A gold star for P&O

[dorsetlad]

P&O frequently come in for criticism, sometimes justified and sometimes not. I just thought I'd paint the other side of the picture, to show that P&O are not the inhuman, money grabbing organisation they are sometimes made out to be.

 

We were booked on Aurora's Christmas/New Year cruise, but out of the blue, about 2 weeks ago, my wife was diagnosed with mouth cancer. The prognosis is very good, and she is expected to make a full recovery. Nevertheless, she is due to go into hospital within the next month, for a very serious operation. There is no way she will be well enough to go on this cruise, in fact the surgeon forbade her. So I sent an email to P&O requesting transferring to another cruise at some future occasion, when we were able to travel. A few days later, a lovely lady called Ella, phoned me up to discuss the situation. normally, you can only transfer to another cruise if you have a specific one in mind, and only then if you are more than 90 days before the original cruise. We could not meet either of those conditions, as it is less than 90 days to the cruise, and we don't know when we will be in a position to go. To cut a long story short, because of the situation, and our loyalty to P&O, they have cancelled the cruise, but are holding on to the cancellation fee of over £2000, until we are ready to book another cruise, and then, subject to the normal £100 admin fee, that £2000 will be credited to our new cruise. In the meantime, the rest of the fare that we paid is being refunded to us. We haven't lost a penny. I cannot speak highly enough of P&O, and particularly Ella, and I think they deserve the highest praise. They have made a horrific situation just a little easier to bear. Well done P&O.

 

Brian

[sagaris]

Brian, sorry to hear about your wife, I hope she makes a swift and full recovery and you are back cruising soon.

 

It is heartening to hear that there are still people who go the extra mile and don't stick to the script.

 

Well done Ella.

 

Molly

[sunny seas]

Firstly many best wishes to your wife and yourself too. So glad your situation has been dealt with by P and O.

 

 

It is so easy to criticise and complain, nice to see someone take the time and trouble to post something positive. Good luck

 

Sunnyseas

[Scriv]

Hope all goes well with your wife's op, dorsetlad and I am so pleased that you were treated with compassion by P and O. That is excellent.

 

Start thinking about which cruise to go on when Ella is well again.

 

Take care x

[ballerina girl]

Wishing you both the very best of luck and hope you both have an amazing cruise when you are able.

[frintzy]

Well done Brian,

 

We had a holiday booked with Thomson and I was diagnosed with colon cancer and whisked into hospital for major surgery. I contacted Thomson to postpone/transfer our holiday they made sympathetic noises but wouldn't budge an inch. We were going to be about £6000 out of pocket even though it was 3 months before our trip.

 

I was a woman on a mission for cancer sufferers, no way was I going to give up and I managed to get as far as the BBC, it was only down to the intervention of Guy Kilty who works on Martin Lewis' programme that I got our money back but no thanks to Thomson, it was our travel insurance that finally paid out.

 

P & O I salute you for having compassion and Thomson holidays take a lesson from a caring company....

 

 

 

 

 

 

P&O frequently come in for criticism, sometimes justified and sometimes not. I just thought I'd paint the other side of the picture, to show that P&O are not the inhuman, money grabbing organisation they are sometimes made out to be.

 

We were booked on Aurora's Christmas/New Year cruise, but out of the blue, about 2 weeks ago, my wife was diagnosed with mouth cancer. The prognosis is very good, and she is expected to make a full recovery. Nevertheless, she is due to go into hospital within the next month, for a very serious operation. There is no way she will be well enough to go on this cruise, in fact the surgeon forbade her. So I sent an email to P&O requesting transferring to another cruise at some future occasion, when we were able to travel. A few days later, a lovely lady called Ella, phoned me up to discuss the situation. normally, you can only transfer to another cruise if you have a specific one in mind, and only then if you are more than 90 days before the original cruise. We could not meet either of those conditions, as it is less than 90 days to the cruise, and we don't know when we will be in a position to go. To cut a long story short, because of the situation, and our loyalty to P&O, they have cancelled the cruise, but are holding on to the cancellation fee of over £2000, until we are ready to book another cruise, and then, subject to the normal £100 admin fee, that £2000 will be credited to our new cruise. In the meantime, the rest of the fare that we paid is being refunded to us. We haven't lost a penny. I cannot speak highly enough of P&O, and particularly Ella, and I think they deserve the highest praise. They have made a horrific situation just a little easier to bear. Well done P&O.

 

Brian

[dsrdsrdsr]

Well done Brian,

 

We had a holiday booked with Thomson and I was diagnosed with colon cancer and whisked into hospital for major surgery. I contacted Thomson to postpone/transfer our holiday they made sympathetic noises but wouldn't budge an inch. We were going to be about £6000 out of pocket even though it was 3 months before our trip.

 

I was a woman on a mission for cancer sufferers, no way was I going to give up and I managed to get as far as the BBC, it was only down to the intervention of Guy Kilty who works on Martin Lewis' programme that I got our money back but no thanks to Thomson, it was our travel insurance that finally paid out.

If you had insurance, why would you need to request repayment from Thomson anyway? I had to cancel a cruise with a fortunately much less serious condition, but it never occurred to me that Cruises & Maritime would pay me back.

[frintzy]

If you had insurance, why would you need to request repayment from Thomson anyway? I had to cancel a cruise with a fortunately much less serious condition, but it never occurred to me that Cruises & Maritime would pay me back.

I didn't want to cancel my holiday, only postpone it !!

[Essexlass2]

Of course, another downside of Dorsetlad's sad experience is that his wife will not be able to get insurance for a while if she's anything like me. After I had colon cancer, nobody wanted to insure me for years and now, 22 years on, they still want almost £100 extra to cover me for that, so I just go away without that part of the cover because nothing happens that quickly with this awful disease. It just creeps up silently on us and isn't fussy what age, gender, etc, we are.

I told myself there's no time to think about dying or anything like that because there's a big wide world out there and I wanted to see it, so that's when we started travelling and haven't stopped since! :)

 

My heart goes out to Mr and Mrs Dorsetlad and I hope all goes well for you both.

[kersh]

Hope all goes well Brian. Good on PO for showing their human side for a change.

 

Sue

[Slugsta]

Well done P+O!

 

I would like to add my best wishes for Mr + Mrs Dorsetlad. I hope that the treatment is speedy and successful.

[frintzy]

Of course, another downside of Dorsetlad's sad experience is that his wife will not be able to get insurance for a while if she's anything like me. After I had colon cancer, nobody wanted to insure me for years and now, 22 years on, they still want almost £100 extra to cover me for that, so I just go away without that part of the cover because nothing happens that quickly with this awful disease. It just creeps up silently on us and isn't fussy what age, gender, etc, we are.

I told myself there's no time to think about dying or anything like that because there's a big wide world out there and I wanted to see it, so that's when we started travelling and haven't stopped since! :)

 

My heart goes out to Mr and Mrs Dorsetlad and I hope all goes well for you both.

 

well done you, it didn't stop you travelling and I'm aiming to keep at it too. I managed to find travel ins that would cover me and at a reasonable price after much internet hunting. You're right when you say nothing happens quickly with colon cancer and ins companies should realise that, its not like heart trouble for instance!

I say a prayer for Dorset lad and his wife...

[dorsetlad]

Thanks for all the good wishes. We have already received the partial refund, and a confirmation letter that the cancellation fee is being held for us to transfer to another cruise when we are able. The only conditions are that we must book by December 2014, and the cruise must cost at least £3,500. Considering the original cruise was over £4,700, they have been extremely generous. Frintzy, I would be interested to learn who you insure with.

 

brian