Maleth confirms end of P&O partnership

[Leomins]

4 minutes ago, kevboy said:

I was able to book seats today for Arvia k326 dec 22 to Barbados, They cost £90 return and seating configuration is 3-3-3. Interestingly, the seats at the front aircraft are blocked out and therefore unavailable for booking. I wonder why? these could possibly be premium quality seats. The displayed seating plan is also very confusing by indicating that some centre seats in the window sections are also not for booking. Can anyone throw any light on this ?

kev

The seats at the front are the premium seats.

Are you travelling solo? If so, you wouldn’t be allowed to book a middle seat as it would be harder to sell the window seat.

[kevboy]

If front seats are premium as I suspect, why having booked and paid for premium have I been refunded the cost and been told that there are none on this aircraft? Also, I am not a solo there are 4 in my party.

kev

[T101]

P&O told me that it was a one class cabin with NO premium seats. I am 6’4” and had no choice other than pay an outrageous £195 for two extra legroom seats, on what appears to be very much a second rate “Ryanair” flight.

With over a week delay in being able to book seats the whole system has been an absolute shambles. P&O were unable to provide any assistance or comfort during the delay. A disappointment and a disgrace.

This is our first time on Arvia and on this type of cruise. Fingers crossed things get better once we are on board! 🥴

[Cumbrian1]

30 minutes ago, kevboy said:

I was able to book seats today for Arvia k326 dec 22 to Barbados, They cost £90 return and seating configuration is 3-3-3. Interestingly, the seats at the front aircraft are blocked out and therefore unavailable for booking. I wonder why? these could possibly be premium quality seats. The displayed seating plan is also very confusing by indicating that some centre seats in the window sections are also not for booking. Can anyone throw any light on this ?

kev

I took screenshots during the process of booking our two extra legroom seats on flight MLT 1975 Barbados - Manchester on 10 Nov 23.

Several sets of seats are blocked throughout the plane including the 12 Business Class. My first thought was they hand transferred the PE seats already booked across but I've  no idea really!

[Leomins]

25 minutes ago, kevboy said:

If front seats are premium as I suspect, why having booked and paid for premium have I been refunded the cost and been told that there are none on this aircraft? Also, I am not a solo there are 4 in my party.

kev

Sorry, as you said the configuration was 3-3-3, I assumed you were on a TUI flight. Someone previously said their Maleth flight was 2-4-2 but Maleth must be using different plane types on different flights.

[Megabear2]

46 minutes ago, kevboy said:

If front seats are premium as I suspect, why having booked and paid for premium have I been refunded the cost and been told that there are none on this aircraft? Also, I am not a solo there are 4 in my party.

kev

It was stated if any premium seats were available they would be given to people in the order they booked.  Assumedly they would be early bookers.  I think a total of 9 or 12 possible seats was mentioned so if the maximum number had been sold there wouldn't be enough seats for all.

 

 

[Interestedcruisefan]

Ive checked and we've  got Maleth from Manchester to Barbados in February

 

If I'm still posting on here then will give an honest review good and bad compared to Tui dreamliner

 

Bearing in mind I love dreamliners I can't see it being anywhere near as good. But we won't let it spoil or stop our holiday 

 

Even if it's awful

 

As I've always said just get us there safely please first priority of flying

Edited October 5, 2023 by Interestedcruisefan

[Megabear2]

38 minutes ago, T101 said:

P&O told me that it was a one class cabin with NO premium seats. I am 6’4” and had no choice other than pay an outrageous £195 for two extra legroom seats, on what appears to be very much a second rate “Ryanair” flight.

With over a week delay in being able to book seats the whole system has been an absolute shambles. P&O were unable to provide any assistance or comfort during the delay. A disappointment and a disgrace.

This is our first time on Arvia and on this type of cruise. Fingers crossed things get better once we are on board! 🥴

I'm sorry you had so many problems.  The entire P&O flight system was down from Thursday 21 September and this apparently affected all flight seat reservations including the TUI ones.  

 

Wishing you a great holiday.

[T101]

1 hour ago, Megabear2 said:

I'm sorry you had so many problems.  The entire P&O flight system was down from Thursday 21 September and this apparently affected all flight seat reservations including the TUI ones.  

 

Wishing you a great holiday.

Am I correct in thinking you work for P&O. If you are it is pleasing that you responded to my complaint.

Problems occur and systems fail. However, the way P&O responded (or lack of response) to this crisis was disgraceful. Nothing was posted on its web site acknowledging thee problem. Customers were left completely in the dark trying to access the booking web site for a week. The telephone agents were not able to give any assistance, but only meekly apologies.

[Megabear2]

12 minutes ago, T101 said:

Am I correct in thinking you work for P&O. If you are it is pleasing that you responded to my complaint.

Problems occur and systems fail. However, the way P&O responded (or lack of response) to this crisis was disgraceful. Nothing was posted on its web site acknowledging thee problem. Customers were left completely in the dark trying to access the booking web site for a week. The telephone agents were not able to give any assistance, but only meekly apologies.

No I'm sorry I do not work for P&O.  However I was tasked with reserving a seat for a friend on her 30 December flight and paying her balance in the period before as she was on Aurora mid Atlantic at the time.

 

I obviously had to pay the balance first and due to severe problems with the telephone I cheekily used a private contact to find out the problem.  I received a call from that person and paid the balance via her - I'd been unable to use the internet payment as it was also offline.  During that conversation I was told that seat booking was down and had been for a few days.

 

This was confirmed when I was unable to reserve the seat, eventually accidentally getting in st 1.00am on Monday morning.  Although the seat was reserved I kept checking the site as I have to reserve my own flight seats tomorrow.  It did not come up fully functional until yesterday.

 

I hope that explains better.

[Cash123]

Well our tales of woe continues, we received an email yesterday from P & O saying they would nut allow us to take a mobility scooter on board due to health & saftey, thery did suggest I conntact a company they recommend to hire a motorise wheelchair however when I spoke to them they told me they dont do hires for caribbean cruises so gthat was a waste of time, anyway I managed to speak to P & O this morning trying to find out why we had been refused even though the scooter meets the requirements on dimensions, the girl kep telling me it was because there is not enough room in the cabin which is strange as last week we were able to upgfade to a full suite for the very reason of having more spasce.

 

After o asked if there was someone higher up I could talk to so they could explain whey we cant take a scooter the girl put the phone down on me !!!!!!!!.

 

Our only alternative is to now take a manual wheelchair but we found out today that our 4 freinds who I booked on one booking who found out last week that they had been moved to the Maleth flight are now going from South Terminal whereas we are in the North terninal so they wont be able to help us with the wheelchair and all our luggage, we have all said never again would we go with P & O, the service we have received and the rudeness of the staff is unbelievable and so un-professional.

[Megabear2]

11 minutes ago, Cash123 said:

Well our tales of woe continues, we received an email yesterday from P & O saying they would nut allow us to take a mobility scooter on board due to health & saftey, thery did suggest I conntact a company they recommend to hire a motorise wheelchair however when I spoke to them they told me they dont do hires for caribbean cruises so gthat was a waste of time, anyway I managed to speak to P & O this morning trying to find out why we had been refused even though the scooter meets the requirements on dimensions, the girl kep telling me it was because there is not enough room in the cabin which is strange as last week we were able to upgfade to a full suite for the very reason of having more spasce.

 

After o asked if there was someone higher up I could talk to so they could explain whey we cant take a scooter the girl put the phone down on me !!!!!!!!.

 

Our only alternative is to now take a manual wheelchair but we found out today that our 4 freinds who I booked on one booking who found out last week that they had been moved to the Maleth flight are now going from South Terminal whereas we are in the North terninal so they wont be able to help us with the wheelchair and all our luggage, we have all said never again would we go with P & O, the service we have received and the rudeness of the staff is unbelievable and so un-professional.

Did you complete a form for disability requirements?  Unfortunately there are very strict rules on these motorised wheelchairs and you should have been told at the time of booking (did you book direct or via a travel agent) that you would need an accessible cabin for one.  

 

No excuse for the rudeness but unfortunately the agent is correct you cannot take one of these unless you are in an accessible cabin.

 

 

[Cash123]

2 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

Did you complete a form for disability requirements?  Unfortunately there are very strict rules on these motorised wheelchairs and you should have been told at the time of booking (did you book direct or via a travel agent) that you would need an accessible cabin for one.  

 

No excuse for the rudeness but unfortunately the agent is correct you cannot take one of these unless you are in an accessible cabin.

 

 

I have to say that I think our TA has to take some of the blame as when we booked we did say we wanted to tale a mobility scooter and she said that our conservatory suite we booked would be ok, we then filled out the questionairre and upgraded to a full suite,  we then got the email saying its not allowed, I can live with the fact we now have to take a manual wheelchair my main gripe now is the fact that our freinds who I was counting on to help with all the luggage at gatwick are now going from a different terminal, I will never understand how they could break up a group booking especially when we all had the TUI flight showing up on our personaliser.

[terrierjohn]

2 hours ago, Cash123 said:

Well our tales of woe continues, we received an email yesterday from P & O saying they would nut allow us to take a mobility scooter on board due to health & saftey, thery did suggest I conntact a company they recommend to hire a motorise wheelchair however when I spoke to them they told me they dont do hires for caribbean cruises so gthat was a waste of time, anyway I managed to speak to P & O this morning trying to find out why we had been refused even though the scooter meets the requirements on dimensions, the girl kep telling me it was because there is not enough room in the cabin which is strange as last week we were able to upgfade to a full suite for the very reason of having more spasce.

 

After o asked if there was someone higher up I could talk to so they could explain whey we cant take a scooter the girl put the phone down on me !!!!!!!!.

 

Our only alternative is to now take a manual wheelchair but we found out today that our 4 freinds who I booked on one booking who found out last week that they had been moved to the Maleth flight are now going from South Terminal whereas we are in the North terninal so they wont be able to help us with the wheelchair and all our luggage, we have all said never again would we go with P & O, the service we have received and the rudeness of the staff is unbelievable and so un-professional.

If you are in a suite then you should be able to take a scooter, P&O states to take an electric scooter you need to book either an accessible cabin or a suite.

[CarlaMarie]

1 hour ago, terrierjohn said:

If you are in a suite then you should be able to take a scooter, P&O states to take an electric scooter you need to book either an accessible cabin or a suite.

 

@Cash123 Here is a list of selected suites that mobility scooters are accepted. It is on the website, but Arvia is not listed (nor Iona). Might be worth asking them to provide you with an upto date list. This email address is listed if you have any queries: accessibility@carnivalukgroup.com

Suites and Mini Suites in which mobility scooters are permitted (not accessible cabins).pdf

Edited October 5, 2023 by CarlaMarie

[Cash123]

I did look on the website and found this but when I click on it a screen comes up saying you do not have permission to access this page !!!!!!, as far as emailing them Im still waiting for a reply to an email I sent last weekend so im not sure its worth spending any more time on this.

 

The Mobility Aid must not be classed as a Mobility Scooter. For advice on travelling with a Mobility Scooter, please see our Mobility Scooter Policy or Which cabins are suitable for a full time wheelchair user or a mobility scooter user?

 

 

[Troops73]

It would be great to hear that some of you are willing to use this airline before complaining, surely you can only complain once you have had the bad experience!

[Cash123]

29 minutes ago, Troops73 said:

It would be great to hear that some of you are willing to use this airline before complaining, surely you can only complain once you have had the bad experience!

I think the problem is when you book your cruise and are told you will be flying with a certain airline in this case TUI then you assume you will be flying in a dreamliner with seat back entertainment and food & drink during the flight, you may be lucky to be able to book premium seats, you then get informed that you will not be going on this airline but with an airline that no one has heard off, only has one class of cabin and no inflight entertainment.

 

I beleive under these circumstances people have every right to complain, lets face it the flight should be the start of  exciting times ahead but for many of us due to these changes that feeling has gone.

[TigerB]

2 hours ago, Troops73 said:

It would be great to hear that some of you are willing to use this airline before complaining, surely you can only complain once you have had the bad experience!

 

Welcome to the CC forums!👋

 

If you've read all the posts in this thread you will notice that some folk don't need to try the sub-standard service offered by Maleth Aero to know that it will be of no use to them, and thus have a legitimate reason to moan.  I am talking about those who may have severe mobility problems, and for whom the only comfortable and bearable way to fly is in a premium economy cabin or higher.  For those folk, and we are included in that demographic, not having a seat in premium economy is a deal breaker.

So, for us, cruise cancelled!😞

 

 

[molecrochip]

On 10/5/2023 at 9:13 PM, Cash123 said:

I have to say that I think our TA has to take some of the blame as when we booked we did say we wanted to tale a mobility scooter and she said that our conservatory suite we booked would be ok, we then filled out the questionairre and upgraded to a full suite,  we then got the email saying its not allowed, I can live with the fact we now have to take a manual wheelchair my main gripe now is the fact that our freinds who I was counting on to help with all the luggage at gatwick are now going from a different terminal, I will never understand how they could break up a group booking especially when we all had the TUI flight showing up on our personaliser.

Your TA should take all of the blame here.

 

There are no conservatory suites on Arvia or Iona which can accept a mobility scooter. This is common knowledge amongst travel agents and has been made clear time and time again by P&O.

 

You may have now upgraded to a full suite however if its one at the front of the ship, they are not suitable for mobility scooters as they have a kink in the corridor just after entering the cabin which most scooters cannot navigate. Even the deck 8 family suites have a 90 degree turn straight after entering the cabin.

[snaefell]

2 hours ago, Cash123 said:

I think the problem is when you book your cruise and are told you will be flying with a certain airline in this case TUI then you assume you will be flying in a dreamliner with seat back entertainment and food & drink during the flight, you may be lucky to be able to book premium seats, you then get informed that you will not be going on this airline but with an airline that no one has heard off, only has one class of cabin and no inflight entertainment.

 

I beleive under these circumstances people have every right to complain, lets face it the flight should be the start of  exciting times ahead but for many of us due to these changes that feeling has gone.

Good old package deals often didn't specify an airline or aircraft type,you typically didn't find out what the aircraft was until you reached the check in desk,you found out the airline when you saw the plane!

It didn't really matter as long as we got there!!!

[molecrochip]

On 10/5/2023 at 11:59 PM, CarlaMarie said:

 

@Cash123 Here is a list of selected suites that mobility scooters are accepted. It is on the website, but Arvia is not listed (nor Iona). Might be worth asking them to provide you with an upto date list. This email address is listed if you have any queries: accessibility@carnivalukgroup.com

Suites and Mini Suites in which mobility scooters are permitted (not accessible cabins).pdf 390.19 kB · 5 downloads

This is the list you want. https://www.pocruises.com/content/dam/po/pdfs/PO Accessible Cabin List.pdf

 

Mobility scooters can go in any Accessible cabin but not Partially Accessible cabin.

[zap99]

1 hour ago, TigerB said:

 

Welcome to the CC forums!👋

 

If you've read all the posts in this thread you will notice that some folk don't need to try the sub-standard service offered by Maleth Aero to know that it will be of no use to them, and thus have a legitimate reason to moan.  I am talking about those who may have severe mobility problems, and for whom the only comfortable and bearable way to fly is in a premium economy cabin or higher.  For those folk, and we are included in that demographic, not having a seat in premium economy is a deal breaker.

So, for us, cruise cancelled!😞

 

 

After our first longhaul economy flight about 30+ years ago we said ' never again ' Premium was booked and agreed with P&O. No PE, no flight. Our choice. If other folk are OK with economy longhaul, that is their choice.

[TigerB]

2 minutes ago, zap99 said:

After our first longhaul economy flight about 30+ years ago we said ' never again ' Premium was booked and agreed with P&O. No PE, no flight. Our choice. If other folk are OK with economy longhaul, that is their choice.

 

Spot on!👍

[zap99]

23 minutes ago, snaefell said:

Good old package deals often didn't specify an airline or aircraft type,you typically didn't find out what the aircraft was until you reached the check in desk,you found out the airline when you saw the plane!

It didn't really matter as long as we got there!!!

I don't think we have ever booked a holiday and didn't know the airline.