New Cancellation Date upto 15th May

[Selbourne]

9 hours ago, funinhounslow said:

 

Surely the issue is whether Carnival goes bust rather than P&O? Don’t they “stand or fall” together? Surely Carnival can’t let one brand “go to the wall” and keep others on life support...?

 

I was minded to request a full refund but having received the email offering the alternative of 125% FCC I am tempted to go for this, and put the money towards a Norwegian cruise next year. 
 

The only thing that is giving me pause is the lack of protection if I go down the FCC route. I need to be confident the cruise will go ahead. 
 

I have plenty of time to make a decision so will sleep on it for a while. But I am relieved that the rumours on here of possibly having to wait for two years for a cash refund were “fake news”...!

Although P&O is indeed part of Carnival Group, it would classify as a separate trading entity as far as I am aware, so the nightmare scenario that I described, whilst I admit is highly unlikely, could still happen.
 

The ‘waiting two years for a refund’ scenario was widely reported in the press, so it’s no surprise that many of us were concerned about the prospect, but it referred to unused credit notes, not straight refunds or incentives, so may still apply to other travel companies.  It’s important to reiterate that P&O is offering an incentive, rather than a 1 for 1 credit note and different rules will apply. A credit note, under the new proposals, would eventually expire and result in a refund. An incentive can be ‘use it or lose it’, so as I keep saying, it’s worth thinking it through long and hard before opting for a FCC. As you say, those who have had the next batch of cruises cancelled have until Mid November to request a refund, but with the current delays to refunds being paid that means not getting your money back until 2021. In the current World we live in that’s another risk that I’d rather not take. I shall be very relieved in 60 days time when (hopefully) I have all my cash back!

[terrierjohn]

10 hours ago, funinhounslow said:

 

Surely the issue is whether Carnival goes bust rather than P&O? Don’t they “stand or fall” together? Surely Carnival can’t let one brand “go to the wall” and keep others on life support...?

 

I was minded to request a full refund but having received the email offering the alternative of 125% FCC I am tempted to go for this, and put the money towards a Norwegian cruise next year. 
 

The only thing that is giving me pause is the lack of protection if I go down the FCC route. I need to be confident the cruise will go ahead. 
 

I have plenty of time to make a decision so will sleep on it for a while. But I am relieved that the rumours on here of possibly having to wait for two years for  rulea cash refund were “fake news”...!

I would imagine that if you used the FCC now to book a cruise for next year, then you would be covered by the normal ABTA rules, and eligible for a full refund if Carnival went bust.  I would equally hope that anyone still holding a FCC would also get a refund from what ABTA are saying in general about credit refunds. 

[tinkercat]

20 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

I would imagine that if you used the FCC now to book a cruise for next year, then you would be covered by the normal ABTA rules, and eligible for a full refund if Carnival went bust.  I would equally hope that anyone still holding a FCC would also get a refund from what ABTA are saying in general about credit refunds. 

I sent a Tweet to P&O and this is the reply:

 

’Hi there, Although the FCC is not protected by ABTA, as soon as a new booking is made it will be protected.’

 

How do we access our FCC do we wait for more emails or can we contact our Travel Agent if we see a cruise we would like to book, would they then apply the credit. Also can we use a different Travel Agent to the one we originally booked with?

Edited March 31, 2020 by tinkercat

[Son of Anarchy]

18 minutes ago, tinkercat said:

I sent a Tweet to P&O and this is the reply:

 

’Hi there, Although the FCC is not protected by ABTA, as soon as a new booking is made it will be protected.’

 

 

Thank you Tinkercat for posting PandO's clarification.

[Pine Man]

32 minutes ago, tinkercat said:

’Hi there, Although the FCC is not protected by ABTA, as soon as a new booking is made it will be protected.’

 

If you accept the FCC and then book a future cruise don't forget to renew your travel insurance to cover that cruise as many, I suspect, have allowed it to lapse.

[Eglesbrech]

25 minutes ago, Pine Man said:

 

If you accept the FCC and then book a future cruise don't forget to renew your travel insurance to cover that cruise as many, I suspect, have allowed it to lapse.

Sound advice Pine Man but perhaps easier said than done given that the governments travel advisory not to cruise is still currently in force for those over 70s/health conditions.

 

I would be interested to know if anyone in these groups can get insurance cover for a future cruise at the moment?

 

Who knows when the advisory will be lifted (or the requirement for a doctors letter etc).

[Pine Man]

This question may have been asked but when you have made the decision to cancel for a refund, or opted for FCC, will there be, or has there been, any form of confirmation from P&O?

[Eglesbrech]

29 minutes ago, Pine Man said:

This question may have been asked but when you have made the decision to cancel for a refund, or opted for FCC, will there be, or has there been, any form of confirmation from P&O?

We got a cancellation invoice showing the wrong details (but had been warned by P&O that this would be the case). So far that has been the only correspondence but at least we know they received the form.

[Pine Man]

Thanks

[Selbourne]

1 hour ago, Pine Man said:

This question may have been asked but when you have made the decision to cancel for a refund, or opted for FCC, will there be, or has there been, any form of confirmation from P&O?

I cancelled 2 bookings yesterday using the online form in order to get 100% cash refunds. This morning I received cancellation notifications, but they contained no figures on them, just a note that when I do receive figures they will be wrong. Don’t you just love P&O’s IT 😂

[Selbourne]

3 hours ago, tinkercat said:

I sent a Tweet to P&O and this is the reply:

 

’Hi there, Although the FCC is not protected by ABTA, as soon as a new booking is made it will be protected.’

 

Very interesting clarification. Thanks for sharing. Sounds as though it would be very high risk to accept FCC unless you have a specific cruise(s) in mind that you can apply it to quickly. 

[Tikka234]

How soon will we get the FCC?

 

[wowzz]

22 minutes ago, Tikka234 said:

How soon will we get the FCC?

 

As far as I am aware, you do not 'get' it as such, but it is linked to your personal details, so that when you book a future cruise, the FCC is automatically allocated to your new booking.

[tinkercat]

1 hour ago, Selbourne said:

Very interesting clarification. Thanks for sharing. Sounds as though it would be very high risk to accept FCC unless you have a specific cruise(s) in mind that you can apply it to quickly. 

I have cancelled, I couldn’t find a cruise I would like and they where so much dearer. I was awake all night thinking about it feel much better now I have made a decision

[Selbourne]

5 minutes ago, tinkercat said:

I have cancelled, I couldn’t find a cruise I would like and they where so much dearer. I was awake all night thinking about it feel much better now I have made a decision

Well done. A sensible move IMO. With everything that is going on at the moment it’s one less thing hanging over us! I’m sure that you will sleep better tonight!

[Fatchemist]

Someone can correct me (it would be most welcome!), but I feel the situation regarding FCC is unclear. I'm affected by the latest round of cancellations, and would like to re-book.  I know the full details of what I want to book so could easily do this online right now, but its not clear to me that if I go ahead whether the FCC is there straightaway.  I'm just wary that if it isn't, my new booking is classed as an existing one that I cannot use the FCC against. 

[AndyMichelle]

7 minutes ago, Fatchemist said:

Someone can correct me (it would be most welcome!), but I feel the situation regarding FCC is unclear. I'm affected by the latest round of cancellations, and would like to re-book.  I know the full details of what I want to book so could easily do this online right now, but its not clear to me that if I go ahead whether the FCC is there straightaway.  I'm just wary that if it isn't, my new booking is classed as an existing one that I cannot use the FCC against. 

The email we received said that the FCC will be automatically added to your account. I took this as it was done straight away, but I don't know how you could check. 

I would suggest doing a dummy booking for what you want and see what happens when you get to the payment page.. 

Nothing would be booked until you pay, so no risk. 

I would hope FCC would be there as a payment option? 

Good luck. 

Andy 

 

[grapau27]

21 minutes ago, Fatchemist said:

Someone can correct me (it would be most welcome!), but I feel the situation regarding FCC is unclear. I'm affected by the latest round of cancellations, and would like to re-book.  I know the full details of what I want to book so could easily do this online right now, but its not clear to me that if I go ahead whether the FCC is there straightaway.  I'm just wary that if it isn't, my new booking is classed as an existing one that I cannot use the FCC against. 

Why not try to book over the phone with P&O.

Other lines might be full for 1 hour plus but as very few people will be booking cruises you might get connected to a booking agent quite quickly and you should get your answer about FCC then.

Edited March 31, 2020 by grapau27

[Fatchemist]

Thanks for the suggestions, I'll try both. If the dummy booking doesn't work, I'll set aside a morning to hold on the phone, just in case!!

[jones721]

1 hour ago, AndyMichelle said:

The email we received said that the FCC will be automatically added to your account. I took this as it was done straight away, but I don't know how you could check. 

I would suggest doing a dummy booking for what you want and see what happens when you get to the payment page.. 

Nothing would be booked until you pay, so no risk. 

I would hope FCC would be there as a payment option? 

Good luck. 

Andy 

 

I've been waiting to hear about that too (emailed P&O a couple of weeks ago, but no reply yet).

Have just tried a dummy booking but website is asking for full payment - nothing showing up on my account yet.

[pete14]

13 minutes ago, jones721 said:

I've been waiting to hear about that too (emailed P&O a couple of weeks ago, but no reply yet).

Have just tried a dummy booking but website is asking for full payment - nothing showing up on my account yet.

I booked a replacement cruise today using FCC from a cruise cancelled yesterday. Even though there was not time for FCC to show on my account, the agent managed to add it to my account in order for me to use it on the new cruise. Not showing on booking confirmation yet but I have been assured it will in time. I did not need to pay any deposit, as the FCC more than covered it.

[Son of Anarchy]

1 hour ago, AndyMichelle said:

The email we received said that the FCC will be automatically added to your account. I took this as it was done straight away, but I don't know how you could check. 

I would suggest doing a dummy booking for what you want and see what happens when you get to the payment page.. 

Nothing would be booked until you pay, so no risk. 

I would hope FCC would be there as a payment option? 

Good luck. 

Andy 

 

 

I tried a dummy booking earlier today.  The FCC didn't show up, would have had to have provided credit card details.  I'll be setting aside a morning as well....

[AndyMichelle]

6 minutes ago, Son of Anarchy said:

 

I tried a dummy booking earlier today.  The FCC didn't show up, would have had to have provided credit card details.  I'll be setting aside a morning as well....

I suppose I was being optimistic thinking the FCC would already be applied, as implied in the email... 

Andy 

[terrierjohn]

54 minutes ago, AndyMichelle said:

I suppose I was being optimistic thinking the FCC would already be applied, as implied in the email... 

Andy 

I think it probably is Andy, but presumably they all know that IT will ***** it up, so no one is telling them.

[happy v]

1 hour ago, AndyMichelle said:

I suppose I was being optimistic thinking the FCC would already be applied, as implied in the email... 

Andy 

In my email it said the FCC would be applied within the coming weeks.

So it seems you have to phone to get it straight away.