Teddy123

Certainly no good once the balance has been paid, but I recently discovered that for my April 23 cruise it was worth writing off the deposit and making a completely new booking for essentially the same cabin, thereby saving money and getting extra OBC. If the price goes down again after the balance is paid, I just aceept this as a fact of life.

But having done the number of cruises you have, you must know this happens. Various things can happen between a cruise going on sale and it sailing: prices go up, prices go down, the ship is full. Everyone has to make a judgement about balancing these risks/benefits and decide when to book.

This isn't really on topic for the thread, but for those interested in why I use a debit card: no foreign transaction fee, Mastercard rates and 1% cashback. It's true I need to keep more cash in the current account, but the bank has a savings account paying 2.1% (not quite the best available). The banking app lets me transfer between savings and current accounts in a few seconds, so I don't need to keep a huge buffer in the current account. Even with what I consider Cunard's unreasonable methods, the pending amount is only tied up for a month so I lose interest equal to about 1/6% of the full amount of my onboard account but gain 1% cashback - net gain 0.83%. I know of no fee-free credit card that pays more than this and has fee-free foreign transactions. I think it's worth the small amount of hassle involved, but others may not.

Thanks for the info. I found the app (and I understand it's not really an app) useful on Ventura and was hoping for the same on Arcadia - but perhaps not!

Yes - that does seem to be a different issue. I (and I believe everyone else in the UK) have a temporary double charging that is unnecessary, potentially costly and could easily be avoided by Cunard (and P&O where exactly the same happens). The OP seems to have a permanent double charging, which is indeed incorrect.

OK one more go! It's not an "incorrect" transaction - the Cunard T&Cs actually say that interim holds will be placed each day, although they don't say the full amount will then be charged as well separately. The issue is that Cunard makes no attempt to remove these holds even when it's taken the full amount at the end of the cruise. They only disappear when Cunard fails to exercise its option to turn them into real charges and they time out. (Nearly) all other merchants - hotels, etc - actively remove any holds. Until a hold goes, there is effectively a double charge because money/credit is used up and not available to the customer. Although there seems some evidence that things happen differently sometimes, I'd put money on this happening to all UK passengers, even if they don't realise it (perhaps because their bank/credit card company times out holds faster than mine).

If it isn't clear from my other posts, what I have to complain about is that a) most hotels, etc DON'T block off the whole billing amount in stages and then take the full amount as well - which is what Cunard do; b) most hotels, etc remove any block quite quickly but Cunard do NOTHING to remove the block even when the full amount is taken. Instead, it erroneously claims it can't do it, then claims the customer can do it himself (wrong again). However, if this hasn't been understood by now, I'm not inclined to repeat it again after this.

A quick question: is the app available across the whole P&O fleet? (I assume if it is, it's identical on each ship). Thanks.

While the principle is common, the problem with Cunard is: a) they don't remove the hold - when hotels, etc frequently do; b) they claim they can't remove the hold - not true; c) they say the customer can remove the hold - not true.

If you're going on a spending spree, 1% cashback from the debit card is good reason to use it!

Unfortunately FoI doesn't apply to privately owned companies.

Just checked with my bank again and ONLY the merchant can remove a pending charge - not the customer as Cunard said in this reply. So more nonsense from Cunard.

Worth a complaint, but mine only resulted a long explanation of how the holding charge wasn't an actual charge (which I knew) and a claim that Cunard couldn't do anything about it - a claim flatly contradicted by my bank.

My thanks too. Clearly P&O are applying their conditions as stated, and the only "line of attack" is that these conditions represent an uninsurable risk and are unfair - especially as the consequences of saying Yes in the wrong place are probably not clear to customers. P&O need a different solution, perhaps asking those who are honest and do say Yes to take a Covid test and provide the results.

No, there's no doubt at all it's Cunard. I - and the OP (see the start of this thread) - have a number of small (holding) charges during the cruise then one big one for the total at the end. There's no way this can be down to anything but what Cunard do. A bank wouldn't possibly make this happen. Cunard are the guilty party.

Converting the hold to a charge is NOT the way Cunard did it for me or the OP. There was, essentially, a second charge and a need for double the credit until the hold timed out. Perhaps Cunard do it differently in different circumstances.

Clearly, when a merchant initiates a holding charge the bank must allow a certain period for the merchant to change it to a real charge. Different banks may have different periods before the holding charge "times out" and is no longer active (so the money is released). However, it IS a Carnival problem because they could a) remove the holding charge themselves when they make the actual one or b) simply turn the holding charge into an actual one rather than making an additional charge. However, they do neither and simply let the customer be inconvenienced while waiting for the time out.

The same (more protection for credit cards) is true in the UK, but my debit card gives a good exchange rate, no fee for dollar transactions, and 1% cashback - so I use it and even after having the holding money tied up for a month, it's worth it.

Because it's only a holding charge, Carnival actually get nothing. The charge just ties up money in the customer's account with no benefit to Carnival. So a nuisance to the customer that Carnival could, but won't, avoid.

Almost certainly there are holding charges daily and the full amount at the end of the cruise. I have complained to Cunard that they do nothing to remove the holding charge even when they have taken the full amount - because on a debit card the holding charge is like real money. They say they can't remove them - my bank says they can (but they won't). Cunard (and P&O) therefore just wait until the holding charges "time out" and disappear - which took 30 days in my case.

The problem aired in this thread is people refused boarding because they say they have a symptom (eg a cough) which might, or might not, mean they have Covid. The complaint in other threads is that ships are (allegedly) full of people who do have Covid. The obvious solution would seem to be for P&O to ask those who say they have a symptom to take a test to show if the symptom is caused by Covid. Only if the test is positive would boarding then be denied - and presumably insurance would cover the loss. This would stop unnecessary denial and reduce the number of people on board with Covid (assuming honest questionnaire responses, of course) - although it would still mean anybody with a highly infectious strain of flu would be allowed on board to spread it, something P&O's draconian approach is aimed at preventing.

It depends what architecture you want to see in Barcelona of course, but Google shows the walk from the shuttle drop-off, to the gothic cathedral, then Gaudi's Batllo and Mila houses, then Sagrada Familia, then back to the shuttle is almost 6 miles. At that's without Parc Guell. So not a walking tour for everyone! Of course, just the area round the cathedral is smaller, but surely Barcelona IS Gaudi?!

Thanks for the info. Now all I need is for Cunard to release mid/late 2024 cruises (at reasonable prices!) before I get off QM2 in mid-December.

Thanks. Although I'll be on QM2 and looking to book QA, so seeing the actual cabin won't happen. Any idea how much OBC?

OK, no replies to this question in the 2024 thread, so I'll try a dedicated topic. What are the current perks for booking new cruises on board? Thanks.