Cruiseabc12345

11 minutes ago, twotravellersLondon said:

 

I think that this was a reference to "The Package Travel and Linked Travel Arrangements Regulations 2018." Copy available on the Gov. Website.

Thanks so much. Although judging by the many responses I may be on a fools errand. Perhaps if I know the terminology I may have some little chance!

3 minutes ago, Britboys said:

Whilst I appreciate how disappointing it is to miss St Petersburg for those who haven't been there, from P&O's point of view, it is only one port in a two-week or so cruise. The booking conditions state that itineraries may be amended for operational reasons and understandably, P&O will say that this change is beyond their control and is being taken with the safety of pax in mind.

Unfortunately I can't see any way they are likely to offer full refunds.

Yes I think you may be correct 

2 hours ago, madmacs said:

Apart from any safety concerns, I cannot morally visit Russia no matter how wonderful is St Petersburg (one downside it is from where Putin and most of his inner circle come). We have decided to cancel our Baltic cruise and move to one in the Med. Frankly any small inconvenience to us is insignificant compered to the suffering of the Ukranian people. I stayed in Odessa many years ago and it is a beautiful city and the people I met were wonderful. 

 

Please be grateful we live in a free democratic country and have choices about most things.

 

Isn't that the truth. The scenes in Ukraine and the border countries would break your heart. I see your point re: visiting St Petersburg however so many Russians are involved with tourism etc and are suffering because of Putin's actions. Many Russians are innocent in all this ... there's just so much suffering 

13 hours ago, tring said:

 

You have probably been given a good alternative as normally it is unlikely you would be able to change to another cruise after balance payment date according to T&C's.  I have just seen the itineraries and would appear the two days in SPB were less than 25% of the overall itinerary so not a vast proportion, especially if there are decent alternatives to replace the port and there are some really good cruise ports in The Baltic.  TBH at this stage I would also tend to agree with John that SPB will be off cruise itineraries for many years to come. 

 

Legally, since 2018, a holiday company can only make a change if it is considered to be insignificant, (this contrasts with the legislation prior to 2018, when they were able to make any change which was not considered significant, and which is a different threshold).  Hence, it is quite possible a court could find in your favour and say you should be offered a refund, especially if St Petersburg was in the original title of your cruise (I do not know if it was).  However, there is still a risk that you would not win a court case as it does just depend how it goes on the day, so a lot to gamble if you end up loosing all your cash.  DH spent a working life in a career which included a lot of legal work in consumer protection and he says it is not something he would risk himself, if the alternative was loosing the full cost of a cruise. 

 

I do see that one person has said above that Sage were allowing a refund of a deposit (not full payment), but I have not seen anyone else saying they were allowed a refund.  Sometimes Americans can get a refund of deposits, but they have different T&C's to what we have.

 

Do you happen to know what that 2018 legislation is called please? Many thanks. It does seem a pity so many people here have had to fight to get their money back but having said that every cruise company is in business to make money to be fair to them also

37 minutes ago, amajaa said:

Really I’m amazed they got a full refund for just swopping Amsterdam for Ijmuiden. It’s just up the road or the canal if you like. If people got a refund for that then that makes getting a refund for dropping St Petersburg more likely, so good luck.

 

Personally the reason we haven’t booked another Baltic cruise is because we didn’t want to go to SPB again. The first time we did a 2 day excursion with Alla Tours ,  Great and very interesting, the second time we just did an afternoon ships excursion. Had no interest in going again although would like to go to other Baltic ports. I can certainly understand why people want to go though. 

Thank you. I had booked that 2 day tour you mentioned. Was so looking forward to it. But nothing compared to the people of Ukraine so I must put it in perspective 

46 minutes ago, majortom10 said:

I am sure once a decision is made by P&O you and all those affected will be informed of your options which may not be to your liking. But as already been said if you want a full refund you might have to dig in and suggesting going to County Court.

Yes it seems so. Hopefully I will hear from P&O soon. Other lines seem to have contacted their passengers already so perhaps it won't be much longer

1 hour ago, Bazrat said:

The OP wanted to know if they would get a refund without first contracting P&O direct, with all due respect nobody can possibly answer that question without first contracting P&O.

I never said I wanted a refund without contacting P&O. I have been unable to get information from P&O. I have read here about St Petersburg being removed from the Baltic cruises but cannot get that information from P&O hence I asked for advice here. Please do not be rude. I was simply asking a question 

8 minutes ago, wowzz said:

You misunderstand.  I was talking about a Saga cruise, not a P&O cruise booked through Saga.

Oh I'm sorry 

14 minutes ago, wowzz said:

And as I said elsewhere, Saga gave us the option of returning our deposit because SPB was no longer on the itinerary. 

Unfortunately we booked directly and not via Saga. Perhaps a lesson learnt

25 minutes ago, Harry Peterson said:

“If P&O Cruises makes a significant alteration to the Package the Guest will have the choice of either accepting the alteration, accepting an offer of an alternative Package of comparable standard if available (P&O Cruises will refund any price difference if the alternative is of a lower value) or cancelling the Package and receiving a full refund of all monies paid.”

 

That’s the relevant contract term, but the devil is in the words ‘significant alteration’.  With SPB it’s probably going to be easier to establish because it’s usually the most important part of the cruise, as reflected by the time spent there.

 

P&O may disagree though, in which case you can still succeed, but only with great persistence, possibly a clear and proven intention to use the County Court via the Money Claims Service, and possibly again by accepting a non-disclosure agreement.

 

With luck, they may just accept the situation and offer refunds. If not, prepare for some interesting discussions with them on those two words. You can win, but you need to be resolute.

 

Thank you for your response. I agree with you I think it's a significant change but as you say yourself the devil is in the detail. I would like to avoid an altercation/small claims etc with P&O because I love their cruises generally...having said that I wouldn't be happy paying a huge amount for a Baltic cruise and missing the only reason I booked that cruise. Many thanks 

56 minutes ago, Son of Anarchy said:

All depends on whether P&O regards this as a significant change.  From a purely personal view I would consider dropping St Petersburg as a result of FCO advice as a significant change.  Opinions as to the importance of St Petersburg on a port schedule vary, but I would hazard a guess that for  most pax on a cruise that takes in SPB it is one of the main reasons why they booked that cruise.

 

We were booked on the current Ventura cruise, until four weeks prior to departure the itinery was changed.  All the USA ports were dropped and replaced with Caribbean ports and Praia de Vitoria.  We were offered an incentive of £300 obc each to stay on the cruise or a full refund.  We took the refund, though it did take over four weeks to come through.  Hopefully P&O will offer you a refund as well.

Thank you for your response. I'm glad you managed to get your refund eventually. Isn't that dreadful dropping all usa ports??? I agree St Petersburg is the main draw for a Baltic cruise and I also think it is a significant change but I wonder if P&O would agree with me!

59 minutes ago, majortom10 said:

Nobody knows until P&O make an official announcement whether you will be allowed to cancel with full refund or what the terms will be. We were due on Britannia on 6th May but cancelled it and booked another for 2023 under their flexible transfer policy but we did for a different reason.

Yes unfortunately it's incredibly difficult because they haven't said anything to me directly about the situation at all

1 hour ago, david63 said:

You may have a claim under Section 40 https://www.pocruises.com/legal-and-privacy/booking-terms-and-conditions

 

Thank you. I'm not sure about the legal terminology but I hope you're right!

Hello again all

Feel very bad asking...I'm thinking of the people of Ukraine and know in comparison my question here isnt6 a bid deal....so fogive me ....but does anyone know if P&O will refund a Baltic cruise? Due to travel in May, have heard nothing from them directly but it appears St Petersburg will no longer be a destination for obvious reasons. However that was our main reason for booking that particular cruise. Does anyone know if I have any consumer rights in this matter? For example I don't have interest in visiting  an alternative such as Riga. I want my money back but do I have any hope!

Thank you 

On 2/17/2022 at 11:17 AM, Gettingwarmer said:

Some details here

https://www.pocruises.com/my-holiday/how-to-guide

 

Thank you that's very helpful

11 hours ago, CRUISENSNOOZE said:

Hi, I'm not tech savvy. Does the App work without being on WIFI or Data? If it does, do you set it up before going on board and if so, does anyone have a link?

 

TIA, Chris

I wondered that too 

4 hours ago, Bazrat said:

My recommendation must be the muffins they were great

Will definitely try them!!!

On 1/25/2022 at 6:26 PM, Bazrat said:

No 4 all self service now

No 7 app worked well both on iPhone and Android phone we had both

We did the TA in October last year 

 

Thanks very much for the response. I'm glad self service is back - I won't feel so self conscious taking a second or third piece of cake!! Thanks again for the feedback 

On 1/23/2022 at 9:12 AM, Fionboard said:

You can choose fixed dining in MDR (same table same time every night) or do Freedom dining in the other dining rooms. Plenty of choice.

Thank you very much 

On 1/22/2022 at 6:10 PM, Son of Anarchy said:

There were no virtual queues for the buffet on Ventura last month.  Just wander in as usual, apart from keeping your mask on whilst not seated.

 

I think we only used the virtual queue once for the MDR in the evening.  All the other times we just turned up and either got in straight away or took a pager.  Longest wait we had with a pager was maybe 20 minutes.  Didn't use the virtual queue for MDR lunch either, always got in straight away.

Thanks very much for your response. Thats great to know. I broke my arm and I'm only know able to reply!! Thanks again for taking the time to help me out and sorry for delayed reply!

On 1/25/2022 at 4:23 PM, welshy74 said:

The covid protocol is a bit of a pain but did not have a negative impact on any of the cruises I took last year. 

1 -  Masks need to be worn when walking around the ship, except outside.  This is no different from the rules we have in Wales, and will continue to have, so I am pretty used to it now. 

2 - In the theatre masks need to be worn (obviously) and no eating or drinking (ex water).  Personally I like a drink whilst I am enjoying the show but was not a big deal. 

3 - When doing a quiz, you mark your own papers and cannot swap like you normally would.  beware of the cheating!!! haha

4 - this changes a bit but the buffet is mostly served.  Some was served, other items you could self serve. 

5 - You cannot sit at the bar.  No big deal for me

6 - bars are table service only.  This was a bit of an annoyance if you have to wait.  I just needed to be a bit more patient. 

7 - no more set times and tables and using the 'app' is a pain. 

 

Thanks very much for your response. It's so helpful. I broke my arm and I'm only know able to reply!! Thanks again for taking the time to help me out and sorry for delayed reply!

Hello,

I'm looking for advice please!

My family and myself are due to go on a cruise in May. I'm very nervous that everything has changed due to Covid and our experience won't be as good as it has in the past. I've been told we will need to join a virtual queue for everything. Has anyone experienced these virtual queues yet? One of our favourite things is sitting in the Horizon restaurant for hours relaxing (Britannia) and I'm terribly worried that has changed a lot also. I'd really love to hear from people who have cruised recently as to what it's like. I'm (reluctantly)considering postponing our holiday. Thank you in advance