molecrochip

99% of the time, this is correct.

There are operational changes such as work needing to be done, a specific area of deck/ship needing to be closed - or even too many people booked in one part of the ship. Once the cabin is operational removed, its no going back. Given multiple accounts of similar issues, what I suspect is that a staff member at the cruise line is doing operational (free, within category) upgrades but using a poor choice of words. The reasons for these can be many. but can include spreading passengers out across the ship on quieter cruises. Those on select fares have first priority for these upgrades. If you're already in an HA or HB grade, unlikely you'll get much better - but if you've booked HD or HE (which an aft cabin may be), it can be easier to find options to move. As regular readers know - there are two upgrade boxes available to TAs/P&O, in-category, and category-to-category. The first offers moves from say HE Balcony to HA Balcony. The later only offers Balcony to Super-Deluxe type upgrades. If you book via the website you either chose both or neither.

Sounds like the agent messed up, you were offered an upgrade to a different standard balcony cabin and they were trying to blame it on P&O. If a cabin is taken out of service on operational grounds, then it won’t be restored just cause you don’t want to move. Also an operational change allocated a new cabin of same grade, it doesn’t generally give you a choice.

If you contact P&O then hey should be able to resolve with US authorities. If travelling to US then I’d take copy of P&O booking confirmation as it lists ports and should tally with arrival data, therefore confirm departure data. I don’t know why it’s such as regular occurrence. Wonder if it’s after the same last port?

There has been a mistake somewhere. When you leave any country by cruise, the cruise line provides a list of those onboard and passport numbers. This enables the country to register you as departed. Some part of that process hasn’t happened right. It shouldn’t be a regular occurrence.

The checks are to be carried out at the time of physical departure check-in therefore doesn’t matter what their status was at booking or even a week before hand. It’s the passengers responsibility to ensure they have enough days left in their rolling 180. Under the new rules, the cruise line is not allowed to bring to the Schengen anyone who doesn’t hold a valid ETIAS or hasn’t met the EES requirements.

To follow-up the Biometric data collection is currently anticipated to be collected on arrival. The main countries intend for self-service kiosks where you can swipe your passport and then record your facial image and finger prints. You then proceed to either an e-gate if the system is happy, or a manual border check if the system needs more information. The EU has suggested that land and sea crossings are dealt with by way of portable table devices for collecting data. What is unknown is whether they will allow, for example, P&O to collect this data at check-in/en-route.

As with US ESTA, the expectation will be that the ETIAS should be approved before you first join the leg that brings you into the Schengen zone. Therefore if you don't have a valid ETIAS you should not sail. Applying for an ETIAS will 'approve' your passport for a period of up to 3 years/remaining validity. You will then be required to provide your passport number during check-in. This undertakes an instant check against the ETIAS database to show that your passport number is approved. The same checks also query the EES database. If you've exceeded your 90/180, you will not be approved and refused embarkation to the ship. It is the requirement of the carrier bringing you into the Schengen Zone to ensure that all passengers have the ETIAS approval and have been checked against the EES database. If you do not have the approvals by the time the ship sails, you stay in Southampton. There are heavy penalties for the cruise companies if this isn't carried out property. This is no different to the airlines running a check against the ESTA database at check-in. Once a ship leaves Southampton, P&O can transmit the data of who is onboard to the relevant port authority along with confirmation that they've carried out the appropriate checks. The local authorities then have time to re-check ETIAS and EES. On arrival in any port, there is a clearance procedure whereby the port authority check the paperwork/records are all in order. The port authority can require that the passenger is refused disembarkation. Their cruise card will be restricted from leaving the ship. I understand this is well practiced and happens with crew regularly (world cruise) as getting access to a country where the ship calls once a year is disproportionate in effort and cost.

I understand from someone on the ground that he was not happy.

Calm down. Covid/Chickenpox was only a possibility, as it has now affected most of the fleet. No one is scaremongering!

First two or 3 days can be variable but then gets hotter and better from there.

That’s the theory, whether it works straight out of the box….?

Like ESTA it’s electronic. Nothing to print. When P&O send their passenger manifest electronically to the local immigration, they will run the check before arriving. It all works on passport numbers.

Ironically, Stephen Mulhern appears to have got off Iona this morning and was complaining about the amount of luggage in the terminal!

Should be 3-4 days. They do static rehearsals on land but need a few days to get used to the moving state elements, lighting etc. As for photos - most ships don’t have them now. I doubt it’s in the priority list.

It could well be that they are I’ll and likely disembarked. There is still Covid going around not to mention Chickenpox. If it’s one person then they can cope but not if it’s a large number.

It’s still White&Co.

It’s not a cutback but a move to refillable liquid soap instead. Once the bars are gone.…..

There should be liquid hand soap on the wall in a bottle by the sink.

A lot of people on here may be Mediterranean tier, but Pacific and Atlantic are bigger tiers. I agree that the website contradicts the booklet. I don’t know which is correct.

No, the industry standard is 100% full is a passenger count equal to the total number of lower berths. The reason is simple, all financials are done based on lower berths. I’m no lying when I say that the expectation is for certain ships to average over 100% of ‘available lower berths’ for the entire year.

Pre-Pandemic? I think it started post pandemic when certain tables were closed. It seems to have continued. it’s like a mini Club restaurant!

Sorry, a better way to word what I meant is, if a standard cabin in the grade can be booked on a saver, then the accessible cabin should be bookable on a saver.

Say there are 10 balcony cabins and 5 mini suites left. 15 in total. You book a specific balcony cabin and the overall balcony count reduces to 9. Now there are 14 left. Next someone books a balcony guarantee, the system doesn’t restrict balcony cabins, it restricts the total of balcony and higher that can be sold to 13. If 9 more people come along and book specific balcony cabins, then you’ve sold all 10 balconies plus a guarantee cabin against 15 cabins of balcony or higher. But that’s fine because someone gets an upgrade! As for the reason given to those bounced to another cruise, explaining you still have dry dock contractors on board makes it sound like the ship isn’t ready to sail. Overbooking makes it sound like you’re too busy/popular. It’s the lesser of two evils.

My experience on Britannia, Iona and Arvia, is that it’s the same table - unless someone makes a mistake when seating someone. My experience is on end to end cruises. E.g. I could understand Azura having to change for each week when passenger mix is different.