Britannia Staycation 5th September

[Charleyben]

My Cruise Personaliser for the above cruise has been showing the dress code on all 7 nights as being evening casual.  

 

I have attempted to contact P & O by telephone and e mail to clarify this but this has proven to be an futile for the reasons others have experienced.

 

i contacted our TA who has experienced similar problems in speaking with them.  She said she would endeavour to do so and a few days later I received an e mail stating that our seven day cruise consists of 2 formal nights and 5 casual, which certainly used to be the case but I suspect that this is simply an uplift off the P & O  Website or a brochure.

 

I would appreciate hearing from anyone  who taking this cruise as to what their personaliser is showing. Thanks in anticipation.

 

[sagaris]

We have 1 night showing - Monday 1st August.

[BouncingWheel]

I am taking this cruise (5th September - no idea what 1st August from @sagaris relates to as not even our cruise 🤣). All say evening casual on personalizer but from what I read on other seacation roll calls we will have 1 celebration night which I think will be either the 6th or 7th).

[Charleyben]

Thanks BW.  This is also what I think will be the case.  I just don't want to be packing for a formal night if is unnecessary.  Surely it is not that difficult for them to maintain an accurate itinerary.

 

The thing that I find most annoying is the total apathy that P & O have for customers.  Their recorded message should read,  "We have very little interest in your telephone call.  We are not experiencing an unprecedented number of calls,  it's simply that we are using insufficient call centre staff to respond to our usual level of queries which has been excacerbated by the fact that our IT Department hasn't got a clue what they are doing!"

 

This might not get me the information I am looking for but it would be refreshing to know that I am not being treated like an idiot.

 

 

[AndyMichelle]

How about some perspective.. 

 

Pandemic

People have died

Businesses are fighting to survive 

Shortage of candidates for jobs 

People in jobs struggling to cope

Shortage of supplies/delivery issues

Travel restrictions and regulations. 

 

There was always a risk of things not going to plan during the restart, you decided to take that chance. 

 

P&O have always been poor at communication, why would we expect any different now... 

 

So sorry you cannot find out if you need to pack a posh frock...😊 

 

Andy 

 

 

[wowzz]

1 hour ago, Charleyben said:

I just don't want to be packing for a formal night if is unnecessary.  

Is it really a problem to pack something posh, even if you don't need it in the end? 

[Charleyben]

I am getting rather tired of apologists for poor service.  Yes I can unnecessarily pack clothes that will not be required but that is not the issue here.

 

Using the current pandemic to excuse all types of poor service is wearing a bit thin.  Furlough is virtually over and is has now been almost 18 months since this virus reared its ugly head.  How is it that there are still companies out there who are still able to provide quality of service despite this without blaming the pandemic.

 

Andy & Michelle, yes P & O have never been great but they are excelling themselves now.

[BouncingWheel]

I have a lot of sympathy for all companies in these times and, in this case, will be packing my tux in case it needs an outing - I am sure it will. Getting ships back into service with all the constant upheavals in rules must be a nightmare and as long as the cruise, and all other,  companies try their best then I am more than happy. However, I abhor being lied to and companies that trot out "COVID" as an excuse will likely lose my custom. Obviously, there are many circumstances currently when COVID is the reason and plenty more where it could be but some are obviously not true and that makes me so annoyed.

[Adawn47]

46 minutes ago, wowzz said:

Is it really a problem to pack something posh, even if you don't need it in the end? 

I don't think it is. I always bring clothes back that I've never worn. I'm sure I'm not the only one.

Avril

[Stokie33]

We’re about to leave for our 2nd seacation on Princess before out first booked on Iona, did the first one with no expectations, went with the flow and decided to make the best of whatever we came up against and throughly enjoyed ourselves, I was bought up to believe life’s for living and if it means I pack a dress and a suit for my hubby that we may or may not wear, so what, at least we’ll have a good time and are finally getting to cruise again in whatever form that takes

[sagaris]

14 hours ago, BouncingWheel said:

I am taking this cruise (5th September - no idea what 1st August from @sagaris relates to as not even our cruise 🤣). All say evening casual on personalizer but from what I read on other seacation roll calls we will have 1 celebration night which I think will be either the 6th or 7th).

Sorry should have said Monday 1st September😊

[Charleyben]

Thanks Sagaris. I assume that you are on the cruise departing tomorrow (29th August) and is in interesting that your itinerary is showing a celebration night but not on ours.

 

Every time I have attempted to telephone call I am told that they are receiving unprecedented numbers of calls and to ring at a different time.  I would be interested to learn what times they may not be receiving unprecedented calls but I suspect that such a time does not exist.

 

Five days ago I e mailed them and to date I have not even been given the courtesy of an automated reply let alone an answer to my question.

 

I do not consider myself to be overly demanding but I do expect a better level of service than this.

[P&O SUE]

From pictures I’ve seen on other ‘places’ it seems there is a formal night or ‘celebration’ night on each cruise.

[Guest ccpm]

On 8/28/2021 at 7:50 AM, AndyMichelle said:

How about some perspective.. 

 

Pandemic

People have died

Businesses are fighting to survive 

Shortage of candidates for jobs 

People in jobs struggling to cope

Shortage of supplies/delivery issues

Travel restrictions and regulations. 

 

There was always a risk of things not going to plan during the restart, you decided to take that chance. 

 

P&O have always been poor at communication, why would we expect any different now... 

 

So sorry you cannot find out if you need to pack a posh frock...😊 

 

Andy 

 

Andy as a business owner i understand what you are saying. This is the BUT if they want to get people back cruising then they are the type of company that needs to focus their initial start up monies into their contact points. I agree there are more urgent queries other than when do I need a posh frock but their business needs to answer queries to survive. They are doing very badly at this. If you ring my company (private medical clinic) you either need information or an appointment you get answered asap, same clients can contact us by email and we reply almost immediately. We can not survive if we don't. P&O must feel very secure that they can be so tardy in answering phones, emails. Yes they lost money in the shutdown didn't we all if you want to reopen and trade and get back to where you were before you put your money where your mouth is i.e. on enabling clients to get in touch. It was the first thing we as a company did get all out comms staff back in place.