P & 0 - Don't seem to be interested, once they have your money.

[BORDER REIVER]

With a first P & O cruise coming up, I needed some information on shore excursions - nothing complicated, just a straighforward answer regarding timings. I e-mailed them twice in a week and waited another week, but still no reply. I got through easily on the phone, but the answers to my questions were a bit vague, almost as though the rep I spoke to couldn't care less.

Has anyone else had this problem?

[jodanuke]

Not as yet....

 

What did you want to know that was so important?

[Adammara]

Suggest you ring again tomorrow, you will probally get a completely different answer, and different again the next day.

 

You are better off posting your question on here, but you might still get different answers!

 

 

Richard

[BORDER REIVER]

Hi jodanuke,

All I needed to know was if it was reasonable to go on two excursions in Dublin, with the first due to return only 15 mins before the 2nd was due to leave. I did get a very bored answer and will stick to one official tour and a DIY one.

Thanks

[Gerrym]

P&O are quite well known for having difficulty dealing with modern technologies like email.

 

Don't expect quick answers and you will be fine, they normally do answer emails but tend to take their time.

 

Their record with me is just over a month to reply to an email!

 

 

Cheers

 

Gerry

[BORDER REIVER]

Thanks Gerry, I guess once I'm a seasoned cruiser, these things won't be problems any more and I'll not need to contact P&O so much. It's not going to spoil the cruising experience though.

[BrianI]

The excursion timings are all shown in the excursion book which is despatched to you six weeks before departure. Departure time, duration, arrival back time, what else do you need.

Brian

[BORDER REIVER]

Hi Brian, We just wanted to know if a 15 mins time gap between excursions was cutting it a bit fine and we got our answer, which was....don't risk it, as the first excursion could be delayed by traffic. As I was saying, we are novices at this and will work things out, cruise by cruise.....and with help from other cruisers.

[jodanuke]

15 minutes is pushing it a bit to say the least.

 

You only need 2 or 3 people out of a bus full on the first trip to dawdle along and be the last ones back on the bus, or even people asking the guide lots of quetions for the trip to run over a bit.

 

Don't think at all that you would get your money back for the second one that you would then miss.

[jeanlyon]

I have always found P&O really helpful, they usually answer e-mails within 24 hours and quite good on the phone. You can't really consider an excursion that starts 15 minutes after another - crazy idea.

[DaveA]

You can't really consider an excursion that starts 15 minutes after another - crazy idea.

 

That's a very harsh response. It seems to me a perfectly reasonable question to ask.

[jodanuke]

Well it is a little crazy..

[Pink-belle]

.......it may seem crazy to those who know the system, but not if you don't. After all if you were booking train tickets that needed you to change trains and platforms a 15 minute changeover would probably be adaquate.

 

Border Reiver, my experience with the shoreside office of most cruiselines is they really don't have much idea about what happens once you have left the embarkation point.(that is a generalisation as some of them are very good) the best place to get those kind of answers is in the forums. Despite the risk of some members calling your plans crazy ;)

 

You say this is your first cruise with P&O, have you cruised before? I bet many of us booked more cruiseline excursions in our first few cruises then we do now. What two excursions were you hoping to do in Dublin? have you checked whether the hop on/ off bus route passes where you want to go?

[tom_uk]

I'd agree that going on two excursions with only 15 minutes between them would not be advisable. One thing that occurs to me is that the first excursion probably assumes that you'll have lunch afterwards, and the second one will assume that you've had an early lunch before! So I think you'd probably miss your lunch if you did both, even if the timings went well otherwise.

[sammydo]

i think the main problem would be that on the 2nd trip, you probably would have to meet at an agreed meeting place,( whether it be dockside or on the ship ) half an hour before the actual tour starts, therefore you probabaly wouldn,t be back before the first tour had ended,

so i really agree that its not going to work, but as some have already said, unless you are familiar to cruising, its something you wouldn,t really know, so good luck, have a great cruise, and feel free to ask anything else ;)

[Gerrym]

That's a very harsh response. It seems to me a perfectly reasonable question to ask.

 

 

Yes, I agree, only crazy if you know the ropes.

 

Don't forget, we were all new at this lark once!

 

 

 

 

Cheers

 

Gerry

[Beckyfaye-2008]

My experience is that no excursion, gets back dead at the time stated, there are so many things that can affect it. The main one being, people not arriving back at the coach on time, when you have stops which allow spare time on your own. So personally would not take the chance on a 15 minute time gap.:)

[LibraLass41]

Border

Out of Interest what were the two toursyou were considering?

 

Dublin has a great HOHO bus link (hopon hopoff:)) and you can do this yourself very easily...for example stopping off for the Guiness brewery tour, zoo etc....

[BORDER REIVER]

Thanks, that's very useful to know. We are only going to do the afternoon "Distinctly Dublin" one and make our own way to Guiness either morning or evening.

[FlamingA]

I WROTE to P&O on 21 April and still await an answer never mind an acknowledgement!

 

So much for P&O not being able to cope with 'new' technology! :mad:

 

I think I'll try e-mailing them EVERY day - until I receive an answer.

 

I'll let you know how I get on.

 

FlamingA

[Pink-belle]

I'm glad my post was of some help Border Reiver, most on here are very helpful and most comments are meant tongue in cheek when not, at least i hope they are :rolleyes:

 

As Sue also mentioned the hop on/off bus goes to the Guiness factory. It would be cheaper to get a normal bus if its a case of going there and back. The HoHo in Dublin, wasn't the best i've ever been on, but that said we got a good overview of the city and our bearings, its really not that big.

 

I just had a look at the Distinctly Dublin tour, the hoho bus took us past the doors of Dublin, parliament buildings, can't recall the cathedral though, but we may have passed it.

Obviously if you were booking for the Dancing show at the bar then you would need to do the tour. If thats just an extra you could save a lot of money by going it alone.

 

You can see information regarding one companies hoho bus here.

 

My favorite memory of Dublin was Stephens Green, a beautiful park with a lake, we were lucky to come across a band playing there last year, plus we took a tour of Trinity college with the book of Kells. We didn't book, turned up and took a tour with a student, we struck gold, he was very knowledgable with a dry wit.

[the english lady]

Ref not getting a reply to emails. If you have a web email address (hotmail etc, or AOL) they can sometimes be blocked by antispam firewalls. I have had personal experience of this. If the above is the scenario then none of the emails may ever get through.

[LynnKnicker]

Ref not getting a reply to emails. If you have a web email address (hotmail etc, or AOL) they can sometimes be blocked by antispam firewalls. I have had personal experience of this. If the above is the scenario then none of the emails may ever get through.

 

That is such a valid point.

Well done.

It could be the problem

[jeanlyon]

Hi there, sorry if my post sounded harsh, it wasn't meant that way. That's the trouble with typing it. I simply meant "don't even consider it" there's not enough time. Apologies.

[FlamingA]

I WROTE to P&O on 21 April and still await an answer never mind an acknowledgement!

 

So much for P&O not being able to cope with 'new' technology! :mad:

 

I think I'll try e-mailing them EVERY day - until I receive an answer.

 

I'll let you know how I get on.

 

FlamingA

I said I'd let you know.

 

The very next day after I posted my comment I received a PHONE call from P & O answering my letter and apologising for their delay in replying!

 

Maybe it's a coincidence but it could be reasonably assumed that P & O DO watch this forum and respond when they feel like doing so.

 

Maybe it's also a good indicator of where to make 'reasonable' comments to get their attention.

 

I can't complain!

 

FlamingA