P&O have just screwed us over 🤬

[Mabbiesmum]

Booked on Ventura cruise N230 departing 29 October in March 2021. Managed to get the perfect cabin, corner aft on deck C.

 

Have just received an email form P&O saying that "Due to our framework of protocols to protect the health and wellbeing of all crew and guests we are currently operating at a reduced guest capacity and we need to take an approved number of cabins out of service.". 

 

We are being moved from our perfect cabin!!!!!!!!

With just 5 weeks to go there are obviously no aft cabins left, and we will be stuck in one somewhere midships. The fact that P&O will claim it will be of an either equal or superior grade doesn't cut any ice. As far as we are concerned it is a definite downgrade.

 

Customer service are of no use whatsoever, they "have no control over this it is a different department" . Not possible however to speak with said department as they are not customer focussed. Well obviously not as the satisfaction of their customers seems of no interest whatsoever.

 

I am inclined to suspect that this has been happening on many cruises and what is most enraging is that they have left it so close to departure when there is nothing we can do.  Will try to move my complaint up the food chain but it won't make any difference to the outcome.

 

This will be our first holiday in two and a half years and has been eagerly anticipated. Now it is spoiled.  If we lose our cabin we shall be cancelling the 5 week Caribbean cruise we also have booked (in an aft facing cabin) and will never sail with P&O again!!

[Harry Peterson]

This does now seem to be a regular occurrence - you’ll find other similar threads.  I can entirely see where you’re coming from, but P&O will inevitably argue that their terms and conditions entitle them to do what they’ve done - and they doubtless do, unless you’re prepared to mount a legal challenge under the unfair contract terms legislation.

 

An email to the CEO might get you a better response, and possibly even an offer of a refund, assuming that hasn’t already been offered, but as for the cabin you’d booked, that’s not I’m afraid likely to be an option. Some OBC, however, might.

[Megabear2]

13 minutes ago, Harry Peterson said:

unless you’re prepared to mount a legal challenge under the unfair contract terms legislation.

I recall someone elsewhere on the boards is trying that and also someone else is challenging the terms and condition change on the right to move a cruise.  Interesting times.

 

Unfortunately P&O has been doing these moves incredibly late in the day all along. Some people were only given a week's notice.  It really is very poor customer service.

[arlowood]

We has a similar experience on our 1st May sailing of Arcadia to the Baltic. Had chosen A129 which we thought was perfect for our needs but were contacted by P&O to say they were moving us to a forward cabin on C deck. Not what we would have chosen or wanted..

 

I did a "dummy" booking for that cruise and established that there were still cabins for sale in the aft section of A deck so contacted our TA who got on to P&O and persuaded them to reallocate us to one of the available cabins, A131, on A deck. (Was a pointless exercise ultimately as P&O canceled he cruise a wok or so later). Why P&O did not do the logical thing and offer us one of those cabins initially I struggle to understand.

 

Try to do a dummy booking and see what cabins are still being offered for sale on your cruise. If there are any that appeal then contact your TA (if you have one) to get you switched to one of those. Otherwise argue thecase directly with P&O.

 

Edited September 21, 2022 by arlowood

[Mabbiesmum]

There appear to be plenty of midship cabins on deck B but if we had wanted a midship cabin we would have booked one. We love aft facing cabins and don't want a different part of the ship

[Harry Peterson]

23 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

I recall someone elsewhere on the boards is trying that and also someone else is challenging the terms and condition change on the right to move a cruise.  Interesting times.

 

Unfortunately P&O has been doing these moves incredibly late in the day all along. Some people were only given a week's notice.  It really is very poor customer service.

The Consumer Rights Act 2015 incorporates the original 1999 unfair terms legislation, and for retail consumers like us it’s very useful indeed.

 

Plenty of online advice from organisations such as Which? and CAB on how to use it, and what the limitations are. 
 

Faced with a serious claim - and it has to be serious before they pay any heed and pass it to their legal team - P&O can and do back down on issues such as this. But often with the use of a non disclosure agreement to avoid having to offer it to everyone.

[Josy1953]

58 minutes ago, Mabbiesmum said:

Booked on Ventura cruise N230 departing 29 October in March 2021. Managed to get the perfect cabin, corner aft on deck C.

 

Have just received an email form P&O saying that "Due to our framework of protocols to protect the health and wellbeing of all crew and guests we are currently operating at a reduced guest capacity and we need to take an approved number of cabins out of service.". 

 

We are being moved from our perfect cabin!!!!!!!!

 

With just 5 weeks to go there are obviously no aft cabins left, and we will be stuck in one somewhere midships. The fact that P&O will claim it will be of an either equal or superior grade doesn't cut any ice. As far as we are concerned it is a definite downgrade.

 

Customer service are of no use whatsoever, they "have no control over this it is a different department" . Not possible however to speak with said department as they are not customer focussed. Well obviously not as the satisfaction of their customers seems of no interest whatsoever.

 

I am inclined to suspect that this has been happening on many cruises and what is most enraging is that they have left it so close to departure when there is nothing we can do.  Will try to move my complaint up the food chain but it won't make any difference to the outcome.

 

This will be our first holiday in two and a half years and has been eagerly anticipated. Now it is spoiled.  If we lose our cabin we shall be cancelling the 5 week Caribbean cruise we also have booked (in an aft facing cabin) and will never sail with P&O again!!

Sorry to hear your problems.  I would write/email to Paul Ludlow head of P&O, you may get some sort of compensation.

[pete14]

We are also on this cruise in an aft suite on deck C but haven’t had the email you have received (yet). As there are no other suites available, anything they want to give us will be a definite downgrade. 

[Mabbiesmum]

Anyone got Paul Ludlows email?

[dgs1956]

No wonder you're so angry. I feel for you and 100% agree with you. Yet again P&O Customer Service falls way short.

[yoj13]

I share your pain.  It's happened to us many moons go and it is not a pleasant experience.  Customer service has all but disappeared and you do right to walk.  It is disgraceful that they have only just informed you and I'm pretty sure it wasn't a decision they made yesterday.    Good luck in your endeavours in obtaining a satisfactory outcome.  It would be my last cruise with them as well.

[Fionboard]

Aft cabins (700 plus) have been closed off for quarantine since last Autumn. And they wait until now ( when ship is filling up) to inform of changes. It is outrageous. 

[Megabear2]

11 minutes ago, Fionboard said:

Aft cabins (700 plus) have been closed off for quarantine since last Autumn. And they wait until now ( when ship is filling up) to inform of changes. It is outrageous. 

I think they were hoping it would indeed be all over and took a chance.  The problem is that unfortunately it isn't all over and lots are still catching or developing covid onboard.  I had thought they might move to quarantine in your own cabin but clearly that's still not an option if they're still moving people.

[devonuk]

I’m in C749 aft suite the week before 🙈😬

[Josy1953]

1 hour ago, Mabbiesmum said:

Anyone got Paul Ludlows email?

It is on the internet of you search for Paul Ludlow P&O

[pete14]

19 minutes ago, devonuk said:

I’m in C749 aft suite the week before 🙈😬

Seems strange that you haven’t received an email (and neither have we yet - in C748 on the cruise after yours). Maybe they are selecting some cabins to take out of operation to spread people more evenly over the ship, especially if it is sailing below capacity. No consolation to OP though. It would be helpful if they could be a little more forthcoming with explanations.

[devonuk]

10 minutes ago, pete14 said:

Seems strange that you haven’t received an email (and neither have we yet - in C748 on the cruise after yours). Maybe they are selecting some cabins to take out of operation to spread people more evenly over the ship, especially if it is sailing below capacity. No consolation to OP though. It would be helpful if they could be a little more forthcoming with explanations.

I think the OP might be in the corner balcony not a suite 🤔

[pete14]

5 minutes ago, devonuk said:

I think the OP might be in the corner balcony not a suite 🤔

I think so but it doesn’t seem to make much sense to use the corner cabin for isolation and not the 4 suites next to it. I have emailed a contact at P&O in order to find out whether we have our chosen suite or not.

[Presto2]

So sad to read this - this is exactly why we cancelled our cruise in August as we could not get a straight answer about our aft corner cabin on C deck. They must know way in advance what is affected and give people more time to sort it. 

Hope all works for you Pete14

[majortom10]

4 hours ago, Mabbiesmum said:

Anyone got Paul Ludlows email?

Try contacting sture.myrmell@carnivalukgroup.com he is President of Carnival UK which covers both P&O and Cunard and is higher than Paul Ludlow.

Edited September 21, 2022 by majortom10

[terrierjohn]

1 minute ago, wowzz said:

I know that I may have contributed to hijacking this thread (Harry, you didn't help !)

Perhaps we should get back to the original post - P&O at the last minute changing cabins !

 

We were booked on the 2nd cruise after the portless ones in October last year,  and lost it completely as they had no accessible cabins to offer us as an alternative

[wowzz]

18 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

We were booked on the 2nd cruise after the portless ones in October last year,  and lost it completely as they had no accessible cabins to offer us as an alternative

Which was totally unacceptable.  P&O do seem to have an absolutely blinkered approach to customer care. 

Do they ever look at social media.?

Sorry - thread drift - I had an issue with my new Ford. I  posted on the Ford UK social media page and got an immediate reply.

So, it can be done, if there is a will. I'm just not sure that the person  in charge of P&O has the willy to get it done.

[miniyorkie]

I am not affected by any cabin changes and feel for the OP, however I do wonder why P.O seem to use the most sought after cabins as presumably isolation cabins. If,  unfortunately,  passengers have to be moved to isolation cabins then one would assume that they do not require what would be deemed the most popular choices.  Why disappoint so many other pax?  Why not use standard balcony cabins?  I do not understand the logic. 

[terrierjohn]

1 hour ago, miniyorkie said:

I am not affected by any cabin changes and feel for the OP, however I do wonder why P.O seem to use the most sought after cabins as presumably isolation cabins. If,  unfortunately,  passengers have to be moved to isolation cabins then one would assume that they do not require what would be deemed the most popular choices.  Why disappoint so many other pax?  Why not use standard balcony cabins?  I do not understand the logic. 

I believe they chose areas with adequate accessible cabins and which could be easily isolated, and with the optimum number of cabins.

[pete14]

42 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

I believe they chose areas with adequate accessible cabins and which could be easily isolated, and with the optimum number of cabins.

I think you are probably right and aft or forward seem easier to isolate than mid ships. I don’t know where accessible cabins are on Ventura. Having said that, we haven’t yet been told that our suite, a couple of cabins away from OP on the same cruise, is not available. There is time for that to change but maybe it won’t.