Will P&O now delay announcements for future cruise pauses?

[Selbourne]

5 hours ago, terrierjohn said:

I am obviously a fortunate optimist, I listen to the same govt optimism, but I am sufficient of a realist to recognise that there will always be twists and turns along the way.

As an example I would point out that I have always felt that once a vaccine  was approved it would be rolled out rapidly and I have frequently been ridiculed on this forum when I suggested vaccination of everyone in the UK could be done in 6 to 9 months, with many posters feeling it would take at least 2 years to vaccinate everyone, basing their reasoning on how long it takes for the annual flu vaccine to be rolled out.

 

I don’t know if the ‘ridiculed comment was aimed at me John but if it was I apologise, as although we may have robust discussions on this forum and not always agree, it would never be my intention to ridicule anyone. In fact, I have diplomatically suggested a few times that people stop mocking another poster who admittedly posts very incoherent posts but it strikes me (and at least one other member) that there may be some age related mental health issues contributing to them. I know that I disagreed with you at the beginning of the month when you said that you thought that over 65’s would be vaccinated by mid Feb - and I still feel that is very unlikely - but we will certainly be closer to your prediction than mine. As I have said many times, there has never been an issue where I have been keener for my concerns to be proved wrong. 

[terrierjohn]

2 hours ago, Selbourne said:

I don’t know if the ‘ridiculed comment was aimed at me John but if it was I apologise, as although we may have robust discussions on this forum and not always agree, it would never be my intention to ridicule anyone. In fact, I have diplomatically suggested a few times that people stop mocking another poster who admittedly posts very incoherent posts but it strikes me (and at least one other member) that there may be some age related mental health issues contributing to them. I know that I disagreed with you at the beginning of the month when you said that you thought that over 65’s would be vaccinated by mid Feb - and I still feel that is very unlikely - but we will certainly be closer to your prediction than mine. As I have said many times, there has never been an issue where I have been keener for my concerns to be proved wrong. 

No the comment was general  and I have a broad back from which all insults roll right off. But I am extremely happy that my forecast looks as though it might actually prove correct.

[molecrochip]

Morning all,

 

I do believe there is a little optimism in this thread! (...only little but its there!)

 

I the biggest barrier to a successful cruise season (lets say May - September) is now which other countries have progressed their vaccine program as well as the UK. Certainly a lot of the European countries which rely heavily on tourism for their economy will be desperate to reopen but the vaccination programs needs to be far enough advanced for the country to avoid a relapse.

 

Its worth making the point that while P&O might not have a hotline to the Government, they are certainly a couple of steps ahead of the general public on where Government policy is heading. You could say that the same applies for Germany and Italy through Carnival's other brands but that doesn't help with Spain, Portugal, France etc.

 

Therefore I suspect that cruises which limit themselves to calls in the same country may go first, [UK only, Canaries, Azura to Italy, Azura to Greece]. A Britannia cruise calling at Spain, Portugal, Spain, Italy, France, Gibraltar, Spain over 14 days may be less easy to run in early May.

 

We saw last year that Greece were particularly quick to try and accept UK tourists. With Italy also a known quantity to Carnival Corp, I'm starting to think that the fly cruise season may be possible, after-all but focused on charter [and therefore bubbled] flights rather than using scheduled airlines. I should point out I've had no update on fly cruises. The rumours of Azura covering the smaller ships seem to be retreating. 

 

Therefore, I would see flight times being added as a positive. But a cautious positive.

 

One final point, I had an interesting discussion with a contact involved in a non-Carnival Corp cruise line. They seemed to indicate that in countries such as India and the Philippines, the Governments are (/ going to be) quite happy if private companies want to buy the vaccine stocks from them and establish their own vaccine programs. This is seen as a way of vaccinating crew in their home country (and their households) to enable restart. Obviously does not apply to UK based crew who will need to join the queue.

[Britboys]

For what it is worth, a friend's son who works in entertainment on a British (not P&O) cruise line has been told to return to work in March. That's not a cruise resumption date, just when senior entertainment crew can expect to be back at work.

[Adawn47]

3 hours ago, molecrochip said:

Therefore I suspect that cruises which limit themselves to calls in the same country may go first, [UK only, Canaries, Azura to Italy, Azura to Greece]. A Britannia cruise calling at Spain, Portugal, Spain, Italy, France, Gibraltar, Spain over 14 days may be less easy to run in early May.

You didn't mention Norway, which is of particular interest, as we have a 12 night cruise at the end of June on Arcadia. Any thoughts?

Avril

[tring]

4 hours ago, molecrochip said:

Morning all,

 

I do believe there is a little optimism in this thread! (...only little but its there!)

 

Therefore I suspect that cruises which limit themselves to calls in the same country may go first, [UK only, Canaries, Azura to Italy, Azura to Greece]. A Britannia cruise calling at Spain, Portugal, Spain, Italy, France, Gibraltar, Spain over 14 days may be less easy to run in early May.

 

One final point, I had an interesting discussion with a contact involved in a non-Carnival Corp cruise line. They seemed to indicate that in countries such as India and the Philippines, the Governments are (/ going to be) quite happy if private companies want to buy the vaccine stocks from them and establish their own vaccine programs. This is seen as a way of vaccinating crew in their home country (and their households) to enable restart. Obviously does not apply to UK based crew who will need to join the queue.

 

I would like to second the interest in any thoughts you may have regards Norway, also late June but on Iona.  I realise they will be single country cruises, so am still hopeful.

 

Good news for us regards the possible thoughts of India and The Philippines and perhaps not such a bad move on behalf of their government's as they will need income into their country, but I do hope it will not mean big problems for their other nationals.

 

[molecrochip]

2 hours ago, Britboys said:

For what it is worth, a friend's son who works in entertainment on a British (not P&O) cruise line has been told to return to work in March. That's not a cruise resumption date, just when senior entertainment crew can expect to be back at work.

This aligns with what I've heard.  Once the UK moves out of this lockdown, I expect ships to start increasing the number of crew on board. Remember that for the last six months+ P&O have had a mandatory two week quarantine for crew joining the ships. It takes place on board ship.

 

1 hour ago, Adawn47 said:

You didn't mention Norway, which is of particular interest, as we have a 12 night cruise at the end of June on Arcadia. Any thoughts?

Avril

Norway is a funny one as the Government of Norway reconfirmed the cruise ship ban following the positive cases on the MS Roald Amundsen. I think that is due to go until 1 June 2021.

 

Yet, half the attraction is scenic cruising through the Fjords. This is a prime example where Iona may work if a 7 day scenic cruise was all on offer. Being a new ship, may want to sail on her to experience the ship as much as the destinations. Won't suit everyone but will suit a few. If they can fill her 35%-50% fill, its worth sailing. Ship could still make technical stops as Iona is doing now; in fact Iona is currently building good relations having a blemish free record alongside in Haugesund.

[joeecco]

11 minutes ago, molecrochip said:

This aligns with what I've heard.  Once the UK moves out of this lockdown, I expect ships to start increasing the number of crew on board. Remember that for the last six months+ P&O have had a mandatory two week quarantine for crew joining the ships. It takes place on board ship.

 

Norway is a funny one as the Government of Norway reconfirmed the cruise ship ban following the positive cases on the MS Roald Amundsen. I think that is due to go until 1 June 2021.

 

Yet, half the attraction is scenic cruising through the Fjords. This is a prime example where Iona may work if a 7 day scenic cruise was all on offer. Being a new ship, may want to sail on her to experience the ship as much as the destinations. Won't suit everyone but will suit a few. If they can fill her 35%-50% fill, its worth sailing. Ship could still make technical stops as Iona is doing now; in fact Iona is currently building good relations having a blemish free record alongside in Haugesund.

This would be interesting in regards to scenic cruising but what would be offered to those passengers already booked? We would be happy to do it but not at the price we’ve paid, because as much as we would be happy with booking a scenic cruise, we had booked our May cruise for the ports and the excursions we’ve booked. 

[joeecco]

5 hours ago, molecrochip said:

Morning all,

 

I do believe there is a little optimism in this thread! (...only little but its there!)

 

I the biggest barrier to a successful cruise season (lets say May - September) is now which other countries have progressed their vaccine program as well as the UK. Certainly a lot of the European countries which rely heavily on tourism for their economy will be desperate to reopen but the vaccination programs needs to be far enough advanced for the country to avoid a relapse.

 

Its worth making the point that while P&O might not have a hotline to the Government, they are certainly a couple of steps ahead of the general public on where Government policy is heading. You could say that the same applies for Germany and Italy through Carnival's other brands but that doesn't help with Spain, Portugal, France etc.

 

Therefore I suspect that cruises which limit themselves to calls in the same country may go first, [UK only, Canaries, Azura to Italy, Azura to Greece]. A Britannia cruise calling at Spain, Portugal, Spain, Italy, France, Gibraltar, Spain over 14 days may be less easy to run in early May.

 

We saw last year that Greece were particularly quick to try and accept UK tourists. With Italy also a known quantity to Carnival Corp, I'm starting to think that the fly cruise season may be possible, after-all but focused on charter [and therefore bubbled] flights rather than using scheduled airlines. I should point out I've had no update on fly cruises. The rumours of Azura covering the smaller ships seem to be retreating. 

 

Therefore, I would see flight times being added as a positive. But a cautious positive.

 

One final point, I had an interesting discussion with a contact involved in a non-Carnival Corp cruise line. They seemed to indicate that in countries such as India and the Philippines, the Governments are (/ going to be) quite happy if private companies want to buy the vaccine stocks from them and establish their own vaccine programs. This is seen as a way of vaccinating crew in their home country (and their households) to enable restart. Obviously does not apply to UK based crew who will need to join the queue.

On top of this, what do you think will be there stance on B2Bs on Azura fly season? Maybe they will do COVID tests for those staying on board for the following week on the sea day before arriving back in Malta? 

[Adawn47]

17 minutes ago, molecrochip said:

This aligns with what I've heard.  Once the UK moves out of this lockdown, I expect ships to start increasing the number of crew on board. Remember that for the last six months+ P&O have had a mandatory two week quarantine for crew joining the ships. It takes place on board ship.

 

Norway is a funny one as the Government of Norway reconfirmed the cruise ship ban following the positive cases on the MS Roald Amundsen. I think that is due to go until 1 June 2021.

 

Yet, half the attraction is scenic cruising through the Fjords. This is a prime example where Iona may work if a 7 day scenic cruise was all on offer. Being a new ship, may want to sail on her to experience the ship as much as the destinations. Won't suit everyone but will suit a few. If they can fill her 35%-50% fill, its worth sailing. Ship could still make technical stops as Iona is doing now; in fact Iona is currently building good relations having a blemish free record alongside in Haugesund.

Thank you. So reading between the lines Arcadia is doubtful to probably not, but Iona is a possibility. Never mind, we can look forward to October, hopefully.

Avril

[tring]

1 hour ago, joeecco said:

This would be interesting in regards to scenic cruising but what would be offered to those passengers already booked? We would be happy to do it but not at the price we’ve paid, because as much as we would be happy with booking a scenic cruise, we had booked our May cruise for the ports and the excursions we’ve booked. 

 

I am thinking similar and asked about that when he mentioned the possibility of Iona cruises going ahead with limited ports and bubbled tours, but no response made.  Tbh on reflection I doubt molecrochip would be able to mention that apart perhaps an acknowledgement that a sweetener may perhaps be considered.  In practise I am also thinking P&O will have to offer something or have a lot of people wanting to cancel.  Then again, depends if they need to reduce passenger numbers from those booked at present. 

 

Must admit though that Iona with less than half the passengers than expected, could have an appeal to us, so some extra obs could be enough to keep us happy.  Not sure we would want to go if not at least one or two ports though, where we could go off the ship, if only on  bubbled tour.

Edited January 17, 2021 by tring

[molecrochip]

I think the focus is on providing an as near as full cruise experience as possible. Where that is not possible mitigations will be made.

 

As for incentives, I think we need to wait and see what is offered by way of cruises first. My gut feeling is that you are more likely going to be told what to expect at 45 days before sailing and then have until 30 days before sailing to either move your cruise, sacrifice your deposit or pay your balance. The indications are that there are plenty of people willing to cruise "come what may" that will back-fill a cancellation or transfer.

 

Cruise ships will have on board test facilities so testing will be an option to allow back-to-back cruises. I suppose in theory you could test on the evening of day 7, have a result by 9am the next morning. If negative, you can stay on board, if positive you disembark in Malta. That said, I'm not sure that will be the process. Keep an eye out for the Costa restart as these tend to board in the majority of ports.

[Denarius]

Re scenic cruising in the fjords, no ports of call.

As I cruise mainly because of the ports of call this would not be for me.

Many years ago however, I took a cruise which involved some scenic cruising in the fjords. It became obvious to me that for many passengers the scenery was the reason they had picked this particular cruise. Ports of call were to them incidental and some just stayed onboard. So I believe that a scenic cruise in the fjords would command a certain market, especially if the lack of ports meant that more fjords could be cruised in the alloted time.

Horses for courses.

[Jennizor]

Hi Sidekick180, have you paid the balance for your April cruise or did P&O give you another 60 days? The balance for our May cruise is due this week, but unlike some others I have had heard nothing from them about this. I am reluctant to pay the balance as we don’t think we will be going anyway. I just don’t want to lose my deposit, let alone be chasing the full amount again. 

[ann141]

4 minutes ago, Jennizor said:

Hi Sidekick180, have you paid the balance for your April cruise or did P&O give you another 60 days? The balance for our May cruise is due this week, but unlike some others I have had heard nothing from them about this. I am reluctant to pay the balance as we don’t think we will be going anyway. I just don’t want to lose my deposit, let alone be chasing the full amount again. 

If you booked direct with P and O you only need to pay your balance 30 days before the cruise.Individual TA's have different balance due dates but if you booked though a TA I would phone them and mention that you have heard about the due balance date with P and O

[Jennizor]

Thanks Ann, I will do that now. I have heard stories of TAs asking for the balance and holding on to the money. We have used this TA for many years I would be very disappointed if they were doing that.

[Jennizor]

Ann, just phoned TA, they have deferred the payment of the balance to April. They apologised for not advising me - makes me wonder what they would have done if I had just paid the balance!

[sidekick180]

2 hours ago, Jennizor said:

Hi Sidekick180, have you paid the balance for your April cruise or did P&O give you another 60 days? The balance for our May cruise is due this week, but unlike some others I have had heard nothing from them about this. I am reluctant to pay the balance as we don’t think we will be going anyway. I just don’t want to lose my deposit, let alone be chasing the full amount again. 

Hi Jennizor. I paid the full amount for my cruise last year, but I booked directly with P&O anyway. I'm pretty sure the cruise will be cancelled, so hopefully, we will receive the Future Cruise Credit. In anticipation of them cancelling our April cruise, I have already started looking at cruises for much later this year. Hopefully, by then, the pandemic will be almost a thing of the past. Ideally, I would like to put the deposit down for the new cruise we are looking at, but I can't find anywhere on P&O site that states whether the FCC can be used to pay the balance of a booked cruise. What I really don't want to happen, is for me to put the deposit down for another cruise and then find out that we are not allowed to use the FCC for balance payments. Then I would either lose my deposit or have to pay the full amount for a cruise I am only looking at as a replacement.

[ann141]

1 hour ago, Jennizor said:

Ann, just phoned TA, they have deferred the payment of the balance to April. They apologised for not advising me - makes me wonder what they would have done if I had just paid the balance!

Thats great news

[arlowood]

1 hour ago, Jennizor said:

Ann, just phoned TA, they have deferred the payment of the balance to April. They apologised for not advising me - makes me wonder what they would have done if I had just paid the balance!

Yes I was in a similar situation with our 1st May cruise. Our TA had a date of 9th January for the balance payment. I contacted them with my concerns about P&O possibly cancelling the cruise and they agreed to relax the balance date until 27th January and maybe a bit longer if appropriate.

 

I then became  aware of the new P&O policy and emailed the TA asking them if they knew about it. They confirmed that they did and have now indicated the balance date is now 22nd March (40 days before departure).

We have had a long and excellent relationship with them so I will give them the benefit of the doubt in the current climate of WFH and staff shortages.

[joeecco]

20 minutes ago, sidekick180 said:

Hi Jennizor. I paid the full amount for my cruise last year, but I booked directly with P&O anyway. I'm pretty sure the cruise will be cancelled, so hopefully, we will receive the Future Cruise Credit. In anticipation of them cancelling our April cruise, I have already started looking at cruises for much later this year. Hopefully, by then, the pandemic will be almost a thing of the past. Ideally, I would like to put the deposit down for the new cruise we are looking at, but I can't find anywhere on P&O site that states whether the FCC can be used to pay the balance of a booked cruise. What I really don't want to happen, is for me to put the deposit down for another cruise and then find out that we are not allowed to use the FCC for balance payments. Then I would either lose my deposit or have to pay the full amount for a cruise I am only looking at as a replacement.

You can’t use FCC on a cruise you’ve already booked, unless it’s for a stateroom upgrade. Or to upgrade from Saver fare to select fare. We’ve already tried this with our wedding cruise. 

[yorkshirephil]

18 minutes ago, sidekick180 said:

Hi Jennizor. I paid the full amount for my cruise last year, but I booked directly with P&O anyway. I'm pretty sure the cruise will be cancelled, so hopefully, we will receive the Future Cruise Credit. In anticipation of them cancelling our April cruise, I have already started looking at cruises for much later this year. Hopefully, by then, the pandemic will be almost a thing of the past. Ideally, I would like to put the deposit down for the new cruise we are looking at, but I can't find anywhere on P&O site that states whether the FCC can be used to pay the balance of a booked cruise. What I really don't want to happen, is for me to put the deposit down for another cruise and then find out that we are not allowed to use the FCC for balance payments. Then I would either lose my deposit or have to pay the full amount for a cruise I am only looking at as a replacement.

I have spoken to P&O twice to see if we could use our FCC to pay for a cruise already booked, both times I was told no. They will let me use the FCC to upgrade the cruise already booked. I will try again nearer the time of the cruise.

[sidekick180]

4 minutes ago, joeecco said:

You can’t use FCC on a cruise you’ve already booked, unless it’s for a stateroom upgrade. Or to upgrade from Saver fare to select fare. We’ve already tried this with our wedding cruise. 

OK, thanks for that. I was pretty sure they would not allow that. I will have to wait until they cancel my April cruise. Mind you, I do wonder how quickly I will be able to book another cruise, because I don't know how long it takes for them to confirm the FCC.

[joeecco]

17 minutes ago, sidekick180 said:

OK, thanks for that. I was pretty sure they would not allow that. I will have to wait until they cancel my April cruise. Mind you, I do wonder how quickly I will be able to book another cruise, because I don't know how long it takes for them to confirm the FCC.

Once you’ve had your cruise cancelled and opt for FCC you can then rebook and pay a deposit and get them to add on the FCC at a later stage but you have to speak with them before you do so, I did that and it was fine! I’m not sure which sailing you’re on but if it’s Iona to the fjords, I personally don’t think they will cancel that now, but instead make it scenic only. Will be interested if so as to how they handle the passengers that aren’t happy with that. 

[yorkshirephil]

1 minute ago, joeecco said:

Once you’ve had your cruise cancelled and opt for FCC you can then rebook and pay a deposit and get them to add on the FCC at a later stage but you have to speak with them before you do so, I did that and it was fine! I’m not sure which sailing you’re on but if it’s Iona to the fjords, I personally don’t think they will cancel that now, but instead make it scenic only. Will be interested if so as to how they handle the passengers that aren’t happy with that. 

You would hope that P&O would use a bit of common sense and in effect cancel the original cruise to be replaced with a scenic cruise. I am sure there will be enough people ready to jump on a scenic cruise to take up the slack. I hate to think how much money P&O are holding that belongs to its customers, alienating them or pushing them to take to take a refund won't help their situation.