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

[arlowood]

3 minutes ago, joeecco said:

We basically already know that May is cancelled as Moley said the issue is whether to cancel June too or hold out. 

Can you qualify that statement? Is it just a pretty realistic hunch that cruising will not be starting in May or have you heard anything concrete from P&O about May cruises. AFAIK the suspension of cruising from P&O is only until 24th April at present.

I have a 1st May cruise on Aurora booked but have heard nothing to date. Hence the reason I'm following this thread with interest. The only thing I know is that our final payment date has been altered to 30 days before departure rather than the standard 90 days

[joeecco]

16 minutes ago, arlowood said:

Can you qualify that statement? Is it just a pretty realistic hunch that cruising will not be starting in May or have you heard anything concrete from P&O about May cruises. AFAIK the suspension of cruising from P&O is only until 24th April at present.

I have a 1st May cruise on Aurora booked but have heard nothing to date. Hence the reason I'm following this thread with interest. The only thing I know is that our final payment date has been altered to 30 days before departure rather than the standard 90 days

As I said in my original post, Moley said the current issue is whether to cancel June cruises or not so May cruises are about to be axed as far as that goes. 

[tring]

1 hour ago, No pager thank you said:

 

TUI chit-chit on Faceache appears to be inaccurate (for now) 🤔

 

 

 

Sounds likely to me, though I feel the poster(s) were probably accurately reporting what they were told.  Having said that I got a bit fed up with Tui this morning and rang to ask about our booking for 7th March as I was able to ring at 9.00am which is the only time you have a reasonable chance of getting through.

 

Surprisingly I was not fobbed off and our booking is now refunded apart from a minor deposit payment, which would not go straight back on the card, so will take a bit longer for that. 

Edited February 8, 2021 by tring

[ann141]

3 minutes ago, tring said:

 

Sounds likely to me, though I feel the poster(s) were probably accurately reporting what they were told.  Having said that I got a bit fed up with Tui this morning and rang to ask about our booking for 7th March as I was able to ring at 9.00am which is the only time you have a reasonable chance of getting through.

 

Surprisingly I was not fobbed off and our booking is now refunded apart from a minor deposit payment, which would not go straight back on the card, so will take a bit longer for that. 

Thats encouraging to hear

[tring]

1 hour ago, arlowood said:

Can you qualify that statement? Is it just a pretty realistic hunch that cruising will not be starting in May or have you heard anything concrete from P&O about May cruises. AFAIK the suspension of cruising from P&O is only until 24th April at present.

I have a 1st May cruise on Aurora booked but have heard nothing to date. Hence the reason I'm following this thread with interest. The only thing I know is that our final payment date has been altered to 30 days before departure rather than the standard 90 days

 

See Moley's post yourself - #814 on this thread.  He also commented that he thought cancellation of June is likely.

Edited February 8, 2021 by tring

[my marina bay]

I honestly cant believe anyone could think cruising will start again this year. Where do you think the crew will come from. Who is going to vaccinate them. The vaccine isn't for sale to Joe Bloggs full stop. PO cant buy it in bulk, store it in a refrigerator and offer to crew as and when. Every country in the world needs to be vaccinated before there is the slightest chance of normality. Any spare vaccines this country has will be given to countries less fortunate.

 

We have loved cruising over the past 21 years but the likelihood of the cruising industry returning to normality in the next 12 months is unlikely.

[joeecco]

33 minutes ago, my marina bay said:

I honestly cant believe anyone could think cruising will start again this year. Where do you think the crew will come from. Who is going to vaccinate them. The vaccine isn't for sale to Joe Bloggs full stop. PO cant buy it in bulk, store it in a refrigerator and offer to crew as and when. Every country in the world needs to be vaccinated before there is the slightest chance of normality. Any spare vaccines this country has will be given to countries less fortunate.

 

We have loved cruising over the past 21 years but the likelihood of the cruising industry returning to normality in the next 12 months is unlikely.

There’s cruise ships sailing now. 👍

[Britboys]

5 hours ago, joeecco said:

Yes Moley said announcement imminent before end of the month as they are launching Gala 2 then. 

Blimey, that's quick - didn't even think her keel had been laid down yet...😉😄

[joeecco]

1 minute ago, Britboys said:

Blimey, that's quick - didn't even think her keel had been laid down yet...😉😄

It will be ready to go on sale with the next launch I presume? Guess the impact of Iona has been softened by the pause so they probably want to get more of an excitement for the second.. I’m not sure! 

[molecrochip]

1 minute ago, joeecco said:

It will be ready to go on sale with the next launch I presume? Guess the impact of Iona has been softened by the pause so they probably want to get more of an excitement for the second.. I’m not sure! 

And you always get the bad press out the way before the good talking stories.

[Britboys]

1 minute ago, joeecco said:

It will be ready to go on sale with the next launch I presume? Guess the impact of Iona has been softened by the pause so they probably want to get more of an excitement for the second.. I’m not sure! 

The current marketing strategy seems heavily weighted toward Iona. The front page of the website is almost exclusively devoted to her and most of the emailshots I am getting are very skewed to Iona too.

[joeecco]

4 minutes ago, Britboys said:

The current marketing strategy seems heavily weighted toward Iona. The front page of the website is almost exclusively devoted to her and most of the emailshots I am getting are very skewed to Iona too.

Yes same here. It’s tough for the marketing team who have been building up to Iona giving a whole new dynamic to the brand with new dining and entertainment and Ionafest etc but of course it all feels like old news now even though it hasn’t sailed.. how odd! 

[terrierjohn]

1 hour ago, my marina bay said:

I honestly cant believe anyone could think cruising will start again this year. Where do you think the crew will come from. Who is going to vaccinate them. The vaccine isn't for sale to Joe Bloggs full stop. PO cant buy it in bulk, store it in a refrigerator and offer to crew as and when. Every country in the world needs to be vaccinated before there is the slightest chance of normality. Any spare vaccines this country has will be given to countries less fortunate.

 

We have loved cruising over the past 21 years but the likelihood of the cruising industry returning to normality in the next 12 months is unlikely.

If you are correct then most of the current cruise lines will have gone into administration by then, or in some cases liquidation.

They all need to see a return to cruising by autumn at the latest, IMHO.

[Britboys]

4 minutes ago, joeecco said:

Yes same here. It’s tough for the marketing team who have been building up to Iona giving a whole new dynamic to the brand with new dining and entertainment and Ionafest etc but of course it all feels like old news now even though it hasn’t sailed.. how odd! 

As much as I wish P&O were not going in the direction of the mega-ships, I totally agree with you. Many of the team at P&O must have worked very hard and have been getting very excited at the prospect of Iona's (physical) launch. I do feel for them having everything put on hold for such an indefinite period.

[joeecco]

1 minute ago, Britboys said:

As much as I wish P&O were not going in the direction of the mega-ships, I totally agree with you. Many of the team at P&O must have worked very hard and have been getting very excited at the prospect of Iona's (physical) launch. I do feel for them having everything put on hold for such an indefinite period.

Ionas whole design is based on being a social ship, freedom dining, DJ sets, whirlpools everywhere, lots of different smaller restaurants, random performances etc - so with new onboard restrictions it’s not going to have the same WOW as they’d planned which is such a shame. 
 

I look forward to experiencing her properly, restriction free! 

[Britboys]

1 minute ago, joeecco said:

Ionas whole design is based on being a social ship, freedom dining, DJ sets, whirlpools everywhere, lots of different smaller restaurants, random performances etc - so with new onboard restrictions it’s not going to have the same WOW as they’d planned which is such a shame. 
 

I look forward to experiencing her properly, restriction free! 

Hope you enjoy her when the time comes.

[tring]

52 minutes ago, joeecco said:

Ionas whole design is based on being a social ship, freedom dining, DJ sets, whirlpools everywhere, lots of different smaller restaurants, random performances etc - so with new onboard restrictions it’s not going to have the same WOW as they’d planned which is such a shame. 
 

I look forward to experiencing her properly, restriction free! 

That does not sound enticing to us.  However, with less passengers on board and everything more spaced out, she does have an appeal.  We are not unsociable and often talk to others around a ship or hotel, but prefer not to be cramped and overwhelmed within our surroundings, so tend to go off to an observation lounge, rather than the show lounge after dinner for instance and will go to a quieter area, usually a higher deck for a sun bed.

 

Hence we would like to sail on her this year, but not so sure about beyond that.  I do not believe you are isolated with social distancing as I am sure there will be opportunity to exchange short conversations with others at a distance, like there is when we go out for walks locally.

Edited February 8, 2021 by tring

[grapau27]

1 hour ago, terrierjohn said:

If you are correct then most of the current cruise lines will have gone into administration by then, or in some cases liquidation.

They all need to see a return to cruising by autumn at the latest, IMHO.

Most of the cruise  ships have a number of crew members on them now.

[Chrisdriving]

6 hours ago, my marina bay said:

I honestly cant believe anyone could think cruising will start again this year. Where do you think the crew will come from. Who is going to vaccinate them. The vaccine isn't for sale to Joe Bloggs full stop. PO cant buy it in bulk, store it in a refrigerator and offer to crew as and when. Every country in the world needs to be vaccinated before there is the slightest chance of normality. Any spare vaccines this country has will be given to countries less fortunate.

 

We have loved cruising over the past 21 years but the likelihood of the cruising industry returning to normality in the next 12 months is unlikely.

You raise some fair points there and i can kind of agree, but i really hope P and O and of course other cruise lines can get some ships up and running from say Summer onwards.

Nobody wants to see any more cruise lines go to the wall, i hope they can all hang in there.

[tring]

Well 10.38am on a Tuesday morning, does that mean the cancellation statement is now likely to be next Tuesday?  Molecrochip did say over the weekend that there were still some uncertainties and the view forward seems to become muddier by the day.

[No pager thank you]

P&O Cruises Twitter have tweeted this morning...to celebrate National Pizza Day of all things🍕

 

Looks like the rumour around an imminent announcement of further cancellations is not coming as imminently as indicated on Faceache.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[tring]

8 minutes ago, No pager thank you said:

P&O Cruises Twitter have tweeted this morning...to celebrate National Pizza Day of all things🍕

 

 

 

Thanks for that information.  Seems to have put that idea down then.  Molecrochip did say he expected an announcement about Gala 2 at the end of this month and they tend to get bad news out before good things.  Only two Tuesdays left now, so I will be putting my bets on next Tuesday.

 

Unless they delay the Gala Two announcement........

 

Edited February 9, 2021 by tring

[MX-Drew]

 

Just now, tring said:

 

Thanks for that information.  Seems to have put that idea down then.  Molecrochip did say he expected an announcement about Gala 2 at the end of this month and they tend to get bad news out before good things and only two Tuesdays left now, so I will be putting my bets on next Tuesday.

 

Unless they delay the Gala Two announcement........

 

My money is on, an announcement after February 22nd (Road map day) which means a delay to Gala2 announcement.

That said it is just guess work. 

[tring]

3 minutes ago, MX-Drew said:

 

My money is on, an announcement after February 22nd (Road map day) which means a delay to Gala2 announcement.

That said it is just guess work. 

 

That is a good point and may mean more wide range cancellations, unless they want to keep hold of cash paid to the last minute - the way things are looking they may need to do so.

Edited February 9, 2021 by tring

[Son of Anarchy]

I wonder whether PandO will extend the date by which FCC's have to be used?  Another tranche of cancellations, it looks Aurora and Arcadia's N American cruises are off, and as each day goes by another day less in which to use up any FCC.   

 

Or will they just "expect" people to use up their FCC when winter 22/23 is released?