frichberg

Bait and Switch!!

The P&O website had the most lovely description of what their sea view cabins are like and how it would feel to have a view from the moment you open your curtains in the morning:  "https://www.pocruises.com/accommodation/sea-view-cabins

It captured my imagination and we booked a "Sea View" cabin guarantee on Aurora, leaving Southampton a week from now.  Our receipt says we booked an LF cabin, which is ocean view.  Early missives from P&O said it would be in the forward section. All good.  Bug, imagine my horror when we actually got our cabin assignment today and it is a fully obstructed view, D195 near the stern on level 8.  In the diagram, it appears to face not only the lifeboats, but a bulkhead or something.  The photos on cruisemummy of "the worst cabins on Aurora" show there is no sea to be seen from D195!  According to the write up and photo, D195 is completely dark and obstructed with no view whatsoever.  It even said that we would have been better off with a larger inside cabin (for several hundred pounds less).

I get anxious and agitated if I cannot see some distance out the window, even at home, and more acutely on a ship.  Since our receipt says LF guarantee cabin, how can they substitute a K5 completely obstructed view?  It is no comfort to have a cell a little larger if I cannot freely see the sky and the fjords when I open my curtains in the morning. On other cruiselines, I thought there was a clear distinction between an obstructed view guarantee and an ocean view guarantee.  Can they legally promise a view, take my money and then provide no view at all?  It seems like a total downgrade and for me is an emotional nightmare, a total waste of our money. 

Any advice about how to help P&O to make it right?  I have left a message for my travel agent.    

We visited Cherbourg last October. As you get off the ship straight ahead is La Cité de la Mer, a family attraction....had a very nice lunch and walked back (although there were shuttle coaches available).

What kind of shuttles? Provided by the cruise company? This sounds great for our young grands and their parents while we go visit D-day sites.

--D