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On 7/29/2024 at 3:26 PM, MyriamS said:

So I wanted to ask regular UK cruisers: how are the bus replacement service handled?

Generally quite poorly. 

And, amusingly, it isn't entirely unknown for the bus drivers not to know where they are going and have to rely on the passengers for directions.

On 7/29/2024 at 3:26 PM, MyriamS said:

Do they bring enough buses for everybody or just one or two buses, which would mean abandoning half their passengers? I would like to believe the former, but I've learnt the hard way never to assume competence from train companies. 

From my experience the rail company's general expectation seems to be to expect people see that it is a bus replacement service and then abandon the idea of using the train that day so they have fewer people to move and so the few buses they do provide are adequate - however in a situation like yours with lots of international passengers who may not have checked for planned engineering work... well plan for standing in a long long queue for not enough buses (or as others have suggested, just get a taxi).

As for mention of compensation for delays, that is usually suspended when there is planned engineering work as the customers have been told there will be delays, and even when operative is based on the (much) longer journeys involving the bus.

And if there are any problems on the day then you can bet all the rail staff will vanish into thin air.

14 hours ago, molecrochip said:

I’ve heard a story which I have no substantive backup for which states that the American side of the business would have been happy for Princess to have taken the P&O ships during the debacle. As I understand it , the U.K. side of the business fort for retaining the separate brand.

I can understand the UK side fighting to retain, because once the name goes then inevitably so do the staff...

But are there that many circumstances where you have two entirely separate companies sharing a name AND are in a pretty similar business?

The only one that I can think of is Aldi, with Aldi Sud and Aldi Nord being created when the founding brothers fell out about selling cigarettes - nothing to do with health issues, but whether it would attract shoplifters.

18 hours ago, Windsurfboy said:

If you only care about current sales then no need to do anything, if you are in it for long-term that's another matter. In the end P&O is  a brand, a good image can add hundreds to prices , a bad image and it's discounts and down hill

On the large ships an awful lot of the customers are new(ish) passengers and will never have heard of this storm in a teacup, and frankly couldn't tell you the difference between P&O Ferries for which there was a *lot* of bad publicity, and P&O Cruises - and frankly I was quite surprised that P&O Cruises didn't abandon the P&O name after that debacle.

As for the small ship customers who may fixate more on this - well they likely limit themselves to P&O because of various aspects, such as sailing from Southampton, the 'British' nature of the offering, the smaller ship - so whatever happens they will continue to sail with P&O.

1 hour ago, Windsurfboy said:

Yes P&O  would  have to have the promise from passengers,  but why not.

Because there is nothing in it for P&O doing that!

11 hours ago, NCteacherlovescruising said:

The only have is $50 each. 

That's the 'sucker' offer.

The law says 600 euro (around $650) each for a delay over three hours for a journey over 3,500km - Air passenger rights - Your Europe (europa.eu)

On 7/25/2024 at 8:59 PM, Windsurfboy said:

 

Then P&O must accept the bad publicity that comes it's way

And how many people might actually see it, and then never book with P&O again? Are you?

23 hours ago, Snow Hill said:

I read that as it’s P&O responsibility for dealing with delays etc caused by Maleth and then would be up to P&O to recover costs from Maleth Aero.

Your reading is mistaken and all the authorities accept that compensation is due from the airline itself - and if the airline is a foreign airline and won't pay, well tough luck.

5 hours ago, kbt cruiser said:

about Maleth not being able to afford it actually raises very serious questions about P&Os due diligence in appointing an airline without the necessary insurances in place.

No airline has insurance to cover compensation for flight delays. 

6 hours ago, kbt cruiser said:

Maybe this shifts the liability back towards P&O ?

Nope.

5 hours ago, Windsurfboy said:

Given difficulties getting money from Maleth by individuals. P&O should pay the compensation

Zero chance of that happening.

45 minutes ago, exlondoner said:

If you are lucky, the guard makes an announcement if it is necessary.

A guard! The trains I used to use had no such thing, just a driver up front, hence the passengers needing to be assertive themselves.

7 minutes ago, Cotswold Eagle said:

Anyone who commutes on these services will be well used to this issue!  

And will be well practiced in telling the tourists to shift the bags so they can sit down!

14 hours ago, Globaliser said:

You may end up taking up more than two seats, but everyone understands that that's sometimes necessary.

They don't.

I commuted into London for many many years, and if someone tried to use seats for luggage when people were standing then they would be be very firmly told that was not acceptable.

12 hours ago, kbt cruiser said:

Frankly I don't care if he was a lion tamer. He has helped get this scandal onto the BBC after continued failures to do anything by Maleth, P&O, ATOL and the CAA. Maleth are making a mockery of the law. Only answer is to get bailiffs to impound a plane at Manchester on one of it's weekly trips to Cuba.

As one of the over 1000 Maleth victims, I've already started this ball rolling

Good luck getting bailiffs to impound a leased aircraft that doesn't belong to Maleth - because that is how Maleth (as do many other airlines) 'own' their aircraft.

There are bike rental places there, and a commercial bike sharing scheme - Getting around (coruna.gal but the sharing scheme map shows low availability at the tower.

It is too far to walk (4km) and easy getting a bus (number 5 or number 17).

If you want to go up the tower then make sure you book tickets online in advance as there are only limited numbers of people allowed up at any time - Tower of Hercules (coruna.gal)

And do take a walk around the nearby sculpture park.

1 hour ago, NCteacherlovescruising said:

I believe it would have been considered a through ticket but I’m not sure. It looked like it on my app. It was booked by NCL air. 

Sounds like a win then.

24 minutes ago, marazul said:

It took a while and many emails insisting they pay us according to EU Regulation 261/2004 instead of the 5,000 frequent flyer miles they offered. But they paid.

That's the response from many non-EU airlines - deny, deny, deny, and hope that the complainer goes away.

There is an 'extraordinary circumstances' get out for the airlines, but the EU courts have ruled on a number of occasions that what counts as 'extraordinary circumstances' is quite limited - for example there was a recent case where the pilot was sick, and the judgement from the court was 'tough, you should have spare pilots available'.

12 minutes ago, NCteacherlovescruising said:

Our flight from Venice was delayed 2.5 hours which cause us to miss our connecting flight in Chicago. The new flight they put us on in Chicago was delayed 6 hours.

If it was a through ticket to your destination via Chicago, and not two tickets (Venice to Chicago and then Chicago onwards) then it still applies and they owe you €600 each.

23 hours ago, Mrsmickrory said:

Have they changed their application method,

Yes - download the app from whichever sort of phone you use here - Stockperks

You upload a copy of the proof of shareholding through the app, they verify it, then you add the details of your cruise into the app, and then the credit is applied to your account.

It was far far quicker than the old method when I used it recently.

3 hours ago, NCteacherlovescruising said:

As I mentioned above, AA’s delay on our flight from Venice to O’Hare made us miss our connecting flight home and we spent the night in the airport. AA customer service told me they didn’t have to compensate us because she said the law I showed her on my phone wasn’t in effect yet.

EU Regulation 261/2004 (Regulation - 261/2004 - EN - Flight Compensation Regulation - EUR-Lex (europa.eu)) applies to all airlines that are leaving the EU to any destination not just EU airlines to EU destinations

(it only applies to EU airlines when arriving in the EU).

If you were delayed arriving by more than three hours then AA (American Airlines?) owe you €600 each - Air passenger rights - Your Europe (europa.eu)

1 hour ago, Hlitner said:

You raise a point about drinking/driving and the European standards are even tougher than most places here in the USA.

The drink drive limits in France is 0.05%, so lower than the USA which I believe is 0.08% and the penalty is generally a fine.

However... if you exceed 0.08% the penalty is the car being seized, a fine up to €4,500, and up to two years in prison.

3 hours ago, Milhouse said:

I'd only warn that with low cost carriers (LCC's) in general, I'm always wary of delays and cancellations.  (FWIW, our flight with Vueling was delayed by an hour.)

Frankly I have been delayed far more often with 'Full Cost Carriers' than I have with 'Low Cost Carriers' (and as Vueling is part of IAG and often codeshares its flights with BA, is it a LCC...).

Within Europe even Low Cost Carriers are legally required to pay compensation for flight delays over three hours the same as Full Cost Carriers, and that compensation is quite punitive - €250 for flights up to 1500km (most flights within Europe), €400 between 1500 and 3500, and €600 if over 3500 plus a liability for accommodation and food if the delay is extended - and so if you have been selling your seats for €20 and have to pay out €250 because you are late...

On 7/16/2024 at 12:11 PM, ninjacat123 said:

Would you know about travel between Kiel to Hamburg? DH and I are porting in Kiel and none of the many travel books or TripAdvisor have information (other than a private car for $1,000/person, no thank you!) regarding Kiel. I appreciate any and all insight!

Train!

It is a simple 75 minute journey costing €27.40 each - Cheap Train Tickets | Timetables for Germany & Europe - Deutsche Bahn

And for information on any train travel anywhere in Europe this website is excellent - The Man in Seat 61 | The train travel guide

On 7/18/2024 at 9:00 PM, rdt10 said:

Starting to look at flights from Heathrow to Rome for next May 25, a Sunday. Probably way too early, but trying to see what is available.

You might also want to look at flights from Gatwick, as it is fewer changes on the train to get there and the low cost carriers will operate out of there and generally don't out of Heathrow.

If looking at the low cost carriers, those that fly that route to Fiumicino from Gatwick are Easyjet, Jet2, Wizz, and Vueling.

Easyjet have a habit of overbooking and bumping passengers, Jet 2 have a good reputation, Wizz have a very poor reputation for customer service and reliability, and Vueling is part of IAG that owns BA (you will often see codeshares with BA and Vueling but the individual websites selling at different prices).

Ryanair, who have a bit of a reputation and some take a strong dislike to but are pretty damn reliable, don't fly to Fiumicino but to Giovan Battista Pastine in Rome, so that may not be suitable for you.

Personally rather than search each company's website, I tend to use Google Flights as a first check before then going to the company website as the filtering tools are far better.

If flying with BA, then keep an eye out for their flight sales, and particularly their business class flight sales.

Business class on these short hop flights isn't anything out of the ordinary on the aircraft as it is just the normal seats with the middle seat in the group of three kept empty, but it does include luggage, lounge access, food, a shorter check-in, etc, and frequently the price difference between than and economy with all the luggage is pretty low.

Lastly, as you are travelling on a Sunday, be aware that is the day that maintenance work tends to done on the railways, so there can be cancelled trains with the dreaded 'rail replacement bus' which is a nightmare if you have luggage and takes a long long time to get anywhere.

1 hour ago, exlondoner said:

Kings Cross is a complete nightmare. By the time you get upstairs you feel you could have walked to Newcastle.

Kings Cross was actually the station I was thinking of!

Amusingly if you ignore the direction signs to the Piccadilly line from the main station and walk in the opposite direction you get there in a quarter of the time.

But such misdirection and hidden routes occur everywhere - I recently discovered the secret route at Gatwick airport that bypasses the long and tortious route from security to the departure hall through the duty free, and instead takes you directly there.

9 hours ago, Luckynana said:

She feels that it would be too much for my DH with all of the stairs in the Tube and said we would do much better by traveling by Uber.  Are there really so many stairs?

In addition to what other people have said, I thought it would be worth mentioning that even where there are lifts or escalators (and do stand on the right...) then there can be significant distances involved within the flat parts of the tube station, with some stations actually directing you a longer way around to reduce crowds on the platforms.

Furthermore, depending on the time of day you are travelling, the tube can be really busy - not just mildly busy, but absolutely crammed in with no room at all to move busy.

And then lastly, central London isn't actually that big and walking is quite possible - don't be those people who get on the tube to travel between Covent Garden and Leicester Square.

14 hours ago, Windsurfboy said:

However it seems Sushi and Vegan food are too niche for Arvia

Certainly is, hence the 95% empty restaurant.

14 hours ago, Windsurfboy said:

hence adding Asian  fusion , which I expect will have heavy  Chinese element to widen clientele base.

Given what has happened to Sindhu over the years, and now that menu is little more than 'roast meat with an Indian name', then the 'fusion' aspect of this Asian menu rather hints that this will be the same.

15 hours ago, Windsurfboy said:

 

It also sells  Sushi,  which is definitely not Vegan or even vegetarian 

The Green & Co menu is vegan, and the sushi offering is from the Mizuhana part, hence the name 'Green & Co feat. Mizuhana'.

33 minutes ago, Sussexboy said:

It was very quiet in there though.

Because they are offering a niche menu to a niche audience, and most of that audience are not on P&O ships!

2 hours ago, LittleTinker said:

SOAP denatures viruses more effectively than alcohol hand sanitiser.

Neither soap nor alcohol destroys norovirus, unless the soapy water is above 60c which would scald your hands.

Washing your hands properly with soap and water simply removes the norovirus from your hands, but the important bit is properly, and not just showing them the to the tap.

1 hour ago, terrierjohn said:

But lots of restaurant customers in the UK order veggie dishes. There are loads of vegetarian dishes among the mediterranean countries, and very tasty they are as well.

So I don't believe the idea for a veggie restaurant was I'll conceived, just not well presented as an alternative option by P&O.

The Green & Co part of the restaurant isn't vegetarian it is vegan which is substantially different.

And yes some customers order vegetarian dishes in restaurants that also serve non-vegetarian dishes, but there is a choice.

The issue with the Green & Co part is that like most vegan restaurants they only sell vegan food, because vegans seem to get very upset if they sell non-vegan food, even if it is just vegetarian food.

That is an issue for most people who are not vegans, hence lots of vegan restaurants going out of business, and if as well as the vegan dishes, they had vegetarian dishes, and non-vegetarian dishes then the place would be an awful lot busier than it is now.