angeliquer

7 minutes ago, jeanlyon said:

Understand that logic, but if you are wandering the streets with a tour guide, you are walking amongst others, loads of whom won't be wearing masks.  No, not for me either.  Have to make a decision by July.

Totally agree with you. I have to decide by August.

2 minutes ago, joeecco said:

They are releasing new, and lower cost excursions to suit the pandemic restrictions and lower budgets 8 weeks before each cruise if yours still has this restriction in place. 
P&O have made the right decision with this, they have to protect the safety of everyone onboard so if they aren’t going to add protocols whilst you’re on board and then let you do as you wish when you go ashore. That would just be silly in this climate. As soon as they can drop this they will, they know people aren’t happy but it’s the only option. 
 

Me personally, I am more than happy with it. 

Do you know how much the excursions will be? At the moment an excursion is £40 per person on average. We are a family of 4 and have 10 ports during our cruise. Total £1600. Even if they slash the price of excursion it will still be a big budget just to be able to get off the ship.

Also while on shore, most passengers I guess would respect the current social distancing and hygienic rules and where a mask to minimise the risk of infection. I am not sure the P&O organised excursions will be safer than me walking around town on my own.

12 minutes ago, jeanlyon said:

Totally agree this would not suit us at all.  The thing I can't quite get my head around is this.  If cruising restarts, then presumable foreign holidays will also restart.  Therefore, people going to Spain to lie on the beach or Italy or France, will obviously be allowed to wander around.  So if that is the case, why not the same on a cruise?

I understand their thinking in a way as one of P&O requirements is you can only board the ship at the beginning of your cruise with a negative Covid test. And everytime a passenger leaves the ship in one of the ports, he risks contracting the virus from somewhere and P&O doesn't want Covid to be brought onboard half way through the cruise. However this not a holiday for me. 

23 minutes ago, Windsurfboy said:

I presume you can ask for a 100% refund, if you are forced to buy P&O excursions or stay on board.

Yes you can stay on board, but that would be a bit boring in my opinion. However standard cancellation policy will apply as P&O reckon that albeit a few changes guests will still have a wonderful holiday.

2 minutes ago, wowzz said:

To be frank, in the current environment I doubt that P&O, other  cruise lines or indeed any of the ports,  are likely to alter the policy for the forseeable future. 

You do know that you can transfer your deposit to a cruise further in the future, in the hope that things will gave improved, with no penalty? 

I think you are correct and it is unlikely that the rules will change by November 2021. And yes I am waiting for P&O winter cruises 2022 to come out and then I might change the dates ... hoping there will be a bit more freedom in 2022 🙂 

5 minutes ago, wowzz said:

Welcome to the friendly P&O forum. 

This protocol was announced some time ago, and is in line with all other cruise lines. Just a sign of the times, I'm afraid.   Only you can decide if the cruise experience outweighs the lack of independent shore visits.

Thank you Wowzz.

I understand the need to change some practices and that cruising will be different than before. However this is a really major change in my eyes and I am just a bit shocked to be honest. I booked the cruise 15 months ago before the the pandemic started, and I just stumbled upon this new T&C. I never received any email or letter advising about this, and this is going to be a deal breaker for me. I have until August to pay the remainder of my cruise so I will wait till then and hope they reconsider this new rule. Otherwise I will be cancelling I am afraid, which is a shame as the whole family had been looking forward to it 😞 

I just saw on P&O's website that they are making few changes on their cruises due to the pandemic which I guess is fair enough.

However the one that is sticking out for me is that they will not allow passengers to get off the cruise ship in ports unless they are booked on one of P&O approved excursions!!! 

What I like most about cruises is being able to get off the ship and explore and get lost in the cities on my own. Not only will I not be able to do what I want on the cruise but they will charge me a premium to have to go on excursions which I have no interest in!

My cruise is booked for November 2021 and if this new rule is still applicable I will be cancelling.

See below the link to P&O website: 

https://www.pocruises.com/cruise-with-confidence?otprrf=direct

I have also copied and pasted a couple of their FAQ from their website