C'MON P&O why no Cruises from Auckland In 2012 season

[oysterfiend]

I am aghast- the cruises from Auckland book out and yet rather than offering us NEW, Exciting itineraries for Winter 2012,

what do P&O do?

 

Offer us none at all.

No wonder so many kiwis sail on Carnival cruises from the USA.

At least we get treated equally there.

You can book a Carnival cruise with your travel agent for the same price and benefits as Americans can and if you have sailed with them before you can buy a cruise certificate on board and get a further on board credit,

Plus register for any price drops.

[tgould]

I agree Oysterfiend.

 

On the one hand, there is a lot of talk about how Kiwis are discovering cruising, they are launching a new ship in NZ, cruises have been booked out etc. And in the next breath we hear that there is nothing happing from NZ in winter 2012 - WHY?

 

Looks like all trips are out of sydney only from April to August - ridiculous! Don't we poor Kiwis deserve a winter escape?

[thied]

why is there so many cruises to newzealand?

[The_Big_M]

Because it's a great place to go! Weird question...

[Bella cruiser]

I am aghast- the cruises from Auckland book out and yet rather than offering us NEW, Exciting itineraries for Winter 2012,

what do P&O do?

 

Offer us none at all.

 

No wonder so many kiwis sail on Carnival cruises from the USA.

 

At least we get treated equally there.

You can book a Carnival cruise with your travel agent for the same price and benefits as Americans can and if you have sailed with them before you can buy a cruise certificate on board and get a further on board credit,

Plus register for any price drops.

 

I noticed that too. Someone asked this question directly on the P & O Facebook wall and P&O replied that they had extended the summer season. At the time I didn't think that the reply given answered the question at all:confused:

[thied]

I noticed that too. Someone asked this question directly on the P & O Facebook wall and P&O replied that they had extended the summer season. At the time I didn't think that the reply given answered the question at all:confused:

 

P&O seldom answer direct questions.

[Sandielle]

I noticed that too. Someone asked this question directly on the P & O Facebook wall and P&O replied that they had extended the summer season. At the time I didn't think that the reply given answered the question at all:confused:

 

I didn't think so either. Some days they answer quite a few very satisfactorily and others not many. Probably depends how busy they are on a given day. I think they are probably junior staff who are not in a position to know everything, either.

 

Also it depends how the question is asked.

[silverwillow]

Yes it sucks, I went on the p&o site thinking that when we visit nz in April 2012 to see family that perhaps we could talk them into a cruise so we can combine a visit with a cruise and went to find a cruise... Nada, nothing. :(

[thied]

we are not bagging P&O are we?

[Kiwi_cruiser]

You took a little while to notice this oysterfiend ;) :) :p

 

On the one hand, there is a lot of talk about how Kiwis are discovering cruising, they are launching a new ship in NZ, cruises have been booked out etc. And in the next breath we hear that there is nothing happing from NZ in winter 2012 - WHY?

 

That's a very good question on WHY? (If we will every find out Why they aren't sailing from Auckland in Winter 2012, it will be interesting.), as when the news of this came out I was on a cruise and I got a shock when I came back and read about that in rkmw thread.

 

To WHY they are not sailing out of NZ in winter 2012, I can think of a number of possible reasons:

 

1. P&O can make more money from Australia,

 

2. Maybe what they said when I send them a tweet on twitter about this

we've extended the summer season due to strong demand :)

, Might be true and the Pearl is selling well during our summer months, so they decided not to do a winter season. Since we started cruising back in 2006 P&O have not done any cruses out of Auckland during the summer, only during the winter.

 

3. P&O want to give lines like Holland America, Princess, Royal Caribbean etc.. Who do a run out of Auckland during the summer months a run for their money?

 

4. Maybe P&O are tired of storm damage and scary trips their ships get when cruising from Auckland during the winter (E.g.: Pacific Star & Pacific Sun both had “fun” trips to Auckland (and maybe even from Auckland)).

 

(If that’s the case just wait in till they get chased by a Tropical Cyclone to Auckland or going to the islands/ Australia from Auckland.)

 

5. Carnival / P&O could be fed up with Auckland’s Ports see: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1300694

 

etc…

 

Looks like all trips are out of sydney only from April to August - ridiculous! Don't we poor Kiwis deserve a winter escape?

 

Or do a trip from Brisbane.

 

why is there so many cruises to newzealand?

 

Don't know, maybe because its poplar with people?

 

I noticed that too. Someone asked this question directly on the P & O Facebook wall and P&O replied that they had extended the summer season. At the time I didn't think that the reply given answered the question at all:confused:

 

I sent P&O a tweet on twitter about this and this is what they said to me:

we've extended the summer season due to strong demand :)

[thied]

You took a little while to notice this oysterfiend ;) :) :p

 

 

 

That's a very good question on WHY? (If we will every find out Why they aren't sailing from Auckland in Winter 2012, it will be interesting.), as when the news of this came out I was on a cruise and I got a shock when I came back and read about that in rkmw thread.

 

To WHY they are not sailing out of NZ in winter 2012, I can think of a number of possible reasons:

 

1. P&O can make more money from Australia,

 

2. Maybe what they said when I send them a tweet on twitter about this , Might be true and the Pearl is selling well during our summer months, so they decided not to do a winter season. Since we started cruising back in 2006 P&O have not done any cruses out of Auckland during the summer, only during the winter.

 

3. P&O want to give lines like Holland America, Princess, Royal Caribbean etc.. Who do a run out of Auckland during the summer months a run for their money?

 

4. Maybe P&O are tired of storm damage and scary trips their ships get when cruising from Auckland during the winter (E.g.: Pacific Star & Pacific Sun both had “fun” trips to Auckland (and maybe even from Auckland)).

 

(If that’s the case just wait in till they get chased by a Tropical Cyclone to Auckland or going to the islands/ Australia from Auckland.)

 

5. Carnival / P&O could be fed up with Auckland’s Ports see: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1300694

 

etc…

 

 

 

Or do a trip from Brisbane.

 

 

 

Don't know, maybe because its poplar with people?

 

 

 

I sent P&O a tweet on twitter about this and this is what they said to me:

or as you said 4. Maybe P&O are tired of storm damage and scary trips their ships get when cruising from Auckland during the winter

[Shiprobbo]

Could well be tired of the adverse publicity every time it gets a bit rough

[oysterfiend]

Why do we want a summer holiday in the height of Summer?

For me Cruising in the Winter is PREEMO-

Escapism at it's best,

See we will just have to save our airfares and do trips to the Carribean on CARNIVAL instead

And hey , we' ve been on Carnival Splendor when it didn't go to Mexico - because of Swine flu,

But just in case of an engine fire we will book a balcony for less than OV cabin on any of Australia's P&O ships.

Thanks P&O for convincing us to use our $100 Carnival certificate sooner rather than later.

[cruisin-m]

There would definitely be a reason why they don't cruise there during the Winter, chances are that it is probably a financial one, cruises out of sydney for the same length of time on Pacific Pearl attact a premium over identical NZ departures on most cruises.

 

If NZ was really booking cruises that fast and selling well, P&O would undoubtedly be cruising there a whole lot more, they are after all a business at the end of the day.

[rockie]

Everytime I have worked in the winter cruise season we have boarded a full ship each time, so I cannot fathom this, it can't be because of low bookings.

 

Some of us do NOT like flying and these winter cruises are great.

 

Also winter is the time when a lot of people can go, not everybody gets summer holidays. I do hope they will change their minds.

[The_Big_M]

Everytime I have worked in the winter cruise season we have boarded a full ship each time, so I cannot fathom this, it can't be because of low bookings.

 

Most ships sail close to full at any time, thanks to last minute discounting. (There were some local balconies going for significantly under $100 a day just this month.)

 

The discounting required is the issue. If they can fill a ship at higher prices that means better returns (and not a loss in some cases) then when they have to fill a ship by massive discounts.

[oysterfiend]

Most ships sail close to full at any time, thanks to last minute discounting. (There were some local balconies going for significantly under $100 a day just this month.)

 

The discounting required is the issue. If they can fill a ship at higher prices that means better returns (and not a loss in some cases) then when they have to fill a ship by massive discounts.

 

We were told we would get a new ship- Pacific Pearl,

But to me it seems as though with the reduction of cruises we are NOW worse off than better off.

 

I dispute the fact that kiwis aren't cruising in numbers-

Cruising over here is a growing trend.

Aussies have 28 Million plus(?) and four P and O ships ,

We have 4 million plus and occasionally get the use of one-

How lucky are we??:mad:

like I said once we get the taste- if the market is not being met we will go elsewhere and cruise a lot cheaper.

The biggest problem for me is that our NZ and Australian cruises are not advertised early enough, and they are predominately in the summer (we can only holiday in the winter)

or we've already been there done that.

Some variety would be good.

I don't look for discount fares as my husband has to take his holiday time off at least a year in advance to be sure he gets it.

[rockie]

In my opinion the discount fares shouldn't have any bearing. Once they have you onboard, you are a captive audience and they rely on getting your onboard spending.

[Gold Coast Cruisers]

When we were on the Pacific Dawn there were many people from New Zealand on board.

I asked them about cruising from Auckland and their answer was that if they fly to Brisbane and board the ship there they get the warmer weather instantly. If they board in Auckland they have a four days in total out of the cruise where the weather is cool to cold, especially during the Winter months.

 

Maybe P & O are thinking the same.

 

Jillybean:)

[thied]

Because it's a great place to go! Weird question...

 

yes it is a nice place to go, but there has to be some reason why some cruise lines P&O and princess eg have gone from a few cruises a year to nz to suddenly flooding nz with cruises from Australia and dropping alot of pacific island cruise and ports.

[oysterfiend]

When we were on the Pacific Dawn there were many people from New Zealand on board.

I asked them about cruising from Auckland and their answer was that if they fly to Brisbane and board the ship there they get the warmer weather instantly. If they board in Auckland they have a four days in total out of the cruise where the weather is cool to cold, especially during the Winter months.

 

Maybe P & O are thinking the same.

 

Jillybean:)

Because up until now we only had the Pacific Sun and its nice to be able to get a more affordable balcony on the Pacific Dawn:confused:

[NSWP]

May be the earthquakes still happening around Christchurch are making tourists nervous?

[The_Big_M]

In my opinion the discount fares shouldn't have any bearing. Once they have you onboard, you are a captive audience and they rely on getting your onboard spending.

 

Sure, onboard spending provides the cream. However, fares make up the majority of the cruise line revenue, and can easily make a profitable cruise an unprofitable cruise depending on the level of discounting required.

[oysterfiend]

May be the earthquakes still happening around Christchurch are making tourists nervous?

 

How does this affect the average kiwis sailing/ or as will be the case Winter 2012,

NOT SAILING on winter cruises out of Auckland??:confused:

Why should this affect how many/ or the fact we have NO WINTER cruises sailing out of Auckland in 2012-?

 

So much for getting a new ship here- it will barely be here and then it will be gone.

 

We don't all come from Christchurch and not every tourist goes to Christchurch.

[thied]

not many of the cruise lines have Itineraries for the summer season for the end of 2012, and P&O OZ havnt got any past july 2012