hooked-cruiser

Kruzseeka I apologise if I didn't explain properly. What I mean is that if you book a cruise and receive OBC at the time and the fare is Select then you can also apply the Military OBC. However I agree with you that if you have shareholder benefit as well that as you say is not added until the balance is paid, then this will then change the process and you will lose one or the other.. But in my reply I did not refer to Shareholder benefit. I hope this clarifys my comment??

I also have shareholder benefits and do not have this problem with Princess. (Maybe it is because the vast majority of their clients are American and would not stand for it.) Sometimes I think we are too laid back and scared to make a fuss? I have cancelled my next 2 cruises with P&O and gone back to Princess where you are still treated as a customer.

If doing a B2B or as we are doing this summer a B2B2B and you take part in the trivia quiz, don't tell the entertainment staff and then you sometimes have a better chance of winning second time around as they sometimes use the same quiz as the previous cruise. We won twice last time. Sneaky I know but after all you are on holiday.

The only time that you keep any OBC you receive when booking as well as military OBC is if the fare is of the SELECT status. Earlier saver does not entitle you to Military OBC.

However with princess you get more & KEEP any Shareholder OBC. But remember that P&O give Military OBC to the spouse as well but Princess do not.

Actually did me a favour needing the card as I didn't have one. Now I have a discount on my travel to join the cruise as well.

In reply to Eglebrech, The overall service was poor, certain areas of the ship were dirty and the staff morale was very low. Maybe it was because the ship had only returned to the UK that morning from the Caribbean and also because of an emergency they spent 8 days at sea instead of 3?

However having spoken to a couple of staff who we have known for many years (British), even they stated that things had changed for the worst and that the management would not listen to the front of house staff.

We were in the Horizon restaurant one morning in port and a well dressed gentleman walked past and went to the outside area and was inspecting something. We counted 7 officers following him at speed with clipboards. (Talk about 2 people needed to change a light bulb).

With larger ships joining the fleet since 2008 (Ventura) and another to join soon the company will be providing for the many and forgetting the loyal customers. They are reducing prices and attracting the younger generation of traveler who can now afford a cruise (and good luck to them as I wish everybody could do so) but standards are dropping.

The staff are so scared about their jobs they are constantly looking over their shoulders. They are now having to wait until the very end of their contract to establish if they are to return, and this puts even more pressure on them. It is such a shame that things don't run as smooth as they used too. Sorry P&O but it's time to listen to your staff & passengers. Maybe the CEO should appear on the American programme "Undercover Boss" and find out the real truth?

In reply to Staygulf, I agree completely. It was certainly the worst P&O cruise in our time and we have cancelled the next 2 previously booked and booked with Princess instead.

Albeit they are under the same umbrella, Princess have the edge in our opinion.

We are booked on the Oriana for Christmas and would also cancel that if there were other cruises available for the dates we have. Will we return to P&O ?? Things will have to improve dramatically for us to return.

I worked on passenger ships in the 60's as a restaurant steward and tips were not the normal thing in those day's (unless you worked in first class). Very early on in the 70's companies (including P&O) started employing staff from overseas as this reduced the staff salaries total considerably. (Yes we were told this at the time). Subsequently job's for myself and many others became very hard to find. It was then that I decided that the time was up and I left. We received a fair wage, saw the World for free and all in all had a good time.

I do appreciate that all cruise lines are in it to make a profit and if additional income on top of the price of the holiday can be achieved then yes they will do it. On a very recent cruise on the Azura (Easter) we were on Freedom dining and were able to have the same table most evenings and served by the same waiters (Excellent they were). At the end of the cruise I passed an envelope to both of them and this is the reply I received "Thank you sir for recognising the service you have received this cruise, it is much appreciated. Upon asking if they were allowed to keep the reward they quickly replied YES.

I believe that if P&O and other companies were to come out and quash all the rumors about gratuities, and where they actually go passengers would appreciate it and we could all get on with enjoying our holidays.

Means that if you have any OBC left you need to spend it in the shops a day earlier instead of the last day !!!

Posted Today, 02:37 PM

Having read this thread and also a similar one on P&O I attempted to login and ensure we would keep our status. However, because we live outside the UK (Ireland) it would not allow us to do so.

As a result I have had to telephone both Princess & P&O and this has had to be done manually by the member of staff.

This is just for the information of any other person who has a similar problem. I was assured that we will keep our status but had I not telephoned them we would have returned to blue status from Elite.

Having read this thread and also a similar one on Princess I attempted to login and ensure we would keep our status. However, because we live outside the UK (Ireland) it would not allow us to do so.

As a result I have had to telephone both P&O & Princess and this has had to be done manually by the member of staff.

This is just for the information of any other person who has a similar problem

When we visited they ran a shuttle to Honfleur at no cost as Le Havre port is in the wilds and only a port area.

You can use it for Tea but you would be losing out as the tea costs less than the coffee you would receive on the card. I only drink Tea and pay for it if I can't be bothered to go up to deck 15 Horizon while my wife uses the card for her coffee's

I assume that you can register on the princess site. Is this the UK or US site and where is it? I have logged in and can't find anything relating to it. Help please!!

In reply to the question about the gangway, apparently as the winds started to increase the gangway staff and security quickly removed the gangway as a precaution. And a good job they did. Shortly after you could see the shore side staff running for cover as the ropes started snapping. They were placed in local vehicles for safety and later taken to the new berthing point.

I remember a few years ago when on-board a Princess ship that when people asked to cancel the gratuities they were asked (myself included) to attend the desk the following day. Upon arrival that day there was a table behind which there were crew members who gave us the forms to complete in front of them.

Myself and many other guests immediately demanded a meeting with the Hotel manager and when we did meet he apologised for doing this and putting guests in a difficult position. It never happened again.

How we managed to get onto this subject when I initially started it as a problem with the berthing of the ship I don't know. However if contributors wish to continue on the subject of the Virus, I would suggest another blog covering this and the cruise in question?

Yes maybe I was lucky, but if the suggestion you make of dirty surfaces etc causing the small virus epidemic then I would have thought this would have been categorised by the ship as a norovirus and subsequently we would have seen staff at every food outlet ensuring hands were sanatised. I did not see this during the cruise!!!

Just because people either cancel or adjust the amount doesn't mean they are not willing to pay gratuities. It is a personal decision as opposed to be told what you must do. I always tip staff and often those not always in the front line, ie, I tipped a member of staff who was always cleaning the toilets near the theatre every evening, and they were very appreciative.

I would suggest that they were in their cabins because of sea conditions. After all we did have a few big swells throughout the cruise. I am not aware of any confinements to cabins because of food problems or hygiene? Maybe we were the lucky ones.

In respect of quality of food I will agree that on occasions the choice was quite bland and this has been reflected upon in my assessment of the overall cruise. Nobody can be held responsible for the weather though.

One bollard did break but the lines snapped. I took photographs at the next port of them waiting to be collected from the quay.

And it still is

While aboard the Azura last week we were tied up in Civitavecchia port when all of a sudden the sky went black. We were sitting in the Horizon having tea and scones when without any warning a the wind howled through the port.

2 minutes later ALL the mooring lines of the ship "snapped" and the ship started drifting across the harbour towards the cargo quay. An emergency call was made for all emergency mooring staff to attend stations and there was a mad rush of officers and deck crew in all directions.

A few moments later 3 tug boats were seen rushing towards our vessel and went around to the starboard side of the vessel to push it away from the opposite quay with what I would say only metres to spare between the ship and berth. We were then held in a position facing into the wind for around 90 minutes until the winds ceased and the ship was then berthed at the cargo quay instead of returning to its original resting place.

This could not have happened at a worse time as it was mid afternoon and according to Captain Hoyt later over 1000 passengers had to remain in their coaches having returned from Rome previously until the ship could receive passengers again.

In closing I would like to say that had it not been for the extremely fast reactions of the Captain, Officers and Crew both on-board and on the quayside this event could have had very serious consequences. A full explanation of what happened was given by Captain Hoyt later that evening when all passengers were on-board.

Just off Azura yesterday and I had to use my laptop for business while travelling. The way I get around it is to place a multiple plug receiver in first and then the plug for the laptop & usb devices into that. Or you could purchase a very short extension lead?

Having returned to Southampton only yesterday aboard the Azura I can tell you that on the 1st Sea day out there was a continuous queue at the Pursers desk and virtually everybody was requesting the form to vary or cancel gratuities.

One new thing P&O are doing now is on the 2nd to last sea day before the end of the cruise and in the early afternoon they are placing an A4 sized letter to the occupants of the cabins who have stopped gratuities in the pigeon box outside the cabin with the name of the passenger CLEARLY VISIBLE for anybody passing to see. (All other correspondence is fold inwards).

This letter asks you to re-consider your reduction of gratuities and requests you to visit the reception to do so.

There were many passengers who I both spoke too and heard discussing the subject annoyed with this apparent shaming letter and I would suspect that like myself they screwed them up and threw them in the bin provided. Shame on Management to do this. My stewards received what I believed was a good gratuity for the excellent service provided.:mad::mad: