P&O have just screwed us over 🤬

[Fionboard]

Was told by my steward that. quarantine cabins are placed over the kitchen area to allow for ease of food delivery to the occupants (which he was involved in after finishing his morning duties). Sounds logical.

[Cruisemeister2002]

Is it just me not noticing, but as far as I am aware cases of Covid ashore are either not being reported or are on the wain. Whereas those onboard seem just a prevalent as they always were. Is it the "Floating petri dish" syndrome. As for passengers paying a "Select price" which states choice of cabin. Then surely it becomes P&O's choice of cabin. If the one selected is then not given. I know certain circumstance are beyond P&O's  ability to do anything about it. Such as where the safety of passengers is paramount. Like docking under stormy conditions or as with the pandemic certain ports of call installing such harsh conditions that it would make a call at that port untenable. Where cabins are being used for those going down with covid whilst it may in the earlier days be advisable to change the location of said cabins due to access and control P&O have had plenty of time, more than 3 years, to decide where isolation cabins should be on their fleet. It is beyond comprehension that after all this time that someone books a cabin and is told they have to now move. P&O needs to get their act together. 

[Megabear2]

1 hour ago, yorkshirephil said:

Not surprising the figures went up a couple of weeks after the kids went back to school.

No doubt but presumably that's why they're still taking precautions and keeping quarantine cabins. 

[Mabbiesmum]

I fully appreciate that cruise lines may need to have isolation cabins but it is dishonest to let people book those cabins in good faith and then be summarily moved just a few weeks or even days before sailing.

 

The cruise lines should advise passengers before final payment date that their cabin may be required as an isolation cabin and give them the opportunity to move to a different sailing or cabin.

 

By the time they are informed there are very few cabins left and not necessarily in acceptable locations.

 

[kruzseeka]

45 minutes ago, Mabbiesmum said:

I fully appreciate that cruise lines may need to have isolation cabins but it is dishonest to let people book those cabins in good faith and then be summarily moved just a few weeks or even days before sailing.

 

The cruise lines should advise passengers before final payment date that their cabin may be required as an isolation cabin and give them the opportunity to move to a different sailing or cabin.

 

By the time they are informed there are very few cabins left and not necessarily in acceptable locations.

 

And what is even worse no refund for the difference paid for a Select Fare booking!  That should be a given. 

[Mabbiesmum]

44 minutes ago, Mabbiesmum said:

I fully appreciate that cruise lines may need to have isolation cabins but it is dishonest to let people book those cabins in good faith and then be summarily moved just a few weeks or even days before sailing.

 

The cruise lines should advise passengers before final payment date that their cabin may be required as an isolation cabin and give them the opportunity to move to a different sailing or cabin.

 

By the time they are informed there are very few cabins left and not necessarily in acceptable locations.

 

On reflection I must withdraw an accusation of dishonesty however they could have been more open about the risk of booked cabins being taken out of service.

[paulatsea]

On 9/21/2022 at 2:54 PM, 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!!

I don’t blame you - horrible for you when you made the effort to get the cabin you wanted - out of order.
You should be offered a full refund or an upgrade at the least.

[davecttr]

1 hour ago, paulatsea said:

I don’t blame you - horrible for you when you made the effort to get the cabin you wanted - out of order.
You should be offered a full refund or an upgrade at the least.

Not on Iona or Arvia, they may 'upgrade' you to the dreaded deck 8 which IMO is no better than an inside as I would have the curtains drawn at all times.

[paulatsea]

20 minutes ago, davecttr said:

Not on Iona or Arvia, they may 'upgrade' you to the dreaded deck 8 which IMO is no better than an inside as I would have the curtains drawn at all times.

I agree - an upgrade - of your choice ! 

[nyckfocus]

We got off the Iona today .

One of our group got the e-mail they were being moved 1 week before we sailed , from deck 15 to deck 5 which have smaller balcony's. obviously this wasnt an upgrade and no option for extra onboard credit.After alot of toing and froing they eventually got a room back on deck 15 but a disabled room.

It turned out to be ok as it a lot bigger but they didnt know this until they see it the first day .

 

With this and a few other issues before and during the cruise I doubt we will be booking PO any time soon

 

[Presto2]

This is exactly why we cancelled our cruise on Ventura in August as we knew our cabin had been used as an isolation cabin. The most annoying thing was that PO would not give us a straight answer about what would happen if we had to move cabins, saying they didn't then know. Rubbish!

As it was, we have since found out that the cabin we had booked would have been an isolation cabin and someone in a similar one only heard 2 weeks before the cruise. Glad we stayed in beautiful Wales and had a lovely relaxing holiday!

Not very good PR from P&O ........ as someone else has said, they just need to be up front and let you know when you book those cabins.

[yorkshirephil]

2 minutes ago, Denarius said:

That usually seems to be the case. Children and their parents will not however, usually be cruising during term time. So the rise in infections in those groups is unlikely to impinge greatly on cruise ships provided that the rate of infection in the rest of the population remains stable.

You may be right but what will impinge on cruise ships is the new rules allowing un-vaccinated and untested passengers onboard. It will be interesting to see how things pan out over winter.

[Fitzplumbago]

Not just P&O. I had the same with Cunard (a Carnival UK thing maybe?), being  moved cabin the week before sailing. 
 

I tend to chose my balcony cabin based on noise levels and much prefer being sandwiched between cabin decks, rather than being close to any venue. I was ‘upgraded’ to beneath the promenade deck to a cabin with an interconnecting door, so completely the opposite to what I had booked in regards to noise.
 

It seems as though ships are implementing the covid isolation cabins ‘off the cuff’, rather than to a set plan… 

[paulatsea]

13 hours ago, yorkshirephil said:

You may be right but what will impinge on cruise ships is the new rules allowing un-vaccinated and untested passengers onboard. It will be interesting to see how things pan out over winter.

Still need to be fully vaccinated I think for p&o Marella etc ? It’s just the testing that’s changed isn’t it ? For adults anyway.

[davecttr]

Currently you still need to be fully vaccinated including a booster if it is more than 270 days since the last dose of your initial course. If you have had a booster the 270 day rule does not apply but I think that booster has to happen at least a week before the cruise?

 

On my last cruise it was reported a couple had decided not to have the booster and were turned away. Decisions have consequences.

[yorkshirephil]

31 minutes ago, paulatsea said:

Still need to be fully vaccinated I think for p&o Marella etc ? It’s just the testing that’s changed isn’t it ? For adults anyway.

That is changing and once one line does something the rest are likely to follow, we are cruising with Msc on 1st Oct from Southampton and they have updated their rules this week. As you won't need an observed covid test then people who are unvaccinated can cheat the unobserved covid test. Personally I think we need to get on with our lives and deal with covid but that isn't everyone's opinion and there are some quite annoyed people taking to facecloth angry that they are being put at a higher risk with the new rules, and I can see their point of view. We had bought Randox test kits for this cruise but will now use our leftover NHS tests as we don't need a certificate. 

 

• All Guests embarking are strongly encouraged, but not required, to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19. 
• For vaccinated Guests it’s not required (but strongly recommended) to present a negative test.

[Trevor Fountain]

1 hour ago, yorkshirephil said:

• All Guests embarking are strongly encouraged, but not required, to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19. 
• For vaccinated Guests it’s not required (but strongly recommended) to present a negative test.

To avoid confusion this presumably refers to MSC.

[yorkshirephil]

25 minutes ago, Trevor Fountain said:

To avoid confusion this presumably refers to MSC.

It does

[davecttr]

So you still need a valid vaccination certificate for P&O

[Trevor Fountain]

3 minutes ago, davecttr said:

So you still need a valid vaccination certificate for P&O

Yes, indeed.

[pete14]

37 minutes ago, Trevor Fountain said:

Yes, indeed.

Good news.

[Megabear2]

40 minutes ago, davecttr said:

So you still need a valid vaccination certificate for P&O

Very importantly the vaccination certificate is essential for most insurance companies to cover covid.  As P&O are now telling passengers they have to rely on their insurance if denied boarding with covid or quarantine people should be very aware of their insurer's requirements.

 

As an aside I'm back in correspondence with Holiday Extras re their policy and non positive contacts due to a problem a friend had with the issue on another line.  If a reply is of any interest if and when it arrives I will post accordingly.

[paulatsea]

17 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

Very importantly the vaccination certificate is essential for most insurance companies to cover covid.  As P&O are now telling passengers they have to rely on their insurance if denied boarding with covid or quarantine people should be very aware of their insurer's requirements.

 

As an aside I'm back in correspondence with Holiday Extras re their policy and non positive contacts due to a problem a friend had with the issue on another line.  If a reply is of any interest if and when it arrives I will post accordingly.

Yes please 

[happy v]

1 hour ago, davecttr said:

1 hour ago, Trevor Fountain said:

Yes, indeed.

 

So you should. It is not our responsibility to shoulder those who don't.

[Cruisemeister2002]

On 9/23/2022 at 9:34 PM, Mabbiesmum said:

I fully appreciate that cruise lines may need to have isolation cabins but it is dishonest to let people book those cabins in good faith and then be summarily moved just a few weeks or even days before sailing.

 

The cruise lines should advise passengers before final payment date that their cabin may be required as an isolation cabin and give them the opportunity to move to a different sailing or cabin.

 

By the time they are informed there are very few cabins left and not necessarily in acceptable locations.

 

My point is that yes I appreciate that passengers going down with Covid need isolating. But why oh why does P&O or any other cruise line need to move the area of isolation. All they need to do is compile some sort of statistical chart based on number of passengers and ship size. Set aside x amount of cabins plus 5 or 10% on top of that and allocate a section of whatever ship suitable for accessibility by staff deemed necessary to control and serve those with covid. Instead of disrupting passengers that have chosen a cabin to suit their needs only to find that at last minute . com these requirements have been shattered and whilst not completely ruining their cruise doesn't exactly enhance it. One last thing, before I bore you all to death. I wonder what the situation is on cruise ships frequented by American passengers. Do they have to put up with this situation ? As I have always been of the opinion regardless to pricing etc that they are better looked after than the Brits.