Megabear2

I have a contact who is making a television programme about the travel industry, particularly cruising as she feels it is not being discussed. I have not reached the stage of speaking to her about these issues but if Princess do not offer a reasonable explanation about their part in the events I may change my mind! I am trying to be reasonable and get a full understanding of this emergency offloading position, particularly as its something that could affect very many. If this paying the medical bill direct and not via insurance is industrywide - which with how the insurance claims process appears to operate seems likely - then once again like the covid offloading of negative passengers before it is something a great deal of people (myself included) are unaware of. If the discussions with Princess confirm this then I may indeed speak to people although not scaremongering national papers as mostly their reporting is just pure sensationalism. I'm very lucky to have contacts within the BBC, ITV and Sky from previous issues I've been involved with over the years, mainly work contacts.

SNAP!!!

You cannot use the OBC to book the restaurants before you board the ship. David means you need to make your reservations onboard not before you leave the UK. Same applies to any spa reservations or excursions, only counts onboard.

The GHIC (replaced E11) covers maximum of 70% of emergency medical treatment. Your insurer/you is responsible for the balance. If you read the T&Cs of your policy you will see that for Europe you must have the GHIC. If travelling in Australia you are also required to register on arrival for their health scheme. This is to lower the costs for the insurer. In our case the insurer has accepted some liability for hospital and medical costs not covered by the GHIC (after a fight!) but not all of them. The move to the cardiac hospital for instance is not being covered as they state it is a private hospital. The accommodation costs were £1,500 per day. The insurer has however agreed the doctor and medical costs whilst in that facility as the local Civitavecchia hospital did not have the necessary facilities. The GHIC on the other hand would not cover anything whilst she was in that hospital as it is a private facility with no reciprocal arrangements. A bit like an Italian going into a Nuffield hospital because the NHS hospital could not offer the required treatment, that's as it has been explained to us

Please rest assured as long as your medical declaration etc are confirmed the travel insurance will meet the costs. The only problem you may encounter is during any delay period between the notification of the event and the necessary confirmations arriving. It is this period you need cash/credit cards for. In our case the lost bag did not help as there was a two week delay in formalisation of the GHIC section.

I am unsure how other lines would react, however way back at the beginning when I had the cancellation issue with P&O I did discuss off the record what had happened with them. They explained what would have happened if it had been their ship and the process certainly sounded different with regard to support. The question of payment of the bill before departure did not, however, get discussed. Regarding credit lines although I am cross at the attitude over the payment demanded/taken this experience has been a real wake up call, both regarding availability and amount of emergency funds for myself in the event of a serious illness. Like Terrierjohn I had assumed once you notified your insurer of a problem they would pick up and agree expenses incurred onboard and would find you accommodation even if you were paying for it initially. Although this case has been more complex than the average one I have learned that this is not what happens with a lot of insurers. Upon notification of an event the insurer starts an investigation at their end to assess whether there is a valid claim. This involves access being granted to medical records etc and as an individual you are at the mercy of both the claims team and medical professionals in the UK being available to access and supply information requested as soon as requested. While all this checking is going on you have to be in a position to pay any demand from the cruise line, hospital and of course any accommodation and sustenance you require. As I said previously if your bill is £4,000 before you even get off the ship you will need access immediately - I'm told my aunt's medical bill was pretty small as we were already arriving into port when she became unwell - in the event of being not so close to port I assume it would be far higher as ship's care would obviously be over a longer period. It appears that the emergency assistance in normal circumstances does not therefore kick in until all the questions have been answered to their satisfaction. Obviously some companies will do things slightly differently but until they give the okay and accept the claim you are paying directly and can claim it back. Regarding your debit cards you could find yourself in the same situation as myself unless you have many thousands lying in the bank account connected to it. On the day my accounts had roughly £5,000 available for instant use, anything else would have necessitated me organising a transfer between savings accounts and my day to day bank accounts. This would have involved internet access or a telephone call to organise and if you had no access due to illness or lack of signal etc. You would encounter problems. Despite being Visa cards the taxi which eventually took myself and the two ladies to Rome airport did not have a card machine and required a cash payment. The cost of that taxi was €205 and I could only give €70 towards the fare. Princess ground staff didn't even bother to ask if we had cash between us but just stated it was the last taxi and we had to leave the port or the police would become involved as we were unauthorised to be there

Your guess is as good as mine! When I initially refused to pay I was not allowed to leave the ship and the debate continued for 2 hours. I argued and got very angry - that's apparently why I am aggressive.

Yes, Princess stated it was because I was on her booking and under the same reference. As set out in their quote - which I have remonstrated against and quoted the law on - their protocols on emergency disembarkation insist on the bill being paid before disembarkation. It has been intimated to me that if she had been alone my aunt's bill would still have needed to be paid before leaving the ship and that because I was there it was considered expedient to get me to pay so she could be disembarked quicker. I've had no answer to my point she was unconscious and would have been unable to deal with the payment if she was travelling alone.

I think the advice was given because I only travel with an American Express card (which is not always accepted particularly in Europe) together with my bank debit cards (again not accepted in some parts of the world). As it was our final day before flying home I had limited Euros left. My aunt had two credit cards which were our backup if required but of course I didn't have access to these as they were not in my name and were in the ambulance apart from the one wh8ch required pin authorisation. I was very rudely spoken to at the port by a ground agent for not having a credit card - she actually used the word "stupid ". When I set out my experience to Princess the reply I received stated that due to high possible emergency costs their recommendation is to carry three credit cards with different issuers because every countries outlets do not for instance accept Visa but might accept Mastercard and so on. Basically don't rely on any one card. It's probably not as stupid as it sounds. Remember I was looking at paying over £4,000 to Princess on debarkation, hotel rooms at €200 per night as it was short notice and €200 approx for taxi costs each way to/from Rome. I would therefore have used up the first £10,000 very rapidly and would still be paying for other items such as food, possible hospital costs etc. I am angry with their overall attitude that they've done nothing wrong but realistically they are correct the insurer pays nothing up front so I should have been prepared. I guess until you are in that situation you don't really think.

To explain further. I carry an American Express card with a very high limit, together with my Visa debit cards whilst travelling. Unfortunately American Express is not widely accepted by small businesses in Europe such as taxi drivers. On the day the port agent shouted at me that I was irresponsible to not carry a credit card or a substantial amount of cash in local currency. I had around €40 in cash as I was flying home that evening. There was no ATM at the port to obtain cash from my debit cards and I was refused readmission to the port building where there was one. The port agent has told Princess I had no money and expected Princess to pay my expenses. This was not the case but I did ask for assistance in leaving the port as I couldn't pay the taxi quote of €200 to Rome. I had asked for help getting to an ATM and Civitavecchia is a closed port so needed language assistance to get the taxi driver to understand. This lack of money, deduction from my card of over £4,000 by Princess and "refusal to leave the port" has led to me being told that Princess recommend carrying three high level credit cards from different providers. I have queried this "advice", I have however noted mention of this suggestion elsewhere on travel websites so assume that's where it comes from. I've no idea whether others travel with that amount of credit but did find it a very large sum to suggest might be needed. Having said that I suppose it is not difficult to run up a huge bill onboard before leaving the ship in an emergency. Hope that clarifies the point a little better, I was very angry and should have explained better. I think covid isolation is different and medical care should be free. I assume that's the European rules they refer to.

Make sure you have emergency local currency. I've just had a very interesting conversation with Princess regarding what they believe is reasonable to have on you! See my Football analogy link if you wonder what I'm referring to!!

Thank you all. Well something had to come along to ruin the day! Just had a long email from Princess stating they have investigated the events and they acted in accordance with their Medical Disembarkation protocols, and attempted to assist me at every opportunity. Apparently the records show I refused to leave the port, stated I had no money to pay for a hotel or transport and was very aggressive. Oh and I was liable to pay the medical bill - here's the reason why: Quote It is regrettable that all financial affairs must be settled prior to leaving the ship, unfortunately, as you may be aware the medical costs onboard can be high and these are added to the shipboard account of the guest. The medical facility onboard the ship is a US private health care facility provided by a third party. I do wish to assure you that the team's actions were not meant to add further upset but we do have a set medical disembarkation process, whereby the safety of the patient takes priority and if we can assist with guests leaving the ship as seamlessly as possible we do our best to ensure this. Although we may of had the card details on record, there is no guarantee this payment can be processed when the card holder is not present. A full explanation of this should have been offered to you by the medical team. Regrettably, there are occasions whereby guests have refused to pay for the treatment they have received and it is for this reason the account must be settled prior to departure. I can only apologise if this was not communicated in a more compassionate way. Unquote And just to emphasise the point: Quote Due to the number of medical disembarkations we assist with across our fleet it is not possible for Princess Cruises to support any of our guests financially. It is one of the many reasons it is a condition of carriage for all guests to have adequate travel insurance in place. Most travel insurance companies work on a pay upfront and submit for reimbursement basis. Unquote Be prepared please everyone, their advice to me is to carry three separate credit cards with at least £10,000 limits and issued by different providers accepted worldwide eg one Mastercard, one Visa, one American Express. They also recommend at least 200 cash in local currency for incidentals such as taxis. Oh and finally ... "We do hope that Mrs xxxxxxxx is continuing to make a full recovery and we wish you both well on your future travels."

Princess had to do something with a large number of ships when the US market to Europe was closed. The UK started the staycation craze so they were able to use Sky and Regal last year for that. As a sweetener prices were low and also all inclusive - Brits love a bargain so that was a huge draw for them. This year Princess planned two ships, an increase on the normal offering from Southampton most likely because they could see a pent up demand, and so when the Ukrainian situation erupted they chose to send Enchanted Princess here as well. Now that Princess have been tried by many there is of course more demand but the test will be when prices increase to normal levels and the all inclusive option is either dropped or becomes more expensive. The give aways to tempt passengers are slowly ending. Celebrity for instance now quote cruise only fares rather than always included which is still available but at considerably more.

For those who have been following the progress of my aunt I'm delighted to say that she arrived safely back in the UK yesterday evening after several false starts. Accompanied by the insurance representative she was delivered by ambulance to her local hospital three miles from home. In another twist you could not make up there was no room at the hospital and after seven hours in A&E she has been returned to her home under the care of the nurse who travelled with her from Rome. Apparently she will be returning to the hospital later today once a bed has been located in the cardiac unit and she will then undergo the required surgery. She is awake and thrilled to be home. On a more positive note the insurance company have paid some, not all, of the costs and conversations continue regarding the outstanding points. Needless to say all the family are thrilled she's finally back home.

The point being no ship is immune from these problems. Once had a man throw up all over me in G32 nightclub on Queen Mary 2 - elderly English gent decked out in full evening dress who informed my friend and I that it was a dodgy crab causing his problem. The overpowering whisky fumes and his inability to stand up rather pointed to a different source for his problems! On the bright side Cunard cleaned my clothes for free and gave me a nice OBC as well.

January 2020 it was PCWorld on Britannia. I bought a new Kindle and Fitbit onboard as there was a special extra discount of 30% one evening. Both still going strong. July and December 2021 no electronic shop onboard. Reading this thread hoping to see one back in October and December.

It's the Preziosa they are basing in Southampton. She's very pretty but I wouldn’t compare her with Indy, but then again I wouldn’t compare many of the RCI ships with anything else! When I sailed with MSC (admittedly only in the Caribbean) I found the ships very glamorous with lots of bling. They were very family oriented at the time - every night the Smurfs marched the kids round the ship when kids club ended. The theatre entertainment was very European, think jugglers, acrobats, illusionists - and something you either loved or hated (I'm in the former camp so no problem). The food was okay, lots of pasta and risotto choices. I believe the newer ships like Virtuosa offer more things like water slides etc to compete with RCI. I've not sailed with them in a while though.

Guess you never tried Ventura in the early days ... now that was interesting!

The sales on P&O are very good going into the Autumn months apart from the Azura fly cruises which seem to be getting left a little. Apart from the adult only ships the prices are attractive especially with all the scares about airports - I'm pleased to report two more Gatwick trips no delays by the way. There may be some on here getting aerated about changed ports but presumably the people booking just want a break. To be truthful if you don't know about the odds and sods missing the itineraries, ships etc look great value. I believe you are speaking with your feet after your next cruise and maybe sticking with RCI which you think is great will be the way to go for you personally. However it's very extreme to call P&O a disaster. I loved my Celebrity cruise but their Customer Service prior to it was equally as bad as P&O with misleading information on testing, quarantine and ports. The boards were littered over there with irate passengers, same complaints as here. If you want to talk bad PR and treating customers unfairly Princess have to date not even acknowledged my problems earlier this month. I am appalled at their apathy. Basically I'd say they're all as bad as each other before sailing and some are downright ignorant but they are all about the same.

That of course is assuming that the cruise line contract actually covered the question. We armchair warriors assume that P&O, Princess etc would think about that sort of thing but the reality is probably that any contracts may well be the existing ones put in place before the pandemic when there were far more staff ashore.

I wasn't talking about the quantity of what you can have, more that the food is still fairly standard in its offering such as sea bass, steaks, beef, pork, lamb etc cooked in a very simple way. My only adverse comment on Princess food is that like all American offerings it tends to be warm rather than hot. On the day the roast beef was served our table asked for extra veg and roast potatoes. The veg ended up being carrots and beans ... sounds familiar ... and apologies there were no roast or mashed potatoes available.

I love Britannia, she's my favourite ship in the P&O fleet and in 13 voyages on her I've rarely come across anyone in shorts in the main dining room. If there are isolated incidents I've seen staff send those in shorts to the buffet. To be honest the standard of dress on P&O is much "posher" than on the American ships I've just enjoyed. Society has changed when it comes to dressing and P&O are trying to accommodate everyone. I'm more concerned by the talk of drunkenness and fighting.

Food on Princess was very much regular, certainly nothing out of the ordinary. I wouldn't say there was any more choice than on P&O to be truthful. Mind you the roast beef served with Yorkshire Pudding and chips was certainly different. Celebrity Edge on the other hand was innovative and different. I'm told that is because Edge, Apex and Beyond are concept ships.

Surely that's a society problem not P&O's. We may not go looking for it but it's all around us if we care to observe it. We have several police in our family and what you speak about is something they deal with night after night - two are admittedly in London but others are in the Midlands and Cornwall but report the same as the mainstay of their work.

The port changes are annoying but inevitable. We have acute problems with staff here in the UK and need to be mindful that these shortages are worldwide. Obviously those of us who book for specific ports may be disappointed when they change, but at least on this occasion there is a replacement of another town, not exactly like for like but still good. The real problems are still with the fjords/cold weather cruises where alternatives completely change the entire cruise. As for the timing of the changes, clearly on this occasion P&O have tried to avoid disappointing too many at short notice. We are lucky that the unlimited booking changes option remains in place but I doubt that many would abandon their entire plans for the loss of one port, but perhaps I'm wrong?