Do P &O Regularly Ring Pax 35 mins before last onboard time?

[tring]

This happened to DH yesterday at 35 mins before the half six deadline and he was not pleased.  We were told  by the Security Officer that the Admin Manager who had called was concerned about us as we had not returned to the ship!!!  

 

He only answered a call abroad as he is re arranging some medical apps, so could have been to do with that.  If they had rang my phone charges would have been incurred.

[majortom10]

3 minutes ago, tring said:

This happened to DH yesterday at 35 mins before the half six deadline and he was not pleased.  We were told  by the Security Officer that the Admin Manager who had called was concerned about us as we had not returned to the ship!!!  

 

He only answered a call abroad as he is re arranging some medical apps, so could have been to do with that.  If they had rang my phone charges would have been incurred.

Well you shouldn't have left it so late to get back to the ship. If you would have missed the ship you would have incurred more serious costs than a phone call.

[Yorkypete]

17 minutes ago, majortom10 said:

Well you shouldn't have left it so late to get back to the ship. If you would have missed the ship you would have incurred more serious costs than a phone call.

35 mins is not 'so late' as coaches with P&O excursions arrive after this. If they quote a time then they should not be contacting passengers before hand.

 

[FangedRose]

Was that time 'passengers on board', or 'sailing time'?

Passengers on board time is at least 30 mins before sailing time. Often upto an hour earlier.

Tour buses being later does not signify. They are on organised tours. They know where the passengers are, and on schedule.

Maybe, you were the only passengers not back on board?

If you are worried about incurring costs by receiving a phone call switch your phone off, or don't answer calls from numbers you don't recognise. After all, it could have a spammer calling you, and you would incur charges. 

Edited October 11, 2022 by FangedRose

[Josy1953]

34 minutes ago, tring said:

This happened to DH yesterday at 35 mins before the half six deadline and he was not pleased.  We were told  by the Security Officer that the Admin Manager who had called was concerned about us as we had not returned to the ship!!!  

 

He only answered a call abroad as he is re arranging some medical apps, so could have been to do with that.  If they had rang my phone charges would have been incurred.

When you say half six deadline was that the onboard deadline or the sail time ?

I have  never heard of them calling anyone before the onboard deadline but some passengers a few years ago told us that they received a phone call 10 minutes before sail time because only 3 of the 4 of them had registered when they got back on.

[Son of Anarchy]

Did get bing bonged over the tannoy once. "Mr & Mrs SoA please identify yourselves to a member of staff".   It was during muster drill.  We were on a B2B, had collected our new cruise cards the night before.  Went ashore whilst in Southampton.  Turned out the cruise cards hadn't been activated, so never registered properly when we returned to the ship.

[Bill Y]

DW has been phoned several times on the cabin phone to see if I was onboard. IIRC this was at tender ports while I still ashore and waiting for the last tender to sail, often the crew were keen to pack up and were trying to get permission from the ship to leave.

[Angel57]

I’ve never heard of it before either.

If 35 mins before pax onboard time then that is a tad early for them to be chasing you.

If 35 mins before sailing I think I would be pleased they were checking up on my whereabouts cos if you’d got your timings wrong then that phone call would save an awful lot of hassle and expense in rejoining ship at the next port…….

Did you find out if other passengers have similar calls?

 

[kalos]

We have been on a ship where several ships are in port and as the captain said ..

"everyone is on board ,so we will drop our lines and set sail earlier than planned "

Now if they had two passengers missing I would expect it reasonable to try and 

contact them. For all we know they could be sat in the buffet having a cuppa, as 

others have said, this has happened before .

[tring]

Interesting answers.  We are regular travelers and the Captain had even stressed in that morning's announcement that we could have a relaxed day until a 6.30pm all onboard time in his home port.  We could perhaps understand if we had left it to within 5-10 minutes of that 'all aboard' time, but being hassled 35 mins prior to that was in our opinion unacceptable.  

 

We have cruised quite lot with P&O in the past (though not since covid), as well as many other cruise lines and never known this previously.  We were in fact in a bar opposite the cruise ship, so had no chance whatsoever of not getting back.  We still returned 15 minutes before the all onboard time.  If the ship had wanted us back earlier than that, they could easily have set an earlier time.  Yes cruise ships do sometimes call out names over the tannoy, but not in our experience that long in advance.  I expect our names had been called out yesterday, but again, so long before the all aboard time seems very unreasonable to us.

 

Appointments are all sorted now, so phone will not be answered again whilst on this ship.  We always take the daily sheet with us, so can contact the port agent if we have any problem.

 

 

Edited October 11, 2022 by tring

[majortom10]

Sorry but wouldn't dream of sitting in a bar 15 minutes before onboard time.

[Cathygh]

47 minutes ago, tring said:

Interesting answers.  We are regular travelers and the Captain had even stressed in that morning's announcement that we could have a relaxed day until a 6.30pm all onboard time in his home port.  We could perhaps understand if we had left it to within 5-10 minutes of that 'all aboard' time, but being hassled 35 mins prior to that was in our opinion unacceptable.  

 

We have cruised quite lot with P&O in the past (though not since covid), as well as many other cruise lines and never known this previously.  We were in fact in a bar opposite the cruise ship, so had no chance whatsoever of not getting back.  We still returned 15 minutes before the all onboard time.  If the ship had wanted us back earlier than that, they could easily have set an earlier time.  Yes cruise ships do sometimes call out names over the tannoy, but not in our experience that long in advance.  I expect our names had been called out yesterday, but again, so long before the all aboard time seems very unreasonable to us.

 

Appointments are all sorted now, so phone will not be answered again whilst on this ship.  We always take the daily sheet with us, so can contact the port agent if we have any problem.

 

 

I don't recall any passenger's names being called out yesterday. I remember thinking it was unusual not to hear someone being named and shamed!

[tring]

5 minutes ago, Cathygh said:

I don't recall any passenger's names being called out yesterday. I remember thinking it was unusual not to hear someone being named and shamed!

 

Thanks Cathy, though hardly a shame at that time. 

 

Perhaps it is how P&O work now with so many ports constantly repeated there will be lots of folk just wanting to spend time on ships rather than to visit various places and what P&O will want as well, probably.  Something that is very different to cruise lines we have travelled with in recent years.

 

[Megabear2]

Never had it with P&O but had a strange one on Cunard world cruise in Jordan.  Late departure at midnight, all onboard 11.30pm.  My two American friends and I booked a private excursion to Petra followed by early evening in the Wadi to see the sunset and then tea in a Bedouin tent.  Scheduled arrival back at QM2 was for us 10.45pm.  Slight delay with traffic we arrived back at 11.00pm to find everything cleared away with one man waiting at the gangways. He was very short with us but we thought nothing of it and went for a drink to watch the ship sail on time at midnight.

 

Next morning was a collect your passport day as we were at sea.  At the table oours could not be located anywhere. We were told to leave it while they looked into it.  Two hours later our names were called to go to reception where we were lectured on our late arrival back. My friend stated we were half an hour inside the all onboard time and had done nothing wrong.  We were told our passports were withheld as they thought we had overstayed and missed the ship.

 

That evening at dinner our table companions told us crew had come round at 8.45pm the night before searching for us and demanding if anyone knew our whereabouts.  When told where we were apparently lots of hand wringing and frowns occurred because apart from us everyone else was back onboard.  We never did get to the bottom of what the problem was!

[tring]

5 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

Never had it with P&O but had a strange one on Cunard world cruise in Jordan.  Late departure at midnight, all onboard 11.30pm.  My two American friends and I booked a private excursion to Petra followed by early evening in the Wadi to see the sunset and then tea in a Bedouin tent.  Scheduled arrival back at QM2 was for us 10.45pm.  Slight delay with traffic we arrived back at 11.00pm to find everything cleared away with one man waiting at the gangways. He was very short with us but we thought nothing of it and went for a drink to watch the ship sail on time at midnight.

 

Next morning was a collect your passport day as we were at sea.  At the table oours could not be located anywhere. We were told to leave it while they looked into it.  Two hours later our names were called to go to reception where we were lectured on our late arrival back. My friend stated we were half an hour inside the all onboard time and had done nothing wrong.  We were told our passports were withheld as they thought we had overstayed and missed the ship.

 

That evening at dinner our table companions told us crew had come round at 8.45pm the night before searching for us and demanding if anyone knew our whereabouts.  When told where we were apparently lots of hand wringing and frowns occurred because apart from us everyone else was back onboard.  We never did get to the bottom of what the problem was!

 

Unbelievable.

 

[molecrochip]

Passenger traffic in port is not an exact science but does follow some very common patterns. Mass exodus once the ship has docked, crew exodus around lunchtime, no one getting off ship in the last 60 minutes etc.

 

The same applies with getting back on. Some ports have passengers returning in a fair flow all day, especially if you are berthed in town. Some see a mass return in the hour before departure. The ship can monitor the outstanding passenger numbers.

 

Just sometimes everyone arrives back early. It does happen, especially if you land in a port where nothing is open on a Sunday. When it does, and only a few passengers are missing, its a courtesy to ensure that everything is ok.

 

Lets say its 40 mins to departure and only two passengers are not back on board. Experience will tell Security that either they managed to get back back on board without scanning, or something untoward may be occurring.

 

This leads to the other reason that you may have been called. Its possible that a crew member had mis-scanned a card or was manually entering an order and tried to put some drinks through on your room when the computer knew that all occupants of that room were on shore. As a security function, it gets referred to the Purser's office.

 

[grapau27]

4 hours ago, tring said:

Interesting answers.  We are regular travelers and the Captain had even stressed in that morning's announcement that we could have a relaxed day until a 6.30pm all onboard time in his home port.  We could perhaps understand if we had left it to within 5-10 minutes of that 'all aboard' time, but being hassled 35 mins prior to that was in our opinion unacceptable.  

 

We have cruised quite lot with P&O in the past (though not since covid), as well as many other cruise lines and never known this previously.  We were in fact in a bar opposite the cruise ship, so had no chance whatsoever of not getting back.  We still returned 15 minutes before the all onboard time.  If the ship had wanted us back earlier than that, they could easily have set an earlier time.  Yes cruise ships do sometimes call out names over the tannoy, but not in our experience that long in advance.  I expect our names had been called out yesterday, but again, so long before the all aboard time seems very unreasonable to us.

 

Appointments are all sorted now, so phone will not be answered again whilst on this ship.  We always take the daily sheet with us, so can contact the port agent if we have any problem.

 

 

I hope you enjoy the rest of your cruise.

I have never heard of anyone getting a phone call and it has never been mentioned on any forums I have been on.

Best regards.

Graham.

[Red Leicester]

I'd rather take a call than miss the boat.  If the ship had sailed bang on time with two missing there'd be complaints too about not having some contingency.  P&O are damned is they do and damned if they don't sometimes.

I am genuinely amazed that 4000 people get off a ship for eight hours and 4000 make it back on time after time after time.  That said would I know if someone missed it other than the tannoys.

[P&O SUE]

18 hours ago, kalos said:

We have been on a ship where several ships are in port and as the captain said ..

"everyone is on board ,so we will drop our lines and set sail earlier than planned "

Now if they had two passengers missing I would expect it reasonable to try and 

contact them. For all we know they could be sat in the buffet having a cuppa, as 

others have said, this has happened before .

We had Captain Turnbull on a 12 night cruise to the Canaries in 2015, we thought he was great fun but every port he left at least 20 minutes early! Think he was on a bonus 😊

[Angel57]

6 minutes ago, P&O SUE said:

We had Captain Turnbull on a 12 night cruise to the Canaries in 2015, we thought he was great fun but every port he left at least 20 minutes early! Think he was on a bonus 😊

Really like sailing with Captain Turnbull. I always remember him letting the crew off first in Mumbai as he said it was important they had the maximum amount of time with their families. I heard no complaints from passengers (altho I’m sure a few grumps would have tutted!).

[P&O SUE]

11 minutes ago, Angel57 said:

Really like sailing with Captain Turnbull. I always remember him letting the crew off first in Mumbai as he said it was important they had the maximum amount of time with their families. I heard no complaints from passengers (altho I’m sure a few grumps would have tutted!).

That was nice of him. His announcements used to make us laugh, especially when he always said how many miles we were from his home town! And apologised for the ‘pot holes’ when it was a bit bumpy!

[Angel57]

26 minutes ago, P&O SUE said:

That was nice of him. His announcements used to make us laugh, especially when he always said how many miles we were from his home town! And apologised for the ‘pot holes’ when it was a bit bumpy!

Yes - and getting us down the gangways at the speed of a thousand gazelles (which became tut tuts in Vietnam!).

[pete14]

17 hours ago, Cathygh said:

I don't recall any passenger's names being called out yesterday. I remember thinking it was unusual not to hear someone being named and shamed!

‘Named and shamed’? What better way is there to check that people are back on board before departure than using the ship’s communication systems? My wife was ‘called’ in this way some years ago. She was on the ship so she rang the number they gave and told them so. No problem. How on earth could she be ‘shamed’ when only a small handful of people onboard knew who she was. It is just a name that means nothing to anybody else. Far better this way, than sailing on schedule and the captain not being certain that everybody is back onboard, or if not, who is missing. 

[lincslady]

And  I suppose a bit of an excuse would be  that everyone else was on, and they hoped to get the gangway up early if possible.  Which I have seen happen, and even sailed early.

[CaptainPedantic]

We were once called 20 minutes AFTER leaving Gibraltar to check that our 5-year-old son had got back on board with us 😄 I suppose they will have been pretty confident we wouldn't have got back on without him, but still not sure what would have happened if we'd said no!