Pippa04

You're lucky they offered you the option to cancel.  Happened to me and they refused to even engage with me until a few days before we were due to sail.  Told me as far as they were concerned they'd offered me better cabins and that was the end of it despite suitable (cheaper) cabins being available when I first complained. If I cancelled I would lose 90% of my balance so I've been forced to accept another cruise that I have no desire to go on.  I'm currently going through ABTA and the papers as they refuse to give me my money back for something I paid for and they were unable to provide.

2 hours ago, Presto2 said:

 

Thanks - just sent a message to P&O direct to get answers in writing about where we would stand IF the cabin was not available at all. We've just been discussing it and, though we are looking forward to the cruise, we have our caravan and will still have a good holiday 🙂 I suppose we are more worried about any cost implications and where we would stand if the cabin was moved etc etc and we had paid in full and did not want it. That is a whole new thread though ;-)

 

I can tell you exactly what will happen.  They will wait until you have paid in full then they will email to say that they appreciate you only want that cabin and do not want to be upgraded but they are upgrading you anyway as they think you'll like their rubbish upgrade cabin better.  When you try to contact them they will refuse to engage with you for nearly 2 months, then they will deign to phone you a week before you are due to sail and say your choices are to transfer to another cruise which has to be chosen within 2 hours or lose 90% of the money they have held for months.

Voice of experience of a previously very loyal customer.  Tread very carefully...

Interesting.  I wonder if this ties in with the strange emails we've had saying timings/details have changed on booked excursions and everything looks exactly the same.  I'm off to screenshot all my booked excursions just in case...

A-Z destination entry requirements 19 October 2021 V2.pdf (pocruises.com)

This should help you find out.  They keep updating on different links though so it can be found under latest travel guidance, then information about ports we visit.

Many thanks.  If you don't pay to book seats does that mean you take pot luck when you arrive at the airport?

Can anyone who's managed to book their seats let me know the up to date prices please?

A-Z destination entry requirements 11 October 2021.pdf (pocruises.com)

This link has been updated recently - now need an antigen test in BVI although you can still explore independently.

Another way of looking at it is that we should be complaining.  No-one seems to have any problems once they get through to call handlers - in fact, most are very complimentary.  Bearing in mind there were large numbers of redundancies made and those who kept their jobs accepted reduced pay for quite a while it wouldn't surprise me if those still working would be grateful for more co-workers and our complaints would be a start in letting the powers that be know that they need to start hiring again.

My guess is that we haven't been able to see cruise loyalty for about a week because they're struggling to update it and give passengers points for the staycations.  Hopefully it will be sorted soon as so many people are expecting to move up a tier.

I understand why people are nervous about running up large bills accidentally but it's a lot harder to do that than it used to be.

Most, if not all, of the major networks no longer have an agreement to use data on the maritime networks. Too expensive and ship's WiFi is much improved.  If you turn off data roaming you are effectively turning off the internet on any network but your home one. You can still send/receive texts and calls on the maritime network so you need to be careful about that if those costs worry you but I've done a 4 day cruise on Britannia with data roaming disabled and kept up with emails, WhatsApp and news etc with no extra charges. I just made sure not to send any texts when the maritime network was displayed.

Turn your phone off if you don't want to be disturbed or turn off data roaming if you want to keep up to date - either way enjoy the holiday!

49 minutes ago, JohnScot said:

If you switch off data roaming do emails and messages still come through when you connect to your 4G supplier.

Yes, you're just switching off the facility to connect with foreign providers.

I live locally and know a lot of people who work at the docks.  They've seen the buses and were told that's what was happening but I don't want to quote it as gospel as these things can get exaggerated as they're passed on!

We found it depended on your network provider how good the signal was but most of the time land was in sight and you could get varying degrees of signal from that side of the ship.  If you know how to search for your provider in settings on your phone rather than wait for the signal to be stronger than maritime it helps too.  Basically, there will be plenty of opportunities to get online.

Also, I understand that people are being bussed into town if they arrive too early for embarkation.

8 hours ago, margo2011 said:

 

Sorry for rant ,I just wanted to know my cabin number and if I need to print off NHS proof of jabs for domestic  or travel as there are two on the NHS app ,as we aren’t visiting any port  not sure 

 

 

 

 

 

That's interesting. Previously there was only proof of jab for travel - this domestic one has just been introduced presumably as the "vaccine passport" for concerts etc.

You need the travel one by the way.

As I understand it Britannia will be sailing with up to 2000 passengers from tomorrow.

Don't take that as gospel, I live in the area and know several people who work at the docks but I realise things can be exaggerated as rumours pass around!

21 hours ago, MX-Drew said:

The excuse give was "it is due to Covid" why the points had not been added.

 

I advise anyone who has not got their points added to use the contact form and send a note. 

It all strikes me as very strange.  I know the company has had to make lots of people redundant and many have been working reduced hours on reduced pay but I sort of assumed that points could be added automatically.  I've now got a vision of a computer painstakingly adding Peninsular Club points with the equivalent of one finger after it's prolonged period of self isolation!

5 hours ago, MX-Drew said:

After writing a third email, this time to Paul Ludlow and today getting a response from Simon Palethorpe!

I have been awarded the loyalty points and I was also told they have very large numbers of emails at the moment. 

Did your reply give any indication that they are attempting to credit the points or was yours just a blip?  If those of us on the 27th June cruise still haven't got our points it looks as though it's going to be a slow business!

Anyone had a response yet?  I've just received an email with my Loyalty Statement on as of today's date.  After a bit of digging I found the Loyalty Statement of October 2019 and it shows the same number of points so nothing added for the 27th June Staycation cruise.  All very confusing.  I feel as though someone's trying to befuddle me with figures so that I miss out!

To me it looks as though they're using a complicated way of displaying your points.  I've just done one of the Staycation 4 day cruises and the points displayed for my next cruise are 40 more than they are on the Staycation cruise so I assume they've added them but they don't show up until they show the level you're at on your next cruise.  Assuming I take that next 14 day cruise, the cruise after that has 140 points added and it predicts that I will also be a tier higher.  Makes sense when you sit and think about it but not particularly intuitive and if you haven't got another cruise booked you don't know if points have been added or not.

I was on the 27 June Britannia staycation and found it a complete nightmare.  Had to keep logging in and out of WiFi and the app just to access it each time and then there wasn't much on it anyway.  Not happy to be told to use it all the time before entry to restaurant/theatre until they obviously realised it wasn't working properly.  Basically it completely mucked up my ideal holiday which is to take off my watch and put the phone in the safe.

37 minutes ago, MX-Drew said:

Last boarding is 16:45 I believe.

The check in of luggage is a shambles.

My boarding time is 14.45.  I'm still sat at home twiddling my thumbs!

46 minutes ago, broooce said:

Going to be travelling down from North Wales the day before our cruise. Any nice places/areas to stay that anyone can recommend? Want to be within 30 minutes drive of the port our embarkation time is 11.30

Try the Balmer Lawn Hotel at Brockenhurst.  In the New Forest and they often do cruise packages so that you can get free parking and a minibus to the terminal etc.

1 hour ago, Pink-belle said:

 

I booked direct I listened to a lot of conditions of booking, at no time were “if” “limits” mentioned.  So passengers booking could not have been any wiser, and like me would have assumed a booking was a booking and you would be on the ship if it sailed. 
once the 1000 limit was reached, those booking or already booked, could have been advised and offered the option of sit tight and wait.  Or be given options of alternative sailings that hadn’t yet reached the 1000 limit.

 

 

I think the problem for P and O was that this 1000 limit was introduced a month after these cruises went on sale.  Yes, they could have advised people that there was a possibility that their booking may be in danger as new rules had been brought in but with all the indications being that we would be opening up on June 21st I can understand why they didn't want to put customers through all that worry and uncertainty.  Hindsight is a wonderful thing but they really were caught between a rock and a hard place.

I find the accusations against P and O on this thread quite astounding.  I know people are upset that their cruise has been cancelled but let's actually look at the facts.

P and O came up with the idea to do Staycations and start off slowly with 30% capacity to begin with and a gradual increase once they saw how the crew and passengers coped.  Perfectly sensible and careful way to start off.  These went on sale on 22 March and quickly sold out.  One month later on 23 April the government suddenly came up with the idea that ships could sail with 50% capacity or 1000 passengers whichever is least.  Knowing that the government change their minds more often than their underwear I presume P and O waited to see how it would all pan out.  Possibly not the best decision with hindsight, but to accuse P and O of greed, purposely overbooking, bumping off people who say they booked within 30 seconds of sales starting etc is ridiculous.  They came up with what seemed an inspired idea to start their business going again and the rules were changed.  Not their fault.