UK staycation cruise details launched

[Beckett]

Good Morning Everyone. I hope you are all well and safe.

 

I've just seen Paul Ludlow on BBC talking about the new sailings which will go on sale next Monday. Ships will be Iona and Britannia for vaccinated only patients. No children. He was a bit reticent when first asked about children and the interviewer had to ask him directly "Let's be clear, will children be allowed on these cruises" to which he replied "At present we will only be allowing vaccinated passengers". He almost let that ever-so-white smile slip when asked to clarify. It will be interesting to see what Cunard and Princess do but I imagine they will follow the same guidelines. First sailing is late June.

Best wishes all. Jane.x

[Stu UK]

Details of the cruises on Britannia & Iona. 
 

https://www.pocruises.com/ultimate-escape?utm_medium=email&utm_source=PEPO2131E&utm_term=PO-4519185&utm_content=cta_ukgetaways_landingpage&utm_campaign=campaign

 

 

Edited March 17, 2021 by Stu UK

[joeecco]

P&O have surprised me here, I know they need to tread carefully but the need to be fully vaccinated with no port stops but still social distancing and mask wearing after the roadmap ‘easing’ date is all conflicting to me.

 

Im well and truly annoyed 😂 

 

[P&O SUE]

13 hours ago, Britboys said:

I suppose the other thing to bear in mind with the Iona price quoted is that it is the Maiden and they usually command a higher price, even though they seem to be less special these days.

Just had the email this morning, that is the maiden, the other 7 nighters are from £779. (On Iona)

Three nights on Britannia would have suited me but think the price is too steep.

[Snow Hill]

So all the cruises will be adults only, as the vaccines are not approved for those under 18, I suspect the Government has placed these restrictions on P&O as a condition for restarting cruises.

 

It is estimated that under 40s won’t start receiving their first doses until early May and under 30s not until mid to early July, which effectively rules both these groups out of booking any of the cruises.

 

The itinerary is not that exciting either, you will need a good pair of binoculars to see the coastline.

 

I will keep my money and wait until 2022/23. 

[SarahHben]

4 minutes ago, P&O SUE said:

Just had the email this morning, that is the maiden, the other 7 nighters are from £779. (On Iona)

Three nights on Britannia would have suited me but think the price is too steep.

I agree, if the 3 nights on Britannia were cheaper we would maybe book one, but £450+ seems too expensive for us.

[Guest]

I believe the prices are based on a balcony cabin, which makes things slightly better. However being 26, there is no chance I’ll be able to get one on of these! Maybe Iona at the end of September but I don’t want a week with no ports for that price! 

[Selbourne]

8 hours ago, Bertie Doe said:

 

 They need to soak up alll those FCCs which have been enhanced by 25% 🙄

Yes, I think that the prices are probably inflated for that reason. I’ve never understood why so many people seem in a panic to use FCC. We have some and don’t intend to use it until the end of this year when the September release happens, so that we can use it against lower launch prices. If none of those appeal, P&O will need to refund it to us.
 

So the £150pppn for a balcony on Britannia was correct but it drops to £100pppn for 7 night cruises. Whilst better than £150, that’s still more than we have paid for a balcony cabin on a proper 7 night cruise with interesting port stops and no on-board restrictions., so still represents poor value IMHO. 
 

Presumably guests will need to have had both vaccinations and we know that you aren’t properly protected until 3 weeks after the jab, so that could make many people ineligible, certainly for the earlier cruises. No kids would be an interesting position. It would make the cruises a lot more attractive for one group and rule them out for families. 

[P&O SUE]

6 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

Yes, I think that the prices are probably inflated for that reason. I’ve never understood why so many people seem in a panic to use FCC. We have some and don’t intend to use it until the end of this year when the September release happens, so that we can use it against lower launch prices. If none of those appeal, P&O will need to refund it to us.
 

So the £150pppn for a balcony on Britannia was correct but it drops to £100pppn for 7 night cruises. Whilst better than £150, that’s still more than we have paid for a balcony cabin on a proper 7 night cruise with interesting port stops and no on-board restrictions., so still represents poor value IMHO. 
 

Presumably guests will need to have had both vaccinations and we know that you aren’t properly protected until 3 weeks after the jab, so that could make many people ineligible, certainly for the earlier cruises. No kids would be an interesting position. It would make the cruises a lot more attractive for one group and rule them out for families. 

Selbourne it says in the email I got this morning you have to have had both jabs and had the last one at least one week before the cruise.

Edited March 17, 2021 by P&O SUE

[Selbourne]

4 minutes ago, P&O SUE said:

Selbourne it says in the email I got this morning you have to have had both jabs and had the last one at least one week before the cruise.

Thanks Sue. If I understand correctly, the government has committed to all adults having their first jab by end July, although they seem to be running well ahead of plan. This will be a difficult calculation for most under 50’s as they will have to attempt to calculate when they will get their first jab and then add 13 weeks (12 weeks until 2nd dose, plus the extra week required by P&O) and decide whether they are prepared to risk booking. Not easy. 

[wowzz]

The P&O web page says the following.

"There is no age restriction on this series of UK coastal cruises but all guests of all ages must meet the requirements of the Covid-19 vaccination policy."

If Ludlow hadn't made his comment, I would have read this to mean that guests must meet the "requirements" of the UK vaccination policy, which at present does not include children.

I wonder if the situation will be clarified later. Not allowing children on board will make a significant impact on the popularity of these cruises.

[janny444]

I notice that price is from £449 so price could be a lot more during school holidays £449 is definitely not a tempting price for me especially as on the first cruise(s) you will be a " Guinea pig" . We pay £100 pppn on select price for balcony cabins....we are paying £81pppn ....balcony cabin...for our Iona cruise in October... select fare with coach transfer ... so £150pppn is no giveaway price ....£50pppn would have been slightly more tempting....maybe.... but I am sure there are some who are " desperate" to cruise again so  that they will pay the inflated price

Edited March 17, 2021 by janny444

[zap99]

46 minutes ago, P&O SUE said:

Just had the email this morning, that is the maiden, the other 7 nighters are from £779. (On Iona)

Three nights on Britannia would have suited me but think the price is too steep.

Yes the 779 is a bit more reasonable,1199 is for the maiden, all in balconies. I doubt they will have much trouble filling them .

[Selbourne]

I’ve now had an email from P&O which refers to the fact that we were booked on the Iona maiden cruise. Molecrochip had suggested that we might get priority for the revised maiden cruise, but that isn’t the case. We will get an extra £100 per cabin OBC if we book the Arvia maiden. Big deal!

 

BBC breakfast discussing this now and saying P&O cruises will definitely be no children, no people who haven’t been vaccinated and no people who haven’t had the second jab. They showed the clip of Paul Ludlow saying that they expect the government to have some form of vaccine passport by then but, if not, ask your GP for a letter. They are mocking this saying that GP’s are rather busy at present. Simon Calder then said that many people are describing these ‘no stop cruises’ as swapping one form of lockdown for another. Whilst these cruises don’t appeal to us, that seems a little harsh!

Edited March 17, 2021 by Selbourne

[gadabout60]

I have never been on Britannia - nor obviously Iona - though I do realise that as the newer ships the facilities are probably better than the P&O ships I have been on. However in recent years I don’t think of P&O as luxury and if there are no ports or scenic cruise bys  then the ship itself is the destination. £900 for 2 for 3 nights is far too pricy IMHO. I now live further from Southampton and would just not consider this for a short cruise to nowhere

For me the money would be better spent in a boutique hotel with better food and attractions locally to visit 

[zap99]

7 minutes ago, janny444 said:

I notice that price is from £449 so price could be a lot more during school holidays £449 is definitely not a tempting price for me especially as on the first cruise(s) you will be a " Guinea pig" . We pay £100 pppn on select price for balcony cabins so £150pppn is no giveaway price ....£50pppn would have been slightly more tempting....maybe.... but I am sure there are some who are " desperate" to cruise again so  that they will pay the inflated price

If you want a three day cruise for £150pp I think you may be disappointed.

[Harry Peterson]

1 hour ago, joeecco said:

P&O have surprised me here, I know they need to tread carefully but the need to be fully vaccinated with no port stops but still social distancing and mask wearing after the roadmap ‘easing’ date is all conflicting to me.

 

Im well and truly annoyed 😂 

 

Doesn’t appeal to me at all, or to quite a few here.  But it’s understandable - these are confined, indoor spaces, vaccination is nowhere near 100% effective (in some it may have very little effect at all), it’s not yet certain that vaccination prevents transmission, and the very last thing Carnival need is any kind of outbreak, however small, onboard. The inevitable publicity from that would kill any revival stone dead.

[Harry Peterson]

2 minutes ago, gadabout60 said:

I have never been on Britannia - nor obviously Iona - though I do realise that as the newer ships the facilities are probably better than the P&O ships I have been on. However in recent years I don’t think of P&O as luxury and if there are no ports or scenic cruise bys  then the ship itself is the destination. £900 for 2 for 3 nights is far too pricy IMHO. I now live further from Southampton and would just not consider this for a short cruise to nowhere

For me the money would be better spent in a boutique hotel with better food and attractions locally to visit 

Me too. P&O can’t compete with a decent hotel, except that it provides different locations. If it doesn’t do that, what’s the point?

[joeecco]

8 minutes ago, Harry Peterson said:

Doesn’t appeal to me at all, or to quite a few here.  But it’s understandable - these are confined, indoor spaces, vaccination is nowhere near 100% effective (in some it may have very little effect at all), it’s not yet certain that vaccination prevents transmission, and the very last thing Carnival need is any kind of outbreak, however small, onboard. The inevitable publicity from that would kill any revival stone dead.

I agree PR is key, which is why I’m so annoyed because it’s a contradiction. as is stands right now (I know that they probably won’t happen like this but we are talking purely about PR)

 

P&O are saying that for a 6 night cruise with only 1 uk port (Liverpool) on September 19th that you MUST be vaccinated despite not leaving the UK, but when those guests disembark the new guests joining the same day on 25th September DO NOT need to be vaccinated for a 13 night cruise visiting multiple ports in the Med. 

 

As I said, I’m not saying that Med cruise will go ahead but I’m purely commenting on the poor handling of the PR. 
 

let alone saying all ages are welcome but must be vaccinated, no be honest and say adults only. Why pretend you are willing to welcome kids if they are vaccinated when they can not be vaccinated. 
 

Im usually sympathetic and defend P&O but they’ve got this massively wrong. The reason they keep saying is that they ‘asked there guests’ - well which guests because I haven’t heard anyone on here say theyve done a survey in time for them to decide this. 

Edited March 17, 2021 by joeecco

[Selbourne]

12 minutes ago, janny444 said:

.£50pppn would have been slightly more tempting....maybe.... but I am sure there are some who are " desperate" to cruise again so  that they will pay the inflated price

We have paid £88.50 pppn for a balcony on a 7 night proper cruise with port stops on Aurora, which is a more expensive ship than Britannia, so your £50 pppn isn’t ludicrous and is about the max we would pay but, as we know, it’s going to be a lot more than that so, like many, we will be doing other things this summer (without masks!) but wish those who go on these cruises a pleasant time and we look forward to hearing how they go. 

[wowzz]

The response on the official P&O website is interesting.

Obviously there are the sycophants out in force,  thanking P&O for restoring cruising, but there are an enormous number of negative threads from those with families, expressing their anger at the no children policy, quite rightly, imho. 

Interestingly enough, the P&O moderator has gone very quiet in the face of the prolonged attacks on the policy!

[NaomiW]

11 minutes ago, gadabout60 said:

I have never been on Britannia - nor obviously Iona - though I do realise that as the newer ships the facilities are probably better than the P&O ships I have been on. However in recent years I don’t think of P&O as luxury and if there are no ports or scenic cruise bys  then the ship itself is the destination. £900 for 2 for 3 nights is far too pricy IMHO. I now live further from Southampton and would just not consider this for a short cruise to nowhere

For me the money would be better spent in a boutique hotel with better food and attractions locally to visit 

I have been on Britannia and to be fair it does feel very luxurious compared to the other ships in terms of quality of the decor. We had been on Ventura prior to that and it was considerably smarter and nicer, certainly on par with luxury/boutique hotels for me..

[bobstheboy]

These cruise are not for us. The price isn't low enough to tempt me and the experimental nature of the cruise, sailing along the coast, in weather which is a gamble, is not appealing as much as we want to cruise again.

 

A good work up for the ship and crew and by Feb next year, the Iona will be ready for my wife and I !

[Dermotsgirl]

Another point to think about is the boarding procedure and the onboard experience.

 

The P&O website is still quite vague on this, still lots of ‘maybe this and maybe that’.

 

As the situation is fluid and will remain fluid, so I understand why..... but there’s still the element of buying blind. Nobody can say what it’s actually going to be like in summer.

 

For all the reasons given so far, the older crowd may want to hang back before booking or not book at all , and the younger, family crowd won’t be able to book due to the vaccine requirement.

 

The Venn diagram for people willing and able to sail might be quite small. 

[Guest]

I do wonder how P&O, Princess and Carnival are going to fill these cruises. By removing most of the population under 50, they are also removing any over 50 who had children under 18 or grandparents wanting to travel with grandchildren. Some of the more elderly passengers may be put off if they have been shielding all year, so they may be hesitant. 
 

Also a lot of people on here are not happy with the price, so again I ask: who will be filling these ships?!