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


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18 minutes ago, cruisenewbie1976 said:

Ditto. No time for made up interpretations of the rules. 

Agree. But back to basics and the specific issue of ocean cruises, this was amongst those considered in a special travel section in my daily paper. The upshot was that cruises are considered by the authorities as a special subsection of travel and will be covered separately in the review due to be published on 12 April, after which the current guidance not to cruise may be amended if appropriate. Should the go ahead be given it will take most companies (at least) 6 weeks to be ready to sail, and that cruising may recommence from late May provided that ports of call are prepared to accept cuise ships. Fingers crossed!

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58 minutes ago, Denarius said:

Agree. But back to basics and the specific issue of ocean cruises, this was amongst those considered in a special travel section in my daily paper. The upshot was that cruises are considered by the authorities as a special subsection of travel and will be covered separately in the review due to be published on 12 April, after which the current guidance not to cruise may be amended if appropriate. Should the go ahead be given it will take most companies (at least) 6 weeks to be ready to sail, and that cruising may recommence from late May provided that ports of call are prepared to accept cuise ships. Fingers crossed!

Totally agree. It's going to take some time to get things up and running and highly unlikely to be ready by 17 May, even if allowed. 

Was just wondering why 21st June had been quoted as that's not when they've listed foreign travel on the roadmap. 

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1 hour ago, Ray66 said:

I've just noticed some cruises have been removed from P&O's website. Only one left for April (Azura) remains and Iona's have been removed until 26th June.

I’ve tried this on multiple sailings before June 21st out of the ones that remain, you cannot book them. 
 

Also, this may be an IT error and I’m probably adding 2 and 2 and getting 12 but Azura’s first listed sailing (which you can’t book) for April 29th shows an extra day on the itinerary as it says Day 2 as Southampton. Obviously this is an error if they are still wanting the Med fly season to go ahead, but my mind tells me they may be repositioning her back to the UK instead and they’ve started editing the website accordingly behind the scenes...

I hope I’m wrong as our wedding depends on it! 

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21 minutes ago, joeecco said:

I’ve tried this on multiple sailings before June 21st out of the ones that remain, you cannot book them. 
 

Also, this may be an IT error and I’m probably adding 2 and 2 and getting 12 but Azura’s first listed sailing (which you can’t book) for April 29th shows an extra day on the itinerary as it says Day 2 as Southampton. Obviously this is an error if they are still wanting the Med fly season to go ahead, but my mind tells me they may be repositioning her back to the UK instead and they’ve started editing the website accordingly behind the scenes...

I hope I’m wrong as our wedding depends on it! 

But to argue against myself, it’s still allowing you to book Azura’s July cruises. So keeping everything crossed that I was just being silly! Haha

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As said before, I can't see an announcement before the end of the current promotion so that means Tuesday 2nd March 10am will be "let down day".

 

On another point, I spotted on Twitter a story about a German paper running a headline about how they are jealous of the English and how well we have done with the vaccine and Angela Merkel saying how there looks to be a third wave coming in Germany. If this is the case I can't see Boris allowing us there on holiday. So more ports off limits for cruises.

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1 hour ago, Castle25 said:

damn - that means we are currently due to be on IONA maiden voyage - 26th June 2021

Doesn't mean that cruises will start immediately after the 24th, and Iona will probably be one of the last to start.

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11 minutes ago, hollyjess said:

Waiting for us to part with more money for unconfirmed cruises before making an announcement?

Hardly when the final payment date is 30 days before, removing the cruises is a tell tale sign that they’re cancelling sailings until June 24th well before deadline. 

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3 minutes ago, MX-Drew said:

As said before, I can't see an announcement before the end of the current promotion so that means Tuesday 2nd March 10am will be "let down day".

 

On another point, I spotted on Twitter a story about a German paper running a headline about how they are jealous of the English and how well we have done with the vaccine and Angela Merkel saying how there looks to be a third wave coming in Germany. If this is the case I can't see Boris allowing us there on holiday. So more ports off limits for cruises.

Not much impact on ocean cruises if Germany is off limits. Keil Canal?, Hamburg at a stretch on a Baltic cruise. More likely to affect river cruising if Germany is a no-go area. Other countries seem more upbeat eg Spain, Greece etc appear to be clamouring to set up vaccine passport type arrangements with the UK. So maybe some limited Med cruising might be possible sooner rather than later.

I'm still of the opinion that any start up will involve short (max 7 days) cruises around the British Isles or scenic cruising in the fjords.

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8 minutes ago, MX-Drew said:

As said before, I can't see an announcement before the end of the current promotion so that means Tuesday 2nd March 10am will be "let down day".


Yes that’s a good point and I’d forgotten that, although when one promotion ends another starts, so not sure if that will help them much. I can understand the delay from P&O’s perspective (cash flow) but it’s a shame that they don’t have a better emphasis on their customers, who aren’t daft and will know that their cruises don’t have a cat in hells chance of running but will want official confirmation before committing to alternative plans. 

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1 hour ago, Castle25 said:

damn - that means we are currently due to be on IONA maiden voyage - 26th June 2021

 

1 hour ago, Castle25 said:

i guess we will need to see what is and what isn't allowed on/off the ship before we decide to go

 

 

We are with you on both counts.  Must admit though, in some ways I am less bothered now it seems clear about which cruises are likely to be counted.  Does not help clarify our cruise booking of course, but I am no longer constantly looking to see if it is still there.  Our agent sent a balance reminder to pay in March, so rang to tell them P&O have changed the goal posts re that, and been given new balance pay date of 13th May, so hopefully all will be clearer by then.  Strange how agents have not got that news yet - the claim was the reminder was automated - does depend a tad on what they tell their system though.......

 

2 hours ago, joeecco said:

All cruises until June 24th now removed. 
 

Maybe a 10am announcement, it’s not Tuesday but Thursday sounds similar.. easy mistake 😂

 

Hope all is well for you and your wedding, sadly I think after what is obviously coming, they may not say more until after 12th April when Boris's review is reported and TBH anything they do say before then will still be uncertain (not that certainty is going to anymore a word to describe 2021, than for 2020).  Like me, I hope that if the fly cruises are not mentioned in the cancellations which are obviously on the way, it would at least mean you are not constantly looking for more info.,  so you may more easily be able to put your mind to other matters.  I do feel for you though.

 

I am just thinking the announcement about our Vera was last Thursday, so perhaps they have changed the day - just to confuse us on CC of course 🙂

 

 

Edited by tring
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28 minutes ago, Dermotsgirl said:

So the current status seems to be that all  P&O cruises up until 24th June have disappeared, but no 10 o’clock announcement made.🤷‍♀️

 

Odd. 

Same as Cunard  cruises disappeared off website until last week in June I’m awaiting news of my round trip transatlantic on June 9th fully expecting it to be cancelled but would like confirmation 

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1 hour ago, mercury7289 said:

 

Edit; Just had a look at the reports and realise that this effects Alaskan and Canadian cruises

 

I have previously mentioned the COVID situation in Canada, which I am well aware of through relatives.  As I said the East coast provinces had extremely low numbers due to strict quarantine during the pandemic for all entrants, including from other Canadian provinces.  Newfoundland have now got some community transmission over the last 2-3 weeks I think, whilst previously all cases were traceable to a known orgin.  Although numbers are still very low compared to us, the community transmission could obviously become a big problem, particularly as they now have the Kent Variant (which seems to have become fairly commonly known to them as the "Boris Bug") in Canada, including Newfoundland.  I do not know the current status in Nova Scotia and PEI. 

 

With the extremely slow vaccine roll out in Canada, which still seems to be focusing on care homes for the elderly and remote Indigenous communities, I do not see cruise ships, and quite probably other travellers, going there any time soon.

Edited by tring
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My dad has just called P&O and was told our 19th June cruise isn't showing up because its full, hmm along with every other cruise before 24th June? So the person on the phone has either told him what she's been told to say or they have stopped taking bookings until they have more details and protocols sorted etc?  

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27 minutes ago, SarahHben said:

My dad has just called P&O and was told our 19th June cruise isn't showing up because its full, hmm along with every other cruise before 24th June? So the person on the phone has either told him what she's been told to say or they have stopped taking bookings until they have more details and protocols sorted etc?  

Playing devil's advocate here, given ships will sail between 50% to 70% capacity and people trying to get away as soon as possible may be they are fully booked. Added to that there may be a thought a cruise (especially if you don't get off at the ports) may be the safe option.

Another point of view is the "book it knowing it will be cancelled" there by getting 125% FCC.

 

The above is not my beliefs just an alternative view. 

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