Arcadia cancellations

[Anjos]

Keep reading about P&O cancelling cruises very late. We are booked on a UK to Sydney cruise in Jan 2023, will have to book flights and hotels etc. If P&O cancel they will not refund us for those obviously,  but will not allow us to cancel on the basis that the cruise going ahead is uncertain, without losing our deposit, unless we book another very expensive cruise with them, is this correct? 

[david63]

Not sure if the current rules apply to World Cruise sectors but currently you can transfer your deposit to any other cruise of higher, lower or same cost

[wowzz]

If the cruise is cancelled,  would your flights and hotel costs not be covered by your travel insurance ? 

As an aside, these days, unless it is just a one day stay,  I only book hotels with a fully refundable cancellation policy.

[david63]

7 hours ago, wowzz said:

As an aside, these days, unless it is just a one day stay,  I only book hotels with a fully refundable cancellation policy.

I don't book hotels that require a deposit/payment in advance.

[BouncingWheel]

7 hours ago, Anjos said:

Keep reading about P&O cancelling cruises very late. We are booked on a UK to Sydney cruise in Jan 2023, will have to book flights and hotels etc. If P&O cancel they will not refund us for those obviously,  but will not allow us to cancel on the basis that the cruise going ahead is uncertain, without losing our deposit, unless we book another very expensive cruise with them, is this correct? 

Yes those are the official 2023 rules as the flexible transfer is only officially 2022. However, lots of people seem to have moved 2023 cruises successfully so it seems to be down to which TA/P&O person you speak to. If you want to switch it then I would try again and hope you speak to someone different.

[Son of Anarchy]

We moved our 2023 Worldie to 2024.  No issues at all.

[terrierjohn]

23 hours ago, BouncingWheel said:

Yes those are the official 2023 rules as the flexible transfer is only officially 2022. However, lots of people seem to have moved 2023 cruises successfully so it seems to be down to which TA/P&O person you speak to. If you want to switch it then I would try again and hope you speak to someone different.

My understanding is that the change has to be done before the end of 2022,  but it applies to any bookings, and it is still possible that P&O could extend the protocol beyond 2022 if things are still uncertain.

[BouncingWheel]

2 hours ago, terrierjohn said:

My understanding is that the change has to be done before the end of 2022,  but it applies to any bookings, and it is still possible that P&O could extend the protocol beyond 2022 if things are still uncertain.

Website says (and has for some time) that the flexible transfer policy is for 2022 departing cruises. 

People on here have had success going from higher price to lower price cruise for 2023 so it does seem to be down to pot luck who you get on the phone.

 

[davecttr]

18 minutes ago, BouncingWheel said:

Website says (and has for some time) that the flexible transfer policy is for 2022 departing cruises. 

People on here have had success going from higher price to lower price cruise for 2023 so it does seem to be down to pot luck who you get on the phone.

 

I moved my Arvia cruise for next January to a lower priced one in April and the refund was in my credit card account the next day. Efficiency thought I then I got 3 separate letters which I did not ask for yesterday containing printed versions of the ones emailed to me when I made the change.

[jeanlyon]

It does say that you can move your cruise to anything currently on sale, so that takes you to 2024.

[Bill Y]

On 6/9/2022 at 8:03 AM, Anjos said:

Keep reading about P&O cancelling cruises very late. We are booked on a UK to Sydney cruise in Jan 2023, will have to book flights and hotels etc. If P&O cancel they will not refund us for those obviously,  but will not allow us to cancel on the basis that the cruise going ahead is uncertain, without losing our deposit, unless we book another very expensive cruise with them, is this correct? 

I would be very concerned booking expensive flights independently especially in these uncertain times.

 

In the past have ether booked the flight option via P&O as a package or booked a package with a TA that has included flights, pre cruise extension and cruise, often the TA flies you out a day before the cruise embarkation as they are responsible under the package regs if anything goes wrong flight wise. Thus if the cruise is cancelled or you cancel if the cruise turns out to be materially different to what was sold, then you are covered, hopefully less fraught than relying on an insurance claim.

[devonuk]

39 minutes ago, Bill Y said:

I would be very concerned booking expensive flights independently especially in these uncertain times.

 

In the past have ether booked the flight option via P&O as a package or booked a package with a TA that has included flights, pre cruise extension and cruise, often the TA flies you out a day before the cruise embarkation as they are responsible under the package regs if anything goes wrong flight wise. Thus if the cruise is cancelled or you cancel if the cruise turns out to be materially different to what was sold, then you are covered, hopefully less fraught than relying on an insurance claim.

The latter part of your last paragraph is a real can of worms and not as simple as it seems unfortunately 😬

[wowzz]

1 hour ago, Bill Y said:

if the cruise turns out to be materially different to what was sold, then you are covered,

Good luck with that ! 

"Materially dufferent" is open to numerous interpretations,  so I would not recommend anyone to follow your recommendation. 

[Bill Y]

19 hours ago, wowzz said:

Good luck with that ! 

"Materially dufferent" is open to numerous interpretations,  so I would not recommend anyone to follow your recommendation. 

I am still of the opinion that booking a package is less risky than booking expensive flights independently especially as pointed out in other threads that things tend to fall apart after final payment.

 

However I respect your opinion not to recommend this route.