MISSED PORTS

[stephen@stoneyard.co.uk]

37 minutes ago, Harry Peterson said:

P&O will assure you that they're covered by their booking terms and conditions.  That may prove to be the case, but not necessarily. It depends on all the circumstances. Not all terms and conditions can be enforced all the time against non-business customers.

Particularly as ports of call are in a big font next to the cruise details.  Not going to ports of call is at the back of the brochure in a much smaller font. Also as cruises are package holidays so companies cannot rely entirely on terms and conditions. 
 

I have just received an email booking confirmation for my P and O cruises. It has a link to the P and O terms and conditions. Follow the link and get Page Not Found. I wonder how enforceable that is.

Edited November 17, 2019 by stephen@stoneyard.co.uk

[Harry Peterson]

30 minutes ago, stephen@stoneyard.co.uk said:

Particularly as ports of call are in a big font next to the cruise details.  Not going to ports of call is at the back of the brochure in a much smaller font. Also as cruises are package holidays so companies cannot rely entirely on terms and conditions. 
 

I have just received an email booking confirmation for my P and O cruises. It has a link to the P and O terms and conditions. Follow the link and get Page Not Found. I wonder how enforceable that is.

P&O rely heavily on the fact that most of their customers won't challenge the T&C - and the agents won't either.  They are challengeable under the sections of the Consumer Rights Act 2015 relating to unfair terms though, and P&O know that - they just don't like letting on!

[stephen@stoneyard.co.uk]

On 11/17/2019 at 5:40 PM, Harry Peterson said:

P&O rely heavily on the fact that most of their customers won't challenge the T&C - and the agents won't either.  They are challengeable under the sections of the Consumer Rights Act 2015 relating to unfair terms though, and P&O know that - they just don't like letting on!

I agree with you on this. They also rely on goodwill. Some customers are very loyal to P&O and do not to criticise, challenge or go elsewhere. 

 

Best wishes, Stephen. 

[stephen@stoneyard.co.uk]

On 11/17/2019 at 4:01 PM, wowzz said:

No, in the same way you do not get compensation if a flight is delayed due to bad weather.

If you want P&O to compensate passengers for not going ashore at Guernsey, they will simply increase the cost of the cruise by £200 to cover compensation costs.

Airlines have an odd system  of compensation that I would not like to see for cruises. I believe you have to prove fault but then the compensation is often far greater than the cost of the flight.  I do not fly so I could be misunderstanding the scheme. My local railway company is far more sensible.  I do not have to prove fault but the compensation is only 25%, 50% or 100% of the ticket price depending on the delay.  If a port is often half of a 24 hour day and I paid £100 a day for my cruise then I would be happy with a 50% refund so say £50. I would even accept it as onboard credit. 
 

Alternatively cruise companies could be honest with advertising. If the published itinerary made it clear next to Guernsey that this port was likely to be missed I would not expect any compensation.  I would prefer honesty to compensation.  
 

I have just had a cruise advert for my Iona cruise that suggests I will have ample time to explore the Norwegian countryside during the visit to Hellesylt.  My understanding is I will not be able to explore unless I am booked on a P&O excursion. Perhaps I am wrong and my cruise is not being misrepresented. 

Edited November 19, 2019 by stephen@stoneyard.co.uk

[BrianI]

1 hour ago, stephen@stoneyard.co.uk said:

I have just had a cruise advert for my Iona cruise that suggests I will have ample time to explore the Norwegian countryside during the visit to Hellesylt.  My understanding is I will not be able to explore unless I am booked on a P&O excursion. Perhaps I am wrong and my cruise is not being misrepresented. 

Hellesylt is just a short stop (an hour or so) to allow passengers taking tours to get off. The ship then continues to Geiranger. 
 

Personally I think the best part of the fjord is between Hellysylt and Geiranger where the fjord narrows and you sail between high vertical cliffs either side with lots of waterfalls. You can only see this by staying on the ship although you do see it again on the way out.

Brian 

[wowzz]

3 hours ago, stephen@stoneyard.co.uk said:

If a port is often half of a 24 hour day and I paid £100 a day for my cruise then I would be happy with a 50% refund so say £50. I would even accept it as onboard credit. 

Why not just claim on your cruise insurance? We get £100 pp for a missed port.

[stephen@stoneyard.co.uk]

57 minutes ago, wowzz said:

Why not just claim on your cruise insurance? We get £100 pp for a missed port.

 

I do not see why I should insure against P&O not delivering the service I have paid for. Alternatively P&O could be more honest when advertising itineraries. 
 

Best wishes, Stephen. 

Edited November 19, 2019 by stephen@stoneyard.co.uk

[wowzz]

21 minutes ago, stephen@stoneyard.co.uk said:

 

I do not see why I should insure against P&O not delivering the service I have paid for. Alternatively P&O could be more honest when advertising itineraries. 
 

Best wishes, Stephen. 

You have cruise insurance, therefore you should have missed port cover.

I have no problem about P&O saying, for example "subject to weather " in large letters against every port they visit, but I certainly don't see why the cost of the cruise should be increased in order to pay out compensation if weather means a port has to be missed. 

[Harry Peterson]

1 hour ago, wowzz said:

You have cruise insurance, therefore you should have missed port cover.

I have no problem about P&O saying, for example "subject to weather " in large letters against every port they visit, but I certainly don't see why the cost of the cruise should be increased in order to pay out compensation if weather means a port has to be missed. 

As against having to pay the much higher price of insurance which covers missed ports on every cruise?

[wowzz]

1 hour ago, Harry Peterson said:

As against having to pay the much higher price of insurance which covers missed ports on every cruise?

Harry, you need to review your insurance policy! We have a worldwide annual policy, which includes cruise cover as standard. Cheap as chips! 

[Harry Peterson]

7 minutes ago, wowzz said:

Harry, you need to review your insurance policy! We have a worldwide annual policy, which includes cruise cover as standard. Cheap as chips! 

I envy you. Many of us have age and health issues which make any insurance - let alone cruise insurance - extraordinarily expensive.

[wowzz]

Just now, Harry Peterson said:

I envy you. Many of us have age and health issues which make any insurance - let alone cruise insurance - extraordinarily expensive.

Believe me, we have age and medical issues ! But missed port insurance is not dependent on age or medical issues.