Last minute cancelled port of call - Ventura

Has anyone ever suffered a last minute post departure cancelled port of call? This occured on a recently completed cruise whereby because of a "technical issue" the ship's speed was limited and one port of call was cancelled with timings for others changed.

Unfortunately there was no offer of compensation for the missed port, citing T&C's, and instructions to contact travel insurers for possbile claim. Any comments welcome!

Yes - and it's petty common. We missed out Gibraltar for 'weather' reasons, which disappointed a large number of people who'd specifically chosen that cruise for Gibraltar. A lot of us had our doubts as to how genuine the reason was, but proof is well nigh impossible, and P&O have the whole thing neatly wrapped up in the T&C.

I suppose there are travel insurers out there who cover that risk, but I'd guess at the policies being fairly unusual and rather pricey.

Can't remember any cruise where the itinerary hasn't been changed. The weather is the most common reason given, or engine/techical problems, and, most recently, a medical emergency where a medi-vac was ruled out. The latter gave us an extra half day in Madiera, so not all bad - if you like port days.

We couldn't get into Cagliari last week - 50 knot winds and a very rough passage followed. Happens all the time.

If it’s weather it’s force major, if medical then that is just one of these things and happens from time to time.

If the technical issue is something that has just “broken” then again there is little that anyone can do, things break and the cruise company don’t have a crystal ball.

There have however been cases where the technical issue could be related to lack of maintenance or deferring the repair of a known isssue (none with P&O that I am aware of) and in these cases the cruise company had to pay out but only after being pushed, they all hide behind their T&Cs.

I can’t remember anyone mentioning any recent issues with Ventura on here so the chances are that it was new and unknown issue

I do however sympathise with you as missing ports is really, really annoying.

Ventura seems to be having problems at the moment which is worrying as she's just had a re-fit. Last week she missed Porto and last night they were 5 hours late leaving Southampton due to "technical reasons"

Hope it's sorted soon - 4 weeks and I'm onboard!

It's really annoying when ports are missed. Especially if it is one you were really keen on.

However, I have cruised often enough to accept this happens from time to time and I have learnt to live with it. No itinerary is guaranteed IME.

Some reasons like weather and medical emergencies people understand. Known mechanical problems is what annoys me.

Ventura seems to be having problems at the moment which is worrying as she's just had a re-fit. Last week she missed Porto and last night they were 5 hours late leaving Southampton due to "technical reasons"

Hope it's sorted soon - 4 weeks and I'm onboard!

I was on Ventura a few weeks ago (post fit). No problems were announced but a fellow passenger with a keen eye told me that there seemed to be momentary problems which resulted in us drifting off coarse at one point.

If there was a problem, it didn't affect the itinerary or our cruise in any way.

Interesting. We are on Ventura in October but also on Star Princess soon. Been reading that Star had rudder problems and missed a port in Alaska. Apparently Princess gave everyone extra on board credit and remitted some of the cruise fee (as reported on cc). Both are part of the Carnival family.

Decent insurance policies pay out £100 pp for a missed port.

Sent from my SM-T580 using Forums mobile app

Decent insurance policies pay out £100 pp for a missed port.

 

Sent from my SM-T580 using Forums mobile app

Yes, I'm insured with "Insure & Go" and have been advised I will be paid this sum, £100 per passenger.

This was my first cruise with P&O, overall it was a very pleasant trip, IMO the missed port of call could have been avoided except that there were scheduled works to the ship planned for Vigo so the visit to this small port could not have been shortened. The visit to Lisbon was also extended until 3am, I wonder how many took advantage of this extension? In truth the dissapointment is as much the lack of imagination with coping as the missing of the port of call. Difficult weather would have been less upsetting.

Can't remember any cruise where the itinerary hasn't been changed. The weather is the most common reason given, or engine/techical problems, and, most recently, a medical emergency where a medi-vac was ruled out. The latter gave us an extra half day in Madiera, so not all bad - if you like port days.

You must be very unlucky. We have done 47 cruises and have only missed around 7 or 8 ports and I can only remember 1 which was caused by problems with the ship all of the others have been down to weather conditions. We were diverted into Vigo with a medical emergency last year but it was a 1 hour stop to off load the sick passenger and then we were off again and arrived in Cadiz the next day on time.

Similar rules to those relating to airlines should apply. If the missed port is because of a maintenance or technical issue then the company should pay compensation, especially if the ship has sailed with known maintenance problems. The compensation should be simple too, one days refund of the fare, NOT on board credit or future cruise discount

We've only had one experience of missing a port due to technical problems with the ship. It was quite a few years ago now, Arcadia in New Orleans - the beginning of the cruise. One of the azipods wasn't working for whatever reason. We had a day in New Orleans as scheduled and were due to leave the following afternoon. This didn't happen as they hadn't managed to fix the problem and we were told engineers were flown out from home. That evening we were still there and it wasn't until 10am the next day that the Captain finally announced that all was well and we would be leaving as soon as the port authorities gave clearance. Well this didn't happen, much to the Captain's annoyance, until 4pm. So we were quite behind schedule. We were supposed to have a day in Key West before proceeding to the Caribbean but this had to be cancelled as there just wasn't time to fit it in. That evening after leaving New Orleans when we returned to our cabin there was a letter from the Executive Purser (Hotel Manager in today's lingo) apologising for the delay and missed port and saying that every passenger would receive £100 On Board Credit. We felt this was generous.

However, when we have missed a port due to bad weather, and there have been two or three - I can remember Piraeus and Jamaica, there has not been any compensation given - nor would we have expected any, the company cannot be held responsible for the weather. The Executive Purser was on our table that cruise - the famous James Cusick, a fantastic host - and he told us that compensation would only ever be offered if the missed port was due to a problem with the ship, not for bad weather. I don't know if this is still the way things are done.

Was the cause of the missed port bad weather (the reason that's almost always given) or a problem with the ship? One will never give rise to any claims against P&O but the other might.

Pretty obvious what they're going to say, isn't it? And who's really going to know in most cases if someone's telling a little white lie? ;)

Was the cause of the missed port bad weather (the reason that's almost always given) or a problem with the ship? One will never give rise to any claims against P&O but the other might.

 

Pretty obvious what they're going to say, isn't it? And who's really going to know in most cases if someone's telling a little white lie? ;)

Yes it is easy to say that if just one cruise is affected however I would like to think that they were honest.

There can however be a bit of a clue that’s it’s not weather related when several cruises back to back are affected by the same sort of issues / delays/ missed ports.

It is well worth reading cruise boards like this or passenger reviews to see what has been happening on a ship or in a particular area of travel. If there has been an issue on previous cruises someone, somewhere will have posted about it in a review and forearmed is forewarned.

I always have a scout about before a cruise to check for recent occurrences.

Was the cause of the missed port bad weather (the reason that's almost always given) or a problem with the ship? One will never give rise to any claims against P&O but the other might.

 

Pretty obvious what they're going to say, isn't it? And who's really going to know in most cases if someone's telling a little white lie? ;)

I was on the same cruise - they advised that it was due to technical difficulties, but didn't elaborate as to what they were. They'd probably have struggled to say it was due to weather, as it was beautiful and calm, even across the Bay of Biscay, and getting onto Guernsey was a doddle.

I suspect it was engine related, but beyond that, no idea.

The worst experience of us missing a port was several years ago on Oceana. We were anchored off St Thomas and passport control had come aboard. All was going well until suddenly the passport officers just got up and left. It was announced that the ship would be leaving immediately. It turned out that P&O’s crew manifesto was incorrect and customs refused clearance. We were each given £50 compensation. There was almost a riot on board. P&O called into St Thomas every two weeks at that time so there were many red faces in the Purser’s office.

Sent from my iPad using Forums

Did you take the extra cruise cover with Insure & Go or just standard medical insurance that covers cruises