Canberra forever !

Welcome home and thank you for brightening every day during a dreary few months in Wales.

I've looked forward to reading your blog every evening... an unputdownable travel log 😊

Best wishes to you and Lady S. 

Jane

2 hours ago, posford said:

Well Selbourne, it’s taken me 8 days to post on this thread.  As I’ve said before, I’m one of your biggest fans/followers.

It is only 8 days into your tour but my wife and I are totally addicted.

if this goes on for 65 days I don’t know what I’ll do when you finish.

 

We really feel we are on there with you.

Keep it up, Selbourne, you are helping us through the cold winter days.

Well done and thank you.

I too am addicted to your posts, we have great friends who are on board your cruise and it feels as if we are cruising with them and you. 

Thank you for taking the time, I can't wait for the next episode. 

Happy cruising! 

23 minutes ago, 9265359 said:

 

With a debit card it is the bank, not the retailer who is holding the pre-authorised money to ensure there is money there when the retailer comes asking for it.

 

Similarly with a credit card it is the card company who has deducted that amount from your authorised credit limit so the the pre-authorised money is money there when the retailer comes asking for it and it doesn't take you over the limit.

 

The issue that seems to be occurring with P&O is that it isn't following the rules and updating the prior day's authorisation with that day's spend, and then cancelling out that single authorisation with a settled bill at the end.

 

What it seems to be doing is if you were spending say £50 a day it is doing 'Day 1 authorisation £50', 'Day 2 authorisation £50', 'Day 3 authorisation £50', etc. so by the end of ten days has £500 authorised. BUT... then it takes the £500 as a separate transaction and just lets the ten £50 authorisations fall away when they reach their expiry date.

 

So P&O haven't benefitted from the £500 that was on hold after they took their £500, but the problem is that the customer doesn't have access to that £500 in their bank if they used a debit card or to spend on their credit card.

 

Now since most people use credit cards for onboard spend and most people have credit limits that this process wouldn't trouble them, so my guess would be that P&O have taken a cheap and easy shortcut 'that will do' implementation that doesn't impact 99.9% of customers, and for the 0.1% it does then P&O can ignore them or tell them it is the bank's issue not theirs.

Thank you for all your responses, my son in laws account has had the 'pending' amount drop off but he has still sent a complaint email to p&o as several of his direct debits were returned because of this with the  resultant charges and a detrimental effect to his credit score! 

As P&O seem to be moving towards a younger demographic of passengers surely they need to realise that many young couples do not have surplus cash to cover these pending transactions... my son in law and my daughter had budgeted carefully for their trip and stayed within their means, however with p&o putting a 'hold' of more than double their spending on their bank account they were left in a dire situation.

They may be in the 0.1% that p&o choose to ignore at the moment but as more and more younger people try cruising that percentage will grow and will not be able to be ignored if p&o want to maintain its share of the cruise market. 

Once again thank you for all your advice and comments. 

Happy cruising everyone. 

5 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

It could of course be less than a month, but no one seems to know what system the banks use to decide when to wipe off these holds.

Fingers crossed then 🤞🤞🤞

5 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

This does happen quite frequently if you pay with a debit card, however although a similar hold is used for a credit card, as long as the hold amount is below the available balance, it does not affect your ability to use the card.

This is one of the many benefits of using a credit card, but of course does need you to exercise restraint and not to over spend.

PS it will disappear within a month, but of course it can be very inconvenient at the time 

Thanks for replying....its going to be a long month until his next pay! 

Just now, david63 said:

I am guessing that he used a debit card to pay for his onboard account. Unfortunately this is a known issue with debit cards which does not exist with credit cards.

I know that this is of little comfort after the event but on P&O's website this is mentioned (https://www.pocruises.com/essential-information/life-on-board)

He did.... I didn't even think of that before we all went I could have put my credit card on their account..... 

Thanks for replying 

2 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

This does happen quite frequently if you pay with a debit card, however although a similar hold is used for a credit card, as long as the hold amount is below the available balance, it does not affect your ability to use the card.

This is one of the many benefits of using a credit card, but of course does need you to exercise restraint and not to over spend.

PS it will disappear within a month, but of course it can be very inconvenient at the time 

Oh dear I wish I'd put my card on their cabin account now it would have saved all this grief..... 

5 minutes ago, CarlaMarie said:

Hello @Canberra forever !

Have these charges been made in error, or do the charges relate to the Onboard account?

 

P&O put a hold on your bank account of what you have spent per day, then on the last morning they deduct the total for the cruise as a separate transaction from your bank.  Hope that makes sense. 

 

If it is the latter, this is very common and takes several days for the amount on 'hold' to rectify itself. Many passengers get caught out by this, as on the account it looks like they have taken the money twice.

 

Do get back to us and let us know.

Hi CarlaMarie

We got off Britannia last Thursday & I think it must be the 'hold' amount as the correct amount was debited last Thursday, but it's still being held against his account a week later & it's wiped his account out. 

He just wants it to be wiped off as he's had direct debits bounced when the money in reality is there, he tried talking to the bank but they said they couldn't help as they'd already authorised what must have been the 'hold' amount. 

Thank you for replying. 

Please can someone help? ... what is the best address to email regarding money taken from my son in laws account in error post their cruise?

His account has been cleared out and despite phoning p&o on Saturday morning to resolve the issue when it was discovered, nothing has been resolved and he has been forced to borrow from friends and family to feed his children and put petrol in the car! 

He's frustrated and angry and embarrassed by the whole situation as he'd budgeted for their cruise and now finds himself with no money and unable to pay bills etc 

He's written a lengthy email but wants to be sure it goes to the right person. 

Many thanks if you can help. 

So sorry for your loss. Deepest condolences. 

Just now, Canberra forever ! said:

I was on Britannia last week as a solo early saver fare and was placed on a table of singles first sitting. 

For my own reasons I wanted to eat alone and spoke to the rest manager who switched me to freedom. 

Apparently it was a table for 8 

1 hour ago, BertieRulesOK said:

Does anyone know what they do for seating with solos on guaranteed fare?

I was on Britannia last week as a solo early saver fare and was placed on a table of singles first sitting. 

For my own reasons I wanted to eat alone and spoke to the rest manager who switched me to freedom. 

On 5/2/2023 at 1:13 PM, Ardennais said:

No glass holders in our bathroom on Britannia, but there were two glasses! 

I had no glass holders or glasses 🙄

On day 5 my daughter asked the cabin steward if she could please have some conditioner...he replied 'it's too late' !! More cutbacks?! 

9 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

Given how small the MDR portions are now for adults, I can imagine that anyone ordering a meal from the ‘always available kids menu’ will need to head straight to the buffet afterwards 😂 

On a cruise on Ventura last year my adult son ordered from the 'adult' MDR menu and the portions were so tiny he finished his meal and then went to the buffet! he never went back to the MDR... 

We are taking our 3 year old grandson with us on a family cruise on Ventura in October I really hope this isn't going to be repeated fleet wide!

He loves nursery and he'd love Splashers. 

14 hours ago, MX-Drew said:

On Azura right now and all those things are provided in superior deluxe cabins.

20 hours ago, tim2go said:

Had complimentary bathrobes, champagne and chocolates in superior deluxe on Britannia at the end of April.

Thank you for your replies, that's fab news one less thing to pack. 

Happy cruising everyone. 

Going on Azura next week, just wondered if P&o still provide bathrobes in the deluxe balcony cabins or has that changed since covid too? 

Thanks in advance

2 hours ago, Donaghadee said:

Just checked the 2023 North Pacific Passage itinerary.  Petropavlovsk is still on the menu.

Probably just a temporary oversight on Viking part.

I noticed that too as we we are on the Sept 2023 sailing. 

4 hours ago, downsmead said:

I could get into My Journey yesterday after being locked out for a few days

Thank you downsmead, I've just tried and I can get in now too. 

Out of interest are you able to access the details of the optional excursions? or reserve a space on the included ones? Or am I being too keen and they're not available yet!? 

Thank you Staffordshire cruiser and Marmaduke must be a glitch I'll try again next week. 

Hope you have a lovely weekend! 

Good morning hope you all have a lovely day! 

Thanks to all the advice here I've booked my car parking with the Apcoa deal, just wondering is anyone else having difficulties accessing their 'my viking journey' and if you can access it, have you got any shore excursions showing available, be it included ones or optional ones? 

...... 4 weeks today 😁 so excited!! 

4 hours ago, Glenndale said:

https://www.vikingcruises.co.uk/oceans/cruise-destinations/baltic/englands-scenic-shores/index.html#search/sfym=2021-8&sftcm=17-162870

 

Go to read more on the right hand side.

We will stick to the included tours.

Thanks Glenndale! 

4 hours ago, arlowood said:

High Guys. Just logged into the CPS website and noticed that Viking is now listed as an option for the 3 cruises in August. They are quoting £77 for the weeks' parking which is a saving on the £91 if you park directly with the Cruise Terminal Parking website. However as I stated earlier, Viking did negotiate a cheaper deal with them in June (£55) so I am hoping that might appear.

Thanks Arlowood! 

Thank you for the advice Glendale and Arlowood I'll keep checking and look forward to see you both and also Staffordshirecruiser on board! 

We have booked the Aug 14th as our first Viking Ocean cruise, we have done a few river cruises with them so we're very excited for this one. 

Please does anyone know when the shore excursions will be released? and also how we book parking at Portsmouth? I looked on CPS but they don't have Viking as an option.

Many thanks. 

6 hours ago, Steelers36 said:

OCT cruise = The DMW system has probably assigned all the 2-tops before getting to you.  IDK how sold out your voyage is, but I  believe the 2021 voyages are implementing social distancing in the DR's (from what I gather in reading).  Try the Individual evenings option and see if any defaults are setup.  If not, pick anything you can get and book it and then review bookings and see if there was a default setup (one or more have reported not seeing the default until making their own booking).  Also, on this trip, are you 3 in one cabin or two?  Is is two bookings?  If so, you need to add son as Travel Companion and then select for dining companion when making DMW res.  Princess will not have assigned dining together.  It is possible you had no pre-assignment since you selected Anytime Dining - at least my logical brain says they should not have assigned you a default - only the TD-er's.

 

2022 - Again, the DMW system took all the TD-ers (at least them) and pre-assigned to tables.  They assigned the smallest available table-size to fit the cabin occupants without regard to Personalizer choice.  That means the 2-tops are going to have disappeared quickly, followed by the 4-tops.  Not to mention that if other passengers got in ahead of you on their own, that could affect it.  It is also my observation that at least some voyages in 2022 do not have all of the table inventory released and in at least some cases, an entire DR is not showing up in choices.  IDK what time you are trying to book, but if it conflicts with standard TD time, then space will be limited.  Also, when a table is booked at, say 5pm, we don't know how long that table is blocked off until opened up again.  I am guessing 2 hrs since the default Early and Late TD being used first are 5pm and 7pm.  Since Princess has been non-communicative on how the DMW system is actually working, this is a lot of speculation and guessing based on behavior.  It needs work and I expect sometime down the road, more inventory will be released as they called it a "soft launch" in email communications asking about the defects.

 

I'd say stay tuned, keep trying time to time, and last resort is visit the MD on board and make your request.  They can often help out.  I predict much anguish from those guys once they see what a mess they are handed from DMW the way things are right now.

Thank you steelers for your response I'm hoping the social distancing rules for 2021 will work in our favour, I'll keep trying from time to time & I'll watch this topic carefully on cc

I do feel for the MD on the ship, they'll be inundated with queries.... 

Thanks again