New Year Cruise to Bruges & Amsterdam J921

[Freddyboy]

New Year cruise to Amsterdam NOT it's mooring at IJmuiden but Hey Ho P&O are providing shuttle buses for the 40 minute journey to Amsterdam - 2000 plus passengers queuing for a shuttle !!!!! 

[Harry Peterson]

7 hours ago, Freddyboy said:

New Year cruise to Amsterdam NOT it's mooring at IJmuiden but Hey Ho P&O are providing shuttle buses for the 40 minute journey to Amsterdam - 2000 plus passengers queuing for a shuttle !!!!! 

But, let's be fair to P&O - they are saving themselves 8 Euros per passenger which they don't have to pay to the City of Amsterdam, and sending out a message that they won't be messed around with.  And that's important for the poor Carnival shareholders.

 

All P&O/Cunard/Carnival ships now diverted - 'operational reasons'!  Never mind the massive inconvenience to passengers, it's a point of principle for Carnival.

[Britboys]

Count yourself lucky  - those of us going aboard Azura on 22nd March will be vying for a bus seat with up to 3500 other pax... 

[Harry Peterson]

6 minutes ago, Britboys said:

Count yourself lucky  - those of us going aboard Azura on 22nd March will be vying for a bus seat with up to 3500 other pax... 

That's a very valid point.  It isn't just the 40 minute journey time each way, is it - you need to add the queuing time to that, and it totally wrecks the originally advertised cruise with an easy-access visit to Amsterdam.

[eddie11]

If you look  at any of the Excursions involving Amsterdam, like a canal cruise, it will helpfully tell you there is a one hour coach journey each way

[Eglesbrech]

16 hours ago, Freddyboy said:

New Year cruise to Amsterdam NOT it's mooring at IJmuiden but Hey Ho P&O are providing shuttle buses for the 40 minute journey to Amsterdam - 2000 plus passengers queuing for a shuttle !!!!! 

40 minute journey if you are lucky. We have done it with the ferry and depending on the time of the day it can take significantly longer, just like any other major city in the world.

 

I think this is so unfair on passengers but P &O don’t seem to care (along with other cruise companies who are doing the same).

 

 

[janny444]

2 hours ago, Eglesbrech said:

40 minute journey if you are lucky. We have done it with the ferry and depending on the time of the day it can take significantly longer, just like any other major city in the world.

 

I think this is so unfair on passengers but P &O don’t seem to care (along with other cruise companies who are doing the same).

 

 

 

Hi...I too am on a cruise with P&O that involves this unacceptable change of port. Unfortunately I also had the same POC change with another cruise company...MSC... BUT...they did care!....so much so that we had a full refund of all monies paid PLUS all transport costs connected to the cruise....

Will leave you to decide which cruise company cares about it's paying passengers most

[Harry Peterson]

25 minutes ago, janny444 said:

 

Hi...I too am on a cruise with P&O that involves this unacceptable change of port. Unfortunately I also had the same POC change with another cruise company...MSC... BUT...they did care!....so much so that we had a full refund of all monies paid PLUS all transport costs connected to the cruise....

Will leave you to decide which cruise company cares about it's paying passengers most

Thanks. That’s extremely interesting. Would you mind sharing some further  details of the MSC cruise and what was offered by way of compensation please?

[janny444]

2 hours ago, docco said:

Thanks. That’s extremely interesting. Would you mind sharing some further  details of the MSC cruise and what was offered by way of compensation please?

Hi...our cruise was booked for April 2019....departing Southampton. We booked when it stated Amsterdam overnight stay. They changed the POC and when we were notified they offered...Free shuttle transfer & 20% off certain excursions OR a full refund of all monies paid PLUS any extra transports costs involved with the cruise....in our case we had paid separately for the cruise connect coach. All monies refunded fairly quickly.

 

Now P&O have changed our cruise in July...once again overnight stay in Amsterdam ...port schedule gave us 2 full days in Amsterdam. Now it has been changed to Ijmuiden but what are P&O offering...nothing....absolutely nothing ....only a " take it or leave it attitude". They won't even let us change our cruise to something more acceptable to us unless we pay a £100 admin fee!...feels a bit like salt in the wounds.

 

I know in their T&Cs they can change the POC but they should consider their paying passengers and realise it is not what we booked and for the sake of customer relations give a little leeway.

[Harry Peterson]

17 minutes ago, janny444 said:

Hi...our cruise was booked for April 2019....departing Southampton. We booked when it stated Amsterdam overnight stay. They changed the POC and when we were notified they offered...Free shuttle transfer & 20% off certain excursions OR a full refund of all monies paid PLUS any extra transports costs involved with the cruise....in our case we had paid separately for the cruise connect coach. All monies refunded fairly quickly.

 

Now P&O have changed our cruise in July...once again overnight stay in Amsterdam ...port schedule gave us 2 full days in Amsterdam. Now it has been changed to Ijmuiden but what are P&O offering...nothing....absolutely nothing ....only a " take it or leave it attitude". They won't even let us change our cruise to something more acceptable to us unless we pay a £100 admin fee!...feels a bit like salt in the wounds.

 

I know in their T&Cs they can change the POC but they should consider their paying passengers and realise it is not what we booked and for the sake of customer relations give a little leeway.

Thanks for that.....interesting.  P&O are, I suppose, offering a free coach in, but that doesn't go anywhere towards dealing with the situation.

 

Negotiations with P&O will soon be underway.  They think they can rely on their T&C to get out of this, but they're not anything like as watertight as they like to pretend they are.

[Selbourne]

For anyone who has booked direct with P&O and is looking to change a cruise due to this (or any other) issue, it is worth noting that staff in the P&O call centre have discretion to waive the £100 alteration fee. 

[janny444]

10 hours ago, docco said:

Thanks for that.....interesting.  P&O are, I suppose, offering a free coach in, but that doesn't go anywhere towards dealing with the situation.

 

Negotiations with P&O will soon be underway.  They think they can rely on their T&C to get out of this, but they're not anything like as watertight as they like to pretend they are.

Hi...I have written to P&O asking 2 questions which require an answer.

First question is ...how many shuttle buses are being provided to transfer over 3000 passengers because if there is not enough it will mean an hour and half wait until they return which leads onto the second question

For medical reasons I can't be in the sun for any length of time and bearing in mind it will be July  so I need to know what shelter P&O will provide while waiting in the queue ...especially on the return journey...if one doesn't queue goodness knows how long it will take to get back.

Interesting point made by Selbourne....when the point was made to P&O regarding waiving the admin fee it was a categorical NO...they wouldn't move an inch

 

[Selbourne]

janny444 - Did you book direct with P&O or through a TA? If the former, then I would try again, telling them that you know for a fact that they have discretion on the £100 fee. If you remain unlucky then I’m sure that an email to Christopher Edgington’s office may do the trick. I guess that if you are sufficiently concerned and an alternative cruise takes your fancy then £100 is a relatively small price to pay, but I appreciate that there is a principle at stake and you shouldn’t have to do so. 

[ann141]

I think Christopher Edgington has now left but the new CEO is Paul Ludlow.I too have, in the past had the £100 admin fee waived so I think it is worth pursuing

[Britboys]

2 hours ago, ann141 said:

I think Christopher Edgington has now left but the new CEO is Paul Ludlow.I too have, in the past had the £100 admin fee waived so I think it is worth pursuing

 

You are correct about Christopher Edgington - http://www.travelweekly.co.uk/articles/317761/edgington-and-rousham-to-leave-carnival-uk-as-ludlow-and-palethorpe-promoted - which is a shame as he had a good reputation for responding to concerns raised with him by pax.

[Eglesbrech]

16 hours ago, janny444 said:

Hi...our cruise was booked for April 2019....departing Southampton. We booked when it stated Amsterdam overnight stay. They changed the POC and when we were notified they offered...Free shuttle transfer & 20% off certain excursions OR a full refund of all monies paid PLUS any extra transports costs involved with the cruise....in our case we had paid separately for the cruise connect coach. All monies refunded fairly quickly.

 

Now P&O have changed our cruise in July...once again overnight stay in Amsterdam ...port schedule gave us 2 full days in Amsterdam. Now it has been changed to Ijmuiden but what are P&O offering...nothing....absolutely nothing ....only a " take it or leave it attitude". They won't even let us change our cruise to something more acceptable to us unless we pay a £100 admin fee!...feels a bit like salt in the wounds.

 

I know in their T&Cs they can change the POC but they should consider their paying passengers and realise it is not what we booked and for the sake of customer relations give a little leeway.

I have never travelled with MSC but this kind of thing does make me wonder if I should look beyond the normal companies I tend to cruise with and try out others. Face it the loyalty scheme with P&O is not worth hanging around for and the customer service is patchy at best.

 

Nice to hear that MSC have taken a more customer friendly approach. It will be interesting to see over the coming weeks if P&O become a bit more accommodating and / or if someone affected challenges the, formally.

[pete14]

The P&O website refers to Amsterdam (from Ijmuiden) for this cruise. Presumably this has been changed from what it said previously which indicates that P&O have realised their error and corrected it. May help you to persuade them that those who booked before it was changed should be treated a little more sympathetically. 

[pete14]

On 2/17/2019 at 6:19 AM, docco said:

But, let's be fair to P&O - they are saving themselves 8 Euros per passenger which they don't have to pay to the City of Amsterdam, and sending out a message that they won't be messed around with.  And that's important for the poor Carnival shareholders.

 

All P&O/Cunard/Carnival ships now diverted - 'operational reasons'!  Never mind the massive inconvenience to passengers, it's a point of principle for Carnival.

 

A quick look at the Amsterdam port website seems to indicate that the Amsterdam cruise ship port is closed because of bridge works which will also prevent it being used in the future by all but very small ships. A possible new cruise port may be 5 years away. Although P&O may not have handled this situation very well, they cannot be blamed for not using a closed cruise port or accused of being unwilling to pay a small extra tax.

[Eglesbrech]

4 minutes ago, pete14 said:

 

A quick look at the Amsterdam port website seems to indicate that the Amsterdam cruise ship port is closed because of bridge works which will also prevent it being used in the future by all but very small ships. A possible new cruise port may be 5 years away. Although P&O may not have handled this situation very well, they cannot be blamed for not using a closed cruise port or accused of being unwilling to pay a small extra tax.

The timing is strange then for Amsterdam to have imposed this tax if very few ships will be able to use the port and so pay it.

 

I also wonder why P&O did not tell passengers if this was the case, providing a reasonable explaination would surely have stopped a lot ofupset,  phone calls and emails.

[Harry Peterson]

18 minutes ago, pete14 said:

 

A quick look at the Amsterdam port website seems to indicate that the Amsterdam cruise ship port is closed because of bridge works which will also prevent it being used in the future by all but very small ships. A possible new cruise port may be 5 years away. Although P&O may not have handled this situation very well, they cannot be blamed for not using a closed cruise port or accused of being unwilling to pay a small extra tax.

Hmmmmm...........

 

Perhaps you’re right. Something very easily checked against the facts. Odd, though, that faced with direct questions last week about the meaning of the “operational reasons” phrase they’re using, they refused point blank to give any further details whatever. 

 

Maybe their lawyers are working on a statement which will protect them against the inevitable legal actions without being exposed later as untrue.

[Eglesbrech]

I have had a look at the port timetable and there still seem to be a lot of ships berthing there this year, including some big ones eg for Costa, RCI, Aida, Viking, NCL etc etc.

 

Unless the timetable has yet to be updapted the disruption does not seem to be having a major effect on every ship, unless of course these are all small vessels but I doubt if the RCI ones are.

 

P&O are missing from the list as are some other lines.

 

Makes you wonder what is actually going on.

[sogne]

1 hour ago, pete14 said:

The P&O website refers to Amsterdam (from Ijmuiden) for this cruise. Presumably this has been changed from what it said previously which indicates that P&O have realised their error and corrected it. May help you to persuade them that those who booked before it was changed should be treated a little more sympathetically. 

 

 

I can find mention of a new sea lock being built at Ijmuiden but no mention of closure of port to cruise ships due to bridge work on the Port of Amsterdam website, indeed the port WS give notice of maiden calls to Amsterdam this year. Can you provide a link?

[sogne]

56 minutes ago, pete14 said:

 

A quick look at the Amsterdam port website seems to indicate that the Amsterdam cruise ship port is closed because of bridge works which will also prevent it being used in the future by all but very small ships. A possible new cruise port may be 5 years away. Although P&O may not have handled this situation very well, they cannot be blamed for not using a closed cruise port or accused of being unwilling to pay a small extra tax.

 

I can find mention of a new sea lock being built at Ijmuiden but no mention of closure of port to cruise ships due to bridge work on the Port of Amsterdam website, indeed the port WS give notice of maiden calls to Amsterdam this year. Can you provide a link?

[pete14]

1 hour ago, sogne said:

 

I can find mention of a new sea lock being built at Ijmuiden but no mention of closure of port to cruise ships due to bridge work on the Port of Amsterdam website, indeed the port WS give notice of maiden calls to Amsterdam this year. Can you provide a link?

 

www.dutchamsterdam.nl/7400-directions-amsterdam-cruise-ships

If you scroll down, beneath the map which includes hotels and prices, you come to header 'Possible Cruise Terminal move. It is a little ambiguous and refers to decisions that at the time of writing had not been made. Hopefully somebody can provide  more up to date  information to provide clarification.

[bee-ess]

2 hours ago, Eglesbrech said:

I have never travelled with MSC but this kind of thing does make me wonder if I should look beyond the normal companies I tend to cruise with and try out others. Face it the loyalty scheme with P&O is not worth hanging around for and the customer service is patchy at best.

 

Nice to hear that MSC have taken a more customer friendly approach. It will be interesting to see over the coming weeks if P&O become a bit more accommodating and / or if someone affected challenges the, formally.

 

Cruise Program on TV tonight on C5 9PM about MSC Seaside

https://www.radiotimes.com/tv-programme/e/hpzspd/secrets-of-the-mega-cruise-ship/

Edited February 18, 2019 by bee-ess