CRUISE REFUND RECEIVED

[mrsgoggins]

Well I may be opening the vuvuzela drawer any day now 📣📣!!

 

I just phoned (my first call) and got a very efficient young lady who very quickly, once we had gone through the security procedures, told me that my refunds (deposit and balance on different credit cards) was processed yesterday.  Without any prompting she gave me the last 4 digits of each account and the amounts to each one.  These amounts were not back on my cards today, so I shall remain optimistic about tomorrow, which will be day 60 - but I was early to cancel and was told 'within 45 days'.

 

I hope I am not speaking too soon when I say that I shall miss checking in with this group and the humour, because it is very unlikely I shall be on board P&O in the future.  I could find good things about all of the cruise lines we have used over the past few years in addition to P&O, (RCL, Disney, Viking Oceans, Princess and Celebrity) but Celebrity is our favourite and if and when we return to cruising, it is likely to be with them, but never say never.

 

Like many here I suspect, I should feel more kindly disposed towards P&O had they at least sent out an email acknowledgement saying something like  ' .... we know we had said that you would get your refund sooner, but this is proving far more difficult than we anticipated due to xxxx ..... and we hope that you will bare with us in these very difficult times and trying circumstances ....  . 

 

Hoping for you all that this thread will soon be a thing of the past 🙂

 

 

 

Edited May 13, 2020 by mrsgoggins

[Adawn47]

2 hours ago, wowzz said:

especially value those that have been on various cruise lines, as those people have a proper frame of reference, as compared to those who have only ever sailed on P&O. 

We all have different tastes. What suits one might not suit another. For instance, the only other cruise line we tried was RCI's Indy. It was most definitely not our cup of tea. Others love it. We tried it on the recommendation of our friends who loved her. I personally think you have to try and judge for yourself. 

Avril 

[AndyMichelle]

31 minutes ago, grapau27 said:

High Loyalty benefits for us.

Picture order.

Free items.

Nightly free drinks.

Free embarkation drinks.

Suite lounge on Explorer of the seas for Suite passengers.

Diamond lounge on Independence of the seas for Diamond loyalty and above 80 points

1 point per night

Extra point per night in a junior or full Suite.

Extra point for single occupancy cabins.

 

Not for me Graham... 

The carpets are horrible... 😊

Andy 

[jeanlyon]

I don't want a picture either!  Can take my own.  I guess the free drink and meal are OK, but you are probably paying for that anyway in the price?

[grapau27]

19 minutes ago, AndyMichelle said:

Not for me Graham... 

The carpets are horrible... 😊

Andy 

My thoughts too Andy regarding carpets.

Wowzz seemed interested so I posted a little information for him.

Pete would recognise these pictures.

 

[AndyMichelle]

5 minutes ago, grapau27 said:

My thoughts too Andy regarding carpets.

Wowzz seemed interested so I posted a little information for him.

Pete would recognise these pictures.

 

Its good to see and hear of other people's experiences. 

I suppose the only reasons we have not tried RCCL is Indy just looks like a complete monster and the theme park element does not appeal. 

Plus the cost of course, but I do understand you get what you pay for. 

Andy 

[grapau27]

9 minutes ago, AndyMichelle said:

Its good to see and hear of other people's experiences. 

I suppose the only reasons we have not tried RCCL is Indy just looks like a complete monster and the theme park element does not appeal. 

Plus the cost of course, but I do understand you get what you pay for. 

Andy 

The smaller Vision class are the size of Aurora.

Our favourite was Splendour of the seas which was sold to Marella and is Marella Discovery.

BTW to keep on thread 

No refund yet.

Edited May 13, 2020 by grapau27

[PandNo Refund]

Posted (not by me) on one of the FB P&O Refund groups...

‘Hope this info helps. Phoned P&O today, was on hold for just 8 minutes before i spoke to Annabelle. She told me i would be getting an email in the next 2/3 days to say my refund should be with me by next week. I was due to go on Azura on th 28th June. Annabelle also said that by the end of next week they should of issued all refunds.’

[jeanlyon]

June???????????  Mine was April 26th.  Don't tell me they are doing them all in one go?

[grapau27]

16 minutes ago, AndyMichelle said:

Its good to see and hear of other people's experiences. 

I suppose the only reasons we have not tried RCCL is Indy just looks like a complete monster and the theme park element does not appeal. 

Plus the cost of course, but I do understand you get what you pay for. 

Andy 

I don't like the slides but Central Park on Allure here was lovely.

[Gettingwarmer]

I dislike the long street aspect of RC ships. They are always so crowded and noisy. 

[jeanlyon]

Just doesn't look like the inside of a ship should, but that's just me.  I like to feel I'm on a ship and not a shopping mall or block of flats.

[Josy1953]

20 minutes ago, jeanlyon said:

June???????????  Mine was April 26th.  Don't tell me they are doing them all in one go?

Perhaps they were waiting for the go ahead to refund the majority from Santa Clarita.

 ?

[Adawn47]

1 hour ago, Alan Flett said:

I am also an accountant and have to disagree with both.

 

Unless you work for P & O (or you are part of the audit team from their accountants) you will not know what their refund policies are and what process they have to go through. It is feasible that they have to go through an audit process and that is why there is an additional delay. What you have to remember is that P & O will probably issue very few refunds in any normal month but now they are faced with thousands.

 

I am not by the way defending them, I am speaking from experience. I used to work for a company that was ultimately owned by a listed company in the US. We had payment limits locally and if it exceeded this limit it had to be approved by the UK MD. If it was above his limit then it had to be approved in the US. The limits for the size of company we were weren't significant but the process could not be bypassed for any reason. We even had to have job vacancies signed off by the US when they wouldn't have a clue about the business but they relied upon the process it had gone through. The vacancy was not authorised unless it was fully signed.

 

What I am saying is it may be true but it may also be a stalling tactic nobody knows.

 

For the record, I paid my balance for my August cruise just over a week ago so I keep an eye on this thread in any case.  

That was very interesting to read. Thank you.

I do understand what you mean, however, if P&O had emailed customers who were waiting for refunds with an explanation instead of this continual moving of goalposts and blasé attitude all these theories wouldn't be flying around. 

Avril 

[jeanlyon]

could be, but they have already done some.  I shall be so pleased if it's bank transfer, because it's 18 miles to my nearest bank and I certainly wouldn't take the chance of posting it!!  Can't use banking app for a cheque that big either.

[mrsgoggins]

1 minute ago, Gettingwarmer said:

I dislike the long street aspect of RC ships. They are always so crowded and noisy. 

 

That would be me too, but the smaller ships (been on 2 out of Venice, 1 of which was Splendour of the Seas mentioned by Graham and now with TUI) were lovely and did not have the long street nor whistles and bells.  I've only been on 1 RC ship with the Central Park long street and that was out of Southampton, and had it been my first RC cruise, or even first cruise out of Southampton (shall we just say that many of the clientele on that ship were definitely out to get their value out of the drinks package!) then it might have been my last. 

 

My favourite thing about P&O has to be the breakfast, which I think they do better than any other cruise line, but maybe that's because I'm English and like 'real' tea and toast in a toast rack.  I've decided to stay with this thread until most have you have got your refunds and will be hoping it's not too long a wait.

[Josy1953]

1 minute ago, jeanlyon said:

could be, but they have already done some.  I shall be so pleased if it's bank transfer, because it's 18 miles to my nearest bank and I certainly wouldn't take the chance of posting it!!  Can't use banking app for a cheque that big either.

I said last week that I had had my refund and it was by BACS.

[jeanlyon]

Yes you did, so if they do phone/email me, I shall do BACS.  Would prefer back on to debit card, but don't know if they do that.

[peteukmcr]

1 hour ago, jeanlyon said:

I don't want a picture either!  Can take my own.  I guess the free drink and meal are OK, but you are probably paying for that anyway in the price?

Bit difficult to take your own formal portrait with special backdrops which is what we use the free photos for.

[Josy1953]

5 minutes ago, jeanlyon said:

Yes you did, so if they do phone/email me, I shall do BACS.  Would prefer back on to debit card, but don't know if they do that.

They emailed me.  I have just been on Twitter and they are still saying that they are working to do refunds as quickly as possible but it will take up to 60 days.  My guess is that if people just sit and wait they will be the ones waiting 60 days.  I think that you did the right thing to call them today.

[alpha whiskey]

11 minutes ago, grapau27 said:

I don't like the slides but Central Park on Allure here was lovely.

I'm with you. Had very good cruises with RCI , sometimes at a better deal than P&O can offer. Also quite a fan of Celebrity too. Really enjoy mixing up the different experiences. Found the Oasis superb for the Caribbean. Entertainment was brilliant. It will be interesting to see how they all match up once we get back to 'normal', whenever and whatever that might mean.

 

In the meantime the anticipation of getting a cheque from P&O is getting tedious. I applied on 16/03 for a  sailing on 28/03, and other than the standard 45 day bounce back email, have received nothing. Emailed again on 4/05. Nothing. Not even a cancellation invoice. I booked via a TA, and recorded message on P&O  is that they can't help. 

O well, tomorrow is another day ......🙄 

[peteukmcr]

29 minutes ago, grapau27 said:

I don't like the slides but Central Park on Allure here was lovely.

Favourite location on any of the Oasis class ships. The other main reason we like this class is that the superb design means it never feels crowded with some many areas (neighbourhoods) to enjoy.

I do recognise the carpets on Explorer although never sailed on her, just like all the other Voyager class.

 

Anyway, we better be careful because this is a P&O thread and there will be very little interest in RCI with umpteen reasons why people don't like RCI. 

[PandNo Refund]

Rylans latest statement:


**IMPORTANT UPDATE REGARDING REFUNDS**

From P&O Cruises president, Paul Ludlow

I wanted to take this opportunity to address the issue of refunds as I am very aware of how imperative it is that those of you who opted for a refund, instead of an enhanced Future Cruise Credit, receive your money back as swiftly as possible.

The first thing for me to stress is that the refund process is underway. We are proud to be a travel company which is able to offer refunds but the impact of Covid-19 upon our business, your businesses, and all of our lives has been devastating, and therefore the complexity and scale of this task has been unprecedented for us.

At P&O Cruises, we have had to adapt our ways of working very quickly as we set up new systems and all our colleagues began working from home.

I understand that some of you see us as a big business “holding on to your money” as some of our guests have been commenting publicly, but I assure you I am very aware of the financial constraints everyone is under at the moment and we are not delaying this intentionally.

The first cruises were cancelled due to Covid-19 in the middle of March and whilst we expected to process the first refunds sooner, we revised that to ‘up to 60 days’ when we realised the impact the pandemic was having on our wider business and teams.

I know that “up to 60 days” is not ideal and it is certainly not the service you would normally expect from us but sadly “normal” has taken on a new meaning. In the past few weeks, despite the challenges, we have been able to put new technology and systems and also additional resource in place which will result in more refunds being processed more quickly and I hope this will improve the situation daily. We will also be contacting all of you who have requested a refund.

For those of you who opted for an enhanced 125% Future Cruise Credit I want to highlight that we are amending our systems so that the FCCs will soon be able to be redeemed online without the need to call us. More details on that coming at the end of the month.

To give you maximum flexibility, I’m also pleased to announce that you now have until the end of December 2021 to put your FCC against a booking for any holiday on sale during that period, which should help with your planning if you already have future holidays booked with us.

Also do remember that FCCs may now be used to upgrade or for a second cabin for any booking in 2021 or 2022 (holiday departure period currently on sale) and also may be gifted or transferred to someone else. This option too will apply to further out departures as and when they go on sale, until as stated above, the end of December 2021.

I never underestimate the feeling and affection that many of you have for our ships and for our business as a whole. It is a huge privilege to have so many very loyal guests who holiday with us time and time again.

Thank you so much for your understanding and forbearance as we work our way through these difficult circumstances, it really is very much appreciated. I’d also like to thank once again the many of you who have sent messages of support, whether it be to myself, or to the thousands of our team members, ship and shore, during these difficult times. We look forward to sailing again soon and welcoming you back on board.

[grapau27]

4 minutes ago, peteukmcr said:

Favourite location on any of the Oasis class ships. The other main reason we like this class is that the superb design means it never feels crowded with some many areas (neighbourhoods) to enjoy.

I do recognise the carpets on Explorer although never sailed on her, just like all the other Voyager class.

 

Anyway, we better be careful because this is a P&O thread and there will be very little interest in RCI with umpteen reasons why people don't like RCI. 

Glad you got your refund.

I sent my current ACC no and sort code back to P&O on request yesterday as the customer service team leader said we are getting a Bacs payment as we booked through a TA.

[Edinbhibs]

Hi All. Been following for last 2 weeks and want to add I called the 0800 0523840 today and had my refund confirmed with 3 bank cards used issued yesterday.  Hopefully received tomorrow or Friday.