Next announcement of cancellations

[AnnieC]

34 minutes ago, Dermotsgirl said:

I’d rather repurpose the money and put it with the money from last March’s cancelled cruise and have a new patio. 

I do hope you don't have anyone in mind to go under it.🤣

[cruisenewbie1976]

5 minutes ago, Adawn47 said:

I agree with you Josy. I've begun to feel confident going out now wearing a mask, but it took some time. I think it will take me a lot longer to go without one, besides, it will keep my face warm in the winter.

Avril

And it'll stop you from scaring people 😉 

[showingdiva]

25 minutes ago, cruisenewbie1976 said:

You want them to cancel and I don't. It sort of highlights their predicament, doesn't it? 

 

This is exactly how I see it too.   2021 cruises are heavily booked on the vast majority of cruise lines - mostly by people transferring 2020 cruises.   

From a personal point of view, my quandary is three fold .... I work front line NHS,  so I've seen what this could potentially cause to the NHS especially adding in flu season, winter slips and trips etc.    I work in our local port with and on board cruise ships and have spent most of my life at sea with my late father in the Merchant Navy.  Lastly, as a passenger, I would have loved my QM2 cruise to be going ahead, just like my May one on her and my Iona cruise last month.  But it couldn't happen, and through the disappointment, I'm now quite relieved Cunard have made the decision to postpone until spring 2021.

[Adawn47]

3 minutes ago, cruisenewbie1976 said:

And it'll stop you from scaring people 😉 

And inhaling other peoples odours. See, there's an upside to everything😁

Avril

[cruisenewbie1976]

Just now, Adawn47 said:

And inhaling other peoples odours. See, there's an upside to everything😁

Avril

Unless you've just eaten a cheese and onion cob, as I found out last week! 

[grapau27]

5 hours ago, Host Sharon said:

Well, for those of us hoping to cruise this year, I understand some P&O crew have had stand-by notices, so something may yet happen, perhaps for Christmas.

Great news thanks for letting us know.

As it takes 6-8 weeks to be ready this would coincide with the current restart date.🤞

Graham.

[Dermotsgirl]

1 hour ago, AnnieC said:

I do hope you don't have anyone in mind to go under it.🤣

I’m sure I could think of somebody! 😉😂

[Britboys]

24 minutes ago, Dermotsgirl said:

I’m sure I could think of somebody! 😉😂

Perhaps P&O's 'President' should start looking over his shoulders???🤣🤣🤣

[Dermotsgirl]

50 minutes ago, Britboys said:

Perhaps P&O's 'President' should start looking over his shoulders???🤣🤣🤣

😂 He’s safe for now, as long as we get a proper announcement in the next few weeks! 

[terrierjohn]

4 hours ago, Dermotsgirl said:

Social distancing and mask wearing will be part of our lives for some time to come, so I feel sure that any resumption will have to reflect this particularly on cold weather cruises as people spend more time inside.

 

What I can't quite get my head around is that, with the backdrop of rising cases, and ever increasing complexity with travel restrictions, not to mention local restrictions changing all the time, is how they can consider starting again this winter. And that's just in this country - there's all the regulations and restrictions in other countries to consider.

 

The time has come for them to decide what to do and to communicate it to the passengers.  If it's too uncertain they must make the decision to cancel cruises for the longer term, or if they think they can get cruising again, it's time to tell us what the cruise experience looks like and when they plan to start. 

 

Of course, the government restrictions on cruising would have to be lifted, and I've heard no chatter anywhere (apart from on here!) about this happening. Why would the government lift the restrictions at the moment? We are going into winter and the bulk of P&O's passengers are in the category that is most at risk of  getting seriously ill from COVID.  I genuinely can't see how cruising can happen this year.

 

If there's no proper announcement within the next two weeks, my exasperation levels will rise again 

 

 

I would imagine that P&O would love to be able to tell us what the "cruise experience' will be like, but until they have final agreement on when, where and how they will be allowed to re-start, it is impossible for them to publish anything of substance.

[Adawn47]

1 hour ago, Dermotsgirl said:

I’m sure I could think of somebody! 😉😂

I'm sure we all could.  Erm, do you think it will be a big patio??😁

Avril

[Bazrat]

6 minutes ago, Adawn47 said:

I'm sure we all could.  Erm, do you think it will be a big patio??😁

Avril

My days are numbered than 😟🙁☹️😫🥺😭

[bee-ess]

56 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

I would imagine that P&O would love to be able to tell us what the "cruise experience' will be like, but until they have final agreement on when, where and how they will be allowed to re-start, it is impossible for them to publish anything of substance.

I agree, but if they cannot tell us this before final payment then there should be an option to opt out with refund if you don't like the new rules if you only learn them after final payment..

Edited September 6, 2020 by bee-ess

[Dermotsgirl]

54 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

I would imagine that P&O would love to be able to tell us what the "cruise experience' will be like, but until they have final agreement on when, where and how they will be allowed to re-start, it is impossible for them to publish anything of substance.

Yet people are still expected to pay thousands of pounds, 3 months in advance for an experience that P&O are apparently unable to define 🤷‍♀️

[grapau27]

1 minute ago, Dermotsgirl said:

Yet people are still expected to pay thousands of pounds, 3 months in advance for an experience that P&O are apparently unable to define 🤷‍♀️

Surely now P&O should reduce final payment to at least 2 months or less.

[Dermotsgirl]

1 minute ago, grapau27 said:

Surely now P&O should reduce final payment to at least 2 months or less.

It would make perfect sense to do that. A bit of flexibility like  that would be greatly appreciated by many passengers 

[No pager thank you]

For context, 14 days is currently being accepted by some of the major package tour providers.

 

Although those who say that things are very fluid and subject to change correct IMO, and no information provided now could be certain of being correct, the balance due date is within Carnival's control come what may.  The other point I would make is that if crew are on standby, a detailed operational plan must be being developed.  There is an opportunity for greater transparency.

 

For example, it is surely within P&Os gift to point passengers to the example of Costa, who now are actually cruising, in terms of how close this is to their planned restart approach.  This would be fairer to those passengers who are looking for this reassurance before being asked to part with their money.

[No pager thank you]

I think that the issue that passengers face is whatever P&O continue to know, they are choosing not to disclose. 

 

Prospective passengers will have to decide how far they trust the company in this light.

 

Many will take in to account the good, (previously reasonable fares in most cases and a reasonable on board experience), the bad (the shore side operation) and the downright ugly (a lack of delivery and sense of accountability for refunds).

[Bazrat]

13 minutes ago, No pager thank you said:

For context, 14 days is currently being accepted by some of the major package tour providers.

 

Although those who say that things are very fluid and subject to change correct IMO, and no information provided now could be certain of being correct, the balance due date is within Carnival's control come what may.  The other point I would make is that if crew are on standby, a detailed operational plan must be being developed.  There is an opportunity for greater transparency.

 

For example, it is surely within P&Os gift to point passengers to the example of Costa, who now are actually cruising, in terms of how close this is to their planned restart approach.  This would be fairer to those passengers who are looking for this reassurance before being asked to part with their money.

Costa are only cruising to Italian ports from Italy so I am taking a guess that there trying out the systems, so yet again taking a guess it will take P&O longer because of going to European ports.

[Dermotsgirl]

12 minutes ago, No pager thank you said:

For context, 14 days is currently being accepted by some of the major package tour providers.

 

Although those who say that things are very fluid and subject to change correct IMO, and no information provided now could be certain of being correct, the balance due date is within Carnival's control come what may.  The other point I would make is that if crew are on standby, a detailed operational plan must be being developed.  There is an opportunity for greater transparency.

 

For example, it is surely within P&Os gift to point passengers to the example of Costa, who now are actually cruising, in terms of how close this is to their planned restart approach.  This would be fairer to those passengers who are looking for this reassurance before being asked to part with their money.

Agreed.

 

Everyone knows the situation is subject to change, often at very short notice, and understands how difficult this is for the cruise companies.
 

However, passengers would appreciate some openness at this point from P&O. There is an information vacuum at the moment, which is not filled by ‘ we are pausing our operations for another 4 weeks’ 

 

 

[AnnieC]

33 minutes ago, Dermotsgirl said:

Yet people are still expected to pay thousands of pounds, 3 months in advance for an experience that P&O are apparently unable to define 🤷‍♀️

My view entirely, and I have no horse in this race - nothing booked. It all seems very one-sided.

[Bazrat]

11 minutes ago, No pager thank you said:

 

 

Many will take in to account the good, (previously reasonable fares in most cases and a reasonable on board experience), the bad (the shore side operation) and the downright ugly (a lack of delivery and sense of accountability for refunds).

The shore side operation ? is that not the same as lack of delivery.

[Dermotsgirl]

1 minute ago, Bazrat said:

Costa are only cruising to Italian ports from Italy so I am taking a guess that there trying out the systems, so yet again taking a guess it will take P&O longer because of going to European ports.

Unless they take a leaf out of Cunard’s book and ditch a larger chunk of their planned programme and do some shorter cruises closer to home. Again, they need to be informing passengers of their plans 

[Bazrat]

Just now, Dermotsgirl said:

Unless they take a leaf out of Cunard’s book and ditch a larger chunk of their planned programme and do some shorter cruises closer to home. Again, they need to be informing passengers of their plans 

I agree but what happens if they have to change them they would have to inform you about the changes, so the information you would receive would most likely change if there becomes another problem, than the accusations of them not knowing what there doing would be justified.

[No pager thank you]

6 minutes ago, Bazrat said:

The shore side operation ? is that not the same as lack of delivery.

Kind of...for me that means:

 

-- Difficulty getting through on the phone generally.

-- All sorts of barriers made if you do have a problem on board which continues to require a solution when you get back (even before the pandemic).

-- Questions before you go on holiday difficult to get a straight, consistent answer.

-- All the daft emails they send in general.

 

Not everyone would agree with the above, but why IMO is "bad" certainly compared with some other holiday companies we have travelled with.

Edited September 6, 2020 by No pager thank you
Clarification