arendale1

27 minutes ago, pete14 said:

Because we kept them informed of our progress (or lack of it), they offered to let us join the ship at first stop and transport us from the airport. As we are not great flyers (which is why we cruise), we declined the offer. They then offered us a decent sum off a future cruise (I don’t want to go into greater detail but it was very acceptable). Even though we declined the flight remedy, we got a call from the ship on day 2 of the cruise to confirm that they did not need to make transport arrangements from the airport for us. None of this was P&O’s fault but I do think they went more than the extra mile for us.

That sounds like great customer service 👍

Not sure what to suggest then. There are 5 of us, 4 adults and 1 teen, so we’d never get a cruise that cheap in school hols. 

We paid £4K for 8 nights with RC and I thought that was ok tbh. We did have a deal that included free drinks packages and free gratuities, so we thought it was good.

Only a couple of years or so until we’re free of school holiday restrictions- can’t wait!

What about this cruise next May half term (2020)?

It includes Gibraltar.

1 hour ago, galeforce9 said:

I echo the points above.   

 

I especially like Aurora and have sailed since the early Oriana days.  I recently tried P&O after a break of 7 years and was pleasantly surprised. 

 

You really can’t beat the excellent P&O fried breakfasts and my favourite  “luxury” line doesn’t come anywhere close.  

 

It’s nice to leave from Southampton and the coaches work really well.  

 

I like the choice of gins and fever tree tonics especially. 

 

The Caribbean tier lunch is fantastic.  

 

I enjoyed the choice of costa coffee and the coffee cards which I believe are sadly going.  

When are the Costa cards going?

6 minutes ago, pete14 said:

 

I agree that P&O land based customer services are very good as is their telephone booking service. Not used the customer services often but usually book direct by phone. A few years ago, we broke down on the way to Southampton and literally missed the boat, we were still near Oxford when it sailed. I could not fault customer services who were sympathetic, professional and the outcome was better than we had any right to expect. Not so good onboard but I do think they deserve more credit than they get on here. 

I’m interested in what they did when you broke down and missed the departure?

Loving this thread!

First cruise with P&O next week and am now looking more forward to it than I was (due to a certain issue).

We plan to have a great time and will be reporting back on this thread with all the positives (hopefully lots!) 😊

I will report back on said issue elsewhere 😉

31 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

Until you experience the "can do" service that the RCI group passenger service teams provide then you  don't realise just how inferior P&O are.

I’ve only cruised with RC so far, and have to agree with you. We had a few small issues that were resolved quickly and with no fuss.

First P&O cruise next week. Still no phone call back regarding the Amsterdam issue, so not exactly hopeful of ‘the extra mile’ service on board either. 

But, we plan to have a great time and will report back honestly afterwards.

Thank you for your replies Andy and docco 🙂

When did you remove the auto gratuities? Can it be done at any time? And did you give a reason?

1 hour ago, Redding43 said:

A representative from P&O just called me following my email to them after our return.

 

lots of apologies and that they have learned lessons from this. They have offered 10% of the fare as a refund and placed against any future cruise booked with them. I stated I found that a little insulting and poor customer service considering the fact it was a single port cruise and it should not be us to have to suffer by them ‘learning lessons’

 

Although the person was understanding and polite it was, as stated, their final offer.

 

such a disappointment and as a result they have missed out on us booking a summer cruise with them, we have booked with Royal Caribbean.

 

Such a shame

So they’ve offered a 10% refund, but only to be used against a future cruise? If so, not really a refund, more of a credit?

Not great really as they’re just hoping to make you book with them again.

3 minutes ago, Britboys said:

So sorry to hear it is part of his big birthday celebrations - that will be beyond disappointing for you all.

Thank you! If only P&O were as empathetic.

But, we will enjoy ourselves in spite of them. Just not likely to be repeat customers. We’ve only cruised with Royal Caribbean before and had a great time 🙂

20 minutes ago, Britboys said:

 

It is doable but not sure if feasible for you.  According to rome2rio.com, you can get a no 382 bus from Zwaanstraat in Ijmuiden & get off at Amsterdam Sloterdijk rail station, which is then only 10 minutes by train to the airport.  Of course, you would need a bus from the port to Ijmuiden first however.  It would take around an hour all together.  One of the problems with Ijmuiden is that there isn't a rail service to/from it!

This is the problem. Before we were planning on walking into Amsterdam and leaving two of our kids to do what they want, whilst we jumped in a taxi to the airport and back. We’d have only been gone a couple of hours. Meaning lots of time to enjoy Amsterdam as a family still.

We are now further away from the airport and with all the hassle of shuttles etc, it’s just not going to work. Too many issues to deal with, especially with our son. It was a big part of his 21st birthday celebration - P&O couldn’t have messed it up more for us tbh.

1 hour ago, Britboys said:

I was just trying to be positive and helpful for arendale1 docco.  Despite the Ijmuiden issues last weekend the vast majority of those on board seemed to be having a good time for the vast majority of the cruise.  I hope that perhaps you will be able to find the positives on your current cruise and manage to enjoy it in spite of the problems you are experiencing.

And I really appreciate your posts 🙂

2 hours ago, Britboys said:

 

Sorry to hear that.  Within walking distance of the cruise terminal there are some WW2 Bunkers in the sand dunes behind the beach.  I understand that these are all open and you can explore them free and at leisure. If the weather is good, maybe that could be an option?

Yes, that will be interesting on one of the days. We’re not going to try to get into Amsterdam both days.

What we really want to do is get to Amsterdam airport where the model aircraft shop is. Our son's ‘special interest’ is airplanes and he collects models. He’s wanted to go there for a long time. Not sure how feasible this is now as we were planning a little trip whilst there as well as popping back and forth from the ship over the two days to keep our other kids happy.

3 minutes ago, Britboys said:

 

Try to go with a positive frame of mind if you can.  I was unhappy about the change and am still awaiting a response to my complaint but I still managed to enjoy myself on all 4 days of my short cruise.

Thanks, we will make sure we have a good time anyway.

We had plans for Amsterdam with our autistic son - these will no longer work and it’s hard explaining this to him.

I think this will be our first and last cruise with P&O. Shame really, but not happy with the changes or the generic email response to my complaint.

I’m awaiting a phone call to discuss further, but not holding out much hope.

Our cruise is less than two weeks away and is going to be quite different to how we thought it was going to be when we booked last summer.

Reading what happened last weekend has made me even more apprehensive 😩 

I have had a response from P&O which doesn’t give a specific reason, have quoted below and goes on to say that no compensation will be paid:

It is fair to say we are constantly looking for the best travel options for our passengers as we visit more than 200 ports around the world each year, weighing a wide range of factors that include passenger’s enjoyment and experience, tourism options, operations, port fees and other related costs, geopolitical factors and guest safety. The change has been made due to operational reasons with this in mind.

I’ve just registered my complaint directly with P&O. Not holding my breath, but even the woman I spoke to had family that felt the same.

This cruise was booked 9 months ago, and sold to me with the great advantage of being able to come and go from the ship in to Amsterdam as we liked. This was a big deal to us due to our personal family circumstances.

We’ll see what the response is, but I don’t intend to be fobbed off.

Have a great time and look after her for us ..lol

Will do lol!

Hope you have a good trip too. :)

When you on Explorer ? were on June 3 rd I might be arrested for being a drug smuggler, I pack so much over the counter medication just in case. lol lol The beauty of going from Southampton is you can take what you want without the restrictions of airport travel.. Have a great cruise.

We get off on 3rd June, so we're the cruise before you. :)

I just wanted to say "Bon Voyage". Which ship will you be on?

Thank you, we're on Explorer.

Ooh fab, thanks for posting. We are on Explorer in 2 days time, so it's great to read and see your pics.

standard size tlts are fine

Thank you. :)

You will be restricted on liquid amounts on your flight with backpacks, which I'm assuming you are carrying on, not checking, but you already know that. In terms of getting on the ship there is nothing restricted as to size containers. Except you can't have large bottles of booze...but I'm assuming your kids wouldn't be packing those either....

Hmm...I best check their bags ;)

No flights involved, we are driving to the port.

Thanks for the replies, can get on with packing now.

As the OP is from UK they should have none of the above :rolleyes:

Indeed lol!

The kids are packing their own backpacks, so what I'm trying to clarify is whether standard size toiletries are ok to carry on, rather than bring restricted to the small 100ml amounts.

I don't want to be one of those passengers that you see at the airport, having to bin everything as they forgot that they had to go in the hold.