Waterlily777 Posted December 22, 2009 #1 Share Posted December 22, 2009 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnthed0g Posted December 22, 2009 #2 Share Posted December 22, 2009 Can I suggest you post this on the P&O website, join their forum & put it on there, also Crow nest may help..I'll try there for you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnthed0g Posted December 22, 2009 #3 Share Posted December 22, 2009 Well I asked for help from someone who is good at this stuff but the post was deleted...don't know why. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waterlily777 Posted December 23, 2009 Author #4 Share Posted December 23, 2009 Thanks for trying to help, John. I will try the P&O website, as you suggest. Does anyone know if someone from Canada can book through a UK travel agent for P&O for cruise only? Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnthed0g Posted December 23, 2009 #5 Share Posted December 23, 2009 I have some Canuk contacts I will ask... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnthed0g Posted December 23, 2009 #6 Share Posted December 23, 2009 One thing is if you book a fly-cruise with P&O they don't give any discount if you don't use the flight...so if you just book it somehow, forget about the flights & just arrange your own... maybe having a few days over there before/after/both. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnthed0g Posted December 23, 2009 #7 Share Posted December 23, 2009 I am told that flights with Air canada at that time may be CND$ 800, much cheaper with WestJet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aussie One Posted December 28, 2009 #8 Share Posted December 28, 2009 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 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnthed0g Posted December 28, 2009 #9 Share Posted December 28, 2009 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Z-P&O Posted December 30, 2009 #10 Share Posted December 30, 2009 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnthed0g Posted December 30, 2009 #11 Share Posted December 30, 2009 Sounds about right, way to think is the cost of the cruise is just that, forget the airfare & do you want to pay to join it in BDS? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Merlin7 Posted December 30, 2009 #12 Share Posted December 30, 2009 They don't want an airfare from anywhere. They want a cruise only price. I think that was quite clear in a previous post. Not alternative airlines or anything else. Cruise only price. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnthed0g Posted December 30, 2009 #13 Share Posted December 30, 2009 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? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waterlily777 Posted January 6, 2010 Author #14 Share Posted January 6, 2010 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! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnthed0g Posted January 6, 2010 #15 Share Posted January 6, 2010 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waterlily777 Posted January 7, 2010 Author #16 Share Posted January 7, 2010 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnthed0g Posted January 7, 2010 #17 Share Posted January 7, 2010 Just contacted our TA who said that they must have a UK address in order to book the cruise, & P&O may well reserve the right to not sell the cruise without flights. I got the impression the address had to be ''genuine.'' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnthed0g Posted January 7, 2010 #18 Share Posted January 7, 2010 I have found an agent who may be able to help I will post a link as soon as I get it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnthed0g Posted January 7, 2010 #19 Share Posted January 7, 2010 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 '' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare MMDown Under Posted January 11, 2010 #20 Share Posted January 11, 2010 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? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waterlily777 Posted January 14, 2010 Author #21 Share Posted January 14, 2010 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! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnthed0g Posted January 14, 2010 #22 Share Posted January 14, 2010 My pleasure, hope you have some success. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waterlily777 Posted January 17, 2010 Author #23 Share Posted January 17, 2010 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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