Who has decided to take a summer staycation cruise?

[Dorset cruise fan]

3 hours ago, dundeelass said:

True, but it seems still a pain. Flights hotels etc booked.no one taking the blame,ta or p&o,blaming each other.but they have the full payment from me

This must be really frustrating for you when you have booked flights so are committed to the dates. But trying to be positive, if you can't change the flights then there are worse places to try and fill time. You could enjoy a few days in the New Forest or the Purbecks or head the other way to the South Downs/Arundel direction. Hope you find something to do.

[tring]

3 hours ago, dundeelass said:

True, but it seems still a pain. Flights hotels etc booked.no one taking the blame,ta or p&o,blaming each other.but they have the full payment from me

 

Having just noticed your username, I would like to point out that it is possible, but not necessarily the case, that your booking was made under Scottish law (please see my reply to terrierjohn a couple of posts ago).

 

Credit card claims will be the same in Scotland as in the rest of Britain (different in N. Ireland though). 

 

Otherwise, or in any case to clarify your situation, it is a good idea to contact the Citizens Advice section that deals with the initial consumer advice on behalf of Trading Standards, either in Scotland or elsewhere in Britain, depending on where you live.

 

Good luck, hope all goes well for you,

 

Barbara

[BrianI]

10 minutes ago, tring said:

 

Please see my previous comment to terrierjohn.

I use a large cruise specialist travel agent. My payment, by debit or credit card, shows the payment direct to the cruise company, not to the agent. In this case the agent does not hold any money. Should a refund be necessary for any reason, then this would have to be initiated by the cruise company. I have never been in this situation so I don’t know exactly how it would work.

Brian

[Roger88]

Just now, BrianI said:

I use a large cruise specialist travel agent. My payment, by debit or credit card, shows the payment direct to the cruise company, not to the agent. In this case the agent does not hold any money. Should a refund be necessary for any reason, then this would have to be initiated by the cruise company. I have never been in this situation so I don’t know exactly how it would work.

Brian

Agent is a person connecting you and the office. I mean, the agent is basically a consultant that will help you get your answers quicker. I have no idea either how it works.. 

[majortom10]

2 hours ago, MX-Drew said:

So if a car dealer sells you car and says it will have 4 doors but when it turns up from the manufacturer the car only has 2 doors by your logic it is the manufacturers fault?

 

Good luck with that one.

I would if the manufacturer sent me a invoice saying it was a 4 door like P&O sent out invoice CONFIRMING booking B2B knowing that they werent selling B2B.

[yorkshirephil]

4 minutes ago, BrianI said:

I use a large cruise specialist travel agent. My payment, by debit or credit card, shows the payment direct to the cruise company, not to the agent. In this case the agent does not hold any money. Should a refund be necessary for any reason, then this would have to be initiated by the cruise company. I have never been in this situation so I don’t know exactly how it would work.

Brian

I think covid has highlighted a lot of things that we didn't understand too well. In most cases everything works out OK so job done no worries. Now we tend to check out the T&C's more. 

[tring]

23 minutes ago, BrianI said:

I use a large cruise specialist travel agent. My payment, by debit or credit card, shows the payment direct to the cruise company, not to the agent. In this case the agent does not hold any money. Should a refund be necessary for any reason, then this would have to be initiated by the cruise company. I have never been in this situation so I don’t know exactly how it would work.

Brian

 

Both has happened with us, depends on the cruise company.  Obviously of P&O have the money they are holding it themselves, but if, as does sometimes happen the money is held by an agent who is acting as agent for P&O at the time, then in that situation they are acting as P&O.

 

The easiest way to understand it is as I said, thinking of a solicitor who is acting both for a person buying a house, but also as a solicitor for the building society who are making a loan for the purchase.  At different stages the solicitor is "wearing different hats".  The same applies for an agent acting as agent for P&O or other holiday company - they are basically wearing different hats as the booking is made and progressed.

 

I do not know about refunds and we have not had one from P&O.  I do know though that Fred processed all his refunds himself, though our agent did ring to tell us that Fred would get in touch direct, which in fact had already happened.  I think that is just confusing the situation though. 

 

What I was mentioning previously is who is responsible to the consumer legally and the mistake was made before the booking progressed to anyone holding money.  I made the other comments to john to try and explain that it is a complicated situation with it varying as to which "hat" the agent is wearing at the time.  

Edited April 21, 2021 by tring

[Snow Hill]

On 4/20/2021 at 5:30 PM, majortom10 said:

Not having a smartphone with internet access all this talk of apps for vaccination verification worries me. Hope the government and cruise lines realise that there are people out there without such access.

As reported the other day by the Government 

 

“The government says the NHS is working on providing individuals with a means to demonstrate their coronavirus status through digital and non-digital routes.”

 

So if they don’t do another u-turn both digital & paper versions of proof of vaccination will be available 

[welshy74]

8 hours ago, dundeelass said:

True, but it seems still a pain. Flights hotels etc booked.no one taking the blame,ta or p&o,blaming each other.but they have the full payment from me

To be fair I only knew this because my TA told me.. he was clearly reading a screen too as he was also explaining the vaccination requirements and insurance etc . I think the TA is at fault, or trying their luck at double commission.  

[TheGinBoy]

Me and my partner are going to be on the 1st July Britannia sailing :) so excited!

[dundeelass]

ended up canceling both dates, ta said as a gesture of good will they will refund me in full . wow thanks so much . now i have to wait a month to get my money back. Anyway thinking of doing the newer Iona now for seven nights in august.

[majortom10]

6 minutes ago, dundeelass said:

ended up canceling both dates, ta said as a gesture of good will they will refund me in full . wow thanks so much . now i have to wait a month to get my money back. Anyway thinking of doing the newer Iona now for seven nights in august.

Good luck with booking Iona in August and hope you get what you are looking for just think you might look round for a new TA.

[dundeelass]

my son just said that ships sailing from uk might only be allowed to sail with 1000 passengers onboard, anyone else read that ?

[stephenSJ]

27 minutes ago, dundeelass said:

my son just said that ships sailing from uk might only be allowed to sail with 1000 passengers onboard, anyone else read that ?

27 minutes ago, dundeelass said:

my son just said that ships sailing from uk might only be allowed to sail with 1000 passengers onboard, anyone else read that ?

Capacity limit applies until June 21st when limit is expected to be lifted completely .

[napoxoguk]

On 4/21/2021 at 2:23 AM, the english lady said:

 (mind you we have no way of knowing how effective the chinese or russian vaccines are)

Unless we care to read some literature or even news outlets, that is... Such as the most recent piece of news from Chile on Sinovac/Coronavac protective efficacy (based on 2.5m vaccinations, one of the largest samples worldwide to date), or Gamkovidvac's publication in the Lancet.

[Bertie Doe]

On 4/21/2021 at 8:26 PM, Snow Hill said:

So if they don’t do another u-turn both digital & paper versions of proof of vaccination will be available 

The latest info on vaccines and paperwork arrived today :-

 

https://www.skyscanner.net/news/covid-vaccine-certificate

[davecttr]

2 hours ago, Bertie Doe said:

The latest info on vaccines and paperwork arrived today :-

 

https://www.skyscanner.net/news/covid-vaccine-certificate

Still no information on how it will work or when it will be available. The government better get on with it quick as May the 17th is only weeks away

[MX-Drew]

23 minutes ago, davecttr said:

Still no information on how it will work or when it will be available. The government better get on with it quick as May the 17th is only weeks away

We have no idea what is going on in the background and I somehow think there are more important things on their minds, like how to get a booking at the local pub. 🤣 

[tring]

56 minutes ago, davecttr said:

Still no information on how it will work or when it will be available. The government better get on with it quick as May the 17th is only weeks away

 

Boris has said many times at the briefings that they will not be needed on May 17th.  It is something they are looking at for when big events etc. come into play later in the year.

[zap99]

15 minutes ago, tring said:

 

Boris has said many times at the briefings that they will not be needed on May 17th.  It is something they are looking at for when big events etc. come into play later in the year.

There are 2 documents being worked on. Vaccine certificates for domestic events and vaccine passports for international travel. The latter may well be required for 17May, including UK cruises.

[tring]

7 minutes ago, zap99 said:

There are 2 documents being worked on. Vaccine certificates for domestic events and vaccine passports for international travel. The latter may well be required for 17May, including UK cruises.

 

OK, maybe I have missed something then, I was thinking of the ones to be used in the UK.  I thought cruises were not going anywhere internationally over the summer though and I thought Boris had been saying those international ones will take some time as it would need to be agreed with a lot of other countries.

 

Edited April 24, 2021 by tring

[zap99]

1 minute ago, tring said:

 

OK, maybe I have missed something then, though I thought cruises were not going anywhere internationally over the summer.

No, but the cruise companies are still looking at how folk will prove they are vaccinated. As some expert on the telly said this morning, paper certificates can be 'manipulated'. So digital may still be needed for UK cruises. Almost certainly will be for many other countries. Some cruise companies are selling Mediterranean fly cruises, starting mid summer.

[jeanlyon]

An awful lot of passengers on P&O are of an age where they don't even have a Smartphone, so some kind of card/paperwork will be needed for them.

[davecttr]

2 hours ago, zap99 said:

There are 2 documents being worked on. Vaccine certificates for domestic events and vaccine passports for international travel. The latter may well be required for 17May, including UK cruises.

I have read it is the other way round, passports for internal UK use and a certificate, possibly single use, for international travel - see post #719. They had still better get on with it before the lemming migration to the Costas begins

[Ardennais]

1 hour ago, jeanlyon said:

An awful lot of passengers on P&O are of an age where they don't even have a Smartphone, so some kind of card/paperwork will be needed for them.

I agree with you. 10-20 years down the line it will surely be the norm, but there are so many people of all ages without smartphones at the moment.