wrong follow it up! 

We did a re-positioning cruise on Oceana a few years back from Southampton flying back into East Midlands, P&O provided us with free coach transport from the airport were we parked our car to the ship, we booked it with our travel agent not long after booking the trip. the whole thing was very easy. 

We fly out from Birmingham this December to join Azura, we are scheduled to depart at 11 am, I think when we were on Britannia in 2016 it was about the same time.

In 2016 we stayed in the Novotel which is just about 2 minutes  walk from the terminal, we had breakfast in the hotel then a short walk and into check in, for us in Nottinghamshire its a lot better than travelling down to a London airport.

We have had this happen twice on Cunard, it must be followed up as it FRAUD or incompetence no other words for it, a few pound per cabin per cruise would make a hansom addition to profits. Don't let them fob you off just keep onto them contact your CC provider and get them to void the transaction.

As I have said in past posts we have done 2 Cunard cruises and it's happened twice, that's a 100% record for the over charging, In my case I have just had confirmation that I will be receiving a £10 cheque in the post for there exchange rate shortfall, so when it arrives I will have been fully reimbursed for there "mistake" .

As I say check your statement and chase it up not matter how small the amount, get it credited back for you card provider.

This is happening far too often to be a mistake or if it's a genuine mistake buy the ships crew there must be a training issue.

I have pushed this issue with customer services and have managed to get a refund but not the full amount, we were charged £3.10 but only refunded £2.85 due to the exchange rates on the day, I'm now in the process of chasing the 25 pence, I know it's such a small amount but it's my small amount. I have also received compensation in the form of onboard credit for our next cruise even though that one is with P&O.

PLEASE every one check your credit card statements and if there is an over charged charge, chase it up no matter how small the amount, and then chase up any short fall in the exchange rate. don't let them get away with this the more people complain the better chance we have of Carnival Group doing something about it.

We are on the New Year cruise on Azura and the flight times have just been posted on the Cruise Personaliser.

It's happened again, just got back from a New years cruise on QE, looked at my credit card statement and they have over charged me again, I know it's only £3.10 it's not the cost BUT THIS IS FRAUD.

Two cruises with Cunard and this has happened twice.

People shouldn't bother calling the customer services/complains number as from my experience it was diverted to the sales team and they might be good at selling you another cruise but are next to useless at sorting out this matter, email your complaint it gets to the right people plus you have a written account of your complaint, get on to your CC company as it's an unauthorized payment when all said and done so they should refund you, if more people complain and kick up a fuss we have a better chance of getting it stopped.

IT'S FRAUD!!!

We had the same issue with our trip in August on QE, I was charged $6.68 the day after our departure, I have contacted both my Credit card company and Cunard, with my CC I managed to get the amount refunded as a fraudulent payment, as it was taken the day after our cabin account was settled, I spoke with Cunard and they were next to useless so I emailed a complaint over, a very helpful and professional lady called Kelly handled our case, she said it was because the cruise account had been accessed in the afternoon we had gotten of the ship and this was done by mistake!!!

DON'T just let it lie, follow it up, it might only be a few dollars but a few dollars extra from all cabin accounts soon mount up, even check that your getting the correct amount of refund including card charges and allow for the exchange rate. And don't allow them to fob you off with I'm sorry it was a mistake or you must have used something from your room bar/fridge.

This is at best poor operational practice's at worst fraud so follow it up.

If it happens after our next trip over New Year I will consider contacting the BBC's Watchdog to see if they can help.

Hi All, we are on QE for the new year cruise, we have docked in Zeebrugee before with P&O and caught the shuttle to Blankenberg, we are starting our trip research and were wondering if the Cunard shuttle goes to Bankenberg or just to the port gate. any help welcome

I’m sure Cunard will refund, although I did lose out on the exchange rate so was refunded slightly less than I was charged. I contacted my credit card company who advised to try Cunard first and they would reclaim if necessary, needless to say Cunard refunded. I wouldn’t describe it as a fraud on Cunard behalf, but something is definitely amiss with their processes and systems.

 

It is happening by the sound of things with alarming regulatory it must either be fraud or gross incompetence, but just think QE has 2000 plus passengers, 2 passengers per logged credit card $6.67 (£5.35) per card, £5350 per trip, even if they only get 10% through the system £535 per trip or part trip say 40 trips per year £21,400 for doing nothing, good money

We have a second trip booked over new year and will find it very difficult to give Cunard authorization of my credit card, this has left a VERY bad taste in our mouths after a good 1st Cunard cruise.

Hi we have just returned from our first Cunard trip, we have just got our credit card statement and low and behold we have had a 2nd charge onto the account, $6.67, we were very careful on the last night/morning to make sure we didn't spend anything after midnight.

Just rang Cunard they are getting back to me within 5 working days to investigate the charge, I don't hold out much hope but have been onto my card company and started fraud proceedings with them.:(:(