Oriana Leaving

Confused! I've never had a cabin on Oriana that didn't have a shower. If fact I've never had one with a bath.

 

They will get rid of all these lovely ships over the next couple of years and only have the huge ones. That will be the end of P&O for me, but then I'm not the audience they are trying to appeal to.

There was a shower over the bath. Still involved climbing into and out of the bath tub.

The only cabins that are shower only (as far as I am aware) are the new ones put in the space vacated by the children's club when it became adult only. It was those cabins that flooded when I was on board.

There is a dedicated ballroom on Britannia.

We've been on Britannia and disagree.

The dance floor is small and not so good, not as big as Oriana and Aurora.:(

Which gets us annoyed as it's a bigger ship.

Yep you hit the nail on the head. It’s all about profit and screw the customers plans.

Just booked an MSC Cruise so hopefully they read this

I reckon the refit will be mostly installing a huge casino, the Chinese love their gambling

I am very sad to hear this :loudcry:. She is my favourite ship. I was aboard her last June for an excellent cruise and didn't experience any problems. After she has gone, only Aurora & Arcadia will interest me and if they are not going where I want to go, it will be off to Fred Olsen or CMV. P&O are sailing in a direction that I have no desire to go.

BritBoys

Agree with you, have 2 further cruises on her October 2018 and May 2019,then it may become a struggle.

We are trying Arcadia in September 2019, but if not happy, only Aurora left for us.

But hey a nice problem to have, when you look around you.

BritBoys

 

Agree with you, have 2 further cruises on her October 2018 and May 2019,then it may become a struggle.

 

We are trying Arcadia in September 2019, but if not happy, only Aurora left for us.

 

But hey a nice problem to have, when you look around you.

Indeed - its what a friend of mine would refer to as very much a "First World" problem - i.e. as opposed to living in the 'Third World'. We have to think ourselves lucky to be "grappling" with such problems.

I'm not surprised either. We haven't been on Oriana for a few years now, as the last time we thought she was past her sell by date. If they get rid of Aurora that's when we'll be saying a permanent farewell to P&O.

I am really very disappointed indeed by this and we are some of the people affected by it, with our cruise in September 2019 cancelled. Oriana was never my favourite but I did like her old-fashioned style and I liked the fact cruises on her were offered to places other than the fjords, Canaries and the big Med ports. The itinerary for our cruise was superb, visiting lots of smaller ports around the Med that we've long wanted to visit. We really like Britannia but most of her itineraries are standard fare with nothing to excite us and itinerary is very important to us. We recently tried Fred Olsen and to quote my husband "I feel like I'm in a zombie movie!!!"

There were so many rumours about Oriana which I've long ignored but when Aurora became adult only, I knew the writing was on the wall. We've had to book Azura as a replacement but I really don't know where we go from here as we only cruise from the UK.

Very sad news. That only leaves Aurora and Arcadia for us. Everything else is too big and Oceana only seems to do fly cruises.

Same for us Jean. They have cancelled our 2 b2b cruises in September and October 2019. We fully understand the reason for cancelling but they are penalising us because we are early bookers.

They have offered us £75 OBC if we transfer the cruise to another within 28 days but will not honour the price it was when we booked on the 1 st day. In reality the similar cruise we identified in the same grade cabin is now £400 pp more expensive than if we had booked it on the day of launch as we did for the cancelled Oriana cruise.

They did however very and magnanimously offer to not charge the usual £100 transfer fee from the cancelled cruise to the new cruise. So kind of them and you can only imagine our response to that.

Sue

I am really very disappointed indeed by this and we are some of the people affected by it, with our cruise in September 2019 cancelled. Oriana was never my favourite but I did like her old-fashioned style and I liked the fact cruises on her were offered to places other than the fjords, Canaries and the big Med ports. The itinerary for our cruise was superb, visiting lots of smaller ports around the Med that we've long wanted to visit. We really like Britannia but most of her itineraries are standard fare with nothing to excite us and itinerary is very important to us. We recently tried Fred Olsen and to quote my husband "I feel like I'm in a zombie movie!!!"

 

There were so many rumours about Oriana which I've long ignored but when Aurora became adult only, I knew the writing was on the wall. We've had to book Azura as a replacement but I really don't know where we go from here as we only cruise from the UK.

We were looking at the Azura as a replacement but the price had increased by about 30% from the launch price.

P & O wouldn’t honour our 1 st day booking price.

We have 2 cruises booked on Aurora, both now much more expensive than our day 1 price. But I think we will be heading towards Oceania or even one of the 7 star lines. We prefer smaller ships anyway.

Sent from my iPad using Forums

We were looking at the Azura as a replacement but the price had increased by about 30% from the launch price.

P & O wouldn’t honour our 1 st day booking price.

We're exactly the same Kersh. Looking at Azura 2nd September but £2000 more

Now I know why solo prices on Aurora after July 2019 have become totally silly. I could afford Silversea for what I was quoted and am currently negotiating prices. One thing is certain; if I leave P and O I will NOT book anything owned by the rapacious Carnival.

So sad about Oriana leaving us..... I met my husband onboard Oriana in 1999....

susannasvet

Where had he been?:rolleyes:

Joking

Why on earth didn't P&O send her to one of the northern ports... they only have Fred and C&M, so P&O could have made a start in, say, Greenock, or Edinburgh. We're most likely finished with P&O anyway, because we're not really up to travelling down to Southampton again...

I would have thought fair compensation from p and o would be the amount of the deposit plus the refund of the deposit. If we cancel we forfeit our deposit and don’t have a cruise. When P and O cancel they don’t have a cruise and give a small onboard credit. It does not seem very equal.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

It doesn’t seem that P&O are adhering to the U.K. Package Tour Regulations 1992 which state

13.—(1) The terms set out in paragraphs (2) and (3) below are implied in every contract and apply where the consumer withdraws from the contract pursuant to the term in it implied by virtue of regulation 12(a), or where the organiser, for any reason other than the fault of the consumer, cancels the package before the agreed date of departure.

(2) The consumer is entitled—

(a)to take a substitute package of equivalent or superior quality if the other party to the contract is able to offer him such a substitute; or

(b)to take a substitute package of lower quality if the other party to the contract is able to offer him one and to recover from the organiser the difference in price between the price of the package purchased and that of the substitute package; or

©to have repaid to him as soon as possible all the monies paid by him under the contract.

13.2.a is the relevant point, although there are new regulations from 1st July the current regulations would cover all existing bookings. I know from experience that other cruise lines honour this without question so P&O should do so as well.

Sent from my iPad using Forums

Why on earth didn't P&O send her to one of the northern ports... they only have Fred and C&M, so P&O could have made a start in, say, Greenock, or Edinburgh. We're most likely finished with P&O anyway, because we're not really up to travelling down to Southampton again...

If you read previous posts you will see that the ship is not fit for purpose. Breaking down in the Med is one thing, breaking down in the middle of the North Sea would be quite another.

It doesn’t seem that P&O are adhering to the U.K. Package Tour Regulations 1992 which state

 

13.—(1) The terms set out in paragraphs (2) and (3) below are implied in every contract and apply where the consumer withdraws from the contract pursuant to the term in it implied by virtue of regulation 12(a), or where the organiser, for any reason other than the fault of the consumer, cancels the package before the agreed date of departure.

 

 

(2) The consumer is entitled—

 

 

(a)to take a substitute package of equivalent or superior quality if the other party to the contract is able to offer him such a substitute; or

(b)to take a substitute package of lower quality if the other party to the contract is able to offer him one and to recover from the organiser the difference in price between the price of the package purchased and that of the substitute package; or

©to have repaid to him as soon as possible all the monies paid by him under the contract.

 

13.2.a is the relevant point, although there are new regulations from 1st July the current regulations would cover all existing bookings. I know from experience that other cruise lines honour this without question so P&O should do so as well.

 

 

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

I had wondered about those regulations too. I read my it as they should not charge more for a similar replacement cruise.

I am lucky my cruise falls just before the sale but I am sorry for those people who are booked for after the sale.

P and O do not seem to care about the customer. Onboard credit is not compensation also what about other expenses people have incurred such as travel insurance premiums and hotels.

Best wishes, Stephen.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Isn't the real issue the fact that the target market for Oriana is diminishing, in that the new generation of older cruisers expect more than Oriana could provide? It seems that Saga have realised that the newly mature market want a sophisticated, small ship environment, and have put their faith in their new ship cruising next year. P&O gave taken a different route.

The P&O/Carnival marketing team have decided they have two target markets: UK mass market family/mid-price range cruising, (e.g. Britannia) and a couple of ships for the more affluent/elderly UK crowd ( e.g. Arcadia). If neither of these two options attract, they will hope that other Carnival lines will fill the void (e.g. Princess for those UK cruisers who want a more cosmopolitan experience) . Much as many UK cruisers will dislike the idea, P&O is just part of a major cruise monolith, where individual brands have to co-exist with other brands within the same parent group, but there cannot be too much of an overlap in the brand offering.

Sent from my SM-T580 using Forums mobile app

Very sad, as we got the ‘cruising bug’ when we did our first cruise, on Oriana in 1996, when she was just one year old. We have cruised on her again since and like her very much.

However, since my wife has had to resort to a wheelchair, we have stopped cruising on her. We only ever Cruise with a balcony and the accessible cabins on Oriana are either outides or insides (neither of which would interest us) and suite prices are poor value on this ship.

The lack of balconies is her downfall, as increasing numbers of cruisers these days now see one as essential and I believe that she only has one deck of balcony cabins. So, with two new ships announced, this was sadly inevitable.

An earlier poster wondered how prices on Aurora and Arcadia would be affected. We booked one of the first cruises that Aurora will be doing when she becomes Adult only. As always, we booked at launch to get the cheapest prices (we only book Select as we like to choose the best cabin). A month or two ago I checked the current prices of all four of our future cruises (3 on Aurora and 1 on Arcadia). The prices on all of them had increased significantly and, much to my surprise, the last one on Aurora is now almost DOUBLE the price we paid. I had to check it twice as I didn’t believe what I was seeing.

Selbourne, same here. We had our cruise on Adonia cancelled, so whilst on Board Oriana, which is when he heard about it, we rebooked Oriana and also booked Aurora for April 2019, so that was 18 months ago. We paid £1395 for an inside cabin with £135 OBC each. That cruise is now showing as £2350 for an inside and £1900 (approx) for an Early Saver. I couldn't believe it either. It's a 19 day cruise. (Oh and got another £50 off from our TA)

So to summarise then....

1. P&O have been unable to repair the ships engine correctly. Everyone appears in danger for the next 12 months due to vibrations?

2. They are selling the ship to China (an offer they couldn’t refuse)

3. P&O are banking (literally) on us transferring with £50 OBC to cruises that are now double/£2,000 more than when we booked.

4. Ship is registered in Bermuda so they can get away from consumer law.

5. No doubt this was known when the summer/autumn cruises launched.

6. The ethos of evolve or become extinct has been force fed by Carnival.

For us we were presented this cruise as a reward for going above and beyond in our work. We’ve now setting up our own company so lost it all.

Cheers P&O.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums