Itinerary change again!

[Tarquin]

2 years ago we booked a short break to St Peter Port and Bruges . In the run up the itinerary was switched which meant we would miss the major events taking place in Guernsey on the Saturday, switched back again before sailing and switched again a day before embarkation. The outcome was that we couldn't dock in Bruges and spent a day sailing up and down the channel!

 

We have booked again, this time a 4 dayer taking in Amsterdam first and Bruge second and again have received notification that the order of call has been switched. What possible reason could there be for doing this so close again to departure?

[Selbourne]

It could be for a number of reasons, but is usually due to the number of ships in port and resultant pressures on things such as tour bus availability. It is incredibly frustrating, but at least this time you are doing the correct two ports, just in the reverse direction, which shouldn't affect your enjoyment in any way, unlike our cruise to the Norwegian Fjords on Britannia last year when both major Fjords (Flaam and Olden) were cancelled and replaced with coastal ports!

 

We recently did the same 4 day cruise that you are doing

(on Ventura). In Amsterdam, we docked in the city centre which was great. A 15 minute walk to Dam Square and on our way back to sea we went through a sea lock which was a pleasant surprise and very interesting (we had obviously gone through it on the way in but had been asleep). In Zeebrugge, the shuttle bus only takes you to Blankenberg. If you are not doing a tour, I recommend pre booking a cab with Martin's Taxis. You have to get the port shuttle bus (not the P&O one) from the ship to the port gates (free) and they meet you there. You pay on the day €50 each way. The advantage over a tour is that they drop you off and collect you from the central square in Brugge, whereas tour buses and trains result in a 15 minute walk each way.

 

If you are interested, I wrote a long review on the mini cruise. Not sure if you have done longer cruises with P&O, but we did find that the service on board was quite poor compared to 7 day or longer cruises. It was as if the crew see short cruises as a bit of a break for them as well. Here it is;

 

http://www.cruisecritic.co.uk/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=567521

[TeeJayGee]

We're on the same cruise. Lads booked this for a stag do as the day we're supposed to be in Amsterdam is King's Day. They say they've switched it because the docks are full, but it's probably because they couldn't do their excursions.

 

Very disappointed to say the least.

[Thejuggler]

Docks full is half the story.

 

Cruises are planned 3 years out and confirmed about 12 months beforehand. P&O will have been asked to swap and no doubt there is a financial incentive for them having such flexibility in their contract with the Port companies.

[Cruise Puss]

Docks full is half the story.

 

Cruises are planned 3 years out and confirmed about 12 months beforehand. P&O will have been asked to swap and no doubt there is a financial incentive for them having such flexibility in their contract with the Port companies.

 

That is true. An Officer told us a few years ago that they book cruises years in advance.

[Tarquin]

It could be for a number of reasons, but is usually due to the number of ships in port and resultant pressures on things such as tour bus availability. It is incredibly frustrating, but at least this time you are doing the correct two ports, just in the reverse direction, which shouldn't affect your enjoyment in any way, unlike our cruise to the Norwegian Fjords on Britannia last year when both major Fjords (Flaam and Olden) were cancelled and replaced with coastal ports!

 

We recently did the same 4 day cruise that you are doing

(on Ventura). In Amsterdam, we docked in the city centre which was great. A 15 minute walk to Dam Square and on our way back to sea we went through a sea lock which was a pleasant surprise and very interesting (we had obviously gone through it on the way in but had been asleep). In Zeebrugge, the shuttle bus only takes you to Blankenberg. If you are not doing a tour, I recommend pre booking a cab with Martin's Taxis. You have to get the port shuttle bus (not the P&O one) from the ship to the port gates (free) and they meet you there. You pay on the day €50 each way. The advantage over a tour is that they drop you off and collect you from the central square in Brugge, whereas tour buses and trains result in a 15 minute walk each way.

 

If you are interested, I wrote a long review on the mini cruise. Not sure if you have done longer cruises with P&O, but we did find that the service on board was quite poor compared to 7 day or longer cruises. It was as if the crew see short cruises as a bit of a break for them as well. Here it is;

 

http://www.cruisecritic.co.uk/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=567521

 

Thanks i'll have a read.

 

We've previously done a 2 dayer to Bruge so know about the walk in and out from the station - quite enjoyed it in fact:p

[Goosebear Mum]

Two years ago we couldn't get into Amsterdam, and had to go to Rotterdam (these things happen).

 

Our Christmas Caribbean cruise last year on Aurora was totally swapped round last minute (excuse seemed weak, so I'm sure money counted), which meant we lost most of our tours we'd prebooked months before. I was really disappointed as we were left on Barbados and Dominica with very little choice. Then, when on the ship as we were in the Atlantic (after lots of overheard mutterings about the swap) they swapped out Dominica for St Lucia which placated many (mutterings ceased!) I got to photograph wild hummingbirds on St Lucia which made up for everything!

[simonpjd]

Itinerary changes are always a bit of a pain, but it is all there in the small print.

We once booked an Iceland and Greenland cruise which never got to Greenland. And we found out they knew this before leaving the UK but didn't say until we were close to Iceland. Many very upset passengers as you can imagine.

 

 

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[HikingPete]

2 years ago we booked a short break to St Peter Port and Bruges . In the run up the itinerary was switched which meant we would miss the major events taking place in Guernsey on the Saturday, switched back again before sailing and switched again a day before embarkation.

 

I was on the same cruise! The issue was apparently the choppy waters making it impossible to dock at Belgium, which they tried to mitigate by changing the itinerary. Yes, I do think that fumbled the date swap, as a lot of people were looking forward to the events at Guernsey.

 

That said, the day at sea did mean that anyone who happened to be on deck at the right time was treated to a fly-by from the Belgian Coastguard carrying out a training maneuver with the assistance of the bridge crew.