Pacific Star Xmas Cruise R512 cancelled!

Just received letter and full refund from P&O because they had to cancel maiden voyage 18 Dec 2005 Xmas Cruise from Brisbane. The ship won't be be ready in time so the first voyage will be the New Year's Eve one.

Very disappointed but will have to book one later in the new year.:(

Davoni:)

So sorry to hear your cruise has been cancelled:(.

My last cruise wasnt cancelled but it was shortened. Still, it is really disappointing when they change something that you have waited so long for.

I wont be suprised if in another week, they announce that the New Year cruise has been cancelled :rolleyes:.

Regards

Kazza

Oh that is bad news!

How dissapointing...

I am sure it will be OK for my three day cruise in March.

Marleneann

davoni....so sorry your cruise was cancelled :mad: i would be so disappointed too.

Marleneann(lovely name BTW)did you see that truebliss has also booked that cruise

Oh, I am sorry, how disappointing. Come on ours instead.

Just received letter and full refund from P&O because they had to cancel maiden voyage 18 Dec 2005 Xmas Cruise from Brisbane. The ship won't be be ready in time so the first voyage will be the New Year's Eve one.

Very disappointed but will have to book one later in the new year.:(

What compensation have they offered?

You paid your money in good faith

and they can not deliver!

They have been using your money in the mean time.

You should get a good deal on a future cruise

at least!!!!!!!

Friends were booked on one of the first Sun cruises that was cancelled due to the ship not being ready. They were given a full refund and 20% off their next cruise if taken within 12 months.

What a shame for you Davoni, I hope you'll be able to get yourself on a new cruise.

I searched the P&O website and found this page

http://www.pocruises.com.au/html/update.cfm

Apparently they are offereing a 20% discount on cruises on Pacific Star/Sky/Sun booked before 31 December 2006 - and for people who want to cruise on a cruise between before January 2006, but need to travel to another port (Sydney or Auckland) because they can't get on a cruise out of Brisbane as they are heavily booked, they are offering a $350 airfare credit towards the airfare to travel to Sydney/Auckland - presumably this aimed mainly at those passengers who live in Brisbane/Qld and wouldn't have needed an airfare for this cruise.

davoni....so sorry your cruise was cancelled :mad: i would be so disappointed too.

 

Marleneann(lovely name BTW)did you see that truebliss has also booked that cruise

Hello Truebliss...nice to meet you. I am going with my three sisters. We are no spring chickens. Who are you going with?

Marleneann.

You must be so disappointed divoni. Especially being a Christmas cruise as you now have to make other arrangements for that as well as looking for another cruise. It seems to be a problem booking a maiden voyage because as we all know the same thing happened with the Sun. How long have you been looking forward to it?

Karen

Hi Guys,

Thanks so much for your kind words....I feel a lot better just reading your comments. We booked this cruise about 4 months ago and were really excited and even got our 'fancy dress' stuff and Xmas decorations, etc.

Skyrules and Aussiedisneyfan are correct in what P&O offered us. The only Xmas cruise we can go on that has a few suites/cabins left is the Pacific Princess leaving Sydney on 18 Dec 2005. We have a suite on hold but I'm not sure if this being a smaller ship, etc and the general age of pax, maybe it would be a bit more sedate? Not that we're ragers or anything, both in our 40's, but I don't know that much about Princess except the American boards and they are different to Aussie cruise lines. Does anyone know anything about Pacific Princess? We have until this Saturday 26th Nov to pay in full. Have got a good deal for the suite with balcony due to our cancelled cruise. Any feedback would be appreciated.:)

Gee, I'm glad I'm not in your position. I'm not sure I'd cruise on the Pacific Princess. It's hard to say. I mean , if you've been looking forward to a Christmas cruise and this is your only option.....what to you do? Like you said, that ship is probably more sedate than the star/sky/sun and that's why I'm not sure if I'd do it. We are also in our 40's but we also have 3 kids and I can't imagine the Princess having many kids on board and that wouldn't be much fun for ours. Even when we booked our cruise on the Sun, I asked the TA about how many kids they get on board outside school holidays because I was worried there wouldn't be many but she assured me there would be. If I didn't have kids I would seriously consider it though. And especially if I got a good deal on a suite.

Just go with your heart and I'm sure you'll make the right decision. And I'm also sure that if you do go, you'll have a great time.

Karen

Hi Davoni, We are booked on the Pacific Princess leaving next Thursday. We have been on Princess before - in January. I don't think you will find much difference except not quote so many ockers on board. The Americans we met on the last cruise were just fantastic. There were a few really typical ones but they were in the minority. Besides Pacific Princess is a 5 star ship - I think the P&O ones are 4 at best so we are expecting excellent service and meals. Go for it. Life is what you make of it. Marleneann was on the same cruise as us on the Sapphire and we all had a ball. Gayle

I would go the Princess. It may be the only time you would consider/afford it with the good deal you have.

Hi Davoni

Sorry to hear the news. I can only imagine how you feel, I would be distraught, so much planning and excitement :mad:.

Hi Davoni,

Pacific Princess is one of my favorite ships.I have had 3 cruises on her and really enjoyed each one.If you have the chance of one of the suites I would suggest you go for it .They are really great.

We did last years Xmas Cruise and it was fantastic.Facilities for the children are indeed limited,but they limit the number of children on board and those that are onboard, get really well looked after by the staff..

Dont forget that the cruise is run by P&O Australia so you will have an Australian Cruise Director and Australian entertainment staff,and the currency on board will all be $AU.

Here is a pic of the children from last years cruise with Santa and the Captain on Xmas Day.One of the best nights was Xmas Eve when they had a carol service around the pool with entertainers,staff and passengers all taking part.

Thanks Kiwi Cruiser for the info and photo. We now have another problem as P&O cannot guarantee us flight to Sydney to join Pacific Princess because of large number of re-bookings for cruises out of Sydney. Don't know whether to risk booking our own flights (if we can get them) or delaying our cruise to later on in January (and trusting that the Star will be here then) Maybe joining Aussiedisneyfan on R603 as suggested or we can also go on R604....Was looking forward to Pacific Princess but not sure about the hassle of going to Sydney....Have until this Saturday to decide.:confused:

Where abouts in Queensland do you have to fly from?

Xmas time is always busy for flights.

We are doing the Xmas/New Year cruise on Statendam this year from Ak to Sy, and one of the first things we booked ,once the cruise was confirmed ,was the return flight from Sy to AK.

Darn, my post disappeared.

Davoni, I wouldn't be scared to book my own flights. I just looked on Virgin and they have $89 down but $175 back. Do you still get the flight credit if you don't book with them?

Getting from Sydney airport is not that hard. A taxi would cost around $35 and trains would be $11(?) per person each way. Then a short walk from Wynyard station.

I hope the Star will be there later in Jan or we will be a disappointed family. Plus I have booked discounted flights with Virgin and accommodation on the Gold Coast which is non-refundable.

We are in Brisbane. The problem is we have to pay in full for the cruise by this Saturday but we may not know about flights until next week if we go with P&O arranged flights. I cannot book my own until they advise me as we could end up with double flights booked and paid for, or nothing at all. I might give P&O flights a miss and make my own arrangements as time is running out and I normally like to organise everything well in advance. We don't get the flight credit on Pacific Princess only if we sailed on Sun or Sky.

I don't see how P&O can lock you into a cruise if they can't get you the flights. Surely they will refund if they don't have them available.

Perhaps you could try booking a more expensive fare that is refundable or transferrable and then if P&O come through you could cancel them.

Davoni, have you decided what you are going to do yet?

Hi Aussiedisneyfan,

Yes we've decided to go with Princess Xmas cruise 18 Dec. Have booked our own flights using Qantas ff points and going down the day before and staying at Darling Harbour to make sure we don't miss the ship! This has worked out less than paying for P&O flights (and they still can't guarantee to get us on a flight through them) So for peace of mind have booked our own. Had to pay today for cruise (Sat 26/11) but their system was down and they have assurred me it will be okay to pay on Monday instead and will not lose our suite, so I guess when it's all finalised on Monday I'll be really excited....only 3 weeks to go.......Cheers:)

Hi All,

I have been away on a conference and was concerned when I heard on Friday the Christmas cruise has been cancelled. Davoni, my sincere sympathy. I know what it is like to have a cruise cancelled when you have looked forward to it. Our Easter cruise was cancelled the week before we were meant to go.

I just hope that she is ready for when we go on here on the 9th of Jan, which will now be the 2nd cruise (hopefully!!). This cruise is the replacement cruise for Easter and wouldn't it be ironic if it was cancelled too. I think we should then be entitled to a 50% discount!!

My travelling partners have suggested that should the cruise be cancelled we will be going to Vila for a week which won't be as good but at least it is a back up plan!

Davoni I am sure you will have a fantastic time on the Princess.

Cheers,

Chaz:)

Hi Chaz,

Wondered where you were. Thanks for your good wishes. We have just paid for our Princess cruise and will be really excited when we receive our tickets....just as we were when we got Star tickets...Hopefully this one will go ahead...I'm sure your cruise will be great...look forward to hearing all about the Star when you return....

Cheers,

Davoni:)