Carol Marlow leaving

[Paul10000]

Well - after sampling the delights of P&O cruises customer service and being treated like a total idiot it's great to see CM walking the plank. The only person more arrogant was the old buffoon who used to run P&O. :D

[jeanlyon]

It's not just the Getaway fares that annoy me about P&O, its also the reduced times in ports. For instance, Malta, arrive 0800, leave 1500. Other ports are similar. Fred at least stay in port until early evening, sometimes late evening.

[Sutho]

Previous poster says 'Cancelling cruises willy nilly and leaving passengers out of pocket with hotels, annual leave from work that cannot be rearranged, is not the way to run a business. '

 

Can we have some evidence of these claims.

Which cruises have been cancelled leaving pax out of pocket please.

 

The Azura World Cruise for 2013 was cancelled early 2012 when passengers had made bookings and arrangements. That is one example I can think of.

 

I am not an expert on P&O's management but did see the cruise line going down hill. Look at my cruise history. All P&O. This year it has been Celebrity and Princess and next years ones are Princess. I have no P&O cruises booked into the foreseeable future.

[davecttr]

It's not just the Getaway fares that annoy me about P&O, its also the reduced times in ports. For instance, Malta, arrive 0800, leave 1500. Other ports are similar. Fred at least stay in port until early evening, sometimes late evening.

What we may be seeing here is cost cutting made worse by the requirement to cruise from southampton. This year that is all P&O offer although next year they are going to dip their toes in fly cruises again. Look at the other lines, sure they base ships in southampton but they offer fly cruises as well. P&O is suffering from being too constrained in the variety of cruises it can offer within 7 or 14 nights

People say fly cruising can't work for P&O, why, it works for others. Don't P&O have the skills to make it work? Perhaps not and they are just reacting to the trends later than everyone else.

[Cosmic Rays]

What we may be seeing here is cost cutting made worse by the requirement to cruise from southampton. This year that is all P&O offer although next year they are going to dip their toes in fly cruises again. Look at the other lines, sure they base ships in southampton but they offer fly cruises as well. P&O is suffering from being too constrained in the variety of cruises it can offer within 7 or 14 nights

People say fly cruising can't work for P&O, why, it works for others. Don't P&O have the skills to make it work? Perhaps not and they are just reacting to the trends later than everyone else.

 

Liverpool perhaps sometime?

 

Management at P&O appear to be like headless chickens these days - no direction - and soon to be without the Cockerel and his mate!!!! Let's see what happens from October 1st..............

[ovccruiser]

Interestingly, I sail with both P & O and Cunard and so read both, the vantage and getaway does seem like financial suicide, and can only assume this was dreamt up by Carol Marlowe and Peter Shanks, being the two MD's of their respective cruise lines. Not such a good advert for their future job prospects.

 

IMO, the first thing the new incumbent needs to do is listen to his customers and not his shareholders. Put the customer first! Should be an interesting couple of months.

 

It is strange, however, that both P & O and Cunard lost their way after effectively dropping their travel agents.

[tillybilly321]

About time too!

First they need to drop smart-jacket required nights. Reduce the number of formal nights to make them more special and not just boringly repetitive. Reduce the number of venues aboard where formal dress is required.

 

It appears to me that trying to be all things to all men within one cruise line just sows confusion.

 

Carnival have their 'posh' cruise lines, Seabourne and Cunard.

They have an american 'oldies' line, HAL

They have an american young, fun line Carnival

They have an american mainstrem line, Princess

 

In the UK they are attempting to combine the last three in P&O

 

Consider splitting the line into two with the family friendly ships going their own way.

 

 

 

I have to agree with you. P & O have spent several years now trying to be all things to all people. They really need to make up their minds as to which customer base they are trying to attract.

 

Ideally they could split more categorically into adult only / family friendly brands. Though this was done before with the Ocean Village brand which was removed due to the launch of Azura and Ventura.

 

Unfortunately I don't think they can compete in the family market without upgrading the ships. Apart from the kids clubs, which are excellent, there is very little to do as a family. The few bits of youth equipment such as the bungee were removed and not replaced with any alternatives. I know that climbing walls and ice rinks are not everyone's cup of tea but to attract families you need to give them something to do together, particularly as the ships spend a fair amount of time at sea.

 

RCI etc are reaping the benefits of P&O's lack of direction and I think that it is beginning to dawn on them. I would expect some major changes over the next year or so.

[tillybilly321]

People say fly cruising can't work for P&O, why, it works for others. Don't P&O have the skills to make it work? Perhaps not and they are just reacting to the trends later than everyone else.

 

As I said in my previous post, P&O ran the Ocean Village brand quite succesfully for several years. These were all fly cruises, so they do have the experience of doing this. I am sure that the Ventura trial next year is to see if they can make this type of cruising attractive again. They withdrew the ships from the med just as the other cruise lines increased their presence, which I'm sure they are kicking themselves for now :rolleyes:

[marylizcat]

They definitely need to add more things for younger people on the family ships. As said, they have removed the interesting things on Ventura. Something like water slides are needed. Otherwise, they should just give up, leave it to RCI and go for the oldies market.

[davecttr]

 

 

As I said in my previous post, P&O ran the Ocean Village brand quite succesfully for several years. These were all fly cruises, so they do have the experience of doing this. I am sure that the Ventura trial next year is to see if they can make this type of cruising attractive again. They withdrew the ships from the med just as the other cruise lines increased their presence, which I'm sure they are kicking themselves for now :rolleyes:

Hopefully they can make it work but must say they are doing their best to make it difficult. They need to relax formality on the ship and revert the'glasshouse' back to the spanish themed Ramblas. Introduce more things for families to do etc etc. A lot of this 'software' need not cost money just organisation but is the existing management team capable of it? Perhaps not, heck they can't even get all the clocks aboard to tell the same time.

[davecttr]

They definitely need to add more things for younger people on the family ships. As said, they have removed the interesting things on Ventura. Something like water slides are needed. Otherwise, they should just give up, leave it to RCI and go for the oldies market.

The problem with the oldies market is it won't fill ships even if fred olsen went bust.

[kevinyork]

 

It is strange, however, that both P & O and Cunard lost their way after effectively dropping their travel agents.

 

I had forgotten that. Perhaps travel agents have lost some incentive to push P&O as a product?

 

As anothe example of Vantage fares not working. Our last two Med cruises with P&O were booked about 5 months ahead. Both fares allowed cabin choice and came with substantial onboard credit but were a fair bit lower than the brochure price. The fares and offers could be varied to match demand for particular cruises.

 

When the Vantage fares came out it just made it seem like a worse deal- either pay the high vantage fare or wait till the getaway fares are released and lose choice. The rest of the travel industry has flexible pricing, package holidays for instance, and prices continually vary to meet demand.

[Eboracum_d]

It certainly seems to be the case that over recent years P and O has disappointed its previous customer base. I can understand the Company's desire to expand that customer base and thus to try to appeal to a younger market. I thought they had the means to do that with Ventura and Azura aimed at the younger market and The older ships aimed at their more traditional customer base.

 

But I have seen no indication of any notice been taken of comments in feedback forms and there are several threads on here about poor response to complaints made to the Head Office, so whether the customer be older or younger there is a needier the new Management Team to focus on this aspect.

 

Cutting the commission to travel agents and cutting the time ships spend in port both seemed rather desperate measures to save cash in the short term. They must have known that both measures could result in fewer passengers.

 

There is another thread on here about the deficiencies of a Cruise Director which to an extent widened into more general criticism. I would not single out any particular individual -- in my experience there has been a marked deterioration in the work of the Entertainment teams over the last five years. I am not talking about the evening shows but the work of the entertainment officers around the ship who seem to me to lack either Direction or Supervision. I like to play Deck Sports and participate in Quizzes. So far as the former is concerned the norm is for participants to turn up at the appointed time and have to wait for the member of staff who then seems to have no idea as how to work out how say 75 participants can be reduced to produce 4 for a semi final.

 

The Quiz people frequently ask the same question as asked the previous day but do increase the entertainment by providing a different answer. Further entertainment was provided on my last cruise by the ents officer's inability to pronounce the questions let alone understand the answers.

 

I have seen no evidence ofCruise Directors or their Deputies monitoring the performance of their staff.

 

So any view broom seems to me to ensure that work is done at the coal face as well as in determining what the grand strategy is to be.

[daiB]

Dai, I do agree with John that you cannot know you have said more on next years cruises. Almost all cruises have cheaper deals nearer departure. However I do agree that if you are happy with the deal you got then thats fine for you.

 

Kevin,

 

Even happier now as my cabin grade has gone to full. I would have had to jump very quickly even to get the 9% reduction.:D

 

Gan Canny

 

 

Dai

 

:cool:

[FLUFFY01]

From what I can remember there were cruises cancelled last year and also a world cruise on Azura- well that was a no go from the start. The ship was too big for a world cruise

[bee-ess]

I think they need to create some more interesting itineraries as well - out side of the World or it's sectors it is 'same old, same old', you could pick up a brochure from any of the last 5 years and the program would be the same. Even the Caribbean could do with a bit more variety - used to go to lots more ports than now, same 2 itineraries all through the season for the 2 main ships - gets a bit boring.

 

Also I agree with the other posters about the entertainment/cruise directors - we had v. poor entertainment both. daytime and evening on the last Ventura cruise. We said then that the entertainment was very staid and dated and looking around the daytime leisure facilities are also not what other Cruise lines are offering on Family ships.

 

Also this new habit of leaving ports early is frustrating - why did they stop

publishing leaving times - it is less frustrating if you know when you book what times you will leave. For us leaving port at 5PM every day in the Caribbean in March was annoying enough - used to always be 6PM most days..

 

I must admit that there are some plusses and one of the reasons we book with P&O are cheaper tips, cheaper drinks and the Peninsular discount all of which makes the onboard spend considerably less. Also offering flights included to Caribbean coupled with the above makes it a bit of a no brainer to choose P&O for the Caribbean - but not unless they change a few things!!

Edited June 5, 2013 by bee-ess

[davedex]

Some simple things like leaving the ships with the covered pools in the colder climates so that pools can be used in bad weather rather than moving them to the sun would make sense, and also how's about giving families a break as they are bringing up the cruisers of the future,Mather than using them as cash cows to keep ships moving!

 

I'm not holding out much hope but one can hope that common sense prevails!

[Presto2]

I think they need to create some more interesting itineraries as well - out side of the World or it's sectors it is 'same old, same old', you could pick up a brochure from any of the last 5 years and the program would be the same.

 

quote]

 

Totally agree - if you read our past posts you will see that we loved Oceana in August 2010 but have been tempted back to Celebrity because of the itineraries / fly cruises. AND that doesn't mean 'like OV' --- we loved Ocean Village 2 as our first cruise and will always have fond memories BUT fly cruise does have to mean that it has to be casual / family cruising!

 

I hope that PO hear us

 

We have booked a cruise for Easter 2104 but not for our main holiday in August

[daiB]

Hopefully they can make it work but must say they are doing their best to make it difficult. They need to relax formality on the ship and revert the'glasshouse' back to the spanish themed Ramblas. Introduce more things for families to do etc etc. A lot of this 'software' need not cost money just organisation but is the existing management team capable of it? Perhaps not, heck they can't even get all the clocks aboard to tell the same time.

 

Dave you do not like wearing your jacket:D. You do go on about it.

 

They are not allowed to change now as I have just bought two rather nice jackets.

 

I cannot say I have ever heard this mentioned on a ship. It is not a great conversation piece. And reading many boards I do not find it a common complaint apart from a certain person on CC and I have no idea who that is:cool:

 

You are getting to sound like the ex OV lot who went on and on and on about bringing it back. Which I said would not happen. I was not their favourite person.:D

 

 

Gan Canny

 

See you without jacket, I will have one on

 

 

Dai

[daiB]

I had forgotten that. Perhaps travel agents have lost some incentive to push P&O as a product?

 

As anothe example of Vantage fares not working. Our last two Med cruises with P&O were booked about 5 months ahead. Both fares allowed cabin choice and came with substantial onboard credit but were a fair bit lower than the brochure price. The fares and offers could be varied to match demand for particular cruises.

 

When the Vantage fares came out it just made it seem like a worse deal- either pay the high vantage fare or wait till the getaway fares are released and lose choice. The rest of the travel industry has flexible pricing, package holidays for instance, and prices continually vary to meet demand.

 

Kevin,

 

Having read these and other boards now for some time it is interesting what you are saying for the exact opposite was being asked for a few years ago. People wanted stability in pricing. Many people did not want flexible pricing and fluid pricing became a dirty word or should it be words.

 

Partly as a response the company brought in Vantage fares, which would be stable, would not move. And of course people do not like it.

 

 

As they say what goes around comes around. Those people who complained 2/3 years ago got there wish. Perhaps you may be listened to this time. Then of course people with then be able to complain about flexible fares.

 

 

 

Gan Canny

 

 

Dai

[kevinyork]

Kevin,

 

Having read these and other boards now for some time it is interesting what you are saying for the exact opposite was being asked for a few years ago. People wanted stability in pricing. Many people did not want flexible pricing and fluid pricing became a dirty word or should it be words.

 

Partly as a response the company brought in Vantage fares, which would be stable, would not move. And of course people do not like it.

 

 

As they say what goes around comes around. Those people who complained 2/3 years ago got there wish. Perhaps you may be listened to this time. Then of course people with then be able to complain about flexible fares.

 

 

 

Gan Canny

 

 

Dai

 

I do agree Dai however the problem was they got Vantage Fares completely wrong and people feel misled or fleeced. They could have gone about it a different way.

[terrierjohn]

This is a most interesting thread but if CM's replacement reads it he, or she, will likely as not shake their head in bemusement.

 

We have the likes of tillybilly and littlesteelo complaining that P&O tries to be all things to all people and as a result fails miserably.

 

Then we see why as dave complains about too much formality with jacket reqd. evenings and blaming sailing from Southampton for all P&O's losses, Jean Lyon wants more time in ports, Bee-ess wants better itineraries and newer ports, tillybilly thinks their ships are not suited for families and davedex wants the covered pool ships to do all the northern cruises, actually one of the better ideas, and of course we have Dai acting as cheif cheerleader for all things P & O.

 

For myself I want the standard of service to get back to what it used to be, and my take on how to achieve this is for P&O to closely examine their pay and gratuity system for their service staff.

 

Our steward on our last cruise was very unhappy with the way the auto tip is divided among staff, and thinks P&O is now very much bottom of his cruise ship league table with, not surprisingly, Celebrity at the head of the lines he would ideally want to work for. If the new guy gets this right then I think most of us would probably find our cruise experience would become far better than at present.

 

However that's not to say that they also need to sort out the Vantage Getaway debacle and make early booking far more attractive than it is currently, except of course for Dai who is happy with the way it is.:rolleyes::cool:

[davecttr]

This is a most interesting thread but if CM's replacement reads it he, or she, will likely as not shake their head in bemusement.

 

We have the likes of tillybilly and littlesteelo complaining that P&O tries to be all things to all people and as a result fails miserably.

 

Then we see why as dave complains about too much formality with jacket reqd. evenings and blaming sailing from Southampton for all P&O's losses, Jean Lyon wants more time in ports, Bee-ess wants better itineraries and newer ports, tillybilly thinks their ships are not suited for families and davedex wants the covered pool ships to do all the northern cruises, actually one of the better ideas, and of course we have Dai acting as cheif cheerleader for all things P & O.

 

For myself I want the standard of service to get back to what it used to be, and my take on how to achieve this is for P&O to closely examine their pay and gratuity system for their service staff.

 

Our steward on our last cruise was very unhappy with the way the auto tip is divided among staff, and thinks P&O is now very much bottom of his cruise ship league table with, not surprisingly, Celebrity at the head of the lines he would ideally want to work for. If the new guy gets this right then I think most of us would probably find our cruise experience would become far better than at present.

 

However that's not to say that they also need to sort out the Vantage Getaway debacle and make early booking far more attractive than it is currently, except of course for Dai who is happy with the way it is.:rolleyes::cool:

not too much formality, just too much formality when it is not required, like on a family friendly ship on a warm water cruise.

 

Sailing from southampton does restrict the itineries they can offer.

 

As others have written. P&O just seems to be unsure of its purpose and direction.

 

Reading between the lines on the new bosses interview (Cunard forum)

they will be ending up mainsteam whatever that means.

[daiB]

This is a most interesting thread but if CM's replacement reads it he, or she, will likely as not shake their head in bemusement.

 

We have the likes of tillybilly and littlesteelo complaining that P&O tries to be all things to all people and as a result fails miserably.

 

Then we see why as dave complains about too much formality with jacket reqd. evenings and blaming sailing from Southampton for all P&O's losses, Jean Lyon wants more time in ports, Bee-ess wants better itineraries and newer ports, tillybilly thinks their ships are not suited for families and davedex wants the covered pool ships to do all the northern cruises, actually one of the better ideas, and of course we have Dai acting as cheif cheerleader for all things P & O.

 

For myself I want the standard of service to get back to what it used to be, and my take on how to achieve this is for P&O to closely examine their pay and gratuity system for their service staff.

 

Our steward on our last cruise was very unhappy with the way the auto tip is divided among staff, and thinks P&O is now very much bottom of his cruise ship league table with, not surprisingly, Celebrity at the head of the lines he would ideally want to work for. If the new guy gets this right then I think most of us would probably find our cruise experience would become far better than at present.

 

However that's not to say that they also need to sort out the Vantage Getaway debacle and make early booking far more attractive than it is currently, except of course for Dai who is happy with the way it is.:rolleyes::cool:

 

As they say , 'That's just the way it is' But more discounts for early bookers would be nice.

Edited June 6, 2013 by daiB

[Sutho]

I wonder how long it will take P&O to recover. All it has done is go downhill continually. The price schemes, cancelling cruises like the failed Azura world cruise, poor marketing, the miserable new loyalty scheme. The whole line seems to be dumbed down more and more. Ships missing refits and sailing with maintenance issues. I think the recent world cruise Aurora has it had mechanical problems and had to be repaired during the voyage. Is the company avoiding necesarry maintenance to save a few $$$ here and there and then making repairs as things break.

 

It used to be my favourite line. Now I have no cruises booked with them for the forseeable future. The sounds of all this make it look like the managing directors were pushed out rather than sacked.