Posting cards from Britannia

[F-s Islander]

I paid to post 2 cards from Britannia on the Baltic cruise in May. We were promised the cards would be posted from the next port of call for a fee of £3.50 per card. The cards have not arrived after 6 weeks.  There was a pile of about 50 cards waiting when I left mine in reception, so I am just wondering if anyone has any experience of using the ship's service?

[Technoman2]

I remember posting cards in the Caribbean to the UK and it was less than 1$ and got here in 8 days. 

[david63]

1 hour ago, F-s Islander said:

I paid to post 2 cards from Britannia on the Baltic cruise in May. We were promised the cards would be posted from the next port of call for a fee of £3.50 per card. The cards have not arrived after 6 weeks.  There was a pile of about 50 cards waiting when I left mine in reception, so I am just wondering if anyone has any experience of using the ship's service?

It can be somewhat hit and miss with sending cards from the ship. If, for some reason, the cards are not taken off the ship at that port and the next port(s) is in a different country then they keep them onboard until the ship next visits that country (which in some cases it could be months, or even years) which is why we stopped sending cards from the ship - apart from the extortionate cost.

[F-s Islander]

We were told in Horizon:

"P&O Cruises uses a 'Concierge Postal Service' offering a flat rate for posting postcards or letters at £3.25 from today's port of call, to anywhere in the world. The postal service will close two hours before the back on board time"

I left mine in reception after breakfast when we were in Stockholm, several hours before back on board time and lots of other people had done the same, so I was wondering if any of them know if their mail was received.

I don't sent many cards these days, and usually post them myself in the port. This just seemed like a good opportunity, but I won't bother again. I don't think Britannia will be in Sweden again this year, so if they're holding on to them I think we should be told! Where to complain?

I have found that postcards from anywhere in the world normally arrive within 3 weeks, and have always had a good experience with post from Scandinavia.  I wouldn't be surprised if Royal Mail are sitting on them somewhere though.

[carlanthony24]

Every port about an hour or two before departure the cards are all given to the port agent who then posts it. P&O do not hold onto them. Unfortunately some take forever to get where they are going or get lost in transit.

[david63]

19 minutes ago, carlanthony24 said:

P&O do not hold onto them.

They do if for some reason the port agent does not take them until the ship is next in that country, which in some case could be the next day.

[F-s Islander]

That's good to know. I realised there's a risk but I can honestly say that I used to be a big user of postal services, in many countries, and only once or twice in my entire life did anything not arrive eventually (I'm in my late sixties..). I have actually had a lot more experience of emails never arriving in both directions, snail mail usually works - perhaps I've been lucky, but I've also always found mail to and from Sweden and Norway to be super fast. The cards were addressed to different locations so it sounds as if a whole bag may have been lost unless someone from the same cruise can tell me otherwise.. I'd be interested to hear if anyone sent post from that cruise that actually arrived!

[F-s Islander]

They do if for some reason the port agent does not take them until the ship is next in that country, which in some case could be the next day.

 

In my case Britannia won't be in Sweden again till next year - why can't they just post in the next country

[david63]

10 minutes ago, F-s Islander said:

In my case Britannia won't be in Sweden again till next year - why can't they just post in the next country

Because they have the wrong stamps on them.

 

There are some countries where they manage to get away with it or if there is a helpful port agent they will take them and put them on the next ship passing that way

[terrierjohn]

1 hour ago, F-s Islander said:

 

In my case Britannia won't be in Sweden again till next year - why can't they just post in the next country

Since each country has it's own postal service and postage stamps, then I dont think that is practical.

[F-s Islander]

I can see that's impractical, but in that case P&O should be a bit more careful before they take your money under false pretences. I am still wondering what happened to the other post I saw waiting to go, and it was literally hours before the cut off time. If they failed to deliver the post over to the agent or the agent failed in some way they should have contacted all passengers concerned for a refund. Someone surely would have known.

I will never do it again and will certainly make it known to them

[carlanthony24]

I can confirm when I worked on Oceana post was given to the port agent when they come onboard to do the final bits of paperwork for departure. If he/she did not come on for any reason we took them quayside where they would be waiting. All cards put into an envelope and sent where ever they need to go. Never known them to be left behind. 

[F-s Islander]

Thanks for that inside information. Fingers crossed it's the postal service and they'll arrive eventually.

I won't be trying again though!

[F-s Islander]

I am pleased to announce that one of my cards from Stockholm, left in reception on 16/05/2024 has finally been received.  Awaiting news of the others and it would be interesting to see if there's a legible postmark. probably not these days!

[F-s Islander]

In fact the postmark reveals that the card was posted in Sweden on 26/07 i.e. two months after I handed it in. In Roserberg which appears to be a central post office.

Rather weirdly the card bears the cruise number B312 which was the same cruise in 2023!

P&O do really need to explain what happened here!

[P&O SUE]

Interesting, I sent my grandson a card from Britannia mid June from Spain and he’s only just got it this week! They live in a flat so we thought it was this end as most of us in this area only get post once a week! The next port after was Spanish too.

 

I’ve sent them in the past and they normally take a week.

[F-s Islander]

That's interesting. Mine was received this week, posted in May, postmarked 26th July in Sweden - Britannia hasn't been in Sweden since our cruise as far as I know. I've now realised that B312 was our cabin number though so that's no longer a mystery! Still waiting for the arrival of the other card I sent.

I must say however, that cards actually posted in Spain in the past have taken quite a long time, up to a couple of months.

Our post is quite erratic here as well, but this card only took 5 days from the postmarked date, so I don't think in this case we can blame Royal Mail or the Swedish postal service - sounds like the agent doesn't do their job!