Oriana cruise cancelled?

[Scorpio41]

Andrew couldn't agree more. They cancelled our Adonia cruise, so we could have the money back or book another cruise with 5% discount. Only problem was all the cruises we wanted for that time of year (next April) were a lot more expensive than when we booked. I think we should have got the launch price.

 

We didn't get 5% discount off our replacement Adonia cruise just £100. :(

[PRINCESSTHE BEST]

Every cloud has a silver lining for P&O. R801 65 night South America cruise sailing on 3rd January was struggling to sell with balcony cabins reduced from £10,999 to £6999. Today it is shown as sold out. Obviously a lot of people who have lost out on Oriana have been pushed towards this cruise. :rolleyes:

[Elderflower]

"P&O Cruises will be paying agent commission on X801 cancelled sailings. If agents are able to transfer guests on to an alternative sailing they will also receive their standard commission on the new booking plus the commission on the X801 booking.”

And you know what? We have not even been contacted by our TA. As Ligurian tier members we have spent a lot of money always booking through them and we have heard nothing. Time to change agents I think. They have not even bothered to see if we want to transfer to another cruise despite being regular customers.

 

Pat

[Host Sharon]

They are filling the spare days after the maintenance with a couple of 12 night Canary Is. cruises.

[PRINCESSTHE BEST]

They are filling the spare days after the maintenance with a couple of 12 night Canary Is. cruises.

any idea of prices yet Sharon?

[insanemagnet]

Hasn't been a good year for P&O and their customer relations

- taking payments twice earlier in the year and not handling the aftermath very well

- the Adonia debacle - poor compensation, taking ages to pay refunds

- and now Oriana, with again poor compensation

 

There are probably other occurences I have forgotten

But what have the bookings been like.

 

People moan but if that is all they do and continue to book, P&O would be foolish to pay out money unnecessarily.

[PRINCESSTHE BEST]

But what have the bookings been like.

 

People moan but if that is all they do and continue to book, P&O would be foolish to pay out money unnecessarily.

 

 

 

Wonder what would happen if everyone decided not to cruise for just 12 months. [emoji848]

 

 

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[daiB]

Wonder what would happen if everyone decided not to cruise for just 12 months. [emoji848]

 

 

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You would have nothing to talk about on here.

 

 

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[PRINCESSTHE BEST]

You would have nothing to talk about on here.

 

 

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We could rename it boozecritic, that would get lots of posts. [emoji3][emoji106]

 

 

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[insidecabin]

Every cloud has a silver lining for P&O. R801 65 night South America cruise sailing on 3rd January was struggling to sell with balcony cabins reduced from £10,999 to £6999. Today it is shown as sold out. Obviously a lot of people who have lost out on Oriana have been pushed towards this cruise. :rolleyes:

 

under package holiday regulations if they have been offered that as an alternative they should not have to pay a penny extra

[trickyoat]

Oriana has been up for sale for some considerable time now, and like Adonia i dare say if an acceptable offer came in for her she'll be bombed out of the fleet just like that.

 

P&O are ridiculously tight when it comes to compensation, this has not been a good PR year for them.

[daiB]

Oriana has been up for sale for some considerable time now, and like Adonia i dare say if an acceptable offer came in for her she'll be bombed out of the fleet just like that.

 

P&O are ridiculously tight when it comes to compensation, this has not been a good PR year for them.

 

 

 

No she has not the site you have seen is a speculators site absolutely nothing to do with Carnival or P&O. It’s real Fake news.

 

 

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[PRINCESSTHE BEST]

under package holiday regulations if they have been offered that as an alternative they should not have to pay a penny extra

 

 

 

I bet they’ve just been given the 5% credit and nothing extra. On fb P&O stated the compensation offer was non negotiable.

 

 

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[Brisbane41]

This decision exemplifies extremely poor management and leadership and heads need to roll over this and people high up need to be dismissed from their positions. This is negligence and total incompetence and I will explain why.

 

It should be a given that a ship as old as Oriana would need essential maintenance and more regular maintenance as it gets older, yet these incompetent "bean counters" keep scheduling the ships for grueling non stop itineraries without factoring in essential maintenance. We can see that this is true because it is not the first time P&O have had this problem and they have had to cancel a 50 night cruise for this maintenance to occur.

 

This is extremely poor management because people who pay for these 50 night cruises tend to pay a lot more money than those 14 night holiday cruises. It takes considerable financial investment to save up for or allocate funds for this type of cruise, the people who book them are often the most loyal and regular customers and it is a total slap in the face to them to have this sort of cruise cancelled. It is an outrage in fact.

 

Sure the maintenance has to be done and that catchphrase will be used to justify their excuses for pulling the ship out of service, but that aside, a professional team running this cruise line would have had the presence of mind to allocate time for essential maintenance and listened to their engineers about deadlines for maintenance and when things have to by done by. It should have been widely known by any professional company that understands ships that maintenance would be essential. It is easy to predict and determine when this maintenance needs to be done, yet the incompetent management team at P&O did not have this wisdom or foresight to predict this and make adequate plans for it. Instead the company now has its name dragged through the mud, has to compensate people for a lost cruise and disruption, it will lose customers over it and people will think twice about booking with this company again.

 

P&O Cruises - You seriously need to start firing senior management from your company and each and every person who lacks the suitable qualifications to plan for such things.

[NoFlyGuy]

A bit OTT Brisbane41. Yes, if I had my Oriana cruise cancelled I would be gutted especially as we had done the 50 day Oriana USA, Caribbean and Amazon cruise at the beginning of this year.

 

Taking ships out of service costs cruise companies a lot of revenue and I can't imagine why they would do that unless absolutely necessary.

 

Maybe cruise ships could go into dry dock for more regular refurbishment but that would simply add to the cost of all cruises.

 

In the end a balance has to be struck.

[Brisbane41]

A bit OTT Brisbane41. Yes, if I had my Oriana cruise cancelled I would be gutted especially as we had done the 50 day Oriana USA, Caribbean and Amazon cruise at the beginning of this year.

 

Taking ships out of service costs cruise companies a lot of revenue and I can't imagine why they would do that unless absolutely necessary.

 

Maybe cruise ships could go into dry dock for more regular refurbishment but that would simply add to the cost of all cruises.

 

In the end a balance has to be struck.

 

No it is not OTT at all, it is quite normal to expect ships to be out of service for essential maintenance. It all boils down to incompetent management at P&O not having the presence of mind to plan for such maintenance in advance.

 

It costs cruise lines a lot more in revenue to pull a ship out of service and cancel a cruise or two than it would cost to actually plan the maintenance schedule in advance. All they have to do is have more communication with the engineers and appropriate workers as to the most suitable timetable for maintenance schedules.

[insidecabin]

I bet they’ve just been given the 5% credit and nothing extra. On fb P&O stated the compensation offer was non negotiable.

 

The law says otherwise if they offer alternatives it must be for no extra cost or refund difference if of lesser value.

 

Chances are they have been very careful to avoid offering any alternatives to the cancelled package..

[insanemagnet]

it will lose customers over it and people will think twice about booking with this company again.

 

They will lose a minimal number of customers.

 

No matter how much people moan, what alternative is there to people who want a P&O style product.

[malchancock]

No it is not OTT at all, it is quite normal to expect ships to be out of service for essential maintenance. It all boils down to incompetent management at P&O not having the presence of mind to plan for such maintenance in advance.

 

It costs cruise lines a lot more in revenue to pull a ship out of service and cancel a cruise or two than it would cost to actually plan the maintenance schedule in advance. All they have to do is have more communication with the engineers and appropriate workers as to the most suitable timetable for maintenance schedules.

I wonder if you've ever had an appliance at home break down or a car have a flat tyre or car breakdown unexpectedly and said incompident management​ ?? !!!

No one can ever plan for every unforseen factor in life especially ships that are in use 24/7. I just wonder what the true cost to P&O for this will be financially for someone not looking into a crystal ball.

[Eglesbrech]

A bit OTT Brisbane41. Yes, if I had my Oriana cruise cancelled I would be gutted especially as we had done the 50 day Oriana USA, Caribbean and Amazon cruise at the beginning of this year.

 

Taking ships out of service costs cruise companies a lot of revenue and I can't imagine why they would do that unless absolutely necessary.

 

Maybe cruise ships could go into dry dock for more regular refurbishment but that would simply add to the cost of all cruises.

 

In the end a balance has to be struck.

 

I actually agree with Brisbane 41. If it is standard maintenance then they should plan ahead and clearly it is or they would not be sailing for the next 6 weeks? So it's not an emergency, if it was then I would be more sympathetic as no one can predict everything and things go wrong. They have however in this instance made a considered choice to inconvenience these passengers (and those on Adonia recently as well) probably based on which cruises are most cost effective to cancel and recoup as much as possible from other shorter cruises.

 

A balance has to be struck but it always seems to be in favour of the company and just tough luck to the passengers. They don't even appear to be treating them particulalrly well having ruined their plans.

 

Where will anyone find a replacement 50 day holiday at such short notice? If they can the cost at this late stage for flights etc is likely to be prohibitive (lengthy discussion on another thread about early booking being cheaper).

[insanemagnet]

I just wonder what the true cost to P&O for this will be financially for someone not looking into a crystal ball.

 

Fairly substantial.

 

Sure plenty of the people who were due to sail on Oriana will sail on another cruise but that isn't 'real' money to P&O unless -

- They were not going to take that alternative cruise anyway; or

- Their booking that cruise didn't prevent someone else booking it.

[Eglesbrech]

Pure speculation but perhaps P&O might actually make money out of this.

 

1. They have had deposits for months / years in some cases then final balances accruing interest in their bank accounts (all be it very little at the moment).

 

2. They are offering precious little in compensation.

 

3. It appears that they are filling some cruises that were not selling well with the cancelled passengers.

 

4. They will be offering shorter, potentially more lucrative cruises to fill the spare time out of the 50 day cancellation.

 

They could actually break even out of this or even win.

[daiB]

I actually agree with Brisbane 41. If it is standard maintenance then they should plan ahead and clearly it is or they would not be sailing for the next 6 weeks? So it's not an emergency, if it was then I would be more sympathetic as no one can predict everything and things go wrong. They have however in this instance made a considered choice to inconvenience these passengers (and those on Adonia recently as well) probably based on which cruises are most cost effective to cancel and recoup as much as possible from other shorter cruises.

 

A balance has to be struck but it always seems to be in favour of the company and just tough luck to the passengers. They don't even appear to be treating them particulalrly well having ruined their plans.

 

Where will anyone find a replacement 50 day holiday at such short notice? If they can the cost at this late stage for flights etc is likely to be prohibitive (lengthy discussion on another thread about early booking being cheaper).

 

 

 

This is work which has to be done, it is not planned maintenance. The ship has a problem. On a recent cruise they had to reduce speed and limp back into Southampton. It limped back at 18 knots. Now at that speed she can clearly cover the next few shorter cruises.

 

I doubt they would want her to go on a 50 night cruise over a long distance. Secondly a slot opened up at the repair yard.

 

The work clearly needs doing. Most if not All Cruise lines work as P&O do with regard to maintenance. I.E. an overhaul every 5 or so years.

 

It sounds a bit like the world Cruise around the Isle of Wight. Aurora had to have major repairs after that.

 

As someone said above if between services something goes wrong with your car you have to put it into a garage for repair. Unfortunately there are no courtesy cruise ships to use when this is happening as there is with your car.

 

 

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[Eglesbrech]

This is work which has to be done, it is not planned maintenance. The ship has a problem. On a recent cruise they had to reduce speed and limp back into Southampton. It limped back at 18 knots. Now at that speed she can clearly cover the next few shorter cruises.

 

I doubt they would want her to go on a 50 night cruise over a long distance. Secondly a slot opened up at the repair yard.

 

The work clearly needs doing. Most if not All Cruise lines work as P&O do with regard to maintenance. I.E. an overhaul every 5 or so years.

 

It sounds a bit like the world Cruise around the Isle of Wight. Aurora had to have major repairs after that.

 

As someone said above if between services something goes wrong with your car you have to put it into a garage for repair. Unfortunately there are no courtesy cruise ships to use when this is happening as there is with your car.

 

 

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No there are no courtacy cruise ships but there are lots of other ships in the fleet that pax could be offered at a fair price. Allegedly, pax are not being offered anything other that the fluid price of the day. Dai, you are one of the first to say that booking early is best in terms of perks and price.

 

 

Why should people who booked at the early prices be not only inconvenienced but also potentially charged more as (now) later bookers.

 

 

What should P&O reasonably be expected to do for passengers in these circumstances? You are saying it is not P&Os fault, it is also not the "fault" of the cancelled pax.

[Brisbane41]

This is work which has to be done, it is not planned maintenance. The ship has a problem. On a recent cruise they had to reduce speed and limp back into Southampton. It limped back at 18 knots. Now at that speed she can clearly cover the next few shorter cruises.

 

I doubt they would want her to go on a 50 night cruise over a long distance. Secondly a slot opened up at the repair yard.

 

The work clearly needs doing. Most if not All Cruise lines work as P&O do with regard to maintenance. I.E. an overhaul every 5 or so years.

 

It sounds a bit like the world Cruise around the Isle of Wight. Aurora had to have major repairs after that.

 

As someone said above if between services something goes wrong with your car you have to put it into a garage for repair. Unfortunately there are no courtesy cruise ships to use when this is happening as there is with your car.

 

 

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Did it occur to you that the maintenance that all of a sudden popped up out of nowhere was the result of neglecting to take the ship out of service for its regular scheduled maintenance?

 

It is clear you have no comprehension of how ships are maintained. In order for a cruise ship to operate 24/7 on back to back cruises, there comes a time in its service life based on the ships age, distance traveled and other factors where it must be removed from service and undergo maintenance or it will simply start to break down as you described in your post.