Booking Help from USA!!!

[rolando]

Hello all

 

My partner and I are trying to book a 7 day cruise aboard Oceana on July 1, 2006 to the Norwegian Fjords and have been unsuccessful thus far. We live in the US and cannot find anyone who can book this product. I've even tried emailing P&O in the UK directly and have not received any response. Tried my travel agent and he said he could not book either.

 

I know this board does not allow discussions around travel agents, but is there anyone out there who knows how to book this thing from the US? I've got to believe that P&O would like to take our money if we're willing to give it to them!!! :confused:

 

Thanks in advance

[Morgans]

On the P & O website homepage there is a section at the top entitled How to Book. (http://www.pocruises.co.uk) Try clicking on this for more information. For overseas clients the following info is given:

 

for Euro/Med cruises the e-mail address appears to be :-

overseas.reservations@pocruises.com and they give a phone number as 00 11 442380 523419

 

I gather Golden Bear Travel in Novato, Ca also can help with longer cruises with P & O but may worth giving a call too.

 

Good luck

 

Marge.M

[LEESRE]

Also go to P & O web site and on there you will find details of travel agencies in the UK that have web pages and they will be able to help you.

[dougnewmanatsea]

You will probably have to book with a UK agent or with P&O in the UK.

 

They will take your money if you force them to ;) , but do not market in the US and generally I think they would much rather you take Princess or Cunard (P&O Princess brands deemed suitable for Americans). I think the only P&O cruises that are officially available in the US are the world cruises (though now that Cunard is "in the family", they may not be available either).

 

I know quite a few Americans who have been on P&O in the past few years, so it can be done... But so far as I know, there is no official marketing of P&O outside of the UK, Australia, and New Zealand. However I do think they at least have official sales agents in some other countries. Not in the US though!

 

Some have complained that P&O act like they are trying to discourage Americans, and in truth they are in a way... This difficulty booking is P&O's way of asking you if you're absolutely sure that you want to take a P&O cruise, even though it is not in any way a US-oriented product. And this has been incredilby effective - most Americans I know who have been on P&O recently have been the only Americans on the ship. Personally I would have no problem with this and I'm sure many others would not either (after all, it's not you'll be on a ship full of people who don't share a common language with you - which can happen on some European lines that do market in the US!) but there are also a lot of people who would and basically P&O are doing them a service by making it a little difficult to book from the US.

[Druke I]

In the past, Princess has listed limited P&O cruises (usually World Cruises) in some of their brochures.

 

Princess' Circle representatives on board have assured me that at some future, unspecified point, Princess will accept bookings for most, if not all, P&O cruises, as there is building interest in the US. I for one want to take either Oriana or Aurora through the Suez, (segment of world cruise), a market Princess has been shying away from, what with all the "troubles" in the mid-East.

[dougnewmanatsea]

Princess' Circle representatives on board have assured me that at some future, unspecified point, Princess will accept bookings for most, if not all, P&O cruises

I would certainly welcome this.

 

The "contemporary" P&O ships (ARCADIA and OCEANA) do not appeal to me but the "traditional" ones (ORIANA, AURORA, ARTEMIS) do.

 

I have also heard (unconfirmed) from a friend in Australia that Princess may market PACIFIC SKY's Singapore-based Southeast Asian cruises in the US.

 

I like this ship very much, having sailed in her as SKY PRINCESS, and the idea of a Southeast Asian cruise in her is rather attractive.

[Druke I]

Host Doug

 

Yes, Pacific Sky, formerly Sky Princess, was a great ship, aside from her turbine gears problem.

 

Sailed her twice, once Osaka to Vancouver 4-97, via Valdivostock and the Aleutians - a very cold cruise.

 

Took her last trip as Sky Princess, 9-00 San Francisco to Sydney, 28 nights, via many WWII battlegrounds-and a wonderful cruise that was.

 

P&O Australia offers some great cruises - and I also heard that they might start marketing in the US. Hope so.

[dougnewmanatsea]

Yes, Pacific Sky, formerly Sky Princess, was a great ship, aside from her turbine gears problem.

Shame that Princess trashed her interiors though.

 

In her present form (which dates mostly from an early '90s Princess refit) her interiors are OK, but a bit bland.

 

The original 1984 Sitmar interiors were absolutely gorgeous from what I've seen of them. Totally unlike what one finds on most cruise ships today... More like the MSC or pre-Carnival Costa ships (both Italian like Sitmar) and far more elegant and distinctive than the standard-issue Princess decor she later got.