P&O Update

[Britboys]

I am gutted to lose my World Cruise Sector on Arcadia but pleased that P&O have had the sense and decency to cancel these before anyone has to lay out the very significant balance. That's cruise number three cancelled for me but I am lucky to have been able to book them in the first instance. The Worldie sector was my retirement/60th birthday celebration but looks like it might have to go on ice for a couple of years.

[Missaims]

26 minutes ago, molecrochip said:

 

My expectation now is the Aurora and Arcadia wont sale until after their, now, cancelled cruises in 2021.

I was thinking/hoping the same - I’m booked on the Arcadia new year cruise and not sure I fancy it now! Would be helpful if it’s cancelled before final payment 😬

Edited August 11, 2020 by Missaims

[molecrochip]

2 minutes ago, Missaims said:

I was thinking/hoping the same - I’m booked on the Arcadia new year cruise and not sure I fancy it now! Would be great if it’s cancelled before final payment 😬

I just don't see them restarting Arcadia and Aurora for 3 or 4 cruises then parking them up through Jan, Feb and March.

 

They could sail them around the UK but its hardly the weather for it. So I can't imagine new cruises being released for early 2021 either.

[molecrochip]

7 minutes ago, Britboys said:

I am gutted to lose my World Cruise Sector on Arcadia but pleased that P&O have had the sense and decency to cancel these before anyone has to lay out the very significant balance. That's cruise number three cancelled for me but I am lucky to have been able to book them in the first instance. The Worldie sector was my retirement/60th birthday celebration but looks like it might have to go on ice for a couple of years.

Really sorry to hear this. I hope you manage to find a suitable alternative to celebrate retirement/60th.

 

2021 was due to be Arcadia's last worldie. Aurora due to take over that baton from 2022 onwards.

[Clodia]

11 minutes ago, Britboys said:

I am gutted to lose my World Cruise Sector on Arcadia but pleased that P&O have had the sense and decency to cancel these before anyone has to lay out the very significant balance. That's cruise number three cancelled for me but I am lucky to have been able to book them in the first instance. The Worldie sector was my retirement/60th birthday celebration but looks like it might have to go on ice for a couple of years.

Likewise; my friend and I were booked from Southampton to Sydney ( also retirement celebrations) and we really didn't want to go as there will still be so many restrictions, but nor did we want to lose over £1500 each that we had paid as deposit. Now we can use 125% of that against a future cruise. We'll re book for 2022 or 2023 instead.

Edited August 11, 2020 by Clodia

[grapau27]

1 hour ago, molecrochip said:

From P&O:

 

We have acknowledged the Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) guidance and extended our pause in operations by a further month. It is clear that whilst the guidance is in place, it’s not advisable for us to resume sailing.

 

As well as all cruises sailing up to and including 12 November 2020, we will sadly also be cancelling Aurora’s Caribbean and South America Adventure and Arcadia’s World Cruise holidays sailing from January - March 2021. Given long-term planning, combined with the complexity and length of these long-haul itineraries and evolving border restrictions, we need to ensure that we adhere to the current guidance.

 

We know that these cruises, in particular, are holidays of a lifetime and we are so sorry for the disappointment that these cancellations will cause.

 

We continue to work in partnership with public health agencies at the highest level as well as Department for Transport, EU Healthy Gateways and Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA), the industry governing body. We will follow all applicable guidelines to enhance our already stringent measures to keep our guests and crew healthy and well and we will not resume sailing until this approved framework is in place. Fundamentally, we will be adopting best practice within the travel industry.

 

The good news is that confidence in cruising is strong and we are seeing increasing and significant demand for our holidays so we are optimistic for the future. We know that the FCO guidance is under constant review and we are hopeful that, as they are aware of the work the industry is doing, this will change before too long.

Thanks for posting.

Graham

[amfc_lenny]

My cruise is due to go on the 28th nov on Ventura, I really didn’t sign up to the cruise to be a guinea pig for P and O. 
 

All our holiday for 2021 is already allocated for our honeymoon, and P and O haven’t realeased their cruises for 2022.

 

is it unreasonable to ask for a refund of our deposit!!

[grapau27]

59 minutes ago, Josy1953 said:

Sadly no, but you will have the fun of deciding whether to take FCC, move your cruise to later or the excitement of anticipating when you will get your money back.

I just wonder when cruises will restart, hopefully, given that the pause is only for an extra month it may be this year.

I am suffering from withdrawal symptoms now.

My sister has convinced us to go with them on a Round Britain cruise with Princess next year and we booked it yesterday, it will be my sister and brother-in-law's first cruise so I really hope it goes ahead.

Sounds like a good cruise on Princess.

[Adawn47]

39 minutes ago, Evelyn9597 said:

 

I don’t want it to be credited to my MasterCard (which is how we paid)!

 

Thanks. 
 

 

P&O's  normal policy is to refund back to the card it was paid on. You can always ask them, but don't hold your breath. They've not been very helpful recently regarding refunds. 

Avril 

[grapau27]

42 minutes ago, Evelyn9597 said:

Hi all,

 

My 24th October cruise on Iona has been cancelled and I’ve requested a refund.
 

I know it’s going to be a long wait, but how do they actually issue refunds, eg, cheque?
 

I don’t want it to be credited to my MasterCard (which is how we paid)!

 

Thanks. 
 

 

We got a Bacs.

Some got a cheque.

Some got refunded to card payment was made from.

 

[Britboys]

14 minutes ago, Clodia said:

Likewise; my friend and I were booked from Southampton to Sydney and we really didn't want to go as there will still be so many restrictions, but nor did we want to lose over £1500 each that we had paid as deposit. Now we can use 125% of that against a future cruise. We'll re book for 2022 or 2023 instead.

Sadly, there is no equivalent sector for me on the 2022 Worldie. I was doing 39 nights San Francisco to Hong Kong - thereby avoiding really long flights.

Edited August 11, 2020 by Britboys

[Adawn47]

1 minute ago, grapau27 said:

We got a Bacs.

Some got a cheque.

Some got refunded to card payment was made from.

 

My friend got a cheque,  but she had paid with card via her TA. I think it depends on how and who you pay as to how you receive your refund.

Avril 

[Dermotsgirl]

29 minutes ago, Manx buoy said:

No they don’t we just had a cheque even though it was paid by card just like all the others which were refunded straight to the bank it’s lucky dip as to how they pay and when they pay

Put it this way, they SHOULD refund to the original payment source, for anti money laundering purposes.

 

 

[Evelyn9597]

Thanks for all the replies. 
 

I guess it’s a case of wait and see how I get the refund!

[pete14]

14 minutes ago, Evelyn9597 said:

Thanks for all the replies. 
 

I guess it’s a case of wait and see how I get the refund!

It will probably depend on who you paid (P&O or agent) and how you paid them.

[wowzz]

1 hour ago, Dermotsgirl said:

They’ll issue the refund to the source of the original payment, so it will go to your credit card. When the payment reaches your credit card, you can ask your bank to transfer the funds to another account.

 

 

It may well depend on who you booked with. We booked via a credit card, through a TA, and received a refund by cheque from P&O. 

[wowzz]

48 minutes ago, Clodia said:

Likewise; my friend and I were booked from Southampton to Sydney ( also retirement celebrations) and we really didn't want to go as there will still be so many restrictions, but nor did we want to lose over £1500 each that we had paid as deposit. Now we can use 125% of that against a future cruise. We'll re book for 2022 or 2023 instead.

It's currently unclear as to if FCC can be applied to cruises that will appear in the new brochure.

[wowzz]

1 hour ago, Dermotsgirl said:

However, I think the rest of the cancellations up to 12 November 2020 is just pussy footing around the issue. I would have expected cancellations up until the end of the year at the least.

 

 

Agreed. Whilst I am not a great believer in the second wave conspiracy theory,  there is little socio economic benefit from the government's point of view, in allowing cruises to proceed, just as the winter starts.

By just putting a theoretical start date back by a month at a time, Carnival is just protecting its cash flow position a little longer. 

[grapau27]

44 minutes ago, Adawn47 said:

My friend got a cheque,  but she had paid with card via her TA. I think it depends on how and who you pay as to how you receive your refund.

Avril 

I paid by cc to a TA and got a Bacs from P&O after originally being told a cheque would be issued by P&O.

[Josy1953]

1 hour ago, grapau27 said:

Sounds like a good cruise on Princess.

We actually did Round Britain 10 years ago and really enjoyed it so it is no hardship for us to do it again with 3 different ports.

[Dermotsgirl]

4 minutes ago, grapau27 said:

I paid by cc to a TA and got a Bacs from P&O after originally being told a cheque would be issued by P&O.

I’d much prefer the Bacs payment in that scenario. I booked my Fred Olsen cruise on board, and I got the balance refunded by credit card, but had to have a BACS refund for the deposit, which was originally paid from my onboard account.

 

Fred took 7 weeks to refund the balance, and I gave them my bank details for the Bacs in April, and eventually got the deposit refund in July after a couple of chases. However, they responded to emails and phoned back when requested, so I think they dealt with the refund situation reasonably well 

 

 

 

[grapau27]

3 minutes ago, Josy1953 said:

We actually did Round Britain 10 years ago and really enjoyed it so it is no hardship for us to do it again with 3 different ports.

I would do a Round Britain cruise.

[Manx buoy]

57 minutes ago, Dermotsgirl said:

Put it this way, they SHOULD refund to the original payment source, for anti money laundering purposes.

 

 

There’s lots of things they SHOULD be doing but they’re just a law to themselves. It’ll be interesting to see how long people will be waiting from this batch for their refunds with the great new system they have in place our latest one arrived by cheque after 70 days yesterday 

[Dermotsgirl]

9 minutes ago, grapau27 said:

I would do a Round Britain cruise.

I love the Round Britain Cruises. I did one on Artemis and one on Oriana, plus two with CMV. If the medium term future with P&O included more Round Britain cruises I would be very happy - but all the other uncertainties would have to be resolved before I made a booking 

[Dermotsgirl]

34 minutes ago, wowzz said:

Agreed. Whilst I am not a great believer in the second wave conspiracy theory,  there is little socio economic benefit from the government's point of view, in allowing cruises to proceed, just as the winter starts.

By just putting a theoretical start date back by a month at a time, Carnival is just protecting its cash flow position a little longer. 

If they aren’t able to begin cruising again by the end of the year, I think they will have to make some tough decisions, as it’s not feasible that they can continue making piecemeal  short term cancellations for an indefinite period