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

[ann141]

I phoned customer services today to ask for an extension to our balance date.A definite 'NO'

I really think it is unreasonable of P and O to expect people to hand over a large sum of money 12 weeks before sailing when current FCO advice is for no cruising

.We have no idea what measures will be taken onboard as far as H and S are concerned or what changes to the Itinerary or to activities onboard will be made.

 We have only paid a small deposit and feel we have no choice but to transfer it to a future cruise but I do feel P and O are being unreasonable concerning this

Rant over!!

[No pager thank you]

32 minutes ago, ann141 said:

I phoned customer services today to ask for an extension to our balance date.A definite 'NO'

I really think it is unreasonable of P and O to expect people to hand over a large sum of money 12 weeks before sailing when current FCO advice is for no cruising

.We have no idea what measures will be taken onboard as far as H and S are concerned or what changes to the Itinerary or to activities onboard will be made.

 We have only paid a small deposit and feel we have no choice but to transfer it to a future cruise but I do feel P and O are being unreasonable concerning this

Rant over!!

Quite agree Ann, P&O are taking the proverbial, particularly when you can't reliably get your money back off them in 12 weeks!

 

Have to say, I think that they are obviously hoping that some customers will cancel / transfer to avoid the possibility of paying out refunds, including if passenger numbers need to be reduced for safety reasons.

 

Transferred cabins may be resellable at a higher rate too...

 

If we be (very) generous - and say that it is nothing to do with cashflow, then these are the only plausible reasons why P&O are part of the outliers offering no flexibility on this at all.  Surely this must be a deliberate company policy.

 

Another reason to doubt the shore side operation when considering who to cruise with.

 

Supportive follow up rant over 😉

[ann141]

9 minutes ago, No pager thank you said:

Quite agree Ann, P&O are taking the proverbial, particularly when you can't reliably get your money back off them in 12 weeks!

 

Have to say, I think that they are obviously hoping that some customers will cancel / transfer to avoid the possibility of paying out refunds, including if passenger numbers need to be reduced for safety reasons.

 

Transferred cabins may be resellable at a higher rate too...

 

If we be (very) generous - and say that it is nothing to do with cashflow, then these are the only plausible reasons why P&O are part of the outliers offering no flexibility on this at all.  Surely this must be a deliberate company policy.

 

Another reason to doubt the shore side operation when considering who to cruise with.

 

Supportive follow up rant over 😉

Thank you for the supportive rant!

I feel sorry for the customer service staff who have to state what they have been told to say (they may feel its unreasonable as well!) It will be those at head office who have been unwilling to temporarily change company policy

.Even more infuriating when they are probably the ones who know if the cruise will go ahead subject to FCO advice.If as has been suggested (and similar companies e.g Costa) P and O  are planning to start by 'testing' short cruises our 19  night cruise only 2 days after the start back date is unlikely to sail .You may be correct when you say it might be a case of hoping most people cancel or transfer before the balance date so they won t have so many refunds to process!

[Adawn47]

2 hours ago, ann141 said:

I phoned customer services today to ask for an extension to our balance date.A definite 'NO'

I really think it is unreasonable of P and O to expect people to hand over a large sum of money 12 weeks before sailing when current FCO advice is for no cruising

.We have no idea what measures will be taken onboard as far as H and S are concerned or what changes to the Itinerary or to activities onboard will be made.

 We have only paid a small deposit and feel we have no choice but to transfer it to a future cruise but I do feel P and O are being unreasonable concerning this

Rant over!!

That's how exactly how I feel too.The lady you spoke to gave you an outright NO. I was fobbed off and basically lied to. Excellent customer service I must say.

Avril 

[Manx buoy]

10 minutes ago, Adawn47 said:

That's how exactly how I feel too.The lady you spoke to gave you an outright NO. I was fobbed off and basically lied to. Excellent customer service I must say.

Avril 

It’s poor some are allowed to delay payment some are allowed to use FCC for already booked cruises ourselves included in that even though we’d received the refunds before they told us double standards aren’t good

[Adawn47]

12 hours ago, Manx buoy said:

It’s poor some are allowed to delay payment some are allowed to use FCC for already booked cruises ourselves included in that even though we’d received the refunds before they told us double standards aren’t good

I assume it depends on who answers the phone and what kind of day they're having. They want to try being a P&O customer for a few days😉. They are obviously told, (maybe daily? ) what they are allowed to offer depending on the kind of caller they receive. At least that how it seems to me. We've sailed with P&O for 10 years, have always been perfectly satisfied , and have recommended them many times. We were perfectly willing to wait before cancelling our November cruise and explained that due to our ages and the ongoing FCO advice and no sail order we would like to defer our balance to September 30th. She was very nice, said she'd get back to me same day but I wasn't convinced. I've tried to get though this morning to cancel but no joy, so I'll try again tomorrow morning.

Avril 

[Chrisdriving]

 

We have been more than happy with P and O and have had some great cruises with them but i must say they are being a little unfair here.

Earlier in the year you could cancel your’e cruise up to 48 hrs prior to sailing for a refund/FCC split which i thought was exceptionally fair and given the ongoing circumstances at this time and having offered this before i cannot see why they cant continue to offer it and its an offer both ourselves and i assume many others would gladly pay their balances at 90 days with.

 

I have again emailed them to ask for some kind of sweetener to maybe help customers with the decision of whether to pay or not, to please cut some slack at this time.

If i get any response i will report back.

Edited July 19, 2020 by Chrisdriving

[Adawn47]

I think Bob was very fortunate to have  been able to defer his balance. He must have caught someone on a good day😆. Both Ann and I received the same reply to that question so I think that particular avenue has been firmly closed. Our decision to cancel has been made regardless. Financially Carnival seem to be struggling and ultimately will survive, but trust in their company won't. 

Avril 

Edited July 19, 2020 by Adawn47

[ann141]

1 hour ago, Adawn47 said:

I think Bob was very fortunate to have  been able to defer his balance. He must have caught someone on a good day😆. Both Ann and I received the same reply to that question so I think that particular avenue has been firmly closed. Our decision to cancel has been made regardless. Financially Carnival seem to be struggling and ultimately will survive, but trust in their company won't. 

Avril 

Our balance is due tomorrow.I shall phone up and ask again if we can defer balance payment(not hopeful)Otherwise we shall transfer the deposit to a short cruise late next year.I shall probably also send a strongly worded email to Paul Ludlow stating that I think present balance payment policy is unreasonable as we also have a cruise on Ventura in Jan 2021 where the balance is due begining of October(before any cruises have sailed)so we may have a similar dilemma.I am hoping if enough people complain the policy may change Probably more chance of seeing pigs fly !