Tol116

Very much doubt it Jakki Graham has virtually been resident in Limelight Club since the maiden cruise in March 2015.

She’s obviously having a rest as she’s not on Britannia in a few weeks time.

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A colleague of mine is going on her first cruise ever next month to the Caribbean with her husband who is a very reluctant cruiser and we was duscussing Irma the other day. The first thing we talked about was the safety of the residents on the island's that they are due to visit which includes St Maarten, the second was the damage to the infrastructure and lastly their cruise to that island.

 

I suggested that P&O like the other cruise companies will probably be making numerous phone calls to the harbour authorities of the other islands that have not been in the path of the hurricane. The past thing any company would want to do is cancel a cruise because of the significant loss of revenue.

 

My family and I have been on two Caribbean cruises and we have some fantastic memories of visiting St Maarten and we are planning on going again in a few years time.

 

How my discussion ended was that if they cannot visit the affected islands, then its a good excuse for another cruise ! However, my colleague said it was unlikely they would be going on another cruise for a number of reasons and they are bitterly disappointed that it is highly likely they cannot visit St Maarten.

 

Now that is not a selfish or unfeeling emotion, its a fact that they have saved for this holiday for 18 months and for them the highlight of that cruise is likely to be bypassed.

 

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Hi Mark,

I'm in a similar situation. I know lots of people are commenting against posts when an individual is asking a question, that will likely require a factual response, rather than an emotional one. I'm sure many of these questions may feel insensitive, but no one knows the reasons for the question in the first place.

We are due to go on our first Caribbean cruise in November and out of all the ports that we definitely wanted to visit is St Maarten. This port has a real emotional pull for my Husband and I. My first born son, all he ever wanted to do from a young age was to fly planes and spent many a time using the flight simulator to 'fly' into St Maarten's Airport as it's a challenging landing strip. My son passed away last year, out of all the ports it was visiting the beach by the airport that was really important to us.

Of course out of everyone, I know true loss as no parent should lose a child, so really feel for those affected by Hurricane Irma, but buildings / homes can be replaced, people can't, so it's those that have lost loved ones where my compassion lies. Unfortunately Hurricane Irma has also affected my plans and this may come across as selfish to some, but as you can see, I have my reasons.

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Ian5509,

Gayn was offered another cabin, but it didn't meet their requirements, so they declined. Gayn has also responded why.

I also don't agree (and this is my opinion) with the compensation culture, I agree that P&O are accountable for ensuring their ship is in perfect working order and also deal with problems / issues promptly. Which based on Gayn's response, they did try. I would be more annoyed if they hadn't tried to fix and totally ignored the situation, but this wasn't the case.

Unfortunately they way the initial message was drafted inferred that the whole cruise was ruined and also the expectation of the compensation.

We are only hearing one part of the story here and we don't know how much effort (or not) P&O put into resolving this matter and also what resolution they made at the time.

As I said before, I would've taken more note if the initial message had more balance, but even when asked about other experiences of the ship, these too very negative.

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If i had spent £5000 to sleep in a toilet i think it would be perfectly acceptable to ask for compensation . Nothing to do with a compensation culture.

Gayn did mention they were offered another cabin, but declined due to being by smokers and an obstructed view, so although still not ideal, they chose to remain.

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Totally agree Mrs Tinkywinky

It was more about how the initial message was reported. It certainly stressed the worst 2 weeks and the expectation of compensation.

I'm certainly not disputing the inconvenience Gayn experienced, I just would've taken more note of the original message if there was more balance provided to the whole vacation.

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Gayn

Your opening message definitely mentioned you expected compensation, did it not?

And although what you experienced was very unfortunate, I still cannot believe that the whole 2 weeks vacation was ruined, which is what your opening message also said.

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I know everyone has their right to complain about their experiences, but I must admit I lost all interest in this particular complaint when I read the following line

"I am still waiting the report and some form of compensation for a disastrous two weeks'

It just screams to me that this is purely about compensation and not really about Britannia listening to its customers and making improvements.

I'm sure the experience of having a nasty smell in the cabin is certainly not ideal, but did it really ruin a 2 week vacation. Don't most people only spend a minimal time in their cabin and instead spend their time on exploring the many ports the ship docks at.

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