Where have all the Porters gone?

majortom10 · July 28, 2019

1 hour ago, AndyMichelle said:

Thank you for clarifying Major Tom.

So you can still drive to the terminal and get the porters to unload your baggage as usual, you are then directed to a nearby car park.

The only difference seems to be that they do not take your car away from the terminal?

Perhaps they were losing too much business to P4C so have decided to mimic their business plan and make their price more competitive?

Just speculation.

Andy

No I think the op was trying to explain that instead of stopping your car and letting porters take your luggage and CPS drive your car away from the terminal a new procedure is that you are directed to an area near the terminal CPS still take your car off you and they drive it away and park it within port limits which could be 2 miles away, as they have always done, and then you unload your own luggage onto a trolley and take it to the hole in the wall. Except for short 2 nt cruises you have never parked your own car on a car park when using CPS.

luckymal · July 28, 2019

7 hours ago, jeanlyon said:

Not sure what you mean about reducing the number of older passengers?!! We are 80 and 72 and can still manage to wheel our suitcases to the drop off!!

You may be lucky, but when the 72 year young is 80 they may not find it easy? 🥃🍷

berlingo · July 28, 2019

Hi

OP here.

Just to clarify what I understand. There appear to be two main changes from to the previous CPS procedure.

Firstly cars were directed away from the usual CPS drop off area immediately outside the Ocean Terminal. In stead they went to a new area further away but I am not sure of the exact distance.

Secondly after passengers vacated their vehicle there were no porters available at all to assist. Instead the passengers were instructed to collect a trolley and load on their luggage. CPS then collected the car keys and completed the necessary paperwork before driving the car away as normal. Passengers then had to push the trolley to the luggage drop off area at the terminal. I am not sure whether there were any porters available to assist with unloading the trolley at this point.

As I said this appears to be a trial they are running at the moment. I posted because I was not thrilled with the changes and wondered what others thought. Personally I should not be directly affected as I hold a Disabled Parking Badge. However I do have elderly parents who would struggle if they had to manhandle their luggage without an assistance.

Also there did not appear to be any canvassing yesterday of the passengers for their opinions. Something which I would of thought was very important when introducing changes which I feel impact negatively on the customers experience.

Hope this helps.

Juliax

Josy1953 · July 28, 2019

7 hours ago, jeanlyon said:

Not sure what you mean about reducing the number of older passengers?!! We are 80 and 72 and can still manage to wheel our suitcases to the drop off!!

You are fit and well Jean but many people are not that fortunate and rely on assistance from porters etc. At the Caribbean lunch a few years ago the lady officer hosting the table surprisingly made a comment that the company made less money from the older passengers because many of them did not buy from the the onboard shops and did not use the ship photographers, excursions and speciality restaurants but did go to the Peninsular club ents. Most of us on the table took this to mean that we cost them more but did not contribute as much as the newer cruisers. I was just extending this thought to them maybe preferring less of us older pasengers and more of the younger new passengers.

Angel57 · July 28, 2019

What slightly annoys me is that when i opted to reduce my OBC and take the CPS car parking it was under the old regime of driving right up to the terminal and not having to manhandle my cases. Now, i am fit and able so it is not really an issue - but it is a point of principal that once again after having booked something (or at least a service that is offered by them) the rules change!!! Some passengers may turn up completely oblivious to any possible changes and this could potentially cause unnecessary stress. Anyway, let's hope the trial doesn't work......

jeanlyon · July 28, 2019

But surely all cases these days have wheels? You don't have to carry them. Obviously if you are disabled, then that is different.

Angel57 · July 28, 2019

7 minutes ago, jeanlyon said:

But surely all cases these days have wheels? You don't have to carry them. Obviously if you are disabled, then that is different.

I agree - my cases do have wheels - but my point is when i opted for CPS instead of on board credit I didn't think i was going to have to lift them out of the boot etc. Plus when i did my world cruises i most certainly would not have wanted to transport my six cases to the hole in the wall myself. Just another erosion and downgrading of the "cruise experience". It won't stop me going on a cruise, but when you add all thses little things together...... I know most will probably disagree, but just my opinion.

berlingo · July 28, 2019

3 minutes ago, jeanlyon said:

But surely all cases these days have wheels? You don't have to carry them. Obviously if you are disabled, then that is different.

Firstly with respect the answer is no, not all cases do have wheels.

Secondly I am sure you are aware that many people have some physical limitations which make handling heavy luggage difficult and/or contraindicated. These may include people with heart conditions, breathing problems, those who have had recent surgery etc. These individuals may not be classed or class themselves as “disabled” and would not meet the criteria for a blue badge.

I am sure you agree that not having a problem ourselves does not preclude us for having awareness of and empathy with those that may.

jeanlyon · July 28, 2019

Yes of course I agree with that. Hopefully they will make some allowance for that. Can't believe there will be no porters at all.

majortom10 · July 28, 2019

1 hour ago, Josy1953 said:

You are fit and well Jean but many people are not that fortunate and rely on assistance from porters etc. At the Caribbean lunch a few years ago the lady officer hosting the table surprisingly made a comment that the company made less money from the older passengers because many of them did not buy from the the onboard shops and did not use the ship photographers, excursions and speciality restaurants but did go to the Peninsular club ents. Most of us on the table took this to mean that we cost them more but did not contribute as much as the newer cruisers. I was just extending this thought to them maybe preferring less of us older pasengers and more of the younger new passengers.

We were also told this at a Caribbean lunch by an officer the reasoning given being they are used to going on cruises in the past when there were no speciality restaurants and many aimed to get off the ship having spent no money onboard and have a zero bill. We were also told that they were targeting younger people because they spent more onboard. Unfortunately you reap what you sow and now aiming to boost profits by selling more alcohol they then get an increase of bad behaviour and this in turn puts a lot of people off cruising with P&O so it has the opposite effect.

Harry Peterson · July 28, 2019

If this is actually going to happen (God forbid) it's going to be the final straw for some people - possibly including me.

The balance in favour of cruising was tipped by the ease of transfer from car to ship - that balance is now starting to tip the other way.

wowzz · July 29, 2019

10 hours ago, Angel57 said:

What slightly annoys me is that when i opted to reduce my OBC and take the CPS car parking it was under the old regime of driving right up to the terminal and not having to manhandle my cases. Now, i am fit and able so it is not really an issue - but it is a point of principal that once again after having booked something (or at least a service that is offered by them) the rules change!!! Some passengers may turn up completely oblivious to any possible changes and this could potentially cause unnecessary stress. Anyway, let's hope the trial doesn't work......

I understand your frustration, but surely the new arrangements have nothing to do with P&O, and your complaint is with CPS . Indeed, the new system may have been imposed by the Port Authorities in order to avoid congestion at the port terminal.

Has anyone actually asked CPS why the arrangements have altered?

awmartin · July 29, 2019

14 hours ago, jeanlyon said:

Why was there a downside with P4C. It's the same as CPS. You drive in, offload your bags and a porter takes them. The only difference is you then drive to the short term car park. It makes no difference.

If they are now not having porters it will affect CPS and P4C??

Does this then mean that when you arrive at the terminal ( which ever way ) you will have to take your cases to the drop off point rather than a porter taking them there from your car.

Angel57 · July 29, 2019

4 minutes ago, wowzz said:

I understand your frustration, but surely the new arrangements have nothing to do with P&O, and your complaint is with CPS . Indeed, the new system may have been imposed by the Port Authorities in order to avoid congestion at the port terminal.

Has anyone actually asked CPS why the arrangements have altered?

Absolutely agree with what you say as I assume it will effect all cruise passengers from all ships and presumably at all terminals.

Rotherham_Cruiser · July 29, 2019

I just get my Chauffer to drop me off at the Suite entrance and let my staff deal with trifling things like luggage 😎

😀

jeanlyon · July 29, 2019

Nothing to do with P&O or CPS, it's the Port Authority surely who provide the porters?

jeanlyon · July 29, 2019

15 hours ago, majortom10 said:

We were also told this at a Caribbean lunch by an officer the reasoning given being they are used to going on cruises in the past when there were no speciality restaurants and many aimed to get off the ship having spent no money onboard and have a zero bill. We were also told that they were targeting younger people because they spent more onboard. Unfortunately you reap what you sow and now aiming to boost profits by selling more alcohol they then get an increase of bad behaviour and this in turn puts a lot of people off cruising with P&O so it has the opposite effect.

That's very interesting and partly true I suppose. We have been cruise for about 15 years. I have never used the photographer, certainly don't use the shops as most of the stuff is pretty rubbish! We don't use specialty restaurants, so our only spend is on drinks and wine with dinner. Oh and we also DIY, so don't do excursions. I would imagine new cruisers are more likely to do excursions and the more experienced ones do their own thing.