Unable to go?

Due to go on the oriana this Thursday 23rd but unable to go because of urgent appointment would not be covered by insurance and no refund from p&o anybody found themselves in the same position any ideas what I can do.

Really sorry to hear that you are unable to go on your cruise.

If your insurance doesn't cover the issue of why you can't go, then I doubt that there is anything that you can do.

I wouldn't expect P&O to do anything, as usually insurance would cover many reasons for cancelling a cruise. Folks wouldn't buy insurance if they knew that the cruise line would either give a refund or give them a different cruise if anything happened.

Sorry again and hope your appointment goes well.

Yeah agree with you homeless bear, not much you can do.

We had to cancel once at short notice and luckily the insurance covered the whole cost of the cruise minus a small excess.

The only 2 things I could think of which are probably unlikely at this late stage but worth a shot as you have nothing to lose are to see if you can do a name change on the cruise and then sell the cruise to someone else - maybe put it on here for a bargain price, better than nothing??

Or

Ask P&O if you can join the cruise later on (after your appointment) if you are willing to fly yourself out to one of the ports it calls at.

Edit - just looked it up and its a 4 night Bruge cruise so I think you will have to bite the bullet on this one, just hope you didnt pay too much and at least you are not forfeiting a 2 week cruise.

I am terribly sorry for your situation. We are considering booking a cruise with P&O and are surprised at the restrictions for cancelling(including a non refundable deposit plus required very limited expensive trip insurance). We are U.S. citizens and these very restrictive bookings are not the norm for the cruise lines available to us. We always purchase cancel for any reason insurance(more expensive but worth it to us for a number of reasons) which our TA said is not an option for our P&O cruise.

I don't know if these are P&O policies or something dictated by local laws.

Best of luck and wishes to you.

I am terribly sorry for your situation. We are considering booking a cruise with P&O and are surprised at the restrictions for cancelling(including a non refundable deposit plus required very limited expensive trip insurance). We are U.S. citizens and these very restrictive bookings are not the norm for the cruise lines available to us. We always purchase cancel for any reason insurance(more expensive but worth it to us for a number of reasons) which our TA said is not an option for our P&O cruise.

 

 

I don't know if these are P&O policies or something dictated by local laws.

 

Best of luck and wishes to you.

Skysthelimit, it's English Law that dictates our rather draconian booking terms and conditions. Most of us know the Americans have a much better deal. So no its not down to P and O , its the law.

OP did you book this as a saver fare (100% paid upfront), if you did and insurance does not cover you, then very very sorry, but it looks at though you will lose it all, unless you can find someone to sell it onto first.

Check with P and O first though, that they will accept a name change at this very late stage, or you may be jumping through hoops for no good reason.

Just thought again-if a saver fare then no changes are allowed at all..so no name change.

Selling on would only possibly work if you paid select or early saver fare. Very Sorry.

Any chance at all that you can rearrange your appointment?

We had a similar situation last year. We were booked on the Aurora Xmas/New Year cruise 2013, but my wife Irene was diagnosed with mouth cancer, and actually had her operation on Christmas Eve. I contacted P&O, and asked if it would be possible to transfer the booking to a later date, when things were back to normal.To our great surprise, they readily agreed, in fact they eventually returned all the fare. In the spring, we did rebook, and are now set to join the same cruise this year. So some of the negative posts about P&O are not fully justified. I'm also pleased to say that Irene has made a complete recovery, and we are both certain we will enjoy this cruise even more than if we had gone last year.

Brian

Same here Dorset Lad.

I had Select Fare to the Caribbean. I think mine was on the last day for 100% cancellation.

P and O were absolutely brilliant to us. Could not fault their kindness. Replacement cruise in 15 days!!

Sadly, they have to have their rules, and I am sorry you have to cancel. I hope something crops up.

Good news story dorsetlad. And very best wishes to you and your wife - have a wonderful trip. I'm sure it will be appreciated more than ever!

Apparently she has got Norovirus and is due a deep clean delaying embarkation on Thursday, not sure if this will give you any leverage?

Skysthelimit, it's English Law that dictates our rather draconian booking terms and conditions. Most of us know the Americans have a much better deal. So no its not down to P and O , its the law.

OP did you book this as a saver fare (100% paid upfront), if you did and insurance does not cover you, then very very sorry, but it looks at though you will lose it all, unless you can find someone to sell it onto first.

Check with P and O first though, that they will accept a name change at this very late stage, or you may be jumping through hoops for no good reason.

Thank you for the information. I did not mean to hijack the thread but there is so little information about these issues for the American cruiser on P & O.

I hope that the original poster has a decent resolution.

We have draconian issues as well related to cruising. You can't sail from a US port to another without a stop in a "distant foreign port". Makes cruising on the west coast and Hawaii cumbersome and more costly than necessary.

Again, our best to the original poster.

Best of luck to the OP. It would appear the fine print in the OP's travel insurance policy does not cover cancellation of trip due to a medical appointment.

I am terribly sorry for your situation. We are considering booking a cruise with P&O and are surprised at the restrictions for cancelling(including a non refundable deposit plus required very limited expensive trip insurance). We are U.S. citizens and these very restrictive bookings are not the norm for the cruise lines available to us. We always purchase cancel for any reason insurance(more expensive but worth it to us for a number of reasons) which our TA said is not an option for our P&O cruise.

 

 

I don't know if these are P&O policies or something dictated by local laws.

 

Best of luck and wishes to you.

US law has a lot of provisos giving the traveller the chance to cancel the contract, which UK law does not. On the other hand, that is probably why US insurance is so prohibitively expensive compared with UK insurance - I can get a worldwide annual policy covering up to 6 months' travel, including USA, for less than £70 ($100); a similar US policy, I believe, costs about 10% of the holiday cost for each trip.

If you buy a UK holiday but have to get US insurance, you've got the worst of all worlds.

US law has a lot of provisos giving the traveller the chance to cancel the contract, which UK law does not. On the other hand, that is probably why US insurance is so prohibitively expensive compared with UK insurance - I can get a worldwide annual policy covering up to 6 months' travel, including USA, for less than £70 ($100); a similar US policy, I believe, costs about 10% of the holiday cost for each trip.

 

If you buy a UK holiday but have to get US insurance, you've got the worst of all worlds.

You are correct about the insurance. For the 13 night P&O cruise we are considering, mandatory insurance is $764 for the two of us. P&O requires that we purchase it through their stateside TA. And, it's not particularly good insurance with very low coverage for illness, evacuation, etc. The only valid reason for cancellation is illness or death in the family. Combine that with the $1,600 non refundable deposit and it's pretty steep upfront out of pocket expenses. We are very interested in the itinerary in August 2015. Guess we will have to wait until closer to sailing time to make a final decision. Hoping that we might still make it work.

Hi Sky

Something doesnt sound right about all of this....

What happens if you go on pocruises UK site and try make the booking? Does it know you are in the USA and default you back to a USA booking site or refer you to a USA TA?

What happens if you tick the "I have my own insurance" box - or does that not exist for you?

Who exactly is saying the insurance is mandatory? P&O or your TA or both?

Would you be buying it as a whole package from P&O including flights and if so does the insurance cover start to finish of the trip?

Hi Sky

 

Something doesnt sound right about all of this....

 

What happens if you go on pocruises UK site and try make the booking? Does it know you are in the USA and default you back to a USA booking site or refer you to a USA TA?

 

What happens if you tick the "I have my own insurance" box - or does that not exist for you?

 

Who exactly is saying the insurance is mandatory? P&O or your TA or both?

 

Would you be buying it as a whole package from P&O including flights and if so does the insurance cover start to finish of the trip?

Richleeds,

Cannot book online through the P&O website. Have to call which I have not done. The prices on the P&O website were much higher than those quoted by the US TA. If you google the major travel websites, only two show as able to market P & O. The one I am dealing with states they are the P & O TA for the US. I've booked with before and have no problems.

TA says that P&O requires purchase of the insurance. The price is high(10% as you said). We normally can purchase CXL for any reason at about 6 to 8 percent of the cruise price.

Not buying as a whole package. Only cruise. Already have flights booked using frequent flyer points which we can CXL up to 72 hours before departure.

I have no idea about purchasing from a UK TA.

Guess I do need to do some more research. Thanks for your thoughts.