Brittania docking late tomorrow

[CarlaMarie]

Apparently everyone is onboard now and she should be departing shortly. Drills happening now.

[Eglesbrech]

8 minutes ago, CarlaMarie said:

Apparently everyone is onboard now and she should be departing shortly. Drills happening now.

 

At long last. Very long day for both passengers and crew.

[hansol1966]

We boarded the Britannia on the 18th May used parking4 cruises for the first time and was glad to drop the wife, son and luggage off in the drop off bays and then drop my car off in the car park opposite. No problem picking the car up after leaving the ship.  After the self disembarkation passengers got off we were told the start of main disembarkation would start we had a priority letter to get off but this was still 5.00PM..with the rest off the ship to get off yet. We, and I assume every cabin was issued with a letter for insurance purposes that said the 7hr 15 mins delay was due to mechanical reasons. I would think you would try your travel insurance first for reasonable expenses incurred travelling home etc. If the insurance company won’t honour all or part of your claim then pass it on to P&O.  I did ask several passengers about the delay on the previous cruise and they all said it was the weather, a strong headwind slowing the ship down.

 

[tom_uk]

Britannia under way now (11:10 pm BST), according to Marine Traffic. ETA Cherbourg 0500 tomorrow morning.

Edited May 25, 2019 by tom_uk

[Narrow boat girl]

What time did Britannia get into port and then finally sail today. I feel for people who are going on holiday, but also feel for the staff who have to make sure everything is ready, in a short space of time,it will be a really long day for them.

[Narrow boat girl]

Whilst the seas were not particularly rough the weather report stated Britannia was sailing in to a strong  head wind, and this delayed our progress.We were due to dock at 6.00am and didn't dock until 8.30 we got off the ship at around 12.15, cleared car park by 1.00 pm travelled back to Yorkshire, home by 5.00 pm. I can understand people's frustration, but these things happen, and I am sure that everyone is doing there best to resolve the problems.

 

 

 

[the english lady]

I also read a post on FB from someone who was on the late returning cruise , that as Brittania missed her "slot" coming into Southampton , the port authorities were not allowing her to come in any sooner. As I live opposite the port I know how busy it is, and not just cruise ships. So maybe there is a window of a couple of hours for each ships arrival, and if you are going to miss that, you have to be slotted in amongst all the other vessels going up and down the water.

If there was chaos joining yesterday evening one can only assume everyone decided to ignore the turn uip 5hours later than you slot (so flow would be spread out) and all arrived at a similar time.

 

[stephen@stoneyard.co.uk]

41 minutes ago, the english lady said:

I also read a post on FB from someone who was on the late returning cruise , that as Brittania missed her "slot" coming into Southampton , the port authorities were not allowing her to come in any sooner. As I live opposite the port I know how busy it is, and not just cruise ships. So maybe there is a window of a couple of hours for each ships arrival, and if you are going to miss that, you have to be slotted in amongst all the other vessels going up and down the water.

If there was chaos joining yesterday evening one can only assume everyone decided to ignore the turn uip 5hours later than you slot (so flow would be spread out) and all arrived at a similar time.

 

 

If there was chaos who knows what caused it. Previous posters have hinted that there were delays handling cars. Perhaps CPS were not able to get enough staff for that late time. Also coaches may have arrived early or late. Ultimately P and O delayed departure by five hours, giving people about twenty four hours notice and then could not deal with the resulting situation in a way passengers would expect. 

 

I hope everybody has a lovely cruise. 

 

Best wishes, Stephen. 

[keithhutch]

Hi we were on the 4-18 may cruise, capt informed us we would be 3hrs late returning to Southampton (he told us this Thursday).he had the rest of thu and all day Friday to make the time up.

   Yes it was windy but not that bad,Friday weather fine and comments were made how slow we were going considering we were late.my thoughts are Britannia was struggling with engine problems then.!!

[the english lady]

Coaches were taken to Beaulie for the day. It may have been some CPS staff didn't wish to work late on a Saturday night..along with the terminal staff. But equally if a lot of people turned up in a short space of time then that would cause problems. You can only process so many cars/people at a time.

[jeanlyon]

3 minutes ago, keithhutch said:

Hi we were on the 4-18 may cruise, capt informed us we would be 3hrs late returning to Southampton (he told us this Thursday).he had the rest of thu and all day Friday to make the time up.

   Yes it was windy but not that bad,Friday weather fine and comments were made how slow we were going considering we were late.my thoughts are Britannia was struggling with engine problems then.!!

Hmmm, the wind would have to be very strong to slow her down that much.  Sounds more mechanical doesn't it.

[jeanlyon]

2 hours ago, the english lady said:

I also read a post on FB from someone who was on the late returning cruise , that as Brittania missed her "slot" coming into Southampton , the port authorities were not allowing her to come in any sooner. As I live opposite the port I know how busy it is, and not just cruise ships. So maybe there is a window of a couple of hours for each ships arrival, and if you are going to miss that, you have to be slotted in amongst all the other vessels going up and down the water.

If there was chaos joining yesterday evening one can only assume everyone decided to ignore the turn uip 5hours later than you slot (so flow would be spread out) and all arrived at a similar time.

 

I'll bet that's right.  Only one ship at a time can get by The Brambles and it all must be timed.

[Harry Peterson]

16 minutes ago, keithhutch said:

Hi we were on the 4-18 may cruise, capt informed us we would be 3hrs late returning to Southampton (he told us this Thursday).he had the rest of thu and all day Friday to make the time up.

   Yes it was windy but not that bad,Friday weather fine and comments were made how slow we were going considering we were late.my thoughts are Britannia was struggling with engine problems then.!!

An interesting comment - and given that P&O seem incapable of providing the whole truth whenever there's a problem, one does have to wonder whether there's a problem on Britannia which hasn't yet been disclosed to passengers. Let's face it - they'd be the last to know.

 

And, to return to some of the earlier posts, if that is the case it increases substantially the chances of negligence, the financial consequences of which P&O would be fully responsible for.  

[jeanlyon]

I'm still baffled.  Why is an engine problem negligence?  If your car breaks down with a component failure or something, is that negligence?

[keithhutch]

The problem is money....if the Britannia had a problem on the 18th instead of taking time out to repair it pounds signs start to ring,maybe they think it can last out till the refit.

[jeanlyon]

It will be interesting to see if they cancel the 7 day cruise that starts after this one on 1st June.

Edited May 26, 2019 by jeanlyon

[hansol1966]

Yes I did post on our run along the coast about 3hrs from Southampton the captain announced due to missing our early morning slot with a fresh arrival time of 2.00PM the port asked for Brittania to slow down so they arrived at 2.30PM. In fact arriving just before 3.00PM.

We got on the ship a bit late on the 18th due to the late docking but nowhere near as bad as yesterday. What I will say being late arriving and having the use of your rooms till 12.00 midday, buffet available and ship facilities open, gaining half a day cruise...cannot be anywhere near as bad as getting on your ship late. Especially as late as this departure. To rub salt in the wounds if there is a 24 hr safety drill requirement why couldn’t this be done sometime the next day, disabled..old..children.

[Harry Peterson]

32 minutes ago, jeanlyon said:

I'm still baffled.  Why is an engine problem negligence?  If your car breaks down with a component failure or something, is that negligence?

Negligence depends entirely on the circumstances. To take your example, if your hired car broke down because of a component failure, and it could be shown that that failure could have been prevented by proper servicing, the hire company will probably be negligent and responsible for any reasonably foreseeable consequences.

 

The same principle applies here. It will depend entirely on the facts, but this being P&O we’re unlikely to get them very easily.

[dave2]

56 minutes ago, jeanlyon said:

It will be interesting to see if they cancel the 7 day cruise that starts after this one on 1st June.

I hope not, we're on that one!!

[Selbourne]

19 minutes ago, docco said:

Negligence depends entirely on the circumstances. To take your example, if your hired car broke down because of a component failure, and it could be shown that that failure could have been prevented by proper servicing, the hire company will probably be negligent and responsible for any reasonably foreseeable consequences.

 

The same principle applies here. It will depend entirely on the facts, but this being P&O we’re unlikely to get them very easily.

 

Whilst I would agree that P&O’s land based customer service operation is dire, I doubt that any company would voluntarily admit to negligence, even if it was the case (which I very much doubt anyway), so not a problem which is unique to P&O. 

 

Best now for the passengers to get on and enjoy their cruise and hope that, now the full extent of the delay and disruption is known, P&O improves on their £20 per person offer which, now knowing the impact, seems inadequate. 

[Harry Peterson]

7 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

Whilst I would agree that P&O’s land based customer service operation is dire, I doubt that any company would voluntarily admit to negligence, even if it was the case (which I very much doubt anyway), so not a problem which is unique to P&O. 

Companies don't, I agree, readily accept that they've been negligent, and P&O is no exception.

 

The difference with P&O, though, is that it's almost impossible to get at the facts, and they aren't always truthful about them.  They still haven't been prepared to explain the 'operational reasons' behind the Amsterdam/Ijmuiden switch, for example, or the permanent sewage smell on Azura (separate thread on that), and the reasons they were giving out for the failure to provide any TV channels recently on Azura were just plain untrue - even after I'd been told that they accepted that, and would change the message.

[Les_ldh]

43 minutes ago, dave2 said:

I hope not, we're on that one!!

 

‘I’ll keep my fingers crossed for you Dave, because if I was on that one I would be very nervous indeed having read this thread. 😐

[jeanlyon]

Well she obviously made Cherbourg on time, so looks like the problem is fixed for the time being

 

Edited May 26, 2019 by jeanlyon

[moonstone01]

Totally agree with leaving early.  We live in North Wales and we always leave at 5am.  Usually arrive in Southampton at 11am with plenty of time.  On our last cruise in April there were delays on the M6 and it took us 8 hours to get to Southampton, three hour delay on the M6.  Valuable lesson, always allow for problems

[hansol1966]

On the sea day after leaving Bergen heading for Southampton at 3.00PM when the captain explained the previous nights announcement for safety teams to go to deck 4 zone? which was the engine room..no tuning in to webcam but straight across the ship. Short and precise. The problem was steam escaping and with the large distance and high speed already needed already he made the decision to arrive late at that time quoting 2.00PM. This with another announcement across cabins at 04.00AM morning of arrival that an engine overloaded and all but emergency power would be turned off till fixed. Not long but obviously shows problems. With cruise companies selling back to back cruises all year reaping the rewards with this they must also accept when a ship has mechanical problems there will be monetary consequences...they can’t have it both ways.

After hearing of the £20 compensation offer I had a figure already as a GOODWILL gesture of £100pp in line with Docco....P&O should look at the bigger picture...anyway I hope they have a good time as we did.