P&O Cancellation Terms

[davecttr]

In the P&O cancellation terms for a Select Fare it gives the number of days before the cruise departure date that P&O must receive a written confirmation of cancellation. For example 16 days before departure for a cancellation fee of 75% of the fare.

 

What form must this written confirmation take? do they mean an actual posted letter or email confirmation of a telephone cancellation.

[Harry Peterson]

Unless the terms further specify the meaning of 'written confirmation' to exclude an emailed confirmation, logic would suggest that an emailed confirmation would satisfy the requirement - and it may well do.

 

However, it's still something of a moot legal point that's never really been satisfactorily resolved, despite the length of time since email became common.  Could be, of course, that it's never been challenged, but I wouldn't like to rely on that.

 

You might well get away with the argument, and it's perfectly logical, but there's a potential for challenge and I wouldn't like to risk it unless absolutely necessary.

[bee-ess]

I would talk to them about moving your cruise even though you have paid, they seemed open to that when I spoke to them recently. We were at payment time and I was told that I could pay and move later (up until the end of Jan was quoted) We decided not to do that and we just moved our March cruise until Sept but the option was there and that may suit you as you have already paid.

[terrierjohn]

1 hour ago, bee-ess said:

I would talk to them about moving your cruise even though you have paid, they seemed open to that when I spoke to them recently. We were at payment time and I was told that I could pay and move later (up until the end of Jan was quoted) We decided not to do that and we just moved our March cruise until Sept but the option was there and that may suit you as you have already paid.

Do you remember if the end Jan date quoted referred to the period in which you could cancel, or did it refer to when the cruise was due to depart?

[bee-ess]

1 hour ago, terrierjohn said:

Do you remember if the end Jan date quoted referred to the period in which you could cancel, or did it refer to when the cruise was due to depart?

I think It was the period in which you could cancel because our cruise was in March.

[Denarius]

I think that nowadays an email would suffice. They need something tangible as evidence rather than just a telephone call, recollections of which may vary. I would ask for a receipt and/or delivery status notification when you send the email so that you have evidence that you sent it.

As stated on another thread, I am in a similar position. I am due to sail on 8 Jan but no longer intend to do so. I have booked via a travel agent and will visit them this afternoon to discuss options. Will try to rearrange for Jan 2023 even though (officially) the facility to do so expires on payment of the balance; if you never ask you never get. Failing that, I will cancel. A substantial part of my fare was paid from FCC, I would expect to get this back or for it to be applied to future cruises. Has anyone got experience of this?

Will let you know how I get on.

[davecttr]

As mentioned elsewhere I phoned P&O today and they are dealing on a case by case basis. I now have a new cruise for January 2023 and have already received the booking confirmation - phew!

[bee-ess]

7 minutes ago, davecttr said:

As mentioned elsewhere I phoned P&O today and they are dealing on a case by case basis. I now have a new cruise for January 2023 and have already received the booking confirmation - phew!

Well Done !

[yorkshirephil]

49 minutes ago, Denarius said:

I think that nowadays an email would suffice. They need something tangible as evidence rather than just a telephone call, recollections of which may vary. I would ask for a receipt and/or delivery status notification when you send the email so that you have evidence that you sent it.

As stated on another thread, I am in a similar position. I am due to sail on 8 Jan but no longer intend to do so. I have booked via a travel agent and will visit them this afternoon to discuss options. Will try to rearrange for Jan 2023 even though (officially) the facility to do so expires on payment of the balance; if you never ask you never get. Failing that, I will cancel. A substantial part of my fare was paid from FCC, I would expect to get this back or for it to be applied to future cruises. Has anyone got experience of this?

Will let you know how I get on.

Once an FCC is used for a new cruise you don't get the money back only FCC.

[Thaumas]

In case it’s of interest here, I have a booking for the 2 week cruise on Iona, starting 29 Jan, going to Gibraltar, Portugal & Spain. After initial contact through the P & O Facebook page, I was advised to ring P & O if I was thinking of cancelling. My balance was paid at the end of October, so according to the Ts & Cs cancellation would mean losing the full cost of the cruise. I have now been offered a rebooking. (This is not the same as a FCC, because it has to be done in the next ten days). If I transfer my booking to another cruise currently on sale, the amount paid so far will be transferred to the new booking. This can be any cruise, including fly cruises up to March 2024. If the cost is less than the amount already paid, they will refund the difference. Here’s the interesting bit: If, within 90 days of departure with the new booking, I decided to cancel, I would then get a refund of the balance paid, ie I would only lose the original deposit. That’s as far as I understand it anyway.

Has anybody got a crystal ball I could borrow please?

[davecttr]

51 minutes ago, Thaumas said:

In case it’s of interest here, I have a booking for the 2 week cruise on Iona, starting 29 Jan, going to Gibraltar, Portugal & Spain. After initial contact through the P & O Facebook page, I was advised to ring P & O if I was thinking of cancelling. My balance was paid at the end of October, so according to the Ts & Cs cancellation would mean losing the full cost of the cruise. I have now been offered a rebooking. (This is not the same as a FCC, because it has to be done in the next ten days). If I transfer my booking to another cruise currently on sale, the amount paid so far will be transferred to the new booking. This can be any cruise, including fly cruises up to March 2024. If the cost is less than the amount already paid, they will refund the difference. Here’s the interesting bit: If, within 90 days of departure with the new booking, I decided to cancel, I would then get a refund of the balance paid, ie I would only lose the original deposit. That’s as far as I understand it anyway.

Has anybody got a crystal ball I could borrow please?

My 2 week cruise on Iona was transferred to your itinerary in 2023 and I will get the balance surplus refunded. they are running an extra OBC offer at the moment so i got extra OBC for the 2023 one, total £230 plus shareholder benefit if that is still available then. No mention of cancelling the new cruise within 90 days during my chat. I am happy enough at the moment that i don't have to go on the original cruise.

[Thaumas]

Hmmm, I notice that the same cruise on Iona, in Jan 2023 is several hundred pounds more expensive, so no chance of surplus refunds for me…..

[Thaumas]

Ok, I’ve resolved my problems with P&O now. I’ve transferred my booking to another cruise - in September 2023. (If Covid is still with us then I might slit my throat 😀). This is actually about £300 cheaper than my earlier booking and I will be getting a refund, although I might have to wait 3 to 4 weeks for it. As this is a new booking, I will be able to cancel it under standards terms & conditions. So at any time up to 91 days before departure I will be able to cancel it and sacrifice only the standard deposit for the cruise. In theory, I could cancel it next week (although I’m not going to do this). So I have gone from a situation where I might have cancelled the original cruise and sacrificed 100% of the full price to one where I could cancel the second cruise and only sacrifice the deposit on the second cruise. In essence, I am making a long term, interest free loan to P&O. I think I owe them that for their very reasonable flexibility. Full disclosure: I am a Carnival shareholder.

[Interestedcruisefan]

19 hours ago, Thaumas said:

In case it’s of interest here, I have a booking for the 2 week cruise on Iona, starting 29 Jan, going to Gibraltar, Portugal & Spain. After initial contact through the P & O Facebook page, I was advised to ring P & O if I was thinking of cancelling. My balance was paid at the end of October, so according to the Ts & Cs cancellation would mean losing the full cost of the cruise. I have now been offered a rebooking. (This is not the same as a FCC, because it has to be done in the next ten days). If I transfer my booking to another cruise currently on sale, the amount paid so far will be transferred to the new booking. This can be any cruise, including fly cruises up to March 2024. If the cost is less than the amount already paid, they will refund the difference. Here’s the interesting bit: If, within 90 days of departure with the new booking, I decided to cancel, I would then get a refund of the balance paid, ie I would only lose the original deposit. That’s as far as I understand it anyway.

Has anybody got a crystal ball I could borrow please?

The only thing I can predict with Covid and it's variants is that generally things are better in the summer than the winter

 

In your shoes I would be looking to transfer to a cruise between June and September 2023 to be on safe side

 

Although I would like to think most holidays should be ok June to September 2022 as well 

Edited December 29, 2021 by Interestedcruisefan

[Interestedcruisefan]

12 hours ago, Thaumas said:

Ok, I’ve resolved my problems with P&O now. I’ve transferred my booking to another cruise - in September 2023. (If Covid is still with us then I might slit my throat 😀). This is actually about £300 cheaper than my earlier booking and I will be getting a refund, although I might have to wait 3 to 4 weeks for it. As this is a new booking, I will be able to cancel it under standards terms & conditions. So at any time up to 91 days before departure I will be able to cancel it and sacrifice only the standard deposit for the cruise. In theory, I could cancel it next week (although I’m not going to do this). So I have gone from a situation where I might have cancelled the original cruise and sacrificed 100% of the full price to one where I could cancel the second cruise and only sacrifice the deposit on the second cruise. In essence, I am making a long term, interest free loan to P&O. I think I owe them that for their very reasonable flexibility. Full disclosure: I am a Carnival shareholder.

As discussed elsewhere it does appear existing cruise passengers are all being allowed to transfer to specific new cruises and dates if they ask

[Denarius]

23 hours ago, Denarius said:

I think that nowadays an email would suffice. They need something tangible as evidence rather than just a telephone call, recollections of which may vary. I would ask for a receipt and/or delivery status notification when you send the email so that you have evidence that you sent it.

As stated on another thread, I am in a similar position. I am due to sail on 8 Jan but no longer intend to do so. I have booked via a travel agent and will visit them this afternoon to discuss options. Will try to rearrange for Jan 2023 even though (officially) the facility to do so expires on payment of the balance; if you never ask you never get. Failing that, I will cancel. A substantial part of my fare was paid from FCC, I would expect to get this back or for it to be applied to future cruises. Has anyone got experience of this?

Will let you know how I get on.

Update.

P&O have agreed to move my booking, which I have done to a similar cruise in January 2023. All money paid will be credited. The new cruise is about 8% more expensive but is on a different ship (Britannia rather than Azura, which is not sailing the Caribbean next Winter) and in a higher cabin grade, so I am not unhappy.

All's well that ends well.

[davecttr]

40 minutes ago, Denarius said:

Update.

P&O have agreed to move my booking, which I have done to a similar cruise in January 2023. All money paid will be credited. The new cruise is about 8% more expensive but is on a different ship (Britannia rather than Azura, which is not sailing the Caribbean next Winter) and in a higher cabin grade, so I am not unhappy.

All's well that ends well.

Good news. You can now relax for a few months. I must say i am feeling better already after moving my cruise yesterday.

 

wonder why P&O don't make a general announcement?

[Interestedcruisefan]

2 minutes ago, davecttr said:

Good news. You can now relax for a few months. I must say i am feeling better already after moving my cruise yesterday.

 

wonder why P&O don't make a general announcement?

I guess whilst current cruises are still operating they are stuck between a rock and a hard place

 

Bookings already low on the current cruises as it is

 

Nightmare scenario to have to manage tbf

[Son of Anarchy]

50 minutes ago, davecttr said:

Good news. You can now relax for a few months. I must say i am feeling better already after moving my cruise yesterday.

 

wonder why P&O don't make a general announcement?

I think they would be overwhelmed in the rush!

 

I was going to phone them regarding a query about FCC, but I think I'll wait till after new year especially with the QM2 issues and no doubt associated fallout.

Edited December 29, 2021 by Son of Anarchy

[Clodia]

It seems that P and O are inconsistent with refunds; I found an easy way to get one. I am genuinely unable to wear a mask due to a disability, and informed them so. Of course they would deny me boarding . After a short exchange about the illegality of refusing to make reasonable adjustments for someone with a disability, a refund was processed within days.

I have a 2022 cruise booked with another line, but it seems I have the option to defer if masks are still a requirement.

[Denarius]

BAD NEWS!

My travel agent has just rung to tell me that P&O are not prepared to transfer my Caribbean cruise, despite them having said earlier this morning that they would.

She had been told that they would transfer to any available cruise; all that was needed was for her to ascertain which cruise I wanted to transfer to and to make the booking. She then rang me and we agreed I would tranfer to an equivalent cruise in Jan 2023 on which cabins and flights were available. When she rang P&O to do so however,  she was told that she had been missinformed by the person she spoke to earlier, and that the offer to transfer was only applicable to specific European cruises; Caribbean cruises were not covered. They  were not prepared to honour the offer. Furthermore, they are not prepared to carry forward the substantial FCC of £1940 which I used in partial payment; all I will get back is 10% of the total fare. Needless to say, I am extremely annoyed.

[Son of Anarchy]

Terrible service by P&O.  Hopefully you will be able to get this resolved satisfactorily.

[Selbourne]

8 minutes ago, Denarius said:

BAD NEWS!

My travel agent has just rung to tell me that P&O are not prepared to transfer my Caribbean cruise, despite them having said earlier this morning that they would.

She had been told that they would transfer to any available cruise; all that was needed was for her to ascertain which cruise I wanted to transfer to and to make the booking. She then rang me and we agreed I would tranfer to an equivalent cruise in Jan 2023 on which cabins and flights were available. When she rang P&O to do so however,  she was told that she had been missinformed by the person she spoke to earlier, and that the offer to transfer was only applicable to specific European cruises; Caribbean cruises were not covered. They  were not prepared to honour the offer. Furthermore, they are not prepared to carry forward the substantial FCC of £1940 which I used in partial payment; all I will get back is 10% of the total fare. Needless to say, I am extremely annoyed.

Sorry to hear that. As discussed elsewhere in the forum there is a very easy way to get the outcome that you want, but you might need to wait until the week before your cruise. It may, of course, be that your cruise gets cancelled anyway.

[Interestedcruisefan]

22 minutes ago, Denarius said:

BAD NEWS!

My travel agent has just rung to tell me that P&O are not prepared to transfer my Caribbean cruise, despite them having said earlier this morning that they would.

She had been told that they would transfer to any available cruise; all that was needed was for her to ascertain which cruise I wanted to transfer to and to make the booking. She then rang me and we agreed I would tranfer to an equivalent cruise in Jan 2023 on which cabins and flights were available. When she rang P&O to do so however,  she was told that she had been missinformed by the person she spoke to earlier, and that the offer to transfer was only applicable to specific European cruises; Caribbean cruises were not covered. They  were not prepared to honour the offer. Furthermore, they are not prepared to carry forward the substantial FCC of £1940 which I used in partial payment; all I will get back is 10% of the total fare. Needless to say, I am extremely annoyed.

They've lost the plot

 

You have been reasonable

 

They have not

 

 

 

 

Edited December 29, 2021 by Interestedcruisefan

[belgrano2]

Don't settle for a total financial loss bar the 10%. They are being irrational, and many are being given total cash refunds or FCC. Several ways to do this, if they are not being fair to you, which is a shame for a company I hold in very high esteem.  

Carnival have announced (check u tube blogs), that they are trying to reduce booked passenger numbers for the next couple of months by giving full refunds, as ships are being turned away from islands if over 1% covid cases, so want to reduce passenger numbers and keep running.

Remember cruise ships can make a profit running at just 30% occupancy, and just want to keep runnig until this spike is over.

Failing that, tell em you have symptons for full FCC or tell them you dont believe in vaccination and they will then refuse you boarding but must offer full refund.

Dont  actually even like suggesting that, but does seem you are bing poorly treated.