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The part I have bolded is interesting phrasing - Do they really mean "declined" as opposed to 'not required'. On the cruise line you sail with, can someone 'decline' assistance and if someone 'declined' any assistance even though it was likely they would need it in an emergency, would the ship's crew say "bye" and simply let the passenger drown? I rather doubt it, and it is likely that they would put themselves at risk trying to evacuate the passenger even though they didn't have the staff numbers to do it. Is that fair to the ship's crew putting them at that risk? To reduce the risk to the crew and protect passengers from themselves, P&O seems to be taking the position that in some specific circumstances such as asking to rent a wheelchair during the cruise or turning up with an undeclared wheelchair, that whatever you say they consider that it is likely you will need mobility assistance in the event of an emergency and they won't let you board unless they have capacity for the crew to safely provide it without risk to themselves. Is that a sensible approach - personally I would say yes.

You said that every passenger needed to complete the form. If that was true then a passenger who didn't complete the form would not have complied with the requirements to board so would be denied. You are not seeing thousands of people denied because it isn't necessary for every passenger to complete the form, only those that cannot evacuate unaided. It is sensible to collect detailed information from every passenger? That's going to be fun for P&O when they need to recruit hundreds of new staff to review all those forms.

If that was the case then 99% of the customers would be denied boarding for not completing the form.

Not on the many ships I have been on they haven't been. So exactly the same as now and no change? The pop up asks you to complete the pre-registration if you need assistance. If you don't then there is no form to complete. Quite possibly, but that just means that even more people should be challenged and even more hassle for P&O when they enforce the safety procedures.

You want every passenger on board to complete an accessibility needs form, 99%+ pointlessly doing so, and with the vast majority of the remaining <1% doing so anyway, just to capture the one or two people who either didn't follow the instructions or had a poor travel agent. Hmmm...

And so the blame is with the travel agent, not P&O, and the only solution to that is either P&O stop selling through travel agents (not going to happen) or to email every single passenger to make sure they don't need assistance, which is many thousands of people being bombarded with irrelevant emails. As before, damned if they do and damned if they don't. Do they simply accept the word of the person in front of them that they can manage the stairs in an emergency when they only have one leg, and then find out when the ship is sinking that they were not telling the truth, and afterwards everyone would say 'didn't you check they could'? It is just the same as the test to see if people can actually step over the gap to get into the tenders - that was introduced because people said they could when they couldn't and either they or the the crew trying to save them drowned as a result.

When booking via the P&O website there is a pop-up page that clearly states that you need to pre-register for assistance. When I book through my travel agent they read a script that includes specific questions to determine if pre-registering for assistance is required. Now if some people are not reading these screens or listening to what their travel agent says then who is to blame? And what more could P&O do? Keep emailing everyone and asking "are you sure" multiple times? Now there is a slight possibility that someone booked through a travel agent that didn't follow the script and ask the questions, but that is an issue with the travel agent and not P&O. Damned if they do, and damned if they don't. P&O let them on without any questions or checks and it transpires that they cannot manage the stairs when the ship is sinking and they will get the blame. P&O check that they can manage the stairs in an emergency and they are cruel and heartless.

And there is the issue - do people actually read and follow instructions. "He said: “P&O said they had sent me emails twice – but I’ve checked it online 30 times. I said I have done everything right."" and the counter from P&O “The on board needs questionnaire is on My P&O Cruises (our online portal) to be completed – it is not sent out by email. It is also very clear on the front page of My P&O Cruises that this is to be completed if needed. “If Mr Ashton was booked in an accessible cabin, he or his agent will have been sent emails prompting him to login to My P&O Cruises to complete the questionnaire. “We do advise on our website that wheelchairs/mobility scooters must be declared or they will be denied boarding. It is also within clause 21 of the booking conditions.” However if P&O actually said this - He said: "They were willing to let me on board but without the wheelchair." Then P&O are complete idiots, as someone not having a wheelchair that they normally use doesn't mean that they are suddenly able to climb stairs and not need assistance during evacuation!

Most emergencies are not that sudden and people are sent to their cabins to wait instructions. If it is an emergency along the lines of the MS Estonia then even able bodied will need the luck of the gods to survive.

I am not sure about that. Do you really think that indicates someone who could get to a muster station unaided when there is an actual need to get to the muster station? Depending where they are on the ship when they need to go there it could mean climbing or descending many flights of stairs, and in circumstances when the muster station is actually needed and everyone is abandoning ship then climbing or descending those flights of stairs is likely to be in rather sub-optimal conditions. And that is why it indicates something seriously wrong, or certainly a serious disconnect between the teams, because if the P&O policy is that if you need a wheelchair for whatever reason even if that reason is just for comfort but that means you need an evacuation chair because P&O don't believe you will be up to evacuating independently, then the response from P&O to someone wanting to rent a chair when the evacuation spaces are full should not be "sorry we won't rent you a chair because the evacuation spaces are full" it should have been "sorry we won't rent you a chair because you won't need one as we will not let you board because the evacuation spaces are full".

Something has, because as I said before, refusing to rent someone a wheelchair who needs one because the evacuation facilities are full and your policy is that anyone who asks for a wheelchair needs evacuation facilities, means that the passenger doesn't have the wheelchair they need and they have a passenger they cannot evacuate because there are no facilities.

I sympathise greatly with you, but did those health issues not cause pause for thought when you read the assistance requirements that you have to agree to when booking (with my bolding)? "In the unlikely event of an emergency, it is important we have sufficient and specific support for guests who require additional assistance, and we have advance notice of this. Please read the following declaration of assistance needs for your voyage, even if you are travelling with someone who can support you. Guests who are unable to get to their assembly stations independently (which could involve several flights of stairs as lifts will not be available) due to a disability, health, or mental capacity must be pre-registered for assistance to ensure we have sufficient support. Failure to provide this could result in being denied boarding at your own expense. If you do require assistance using the below statements, please advise us of the level of assistance required. Someone to guide and steady me on the stairs (121 assistance) For anyone bringing a mobility aid this is a recommended minimum requirement. I'm unable to use stairs (emergency evacuation chair) For anyone who is a full /part time wheelchair or mobility scooter user this is a mandatory requirement." If your balance is poor and you can only manage short distances then could you manage several flights of stairs independently without assistance from anyone, including anyone you are travelling with? Plus keeping in mind that this might be using the crew evacuation stairs in sub-optimal conditions if it is an emergency that requires everyone off the ship and into the lifeboats. Denying boarding to someone who didn't notify that they needed assistance and those facilities are full is sensible, even if it might not appear so at the time to the individual concerned. However refusing to rent someone a wheelchair who needs one because the evacuation facilities are full is illogical as that is the worst of both worlds - a passenger that doesn't have a wheelchair they need and a passenger cannot evacuate because there are no facilities. If P&O's policy is that if an individual wants to rent (or bring) a wheelchair then because of that the individual has demonstrated from that fact that they will need assistance in an emergency whatever they say, then either they should be added to that evacuation list or if they didn't notify and those facilities are full then they should be denied boarding, not that P&O won't rent them a wheelchair!

Ironically the change will likely lead to lower revenue for P&O from me. Unlike a lot of people, I am pretty varied in the type of cabin I will book, taking into account a whole variety of factor, such as route, time of year - and one factor in the past that has influenced me to book a balcony cabin has been the ability to sit out on it early evening before dinner with a drink. Now if that ability is restricted (and yes I know that for the moment you can buy a bottle for the cabin - but frankly how long is that going to last before it changes) then as a factor in weighing up whether to book a more expensive balcony then it carries less weight.

Well on my next cruise I have an arrival time of 12:15, and I am very definitely not Caribbean, Baltic, Ligurian, or in a full suite.

I have never seen any "drama" on P&O during disembarkation. Pretty optimistic thinking that everyone reads the paperwork. So still hassle for P&O dealing with people who will be arguing with them to be let back through.

It would just create more hassle for the staff as such people would simply claim that they had used the wrong exit and would need to be let back into the baggage hall, with arguments ensuing if they were not or were delayed doing so. Controlling people getting onto a ship isn't too difficult. Controlling people getting off is more challenging and relies on people doing 'the right thing'.

Those who want to jump the queue will simply leave whenever they want anyway. No chance. At the moment the slot before normal disembarkation gives those who want to self-disembark (for whatever reason) an opportunity to do so, just they need to do it at that time which virtually all accept - and I would actually bet that a significant number of those few people disembarking with bags during the normal disembarkation are not 'self-disembarking' but new cruisers who simply didn't realise the process of leaving bags outside. And if they did change and said there was no disembarkation with the 'punishment' that if you didn't you had to wait until the end, then it would just be more hassle for the staff as people argued with them. As before, the crew want you gone. If that is done at your allocated time that is great, but if it isn't they still want you gone.

At Lanzarote you can walk instead of using the shuttle, and lots of people did, even Select passengers did because the shuttle really was a waste of time. As for it needing to be free, in the past when I have been to Livorno there has been a prohibition on walking from the ship and the only way to get out of the port was to use the P&O shuttle bus, which meant paying if you were not a Select passenger - but that was a few years ago so things may have changed.

The clock restarts and you are charged again on the second day. As for only charging for two trips, they know that the number of people who will make two trips is tiny - when I was on a Canary Islands cruise in December and mentioned to people about going back into Funchal in the evening for an hour or so to see the Christmas lights as it was a late sailing (11pm iirc) they looked at me as if I had suggested they take a trip to the moon.

That must be back in the mists of time! One other thing with where the bus stops is that you might only want to use it one way, for example in Lisbon the bus stops way up in the top of the city and if you are walking down through the city from there then it is likely easier to simply walk back to the ship (or catch a public bus) than walk all the way back up to the shuttle bus stop. And if my memory is correct, P&O have now stopped being 'helpful' by charging two single fares for each direction when you get on as you leave the ship and now charge as you get on for each ride.

If P&O shuttles and not free port shuttles, then there will be a member of staff directing you to the shuttle buses, a member of staff will scan your cruise card and those on saver fares will be charged to their cabin bill, and they operate on a combination of 'fill and go' and timetable - i.e. if busy they will leave immediately they are full otherwise every 15 minutes or whatever the schedule is. Returning is the same, with a member of staff at the stop scanning cards. If you return at a popular time then it isn't unusual to have to queue and wait, but my experience is that P&O anticipate this and it isn't usually too bad. What is well worth doing if you are on a saver fare and paying, is checking out where the bus will take you. This is because the fare charged seems to be unrelated to distance, and for example in Lanzarote the bus ride is about two minutes long and takes you to the port entrance, but the fare is the same as in for example Valencia where it is about a 20 minute ride. For those on a Select fare it is a bit irritating to have only been taken two minutes away, but if you have paid £5 (or whatever the fare is these day) then it is far more annoying!

Your platform doesn't allow you print a page to PDF and then just use the PDF editor to redact? I would guess that is a pretty minimal number of Carnival customers who have chosen such a platform, but for everyone else it is easier and quicker, and as before, cheaper for Carnival.

The cost to Carnival to validate shareholder statements is likely to be trivial - it will all be outsourced work to somewhere that pays pence. As for passengers - even needing to provide a certificate through the app resulted in a far quicker application of OBC for me (and others here), so even if they ask for updated statements, then that is fine with me.

No experience of this, but I am sure that the crew would be rightly grumpy with you about it, and I suppose that possibly they might tell you to wait until all the other disembarkation groups have left. However I rather suspect that they would just want rid of you and you would be ushered off in a gap between the groups with a flea in your ear and told not to do it again.

They were not at the times that I self-disembarked, which tended to be around 7.30 to 7.45am. Hence the people that ignore the disembarkation time slots - all the bags are out and waiting, and nobody is actually checking that you are in that particular slot, they just want you gone from the ship to get it ready for the next load of passengers.