Are P&O in danger of going Broke

[Esprit]

1 hour ago, Britboys said:

I can't recall which way round it happened but I believe Arcadia was in line for both Cunard and Holland America.  Rumour had it that Cunard wanted a ship with more suites.  Holland America were very resistant (and to some degree still are) to larger ships - although of course Arcadia is no more than mid-sized nowadays...

There was another Arcadia before this one which then became Ocean Village. It was Star Princess originally.

Artemis was originally Royal Princess and officially named by Princess Diana.

[majortom10]

2 hours ago, tring said:

 

Adonia was a Renaissance ship and much smaller than Oceana.  She was MInerva II for Swan Hellenic under P&O, then when Carnival took over they let Swan go and took it to Princess as 'Royal Princess'.  She then became Adonia (with a spell with Fathom) and is now Azamara Pursuit.

 

Minerva II was our first cruise ship and loved it, but did not like P&O's offerings with no open dining option.  Liked Azamara Pursuit last October when we got a very good deal on her.  We did not try the Princess version.

Thats a different Adonia to the one  that was sister ship to Oceana and known as "the white sisters".

[Britboys]

12 minutes ago, Esprit said:

There was another Arcadia before this one which then became Ocean Village. It was Star Princess originally.

Artemis was originally Royal Princess and officially named by Princess Diana.

The current Arcadia is at least the third to bear that name for P&O.  There was one from 1953 to about 1979, then the one you mention above that was Star Princess (and is now sailing for CMV as Columbus) and the current one.

[Esprit]

15 minutes ago, majortom10 said:

Thats a different Adonia to the one  that was sister ship to Oceana and known as "the white sisters".

That Adonia was the first adult only ship in P&O fleet

[DamianG]

3 hours ago, Britboys said:

The Adonia you are talking about was, to the best of my knowledge, the second ship to be called Adonia by P&O in relatively recent years.  The first was  Sea Princess and IIRC, she was Adonia between 2003 & 2005.  At the time, Oceana and Adonia were known as the White Sisters I think.  I did a ship visit when they were both in Southampton.

Yes, we took our first P&O cruise on the original Adonia back in 2004. Lovely ship, unusual features I can recall were an outdoor relaxation area and also a bar we used to go to for a pre-dinner drink where they served canapes with the beverages.

[Denarius]

4 hours ago, Britboys said:

The Adonia you are talking about was, to the best of my knowledge, the second ship to be called Adonia by P&O in relatively recent years.  The first was  Sea Princess and IIRC, she was Adonia between 2003 & 2005.  At the time, Oceana and Adonia were known as the White Sisters I think.  I did a ship visit when they were both in Southampton.

I recall that Oceana (Ocean Princess) and Adonia (Sea Princess) were transferred to P&O at the same time and were dubbed by P&O as the White Sisters. Adonia was P&Os first adult only ship. I believe that she was later transferred back to Princess and became the Sea Princess once more. I  cannot quite remember the circumstances but suspect that it coincided with the arrival of Arcadia.

[tring]

5 hours ago, Britboys said:

The Adonia you are talking about was, to the best of my knowledge, the second ship to be called Adonia by P&O in relatively recent years.  The first was  Sea Princess and IIRC, she was Adonia between 2003 & 2005.  At the time, Oceana and Adonia were known as the White Sisters I think.  I did a ship visit when they were both in Southampton.

 

Sorry that time span pre-dates our cruising by one year.  Thanks for the clarification.

[kenhem]

2 hours ago, DamianG said:

Yes, we took our first P&O cruise on the original Adonia back in 2004. Lovely ship, unusual features I can recall were an outdoor relaxation area and also a bar we used to go to for a pre-dinner drink where they served canapes with the beverages.

We too took our first cruise in 2004 on a 2 night Adonia cruise and thoroughly enjoyed it. It's ended up costing us a fortune since though 😁

[Josy1953]

I have just checked on my Princess account and we went on her as Sea Princess to Alaska in 2005.  That cruise was so good that we went to Alaska again in 2007.

[wowzz]

We had a one week cruise on Dawn Princess sometime in the mid 90s. A Thomson holiday (as was) with a week in a hotel in the Dom Rep first. Transfer at the beginning and end of the cruise was by tender (including  luggage). All the Americans on board were looking as we jumped on board, and our luggage got thrown on afterwards.

We booked the holiday based on a quarter page description in a brochure. Had no idea about cruises, freedom dining, cabin location, tipping etc. Guess what - probably the best cruise we have ever had - my wife cried as we left the ship. 

Sometimes I think the internet destroys the excitement of not knowing what you will experience on your holiday.

[Adawn47]

I experienced the same thing with our first cruise. Walked into Thomas Cook's and said that I wanted to try cruising. No idea what I wanted but she aked a few questions and we ended up with Arcadia balcony cabin. 12 nights Madeira and the Canaries. Absolutely loved it, I didn't want to get off. Completely hooked on cruising.

Avril 

[davemorton]

Totally off topic (although to be fair, the thread is already off topic) those clever people that can see where ships are, where abouts is 'The World'?  What are they doing during this crisis? 

[davecttr]

according to cruisemapper it is anchored of Freemantle in Oz

[annieuk]

We have a copy of a video - yes a video - of P&O's The White Sisters - Oceana and the old Adonia.  Both came from Princess - Ocean Princess and Sea Princess.  They were named in Southampton at the same time by Princess Anne and her daughter Zara.  Adonia had a lounge called "Easy on a Sunday" I seem to remember, situated where the children's area on Oceana is.  Adonia was our first P&O cruise ship back in 2005 (our first cruise in 2003 was with Fred Olsen) but our Caribbean fly cruise on Adonia was to lead to our next more than 20 cruises with P&O.  Adonia then went back to Princess and is still sailing as Sea Princess, her original name.

[Britboys]

I spent my 40th birthday aboard Sea Princess whilst on a 7-night Caribbean cruise.  We then had 2 weeks in Florida.  Great trip.

[SHIPS CANARY]

Reading the latest E-MAIL from P&O and reading the latest information on the ABTA site. We will not be seeing any refunds so P&O are in serious trouble and will go into a convenient administration.   

[terrierjohn]

9 minutes ago, SHIPS CANARY said:

Reading the latest E-MAIL from P&O and reading the latest information on the ABTA site. We will not be seeing any refunds so P&O are in serious trouble and will go into a convenient administration.   

I, and many others, assume these changes are designed to avoid viable travel companies from going into administration. So negative posts like yours  are not welcome.

[jh1809]

59 minutes ago, SHIPS CANARY said:

Reading the latest E-MAIL from P&O and reading the latest information on the ABTA site. We will not be seeing any refunds so P&O are in serious trouble and will go into a convenient administration.   

Since they are part of Carnival, the biggest cruise company in the world, I don't see that happening. This was the beginning of an article in the business section of my newspaper on Saturday:

 

Shares in Carnival climbed by a fifth on Friday, making it the biggest riser on the FTSE 100, after analysts speculated the cruise operator could be close to securing additional financing.

Analysts at UBS said: “Our key takeaway from Carnival’s release is that it suggests to us that Carnival may be close to securing additional financing, hence the need for disclosing its preliminary results.”

The company also said forward bookings for the first half of 2021 were only slightly below the previous year, which UBS said was “surprising”.

But the cruise group warned that the Covid-19 crisis will have a “material negative impact” on its financial results and liquidity this year, after it paused its global fleet operations and put all its liners in dry dock.

[wowzz]

3 minutes ago, jh1809 said:

and put all its liners in dry dock.

Surely that is incorrect.

[majortom10]

1 hour ago, SHIPS CANARY said:

Reading the latest E-MAIL from P&O and reading the latest information on the ABTA site. We will not be seeing any refunds so P&O are in serious trouble and will go into a convenient administration.   

I dont think P&O are in serious position because of only being a subsidiary of a large company i.e. Carnival but think the letter is based on the article published in the Independent with regards to the government looking at changing the law soon to protect the travel industry and all travel companies in general not just cruising or P&O. But think that any future cruises already booked whether it be total balances or deposits will not get a cash refund if cancelled which is currently the law which is what the government are looking at changing. They dont want masses of companies having to pay cash refunds and therefore going into Administration. The action is also apparently because ATOL/ABTA are currently skint because of the costs of Thomas Cook's adminstraion.

[jh1809]

1 hour ago, wowzz said:

Surely that is incorrect.

I think you're right, but that is what the newspaper article said. Hopefully the rest of it is more accurate!

[terrierjohn]

1 hour ago, wowzz said:

Surely that is incorrect.

I guess it was merely a metaphor for them all being laid up.

[Britboys]

5 hours ago, SHIPS CANARY said:

Reading the latest E-MAIL from P&O and reading the latest information on the ABTA site. We will not be seeing any refunds so P&O are in serious trouble and will go into a convenient administration.   

Along with every travel company of every sort in the entire 'civilised' world - and all the hotels everywhere too.  So, none of us will ever holiday, ever again.  We're all doooooooomed..... 🙄

[SHIPS CANARY]

If P&O have no problems with staying solvent (as many people on this forum are claiming) and changes to ABTA are not needed for P&O only other travel company's and air lines.Why hasn't P&O canceled April's cruises and offered full refund or fcc. The fact that they have thousands of passengers to deal with i find a poor excuse, should there be thousands of passengers looking to book cruises (as there may be when this is over) will they turn them away. 

[terrierjohn]

1 hour ago, SHIPS CANARY said:

If P&O have no problems with staying solvent (as many people on this forum are claiming) and changes to ABTA are not needed for P&O only other travel company's and air lines.Why hasn't P&O canceled April's cruises and offered full refund or fcc. The fact that they have thousands of passengers to deal with i find a poor excuse, should there be thousands of passengers looking to book cruises (as there may be when this is over) will they turn them away. 

I think P&O/Carnival will have major problems staying solvent, but I do expect them to pull through, and I imagine that the changes to cash refunds will be a major help.

Whilst these issues are a significant problem to many of their passengers, they are cataclysmic to the holiday companies, but their tardiness in making payments is because they presumably feel its better to keep paying their staff's wages in the circumstances.