Missed Port Marseille

[bee-ess]

1 hour ago, Billish said:

But even if you knew before the balance was due, what would you have done ? Cancelled and moved to another cruise ?

I would have had the choice at least.

[Megabear2]

The port changes are annoying but inevitable.  We have acute problems with staff here in the UK and need to be mindful that these shortages are worldwide. 

 

Obviously those of us who book for specific ports may be disappointed when they change, but at least on this occasion there is a replacement of another town, not exactly like for like but still good.  The real problems are still with the fjords/cold weather cruises where alternatives completely change the entire cruise.  

 

As for the timing of the changes, clearly on this occasion P&O have tried to avoid disappointing too many at short notice.  We are lucky that the unlimited booking changes option remains in place but I doubt that many would abandon their entire plans for the loss of one port, but perhaps I'm wrong?

[minsterman]

3 hours ago, Palaceman said:

As has been mentioned already, Toulon is a nice town, with beaches, bars and history.  I appreciate frustrations regarding the timing of the announcement but in my view it did not detract from the enjoyment of the cruise overall.

 

Disagree slightly on this. We were on the same cruise last week and it was chosen partly as we'd not been to Marseilles before (we have been to Toulon, albeit a few years ago)

 

We were very disappointed to be given various excuses the day before. Some may have been valid but just sounded like a list of excuses to us and certainly ones they should have known about and could have informed passengers earlier than the day before, especially given that the last few cruises had also missed the port.

 

Glad to see they're now telling people in advance.

 

In the end we decided to get the train to Marseilles anyway - it wasn't cheap around €100 including taxis to/from the station but we really enjoyed Marseilles but given the short notice they really should have given some OBC or refunded port fees.

[tring]

I add another vote for Toulon over Marseille. 

 

If the French staff want time out during the day it would be lunchtime - they are French - nothing new there at all.

 

Edited July 29, 2022 by tring

[terrierjohn]

2 minutes ago, Josy1953 said:

Why should anyone expect the French to change their way of living just because it is different ours ?

The French make an occasion of every meal, rarely varying the times regardless of who may find it an inconvenience.  I have worked in France and can appreciate their attitude to meals which has always been to close down for 2 hours and has nothing to do with liking or disliking British visitors. 

The Spanish are similar when you get away from the tourist resorts, when I worked in Vitoria in Northern Spain everyone left the office at 12:00 and returned at 15:00 and then worked to 19:00.

 

So French trains and buses all stop for 2 hours at lunchtime then, do they?  

Surely if Marseilles expects to be a cruise port, then they need the shuttle bus drivers to work on a shift basis, which is presumably how most other countries man their cruise ports.

[Mark36]

Been to both. Stopped in Toulon from Britannia this June and loved it, Walked to a lovely beach about an hour from where Ship docks, Had a lovely swim in warm sea, Came back then got water Taxi across to Main Toulon area. Had a great day. Better than very busy Marseille for us.

[Camberley]

We at least got over a week of notice about replacing Marseille with Toulon (our next stop in 2 days). It looks like everything is accessible from the port after the "short" boat ride from where Britannia sails into.....here's hoping.

[davecttr]

My Arvia cruise next April is due to call at Marseille. I would be quite happy if it called at Toulon instead.

 

I wonder why someone does not base a ship at Marseille and use the high speed rail lines to run trains from London, apparently in just over 6 hours as you bypass Paris. That might be popular with those do not want to fly. Train from St Pancras departing at say noon with a relaxed lunch on the journey

[Britboys]

32 minutes ago, davecttr said:

My Arvia cruise next April is due to call at Marseille. I would be quite happy if it called at Toulon instead.

 

I wonder why someone does not base a ship at Marseille and use the high speed rail lines to run trains from London, apparently in just over 6 hours as you bypass Paris. That might be popular with those do not want to fly. Train from St Pancras departing at say noon with a relaxed lunch on the journey

Yes, a good idea on the face of it but I suspect the unfortunate reputation that French port workers have built up would possibly put off cruise lines...

[cruising.mark.uk]

52 minutes ago, davecttr said:

My Arvia cruise next April is due to call at Marseille. I would be quite happy if it called at Toulon instead.

 

I wonder why someone does not base a ship at Marseille and use the high speed rail lines to run trains from London, apparently in just over 6 hours as you bypass Paris. That might be popular with those do not want to fly. Train from St Pancras departing at say noon with a relaxed lunch on the journey

Although I don't think they base any ships there, both MSC and Costa allow boarding at Marseilles on many of their itineraries.  My wife and I joined our last Costa cruise in Savona in May by train and have considered cruising with Costa and MSC from Marseilles, but not yet done it.  Pre-pandemic Eurostars used to run from London to Marseille direct in the Summer, but they stopped that during the pandemic.  Even so, it's easy to do with Eurostar to either Lyon or Paris and then TGV to Marseille.  I'm sure we'll do it one day.

[Snow Hill]

4 hours ago, Josy1953 said:

Why should anyone expect the French to change their way of living just because it is different ours ?

The French make an occasion of every meal, rarely varying the times regardless of who may find it an inconvenience.  I have worked in France and can appreciate their attitude to meals which has always been to close down for 2 hours and has nothing to do with liking or disliking British visitors. 

The Spanish are similar when you get away from the tourist resorts, when I worked in Vitoria in Northern Spain everyone left the office at 12:00 and returned at 15:00 and then worked to 19:00.

 

Well said. 
 

My wife has worked in France they have a more relaxed way of life especially outside of the big cities. We have holidayed there 12 times in the last 16 years, we enjoy the French way of life, we were planning to move there when we retired in 2010, but the financial crash of 2008 ended that idea.

 

 

 

 

[terrierjohn]

2 hours ago, Snow Hill said:

Well said. 
 

My wife has worked in France they have a more relaxed way of life especially outside of the big cities. We have holidayed there 12 times in the last 16 years, we enjoy the French way of life, we were planning to move there when we retired in 2010, but the financial crash of 2008 ended that idea.

 

 

 

 

I'm not sure that Marseilles qualifies as being outside the big cities though, and if you contract to provide a shuttle service surely it's not too much to ask that they at least cover one of the busiest periods of the day.

[zap99]

5 hours ago, davecttr said:

My Arvia cruise next April is due to call at Marseille. I would be quite happy if it called at Toulon instead.

 

I wonder why someone does not base a ship at Marseille and use the high speed rail lines to run trains from London, apparently in just over 6 hours as you bypass Paris. That might be popular with those do not want to fly. Train from St Pancras departing at say noon with a relaxed lunch on the journey

We would give that a try.

[Megabear2]

7 hours ago, terrierjohn said:

I'm not sure that Marseilles qualifies as being outside the big cities though, and if you contract to provide a shuttle service surely it's not too much to ask that they at least cover one of the busiest periods of the day.

That of course is assuming that the cruise line contract actually covered the question. We armchair warriors assume that P&O, Princess etc would think about that sort of thing but the reality is probably that any contracts may well be the existing ones put in place before the pandemic when there were far more staff ashore.

[P&O SUE]

9 hours ago, zap99 said:

We would give that a try.

My good friends are going to South if France next week by Eurostar and TGV, looking forward to hearing how it goes!

[zap99]

21 hours ago, terrierjohn said:

So French trains and buses all stop for 2 hours at lunchtime then, do they?  

Surely if Marseilles expects to be a cruise port, then they need the shuttle bus drivers to work on a shift basis, which is presumably how most other countries man their cruise ports.

If they needed to drop Marseilles for operational excuses, I would have preferred the replace it with a Spanish,or Italian port. Sardinia us nice.

[zap99]

4 hours ago, P&O SUE said:

My good friends are going to South if France next week by Eurostar and TGV, looking forward to hearing how it goes!

We haven't used Eurostar for a few years, but the journey to the South of France sounds pleasant.

[terrierjohn]

39 minutes ago, zap99 said:

If they needed to drop Marseilles for operational excuses, I would have preferred the replace it with a Spanish,or Italian port. Sardinia us nice.

We thought Toulon was far nicer than Cagliari, and Alghero is a tender port so no good for us.

[Host Sharon]

21 hours ago, davecttr said:

My Arvia cruise next April is due to call at Marseille. I would be quite happy if it called at Toulon instead.

 

I wonder why someone does not base a ship at Marseille and use the high speed rail lines to run trains from London, apparently in just over 6 hours as you bypass Paris. That might be popular with those do not want to fly. Train from St Pancras departing at say noon with a relaxed lunch on the journey

Funnily enough P&OSNCo used to do this in the early 1900s, for those wishing to skip the Bay of Biscay!

[Britboys]

47 minutes ago, Host Sharon said:

Funnily enough P&OSNCo used to do this in the early 1900s, for those wishing to skip the Bay of Biscay!

Probably took a wee bit longer than 6 hours mind Sharon.... 😀

[zap99]

3 hours ago, terrierjohn said:

We thought Toulon was far nicer than Cagliari, and Alghero is a tender port so no good for us.

Nothing wrong with Toulon. We were there once with NCL and docked near the town. The other times the other side of the harbour, so a boat ride to town. I think this time an excursion may be on the cards, or the mini-train to the beach. Decisions, decisions.🤧

[zap99]

1 hour ago, Britboys said:

Probably took a wee bit longer than 6 hours mind Sharon.... 😀

When Piorot did it on the blue train, a lot more than 6 hours and somebody got murdered.

[Fionboard]

5 hours ago, zap99 said:

If they needed to drop Marseilles for operational excuses, I would have preferred the replace it with a Spanish,or Italian port. Sardinia us nice.

Or Ajaccio, still French and very nice.

[gsmt47471015]

2 hours ago, Fionboard said:

Or Ajaccio, still French and very nice.

But after a few visits the novelty wears off

[Billish]

2 hours ago, gsmt47471015 said:

But after a few visits the novelty wears off

But doesn't that apply to most ports ?

Unless you start looking for really  adventurous excursions,  the likes of Gib, Cadiz, Cartagena etc do become pretty mundane.