Pacific Island Hopper (I251) 5th November till 12th November

[Mrs Edwards]

I’m due to pay for this cruise on the 22nd of August 

Just rang PO to find out what was going on if this cruise was cancel has we are flying from NZ 

Didn’t really get any sort of reply they didn’t know 

I said to them you are asking me to pay for a cruise that at the moment going no where at least make a decision before we all pay and then have to go through the process of getting our money back so Port Vila or Cairns 

 

 

 

[OzKiwiJJ]

It is highly likely that P&O don't yet know whether those ports will be open.

[arxcards]

As soon as they know, they will let you know. It is a tough call, as it is all hand to mouth.

 

A couple of pluses though. P&O had their first visit to NZ a couple of days ago, and are currently in Lautoka, so things are moving along. The numbers from the last covid wave are on a big slide ATM, and that should provide a bit more confidence to the other island nations to open-up to cruise ships.

 

I had to make final payment for an October cruise a couple of weeks back, and had to make a bit of a leap of faith - cruises longer than 8 nights were being broken into shorter ones. It appears that hurdle has now passed, so hopefully yours will too. 

Edited August 15, 2022 by arxcards

[Mrs Edwards]

So if that’s the case why sell cruise to this port I’m sure they are in contact with the port Auckland has only just open but give the cruise company plenty of notice when it was going to happen 

[Mrs Edwards]

3 minutes ago, arxcards said:

As soon as they know, they will let you know. It is a tough call, as it is all hand to mouth.

 

A couple of pluses though. P&O had their first visit to NZ a couple of days ago, and are currently in Lautoka, so things are moving along. The numbers from the last covid wave are on a big slide ATM, and that should provide a bit more confidence to the other island nations to open-up to cruise ships.

 

I had to make final payment for an October cruise a couple of weeks back, and had to make a bit of a leap of faith - cruises longer than 8 nights were being broken into shorter ones. It appears that hurdle has now passed, so hopefully yours will too. 

All I’m asking if cancel where is the cruise going to 

Fiji has been open for air passengers for a long time Port Vila is only just open 

[OzKiwiJJ]

2 minutes ago, Mrs Edwards said:

So if that’s the case why sell cruise to this port I’m sure they are in contact with the port Auckland has only just open but give the cruise company plenty of notice when it was going to happen 

Because the cruise lines are hoping, and expecting, the ports will be open, and they probably will be unless there is a massive outbreak of a new variant of Covid. 

 

Unfortunately the cruise lines don't keep Cruise Critic members informed as to what they expect to happen so we can only guess. And our guesses are just that so not reliable.

[Mrs Edwards]

So asking for our money for a cruise going no where at the moment 

Strange world we live in at the moment where we buy something not knowing if we are going to get what we pay for 

 

[arxcards]

8 minutes ago, Mrs Edwards said:

All I’m asking if cancel where is the cruise going to 

Fiji has been open for air passengers for a long time Port Vila is only just open 

No idea. If Kylie from P&O doesn't know, nobody does.

 

Until this week, everything has been domestic. The cruise that is in Fiji today was originally meant to go to Mystery Island & Noumea, but a few weeks back, they changed those 2 ports to Auckland . I am sensing that wouldn't be a bonus for you. If Noumea & Lifou are still closed, they do have the option of switching to Fiji - much more likely than changing it to a Queensland cruise.

 

There are no more cruises headed into the Pacific until early October, well after your final payment date. Good news is that P&O haven't changed that itinerary (Noumea, Mystery Island, Port Vila), so they are planning/hoping to get to those ports in October.

 

At this stage your cruise is going to Noumea, Lifou & Port Vila. P&O is working off indicators from the various ports & governments, but like NZ and OZ, those plans changed month to month.

 

[Mrs Edwards]

Don’t know that New Zealand ports are changing month to month thanks for the information we have another cruise book in December from Auckland 

[Ozwoody]

37 minutes ago, arxcards said:

No idea. If Kylie from P&O doesn't know, nobody does.

 

Until this week, everything has been domestic. The cruise that is in Fiji today was originally meant to go to Mystery Island & Noumea, but a few weeks back, they changed those 2 ports to Auckland . I am sensing that wouldn't be a bonus for you. If Noumea & Lifou are still closed, they do have the option of switching to Fiji - much more likely than changing it to a Queensland cruise.

 

There are no more cruises headed into the Pacific until early October, well after your final payment date. Good news is that P&O haven't changed that itinerary (Noumea, Mystery Island, Port Vila), so they are planning/hoping to get to those ports in October.

 

At this stage your cruise is going to Noumea, Lifou & Port Vila. P&O is working off indicators from the various ports & governments, but like NZ and OZ, those plans changed month to month.

 

Personally I would be very happy if they swapped the cruise to Fiji, haven't been there, so I would be a happy vegemiter.😁

But will accept whatever, it's a cruise.

[arxcards]

1 hour ago, Mrs Edwards said:

Don’t know that New Zealand ports are changing month to month thanks for the information we have another cruise book in December from Auckland 

They aren't now, but the NZ cruise ship ban continued to extend in 1 to 3 month lots from March 2020 through to July 2022. None of the cruise lines had any say over that, and it is similar now with many ports in the Pacific - a month by month proposition.

[Mrs Edwards]

If a small tourist company try to sell tours to no where would be out of business pretty quick but we are dealing with a big corporation who don’t care about a couple of cruise but they need to be careful moving forward

Yes it’s out of they hands but don’t sell something that’s a maybe 

We are dealing with cancel flights here at the moment with Air New Zealand so booking a cruise to no where is a bit hard to manage it’s a strange world 

[Aus Traveller]

4 hours ago, Mrs Edwards said:

I’m due to pay for this cruise on the 22nd of August 

Just rang PO to find out what was going on if this cruise was cancel has we are flying from NZ 

Didn’t really get any sort of reply they didn’t know 

I said to them you are asking me to pay for a cruise that at the moment going no where at least make a decision before we all pay and then have to go through the process of getting our money back so Port Vila or Cairns

We are also booked on this cruise and hope it will go ahead as planned. However, if the itinerary has to be changed P&O will give you (and us) the option to cancel for a full refund.

 

I understand that for you, this wouldn't be reasonable compensation because you have to pay for airfares.

[Ozwoody]

5 minutes ago, Mrs Edwards said:

If a small tourist company try to sell tours to no where would be out of business pretty quick but we are dealing with a big corporation who don’t care about a couple of cruise but they need to be careful moving forward

Yes it’s out of they hands but don’t sell something that’s a maybe 

We are dealing with cancel flights here at the moment with Air New Zealand so booking a cruise to no where is a bit hard to manage it’s a strange world 

I can see where your coming from, but I think when you consider their business was shut down totally for two years, through no fault of their own, just like many business's around Australia, you can see they are trying very hard to get up and running again.

You can be sure behind the scenes, there is a lot of activity going back and forth, and they are working on what they feel are positive trends, of various government around the world, towards cruising.

 

All the cruise lines are trying to position them selves to get back to business, and note for them, they don't just say we're off and start cruising at a drop of a hat, it takes months of prep and hiring of staff, and then their got to do something with them all. They can't just sit them somewhere, and pay them without generating income to pay them.

 

So they punt on the information their getting that things are going to happen.

 

I'm glad that they are....😉🤞

[OzKiwiJJ]

If you're not happy with the situation I suggest you cancel your cruise under P&O's Cruise with Confidence offer:

"For cruises departing on or before 30 November 2022 and booked prior to 18 October 2022, cancel your cruise 76 days or more prior to sailing with zero cancellation fees and receive a full refund of the paid cruise fare."

 

There are 82 days before your cruise starts at the moment.

 

Then you can book another cruise once cruising has fully returned to normal.

[Aus Traveller]

1 minute ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

If you're not happy with the situation I suggest you cancel your cruise under P&O's Cruise with Confidence offer:

"For cruises departing on or before 30 November 2022 and booked prior to 18 October 2022, cancel your cruise 76 days or more prior to sailing with zero cancellation fees and receive a full refund of the paid cruise fare."

 

There are 82 days before your cruise starts at the moment.

 

Then you can book another cruise once cruising has fully returned to normal.

That is an excellent suggestion. 🙂 I think if I had to pay for international airfares to join the cruise as the OP does, I would cancel now - provided I hadn't yet booked the air tickets.

[Mrs Edwards]

All I have been asking PO is if the cruise is cancel what is the replacement cruise didn’t think it’s a hard question 

Yes we can cancel but have all ready book flights sure they are not going to give back my money for them 

And if you paid and they cancel your money is tied up with them and we are in Brisbane for 8 days not worry about that but a lot cheaper to book hotels etc now 

Fingers cross it goes ahead for everyone 

[OzKiwiJJ]

And the answer is that P&O don't know yet. It's a fluid situation and, as far as I know, P&O don't have a crystal ball to accurately predict what will happen in 82 days time.

 

But here are my guesses..

1. The cruise will go ahead as scheduled.

2. If Vanuatu won't let cruise ships in P&O will try to add in another New Caledonian port such as Mare or the Isle of Pines.

3. If New Caledonia won't let cruise ships in your cruise might end up being a Queenland coast cruise.

 

Fiji is two sea days away from Brisbane so on a seven night cruise it could be a viable alternative - two sea days there, two port stops, two sea days back.

[Aus Traveller]

1 minute ago, Mrs Edwards said:

All I have been asking PO is if the cruise is cancel what is the replacement cruise didn’t think it’s a hard question 

Yes we can cancel but have all ready book flights sure they are not going to give back my money for them 

And if you paid and they cancel your money is tied up with them and we are in Brisbane for 8 days not worry about that but a lot cheaper to book hotels etc now 

Fingers cross it goes ahead for everyone 

Our 27th August P&O cruise was also supposed to be to Noumea, Lifou and Vila and was changed (a few months ahead) to a Queensland coastal cruise. We had the option of continuing with the cruise with the new itinerary or a full refund. If P&O are forced to change the November departure, I feel it is likely to become a North Queensland cruise or maybe Noumea and Lifou could be could be replaced if the New Caledonians won't allow ships to enter their ports. With a seven-day itinerary it is limited where the ship can go, but Mystery Island in Vanuatu is one possibility.

[arxcards]

On 8/15/2022 at 12:08 PM, arxcards said:

No idea. If Kylie from P&O doesn't know, nobody does.

 

There are no more cruises headed into the Pacific until early October, well after your final payment date. Good news is that P&O haven't changed that itinerary (Noumea, Mystery Island, Port Vila), so they are planning/hoping to get to those ports in October.

Looks like Kylie now knows what is happening for the next scheduled Pacific Island cruise on 1st October. That cruise has just been changed, as Vanuatu is not certain of being open to cruise ships before October. Because of that, the itinerary has been modified, and Port Vila & Mystery Island have been removed from the itinerary.

 

Modified itinerary:

Saturday, 1 October 2022: Depart Sydney
Sunday, 2 October 2022: At Sea
Monday, 3 October 2022: At Sea
Tuesday, 4 October 2022: Noumea
Wednesday, 5 October 2022: Noumea
Thursday, 6 October 2022: Lifou
Friday, 7 October 2022: At Sea
Saturday, 8 October 2022: At Sea
Sunday, 9 October 2022: At Sea
Monday, 10 October 2022: Arrive Sydney

 

The good news for the OP is that they are still heading to the islands, and not switching to a QLD coastal, but it is still a guessing game for the date that the Vanuatu ports will open.

[Aus Traveller]

Yuk. Two days in Noumea. I hope by 5th November that Vanuatu opens up. If they see the first couple of cruises going ahead without any dramas, they might relent. I hope so.

 

[Ozwoody]

Were all paid up and ready to go for the Encounters 5th Nov sailing, don't care where it goes....😁

[Aus Traveller]

1 hour ago, Ozwoody said:

Were all paid up and ready to go for the Encounters 5th Nov sailing, don't care where it goes....😁

We are also on the 5th November cruise. I would love to catch up with you on board. 🙂

 

Maybe I should keep my fingers crossed for a complimentary up-grade to see if we can get three in a row. 😁 We have one on our 27th August Pacific Encounter cruise (just a better location) and a mega up-grade next January on the Coral. That up-grade is from an obstructed oceanview on deck 5 to an accessible balcony on deck 8.

Edited August 20, 2022 by Aus Traveller

[Ozwoody]

1 hour ago, Aus Traveller said:

We are also on the 5th November cruise. I would love to catch up with you on board. 🙂

 

Maybe I should keep my fingers crossed for a complimentary up-grade to see if we can get three in a row. 😁 We have one on our 27th August Pacific Encounter cruise (just a better location) and a mega up-grade next January on the Coral. That up-grade is from an obstructed oceanview on deck 5 to an accessible balcony on deck 8.

Definitely, We are in 10506, My S&BIL are in the adjoining cabin.

 

Wow that's a big jump in cabin on the Coral, now that's what I call being looked after by good fairies out there.

 

I've had some good upgrades within class, but not been that lucky.

Best we have had was internal to OV on the Emerald 2016.

 

 

[Aus Traveller]

3 minutes ago, Ozwoody said:

Definitely, We are in 10506, My S&BIL are in the adjoining cabin.

 

Wow that's a big jump in cabin on the Coral, now that's what I call being looked after by good fairies out there.

 

I've had some good upgrades within class, but not been that lucky.

Best we have had was internal to OV on the Emerald 2016.

We are in a 'guarantee balcony' on 5th November. I will let you know when we have a cabin allocation.

 

I believe the reason we got such a mega-upgrade on the Coral could be that the cabins on deck 5 are kept empty to use for quarantine of crew if there is an outbreak of COVID. Just an idea. 🙂

Edited August 20, 2022 by Aus Traveller