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Accessible cabins on Britannia


happytravelleruk
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As far as I can remember they are no different in height to those in standard cabins, although there is much more room around them to manoeuvre. Will check with my kids when they get home because they were an allocated an accessible cabin on Britannia even though they didn't need it.

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As far as I can remember they are no different in height to those in standard cabins, although there is much more room around them to manoeuvre. Will check with my kids when they get home because they were an allocated an accessible cabin on Britannia even though they didn't need it.

Out of curiosity was this a last minute booking for your

kids or booked in advance. I am getting more and more annoyed in the last few weeks regarding people getting accessible cabins when they don't need them. Obviously not blaming the people getting them just the agents/P and O for allocating them. It's bad enough that scooter users who don't need all of the facilities have to use them as they are not allowed standard cabins without non disabled people being given them. I was involved in a discussion on facebook where a lady was allocated an accessible cabin when she booked for Feb 2019 . That is so wrong. I am dreading trying to get an accessible cabin for 2019 when they go on sale on the 13th.

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That's good of you. I really need to know in inches. I am assuming 19" but I have been in many a 'disabled' loo which was only 15".

'

 

happytravelleruk, daughter says toilet was a little higher than standard, but not by much. I'm sure if you contact P&O they will be able to tell you the precise height, or find out for you.

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Out of curiosity was this a last minute booking for your

kids or booked in advance. I am getting more and more annoyed in the last few weeks regarding people getting accessible cabins when they don't need them. Obviously not blaming the people getting them just the agents/P and O for allocating them. It's bad enough that scooter users who don't need all of the facilities have to use them as they are not allowed standard cabins without non disabled people being given them. I was involved in a discussion on facebook where a lady was allocated an accessible cabin when she booked for Feb 2019 . That is so wrong. I am dreading trying to get an accessible cabin for 2019 when they go on sale on the 13th.

 

stocktonmackem - no it wasn't a last minute booking. We booked Select in Jan or Feb 2014, direct with P&O, for a Christmas cruise in December 2015. Although we booked Select we were one of the first to experience the "guaranteed" booking, where we could not book our precise cabin numbers but were only guaranteed our preferred grade. Of course we wanted cabins near to each other. No-one was more surprised than us when we arrived on board and found the cabin allocated to the children was an accessible cabin, and we did query it.

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stocktonmackem - no it wasn't a last minute booking. We booked Select in Jan or Feb 2014, direct with P&O, for a Christmas cruise in December 2015. Although we booked Select we were one of the first to experience the "guaranteed" booking, where we could not book our precise cabin numbers but were only guaranteed our preferred grade. Of course we wanted cabins near to each other. No-one was more surprised than us when we arrived on board and found the cabin allocated to the children was an accessible cabin, and we did query it.

Thank you for replying, it just seems they do what they like nowadays. I don't think they even realise what they are doing half the time. I will be facing the minefield on the 13th hopefully booking two cruises if the cabins are available. x

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I was wondering if anyone knows how high the toilets are in these cabins. Thanks

My husband uses a shower/commode to access the toilet and I have just measured it and it is 19ins deep. If i remember correctly it only has a small gap between top of chair and toilet. Hope this helps

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I'm with stocktonmackem on this one. There is a March 19 cruise that we wanted to go on but can't as all accessible balcony cabins are booked, yet I find that people who don't need an accessible cabin are either able to book them or are allocated them. This is wrong and a serious issue that P&O needs to resolve. Genuinely disabled passengers are being prevented from booking holidays as a result. I can't help but feel that accessible cabins should only be sold to wheelchair or scooter users. I fear that they may be going the way of assisted embarkation and disembarkation i.e. being abused by some people who perceive some advantage, yet would perhaps be slower to embrace the level of disability that goes with being a full time wheelchair user.

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I'm with stocktonmackem on this one. There is a March 19 cruise that we wanted to go on but can't as all accessible balcony cabins are booked, yet I find that people who don't need an accessible cabin are either able to book them or are allocated them. This is wrong and a serious issue that P&O needs to resolve. Genuinely disabled passengers are being prevented from booking holidays as a result. I can't help but feel that accessible cabins should only be sold to wheelchair or scooter users. I fear that they may be going the way of assisted embarkation and disembarkation i.e. being abused by some people who perceive some advantage, yet would perhaps be slower to embrace the level of disability that goes with being a full time wheelchair user.

The annoying thing about this booking was the fact that it was actually done on board Azura last week. How on earth can the agent do this. I feel so strongly about it that I am going to email Mr Edgington to get him to get the agents re-trained. I can understand it if it was a couple of months before but not 19months. Yes they will probably get moved but that is not the point. If I rang up tomorrow to try and book the cabin will they remember that the person they sold it to is not disabled . I don't think so.

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In our case I think we were allocated the accessible cabin because we booked insides. This is pure gut feeling, but with the "guaranteed" system I think they allocate all the balconies and more expensive cabins, then fill in the gaps. At the time of booking I was furious that despite booking Select we could not choose our cabin numbers. However the person at P&O offered us 2 restricted view balcony cabins if we wanted to pick our cabin numbers at booking.

 

I agree with you and Selbourne that it is totally wrong that people who need these cabins can't get them and P&O need to sort this sharpish. I will have everything crossed for you that you get your cabin on 13th.

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I have always assumed that guarantee passengers being assigned an accessible cabin is normally due to a late cancellation, which can happen. Even if P&O provided a waiting list for this it is probable that it might not be possible for anyone on the wait list to take up the offer at the time.

However I can only assume the one booked 19 months out was a mistake, since all passengers booked in a disabled cabin have to fill out a disability questionnaire, at which point the mistake will be noticed.

I am often critical of P&O's customer service, but generally in relation to accessibility they are excellent.

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I have always assumed that guarantee passengers being assigned an accessible cabin is normally due to a late cancellation, which can happen. Even if P&O provided a waiting list for this it is probable that it might not be possible for anyone on the wait list to take up the offer at the time.

However I can only assume the one booked 19 months out was a mistake, since all passengers booked in a disabled cabin have to fill out a disability questionnaire, at which point the mistake will be noticed.

I am often critical of P&O's customer service, but generally in relation to accessibility they are excellent.

I would agree with you normally John but the lady in question was actually on board Azura when she booked so you would expect that they would have realised it was an accessible cabin. I have always had good things to say about customer service etc but this isn't the first time in the last couple of weeks that I have heard that someone has been given an accessible cabin. A regular poster on one of the forums went to book a single cabin and was given an accessible cabin as there weren't any singles left. Another one was given an accessible cabin because she needed two baby cots, how is that fair. These were on med cruises where people are crying out for accessible cabins.

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I would agree with you normally John but the lady in question was actually on board Azura when she booked so you would expect that they would have realised it was an accessible cabin. I have always had good things to say about customer service etc but this isn't the first time in the last couple of weeks that I have heard that someone has been given an accessible cabin. A regular poster on one of the forums went to book a single cabin and was given an accessible cabin as there weren't any singles left. Another one was given an accessible cabin because she needed two baby cots, how is that fair. These were on med cruises where people are crying out for accessible cabins.

Pat (?), you are far more active on face cloth than I am, and I am more sceptical of the honesty of FB posters. I would want to see some more believable posts about these issues before I begin to worry that P&O are disadvtaging disabled passengers, more than they already have with their scooter policy.

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The annoying thing about this booking was the fact that it was actually done on board Azura last week. How on earth can the agent do this. I feel so strongly about it that I am going to email Mr Edgington to get him to get the agents re-trained. I can understand it if it was a couple of months before but not 19months. Yes they will probably get moved but that is not the point. If I rang up tomorrow to try and book the cabin will they remember that the person they sold it to is not disabled . I don't think so.

 

 

 

Pat was the cruise in the Caribbean? I suspect that on most sailings which involve flying the number of cruisers wanting them goes down.

 

I am just thinking of the hassle of flying as a disabled person.

 

Dai

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

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Pat (?), you are far more active on face cloth than I am, and I am more sceptical of the honesty of FB posters. I would want to see some more believable posts about these issues before I begin to worry that P&O are disadvtaging disabled passengers, more than they already have with their scooter policy.

One of the guys was a regular poster who I know would not make stories up. He was upset about it and rang back and they changed it to a different room. I agree that you shouldn't always believe what you read but on this occasion I had no reason to disbelieve him. I have calmed down a bit now although if you pinch my cabin again it might be different haha x

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Pat was the cruise in the Caribbean? I suspect that on most sailings which involve flying the number of cruisers wanting them goes down.

 

I am just thinking of the hassle of flying as a disabled person.

 

Dai

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

Not all of them Dai, I agree with the fly cruises being harder for us but at the same time I still don't think they should be given 19 months in advance.

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Hi, Stocktonmackem. Totally agree with you about the misuse of accessible cabins. I have been in contact with P&O over 4 years about that particular subject and other disability problems some I'm pleased to say have been remedied. They know there is a problem over the booking of accessible cabins and I have made lots of suggestions on how the situation could be sorted; all of which fell on deaf ears I'm afraid.

It is nice to see other people have the same concerns and could I suggest that you and any other disgruntled disabled cruisers contact P&O directly because the more people who do they will hopefully listen and make the necessary changes. I don't know if you are aware but P&O have a so called Disability Section but the direct line phone number is not shown on the website so you can't ring , you have to go through Customer Service who don't want to put you through(disabled section that you can'contact?). The person you need to talk to is the Disability Manager Paula Bown her contact e-mail is Paula.Bown@carnivalukgroup.com

It is good to discuss grievances and experiences with other members but you need to go direct with the companies if change is to be made

Best of luck CB.

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Hi, Stocktonmackem. Totally agree with you about the misuse of accessible cabins. I have been in contact with P&O over 4 years about that particular subject and other disability problems some I'm pleased to say have been remedied. They know there is a problem over the booking of accessible cabins and I have made lots of suggestions on how the situation could be sorted; all of which fell on deaf ears I'm afraid.

It is nice to see other people have the same concerns and could I suggest that you and any other disgruntled disabled cruisers contact P&O directly because the more people who do they will hopefully listen and make the necessary changes. I don't know if you are aware but P&O have a so called Disability Section but the direct line phone number is not shown on the website so you can't ring , you have to go through Customer Service who don't want to put you through(disabled section that you can'contact?). The person you need to talk to is the Disability Manager Paula Bown her contact e-mail is Paula.Bown@carnivalukgroup.com

It is good to discuss grievances and experiences with other members but you need to go direct with the companies if change is to be made

Best of luck CB.

Thank you CB, I will certainly send an email. I know you can't always believe what people say on social media but it seems to be people are saying they got an accessible cabin on a regular basis.

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Hi Stocktonmackem, thanks for your reply.You see evidence of accessible cabin misuse every time you cruise .Its only when people start contacting P&O on mass that changes are likely to made. Dont be put off with their first response and stick at it,make suggestions on how you think the misuse could be stopped etc;

 

Regards CB.

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Have today managed to secure an Accessible Balcony Cabin for our October cruise on Aurora, having been told some months ago that they were all sold out. I presume that this is as a result of a cancellation rather than an upgrade, as none of the Suites or Mini-Suites on Aurora are accessible, so whilst I am sorry that someone has been forced to cancel, I am delighted that we have been able to get an accessible cabin - in fact the same one that we had in May. Mrs Selbourne is very happy! Thank you P&O.

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Have today managed to secure an Accessible Balcony Cabin for our October cruise on Aurora, having been told some months ago that they were all sold out. I presume that this is as a result of a cancellation rather than an upgrade, as none of the Suites or Mini-Suites on Aurora are accessible, so whilst I am sorry that someone has been forced to cancel, I am delighted that we have been able to get an accessible cabin - in fact the same one that we had in May. Mrs Selbourne is very happy! Thank you P&O.

Nice one, enjoy your cruise when the time comes.

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