Why are P&O no longer docking in Amsterdam

[arendale1]

3 minutes ago, Britboys said:

 

Try to go with a positive frame of mind if you can.  I was unhappy about the change and am still awaiting a response to my complaint but I still managed to enjoy myself on all 4 days of my short cruise.

Thanks, we will make sure we have a good time anyway.

We had plans for Amsterdam with our autistic son - these will no longer work and it’s hard explaining this to him.

[Britboys]

2 hours ago, arendale1 said:

Thanks, we will make sure we have a good time anyway.

We had plans for Amsterdam with our autistic son - these will no longer work and it’s hard explaining this to him.

 

Sorry to hear that.  Within walking distance of the cruise terminal there are some WW2 Bunkers in the sand dunes behind the beach.  I understand that these are all open and you can explore them free and at leisure. If the weather is good, maybe that could be an option?

[Harry Peterson]

3 minutes ago, Britboys said:

 

Sorry to hear that.  Within walking distance of the cruise terminal there are some WW2 Bunkers in the sand dunes behind the beach.  I understand that these are all open and you can explore them free and at leisure. If the weather is good, maybe that could be an option?

Another option would be for P&O to reverse their decision, provide what people paid for, and dock in Amsterdam.

 

How dare they treat their customers like this?  Even Ryanair behave better than P&O these days, and they're about as bad as you can get.

[Britboys]

I was just trying to be positive and helpful for arendale1 docco.  Despite the Ijmuiden issues last weekend the vast majority of those on board seemed to be having a good time for the vast majority of the cruise.  I hope that perhaps you will be able to find the positives on your current cruise and manage to enjoy it in spite of the problems you are experiencing.

[Redding43]

A representative from P&O just called me following my email to them after our return.

 

lots of apologies and that they have learned lessons from this. They have offered 10% of the fare as a refund and placed against any future cruise booked with them. I stated I found that a little insulting and poor customer service considering the fact it was a single port cruise and it should not be us to have to suffer by them ‘learning lessons’

 

Although the person was understanding and polite it was, as stated, their final offer.

 

such a disappointment and as a result they have missed out on us booking a summer cruise with them, we have booked with Royal Caribbean.

 

Such a shame

Edited March 31, 2019 by Redding43

[arendale1]

2 hours ago, Britboys said:

 

Sorry to hear that.  Within walking distance of the cruise terminal there are some WW2 Bunkers in the sand dunes behind the beach.  I understand that these are all open and you can explore them free and at leisure. If the weather is good, maybe that could be an option?

Yes, that will be interesting on one of the days. We’re not going to try to get into Amsterdam both days.

What we really want to do is get to Amsterdam airport where the model aircraft shop is. Our son's ‘special interest’ is airplanes and he collects models. He’s wanted to go there for a long time. Not sure how feasible this is now as we were planning a little trip whilst there as well as popping back and forth from the ship over the two days to keep our other kids happy.

[arendale1]

1 hour ago, Britboys said:

I was just trying to be positive and helpful for arendale1 docco.  Despite the Ijmuiden issues last weekend the vast majority of those on board seemed to be having a good time for the vast majority of the cruise.  I hope that perhaps you will be able to find the positives on your current cruise and manage to enjoy it in spite of the problems you are experiencing.

And I really appreciate your posts 🙂

[Britboys]

27 minutes ago, arendale1 said:

Yes, that will be interesting on one of the days. We’re not going to try to get into Amsterdam both days.

What we really want to do is get to Amsterdam airport where the model aircraft shop is. Our son's ‘special interest’ is airplanes and he collects models. He’s wanted to go there for a long time. Not sure how feasible this is now as we were planning a little trip whilst there as well as popping back and forth from the ship over the two days to keep our other kids happy.

 

It is doable but not sure if feasible for you.  According to rome2rio.com, you can get a no 382 bus from Zwaanstraat in Ijmuiden & get off at Amsterdam Sloterdijk rail station, which is then only 10 minutes by train to the airport.  Of course, you would need a bus from the port to Ijmuiden first however.  It would take around an hour all together.  One of the problems with Ijmuiden is that there isn't a rail service to/from it!

[arendale1]

20 minutes ago, Britboys said:

 

It is doable but not sure if feasible for you.  According to rome2rio.com, you can get a no 382 bus from Zwaanstraat in Ijmuiden & get off at Amsterdam Sloterdijk rail station, which is then only 10 minutes by train to the airport.  Of course, you would need a bus from the port to Ijmuiden first however.  It would take around an hour all together.  One of the problems with Ijmuiden is that there isn't a rail service to/from it!

This is the problem. Before we were planning on walking into Amsterdam and leaving two of our kids to do what they want, whilst we jumped in a taxi to the airport and back. We’d have only been gone a couple of hours. Meaning lots of time to enjoy Amsterdam as a family still.

We are now further away from the airport and with all the hassle of shuttles etc, it’s just not going to work. Too many issues to deal with, especially with our son. It was a big part of his 21st birthday celebration - P&O couldn’t have messed it up more for us tbh.

[Britboys]

So sorry to hear it is part of his big birthday celebrations - that will be beyond disappointing for you all.

[arendale1]

3 minutes ago, Britboys said:

So sorry to hear it is part of his big birthday celebrations - that will be beyond disappointing for you all.

Thank you! If only P&O were as empathetic.

But, we will enjoy ourselves in spite of them. Just not likely to be repeat customers. We’ve only cruised with Royal Caribbean before and had a great time 🙂

[arendale1]

1 hour ago, Redding43 said:

A representative from P&O just called me following my email to them after our return.

 

lots of apologies and that they have learned lessons from this. They have offered 10% of the fare as a refund and placed against any future cruise booked with them. I stated I found that a little insulting and poor customer service considering the fact it was a single port cruise and it should not be us to have to suffer by them ‘learning lessons’

 

Although the person was understanding and polite it was, as stated, their final offer.

 

such a disappointment and as a result they have missed out on us booking a summer cruise with them, we have booked with Royal Caribbean.

 

Such a shame

So they’ve offered a 10% refund, but only to be used against a future cruise? If so, not really a refund, more of a credit?

Not great really as they’re just hoping to make you book with them again.

[crompton21]

We are just back from Britannia B907, which had 2 days in Rotterdam.  On one of the days we did an Amsterdam tour.  The tour took 1 hr 45 to get there and over 2 hours to get back.  We were so long coming back that the ships departure was delayed by about 30 minutes.  Traffic was amazingly awful both ways.

 

The tour guide had some interesting feedback on the Amsterdam situation.  Her opinion was that the mayor is responsible for the changes and that they are driven by a desire to reduce overcrowding by tourists in the city, not to make more money.  They do not want to become like Venice apparently.

 

She also said that there is to be a restriction limiting coaches arriving to carrying a maximum of 20 passengers per coach.  I don’t know if that is true, but it is what she said.  She was unhappy as she felt her livelihood was at threat as a result.  

 

Perhaps it’s not all down to penny pinching P & O?

Edited April 7, 2019 by crompton21

[Son of Anarchy]

1 hour ago, crompton21 said:

We are just back from Britannia B907, which had 2 days in Rotterdam.  On one of the days we did an Amsterdam tour.  The tour took 1 hr 45 to get there and over 2 hours to get back.  We were so long coming back that the ships departure was delayed by about 30 minutes.  Traffic was amazingly awful both ways.

 

The tour guide had some interesting feedback on the Amsterdam situation.  Her opinion was that the mayor is responsible for the changes and that they are driven by a desire to reduce overcrowding by tourists in the city, not to make more money.  They do not want to become like Venice apparently.

 

She also said that there is to be a restriction limiting coaches arriving to carrying a maximum of 20 passengers per coach.  I don’t know if that is true, but it is what she said.  She was unhappy as she felt her livelihood was at threat as a result.  

 

Perhaps it’s not all down to penny pinching P & O?

 

Makes you wonder whether the Mayor of Amdam actually wants income in the city.

[Harry Peterson]

1 hour ago, crompton21 said:

We are just back from Britannia B907, which had 2 days in Rotterdam.  On one of the days we did an Amsterdam tour.  The tour took 1 hr 45 to get there and over 2 hours to get back.  We were so long coming back that the ships departure was delayed by about 30 minutes.  Traffic was amazingly awful both ways.

 

The tour guide had some interesting feedback on the Amsterdam situation.  Her opinion was that the mayor is responsible for the changes and that they are driven by a desire to reduce overcrowding by tourists in the city, not to make more money.  They do not want to become like Venice apparently.

 

She also said that there is to be a restriction limiting coaches arriving to carrying a maximum of 20 passengers per coach.  I don’t know if that is true, but it is what she said.  She was unhappy as she felt her livelihood was at threat as a result.  

 

Perhaps it’s not all down to penny pinching P & O?

Interesting background, but it's still entirely down to P&O for switching away from Amsterdam just to save money. They had no other need to do it.

 

[jake 26]

We were also on B907 and, having visited Amsterdam a few times previously, decided to explore what Rotterdam and the surrounding area have to offer.

It was delightful as there is such an eclectic mix of places such as Delft, The Hague, and Gouda, as well as the vibrant city that Rotterdam is.

We felt we missed nothing by not going to Amsterdam.

[AndyMichelle]

21 minutes ago, docco said:

Interesting background, but it's still entirely down to P&O for switching away from Amsterdam just to save money. They had no other need to do it.

 

I do not know the ins and outs like you Docco, but surely if it was just about saving money, they would have just passed the charge onto the passengers, I doubt many would have objected.

Supplying the coach transfers must cost P&O a few Bob, so there must be other reasons.

Is it more likely that they want to prove a point, that they can still function without the charges?

Either way, I agree that they have handled it poorly.

Andy

[No1cherry]

I am going this week on Friday, hopefully they will have learnt some lessons from the first cruise. I can see Amsterdam being taken of the itineraries altogether. I think I am going to adopt the attitude to go with the flow and see what happens.

[daiB]

19 minutes ago, AndyMichelle said:

I do not know the ins and outs like you Docco, but surely if it was just about saving money, they would have just passed the charge onto the passengers, I doubt many would have objected.

Supplying the coach transfers must cost P&O a few Bob, so there must be other reasons.

Is it more likely that they want to prove a point, that they can still function without the charges?

Either way, I agree that they have handled it poorly.

Andy

Andy,

No one knows the ins and outs. 

[terrierjohn]

42 minutes ago, daiB said:

Andy,

No one knows the ins and outs. 

But P&O do themselves no favours by not presenting a believable reason for the change, even if it was that Carnival policy was to try and effect a cancellation of the tourist charge, this might have gone down better with passengers than hiding behind woolly  phrases  like "operational reasons".

[AndyMichelle]

51 minutes ago, daiB said:

Andy,

No one knows the ins and outs. 

Point taken Dai.

I guess I was just trying to say that I have not looked into it and tried to get answers as much as others have, but could not see that it was a purely financial issue.

Andy

[Harry Peterson]

54 minutes ago, daiB said:

Andy,

No one knows the ins and outs. 

They do if they've spoken to the right people within Carnival, believe me.

[AndyMichelle]

6 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

But P&O do themselves no favours by not presenting a believable reason for the change, even if it was that Carnival policy was to try and effect a cancellation of the tourist charge, this might have gone down better with passengers than hiding behind woolly  phrases  like "operational reasons".

Agreed John.

Andy

[daiB]

Just now, AndyMichelle said:

Point taken Dai.

I guess I was just trying to say that I have not looked into it and tried to get answers as much as others have, but could not see that it was a purely financial issue.

Andy

Agree fully Andy, I think I said this on another thread.

[pete14]

3 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

But P&O do themselves no favours by not presenting a believable reason for the change, 

 

And spending lots of extra money on shuttle buses together with alienating passengers in order to avoid a small city tourist tax is believable? I am not saying this isn’t the reason, nobody outside P&O seems to know, but we should not assume a few posters on here know anything more about the reason than we do.