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Canadians wanting to book on P&O Ventura February 27, 2010

Waterlily777

By Waterlily777,
in P&O Cruises ( UK )

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Waterlily777

Waterlily777

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I'm hoping someone out there can help me.

 

I have friends from Toronto, Canada (new cruisers), who want to book on the N005 Caribbean cruise on the Ventura, sailing on February 27th, 2010. They have friends from London on that cruise that they would like to surprise by just showing up on the ship. He was best man at their wedding 25 years ago, and the British friends are taking this cruise to celebrate their 25th anniversary.

 

The P&O Americas rep says that he can't book that particular cruise, because you have to book the air flights from Britain with the cruise. He says that the cruise isn't available separately.

 

I called Southhampton, and the UK sales desk for P&O says that there should be CRUISE ONLY bookings available. The P&O Americas rep doesn't seem to want to be helpful.

 

Has anyone run into this hurdle and been able to clear it?

 

Any advice would be welcome.

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Aussie One

Aussie One

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The problem booking from another country. the TA in say Canada or Aussie will not take a booking because the cruise or flight deal is not in there countrys brochure.P&O Australia have differant brochures to the UK.its possible P&O UK will not take a booking online unless you have a UK address. plus they will not accept a credit card payment unless it has a UK holders address so maybe if you have a friend in UK they could book it for you ? also P&O might ask you for your passport information again more complications. don,t take this reply as fair dinkum there are ways around this as i had the same problem good luck Grumphy

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Johnthed0g

Johnthed0g

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When the world returns to normal I will ask the TA we use if you can book the cruise from Canada, not use the flights but meet the cruise in BDS. I think the only problem will be the booking address & payment. This cannot be a problem that can't be overcome.

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Z-P&O

Z-P&O

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The cruise can be booked thru the North America office, the only issue is they will pay full fare, which includes airfare from the UK. Since they won't need said airfare, they will be paying thru the nose for airfare they won't use. There is no way around this, unless the P&O Uk home office uncoupled the airfare. This is unlikely to happen at this stage. For a full list of other Caribbean sailings that have decoupled airfare, see the list at poamericas dot com. Sorry I cannot be of help, but my hands are tied.

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Johnthed0g

Johnthed0g

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Well the only price they will get is one that includes flights, so that is why I say forget that bit & make their own way to the cruise start point(presumably by air). I have tried to get "cruise only" price from UK as I want to spend time on the island, they will NOT do it, they say you can make your own way to Barbados, or they will arrange scheduled flights for you, but will not knock anything off for flights not used. Unless anyone has any better ideas?

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Waterlily777

Waterlily777

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Sorry for the delay in getting back...I've been away over the holidays.

 

Thank you VERY MUCH to everyone for their very helpful replies.

 

Even if my friends were to arrange other flights to meet the ship (and swallow the cost of the UK flights), POAmericas says that they are not able to book this particular cruise, because if is a flight-cruise, and it's not on their list of flights they can book.

 

I've been trying to find a TA in Britain to speak to about possibilities, but no luck yet, and time is running out.

 

Thanks again!

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Johnthed0g

Johnthed0g

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Can't they just book the cruise, don't mention they won't be using the flights & make their own way to the departure point, if the flights don't tie up exactly have a couple of days on the island. I can do this for a transatlantic if I want to spend some time on the island 1st..they just said no refunds on ''flights not taken'' but the actual flight aspect of the cruise is not much I reckon. I will try to remember to ask a TA here.

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Waterlily777

Waterlily777

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Can't they just book the cruise, don't mention they won't be using the flights & make their own way to the departure point, if the flights don't tie up exactly have a couple of days on the island. I can do this for a transatlantic if I want to spend some time on the island 1st..they just said no refunds on ''flights not taken'' but the actual flight aspect of the cruise is not much I reckon. I will try to remember to ask a TA here.

 

P&O Americas (the North AMerican agent for P&O) say that they aren't allowed to take any bookings on this particular sailing.

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Johnthed0g

Johnthed0g

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Hopefully this may help!!! To Les at cruisekings, mention it was JTD so they know what it's about!! good luck !

''I can sell it as cruise only - there is zero reduction in the price but it can be sold as cruise only fairly frequently cos some folk want to book their own scheduled flts.

they can send an email to-- cruises@sempletravel.co.uk ''

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MMDown Under Holiday Sharing Rare

MMDown Under

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I'm hoping someone out there can help me.

 

I have friends from Toronto, Canada (new cruisers), who want to book on the N005 Caribbean cruise on the Ventura, sailing on February 27th, 2010. They have friends from London on that cruise that they would like to surprise by just showing up on the ship. He was best man at their wedding 25 years ago, and the British friends are taking this cruise to celebrate their 25th anniversary.

 

The P&O Americas rep says that he can't book that particular cruise, because you have to book the air flights from Britain with the cruise. He says that the cruise isn't available separately.

 

I called Southhampton, and the UK sales desk for P&O says that there should be CRUISE ONLY bookings available. The P&O Americas rep doesn't seem to want to be helpful.

 

Has anyone run into this hurdle and been able to clear it?

 

Any advice would be welcome.

 

Who would have thought such a nice gesture would create so many problems?

 

Only in the cruise industry, which doesn't seem to realise we all live in the one world, connected by the internet, not segmented according to their preferred selling patterns.

 

My holiday reading was all related to international train travel and ferry travel. I wonder why?

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Waterlily777

Waterlily777

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Hopefully this may help!!! To Les at cruisekings, mention it was JTD so they know what it's about!! good luck !

''I can sell it as cruise only - there is zero reduction in the price but it can be sold as cruise only fairly frequently cos some folk want to book their own scheduled flts.

they can send an email to-- cruises@sempletravel.co.uk ''

 

Hi Johnthed0g:

 

Thanks so much for your help. I have been away for a few days, so just emailed your TA now. I think the cruise may be fully booked, but I REALLY appreciate you help.

 

Thanks so much to everyone else who offered help and support.

 

Cruise Critic is such a great resource. Happy New Year of Cruising to you all!

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Waterlily777

Waterlily777

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My pleasure, hope you have some success.

 

I did hear back from your TA, who expressed confidence that he could have provided my friends with "cruise only" reservations. Unfortunately, by the time he received my email, the ship was SOLD OUT in all categories.

 

Sometimes I think that some things are not meant to happen.

 

However, we were able to find a Celebrity cruise that intersected with the P&O cruise, so at least the friends are going to be able to spend a day together!

 

Thanks to one and all.

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