Harry Peterson

I'm afraid I don't know, wowzz. It's a long time since I've looked at their terms and conditions in any detail. The last time was over a refund for a changed itinerary pre-Covid. You make a good point, though - you can't normally mount an effective legal argument based on an operational policy. Only normally on something set out in writing, which normally means the terms and conditions applicable at the time of booking. I say normally because it doesn't have to be in writing - it can be a verbal agreement, though you might have difficulty evidencing that. And it may be (though I haven't checked) that the Ts&Cs specifically exclude any changes claimed to be made to them following communications with staff. There's also, for completeness, Part 2 of the Consumer Rights Act 2015 covering unfair terms in consumer contracts. Often helpful in dealing with P&O, where quite a few of the terms would probably be covered!

Plenty of us remember the huge amount of work you put in on this last year. So thanks again for that, and for what you’re obviously doing now. You and I both know that P&O staff don’t understand contract law (why would they?) and will just tell you what suits them, using whichever version of the T&C suits. Take whatever they say with a large dose of salt and check carefully that any vague reference to the terms and conditions is factually based, and relevant to the terms at the time of booking. Any disagreement is best directed to their legal team, where they do usually know what they’re talking about but will try to bluff you into agreeing!

Worth bearing in mind here, perhaps, that it’s the terms and conditions at the time of booking which matter. Not later versions modified to suit P&O.

I’d never thought about our ‘mustn’t complain’ reputation, as against Americans, but you have a point there. I’ve never been able to understand quite how P&O manage to get away with their dismissive attitude to people paying them so much hard earned cash, but that’s probably it, linked with the age profile. It’s a Ryanair approach, but these aren’t exactly Ryanair fares! The people on the ships themselves, largely from overseas, are great, but the mentality in their HQ is appalling, and that has to come from the top. It shouldn’t be necessary to resort to court action to get P&O to meet their legal responsibilities, and the fact that it frequently is speaks volumes about the corporate mentality. This isn’t in itself Ludlow’s fault - it goes back several years - but it is his responsibility now.

I'm afraid I've never been impressed with Ludlow in his present capacity, but that's a personal view. You can expect upbeat, but the Carnival share price movements are a better reflection of reality. His comments are pre-'budget' of course, and now largely overtaken by events. Those events, the overnight comments from the IMF, the impact on the Pound, and the rising interest rates make his viewpoint somewhat irrelevant now. That's certainly not his fault - nobody could have expected what happened last Friday - but I suspect a large chunk of the discretionary spending that goes on cruising has been blown right out of the water. Health issues are also re-emerging, and that's also going to impact.

That's a very difficult situation. As someone else with a compromised immune system, I do really feel for you. Presumably the vaccines don't work effectively because of medications? There are others here with much greater knowledge of the way P&O are playing this, but presumably your insurance won't cover cancellation in these circumstances? I think I'd be inclined to put this very special situation to P&O in writing and push for a proper response - if necessary via the CEO if they don't reply quickly. Logic would suggest that they'd allow you to defer (the last thing they want is someone who could be quite unwell when it could easily be avoided) but sometimes logic and P&O need a little help from a senior management level in being brought more closely together.

Please don't give it up, Josy - the vast majority of people are very grateful for all the hard work you and the other volunteers are doing. My wife witnessed a similar outburst from an elderly 'gentleman' in our surgery this morning - furious because being on holiday had caused him to miss the text calling him up for his jabs. He was given an appointment for November but wasn't happy with that, and wasn't prepared to drive the sports car he'd parked outside all of 7 miles to a nearby vaccination centre, which would have fitted him in today! The sense of entitlement in some people is incredible, and the craziness of attacking the very people trying to help them defies any logic. Certain newspapers are responsible for these attacks on doctors and other medical staff, because they seek to damage the NHS. What happened to all the clapping and cheering?

Well this has proved an interesting thread, hasn't it? There's clearly an issue here with P&O's practice (it's doubtless Carnival wide too) and it's aggravating - unsurprisingly - all the customers affected. It also damages reputations for fair dealing. Wouldn't it just be more sensible all round if P&O grasped this issue properly, without any more fuss, and offered a choice of the following options: A full refund or A full refund of the extra paid for the Select fare + a generous OBC for the disappointment caused By the way, I see no legal issues with the 'screwed us over' wording. It's very difficult for companies to establish defamation in a situation like this, and P&O would have to prove that the publication has caused or is likely to cause serious harm to its reputation. And harm to the reputation of a body that trades for profit is not "serious harm" unless it has caused or is likely to cause the body serious financial loss. That's very clearly not the case here.

Summed up in my earlier posts #2 and #6 really. It all comes down to whether the terms and conditions entitle them to do it, which they probably do, but then whether those terms and conditions are enforceable, which they probably aren't in view of the law relating to unfair terms and conditions. That's just a personal view, of course, but I've yet to lose a legal argument with P&O once it gets to their legal team. What they tend to do though is insist on a non-disclosure agreement - others here will tell you the same - and they do need to understand that you are quite prepared, if necessary, to go through the small claims procedure.

Quite. Like you, we’ve always chosen very specific locations. Booked on the first day with a certain reputable agent on the basis that if one of those four locations isn’t available there’s no booking at all. So far we’ve always been lucky, but if it were changed by the cruise operator I’d be pretty unhappy and looking for ways to get a full refund, and I’m confident I’d succeed.

Probably inevitable now, and just reflecting the big increase in cases generally. People are coming off ships with it, and I’d imagine their lawyers are involved in the decision.

Unless, perhaps, it’s one of those policies not requiring that, but dependent only on the medical condition at the time of taking out the policy. Not so common these days, but probably still available.

I think it depends on which one you buy. We had a Philips one a while back, and it’s in the cupboard. Another one bought more recently though is used several times a week for all sorts of things. It’s as much an oven as an air fryer, so for us at least much more useful. Does a splendid rotisserie chicken too!

The Consumer Rights Act 2015 incorporates the original 1999 unfair terms legislation, and for retail consumers like us it’s very useful indeed. Plenty of online advice from organisations such as Which? and CAB on how to use it, and what the limitations are. Faced with a serious claim - and it has to be serious before they pay any heed and pass it to their legal team - P&O can and do back down on issues such as this. But often with the use of a non disclosure agreement to avoid having to offer it to everyone.

This does now seem to be a regular occurrence - you’ll find other similar threads. I can entirely see where you’re coming from, but P&O will inevitably argue that their terms and conditions entitle them to do what they’ve done - and they doubtless do, unless you’re prepared to mount a legal challenge under the unfair contract terms legislation. An email to the CEO might get you a better response, and possibly even an offer of a refund, assuming that hasn’t already been offered, but as for the cabin you’d booked, that’s not I’m afraid likely to be an option. Some OBC, however, might.

Little question please, for any of the kind volunteers here, or anyone else who has some knowledge? If you’d prefer to have both flu and Covid jabs in the one arm, rather than the usual one in each, is that possible? Or wise? Any views? I’d sooner restrict any minor aching to the one arm if it’s feasible.

That’s the solution, of course - sound advice!

Thanks yet again, Josy, for all you and the other volunteers have done for everyone. Without your valiant efforts, despite the complaining ones, who knows how many more people would have died or suffered serious illness.

I suppose it was, then. Cornwall was very different from the way it is now - and so were the roads. Having said that, our kids grew up not so very differently in the 1980s and 1990s elsewhere, but still fairly rural. Wandering freely around, never stuck inside, and learning the importance of socialisation. Our daughter says she often gets comments about an idyllic Enid Blyton childhood! And our grandchildren are now just as lucky. Not so easy in big cities, but I bet it still is in Truro.

A long, long time ago, when I lived in Truro as a young teenager (a really nice little city to grow up in - though the summer school holidays were spent mainly on the coast, by bike, with school friends) there was an ironmongers by the name of Mallet’s on the main street, along with Mutton’s the butchers. Loved that! Not still there, are they?

I'm absolutely the last person to give advice on cooking appliances, but I excel at testing the results! My wife is very much the expert here, and she does take cooking very seriously. Main ovens and hob extremely carefully chosen for performance - likewise the air fryer which she didn't initially want but was persuaded by various reviews she'd read. She chose this one: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Breville-Rotisserie-Digital-Dehydrate-VDF127/dp/B09437HXR8/ We have quite a lot of Sage stuff, it's very good, and it's made by Breville. That came into the choice, but it was its versatility that made the decision. She's very impressed with it and uses it instead of the main oven for anything that will fit in it. There are usually just the two of us, so that's not a problem. What she really likes is the speed at which it heats up, ready to use. Energy costs obviously also a lot lower. Great rotisserie which will take a small chicken. Also does chips extremely well, because it tumbles them in a rotating basket and allows any excess oil to drip off (as with the chickens). Good jacket potatoes, good for anything, really - basically it's a small fan oven with a rotisserie. Sunday morning croissants - perfect! It's used far, far more than she expected because it's much more an oven than a 'fryer' so the description's perhaps a bit misleading. Essentially, if it fits into it, it goes in there rather than the oven. She commented the other day that if it were a choice between that and the microwave, the microwave would go (I'm not so sure - I've been a huge fan of those since the very first we bought from Comet in Bristol in 1979 when everyone who came into the kitchen thought it was a TV!). You'll have guessed from the above that she's a huge fan. Miraculous? No - but they are very highly functional if you get one that suits you. My wife's just come in from the garden and recommended this book if you're interested: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Air-fryer-Cookbook-healthy-delicious-beginners/dp/1788794249/ PS - the chips are excellent! 😉

A spot of advice, please, if you would - I trust the opinions of people in here more than most. Our daughter shocked herself and us the other day by saying she’s considering whether a cruise might be a good option for her, a husband who’s horrified by the idea, and two children aged 7 and 11. She has some friends who rave on about the benefits and reckon it’s good value for money. The friends rate Royal Caribbean very highly for the quality and scale of the children’s activities but they tend to go for inside cabins to keep the cost down. The thought of 4 of us at that age cooped up in one inside cabin fills me with horror - the nearest we got to it was crossing to Denmark once with DFDS. That was only for a few hours, but it wasn’t good. P&O would probably cost much the same for a balcony I’m guessing, but I’m not sure the children’s facilities are in the same league. They have no desire just to dump the children in a kids’ club (as my daughter put it, they actually like having the children around and enjoy their company) so they do want them to really enjoy what’s on offer. Some of you have good knowledge of both P&O and RCI, and the children’s facilities on each - and the relative cost. Any thoughts would be appreciated. My knowledge is too limited - cruising was out of the question financially when we were bringing up our children because the Woolwich Equitable Building Society seemed to be taking all our money!

Hi everyone. Thanks for your concern - happy to confirm that all's well. As one or two mentioned, I did post four days back, but oddly the post was deleted. As I said then, I really like all the posters here - it's like one enormous, supportive, family - but one of my main interests is a subject which isn't permitted, and we're not cruising at present (or indeed going anywhere inside) so I spend a bit less time here. I do wish you all well, though, and my wife and I found some of the recent posts about the support this particular thread brings quite moving. We none of us know when we might be in the same position, but it's really heart-warming to see how much help the chat here's been for some in particular. No names, obviously, but some have obviously gone through an awful lot over the last two or three years and unless you've been in the same situation it's impossible to know what that must be like. Let's hope this thread continues - exactly as before - because it's obviously such a source of comfort to so many. Harry

When I was a student in Birmingham, back in the 60s, it got very hot one summer. Hot enough to fry an egg on a Mini, we thought. Warning - don’t try this at home. It doesn’t work! And it’s very, very messy! 😉

Very nice - sounds a great place to be this week, Zap! 40C forecast here for tomorrow, which sounds even worse converted to 104F somehow. Have a great time. 😀