P&O Cruisers - What are things like where YOU are?

[zap99]

22 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

Beautiful day here but at the rate I'm going I'll not be seeing much of it.  1 hour and 30 minutes and counting in the P&O queue trying to cancel my last remaining cruise with them. OH had suggested giving it a final chance and moving it to a one off Itinerary next November on Britannia.  This plus my 32 calls yesterday is rather hardening my resolve to say no more!

Our next P&O cruise is next June. I wanted to ask a question so phoned to book it. This was a few months ago. The phone was answered promptly and the question answered. As I don't expect that I will need to speak to them again, not an issue for me.

[Megabear2]

11 minutes ago, zap99 said:

Our next P&O cruise is next June. I wanted to ask a question so phoned to book it. This was a few months ago. The phone was answered promptly and the question answered. As I don't expect that I will need to speak to them again, not an issue for me.

I think the problem is so many having to deal with the disability cabin situation. I've never had any problems or issues prior to this.  What is annoying me is if you do get in the queue you hear the message and music, then about 1 hour 30 minutes in the message changes yo you may now have 60 minutes waiting and then at 2 hours it informs you that they think the wait is too long ask you to call back and cut you off.  

 

Just had that happen again at 1 hour 57 minutes into my wait

 

Edited Tuesday at 10:09 AM by Megabear2

[zap99]

3 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

I think the problem is so many having to deal with the disability cabin situation. I've never had any problems or issues prior to this.  What is annoying me is if you do get in the queue you hear the message and music, then about 1 hour 30 minutes in the message changes yo you may now have 60 minutes waiting and then at 2 hours it informs you that they think the wait is too long ask you to call back and cut you off.  

 

Just had that happen again at 1 hour 57 minutes into my wait

 

I'm sure you are right and that many folk have legitimate problems they want to discuss. If you look at folks questions on FB groups you wonder if folk really want to ask that. Can my boyfriend wear flip flops on formal night?. They are black. I wonder how many of those phone up P&O and clog up the lines.

[Funboy]

7 hours ago, lincslady said:

I used to enjoy Pointless, but it is now so 'samey' with Xander parroting the same phrases each edition. I much prefer House of Games, where I really enjoy pitting my wits against the contestants, and was sad to discover, from my son, that obviously when I get answers more quickly than any of them it is simply because the Beeb do a time delay on the answers when editing the show.  I had thought I was clever beating them, especially on the last round.  (He only told me this because I usually beat him, of course).  One surprise is how often the well travelled actors etc. have no idea of world geography, although they travel extensively.  I do think it is good mental stimulation against the dreaded onset of dementia - at least I hope so.

 

The drivel is only here because of being awake at 3.30 in the morning - will have a cup  of tea and hope to go off again.  Have a good day, everyone - when it actually starts.

 

 

Try watching the 'quiz night' shows on BBC2 on a Monday. ..Mastermind, Only Connect and University Challenge..all good for the brain. They are clever compared to the others.

 

[lincslady]

Yes I do.  I can usually do quite a lot on Mastermind general knowledge, the odd one on University Challenge, but rarely on Only Connect - a great feeling of satisfaction when you can, though.  I think with House of Games I enjoy it partly because I like the atmosphere, and also love anything to do with words. 

[mrsgoggins]

1 hour ago, Megabear2 said:

Beautiful day here but at the rate I'm going I'll not be seeing much of it.  1 hour and 30 minutes and counting in the P&O queue trying to cancel my last remaining cruise with them. OH had suggested giving it a final chance and moving it to a one off Itinerary next November on Britannia.  This plus my 32 calls yesterday is rather hardening my resolve to say no more!

 

A 'like' emoji never feels appropriate in such circumstances, but I wanted to acknowledge your frustration. This sort of thing drives me nuts, and even if you think you know the reason for it. Surely a 'would you like a call back' option is not too much to ask. 

[kalos]

We have done pretty well on Pop master today and managed a 4 on wordle and 

am running at a 91% win rate . We like The Chase and other such things.

Jason Manford has a decent quiz program where quick thinking is needed ,you 

are given the answers ,one right ,one false but have to beat the clock .

Our most favourite puzzle is  P&O'S  "Guess The Select"   This is where you 

press select and they could offer you ,choose a cabin for example £30pp 

and you can get a hundred or more back in cruise credit .

But beware they could want heading on for £300 each but only offer you less than 

£3OO back in cruise credit  but everyone' (even P&O )s a winner  should you

book a cruise 🙃

Take care 🙂

[Splice the mainbrace]

We’re into our 3rd day on board Sky Princess traversing the Atlantic to Canada.

 

Boarding was easy and we watching the Grand Prix on the outside big screen in time for the 12.00 start of Grand Prix with first drink in hand. Yesterday the sea was flat calm, today is as forecast a 2 to 3 metre swell with some slight movement but only just. 
 

Some early observations, no particular order:

 

- Wi-Fi works like a dream, fast and good signal strength everywhere we have been on the ship.

 

- food is good with more choice especially with always on options. On Cunard earlier in the year there were 7 mains options but 3 of those were vegetarian or vegan which seemed to me a rather OTT proportion to me.

 

- even though we are sailing about just under 10% off capacity the ship is busy and in bars mid evening it can be difficult to find a seat. The bar waiters drinks system isn’t very efficient and people often go to the bar to order themselves or point out to the waiters that they are waiting to order. They don’t seem to systematically patrol their bar areas in the way that P&O or Cunard do. Very pleasant staff though.

 

- Ship is in good condition and our cabin is clean and comfortable. Our stewardess has been efficient.

 

- In the mdr food service times are ok and I know why the waiters use the system to minimise going to and from the galley but it can be frustrating going at the pace of last person eating in their patch. Especially if they have arrived 10 mins later than the others and are catching up with others that they are linked to.

 

overall so far so good.

 

Anyway enough of my ramblings but if anything worthy of posting comes up I’ll post during the cruise. Maybe some port photos.

 

-

 

 

Edited Tuesday at 11:52 AM by Splice the mainbrace

[Peanut006]

I have e-mailed P & O accessibility team three times to check I have def got an e-vac chair for my cruise in Feb. I got a thank you for completing the form then nothing else since 6 Aug

 

Michelle

[zap99]

1 hour ago, mrsgoggins said:

 

A 'like' emoji never feels appropriate in such circumstances, but I wanted to acknowledge your frustration. This sort of thing drives me nuts, and even if you think you know the reason for it. Surely a 'would you like a call back' option is not too much to ask. 

Our leaders want everybody to have the right to Work from home. My last couple of years was spent as a Technical Consultant attached to a call centre......The nice young manager Lady shouted out. ' is anybody going to answer the phones today?. As she walked past my desk she said ' if they spent as much time working as the did making coffee they might get some work done '.She added I may try your tactics.  I'll shout out " why don't you lot shut the FU. In my humble opinion work from home isn't a panacea for employers.

[Eddie99]

1 hour ago, kalos said:

We have done pretty well on Pop master today and managed a 4 on wordle and 

am running at a 91% win rate . We like The Chase and other such things.

Jason Manford has a decent quiz program where quick thinking is needed ,you 

are given the answers ,one right ,one false but have to beat the clock .

Our most favourite puzzle is  P&O'S  "Guess The Select"   This is where you 

press select and they could offer you ,choose a cabin for example £30pp 

and you can get a hundred or more back in cruise credit .

But beware they could want heading on for £300 each but only offer you less than 

£3OO back in cruise credit  but everyone' (even P&O )s a winner  should you

book a cruise 🙃

Take care 🙂

This is a new puzzle

https://gisnep.com/

Certainly caused me some puzzlement with my first attempt, yesterday, but it all seems much more logical today

Still a good brain stretcher though 

Good luck 

[kalos]

46 minutes ago, zap99 said:

Our leaders want everybody to have the right to Work from home.

 

Try telling that to my Mrs ,she wasn't having any of it ,all she would say is ..

"Get that fork truck outta my house ..NOW "😒

[Splice the mainbrace]

1 hour ago, Splice the mainbrace said:

We’re into our 3rd day on board Sky Princess traversing the Atlantic to Canada.

 

Boarding was easy and we watching the Grand Prix on the outside big screen in time for the 12.00 start of Grand Prix with first drink in hand. Yesterday the sea was flat calm, today is as forecast a 2 to 3 metre swell with some slight movement but only just. 
 

Some early observations, no particular order:

 

- Wi-Fi works like a dream, fast and good signal strength everywhere we have been on the ship.

 

- food is good with more choice especially with always on options. On Cunard earlier in the year there were 7 mains options but 3 of those were vegetarian or vegan which seemed to me a rather OTT proportion to me.

 

- even though we are sailing about just under 10% off capacity the ship is busy and in bars mid evening it can be difficult to find a seat. The bar waiters drinks system isn’t very efficient and people often go to the bar to order themselves or point out to the waiters that they are waiting to order. They don’t seem to systematically patrol their bar areas in the way that P&O or Cunard do. Very pleasant staff though.

 

- Ship is in good condition and our cabin is clean and comfortable. Our stewardess has been efficient.

 

- In the mdr food service times are ok and I know why the waiters use the system to minimise going to and from the galley but it can be frustrating going at the pace of last person eating in their patch. Especially if they have arrived 10 mins later than the others and are catching up with others that they are linked to.

 

overall so far so good.

 

Anyway enough of my ramblings but if anything worthy of posting comes up I’ll post during the cruise. Maybe some port photos.

 

-

 

 

2 more things to add:

 

- We went to the lunch buffet for the first time. Such good looking food and so much choice, you think that you have surveyed everything and then you find some more. Also the lunch restaurant has more choice than our recent experiences with other cruise lines. I can’t remember if it was P&O or Cunard but for lunch in their restaurant they give you a sheet of paper with few choices on it. I would say we are more impressed with Princess than Cunard since covid where they seem to have really cut down choices on the menu.

 

- We are on the plus package that includes tips, Wi-Fi and drinks. We normally are white wine drinkers but the ones included in the package are very weak, taste wise rather than strength, like water with a hint of something, so we have settled on rose and cocktails. £4 £5 supermarket wine per bottle is far tastier  and if not on the package how they have the cheek to charge $11 (£8) per medium glass at bulk and tax free prices beggars belief. We tried to order a Whiskey Cider cocktail off the app to try and was told only one bar does it, we went there today and asked for a ‘whiskey cider cocktail’ and was told that they need the exact name of it so as not to disappoint!!

 

Edited Tuesday at 02:26 PM by Splice the mainbrace

[Josy1953]

I hated working from home and only ever worked from home if the weather was really bad and snow and ice put me off driving.  I found that there were too many distractions at home like the dog and cat wanting to go out or accessibility to food and drinks at any time.

[Eglesbrech]

2 hours ago, zap99 said:

Our leaders want everybody to have the right to Work from home. My last couple of years was spent as a Technical Consultant attached to a call centre......The nice young manager Lady shouted out. ' is anybody going to answer the phones today?. As she walked past my desk she said ' if they spent as much time working as the did making coffee they might get some work done '.She added I may try your tactics.  I'll shout out " why don't you lot shut the FU. In my humble opinion work from home isn't a panacea for employers.

She clearly she was not managing properly then. All modern contact centres with CRM have an accurate record of calls taken, time taken, Ox time between calls, time away from desk, reports take this down to the minute including any dropped calls because they were not answered, calls in the que, wait time in que etc.. It can even count keystrokes to foil the mouse wigglers.

 

As an aside any organisation which has long wait time and lots of abandoned calls is well aware of it and simply don’t care enough about their customer base to make it better. That applies whether people are in the office or at home for call handlers (obviously not for other job roles so much).

 

 

[Gettingwarmer]

51 minutes ago, Splice the mainbrace said:

We are on the plus package that includes tips, Wi-Fi and drinks. We normally are white wine drinkers but the ones included in the package are very weak, taste wise rather than strength, like water with a hint of something, so we have settled on rose and cocktails. £4 £5 supermarket wine per bottle is far tastier  and if not on the package how they have the cheek to charge $11 (£8) per medium glass at bulk and tax free prices beggars belief.

Don't forget that if you choose a more expensive wine than what is in the package you only pay the difference plus 18% gratuity. 

[Splice the mainbrace]

Just now, Gettingwarmer said:

Don't forget that if you choose a more expensive wine than what is in the package you only pay the difference plus 18% gratuity. 

Yeah I know. I’m sure we’ll manage with alternatives like g&ts etc

Edited Tuesday at 03:27 PM by Splice the mainbrace

[lincslady]

Not sure how you can work from home if you are a delivery driver, or a bricklayer, or on a till at the supermarket?

[zap99]

1 hour ago, Eglesbrech said:

She clearly she was not managing properly then. All modern contact centres with CRM have an accurate record of calls taken, time taken, Ox time between calls, time away from desk, reports take this down to the minute including any dropped calls because they were not answered, calls in the que, wait time in que etc.. It can even count keystrokes to foil the mouse wigglers.

 

As an aside any organisation which has long wait time and lots of abandoned calls is well aware of it and simply don’t care enough about their customer base to make it better. That applies whether people are in the office or at home for call handlers (obviously not for other job roles so much).

 

 

Yes we had all the statistics. Perhaps people compiling the call centre dropped call report may be better employed picking the phone up.....the minister bullied me....what did she say....you've all effing useless. 🤣

[Eglesbrech]

22 minutes ago, zap99 said:

Yes we had all the statistics. Perhaps people compiling the call centre dropped call report may be better employed picking the phone up.....the minister bullied me....what did she say....you've all effing useless. 🤣

You don’t compile them, they generate automatically and display on the manager(s) screens.

 

Staff also saw their own statistics. Perhaps systems don’t all work the same way but most modern ones did.

 

Your theory is right though, sometimes people just need to get on with the job.

 

I also worked with scan and workflow systems which had escalations inbuilt if targets were missed. They escalated up to a supervisor, then a manager until it hit the CEO if it was happening too often.

Edited Tuesday at 04:28 PM by Eglesbrech

[zap99]

2 hours ago, Eglesbrech said:

You don’t compile them, they generate automatically and display on the manager(s) screens.

 

Staff also saw their own statistics. Perhaps systems don’t all work the same way but most modern ones did.

 

Your theory is right though, sometimes people just need to get on with the job.

 

I also worked with scan and workflow systems which had escalations inbuilt if targets were missed. They escalated up to a supervisor, then a manager until it hit the CEO if it was happening too often.

And if the CEO isn't dealing with his emails promptly reports end up on cc.🤣

[Snow Hill]

Before I retired over 10 years ago I used to work from home 3 days a week, the other 2 days were spent elsewhere sometimes my base office or at the site project was based at, I did a fair bit of travelling. 
 

Working from home isn’t new, it’s just become more prevalent over the last 4 years

 

Edited Tuesday at 09:16 PM by Snow Hill

[terrierjohn]

20 minutes ago, Snow Hill said:

Before I retired over 10 years ago I used to work from home 3 days a week, the other 2 days were spent elsewhere sometimes my base office or at the site project was based at, I did a fair bit of travelling. 
 

Working from home isn’t new, it’s just become more prevalent over the last 4 years

 

I imagine that a lot of firms invested quite a bit in WFH kit during lockdown, and possibly found that productivity actually improved. Those companies will most likely continue with WFH, others who found there was less benefit will probably revert to normal office hours. But I doubt we will see a complete return to office based working.

[purplesea]

Good Morning,

It's very quiet on here this morning!

Was a lovely day here yesterday and warm, so spent the afternoon in the garden reading. Today is supposed to be a bit warmer still.😃 

Boiler is being serviced today and I need to check in for our flights next week, but nothing else on the cards.

Hope everyone has a good day.

[grapau27]

Good morning.

10°C and cloudy here.

I hope everyone is well and you all have a nice day.