Britannia ~ B627

[Big Foot]

Hello,

 

Just a 'heads up' for anyone sailing on Britannia on 3rd September I've just received the following notification from P&O ....

 

 

We hope you are looking forward to your cruise on Britannia.

 

Due to the number of ships calling in to Gibraltar on Wednesday 14th September we are unable to maintain our call there as planned. As a result, we have replaced this half day call with a full day in the beautiful Spanish town of Vigo on Thursday 15th September.

 

Unfortunately, as this makes the cruise entirely EU based, a 20% VAT charge will now apply to shop, photography and spa retail product purchases and duty free alcohol & cigarette cartons cannot be sold on-board during this cruise.

 

However, no additional FAT will be applied to drinks, spa services, select dining or individual cigarette packets.

 

The usual about shore excursions being refunded & a new programme being available for Vigo on CP shortly.

 

Was really looking forward to going to Gibraltar as only been once, been to Vigo lots of times now :(

 

Oh well, I will still enjoy my 2 weeks away but this has put a bit of a dampener on things!

 

Joan

[kevinyork]

Another port change! I don't understand, surely these are arranged over a year in advance? Prefer Gibraltar to Vigo any day. In this case not only a port change issue but an increase in some costs onboard and no duty free.

 

 

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[bee-ess]

Hello,

 

Just a 'heads up' for anyone sailing on Britannia on 3rd September I've just received the following notification from P&O ....

 

 

We hope you are looking forward to your cruise on Britannia.

 

Due to the number of ships calling in to Gibraltar on Wednesday 14th September we are unable to maintain our call there as planned. As a result, we have replaced this half day call with a full day in the beautiful Spanish town of Vigo on Thursday 15th September.

 

Unfortunately, as this makes the cruise entirely EU based, a 20% VAT charge will now apply to shop, photography and spa retail product purchases and duty free alcohol & cigarette cartons cannot be sold on-board during this cruise.

 

However, no additional FAT will be applied to drinks, spa services, select dining or individual cigarette packets.

 

The usual about shore excursions being refunded & a new programme being available for Vigo on CP shortly.

 

Was really looking forward to going to Gibraltar as only been once, been to Vigo lots of times now :(

 

Oh well, I will still enjoy my 2 weeks away but this has put a bit of a dampener on things!

 

Joan

 

So many port changes lately on P&O.

Makes you wonder when they actually book the berths

[terrierjohn]

One of the other ships in port is Emerald Princess, I wonder how Carnival made the decision as to which one to ditch.

[the english lady]

Having taken to reading the American boards recently on one of them somebody asked if there had been more port changes than there used to be on cruises now. All the replies said yes, and somebody posted they had not been on one cruise yet where there were not changes . (similar to the sort of luck we have, from weather, pilot strikes, missile throwing)

Can't remember which board now, but this is not just a p and o thing. Other lines are doing it. If any one who has been on American lines says they have never had port changes then they must have been very lucky , as it does happen.

[kevinyork]

Having taken to reading the American boards recently on one of them somebody asked if there had been more port changes than there used to be on cruises now. All the replies said yes, and somebody posted they had not been on one cruise yet where there were not changes . (similar to the sort of luck we have, from weather, pilot strikes, missile throwing)

 

Can't remember which board now, but this is not just a p and o thing. Other lines are doing it. If any one who has been on American lines says they have never had port changes then they must have been very lucky , as it does happen.

 

 

 

I will go first then, 7 cruises on US lines. No port changes.

 

 

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[bee-ess]

I will go first then, 7 cruises on US lines. No port changes.

 

 

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I'll go 2nd - 6 cruises on US lines and no port changes

[CCFC]

I've had one port change with Princess after booking and that was to substitute Tunisia (civil unrest) for Malta which suited me fine. Had one with P&O because of fog in Lisbon but that's it.

 

As was said before these berths must be booked years in advance, does the port decide who are going to be the big spenders?

 

Does Princess count as a US line as they still have the P&O rising sun on all their ships bows :)

Edited July 22, 2016 by CCFC

[the english lady]

As I said very lucky.

How would you explain the poster who had port changes on all of their cruises. Just very very unlucky maybe.

Just because the 2 of you have not had changes, does not mean it doesn't happen on American lines. If it didn't happen why did the poster start their thread, and why did the other people state they had changes.

[bee-ess]

As I said very lucky.

How would you explain the poster who had port changes on all of their cruises. Just very very unlucky maybe.

Just because the 2 of you have not had changes, does not mean it doesn't happen on American lines. If it didn't happen why did the poster start their thread, and why did the other people state they had changes.

 

I guess we have been lucky, of course they have port changes on US lines but I think P&O have had quite a few port changes in the last few months and those are only the ones we here about on here.

[Adammara]

We had a port change on Celebrity Eclipse, we encountered strong heads winds in the Atlantic on the way back from the Med.

 

We were due to dock at Coruna, but on the morning before the call, the captain announced that due to the headwinds, we would be late docking and only get a half day stay. That evening, after dinner he made another announcement, we would not make it, and Southampton and Miami had got a last minute berth in Vigo, lots of moans, but IMHO better than an extra sea day!

[kevinyork]

We had a port change on Celebrity Eclipse, we encountered strong heads winds in the Atlantic on the way back from the Med.

 

 

 

We were due to dock at Coruna, but on the morning before the call, the captain announced that due to the headwinds, we would be late docking and only get a half day stay. That evening, after dinner he made another announcement, we would not make it, and Southampton and Miami had got a last minute berth in Vigo, lots of moans, but IMHO better than an extra sea day!

 

 

 

Not really a port change in advance, more a change due to weather conditions. Not the same.

 

 

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[sueandphil]

Hello,

 

Just a 'heads up' for anyone sailing on Britannia on 3rd September I've just received the following notification from P&O ....

 

 

We hope you are looking forward to your cruise on Britannia.

 

Due to the number of ships calling in to Gibraltar on Wednesday 14th September we are unable to maintain our call there as planned. As a result, we have replaced this half day call with a full day in the beautiful Spanish town of Vigo on Thursday 15th September.

 

Unfortunately, as this makes the cruise entirely EU based, a 20% VAT charge will now apply to shop, photography and spa retail product purchases and duty free alcohol & cigarette cartons cannot be sold on-board during this cruise.

 

However, no additional FAT will be applied to drinks, spa services, select dining or individual cigarette packets.

 

The usual about shore excursions being refunded & a new programme being available for Vigo on CP shortly.

 

Was really looking forward to going to Gibraltar as only been once, been to Vigo lots of times now :(

 

Oh well, I will still enjoy my 2 weeks away but this has put a bit of a dampener on things!

 

Joan

Good news No additional FAT added to drinks thought might have to be more restrained:eek:

[holidaysaregood]

We had a Royal Caribbean complete cruise cancelled about 8 weeks before departure. Not a port change but very upsetting as it was a big birthday cruise out of Venice. They had Chartered the boat at the last minute.

[cruise saint]

We're on this cruise for our honeymoon. It's our first ever cruise so not too bothered by the port change. Not had any notification from P&O though and my cruise personaliser still has Gibraltar on the itinerary.

[Big Foot]

We're on this cruise for our honeymoon. It's our first ever cruise so not too bothered by the port change. Not had any notification from P&O though and my cruise personaliser still has Gibraltar on the itinerary.

 

We received our notification fron P&O via our travel agent so depending on how you booked you'll probably get yours shortly.

 

Not long to go now :)

[Clodia]

I must be exceptionally lucky. The only port change I've had in 18 cruises was an unexpected overnight stay in Malaga last year on Aurora.

[Josy1953]

Like Clodia we must also be very lucky, we have done 35 cruises (16 with P&O) and the only changes we have had were due to weather conditions that twice kept us out of Amsterdam so we went Zeebrugge on one cruise and Le Havre the second time and we had a day at sea instead of Warnemund. It must be annoying if you particularly want to visit somewhere and then miss it but with cruises no ports can be guaranteed.

 

I think that the cruise lines and the ports need to be more transparent about when ships are scheduled in port and are then bumped, it would be nice to know how the decision to bump a particular ship is taken.

[bee-ess]

I think that the cruise lines and the ports need to be more transparent about when ships are scheduled in port and are then bumped, it would be nice to know how the decision to bump a particular ship is taken.

 

I guess it could be like when airlines oversell seats and then offer incentives to customers to take a different flight. It has just seemed to happen to P&O quite a lot lately.

[kruzseeka]

And with increasing cruise traffic, the pressure on ports will be greater. I just imagined that when planning an itinerary a cruise line would determine that they could in fact berth at ports included before advertising the itinerary and accepting bookings - and customers' money. After all most people book because of the itinerary. How many ports need to change before you may never have considered that cruise? In some cases it may be just the one - say a stop in Venice being dumped would be enough to ruin the cruise for many. So it is a concern if the frequency of changes is increasing.

 

Why do these ports get changed - too many ships? If so isn't it first come first served? And wouldn't some sort of contract be entered into at the time of reserving the berth? Is it the ports being slippery and not being pinned down - if ports can drop ships perhaps for bigger ones which pay more then that is bad news. Or is it the cruise line unwilling to pay up or financially commit ahead of time (surely a financial commitment would provide more security of the agreement).

 

I bet money is at the bottom of it - from which side I don't know but others may have more knowledge of how these things work.

 

I have no problem with a changed itinerary due to weather, unrest, mechanical or operational issues like port services being unavailable but would also like some transparency. The fact that no reasonable (acceptable) explanation is offered sounds much like the principle behind the real explanation wouldn't be very acceptable to most customers. Otherwise why not tell us?

[bee-ess]

And with increasing cruise traffic, the pressure on ports will be greater. I just imagined that when planning an itinerary a cruise line would determine that they could in fact berth at ports included before advertising the itinerary and accepting bookings - and customers' money. After all most people book because of the itinerary. How many ports need to change before you may never have considered that cruise? In some cases it may be just the one - say a stop in Venice being dumped would be enough to ruin the cruise for many. So it is a concern if the frequency of changes is increasing.

 

Why do these ports get changed - too many ships? If so isn't it first come first served? And wouldn't some sort of contract be entered into at the time of reserving the berth? Is it the ports being slippery and not being pinned down - if ports can drop ships perhaps for bigger ones which pay more then that is bad news. Or is it the cruise line unwilling to pay up or financially commit ahead of time (surely a financial commitment would provide more security of the agreement).

 

I bet money is at the bottom of it - from which side I don't know but others may have more knowledge of how these things work.

 

I have no problem with a changed itinerary due to weather, unrest, mechanical or operational issues like port services being unavailable but would also like some transparency. The fact that no reasonable (acceptable) explanation is offered sounds much like the principle behind the real explanation wouldn't be very acceptable to most customers. Otherwise why not tell us?

 

Another thing that P&O do which is a but underhand is that when a port is changed they don't always update the itinerary on line to reflect this. Example - we booked a 7 night Saver last minute cruise to Norway including Geiranger, within an hour of booking and receiving our confirmation we had another mail saying that Geiranger had been replaced by Andalsnes. Once on board we were talking about this to other cruisers and we found out that it had been changed sometime before, but the itinerary online had not been updated. I've since read that P&O quite regularly drop Geiranger and Flam which are popular ports in Norway. I guess advertising a cruise with Geiranger is more appealing than Andelsnes ?

[kruzseeka]

Another thing that P&O do which is a but underhand is that when a port is changed they don't always update the itinerary on line to reflect this. Example - we booked a 7 night Saver last minute cruise to Norway including Geiranger, within an hour of booking and receiving our confirmation we had another mail saying that Geiranger had been replaced by Andalsnes. Once on board we were talking about this to other cruisers and we found out that it had been changed sometime before, but the itinerary online had not been updated. I've since read that P&O quite regularly drop Geiranger and Flam which are popular ports in Norway. I guess advertising a cruise with Geiranger is more appealing than Andelsnes ?

 

That really is bad isn't it? Geiranger and Flam are the jewels of the Norway itinerary. I would definitely have looked to book with someone else if they weren't part of the itinerary. It could be said they took your money under false pretences since the change was made before you booked and paid. Does not reflect well I'm sad to say!

[daiB]

That really is bad isn't it? Geiranger and Flam are the jewels of the Norway itinerary. I would definitely have looked to book with someone else if they weren't part of the itinerary. It could be said they took your money under false pretences since the change was made before you booked and paid. Does not reflect well I'm sad to say!

 

 

And yet we have a port change on our next cruise on Arcadia and it was on line before I got my conformation it was happening and the amended trips were there as well.

 

 

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