Azura passengers stranded?

[wowzz]

5 hours ago, Harry Peterson said:

If that’s the case, and I don’t doubt you, then P&O have completely failed in their duty of care to their passengers. Duty of care goes a lot further than physical safety!

Well, perhaps you can tell us how you can rustle up 600 hotel rooms, plus hot meals, when, as everyone has said, there is a major business event taking place. Yes, I know that water etc should be provided, but sometimes you just have to accept that there are sheer physical limitations as to what can be provided.

[amfc_lenny]

My goodness! I do feel sorry for the passengers on this cruise, they've had a pretty eventful time. 

[Harry Peterson]

 

13 hours ago, Harry Peterson said:

If that’s the case, and I don’t doubt you, then P&O have completely failed in their duty of care to their passengers. Duty of care goes a lot further than physical safety!

 

8 hours ago, wowzz said:

Well, perhaps you can tell us how you can rustle up 600 hotel rooms, plus hot meals, when, as everyone has said, there is a major business event taking place. Yes, I know that water etc should be provided, but sometimes you just have to accept that there are sheer physical limitations as to what can be provided.

It can be done, if a company is properly organised and there are adequately resourced contingency plans. Plenty of situations like this have been far better dealt with by other companies, but P&O knows its customers will allow it to get away with it.

 

There are, for example, other nearby towns, and there are such things as coaches. That costs money though, and P&O don’t like spending it!

[the english lady]

11 minutes ago, Harry Peterson said:

 

 

It can be done, if a company is properly organised and there are adequately resourced contingency plans. Plenty of situations like this have been far better dealt with by other companies, but P&O knows its customers will allow it to get away with it.

 

There are, for example, other nearby towns, and there are such things as coaches. That costs money though, and P&O don’t like spending it!

How do you organise anything at short notice with this many people. In 1 place they could all be updated at the same time. everyone knew where everyone was.

Could you let us know which companies have dealt with a situation like this much better. 

By the time you have bussed people 30/40 miles away in numerous hotels (assuming you could arrange the number of coaches reqd at short notice), would you then not have to have gone round an do it all in reverse as from what I read, they started the tendering back early morning.. so instead of sat in a sports hall they would have been sat in coaches travelling hither and thither.

[kruzseeka]

29 minutes ago, Harry Peterson said:

 

 

It can be done, if a company is properly organised and there are adequately resourced contingency plans. Plenty of situations like this have been far better dealt with by other companies, but P&O knows its customers will allow it to get away with it.

 

There are, for example, other nearby towns, and there are such things as coaches. That costs money though, and P&O don’t like spending it!

 

See my earlier post #25.  On a Bank Holiday Monday during the summer school holidays 1500 passengers were accommodated overnight by a different cruise company.  We spent the night at the Radisson Stansted after a 60 mile coach transfer from Harwich.  The Hilton was also used.  We were very well treated.  We left the hotel at 6am to be taken to the ship which by that time was in Harwich.  As we hadn't embarked we also had our luggage with us.  Cue a pantechnicon outside our hotel looading all the luggage to be taken to the ship.  Obviously such a vehicle would be required at the Hilton too where more passengers were accommodated and at the other Ipswich Hotels too.

Allowing for the fact that Monaco would be busy (and expensive) had the net been cast over a 50 mile radius, as in our case, I'm sure accommodation would have been available, especially at the likes of airport hotels.  No one is going to be staying at an airport hotel 50 miles away for the Monaco Boat Show!  All the coaches used for excursions in the daytime would be available come evening.  Of course it would be at a cost and a huge logistical exercise.  

Of course safety is paramount but I feel more effort could have been made to at least provide better facilities both for food and sleeping. They have port agents - aren't contingency plans in place especially at tender ports?

Edited September 30, 2019 by kruzseeka

[Harry Peterson]

8 minutes ago, the english lady said:

How do you organise anything at short notice with this many people. In 1 place they could all be updated at the same time. everyone knew where everyone was.

Could you let us know which companies have dealt with a situation like this much better. 

By the time you have bussed people 30/40 miles away in numerous hotels (assuming you could arrange the number of coaches reqd at short notice), would you then not have to have gone round an do it all in reverse as from what I read, they started the tendering back early morning.. so instead of sat in a sports hall they would have been sat in coaches travelling hither and thither.

Far too many apologists for P&O’s inadequacies and failures!   Please see the more sensible post above.

[Harry Peterson]

By the way, if you want to see the appalling way people were treated, plenty of photos in today’s press.  More bad publicity for P&O highlighting their cavalier attitude to customers.

[the english lady]

20 minutes ago, Harry Peterson said:

By the way, if you want to see the appalling way people were treated, plenty of photos in today’s press.  More bad publicity for P&O highlighting their cavalier attitude to customers.

The sun and the mirror. Both very well known for totally telling the truth and not embroidering the truth in any way what so ever.

[Harry Peterson]

5 minutes ago, the english lady said:

The sun and the mirror. Both very well known for totally telling the truth and not embroidering the truth in any way what so ever.

And of course the equally appalling Daily Mail.  The photos speak for themselves though, and this story looks as if it has legs.

 

P&O will never learn.

[the english lady]

I was thinking and comparing the 2 scenarios presented. Ship broken down in Rotterdam and the Azura one. The former..they would have had hours and hours notice, possibly up to 24 hours notice....that the ship was not going to be sailing. All the people on that cruise would have been together in the cruise terminal to start of with. So whilst they were sat there the plans were already underway to have the numerous coaches and hotels arranged. Load coaches from one place and take to the 2 max 4 hotels.

Azura would have had a couple of hours to realise things were not working out. I would just like it explained to me simply what everyone thought they should have done. We know all the close by hotels were booked up. How far do you travel before the logistics get out of control.

People were not in one place they were throughout the town. I have never been there but Monaco looks very hilly so maybe not fast roads to go too far out. 

You can moan about what they did do..but come up with how they could have dealt with it.

[terrierjohn]

I have avoided joining the  P&O bashing discussion on here, mainly because I don't think they were to blame for the sea conditions causing the pause, then abandoning of tender operations, but I do understand why some are questioning P&O's response to this problem.

I have had 2 experiences with flight delay issues when airlines have needed to find overnight accommodation for a plane load of passengers at short notice, and transport them to a number of hotels.  I recognise that airlines will have far more experience of these issues but in both cases they, being BA and Air France managed to find hotels and transport to and from the hotels for everyone.  Whether P&O tried and failed I do not know, but I agree that their customer service appears to have failed, yet again, not only to provide better care and service for their passengers, but equally in keeping them informed of their efforts to overcome the stranding problems..

I somehow doubt that Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, NCL or MSC would have failed so miserably

[majortom10]

1 hour ago, Harry Peterson said:

And of course the equally appalling Daily Mail.  The photos speak for themselves though, and this story looks as if it has legs.

 

P&O will never learn.

Can I ask a simple question "why do you cruise with P&O"  you say havent got a good word about them on every subject and criticise them at every turn. So why do you waste your money still cruising with such an awful company. The excuse you use is for the price you pay is acceptable is total nonsense if I thought that much about a cruise company I would rather stay at home.

Edited September 30, 2019 by majortom10

[majortom10]

Just to put a true perception on what really happened the following is a post put on Facebook from somebody who seems to be one of those stuck and actually knows the facts and not the usual mud slinging from the usual suspects who dont know the full facts but are quick to criticise without knowing full facts.

 

"After being stuck in Monaco for around 24 hours one thing I have to say is the staff were nothing short of amazing we had people from every department on board helping out and some passengers where they could as well. Fair play to all the staff who were working round the clock whether that was to sort us with food or water, medical supplies, blankets and towels and somewhere to try and rest or just to inform us of any information and latest news from the ship, They have to be applauded some of them were breaking down in tears, having panic attacks going against the weather to get supplies over and medication for people with diabetes and who passed out, trying to look after any kids to make sure they were ok kept calm and entertained too, they were superstars and I couldn’t be more thankful to them or sing their praises enough, every single one of them deserves to be recognised for their efforts and for going above and beyond their usual calls of duty to help where possible, well done to P&O Azura and P&O Cruises and their staff and crew and most importantly thank you for all of your efforts they certainly didn’t go unnoticed after a horrible 24 hours for us all to bring us all back safely on board".

 

[kruzseeka]

19 minutes ago, the english lady said:

I was thinking and comparing the 2 scenarios presented. Ship broken down in Rotterdam and the Azura one. The former..they would have had hours and hours notice, possibly up to 24 hours notice....that the ship was not going to be sailing. All the people on that cruise would have been together in the cruise terminal to start of with. So whilst they were sat there the plans were already underway to have the numerous coaches and hotels arranged. Load coaches from one place and take to the 2 max 4 hotels.

Azura would have had a couple of hours to realise things were not working out. I would just like it explained to me simply what everyone thought they should have done. We know all the close by hotels were booked up. How far do you travel before the logistics get out of control.

People were not in one place they were throughout the town. I have never been there but Monaco looks very hilly so maybe not fast roads to go too far out. 

You can moan about what they did do..but come up with how they could have dealt with it.

 

Not quite as you paint it:

We were at Harwich Port - not an airport.  We were not taken to the terminal as clearly the facilities there wouldn't cope - better to be free to spend time in town.   People were arriving in dribs and drabs in their cars at the parking area from mid morning.  At that point, they were hoping to effect a repair and get the ship back for early/late evening when they would have embarked passengers.  In the event, that didn't happen.  People were scattered in town passing time and finding something to eat but were asked to report back at 5pm.  

Many were accommodated at Stansted, but others at Hotels in Ipswich and a few in Harwich itself.  Buses were found (a Bank Holiday) and as previously described, pantechnicons employed to transfer our luggage back to the ship.  Yes, coaches again to take us back to Harwich.  Not two or max 4 hotels.  There were 1,500 people involved.  The hotels I quote are only the ones we heard about.  I think the company did a fantastic job.  Not saying it was easy.  But it was done.  

We were coached 60 miles for accommodation - have they no large hotels within that radius from Monaco? Airport hotels?   As a tender port, is this not included in a risk assessment - what do we in the event of passengers not being able to be brought back to the ship?   

 

[daiB]

1 hour ago, majortom10 said:

Just to put a true perception on what really happened the following is a post put on Facebook from somebody who seems to be one of those stuck and actually knows the facts and not the usual mud slinging from the usual suspects who dont know the full facts but are quick to criticise without knowing full facts.

 

"After being stuck in Monaco for around 24 hours one thing I have to say is the staff were nothing short of amazing we had people from every department on board helping out and some passengers where they could as well. Fair play to all the staff who were working round the clock whether that was to sort us with food or water, medical supplies, blankets and towels and somewhere to try and rest or just to inform us of any information and latest news from the ship, They have to be applauded some of them were breaking down in tears, having panic attacks going against the weather to get supplies over and medication for people with diabetes and who passed out, trying to look after any kids to make sure they were ok kept calm and entertained too, they were superstars and I couldn’t be more thankful to them or sing their praises enough, every single one of them deserves to be recognised for their efforts and for going above and beyond their usual calls of duty to help where possible, well done to P&O Azura and P&O Cruises and their staff and crew and most importantly thank you for all of your efforts they certainly didn’t go unnoticed after a horrible 24 hours for us all to bring us all back safely on board".

 

Yes people do jump in before the full facts are known. We can all agree a terrible situation for all those involved. We do not know the full details we do not know how many hotels were available in in the vicinity or the availability of coaches to take them anywhere. 

[davecttr]

1 hour ago, kruzseeka said:

 

Not quite as you paint it:

We were at Harwich Port - not an airport.  We were not taken to the terminal as clearly the facilities there wouldn't cope - better to be free to spend time in town.   People were arriving in dribs and drabs in their cars at the parking area from mid morning.  At that point, they were hoping to effect a repair and get the ship back for early/late evening when they would have embarked passengers.  In the event, that didn't happen.  People were scattered in town passing time and finding something to eat but were asked to report back at 5pm.  

Many were accommodated at Stansted, but others at Hotels in Ipswich and a few in Harwich itself.  Buses were found (a Bank Holiday) and as previously described, pantechnicons employed to transfer our luggage back to the ship.  Yes, coaches again to take us back to Harwich.  Not two or max 4 hotels.  There were 1,500 people involved.  The hotels I quote are only the ones we heard about.  I think the company did a fantastic job.  Not saying it was easy.  But it was done.  

We were coached 60 miles for accommodation - have they no large hotels within that radius from Monaco? Airport hotels?   As a tender port, is this not included in a risk assessment - what do we in the event of passengers not being able to be brought back to the ship?   

 

Which company? I am intrigued, CMV? Fred?

[the english lady]

1 hour ago, kruzseeka said:

 

Not quite as you paint it:

We were at Harwich Port - not an airport.  We were not taken to the terminal as clearly the facilities there wouldn't cope - better to be free to spend time in town.   People were arriving in dribs and drabs in their cars at the parking area from mid morning.  At that point, they were hoping to effect a repair and get the ship back for early/late evening when they would have embarked passengers.  In the event, that didn't happen.  People were scattered in town passing time and finding something to eat but were asked to report back at 5pm.  

Many were accommodated at Stansted, but others at Hotels in Ipswich and a few in Harwich itself.  Buses were found (a Bank Holiday) and as previously described, pantechnicons employed to transfer our luggage back to the ship.  Yes, coaches again to take us back to Harwich.  Not two or max 4 hotels.  There were 1,500 people involved.  The hotels I quote are only the ones we heard about.  I think the company did a fantastic job.  Not saying it was easy.  But it was done.  

We were coached 60 miles for accommodation - have they no large hotels within that radius from Monaco? Airport hotels?   As a tender port, is this not included in a risk assessment - what do we in the event of passengers not being able to be brought back to the ship?   

 

I never mentioned airports. I said about the cruise terminal.

They would still have had more than a couple of hours notice that the ship would not be arriving until the following morning.

Which cruise company were you with by the way , you havent stated that.

[Harry Peterson]

1 hour ago, majortom10 said:

Just to put a true perception on what really happened the following is a post put on Facebook from somebody who seems to be one of those stuck and actually knows the facts and not the usual mud slinging from the usual suspects who dont know the full facts but are quick to criticise without knowing full facts.

 

"After being stuck in Monaco for around 24 hours one thing I have to say is the staff were nothing short of amazing we had people from every department on board helping out and some passengers where they could as well. Fair play to all the staff who were working round the clock whether that was to sort us with food or water, medical supplies, blankets and towels and somewhere to try and rest or just to inform us of any information and latest news from the ship, They have to be applauded some of them were breaking down in tears, having panic attacks going against the weather to get supplies over and medication for people with diabetes and who passed out, trying to look after any kids to make sure they were ok kept calm and entertained too, they were superstars and I couldn’t be more thankful to them or sing their praises enough, every single one of them deserves to be recognised for their efforts and for going above and beyond their usual calls of duty to help where possible, well done to P&O Azura and P&O Cruises and their staff and crew and most importantly thank you for all of your efforts they certainly didn’t go unnoticed after a horrible 24 hours for us all to bring us all back safely on board".

 

I think we can all agree that the staff would have done their very best in very difficult circumstances. They always do, and they are P&O’s biggest asset - despite the appalling rates of pay.

 

The problem here, though, as always is the total lack of any proper contingency planning - because good contingency planning costs money and resources, and Carnival abhors anything that costs money.

 

There will be a lot of bad publicity over this shambles, and rightly so. The P&O apologists should wake up and realise that this is unacceptable. Far too many customers just accept whatever P&O throw at them because they don’t know any better, and that’s part of the problem.

[rdmaidment]

Whilst clearly there was a reason why the berth wasn't in use for this cruise; the boat show, we have on more than one occasion tendered into Monaco when the berth was empty.  The berth seems capable of accomodating large vessels such as Azura as we have visited Monco on one of the newer Carnival ships.

 

It doesn't strike me that running a tender operation all day is a good way to save money, so it would be interesting to learn why in general P&O seem to tender in Monaco.

[NoFlyGuy]

What contingency planning would some of you be expecting to have taken place?

To have 20 or more coaches on standby and 500-600 hotel rooms, scattered all over southern Provence, booked, just in case something went wrong.

By the time 1100 or so passengers had all been dropped off at these 'hotels', it would be time to start coaching them all back to Villefranche!

[Harry Peterson]

27 minutes ago, NoFlyGuy said:

What contingency planning would some of you be expecting to have taken place?

To have 20 or more coaches on standby and 500-600 hotel rooms, scattered all over southern Provence, booked, just in case something went wrong.

By the time 1100 or so passengers had all been dropped off at these 'hotels', it would be time to start coaching them all back to Villefranche!

You clearly don't understand what contingency planning means - and how essential it is.  It doesn't involve having any coaches on standby, or rooms booked - just the capability to do so at short notice.

 

P&O clearly didn't have the capability, because they had no contingency plan.

[Kendo44]

You would do well to find a public toilet in Monaco never mind a hotel room at short notice.

the wonderful thing about nature is it’s unpredictability ie the sea.

ive been on cruises where ports of call have been cancelled you just have to have the mindset that things happen.

to dock in Monaco is mighty expensive but p and o could do this by putting up cruise prices.

in a few weeks time most people will  look back at something to reflect on and long term will think it was quite an adventure especially the children telling all their friends about it.

its a shame that there are people out there that can’t wait to blame everyone and everything .

probably wanting recompense.

what a wonderful society we live in.

[Harry Peterson]

9 minutes ago, Kendo44 said:

You would do well to find a public toilet in Monaco never mind a hotel room at short notice.

the wonderful thing about nature is it’s unpredictability ie the sea.

ive been on cruises where ports of call have been cancelled you just have to have the mindset that things happen.

to dock in Monaco is mighty expensive but p and o could do this by putting up cruise prices.

in a few weeks time most people will  look back at something to reflect on and long term will think it was quite an adventure especially the children telling all their friends about it.

its a shame that there are people out there that can’t wait to blame everyone and everything .

probably wanting recompense.

what a wonderful society we live in.

If everybody took that laissez-faire attitude we’d all still be allowing companies to walk all over us as we used to. Things have moved on, there are such things as consumer rights and company responsibilities, and it’s a good thing too.

 

And nobody has mentioned compensation. Just P&O not stepping up to the mark when it should have.  It needs to learn lessons, but that attitude won’t help.

[kruzseeka]

2 hours ago, davecttr said:

Which company? I am intrigued, CMV? Fred?

 

Good ol' Thomson dave.  Moreover being 18 hours late sailing we lost two ports of call and all got 25% refund in cash on the cruise price.  I rather wonder if that would happen now but we were impressed at the time.

Another example too, very different scenario but excellent response;  there was a deluge on the morning we were flying back from Corfu.  We were taken to the airport but you couldn't see across the runway and the streets were awash.  I think there were about a dozen flights due in (at that time they used so many airports across the UK to service their cruises) and all but 2 couldn't land.  Ours happened to be one of those which did!   

But there were hundreds of people in the airport waiting for their flights to land before boarding.  When it became clear that planes in the air couldn't land they were diverted to Athens where passengers were accommodated in 4* hotels for two nights.  The ship sailed, had a day at sea and picked up these passengers in Athens the following day.  (I would have been delighted to spend two days in Athens instead of a sea day!)  

The passengers now stranded in Corfu were taken to hotels in Corfu and collected for their flights next morning when the empty planes came from Athens.  Another well handled operation I think.  (That's not to say there won't be examples of less good responses from them but again we were impressed on that occasion too.)  

[Kendo44]

17 minutes ago, Harry Peterson said:

If everybody took that laissez-faire attitude we’d all still be allowing companies to walk all over us as we used to. Things have moved on, there are such things as consumer rights and company responsibilities, and it’s a good thing too.

 

And nobody has mentioned compensation. Just P&O not stepping up to the mark when it should have.  It needs to learn lessons, but that attitude won’t help.

If you think you could come out on top against carnival cruises go for it.

i wouldn’t be putting any money on you though.

obviously you have a lot of free time on your hands perhaps you could wait at every port to see if you can be of any assistance to anybody.

just in case.