Will P&O now delay announcements for future cruise pauses?

[Britboys]

Not P&O I know but had an email from Fred Olsen this afternoon cancelling my 23rd June departure to Northern Europe. Presumably cancelling all cruises to the end of June.

[jeanlyon]

Morning Andrew, that's a bore, but probably expected?

[joeecco]

17 hours ago, Britboys said:

Not P&O I know but had an email from Fred Olsen this afternoon cancelling my 23rd June departure to Northern Europe. Presumably cancelling all cruises to the end of June.

I can’t see any further cancellations announced on their website, is it specific sailings instead? 

[jeanlyon]

Braemar sailings are cancelled until Spring 2022, maybe it was that one?

[tring]

10 minutes ago, joeecco said:

I can’t see any further cancellations announced on their website, is it specific sailings instead? 

 

I was confused with that last night as even the booking system was letting me get to the list of available cabins on the cruise Britboys had booked.  I have seen a social media site though where a number of people have reported cancellations until the end of June, so must be true.  Apparently there has been disquiet previously when cruises were cancelled, but folk booked on them had not been informed.  Can't please all of the people, all of the time......  

[tring]

3 hours ago, joeecco said:

I can’t see any further cancellations announced on their website, is it specific sailings instead? 

 

3 hours ago, jeanlyon said:

Braemar sailings are cancelled until Spring 2022, maybe it was that one?

 

Notification of Fred's the new cancellations now made public:-

 

https://media.fredolsencruises.com/pressreleases/fred-olsen-cruise-lines-extends-pause-in-operations-until-end-of-june-2021-3070505?fbclid=IwAR1nbs5XbAmFYYHSBnAbmk--hSs0QpYNUTkDWfEBP8pvqYaZRz_1Ca-qI7g

 

I suspect P&O will do similar at some stage, at least for the cruises visiting countries other than the UK.

 

At least not as bad as Tui though - we are still waiting for our 7th March holiday to be cancelled!!

[Selbourne]

Inevitable I guess, but sad for those still harbouring hope that cruises might resume any time soon. Like others, I’d be surprised if P&O doesn’t follow suit. Anybodies guess when cruises will resume. I’d hazard a guess at mid summer for around UK or cruises to nowhere and autumn for overseas cruises, but that’s just a gut feel as things are evolving so quickly that nobody knows, including the cruise lines. 

[Britboys]

7 hours ago, jeanlyon said:

Morning Andrew, that's a bore, but probably expected?

Yes, I had pretty much resigned myself to the likelihood of cancellation. Until recently thought there was a very outside chance of it going. That's cruise number 4 cancelled.

At least I haven't got anything else booked now until next August - so hopefully that will go, unless they decide to sell Aurora before then...🙄🤔🤞🏻

[Britboys]

3 hours ago, tring said:

 

 

Notification of Fred's the new cancellations now made public:-

 

https://media.fredolsencruises.com/pressreleases/fred-olsen-cruise-lines-extends-pause-in-operations-until-end-of-june-2021-3070505?fbclid=IwAR1nbs5XbAmFYYHSBnAbmk--hSs0QpYNUTkDWfEBP8pvqYaZRz_1Ca-qI7g

 

I suspect P&O will do similar at some stage, at least for the cruises visiting countries other than the UK.

 

At least not as bad as Tui though - we are still waiting for our 7th March holiday to be cancelled!!

In general I think Fred Olsen are dealing with this situation pretty well but having said that, their website still hasn't been updated.

I was doing this cruise with one of my cruise buddies and I think we are going to wait until they release the full 2022 programme of cruises before we decide whether to use a credit or now ask for a refund.

[tring]

3 minutes ago, Britboys said:

In general I think Fred Olsen are dealing with this situation pretty well but having said that, their website still hasn't been updated.

I was doing this cruise with one of my cruise buddies and I think we are going to wait until they release the full 2022 programme of cruises before we decide whether to use a credit or now ask for a refund.

 

Someone has had it confirmed that Fred's summer 2022 cruise will be released in early March, as is normal for them. Hope you get sorted soon, I think if our July one is cancelled we will likely just go for the refund, but may change our minds.  Trouble is that Fred's cruises are at their most expensive when first released.

[Britboys]

Apologies if this has already been discussed somewhere but I see Canada has now banned all cruise ships carrying more than 100 pax from it's waters until 2022 so looks like the autumn cruises on Aurora and Arcadia will be cancelled now.

[grapau27]

11 minutes ago, Britboys said:

Apologies if this has already been discussed somewhere but I see Canada has now banned all cruise ships carrying more than 100 pax from it's waters until 2022 so looks like the autumn cruises on Aurora and Arcadia will be cancelled now.

Hi Andrew.

This was posted on RC forums.

Graham.

[tring]

6 hours ago, Britboys said:

In general I think Fred Olsen are dealing with this situation pretty well but having said that, their website still hasn't been updated.

I was doing this cruise with one of my cruise buddies and I think we are going to wait until they release the full 2022 programme of cruises before we decide whether to use a credit or now ask for a refund.

 

Their website had been updated earlier this evening, so cancelled cruises not showing now.

[tring]

2 hours ago, grapau27 said:

Hi Andrew.

This was posted on RC forums.

Graham.

 

This sounds very strict, but I am not at all surprised since we have relatives in Newfoundland.  The Eastern coastal parts of Canada have very low virus numbers - just a few from time to time, but anyone entering that area has to quarantine in a hotel for two weeks.  Has been that way for a very long time. 

 

When my brother (in Newfoundland) had a stroke in the autumn, his daughter from Montreal could not go to see him without the quarantine, which was not possible for her.  It has kept good control in Newfoundland and other Eastern provinces though and from what I understand, has always been that way with virus numbers there.  

 

Hope the recovery goes well Graham

 

Edited February 5, 2021 by tring

[Splice the mainbrace]

Oh dear seems like the final 'nail in the coffin' of our QM2 TA and USA / Canada cruise next September. It was for a big birthday of my wife. Will have to look to book a luxury UK hotel instead when cancellation confirmation comes through.

[grapau27]

7 hours ago, tring said:

 

This sounds very strict, but I am not at all surprised since we have relatives in Newfoundland.  The Eastern coastal parts of Canada have very low virus numbers - just a few from time to time, but anyone entering that area has to quarantine in a hotel for two weeks.  Has been that way for a very long time. 

 

When my brother (in Newfoundland) had a stroke in the autumn, his daughter from Montreal could not go to see him without the quarantine, which was not possible for her.  It has kept good control in Newfoundland and other Eastern provinces though and from what I understand, has always been that way with virus numbers there.  

 

Hope the recovery goes well Graham

 

Thank you Tring.

The word from Canadian posters is that Canada has no vaccine manufacturing sites and are having difficulty sourcing vaccines so their population don't know when they will be vaccinated and a big reason for the no cruise situation there.

[Son of Anarchy]

Arcadia's cruise to Canada is still showing to book online.  Maybe they will remove it later today.  Will be interesting to see whether they sort out alternative itineries for her and Aurora's USA/Canada cruise in due course.

[yorkshirephil]

34 minutes ago, grapau27 said:

Thank you Tring.

The word from Canadian posters is that Canada has no vaccine manufacturing sites and are having difficulty sourcing vaccines so their population don't know when they will be vaccinated and a big reason for the no cruise situation there.

Canada has several vaccine manufacturing plants, owned by various large pharma companies, one of the issues is that those plants were/are manufacturing other vaccines for which they will have contracts, which of course are open to change in such a situation where a pandemic changes everything, not much point manufacturing millions of travel related vaccines in the current situation, plus new raw materials have to be sourced, which are the same ones that everybody else wants, plus the packaging materials can be different. It is not easy to change from one product to another and a lot of plants are "dedicated" to a particular product, . if not dedicated the cleaning regime between products, even if similar is tortuous and long. Canada like most other countries are investing a lot of money in new plants but clearly they will not come on-line anytime soon.

[grapau27]

1 hour ago, yorkshirephil said:

Canada has several vaccine manufacturing plants, owned by various large pharma companies, one of the issues is that those plants were/are manufacturing other vaccines for which they will have contracts, which of course are open to change in such a situation where a pandemic changes everything, not much point manufacturing millions of travel related vaccines in the current situation, plus new raw materials have to be sourced, which are the same ones that everybody else wants, plus the packaging materials can be different. It is not easy to change from one product to another and a lot of plants are "dedicated" to a particular product, . if not dedicated the cleaning regime between products, even if similar is tortuous and long. Canada like most other countries are investing a lot of money in new plants but clearly they will not come on-line anytime soon.

Thanks for the clarification.

Canadian posters on RC forums indicated they didn't have the manufacturing ability for covid19 vaccines.

[yorkshirephil]

2 minutes ago, grapau27 said:

Thanks for the clarification.

Canadian posters on RC forums indicated they didn't have the manufacturing ability for covid19 vaccines.

You are welcome, there were people on this site that were saying the same plain and simply because they were not aware of them, and why would they be. Most people trot off to the surgery for their flu vaccine year in year out and don't have the slightest interest in where they are made or by who.

[AnnieC]

2 hours ago, grapau27 said:

Thank you Tring.

The word from Canadian posters is that Canada has no vaccine manufacturing sites and are having difficulty sourcing vaccines so their population don't know when they will be vaccinated and a big reason for the no cruise situation there.

That's what I've read and, very sadly, they are lagging behind. Australia also has a problem with vaccines, though they have far fewer cases (like about nil) due to their very strict lockdowns and isolated location. Let's hope we remember them (and many others) when we work out how many spare vaccines we have to dole out.

[jeanlyon]

Maybe P&O will change to an all USA cruise instead of the Canadian ports?  Not quite the same though and they are nowhere near getting their numbers down in the US.

Edited February 5, 2021 by jeanlyon

[grapau27]

3 minutes ago, yorkshirephil said:

You are welcome, there were people on this site that were saying the same plain and simply because they were not aware of them, and why would they be. Most people trot off to the surgery for their flu vaccine year in year out and don't have the slightest interest in where they are made or by who.

Good points.

Over 20 years ago i spent 1 year with an agency selling a large range of over the counter medicines to independent retailers and didn't really know a great deal about how or where they were made.

[tring]

2 hours ago, grapau27 said:

Thank you Tring.

The word from Canadian posters is that Canada has no vaccine manufacturing sites and are having difficulty sourcing vaccines so their population don't know when they will be vaccinated and a big reason for the no cruise situation there.

 

Would have an effect , yes, but I think the programs are province based rather than national.  I understand  the Newfoundland and Labrador province have started their vaccinations with some remote indigenous communities in Labrador and I think health care people have also been started.    Province Quebec have relatively high numbers, especially the cities of Quebec and Montreal as they cannot really avoid traffic in and out. Canada may not be the quickest with vaccines, though they do have vaccines on order, so could well be quicker than the EU for instance.  In comparison to the US (which is their normal look to comparison) they are not in a good way though.  I still think the cruise cancellations, especially on the East coast, are still strongly to do with their policy of keeping the bug out all together like Australia and NZ, which I also suspect will not be opening up to tourists any time soon.

 

Was going to email my SIL (Newfoundland) in the next day or so and will update about that if I can.  I know Newfoundland apparently have major economic problems due to the crash in the oil market.

[tring]

2 hours ago, jeanlyon said:

Maybe P&O will change to an all USA cruise instead of the Canadian ports?  Not quite the same though and they are nowhere near getting their numbers down in the US.

The US have already stopped any cruises over 7 nights which commence from/return to US ports until the end of the year and is why the US Aurora cruise had been taken off sale some weeks back.  I really think any long distance cruises will not be taking place for a long time, with more changes/cancellations even if the basic European cruises start up again.  I also think a lot of ships will not be re starting for a very long time.