Cancelling Cruises because of the C word

[wowzz]

13 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

If P&O want to retain their passengers goodwill

"Goodwill " is a vastly over rated concept. I pay for a holiday and enter into a contract - I expect to get the holiday that is in my contract.

If circumstances change,  why should I expect the provider of that holiday to tear up the contract,  just for that nebulous  idea of "goodwill".

"Goodwill" doesn't pay for the waiters, cabin stewards, kitchen staff, etc. 

My feeling us that I have paid to go on a cruise. P&O are going to provide me with a cruise. Why should I break that contract?  

 

[staygulf]

15 minutes ago, wowzz said:

"Goodwill " is a vastly over rated concept. I pay for a holiday and enter into a contract - I expect to get the holiday that is in my contract.

If circumstances change,  why should I expect the provider of that holiday to tear up the contract,  just for that nebulous  idea of "goodwill".

"Goodwill" doesn't pay for the waiters, cabin stewards, kitchen staff, etc. 

My feeling us that I have paid to go on a cruise. P&O are going to provide me with a cruise. Why should I break that contract?  

 

If the cruise company said “thanks for your money. We might not guarantee to take you on a cruise but we will take you out to sea, sail around for a bit, and then take you back” would you be happy to accept that? Because that is the reality of what is happening now. 

[daiB]

49 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

Dai, I am sure you must be aware that Facebook have been closing down threads about Coronavirus as fast as they appear, so that's why there are few postings.

Are you not the least bit concerned that Princess and Carnival have now fallen intoi line with all the RCI lines and are prepared to transfer fully paid bookings to a new cruise, or as credit against an existing booking.  If P&O want to retain their passengers goodwill, surely they should be following suit.

Where did i say i was not concerned. You are assuming what i am thinking.

[staygulf]

1 minute ago, daiB said:

Where did i say i was not concerned. You are assuming what i am thinking.

He was asking whether you were concerned

[daiB]

2 minutes ago, staygulf said:

He was asking whether you were concerned

You think?

[staygulf]

Just now, daiB said:

You think?

Therefore I am. 

[wowzz]

11 minutes ago, staygulf said:

If the cruise company said “thanks for your money. We might not guarantee to take you on a cruise but we will take you out to sea, sail around for a bit, and then take you back” would you be happy to accept that? Because that is the reality of what is happening now. 

Perhaps you can give me a specific example. 

In any case, if that happens,  my cruise insurance pays out for missed ports.

[staygulf]

5 minutes ago, wowzz said:

Perhaps you can give me a specific example. 

In any case, if that happens,  my cruise insurance pays out for missed ports.

MSC Meraviglia for one

[peteukmcr]

Oh my, same old arguments between same old posters. Wow how come the mention of a very popular social media site months ago got me suspended from cruise critic for weeks, whereas now I can see it named and discussed without apparent penalty. 
 

Anyway let me throw into the debate that one of my favourite cruise lines, Norwegian, seem to be following the lead of RCI, Celebrity and Azamara and being far more generous with their cancellation/amendment conditions than p&o at this time. 
 

[Tablelamp]

I am 78 and do have high blood pressure, COPD. I have paid my balance direct to P & O.  The cruise starts on 17th May. I wonder if I got a letter from my doctor whether I would be eligible for a full refund. Does anyone have any thoughts about this.

[Elaine0138]

Will be P&O be forced by Goverment restrictions to amend their cancellation policy, if  the over 70's are forced to self isolate? 

I think the P&O brand will lose a lot of their loyal customers if they don't become more flexible about cancellations during this Covid 19 outbreak.

RCI are now allowing passengers to cancel cruises up until 2 days before departure.

 

 

Edited March 7, 2020 by Elaine0138
typo

[cruisenewbie1976]

10 minutes ago, Elaine0138 said:

Will be P&O be forced by Goverment restrictions to amend their cancellation policy, if  the over 70's are forced to self isolate? 

I think the P&O brand will lose a lot of their loyal customers if they don't become more flexible about cancellations during this Convid 19 outbreak.

RCI are now allowing passengers to cancel cruises up until 2 days before departure.

 

 

 

Is it looking likely that over 70s will be made to self isolate? I can't see the government doing that myself. 

[cruisenewbie1976]

13 minutes ago, Tablelamp said:

I am 78 and do have high blood pressure, COPD. I have paid my balance direct to P & O.  The cruise starts on 17th May. I wonder if I got a letter from my doctor whether I would be eligible for a full refund. Does anyone have any thoughts about this.

 

Doubtful you'll get a refund but they should let you transfer your cruise to a later one. 

[Tommart]

11 minutes ago, cruisenewbie1976 said:

 

Is it looking likely that over 70s will be made to self isolate? I can't see the government doing that myself. 

It does now seem possible:

 

[Tommart]

This may well all become academic quite soon - there's already talk in one of the broadsheets this morning about visiting elderly relatives before they're asked to self-isolate and ensuring that they can get food supplies. 

 

It may be press exaggeration of course, but we look to be headed down the Italy road - 3 cases at first, but 3000 within a fortnight - with the government 'expected to announce next week that Britain has reached the point where all hope of stopping an epidemic has been lost.'

 

Throughout this whole business we've assumed that somehow we're different from China and Wuhan.  We're rapidly discovering we're not, and maybe P&O will be forced to take a different approach as this develops.  There comes a point when cancelling a cruise, even with all the attendant costs, is cheaper than allowing it to go ahead but then getting hit with all the costs and reputational damage that might bring in another Princess situation.

 

The Carnival share price was £54 in August 2017 and less than £20 now - a 63% drop in under three years.  The markets obviously see this as very serious indeed for Carnival and the outlook for the next few months at the least looks bleak.  P&O can't just sit back and ignore the situation.

 

 

[cruisenewbie1976]

36 minutes ago, Tommart said:

It does now seem possible:

 

 

Hmmm I tend not to take a newspaper headline as gospel. You know what they're like. I can see them recommending that elderly people are careful, as my parents are already being. But I doubt very much that they'd be forced to self isolate (not least because a mandatory order would be next to impossible to police). 

[davecttr]

The government advice for the elderly and medically compromised might be to avoid social contact if possible but they have not given that advice yet. I can't see the measures that were applied in China happening here because a lot of the Chinese lived in 'gated' communities which were sealed off and apparently they were sealing individual buildings and arresting those who refused to comply.

 

If such advice is given here P&O will have a real problem, the large majority of their passengers will just not turn up and as the government has advised against social contact the passengers will be cancelling and want their money back.

 

They may also suggest getting friends/family to deliver food supplies and collect prescription medication for you. I have a problem with that, I live alone and my close friends are also elderly and medically compromised, My nearest family member lives over 200 miles away and is hardly to be expected to pop around the chemist for me!. Does a sufficient level of altruism exist in our society?

Edited March 7, 2020 by davecttr

[Polly1922]

10 minutes ago, cruisenewbie1976 said:

 

Hmmm I tend not to take a newspaper headline as gospel. You know what they're like. I can see them recommending that elderly people are careful, as my parents are already being. But I doubt very much that they'd be forced to self isolate (not least because a mandatory order would be next to impossible to police). 

I think the option to cancel  should be available for over 70s and people with health issues if they feel it is too risky for them to cruise.

No one should be forced to self isolate and miss their cruise if they still want to go.

Edited March 7, 2020 by Polly1922

[AndyMichelle]

1 hour ago, Tablelamp said:

I am 78 and do have high blood pressure, COPD. I have paid my balance direct to P & O.  The cruise starts on 17th May. I wonder if I got a letter from my doctor whether I would be eligible for a full refund. Does anyone have any thoughts about this.

P&O have replied to someone on twitter this morning saying that, as long as you have a letter from your doctor saying unfit to travel, you can transfer your booking, it was also posted on their website. 

I know others have been told they can't, but it is published in black & white, so I can't see they would have much of an argument. 

Lets face it, thousands of us could get that letter, so it will cost them a fortune, so they won't do it lightly... 

Andy 

[Suebiker]

I see that 19 staff have been confirmed as having Coronavirus on Grand Princess!!!!!!   Once this starts to happen - I don't see how cruise ships will be able to function and they will have to start cancelling cruises!!!!!!  The next problem will be whether or not cruise lines will survive financially.  I wonder whether their insurance will cover them for a pandemic.  Could we be looking at cruise lines collapsing ?!!!!!! Many cruise lines have invested heavily in huge new ships recently.  How will they pay for them if they are unable to sail?  

[Tommart]

1 hour ago, Polly1922 said:

I think the option to cancel  should be available for over 70s and people with health issues if they feel it is too risky for them to cruise.

No one should be forced to self isolate and miss their cruise if they still want to go.

The plan doesn't seem to be to force people to self-isolate (words we barely ever heard just a month ago!) - just to advise the elderly to self-isolate.  And not self-isolation in the way that those potentially infected are asked to self-isolate - just to keep themselves away from other people to avoid infection.

 

It makes a lot of sense, in that the 80% of the population who will just get the virus and get over it will be less likely to infect the 20% of the population who may need hospital treatment.  If that slows down the rate at which the 20% are infected it buys a bit of time to spread the almost impossible load on hospitals.

[Tommart]

8 minutes ago, Suebiker said:

I see that 19 staff have been confirmed as having Coronavirus on Grand Princess!!!!!!   Once this starts to happen - I don't see how cruise ships will be able to function and they will have to start cancelling cruises!!!!!!  The next problem will be whether or not cruise lines will survive financially.  I wonder whether their insurance will cover them for a pandemic.  Could we be looking at cruise lines collapsing ?!!!!!! Many cruise lines have invested heavily in huge new ships recently.  How will they pay for them if they are unable to sail?  

Indeed - which is why the Carnival share price has collapsed by 67% since its peak a couple of years ago.  This will be putting extreme financial pressure on operators.

[terrierjohn]

9 minutes ago, Suebiker said:

I see that 19 staff have been confirmed as having Coronavirus on Grand Princess!!!!!!   Once this starts to happen - I don't see how cruise ships will be able to function and they will have to start cancelling cruises!!!!!!  The next problem will be whether or not cruise lines will survive financially.  I wonder whether their insurance will cover them for a pandemic.  Could we be looking at cruise lines collapsing ?!!!!!! Many cruise lines have invested heavily in huge new ships recently.  How will they pay for them if they are unable to sail?  

I did hope that following the Diamond Princess fiasco that a more sensible protocol would have emerged, certainly having crew members test positive is a virtual guarantee that the virus will be spread round the ship very rapidly.

IMO the best option is for all the passengers, and crew, to be disembarked and safely transported back to their homes where they can more safely self isolate.  Flights are currently operating part empty, so it should be easy to isolate any passenger who might be incubating the virus.

[kalos]

I think P&O are trying to cling on to peoples money/bookings.

If you have a letter from your doctor saying unfit to travel, that's where your travel insurance comes into action.

I did not seek P&O's permission ,the insurer paid me back in full when I recently cancelled our cruise.

If P&O are saying  get a Doctors note that states you could be at great risk due to your condition's making you

unfit to travel,then I could understand what they are trying to do, to help customers during the Covid-19 risk period.

 

Edited March 7, 2020 by kalos

[jeanlyon]

We have 3 more cruises booked, one for October and 2 next year.  So with a letter from the doc, I think we would have to cancel a future cruise and rebook with the Future CC.  My Ta is looking into it.  Another reason to h ave a good TA.