Getting downgraded - than a huge upgrade

Last year we booked a family cruise with P&O for the September school holidays (we booked early due to P&O limiting children on board)

We selected an oceanview (window) room in the midship (for which we paid a surcharge for).

Got our room assignment to find that we still had an ocean view room but we had been moved to the back of the ship in a cheaper room, with OBC for the difference.

I called P&O's manilla based call centre where I was told that the terms and conditions allow them to do this (I checked, the section they cited doesn't allow them to downgrade you) and there is nothing I can do.

I posted on the facebook page and was brushed off as well. I called the head office in Sydney and left a message as well as asking on a facebook group I'm in if anyone has a local number I can call. The mod of the page messaged me, got my details and passed them onto his contacts.

Within an hour I got a call from a lovely woman at the head office who was as unhappy as i was over the situation and she gave us two options:

1 - $500 OBC (i'd actually talked to my wife and we decided this was the minimum amount we were going to take anyway) or;

2 - we can be upgraded to a suite (as all the balconies are full).

we, of course, picked no 2 and we were moved into a suite whilst we were on the phone. Needless to say we are happy with the outcome, but IMHO it should not have gotten that far

It's not a great situation, but such an outcome is more important than the hurdles along the way.

Of course, I'd be curious to know how it happened in the first case, but it's not as though we'd ever be told that.

 

Of course, I'd be curious to know how it happened in the first case, but it's not as though we'd ever be told that.

Going by what was said on the phone I get the impression someone got a manual upgrade into a room that we were going to get and therefore we were downgraded.

The woman I spoke to on the phone was not happy with this at all.

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