P&O Cancel loads of cruises!

[PRINCESSTHE BEST]

Azura A309N

Ventura N313

Adonia D307 & D312

Oceana E316

Oriana X405

 

All cancelled :eek::(

[jeanlyon]

Most of them are only mini cruises. Can't say I am surprised.

[LEESRE]

Most of them are at least 10 days or longer???

Edited November 19, 2012 by LEESRE

[davecttr]

Azura A309N

Ventura N313

Adonia D307 & D312

Oceana E316

Oriana X405

 

All cancelled :eek::(

 

source of info ?

[daiB]

source of info ?

 

P&O website under questions. It also lists the replacement cruises.

 

Some are the same length as the ones cancelled one on Oriana to the Canaries in March is replaced by one of the same length I think to the fjords:confused: That I do not understand at all

 

Apart from Adonia all appear to be March/April.

 

 

Gan canny

 

 

 

Dai

[timetravellers]

P&O website under questions. It also lists the replacement cruises.

 

Some are the same length as the ones cancelled one on Oriana to the Canaries in March is replaced by one of the same length I think to the fjords:confused: That I do not understand at all

 

Apart from Adonia all appear to be March/April.

 

 

Gan canny

 

 

 

Dai

 

The Oriana X405 replacement cruise is another Northern Lights one. We are booked on X406 Northern Lights which has been selling really well.

[davecttr]

OK, thanks, got it.

 

as i wrote on the P&O site, what a shambles

 

also a potential public relations disaster

 

even less incentive now to book early as the cruise might be pulled fro under you :mad:

 

P&O had better ensure that any unfortunate cruiser caught out in this mess suffers no financial penalty. Plus a hefty offer for the stress and inconvenience.

 

I wonder why they didn't reduce the fares?

Oh! extra obc for Vantage fares :rolleyes:

[saltypeer]

Are you 'scare mongering?' I can't find anything about cancelled cruises on the P&O website.

 

I apologise if you are indeed correct....but please post a link to this news.

 

Pete

[tartanexile81]

Saltypeer, I'm afraid it is true and here's a link to the news on the P&O website

 

https://ask.pocruises.com/help/PO/latest_news/PO_2013canx

[PRINCESSTHE BEST]

 

P&O had better ensure that any unfortunate cruiser caught out in this mess suffers no financial penalty. Plus a hefty offer for the stress and inconvenience.

 

I wonder why they didn't reduce the fares?

Oh! extra obc for Vantage fares :rolleyes:

 

Sorry. But you have no chance. They will not give you compensation or discount any other cruise you choose. I learned the hard way when they cancelled my cruise. I lost hundreds plus annual leave through having to cancel, hotels, car parking etc. P&O didn't want to know.

[davecttr]

Sorry. But you have no chance. They will not give you compensation or discount any other cruise you choose. I learned the hard way when they cancelled my cruise. I lost hundreds plus annual leave through having to cancel, hotels, car parking etc. P&O didn't want to know.

Well they must be getting desperate if they are willing to upset thousands of passengers and suffer the knock on effects on future bookings and bad publicity that will result.

 

there are a lot of other cruise lines out there and customers don't like being mucked about!

[tom_uk]

Most of the replacement short cruise look really, really - unimaginative, majoring as they do on Zeebrugge and St Peter Port. Some even have Zeebrugge, St peter Port and a day at sea. And given that there's only about a 50% chance of actually getting ashore at St Peter Port, there's going to be a lot of sailing in circles in the English Channel next spring and early summer.

 

As someone else has said, things must be difficult at Carnival UK. I suppose we ought to be pleased that P&O have grasped the nettle this early - cancellations in January or February would be worse, let alone a fire-sale the month before sailing date.

 

But it all looks to me like over-capacity. If they're already having problems filling the ships, how will they manage when the big new one comes along? And how many, and which, ships do we think will exit the fleet?

[daiB]

Most of the replacement short cruise look really, really - unimaginative, majoring as they do on Zeebrugge and St Peter Port. Some even have Zeebrugge, St peter Port and a day at sea. And given that there's only about a 50% chance of actually getting ashore at St Peter Port, there's going to be a lot of sailing in circles in the English Channel next spring and early summer.

 

As someone else has said, things must be difficult at Carnival UK. I suppose we ought to be pleased that P&O have grasped the nettle this early - cancellations in January or February would be worse, let alone a fire-sale the month before sailing date.

 

But it all looks to me like over-capacity. If they're already having problems filling the ships, how will they manage when the big new one comes along? And how many, and which, ships do we think will exit the fleet?

 

None. Are P&O just reacting to the market which at the moment is in flux.

 

Remember the number of people cruising from Southampton is still rising even in the economic position we are in. Only P&O are in a position to know which cruises are selling, so if two bog standard cruises to the Canaries in March are not selling then moving them to 6 short ones which will sell seems a good commercial decision.

 

However that does not help the people who have booked on these cruises already.

 

All companies will want to take advantage of the upturn when it comes and will not want to be in the position of not having the ships available to them. This is why I say no ships will leave the fleet.

 

Of course if the economic situation does not improve then all bets are off. The problem for cruise lines is that they cannot react very quickly to fast changing situations ie it can take 3 to 4 years to build a new ship.

 

 

Gan Canny

 

 

Dai

[simonpjd]

Obviously, in the present economic climate, P&O are having trouble selling the cruises and are switching the vessels to trips which they hope will prove more popular.

Maybe, after their good looking Downton Abbey sponsorship, they are getting lots of people wanting to try one so they need more short trips. Who knows.

Either way it is tough if you have booked one of these now cancelled voyages. But it is so far in advance that it will not cause much undue stress or hardship. People thinking P&O should compensate for this are in cloud cuckoo land. As other forumites have noted - there are a lot of cruise lines out there and if P&O cannot supply what you want then hunt around. Cunard, Fred Olsen, Princess etc etc are waiting for your call. After all they are all within a whisker being much the same price and offer a very similar experience.

Interestingly the Carnival share price is up over 10% in the last 2 months so I guess they are doing pretty well.

[ovccruiser]

It may just be down to econics of cruising, A short cruise with a day at sea burning up fuel for no reason, cancel it and make a port call instead with save £££££ for the cruise line. A day at sea will burn a lot of fuel for nothing. Just been on a Cunard cruise to the Canaries, which was followed by a cruise to Hamburg total 14 days. This replaced a cruise originally into the Med with one port of call in Athens. The ship would have had to travel at 24kts plus to get to Athens, instead, it plodded at 16kts across the Bay of Biscay at a much more ecconomical spead. Cruiseline are looking at savings, as we all are, and fuel is probably one of their most major costs.

Edited November 20, 2012 by ovccruiser

[Gettingwarmer]

Most of them are only mini cruises. Can't say I am surprised.

 

You read the link incorrectly.

 

https://ask.pocruises.com/help/PO/latest_news/PO_2013canx

 

They are long cruises being reduced to shorter cruises except for Oriana which is doing an extra Northern Lights cruise. They get more people buying the drinks on the shorter cruises and more profit. They also don't have to compensate anyone under Vantage fare if they reduced the price to fill the ships.

Edited November 20, 2012 by Gettingwarmer

[saltypeer]

Saltypeer, I'm afraid it is true and here's a link to the news on the P&O website

 

https://ask.pocruises.com/help/PO/latest_news/PO_2013canx

 

Thank you for the link.....such a shame for all those who book a cruise and then get excited by the anticipation when counting down the days.

 

Pete

[jeanlyon]

You're quite right - I misread it. Can't help but think they will shoot themselves in the foot with these cruises.

[Tracy67]

:(

Our canaries cruise sailing on 14th July ( my husband 's 50th birthday) has been cancelled. We are so disappointed. Got a letter today. They say they can rebook us onto a similar cruise in June but we are teachers so that is no good at all.

 

Been looking at Royal Caribbean as there is nothing family friendly available for our dates now with P&O .......or we might do a few cities in America....really undecided. It's annoying after spending time researching and planning. Luckily I've not spent anything other than the deposit which the letter states I can have back on 30th November! I rang and said I want it now!

[Cristaltips]

Does anyone wonder if the problem with the flight booker could be linked to potential cancellations? There seems to be an awful lot of availibility on our cruise going in January which is now all paid for. Or is it me in "glass half empty" mode?!!!

[terrierjohn]

You're quite right - I misread it. Can't help but think they will shoot themselves in the foot with these cruises.

Jean, If their eyesight is as poor as your's, they will probably miss.:p;):cool:

[Patsy Flower]

I have also wondered if the problem with the Cruise Personaliser is linked to potential cancellations. I do not understand how a company as big as P & O can have IT problems for this length of time. It just doesn't add up.

 

We are booked on a cruise in January and should have been able to book our flight seats in October. I have given up waiting for the e mail which says the problem has been fixed. I am now expecting to receive an e mail regarding an alteration to our cruise.

 

Does anyone else feel there is more to this???

[davecttr]

I have also wondered if the problem with the Cruise Personaliser is linked to potential cancellations. I do not understand how a company as big as P & O can have IT problems for this length of time. It just doesn't add up.

 

We are booked on a cruise in January and should have been able to book our flight seats in October. I have given up waiting for the e mail which says the problem has been fixed. I am now expecting to receive an e mail regarding an alteration to our cruise.

 

Does anyone else feel there is more to this???

 

It still looks like incompetence to me although how a company of P&O's size can allow this is beyond me. Their community forum is still not showing the latest messages even after many complaints.

 

Contrast this with a recent experience on Thomson where the flight seat booker was available 90 days before the return flight. Gets lots of people that one, the return flight has to be in the 90 day period before you can book the seats.

[Tizzy]

Hello Patsy

Yes I am getting worried now. I cannot begin to think what a nightmare it will be for us if our cruise is cancelled as living abroad we have booked extra flights, hotel stays etc. etc. The Cruise Flight booker has been out of action a long time now and it is very frustrating having to check it all the time. This is our first Cruise with P&O and I hate feeling all is not well.

I do hope P&O will remind us straight away when the flight booker becomes active again. I am really looking forward to our cruise but do feel I want to get flight seats organised as soon as possible.

Did you fill in a questionnaire about favourite ports ? We did wonder what this was all about ?

[Cristaltips]

I am SO glad that I'm not the only one getting twitchy about cancellations. I will be SO cheesed off if that happens. I cannot believe that a company the size of P & O (Carnival) can't get their IT sorted. Perhaps they're hanging onto the money as long as possible before they pay the charter airlines. If there's nothing odd going on, why don't they just come clean and tell us?