Megabear2

I'm sure it will be well organised. I did look at one of the cruises myself but because of all involved and the amount of flying I've been doing since June opted for Iona in October instead. I'm back to Italy again on Sunday with my husband, this time on pleasure celebrating our 40th wedding anniversary 2 years late. Thankfully slowly running down all our rebookings at last, only one more to go.

Never having booked them I am thinking of treating myself for our Arvia cruise in December 2023. What do I need to do to check availability and book?

Google maps say 20 minutes. Reading Yorkypete's original post he said 2 hours from landing to port. Assumedly he is speaking about passport control, luggage collection, boarding transport and the drive? On my last trip to Malta 4 years ago I was astonished at all the new dual carriageways and how built up it had become. If he hasn't been lately perhaps he isn't aware of these roads?

Thanks. As it's an essential I'll call them and buy it before travel to ensure we get the discount and if I get a receipt can claim it as a business expense! Planning on using OBC for drinks, retreat and the spa as being Christmas we have booked all our excursions and will reserve our specialist dining before as well. Do seem to have rather a lot of OBC to spend which is unusual for us.

Thank you everyone. I will book the cheaper one to start as suggested. Incidentally I assume those who booked had to visit reception to get their package activated in the same way as before? I recall a gift card in our cabin being the previous route to activation which I found quite amusing. I assume any peninsular club discount also still applies unless anyone knows differently.

Has anyone had recent experience of Britannia's wifi packages since the change? I have to purchase the package for my husband to work throughout our 14 day holiday and am interested in email, social media and web browsing. I note the dearer package states itself as 3x faster but previous experience has shown actual connection has been the main problem in the past. Any help very much appreciated. Thank you.

As it's some way off did they allocate your seat or could you pick it in advance? Also do you pay upfront or when your balance falls due.

I've just had an email to say seat booking is not happening yet - I had been told today would be the day. I've checked my CP and it still says nothing. If its helpful to anyone with their finger in the button, this is SeatGuru plan and comments for the two TUI variations currently flying: Boeing 787-9 (789) - newer plane https://www.seatguru.com/airlines/Thomson_Airways/Thomson_Airways_Boeing_787-9.php Boeing 787-8 (788) https://www.seatguru.com/airlines/Thomson_Airways/Thomson_Airways_Boeing_787-8.php The "normal seats are 17" wide with a pitch of 33", the Premium Economy are 18" wide with a pitch of 36". From my own experience the extra legroom seats have fixed armrests. From what I can recall from conversations with staff on my summer flights with TUI a few of the older 787 planes were press ganged into short haul use due to lack of planes and as a consequence had their seating layout changed. Hope this helps those deciding what they want.

Just had this attached to a sales email. Silly place to put it as I'm already booked for next two years but for what it's wortg here's a bit of an update: Quote Rest assured, if you’re travelling to the Caribbean and haven’t yet seen information about your flights, we’ll be in touch over the coming days with your confirmed flight details and how to book your seats. Unquote

Hope you have a great time.

If you like to take a forward deck 8 balcony you can pay £5058 for the privilege. The £4958 is on deck 15 midships with all the incumbent problems. Even a saver fare on this cruise is now £4498 or £4598 for a forward cabin. Zapp's fare is therefore a winner by a long way.

Very grateful. Thank you.

Okay you win! I'm not really interested in Princess or it's current policies and therefore bow to your superior knowledge. I was not intending in any way to say one line was better than others and to be frank was attempting to help P&O guests understand how they end up with select fares with guarantee cabins.

That's rather sweeping! They certainly aren't siding with Princess on my problems, rather trying to open a proper communication channel. Unless people try we will ever know for sure.

I haven't actually booked with them on line and certainly have no intention of ever sailing with them again so won't have the chance to try. However a look at their online system does show the option for them to choose or for you to pick your own. Remember we are talking online, you I believe use a specific travel agent so wouldn't be affected or need to be warned. I've been looking at a lot of cruises on a lot of lines in the past few weeks for March next year. I can assure you that a great many are charging more online to choose a cabin.

My thread posted yesterday regarding red tape and Travel Regulations has been moved to the Princess forum. I have no wish whatsoever to have correspondence with that board as the people over there were aggressive, personal and in some cases offensive. I therefore asked for the thread to be deleted but it is still there. I'm particularly anxious for it to go before the US Princess travellers come back onboard. I'm very fragile about all this particularly with my aunt once again seriously ill. Can anyone indicate how long it should take to be deleted please?

None apart from the OBC etc. I am not advocating people do this, merely that it is perfectly possible and there are people with this type of booking. In my opinion it's a blind side by P&O and Cunard to catch the unwary. On a lot of other lines (Princess and RCI spring to mind) there is often a surcharge to select your cabin. Those who have never sailed before or use other lines (MSC and NCL used to not allow any choice) may miss the two buttons and just book. I would add I've had a cabin booked this way with Cunard via a travel agent to get one of the single cabins on QM2 launch day so are very familiar with the process. Many on this board appear to not realise this process exists when advocating select fare do I thought I'd post how it can happen.

There is often misunderstanding on booking a select fare on line. Whereas it is possible to book select and choose your cabin it is also possible to book select as a guarantee. Once you say book now a screen showing the two fare options leads you through to let's begin your booking. Lower down in small print under cabin type is choose cabin, relatively small print compared with the continue button. If you choose to click on that you get two more choices, We'll select your cabin or Want to choose your cabin. Selecting the first button gives you a range of areas on the ship (and presumably a grade as they rise in price) so you can effectively book a select fare without choosing a specific cabin and the scenario described by Ukdw is perfectly possible. Also by just clicking book now and continue the purchaser gets the base price and a guarantee cabin. The benefits such as OBC, parking etc are allocated as they normally would be and it is a select booking. I have heard of even travel agents just clicking through and people being allocated a guarantee on a select fare. Those less familiar with the system or not so computer savvy may therefore fall into the trap. It is therefore reasonably easy to book a certain grade cabin by area and to select no upgrade from that.

No.

Standard communication gives them 28 days every time. This is so they can check ship's records. I didn't really understand this as Princess have already told me they have been examined but apparently that's the rule.

Thank you for your as ever excellent explanation. You are correct in your assumption I contacted IC on the day, in fact in my panic I contacted just about anyone I could think of! I've checked my mobile phone records for the day and there were in fact 43 calls made by me before my battery died, 5 of which were to IC. My understanding of the situation as explained to me on the day was that Princess were going to offer the on the ground support in the form of the non showing Stefano and Christian. As a result I believed they were accepting responsibility for me. I was unaware of anyone having a "duty of care" to me apart from my BIL telling me that if I left the port it would cease to be Princess' responsibility. As it has now been explained to me they actually didn't have one but as a matter of common decency should have at least provided assistance to get me outside the port and in to a place of safety where I could have organised proper support. On the day IC informed me that they could not assist as my immediate needs were cash access for a taxi and Italian language translation. This tallied with information from my own insurer so both parties in that respect believed that Princess should assist as they had "boots on the ground". At the time it made sense as any normal person would assume it would be in all parties' interests to sort the matter and get me outside of the locked port. In the event the status quo existed with no one actually bothering to think of the practicalities of how I would get out of Civitavecchia port. ABTA are continuing their conversations with Princess regarding the bill payment issue and also seeking an explanation as to how they actually expected me to get outside of the port without a common sense approach to payment for the taxi and finding me a place if safety. I have been advised to start over again with the whole process against IC. I have therefore put them on notice and ABTA have registered a new complaint accordingly. Your latest post on negligence is interesting as of course it relates to ABTAs question of how did Princess expect me to leave the port without their help. If you could expand on that point I would be most grateful This whole package business with travel agents is far more complex than I could imagine.

Some of the prices have risen quite a lot though. I've been tracking Arvia 22 night repositioning cruise next March and the price has risen by £800 in this new offer.

As explained to me the difficulties and need for assistance on the ground (in my case I was locked in a closed port with no assistance to get out) are the grey area where this sort of package is involved. Princess could wash their hands of me quite legally it appears as IC held my contract and therefore clause 18 became their responsibility. It should be remembered I was 20 minutes from being abandoned in the port with the threat of being removed by the police, I was only able to get out by the good fortune of the two passengers refused boarding return ing to the airport. IC, quite reasonably, told me that being based in the UK there would have been little they could have done, particularly with language barriers and need for immediate assistance accessing a hotel and local currency. On the day both they and my insurance company stated as Princess were actually on the ground in Italy I should turn to them for the duty of care.

No regarding cruise only and flights, that's not what happened. I actually didn't book the cruise as it was originally my aunt and a friend going on it. However the holiday was advertised by IC in a leaflet and national newspaper as an all inclusive Mediterranean cruise. The invoice issued by IC states exactly that and the associated certificate issued to my aunt and her friend defines it as a package. The invoice also includes a £5 charge for the ATOL certificate which according to ABTA makes it a full package covered by the Regulation.

This is an update regarding Package Travel Regulations application. Although not strictly P&O related I've recently seen them referenced in relation to one or two P&O issues so thought my latest discussion with ABTA, Princess and my aunt's travel agent (IC) might be of interest. It might be recalled that Princess have been arguing they had no duty of care to my aunt and I as the Package Travel Regulations do not apply to our trip as we used a travel agent. I have been arguing against this for some weeks. On Friday I received their final response, basically we did nothing wrong, your contract isn't with us, get lost! They have told me to complain to ABTA (I was already in communication) and IC as my contract is with them as Princess are a "provider" of an element of the package only. After an in depth conversation with ABTA yesterday I am informed that Princess are saying this because the flights to Barcelona and from Rome were organised by IC on Easyjet and Vuehling. Apparently this is a very common get out on fly cruises. I am told cruise lines in general have a habit of passing the buck back to travel agents because ATOL certificates are issued by them in these instances not by the cruise line. Therefore apparently even a simple ex UK cruise is often disputed by cruise lines as not their problem when a travel agent is involved. I am now being advised to start an ABTA complaint against IC alongside Princess. Apart from the financial demand by Princess for my aunt's bill I am told that the stranding of me in Civitavecchia and responsibility of land agents is actually a "grey" area which both Princess and IC may have legal reasons to be able to wiggle out of. Any duty of care can apparently be disputed by a cruise line if a travel agent ATOL certificate is in existence. I therefore discussed these points with IC yesterday afternoon and they have agreed to the opening of a formal complaint against them. ABTA are also continuing the complaint against Princess and opened one against IC. This post is mainly for information but as a great number here use travel agents I thought it might be relevant or helpful. Forewarned as they say. On a different note, sadly I am informed this morning my aunt collapsed at home last night and is back in hospital having her lungs drained again. Apparently we are no nearer to the appointment for the promised angiogram and operation which was meant to occur the day after she returned to the UK last month.