Iona Booking What A Day

A couple of days back I called P and O after some confusion over my Iona booking and the fact I had paid for the whole cruise. This forum was very helpful.

Today I have had three emails from P and O. The first saying I am wait listed for my cruise. The second saying I have a cabin but saying I will need to pay the balance (not now) which is more than the cost of my cruise which I have already paid anyway. The third cancelling my booking.

What are P and O doing?

Best wishes, Stephen.

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Sounds like complete chaos! Good luck getting that sorted out.

Thank you. I have spoken to P and O. I must admit I was not happy and I made that clear. Apparently anybody who paid in full for an Iona pre registration has this problem. They should not have offered the choice to pay in full as the system will not allow these payment to be credited to these types of booking. They had to cancel my booking, wait list for me my own cabin and then allocate it to me on a new booking. Unfortunately they did transfer my payment to the new booking or it appears the discounted fare. Apparently this will be done next week and I will get a correct invoice. I am not overly confident. Luckily the ships seem better run.

Best wishes, Stephen.

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You have my sympathy Stephen. I guess this is what will happen when a company hypes, hypes, hypes & overhypes a ship trying to persuade everyone to book on day 1! Glad I have no desire to cruise on her.

You have my sympathy Stephen. I guess this is what will happen when a company hypes, hypes, hypes & overhypes a ship trying to persuade everyone to book on day 1! Glad I have no desire to cruise on her.

Thank you. I have never been a fan of big new ships. Some how I always think of Queen Mary 2 as small. I think that is because she often has a relatively small number of passengers. This year I was persuaded against my better judgement to try Symphony of the Seas. Very big and very new. I thought she was an amazing ship and the cruise experience fantastical well done. So I thought I would give Iona a change. My only other P and O cruises have been on Oriana (x2 and to be x3) and Aurora both of which are lovely ships I feel.

Best wishes, Stephen.

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Oriana & Aurora are my favourites Stephen. Been on Azura once and found her too big for my taste and far too crowded. So far, nothing I have seen from P&O about Iona is remotely attractive to me - but I hope you have a wonderful time aboard her in 2020!

There are issues beyond Iona. Some of the passengers on the 24 night USA & Canada Cruise on Aurora departing on Sunday have received calls over the past 24 hours asking if they will consider cancelling in return for a full refund and a free cruise to the same value. Very tempting if you’ve done a similar Cruise before, but smacks of desperation.

There are issues beyond Iona. Some of the passengers on the 24 night USA & Canada Cruise on Aurora departing on Sunday have received calls over the past 24 hours asking if they will consider cancelling in return for a full refund and a free cruise to the same value. Very tempting if you’ve done a similar Cruise before, but smacks of desperation.

Could this be because of the potential storms?

Could this be because of the potential storms?

No, it’s not a case of passengers pulling out. It’s the exact opposite. The cruise is going ahead but they are over booked and P&O are trying to offload some passengers. I’ve never know this before, but apparently it does happen!

No, it’s not a case of passengers pulling out. It’s the exact opposite. The cruise is going ahead but they are over booked and P&O are trying to offload some passengers. I’ve never know this before, but apparently it does happen!

That’s madness...

I thought maybe P&O were trying to cancel the cruise for insurance purposes?

Although it sounds like a good offer, we would be so excited about going I doubt we would accept..

The round-trip cruises to North-East USA in the 'fall' are always very popular. With the number of smaller ships decreasing, let's hope that over-booking doesn't become the norm!

It is quiet common on Princess cruises that they what they call oversell. They sometimes contact people and make an offer and even though it has never happened to me they say that you should never accept the first offer as it is usually followed by a second better offer.

It’s certainly an American thing I read a few months ago somebody getting a text message as they arrived at the airport to fly to the cruise I think at that time actually cancelling their cruise because they couldn’t of load anybody else.

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That is really disgraceful. What a disappointment.

Gosh. Apparently on some lines it has happened at the port. Can you imagine.

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Nothing new about this and airlins have done it for years. There are always willing volunteers to offload get a full refund as well as another free flights to use within 12 months. If you are retired etc I personally would snap their hand off.

Just got back from the Baltic on Aurora and as usual had a great cruise on my favourite ship!!

Only problem was I had to get off at Southampton, and stay off!!

Oh for the day when I can just get off for a few hours, buy a new dress or 2 for my wife and then get back on for a different cruise, its surprising how many people do it, but work is still getting in the way :(

Interestingly I have always had enough at the end of 18 or 19 days. Can't wait to get home, although I have always enjoyed it tremendously.

Nothing new about this and airlins have done it for years. There are always willing volunteers to offload get a full refund as well as another free flights to use within 12 months. If you are retired etc I personally would snap their hand off.

We did it in San Diego with Delta - had a full refund, got a free hotel overnight and meal as well and flew back 24 hrs later for free. I seem to remember they needed 8 passengers to do it and the offer was snapped up immediately

Bit different to going without your cruise though?

There are issues beyond Iona. Some of the passengers on the 24 night USA & Canada Cruise on Aurora departing on Sunday have received calls over the past 24 hours asking if they will consider cancelling in return for a full refund and a free cruise to the same value. Very tempting if you’ve done a similar Cruise before, but smacks of desperation.

We got exactly the same offer about a week before we were due to sail on the 14 night Artemis Farewell cruise. Yes, we were looking forward to the cruise and loved Artemis, but that offer was just too good to refuse! Our free cruise had to be taken the same year, but could be up to 17 nights. We went on the 17 night Adonia, (leaving 31st Aug if I remember correctly). Adonia cruises were not the cheapest and as it was summer and 3 more nights it was a more expensive cruise than the Artemis Farewell. There were no obstructed view cabins available at that stage, so they gave us a full view outside and also fairly mid ship as we never book anything else. So got a very good deal.

Story was that there were German blokes with clip boards wandering round the ship on that cruise, so thoughts were that Phoenix Reisen had asked to have their surveyors on board (and may even have paid for the perks which had to be offered to passengers to offload them). Did need to be a pretty good offer to get us to change our plans mind. That cruise was fully booked within 45 mins of going on sale.

Nothing new about this and airlins have done it for years. There are always willing volunteers to offload get a full refund as well as another free flights to use within 12 months. If you are retired etc I personally would snap their hand off.

Yes I’m fully aware that this happens all the time with airlines, but I’m talking about a P&O Cruise, which is a different matter altogether. It’s not quite the same as being able to get the next days flight! I have never heard of it on P&O before, but clearly it does happen, albeit rarely.