October onwards cruisers…

[Fossie13]

It does say in the email I received this morning and I quote

"The PCR and COVID-19 test at the terminal will be provided on a complimentary basis."

also saying this would apply to all passengers.

Am I misunderstanding the wording of it?

[Gettingwarmer]

12 minutes ago, Fossie13 said:

It does say in the email I received this morning and I quote

"The PCR and COVID-19 test at the terminal will be provided on a complimentary basis."

also saying this would apply to all passengers.

Am I misunderstanding the wording of it?

Read the information I provided.

https://www.pocruises.com/cruise-with-confidence/our-assurance-to-you#vaccine-policy

 

[P&O SUE]

So my Ventura cruise has finally been cancelled, the last one though! Ventura sails on the 3rd October and that’s the day we would have come home. Luckily I’d moved it months ago, I would have found Uk holidays expensive to book now!

[lindylooellalouise]

Hi really sorry for everyone who’s cruises have been cancelled the disappointments just keep coming is there ever going to be an end to it🤞🏻

[Adawn47]

4 hours ago, SeaJane said:

We were due to be on that cruise so have also had the email. We were expecting it so are relieved that the decision has been made in good time. We shall ask for a refund as anything suitable for next year is not available.

We were also due on that cruise, but decided to cancel on June 12th and move the deposit to Arcadia next October. We also cancelled the 28th October to Norway too that we were having as a B2B. Still waiting for the refund on that one.

Avril

[wowzz]

4 hours ago, yorkshirephil said:

All Arcadia cruises are cancelled until 27th March 22.

We are on that one. Not sure how I feel about being onthe first cruise after the ship has been in moth balls for two years. 

[wowzz]

1 hour ago, Gettingwarmer said:

Read the information I provided.

https://www.pocruises.com/cruise-with-confidence/our-assurance-to-you#vaccine-policy

 

How will the testing be carried out for those on the Carribean fly cruises ? Or have I missed something?

 

[Dermotsgirl]

8 minutes ago, wowzz said:

We are on that one. Not sure how I feel about being onthe first cruise after the ship has been in moth balls for two years. 

Similar situation to us. We are booked on the 2nd QV cruise after a two year hiatus. The first cruise is only 4 nights

[wowzz]

2 minutes ago, Dermotsgirl said:

Similar situation to us. We are booked on the 2nd QV cruise after a two year hiatus. The first cruise is only 4 nights

Ours is 16 nights,  so I suppose the crew will be fully up and running by the end of the first week!

[Dermotsgirl]

1 minute ago, wowzz said:

Ours is 16 nights,  so I suppose the crew will be fully up and running by the end of the first week!

Hope so. It'll be strange for everyone after such a long break.

 

 

[zoe sproodle]

We are on Ventura on 3rd October so, as others have mentioned here, will be boarding a ‘sterile’ ship which does indeed seem a bit of a strange thought.  I say that optimistically as I’m pretty sure this cruise will get cancelled in due course, in fact that’s what I’d assumed the email about vaccines & tests was before I opened it. 

[No pager thank you]

So our Christmas and New Year cruises on Aurora (X3) bit the dust today - I make that nine in total.  Not a great surprise and in fairness, plenty of notice given this time.

 

A few observations of P&O:

 

1) Poor form from P&O not to think about the opportunity of transferring bookings on to available alternative departures; clearly and exclusively commercially orientated as ever.  Instead, the equivalent cruises on either Ventura or Iona (admittedly Canary Islands) itineraries are more than £1500 extra this year with no sweetener.  No deal!  Still others will pay it...

 

2) We had an offer to be "bumped off" a FO staycation for £100 OBC extra each, and have a longer holiday the following week, at the same price.  That generated too many "volunteers" within three hours.  Compare that with P&O and the "interesting" approach taken (actually matches what was debated during lockdown).  In fairness to P&O, the FO Christmas cruise prices border on ridiculous.

 

3) The sneaky revision to the FCC policy just sticks in the throat a bit.  Yippee on 125% bonus on a 5% low deposit (usually £50 or less)....makes it sound great, actually worth about a tenner.

 

Plus, another dreadful video message! 

 

We are going to look at booking abroad for Christmas and New Year, UK cottage as a back up.  4* AI with all flights, PCR tests, baggage, entertainment, choice of six restaurants, transfers etc coming up as half the price of a P&O cruise in an inside cabin.

 

On the basis that we can probably go about as we choose then it's hard to argue that's better value for money?

 

On a serious point, with all the uncertainty, how can anyone book with confidence at the moment?

 

Anyway that's my twopenneth, sorry to everyone else who has been disappointed today 👎

 

[mike x ftc]

We were book for the Aurora Christmas cruise which is now cancelled, I think its very poor that P&O have not offered an alternative and offered to move our booking, Christmas is a tricky (and pricey) time, they obviously don't want to do that as they will as the new ones will be prohibitively expensive.  And I don't understand how Iona is still doing December cruises to virtually everywhere Aurora was going, so it can't be down to other countries restrictions which Paul Ludlow was eluding to in the video - in which he grinned and smiled all the way through whilst ruining hundreds of people's holiday plans!!  

[terrierjohn]

1 hour ago, wowzz said:

How will the testing be carried out for those on the Carribean fly cruises ? Or have I missed something?

 

Maybe they will have the lateral flow test at the airport before they fly out?

[Windsurfboy]

Just had a week in 4 star hotel in Dorset, great food , splashed out on champagne and very good red wine, half price of week in P&O suite (once you add on similiar drink ) . Masks no problem , not needed once sitting down. Leaving  cruising alone till we can go somewhere. Booked for May fingers crossed 

[Dermotsgirl]

1 hour ago, No pager thank you said:

 

 

On a serious point, with all the uncertainty, how can anyone book with confidence at the moment?

 

 

 

As we barely know what's going to happen in a few weeks time, I think it takes a big leap of faith to book anything right now.

 

Personally, I won't be booking any new cruise until I can be relatively certain that it'll go as scheduled, to the ports advertised and without too many hoops to jump through to get on board. So it could be quite some time before I book anything new

 

In the meantime I have my two remaining cruises to deal with, one way or another. I originally booked in 2019. That's another thing I will probably won't do again for a while - that is booking 2 years in advance! 

[Bazrat]

13 minutes ago, Dermotsgirl said:

As we barely know what's going to happen in a few weeks time, I think it takes a big leap of faith to book anything right now.

 

Personally, I won't be booking any new cruise until I can be relatively certain that it'll go as scheduled, to the ports advertised and without too many hoops to jump through to get on board. So it could be quite some time before I book anything new

 

In the meantime I have my two remaining cruises to deal with, one way or another. I originally booked in 2019. That's another thing I will probably won't do again for a while - that is booking 2 years in advance! 

We booked our TA cruise on Britannia in 2019 looking forward to it but if it doesn’t happen we look forward to the ones we got booked next year, we find it pointless worrying over something that we have no control over.

[wowzz]

1 hour ago, terrierjohn said:

Maybe they will have the lateral flow test at the airport before they fly out?

True, but not sure if airports are all geared up for that - testing 300 pax in a couple of hours might be problematic.

[wowzz]

25 minutes ago, Dermotsgirl said:

In the meantime I have my two remaining cruises to deal with, one way or another. I originally booked in 2019. That's another thing I will probably won't do again for a while - that is booking 2 years in advance! 

Strangely enough, I would be quite prepared to book 2 years in advance (and have) as things can only be better by then.  Booking for the next 12 months is problematic, and I'm not booking even a foreign land based holiday for 2022 until things settle down. 

[jake 26]

6 minutes ago, wowzz said:

True, but not sure if airports are all geared up for that - testing 300 pax in a couple of hours might be problematic.

As the transatlantic flights are from major airports I should think it's achievable but they will need to have multiple testing stations, and pax reporting for check-in at least 4 hours pre flight.

[Dermotsgirl]

1 hour ago, Bazrat said:

We booked our TA cruise on Britannia in 2019 looking forward to it but if it doesn’t happen we look forward to the ones we got booked next year, we find it pointless worrying over something that we have no control over.

I’m not worrying either. I don’t look too far ahead, and enjoy what I can right now. 

[wowzz]

3 hours ago, jake 26 said:

As the transatlantic flights are from major airports I should think it's achievable but they will need to have multiple testing stations, and pax reporting for check-in at least 4 hours pre flight.

True,  but sorting out the logistics at, say BHX, for a weekly rotation, is going to take a fair amount of organisation.  I assume P&O will piggy back off the TUI arrangements for their package holidays. 

[bee-ess]

8 hours ago, wowzz said:

True,  but sorting out the logistics at, say BHX, for a weekly rotation, is going to take a fair amount of organisation.  I assume P&O will piggy back off the TUI arrangements for their package holidays. 

We are booked for Jan 1st on Britannia and will feel more confident when we are actually allocated a flight. The first fly cruise is in November the passengers on those must surely be allocated flights soon if it is to happen.

[Peanut006]

6 minutes ago, bee-ess said:

We are booked for Jan 1st on Britannia and will feel more confident when we are actually allocated a flight. The first fly cruise is in November the passengers on those must surely be allocated flights soon if it is to happen.

Are the flights purely P & O flights with no other passengers just flying to Barbados?
 

Michelle

[wowzz]

12 minutes ago, Peanut006 said:

Are the flights purely P & O flights with no other passengers just flying to Barbados?
 

Michelle

Normally, yes. Charter flights, with TUI being the primary carrier.