Iona problem

[SarahHben]

I’ve seen some posts online today saying that Iona is on her way back to Southampton, missing Haugesund, because she has a problem and needs a replacement part!

 

Passengers have been given extra obc, do you think they will that mean that they can’t claim missed port compensation?

[Yorkypete]

11 minutes ago, SarahHben said:

I’ve seen some posts online today saying that Iona is on her way back to Southampton, missing Haugesund, because she has a problem and needs a replacement part!

 

Passengers have been given extra obc, do you think they will that mean that they can’t claim missed port compensation?

It seems that P&O are using every excuse in the book for their cancellations/missed ports. I wonder which are the truth and which are lies? OBC is a way of saving money on having to re-pay people for spoilt cruises as some of the people will not sail P&O again. Boy am I glad we cancelled our March cruise. The only problem is do we lose the deposit or move the cruise forward a couple of years?

[Megabear2]

Even with all the problems most of Iona's cruises are selling well it seems. The Canaries ones later in the year seem to have little availability.  As we had to cancel 8 October I have been looking at her three subsequent cruises for a single and the prices are high for anything select even allowing for the OBC promotion.

 

I'm now considering the 22 October Spain/Portugal sailing - there seems to be good availability and better pricing.  However if she's got a problem I think I might wait to see what is broken!

[Jonem2001]

Yep, on board now. Captain announced the removal of Haugesund yesterday at 5pm as we left Hellesylt.

 

The reason was given as needing to guarantee our arrival back at Southampton on time, which was under pressure as Iona needs a repair as it can’t make top speed. Apparently a part is being flown in to Southampton. Since yesterday we’ve only averaged 15 knots.

 

We’ve all been given £100obc per cabin, and it’s a hot sunny day in the North Sea - much more preferable to me than Haugesund (although I’m sure some are disappointed!).

 

In every other respect this has been a wonderful cruise; service levels are great,  only the Epicurian and Glass House food services are shut, and only a few missing menu items. The worst is that we ran out of hash browns on Tuesday. The horror!

[davecttr]

Beginning to look like Iona is jinxed.

 

Not a marine engineer but maybe one of the generators is broken so they have to reduce speed to maintain the hotel and air conditioning requirements. Or maybe the electrical distribution system.

 

She is scheduled to arrive southampton 3am Saturday so maybe they can get the replacement part fitted in a few hours

[Fionboard]

22 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

Even with all the problems most of Iona's cruises are selling well it seems. The Canaries ones later in the year seem to have little availability.  As we had to cancel 8 October I have been looking at her three subsequent cruises for a single and the prices are high for anything select even allowing for the OBC promotion.

 

I'm now considering the 22 October Spain/Portugal sailing - there seems to be good availability and better pricing.  However if she's got a problem I think I might wait to see what is broken!

The promises are broken!

[scifimonkey]

1 hour ago, SarahHben said:

I can confirm that Iona is limping back to Southampton on part power and that P&O are flying in a part from Italy with a view to fitting it during Saturday.  I  assume if they cannot get it fitted then the next cruise will be delayed until they do as on limited power they would again have to miss multiple ports on future cruises. I wonder if it is still under warranty?  Compensation was £100 per cabin for what is essentially a 25% reduction in the amount of Norway the passengers got to see. Not clear if this would affect the ability to claim on insurance I guess it will depend on the dreaded fine print. The way they are

going this summer the insurance companies are going to want a premium surcharge for P&O as virtually every Norwegian cruise on Iona seems to have failed in some way or other  

 

[scifimonkey]

1 hour ago, Fionboard said:

The promises are broken!

Seriously I would choose another ship this year and see if this horrendous litany of failings can be sorted before booking on Iona. 

[gsmt47471015]

Wonder when the Iona/Norway excuse book will dry up?

[jeanlyon]

The point is OBC costs P&O absolutely nothing.  If it's near the end of the cruise, half the people wouldn't even spend it.

[BillieJeanKaraokeKing]

On the plus side, if there's a best port to choose to miss, Haugesund is certainly it. 

[Ranchi]

39 minutes ago, jeanlyon said:

The point is OBC costs P&O absolutely nothing.  If it's near the end of the cruise, half the people wouldn't even spend it.

That only holds if you run your account down to zero. Most passengers will get to the end of the cruise owing P&O some money. If the extra  obc is used to cover that spend then that is currency that P&O will not receive. 

[terrierjohn]

1 hour ago, jeanlyon said:

The point is OBC costs P&O absolutely nothing.  If it's near the end of the cruise, half the people wouldn't even spend it.

But mostly I believe those sort of OBCs are refundable if unused at the end of the cruise.

[bbtablet]

24 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

But mostly I believe those sort of OBCs are refundable if unused at the end of the cruise.

That's the first I have ever heard of that - have you any details where this has been applied in the past? - I always thought unspent OBC was lost.

[Host Sharon]

2 hours ago, jeanlyon said:

The point is OBC costs P&O absolutely nothing.  If it's near the end of the cruise, half the people wouldn't even spend it.

Oh, I'd find a way on principle. There is always the jewellery shop 🙂 It certainly seems like she is jinxed - but then I did say it was bad luck to sail on a maiden voyage before her naming!

[tring]

2 hours ago, jeanlyon said:

The point is OBC costs P&O absolutely nothing.  If it's near the end of the cruise, half the people wouldn't even spend it.

 

It is not too late to hit the shops though.  They may be overpriced, but better spent there than lost together, (if it cannot be refunded as John thinks may be the case).

 

[Fitzplumbago]

9 hours ago, jeanlyon said:

The point is OBC costs P&O absolutely nothing.  If it's near the end of the cruise, half the people wouldn't even spend it.

That OBC would certainly  already have been eaten up at the point it was added to my account! It only equates  to roughly 2-3 drinks per person, per day. I’m sure many people would have already accrued that on their accounts, which would be discounted at the end of the cruise. That could  roughly be a £250K loss, judging by the number of cabins , so not exactly nothing, even though it’s a drop in the ocean (no pun intended) for Carnival. 

[Billish]

1 hour ago, Fitzplumbago said:

That OBC would certainly  already have been eaten up at the point it was added to my account! It only equates  to roughly 2-3 drinks per person, per day. I’m sure many people would have already accrued that on their accounts, which would be discounted at the end of the cruise. That could  roughly be a £250K loss, judging by the number of cabins , so not exactly nothing, even though it’s a drop in the ocean (no pun intended) for Carnival. 

Although the £250k loss is only at face value. eg If you buy a glass of wine at £8,  the cost to P&O is less than £1. 

The actual financial loss to P&O  is considerably less than £100k. 

[gsmt47471015]

8 hours ago, Host Sharon said:

Oh, I'd find a way on principle. There is always the jewellery shop 🙂 It certainly seems like she is jinxed - but then I did say it was bad luck to sail on a maiden voyage before her naming!

Bad luck it may be , bad planning it certainly is

[Fionboard]

10 hours ago, terrierjohn said:

But mostly I believe those sort of OBCs are refundable if unused at the end of the cruise.

No. I got extra obc for being most cruised passenger and did not find out until penultimate day. Asked to have it transferred to my next cruise, but no. Spend it or lose it basically.

[terrierjohn]

15 minutes ago, Fionboard said:

No. I got extra obc for being most cruised passenger and did not find out until penultimate day. Asked to have it transferred to my next cruise, but no. Spend it or lose it basically.

I think that may be different to OBC for loss of a port, it's a long time ago but we had a similar experience on Princess and the unused OBC was refunded to our credit card after the cruise. I would hope both being part of Carnival would have the same terms.

[Britboys]

26 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

I think that may be different to OBC for loss of a port, it's a long time ago but we had a similar experience on Princess and the unused OBC was refunded to our credit card after the cruise. I would hope both being part of Carnival would have the same terms.

I wouldn't bank on that tj. Princess are not, afaik, part of Carnival UK. Terms of the USA based lines are often different to the UK.

[davecttr]

As P&O are changing emphasis to the family friendly market with the ships being the destination for many passengers how does this compare to the package holiday sector?

 

If you booked a package holiday in say an Egyptian AI hotel complex with entertainment and multiple dining venues offering different cuisine including extra charge restaurants and when you got there you found some of the venues were closed for 'operational reasons' you may not be too happy and want compensation from the package provider because you did not get what was advertised.

 

It seems this does not apply to cruises?

 

Acts of god such as weather etc etc are OK excuses but what about the Geiranger SeaWalk problem?  Was that entirely down to the cruise lines stupidity in not checking that the ship would actually fit the seawalk. Or perhaps they did know and the corporate decision was to save money by fobbing off the passengers with lame excuses.

[Yorkypete]

1 hour ago, davecttr said:

As P&O are changing emphasis to the family friendly market with the ships being the destination for many passengers how does this compare to the package holiday sector?

 

If you booked a package holiday in say an Egyptian AI hotel complex with entertainment and multiple dining venues offering different cuisine including extra charge restaurants and when you got there you found some of the venues were closed for 'operational reasons' you may not be too happy and want compensation from the package provider because you did not get what was advertised.

 

It seems this does not apply to cruises?

 

Acts of god such as weather etc etc are OK excuses but what about the Geiranger SeaWalk problem?  Was that entirely down to the cruise lines stupidity in not checking that the ship would actually fit the seawalk. Or perhaps they did know and the corporate decision was to save money by fobbing off the passengers with lame excuses.

I would honestly guess that P&O are definately in trouble. I don't believe they care about passengers and certainly can't be bothered about checking berthing before publishing an itinerary.Could the problem be financial as they seem determined to get your money before changing port visits?

[Trevor Fountain]

11 minutes ago, Yorkypete said:

I would honestly guess that P&O are definately in trouble. I don't believe they care about passengers and certainly can't be bothered about checking berthing before publishing an itinerary.Could the problem be financial as they seem determined to get your money before changing port visits?

You could be right,  but I doubt that is the reason. Can't see them saving that much by swapping ports.