New internet package e-mail from P&O

[Britchic4]

Had a call from P&O yesterday evening to discuss my concern about the changes to the Internet packages. The gentleman I spoke to advised that these have been introduced in conjunction with their service provider but they are looking closely at the feedback and if there is enough demand or dissatisfaction with the new offerings then they may review this and something may change. No promises were made and they will also be closely monitoring the take up of these services.

 

He stated that they'd had a fair bit of positive feedback and also an amount (though less) of negative comments but also accepted that the people who are most likely to be enthusiastic about the change are the heavy social media users who are also more likely to be commenting.

 

So as I stated earlier, if you're not happy about the changes, tell them, they are listening!

 

Actually I don't think this is true. If you're a heavy social media user you want to check Facebook etc every day, so you'd need to spend £7.50 every day. I am a freelance social media manager and I would gladly pay a reasonable sum over the whole cruise for internet access just to check my client's accounts are OK. Yes it's my holiday but when you work for yourself there has to be a compromise.

I feel a bit of a fraud complaining when I haven't even seen the new system but I will.

Someone on Facebook said they had seen an offer of Azura of £33 for the whole cruise though, and I would happily pay that.

[Prefdavid]

Someone on Facebook said they had seen an offer of Azura of £33 for the whole cruise though, and I would happily pay that.

 

If only that sort of offer were available then I don't think anyone would be complaining.

 

P&O also said that the actual per minute cost of the Internet (to them) had been reduced dramatically with their new arrangement and so it made it less viable economically to offer this significant reduction to pax and the bundles now offered were agreed with their provider.

 

I found it difficult to understand such a justification and said so. "So your costs have reduced and in return, rather than pass on this reduction to your clients, you package this in such a way as to cause a likely quadrupling of cost". There was no sensible answer to this.

[kersh]

We have just had a phone call from P & O to discuss this matter. They are making notes of the complaints so the more that do complain the more likely P & O will do something about it.

 

They admitted that it was trialled on Ventura which does more shorter cruises. Not a fair trial when pax on longer cruises like the world or USA cruises are more likely to need it to keep in touch especially as there are lots of sea days.

 

Sue

[Britchic4]

If only that sort of offer were available then I don't think anyone would be complaining.

 

P&O also said that the actual per minute cost of the Internet (to them) had been reduced dramatically with their new arrangement and so it made it less viable economically to offer this significant reduction to pax and the bundles now offered were agreed with their provider.

 

I found it difficult to understand such a justification and said so. "So your costs have reduced and in return, rather than pass on this reduction to your clients, you package this in such a way as to cause a likely quadrupling of cost". There was no sensible answer to this.

 

Definitely not sensible! In my email I pointed out why it would be more sensible to offer a whole cruise package in addition. Let's say over a 14 day cruise some passengers a willing to pay for 3 days max, that is £23.10. However if they could buy a whole cruise package for £40 they would be much more likely to purchase this. They are still unlikely to use more than 72 hours worth of internet. I also pointed out the anomaly of charging by the day for social media when heavy social media users will want to check every day but would definitely not pay £7.50 * 14. They are much more likely to ditch P & O entirely and use free wifi ashore.

[heathcharnock]

We have just had a phone call from P & O to discuss this matter. They are making notes of the complaints so the more that do complain the more likely P & O will do something about it.

 

They admitted that it was trialled on Ventura which does more shorter cruises. Not a fair trial when pax on longer cruises like the world or USA cruises are more likely to need it to keep in touch especially as there are lots of sea days.

 

Sue

I too have complained but too late for our departure on Sunday