safathome

we sail tomorrow Sat 11 ( G139 Iona Christmas Markets cruise) We had Hamburg removed a few weeks back and substituted  with Le Harve. Will be interesting if we have any more diversions now. Belgium changed how they feel about us yesterday and we are supposed to be in Zeebrugge on Sunday.

Steve

13 hours ago, ScratchTheRat said:

Yeah I get that 🙂

 

just wanting a rough idea of things, like when the gym roughly opens, the hot tub and pool times, food places etc 😄

See you in the gym then !! i'll be on a spinning bike, hope to book classes but only can do it once on board.

Steve

Might be to make up the 1 day delay to departure from Southampton perhaps ?

Steve

1 hour ago, terrierjohn said:

Can't seem to be able to add text to photos, however it must still be stormy weather at sea, QM2 should be in Cherbourg today, and Iona ought to be heading for Vigo but is heading north.

As of now @1627 Iona has not been tracked ( on Marine traffic) for over 9 hours, she has been pointing the wrong way on the tracker the last 3 way points. it was the same on Fri in the same area inbound to Southampton.be interseting if she is returning though, we are on her on the 11th Dec.... maybe.

We had chicken and chips in a basket whilst watching Rose Royce in concert in the 70's at a night club in Bristol.

Back to limelight though, who ever it is,  We will enjoy " we are the one and only" la la la. next month (hopefully).

2 hours ago, Pencil62 said:

Jennizor. I am on Iona Dec11 till Dec18. Sorry for the confusion.

We are on this too. did you get a e/m yesterday regarding joining and procedures ect ?

Steve

I always wear trousers in the restaurant for our evening meal but after go back and slip into jeans ( they have more give !! ) for the rest of the evening. Once on a formal night I took my bow tie off before going for a after dinner drink on Azura and the waitress for table service declined to serve me because I was missing my tie - I said yes fair enough but she had a sudden change of mind and went to ask the head waiter if it was ok for us to stay and we were allowed too. I really dont mind formal dress and following the rules but I expect I would not wear jeans to dinner although my jeans are expensive brand ones. Personal choice I know but to me just does not feel right.

1 hour ago, ScratchTheRat said:

Yeah, I work a corporate management job and nobody at my office wears “smart” trousers. We all wear jeans!

were booked on Iona same week as you ! 

Steve (Bristol)

We have Iona 11 Dec 20 G139 Soton - Hamburg, Rotterdam (overnight) zeebrugge- Soton 18 Dec

they want balance by 12 Sept 20. 

 A refund notice e/m received today regarding a cancelled June 20 cruise which was put to FCC for next Oct but a change of mind and one phone call to P & O and a request to fill out a refund form ( Twice) from them which we filled out 2 weeks ago. Amount of refund was paid into our account on 22 Oct. Certainly quick on this occasion.

Just waiting for some compensation we were awarded for a poor trip and bad food in Sindu which they said would be by a cheque sent to us.

Steve

BBC news @ 1843 today -

Passengers have been stopped from disembarking a cruise ship in Malta due to a suspected case of Covid-19.

The MSC Grandiosa cruise ship was allowed into Valetta harbour but left the port after collecting supplies.

During the beginning of the pandemic, cruise ships were involved in a large number of cases.

Malta allowed cruise ships into its harbours on the condition that passengers did not mix with locals.

On 10/13/2020 at 5:21 PM, safathome said:

Not bad, 3 weeks after requesting deposit refund - just wait to see how long it takes to get back with us.

email -

Quote "Firstly, we would like to thank you for your patience. We are sorry that the unprecedented nature of Covid-19 has meant we have been unable to contact you as soon as we would have liked and as we do normally. 
We are pleased to be a travel company which is able to offer refunds but the impact of Covid-19 upon our business and all of our lives has been devastating, and therefore the complexity and scale of this task has been unprecedented for us.
At P&O Cruises, we have had to adapt our ways of working very quickly as we set up new systems and all our colleagues began working from home.
We are pleased to confirm that your refund claim has now been processed. The money will be returned to the original payment card, please see details below:
Amount to be refunded: £XXXX (removed by me)
If you had submitted more than one claim, please bear with us as we continue to work through the outstanding requests. You will be notified of the outcome of your claim in due course. " unquote

 

I presume this e/m is the general reply .

 

still waiting on the big refund though of which we were asked to submit the form twice.

 

Steve 

Deposit back on the card, paid in on 8 Oct. Nice one. 2 to go.

Steve

Not bad, 3 weeks after requesting deposit refund - just wait to see how long it takes to get back with us.

email -

Quote "Firstly, we would like to thank you for your patience. We are sorry that the unprecedented nature of Covid-19 has meant we have been unable to contact you as soon as we would have liked and as we do normally. 
We are pleased to be a travel company which is able to offer refunds but the impact of Covid-19 upon our business and all of our lives has been devastating, and therefore the complexity and scale of this task has been unprecedented for us.
At P&O Cruises, we have had to adapt our ways of working very quickly as we set up new systems and all our colleagues began working from home.
We are pleased to confirm that your refund claim has now been processed. The money will be returned to the original payment card, please see details below:
Amount to be refunded: £XXXX (removed by me)
If you had submitted more than one claim, please bear with us as we continue to work through the outstanding requests. You will be notified of the outcome of your claim in due course. " unquote

I presume this e/m is the general reply .

still waiting on the big refund though of which we were asked to submit the form twice.

Steve 

We had a cancelled cruise June 2020 paid for in 2019 so opted for FCC next Oct this would have cost more than the 2019 cruise so we paid a small deposit for the outstanding amount. We decided to cancel the 2021 cruise and ask for a refund on the original 2019 cruise. This is the reply -

  quote "I can see that you have paid an extra deposit of £147 (as FCCs from your June booking has not been applied as of yet). If you are looking to cancel this 2021 cruise, cancellation of this cruise will result in loss of deposit as this cruise is planned to go ahead. however you can use our flexible transfer policy as per below:

• Transfer your booking to any P&O Cruises holiday currently on sale (and not just to those within the next 12 months).
• Transfer your booking to a cruise of higher or lower value (and not just of a higher value, as is usually the case).
• Transfer your booking an unlimited number of times (and not just once).
• Transfer your booking free of charge." Unquote

So you would loose your deposit.

 

Steve.

"Europa" ?

1 minute ago, PRINCESSTHE BEST said:

You should get the deposit refunded to you or your TA. 

Great thanks for answering - how do they send it ? I paid by Barclay card - does it get put back on that then... and I will be in credit  whoop whoop !

Hi

Just got a "cancellation" invoice for our Dec cruise - it was just for a small deposit. what happens next ? !!

Steve

9 hours ago, No pager thank you said:

Ah, I see, that's helpful.  The issue here is, when you rebooked for the October 2021 cruise, you would normally need to pay between a 5-15% deposit to secure the booking.  In normal circumstances, where people don't have FCCs that would be in cash.  The key is, did you pay cash to secure the October 21 booking?

 

In a similar vein, I also took a small FCC for a previously cancelled cruise and used it to pay the deposit on another cruise.  Although it does not show up (months later), they have not chased me for money to pay the deposit. 

 

The P&O booking agent explained that I should not worry because the FCC is considered redeemed at the point that the booking is made - not when the finance team apply its value to the booking.  This only needs to be resolved by the time when the full balance becomes due (and I have all the emails just in case!)

 

Unfortunately, my interpretation is that although they have yet to allocate the FCC to your October 2021 booking, it has been redeemed, assuming that you used it, instead of cash, in lieu of the deposit.  Once redeemed, it cannot be reversed back in to a cash refund.

 

You are also unable to split a refund amount into part FCC, part cash - it's either one or the other unfortunately.  Unfortunately, cabin credits are also lost when cruises are cancelled to best of my knowledge, frustratingly.  However, if you have extra cabin credits added, then you can move them by calling them.

 

However, what I would say is that if you want the cash back for your June cruise it might be worth ringing them next week when it calms down.  Choose option 1 as if you are booking a new cruise, and explain when prompted that you are unable to fill in the online form.  If they have no record of your redeeming the FCC (I.e. they haven't actually processed your email) then you may get the refund processed.  Sometimes passengers can benefit from their incompetence.  You can then choose to pay cash for the October 21 cruise when the time comes.

 

Alternatively, if the idea of calling them feels like hours better spent doing something else (how I feel), then wait a little while to see if the refund turns up on its own.  

Hi thanks for all the advice - sorry if I am not being very clear. We booked the cancelled June 2020 cruise in 2019 and paid the deposit and the outstanding amount when it was due. Then this cruise got cancelled. Not really knowing what we were doing  we booked the Oct 2021 cruise with a cash deposit direct to P & O,  then looked at the FCC so instead of claiming a refund on the fully paid 2020 cruise we opted to do the FCC on the Oct 21 cruise. We read the November 20 cut off for claiming cash refund so we have applied for that  We have now made different plans for 2021 and 2022 and decided to "pause" our cruise experience.  

Our experience with contacting P&O a good few weeks ago was superb,  the phone was answered on the second ring and we spoke to a very nice girl. 

Hope I am making sense !

13 minutes ago, No pager thank you said:

Hi Steve,

 

Sorry if I've misunderstood, but I'll try to help👍

 

You booked the short cruise in December 2020 in cash, paying a deposit only.  As this cruise was cancelled by P&O you are entitled to the deposit back, in cash.  If you have filled in the online refund request form then you have done the right thing.

 

You also booked the initial cruise in June 2020, which was cancelled by P&O, and you accepted a 125% FCC.  However, I'm not sure if you are due back a full balance, or just a deposit - did you pay for the June cruise? 

 

You then rebooked a cruise going in October 2021. 

 

If you have already accepted and used the FCC against a new booking, then you cannot change your mind and request a refund afterwards.  

 

However, if the FCC is unredeemed, then you may apply for a 100% cash refund of the sum that you paid for the June cancelled cruise.  This needs to be applied for by 30th November at the latest under the current policy.

 

In terms of the October 2021 cruise, if you have used a FCC to pay and this cruise is also cancelled then you have two options:

 

-- Transfer the 125% FCC balance to another cruise.  Note it does not rise again.

-- Accept a 100% cash refund of the sum that you originally paid.

 

If you no longer wish to travel in October 2021, then you cannot cancel without losing the FCC, however you may currently transfer the booking to another cruise from the existing brochure, running up to the end of March 2022.  I'm not exactly sure how this scenario will work for Summer 2022 bookings.

 

This is provided that you booked the "Select" (i.e. dearer) fare.

😀

 

 Thanks for the reply. the first part is great. The second part is that we opted to do the FCC of which they did not credit for the 2021 Oct Cruise and still have an outstanding balance to pay not £0, I understand about losing the FCC - and we had further cabin credit applied for an issue we had on a previous cruise which we will loose.  P & O confirmed that they had received my communication and FCC would appear on the Oct 21 cruise.  but it still has not - so as far as I can see they should refund us the full payment we paid before for the cancelled June 2020 cruise ?

Hi 

Not sure if this post is in the right place but it is a question on refunds.

But first Thank to all of you who have kept me  up to date with the news, I am one of the hidden people who  "lurk".

Anyway, We had a cruise cancelled last June and opted for a FCC to we booked a short hop in Dec paid a £38 pound deposit and now told cancelled. ok, we also booked a cruise next Oct and paid £100 deposit and used the FCC for this. I  have requested the £38 refund and also requested a refund on the cancelled cruise for last June - does this sound like the right thing to have done ?

I understand now - or do i ? that the deposit for next Oct will be lost - unless this cruise gets cancelled next year too in that case I get the deposit back. confused yes. 

Steve

From "Cruise trade news"

In terms of P&O Cruises’ pause in operations, which has been further extended until 15 May, Ludlow said that he hopes to give customers another update by the end of the month.