Flight changes

[zap99]

18 minutes ago, Glitterati said:

 

Ah ok. I was being silly in assuming the price was the same haha for a TUI upgrade vs Virgin charter upgrade. 

 

I've done Virgin economy and Premium, and their economy is strong compared to other airlines. Premium is fab. Not tried Upper yet but most likely will be in 2023 for a special cruise. We all have Virgin credit cards and its very easy to rack up air miles to turn into upgrades. I can't imagine P&O letting me use them however 😅

 

I do wonder what the prices will be for upgrades. I did a bit of googling, and when P&O chartered Virgin for Adonia Caribbean cruises a few years back, it was £349 to premium and £799 to Upper. That seems low on standard Virgin pricing, so i wonder if it is a reduced service. 

 

I know Virgin currently use their new a350's for their Barbados route. Wonder if charter will get the same. If so, even economy have massive tv screens on the seat backs. 

After our first long haul on ( sorry Jean ) Bcal, we vowed never again in economy. We have flown premium ever since, apart from one in upper class. TUI have improved now they have the 787 Dreamliner, prior to that Virgin had the edge. I don't know about the Virgin/P&O charters, but scheduled premium on Virgin is quite a big price difference. Enjoy your holiday😁

[Castle25]

Apologies for the accronyns!!  So P&O for Carribean cruises in 2021 from Barbados, are using LHR instead of LGW and NOT using TUI.  Is this correct?  I am hopefully on the first Azura cruise in December and have paid for the premium cabin.  When will we informed of the airport/carrier?

[Guest]

28 minutes ago, Castle25 said:

Apologies for the accronyns!!  So P&O for Carribean cruises in 2021 from Barbados, are using LHR instead of LGW and NOT using TUI.  Is this correct?  I am hopefully on the first Azura cruise in December and have paid for the premium cabin.  When will we informed of the airport/carrier?

 

It would appear that way at the moment. I am on the 2nd Azura cruise (25th December) and flying out of London. I keep logging onto the cruise personaliser to check the flight details, but they are still not there. I figured they were waiting for the green light for international cruise travel. 

 

You would hope they honour the price you paid for your TUI premium upgrade. If thats the case...it might be worth me looking into it if there are any spots left! 

[Guest]

54 minutes ago, zap99 said:

After our first long haul on ( sorry Jean ) Bcal, we vowed never again in economy. We have flown premium ever since, apart from one in upper class. TUI have improved now they have the 787 Dreamliner, prior to that Virgin had the edge. I don't know about the Virgin/P&O charters, but scheduled premium on Virgin is quite a big price difference. Enjoy your holiday😁

 

I'm only 28 but 98% of all my long haul flights have been in economy! And i've flown a lot with a lot of different airlines. This will change when things get moving again and i can finally spend my air miles! 😄 

Yeah the TUI dreamliner looks fab. My Mum and sister went on it in Feb 2020 to Barbados and said it was good. Cant be worse than my 2007 TUI  chartered 767 to San Juan to catch the Crown Princess! No entertainment for 9 and a half hours!!!! Thank you! Was meant to be on it last year so crossing everything that it still goes ahead!

[Castle25]

been on the tui 787 to lanzarote - seats are very nice.  No idea about the food though

[molecrochip]

4 hours ago, Glitterati said:

I do wonder what the prices will be for upgrades. I did a bit of googling, and when P&O chartered Virgin for Adonia Caribbean cruises a few years back, it was £349 to premium and £799 to Upper. That seems low on standard Virgin pricing, so i wonder if it is a reduced service. 

I expect prices to be similar.

 

Virgin charter the plane and can therefore set the prices, set selection fees and the service levels.

 

From memory, I’d expect them to stick close to the Virgin service levels as this is simpler for the crew. Virgin are not set up to sell snacks and drinks on board like Tui are.

[wowzz]

3 hours ago, Castle25 said:

Apologies for the accronyns!!  So P&O for Carribean cruises in 2021 from Barbados, are using LHR instead of LGW and NOT using TUI.  Is this correct?  I am hopefully on the first Azura cruise in December and have paid for the premium cabin.  When will we informed of the airport/carrier?

I think you are wrong. P&O will still be using TUI out of LGW, but will soak up additional capacity with VS  and BA out of LHR. There is no way that P&O can fill the cruise by only using LHR scheduled flights.

How they determine who flys with which airline, only moley can answer.  

[terrierjohn]

8 hours ago, wowzz said:

I think you are wrong. P&O will still be using TUI out of LGW, but will soak up additional capacity with VS  and BA out of LHR. There is no way that P&O can fill the cruise by only using LHR scheduled flights.

How they determine who flys with which airline, only moley can answer.  

I thought Moley was indicating that BA and Virgin would be charter flights? Or maybe I misunderstood.

[wowzz]

2 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

I thought Moley was indicating that BA and Virgin would be charter flights? Or maybe I misunderstood.

You may be correct  - I assumed that he was talking about using scheduled flights, but of course, they could charter an entire aircraft.

[Guest]

1 hour ago, wowzz said:

You may be correct  - I assumed that he was talking about using scheduled flights, but of course, they could charter an entire aircraft.

I got the impression they would be chartering flights. 
 

Virgin and BA have a larger fleet of long haul aircraft compared to TUI, so are more likely to have more aircraft in service that can be used. 

[downsmead]

I hope we will have some flight information by the time our final payment is due which is less than 3 weeks away now.

[Marmaduke]

Just tried to make some dummy bookings for both ships during January and February and it would seem that for many cruises the London flight option is listed as sold out.

[Cuthbertz]

We are booked on Azura 8th January flying from Manchester to Barbados, on checking the P & O website only flights from Birmingham are available, does anyone know if the Manchester flights are still operating?

[Jennizor]

We are due to be on the Azura Caribbean cruise on 4th December, flying from Manchester. Just did a dummy booking and the only flight option was London. Being optimistic, perhaps the Manchester flight is full (us on it). I am going to ring our TA tomorrow for clarification. It would be a pain for us to get to London with all our luggage, probably involving an overnight stay. We would probably want to cancel. I will report back if I get any info from the TA. 

[silkworms]

16 hours ago, Jennizor said:

We are due to be on the Azura Caribbean cruise on 4th December, flying from Manchester. Just did a dummy booking and the only flight option was London. Being optimistic, perhaps the Manchester flight is full (us on it). I am going to ring our TA tomorrow for clarification. It would be a pain for us to get to London with all our luggage, probably involving an overnight stay. We would probably want to cancel. I will report back if I get any info from the TA. 

I thought the first Caribbean cruise on Azura was not until 

the 10 Dec? Maybe I misunderstood.

[Bazrat]

On 7/27/2021 at 10:35 PM, bee-ess said:

If cruises with St Lucia flights are cancelled that must mean that the 22 night October transatlantic is cancelled. Wonder if they will be offered the 2 week version of the TA instead.

No the transatlantic is still going I know payed the balance for it, but we had our flights changed from Birmingham to Manchester plus extra £100 obc each compensation 

[Barbadossunshine]

We are going to Barbados on the 14th January 2021 on Britannia flying from Glasgow. Hopefully still leaving from here.

[Jennizor]

Sorry Silkworms you are right, we are on Britannia on the 4th of December. I have booked four cruises to replace the ones we had cancelled. 3 on Britannia and 1 on Azura. I am not quite confused!!!,

[firsttimer086]

Gutted with this change. We were due to fly out from Birmingham on the 4th of December to join the Britannia for our first ever cruise (booked back in 2019 and postponed).

 

Our flight has also been moved to Manchester, so instead of a 50 minute train ride home on the Sunday morning we'll be staring down a 3+ hr drive while jetlagged after the overnight flight. We're also unfamiliar with Manchester airport so not really looking forward to navigating it before the morning flight out either.

 

I contacted P&O to ask about being put on a London flight instead as it's much closer for us, but after a week's wait for a reply we were told there's no capacity left on London flights. I found this a bit strange though as you can still make new bookings for this cruise on their website with a London departure.

 

Along with this and all the other uncertainties around whether pre-flight tests are to be paid for, tests for each Caribbean port needed, only allowing booked excursions to disembark, and questions around group dining, we're both slightly regretting not just taking the refund last year.

[Jennizor]

I understand your frustration Firsttimer. We are frustrated about the cost of the tests we may have to take before we can go ashore too. We have been on several Caribbean cruises now and sometimes don’t get off at some of the islands. We wouldn’t do that at every port so we will pay whatever we need to if necessary. Staying on board has its attractions, its lovely and quiet on deck, no wandering round looking for somewhere to sit. The views are usually amazing too. Lunch is very laid back as there are not many people in the MDR. I look at it this way. We have had four cruises cancelled, maybe five as I’m not sure our Med cruise on 25th September will go ahead. Just going on a holiday that we know we will enjoy, whatever the restrictions are, is better than staying at home like we have since March 15th last year.

[soulstar]

On 8/3/2021 at 3:43 PM, Bazrat said:

No the transatlantic is still going I know payed the balance for it, but we had our flights changed from Birmingham to Manchester plus extra £100 obc each compensation 

 

[Guest]

3 hours ago, firsttimer086 said:

Gutted with this change. We were due to fly out from Birmingham on the 4th of December to join the Britannia for our first ever cruise (booked back in 2019 and postponed).

 

Our flight has also been moved to Manchester, so instead of a 50 minute train ride home on the Sunday morning we'll be staring down a 3+ hr drive while jetlagged after the overnight flight. We're also unfamiliar with Manchester airport so not really looking forward to navigating it before the morning flight out either.

 

I contacted P&O to ask about being put on a London flight instead as it's much closer for us, but after a week's wait for a reply we were told there's no capacity left on London flights. I found this a bit strange though as you can still make new bookings for this cruise on their website with a London departure.

 

Along with this and all the other uncertainties around whether pre-flight tests are to be paid for, tests for each Caribbean port needed, only allowing booked excursions to disembark, and questions around group dining, we're both slightly regretting not just taking the refund last year.

How incredibly frustrating for you! Especially if you can see there are still London departures available. However when we rebooked our Xmas cruise, the website said the one flight departing 24/12 had London flights, but when we rang up they didn’t. So we now have to fly Christmas Day. And we booked a year and a half in advance! 
 

Have you got any flight details yet, or did they just tell you the change of airport?

 

Im waiting to see if it’s Heathrow or Gatwick so I can book a hotel. 
 

When I used to live in the North I flew out of Manchester many times. TUI/Virgin you will be out of the new Terminal 2 which is fantastic. Very clean and easy to navigate! I’d also recommend booking a hotel for the night before and parking at the hotel for the duration of the cruise. They often do good rates and your car will not move. They then shuttle you to the airport when you need to go/come back. We have used both the Crowne Plaza and Raddison and they were both great! 

 

 

[firsttimer086]

On 8/6/2021 at 4:22 PM, Glitterati said:

How incredibly frustrating for you! Especially if you can see there are still London departures available. However when we rebooked our Xmas cruise, the website said the one flight departing 24/12 had London flights, but when we rang up they didn’t. So we now have to fly Christmas Day. And we booked a year and a half in advance! 
 

Have you got any flight details yet, or did they just tell you the change of airport?

 

Im waiting to see if it’s Heathrow or Gatwick so I can book a hotel. 
 

When I used to live in the North I flew out of Manchester many times. TUI/Virgin you will be out of the new Terminal 2 which is fantastic. Very clean and easy to navigate! I’d also recommend booking a hotel for the night before and parking at the hotel for the duration of the cruise. They often do good rates and your car will not move. They then shuttle you to the airport when you need to go/come back. We have used both the Crowne Plaza and Raddison and they were both great! 

 

 

 

We were put on a London waitlist, but received flight details from TA last night. 8am departure from Manchester, so assume that means a 5am check-in too 😞

 

Will check out your recommendation for hotels, thanks.

[Guest]

1 hour ago, firsttimer086 said:

 

We were put on a London waitlist, but received flight details from TA last night. 8am departure from Manchester, so assume that means a 5am check-in too 😞

 

Will check out your recommendation for hotels, thanks.

Ah, I replied to your comment on another thread!

 

Great news that you have flight details, even if it is Manchester. As I mentioned before, it’s a good airport with lots of hotels with parking options! 
 

Hoping our flight details come through soon! 

[wowzz]

24 minutes ago, Glitterati said:

Great news that you have flight details, even if it is Manchester. As I mentioned before, it’s a good airport with lots of hotels with parking options! 

Without wanting to be a party pooper, the problem is not so much about flying out, but arriving back in Manchester, jet lagged, and having to drive back down South. I've driven home in the past after a TA flight, but only for two hours or so. Anything more becomes a bit dangerous, imho.