November 6th 2020 Cruise August Deposit Can Be Paid Four weeks Before Holiday

[ann141]

7 hours ago, Adawn47 said:

She was very non - committal but nice. All the usual spiel, " I completely understand your situation, I've noted it on your booking form, consult with my manager and get back to you",  the normal script.  We'll wait and see, but ultimately it's all down to the FCO.

Avril 

Have you heard back from P and O yet? Fred Olsen has announced that they are going to allow people to delay paying their balances until they know ships are going to start sailing again, presumably when/if FCO advice changes.It would be good if P and O announced similar

[Britboys]

Fred Olsen changed their procedures weeks ago to make final balances payable 4 weeks before departure. A very sensible move imho.

[No pager thank you]

40 minutes ago, Britboys said:

Fred Olsen changed their procedures weeks ago to make final balances payable 4 weeks before departure. A very sensible move imho.

Quite agree.  Beyond the obvious reason (protecting cash flow, and securing interim interest payments on balances), I cannot understand why P&O are not following suit.  The only other possibility is that capacity management is in play and P&O is hoping that some customers do cancel of their own accord.

 

Hope that P&O are reasonable in Avril's case, but there should be a clear company wide policy on this.

 

With cruises cancelled, we have booked another package holiday for September; the balance is due just two weeks before departure.... still 12 weeks for a cruise though, doesn't make sense...🤔

[Adawn47]

2 hours ago, ann141 said:

Have you heard back from P and O yet? Fred Olsen has announced that they are going to allow people to delay paying their balances until they know ships are going to start sailing again, presumably when/if FCO advice changes.It would be good if P and O announced similar

Not a peep,  even though she said she'd get back to me today. To be totally honest though Ann, I never expected her to. Maybe they'll remember on August 9th  when the final balance day has passed and they haven't received our £2900.😆

Always optimistic though , we're renewing our passports at Max Spielmann on Monday. 

Avril 

Edited July 14, 2020 by Adawn47
Added text

[ann141]

49 minutes ago, Adawn47 said:

Not a peep,  even though she said she'd get back to me today. To be totally honest though Ann, I never expected her to. Maybe they'll remember on August 9th  when the final balance day has passed and they haven't received our £2900.😆

Always optimistic though , we're renewing our passports at Max Spielmann on Monday. 

Avril 

I'm still awaiting a reply to my email.Our balance is due a week on monday!!We have already renewed our passports 🙂

[Son of Anarchy]

The TA we're using for our biggie next year extended our balance date by two weeks.  It's still two weeks before PandOs date though, which doesn't seem to be budging.  Still, better than nothing.

[Britboys]

1 hour ago, Son of Anarchy said:

The TA we're using for our biggie next year extended our balance date by two weeks.  It's still two weeks before PandOs date though, which doesn't seem to be budging.  Still, better than nothing.

The TA I booked my sector through only want the balance 7 days before P&O...

[Son of Anarchy]

I must with the adverse feedback on here, and the MSE report I didn't expect this TA to budge at all.   

[Castle25]

Will we be able to get a vat refund on cruises purchased that travel before the end of the year?

 

[No pager thank you]

24 minutes ago, Castle25 said:

Will we be able to get a vat refund on cruises purchased that travel before the end of the year?

 

I haven't heard anything to suggest any savings will be passed on to customers, or will be reclaimable; happy to be corrected if anyone has better information.

[Son of Anarchy]

32 minutes ago, Castle25 said:

Will we be able to get a vat refund on cruises purchased that travel before the end of the year?

 

 

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/the-vat-treatment-of-passenger-transport-notice-744a

 

I'm not a VAT expert.  I've put the notice through my second hand Enigma machine.  It has been decoded as zero rate for VAT, apart from on board shop sales whilst in UK waters.  I'm sure there will be a VAT accountant or Revenue officer out there who will be able to either confirm whether or not that is the case.

[terrierjohn]

39 minutes ago, Castle25 said:

Will we be able to get a vat refund on cruises purchased that travel before the end of the year?

 

I think cruise holidays are zero rated anyway.

[Snow Hill]

14 minutes ago, No pager thank you said:

I haven't heard anything to suggest any savings will be passed on to customers, or will be reclaimable; happy to be corrected if anyone has better information.

I assume you are referring to recent VAT cut for hospitality and attractions, this won’t affect cruises as they are not included. 
 

[molecrochip]

Correct, only applies to supplies that are starting at Standard rate.

 

Cruises are zero rated if starting/ending in the UK otherwise not subject to VAT. Sale of goods from shops in international waters not subject to VAT. Duties still due on alcohol or tobacco unless calling at a foreign (non-EU at present)

[cruisenewbie1976]

5 hours ago, molecrochip said:

Correct, only applies to supplies that are starting at Standard rate.

 

Cruises are zero rated if starting/ending in the UK otherwise not subject to VAT. Sale of goods from shops in international waters not subject to VAT. Duties still due on alcohol or tobacco unless calling at a foreign (non-EU at present)

Alcohol for consumption in bars and restaurants on board are only subject to excise duty if it's an intra-UK cruise. If the ship calls at an EU port (or goes outside of "the box"), those goods not subject to excise duty. Obviously, that's totally different to the rules about buying duty free from the shops for passengers to take away. I don't really understand why that's the case. I'm guessing it's some regulation that goes back many years that's never been changed. 

[Adawn47]

On 7/14/2020 at 7:03 PM, ann141 said:

Have you heard back from P and O yet? Fred Olsen has announced that they are going to allow people to delay paying their balances until they know ships are going to start sailing again, presumably when/if FCO advice changes.It would be good if P and O announced similar

Still haven't heard anything from P&O yet and so we've made the decision to not cruise again until October 2021. I thought I'd be upset but quite honestly I feel relieved. No more worrying "shall we, shan't we" or constantly checking emails. Blessed relief. 

Avril 

[ann141]

12 minutes ago, Adawn47 said:

Still haven't heard anything from P&O yet and so we've made the decision to not cruise again until October 2021. I thought I'd be upset but quite honestly I feel relieved. No more worrying "shall we, shan't we" or constantly checking emails. Blessed relief. 

Avril 

We have decided not to go ahead with our cruise on 18 October.The balance is due on Monday and I had hoped I would have had a reply  from P and O by now.I will probably phone up on monday to transfer the deposit but not sure which cruise to transfer to but don't want to just not pay incase we are liable for more than the deposit if we don t pay.It is annoying when the cruise will almost certainly be cancelled.As you state probably after monday when we have transfered the deposit I will feel relieved though we have another cruise on Ventura in January 2021 which I hope will be cancelled before the balance is due so will have to go through all this again!!

[Adawn47]

1 minute ago, ann141 said:

We have decided not to go ahead with our cruise on 18 October.The balance is due on Monday and I had hoped I would have had a reply  from P and O by now.I will probably phone up on monday to transfer the deposit but not sure which cruise to transfer to but don't want to just not pay incase we are liable for more than the deposit if we don t pay.It is annoying when the cruise will almost certainly be cancelled.As you state probably after monday when we have transfered the deposit I will feel relieved though we have another cruise on Ventura in January 2021 which I hope will be cancelled before the balance is due so will have to go through all this again!!

I thought you would only lose your deposit if you fail to pay. I shall be trying to get through a few days before the balance is due. Maybe someone can advise us about this. Our deposit was only £135 so not much to lose. Much better than waiting 6 months for them to return over £3,000.

Avril 

[bobupandown]

49 minutes ago, Adawn47 said:

Still haven't heard anything from P&O yet and so we've made the decision to not cruise again until October 2021. I thought I'd be upset but quite honestly I feel relieved. No more worrying "shall we, shan't we" or constantly checking emails. Blessed relief. 

Avril 

Hi Avril

Sorry we won't be meeting up in November, maybe in October 21 on your next cruise. Shocking they haven't got back to you, think they only sorted me out because I was recording them.

We have also decided today not to cruise this year, we was humming and haring about it,  and thinking about the port's we was going to, would they be changed etc. 

Hopefully next year there will be a vaccine, and things getting back to normal.

I know they are slowly getting there now, but still not good enough for us. So Devon here we come, which we have done for the past thirty years.

Have a good weekend

Bob   

[ann141]

53 minutes ago, Adawn47 said:

I thought you would only lose your deposit if you fail to pay. I shall be trying to get through a few days before the balance is due. Maybe someone can advise us about this. Our deposit was only £135 so not much to lose. Much better than waiting 6 months for them to return over £3,000.

Avril 

I think you probably do only lose the deposit if you fail to pay the balance of the cruise but in the Terms and Conditions it states that if you cancel(It says in writing!) 91 or more days before the sailing date you lose your deposit but then goes on to say that if you cancel between 90 to 57 days before you lose 50% of the price of the cruise- easier to collect if you have paid the balance!I doubt that P and O would make anyone pay more if they had only paid the deposit but to be on the safe side I will phone on monday and transfer the deposit to a future cruise if they won't extend the balance payment date.

[No pager thank you]

59 minutes ago, Adawn47 said:

I thought you would only lose your deposit if you fail to pay. I shall be trying to get through a few days before the balance is due. Maybe someone can advise us about this. Our deposit was only £135 so not much to lose. Much better than waiting 6 months for them to return over £3,000.

Avril 

Hello Avril and Ann,

 

To avoid losing your deposits, choose a 2-3 night cruise of your choice (even one of the big hotel ships Avril if needs must😉) and you should find that your initial 5% deposit more than covers what the new cruise deposit is (even if they do it at 15%). 

 

Then when the cruises come out for April 2022 onwards, switch again to your preferred cruise from the new brochure.  Keep an eye out for P&O changing the rules, but sure that the eagle eyed CC'ers will give fair warning 😉

 

You will notice that the short cruises are often overpriced at the moment, this is partly the reason.

 

Alternatively, when you call P&O see if they will allow you to transfer the value of your initial deposit to your current October 2021 bookings.  They might be helpful, as this doesn't cost them anything. 

 

However, the first route is definitely allowed and will mean that you don't end up any worse off.

 

Hope this helps you.

[ann141]

29 minutes ago, No pager thank you said:

Hello Avril and Ann,

 

To avoid losing your deposits, choose a 2-3 night cruise of your choice (even one of the big hotel ships Avril if needs must😉) and you should find that your initial 5% deposit more than covers what the new cruise deposit is (even if they do it at 15%). 

 

Then when the cruises come out for April 2022 onwards, switch again to your preferred cruise from the new brochure.  Keep an eye out for P&O changing the rules, but sure that the eagle eyed CC'ers will give fair warning 😉

 

You will notice that the short cruises are often overpriced at the moment, this is partly the reason.

 

Alternatively, when you call P&O see if they will allow you to transfer the value of your initial deposit to your current October 2021 bookings.  They might be helpful, as this doesn't cost them anything. 

 

However, the first route is definitely allowed and will mean that you don't end up any worse off.

 

Hope this helps you.

Thank you.We have only paid £50pp deposit as we booked onboard.There is a short cruise we may be interested in and the deposit is only £45pp so we may transfer to that (Feb 2021) and hope the cruises for April 2022 onwards come out before then and we can transfer again!

[Adawn47]

1 hour ago, bobupandown said:

Hi Avril

Sorry we won't be meeting up in November, maybe in October 21 on your next cruise. Shocking they haven't got back to you, think they only sorted me out because I was recording them.

We have also decided today not to cruise this year, we was humming and haring about it,  and thinking about the port's we was going to, would they be changed etc. 

Hopefully next year there will be a vaccine, and things getting back to normal.

I know they are slowly getting there now, but still not good enough for us. So Devon here we come, which we have done for the past thirty years.

Have a good weekend

Bob   

Love to meet up in October Bob. I shall miss going this year though, but I hope something changes before next year and cruising back on the agenda. I don't think we'll be going away this year as we would have to travel by coach or train. We've decided to spoil the house instead and have ordered two new oriental rugs. A large square for the lounge and a runner for the hall. It's my turn next 😉.  Enjoy your weekend,  the weather looks promising. 😎

Avril 

 

[bobupandown]

5 hours ago, Adawn47 said:

Love to meet up in October Bob. I shall miss going this year though, but I hope something changes before next year and cruising back on the agenda. I don't think we'll be going away this year as we would have to travel by coach or train. We've decided to spoil the house instead and have ordered two new oriental rugs. A large square for the lounge and a runner for the hall. It's my turn next 😉.  Enjoy your weekend,  the weather looks promising. 😎

Avril 

 

Enjoy spoiling the house, have a good weekend

Bob

[Chrisdriving]

Its only free to bounce it to another cruise thats currently on sale ie not new brochure, i called and checked as its misleading what the website says.

You can book, cancel, rebook as many times as you like in the current brochure, new brochure £100 fee to transfer.

 

Futile as it is, we are holding out as long as possible on this cruise to see what happens.

Edited July 18, 2020 by Chrisdriving