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Next week marks the start of the period where customers will be forced in to making the choice as to whether to cancel / transfer their 15th October cruise, or to proceed to make a full balance payment.

 

I understand that many on this forum are skeptical about cruise travel prior to a vaccine being available, or, at very least the EU CLIA guidance restrictions being withdrawn to protect the holiday experience.  This is a personal choice.

 

However, I would be grateful for your opinions on what you think broader customer sentiment will be, for instance is it more:

 

1) The "opening up" inspired confidence that cruises might still depart, therefore pay the balance and look forward to the holiday? OR,

 

2) Has the rouse around FCCs, poor experience around refunds spread widely enough in to customer knowledge base; therefore do not give P&O any more money on the promise of a holiday voucher?

 

I find public perception, beyond anger over refunds, hard to read on social media.  Hard to know for certain of course, but what does your instinct tell you about how others, in general, read the situation?

 

Thank you in advance.

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1 minute ago, No pager thank you said:

Next week marks the start of the period where customers will be forced in to making the choice as to whether to cancel / transfer their 15th October cruise, or to proceed to make a full balance payment.

 

I understand that many on this forum are skeptical about cruise travel prior to a vaccine being available, or, at very least the EU CLIA guidance restrictions being withdrawn to protect the holiday experience.  This is a personal choice.

 

However, I would be grateful for your opinions on what you think broader customer sentiment will be, for instance is it more:

 

1) The "opening up" inspired confidence that cruises might still depart, therefore pay the balance and look forward to the holiday? OR,

 

2) Has the rouse around FCCs, poor experience around refunds spread widely enough in to customer knowledge base; therefore do not give P&O any more money on the promise of a holiday voucher?

 

I find public perception, beyond anger over refunds, hard to read on social media.  Hard to know for certain of course, but what does your instinct tell you about how others, in general, read the situation?

 

Thank you in advance.

I think it will be a mixture of things.We have a cruise on Arcadia in October for which the balance is due on 20 July. I don t want a FCC so a day or 2 before the due date I will phone P and O to ask for an extension of balance payment(It appears that someone has been successful in doing this)In the meantime I will hope that P and O cancel the cruise so that I can have a refund.If they won t extend the balance date I will transfer but will hold out as long as possible.The same applies to our January cruise.If I manage to get refunds on both, we won t have any future cruises booked and shall look to booking again once things have improved(even if not until 2022 or beyond)

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15 minutes ago, No pager thank you said:

Next week marks the start of the period where customers will be forced in to making the choice as to whether to cancel / transfer their 15th October cruise, or to proceed to make a full balance payment.

 

I understand that many on this forum are skeptical about cruise travel prior to a vaccine being available, or, at very least the EU CLIA guidance restrictions being withdrawn to protect the holiday experience.  This is a personal choice.

 

However, I would be grateful for your opinions on what you think broader customer sentiment will be, for instance is it more:

 

1) The "opening up" inspired confidence that cruises might still depart, therefore pay the balance and look forward to the holiday? OR,

 

2) Has the rouse around FCCs, poor experience around refunds spread widely enough in to customer knowledge base; therefore do not give P&O any more money on the promise of a holiday voucher?

 

I find public perception, beyond anger over refunds, hard to read on social media.  Hard to know for certain of course, but what does your instinct tell you about how others, in general, read the situation?

 

Thank you in advance.

 

In all honesty I don't see how it can possibly go ahead. As Ann suggested above, contact P & O and ask for a balance extension.

In the light of the FCO statement of yesterday you will also need to check your travel insurance. Cruising against FCO edicts negates your insurance.

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It is a personal decision and people will have different views.  We should have been going on Ventura 31st October but given the uncertainty surrounding covid19 we decided to cancel.  

We chose to cancel rather than move because :

A) We don't feel comfortable about cruising until there is a vaccine available.

B) We already have our cruises for 2021 booked

C) We were booked through a TA who has been obstructive about trying to get a refund for a cancelled June cruise so we wanted to get away from the TA.

 

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We have until August 8th to pay the balance on our November cruise. If P&O extend the balance date, we will wait. If not it will be cancelled. There is absolutely no way we are going to risk  paying for a cruise that may or may not sail. 

Avril 

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Interesting thread.

A.  We booked Iona for the end of November using an FCC, which covered the full cost, therefore no balance to pay.

B.  That cruise B2B's with December for which there is a balance to pay mid September.  Currently happy to pay the balance, its only a one week cruise in an inside cabin, and will decide re FCC or refund if that need arises.

C.  Balance for Arcadia's worldie is due early September.  Have emailed the TA to see whether they can extend the balance date as it is four weeks before PandO's balance date.  Aurora's 22 worldie doesn't appeal so don't want to transfer to that.  Also, got a good deal from the TA and have an aft balcony, so really reluctant not be on board if she does go, so will be paying that balance and keeping our finger's crossed.

 

Still waiting on a response from PandO regarding using our left over FCC to put towards Worldie.

 

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My thoughts  are that I cannot see how things will change substantially for the better over the next three months. Even in the extremely unlikely eventuality that a few cruises do start, the onboard experience, with masks,  regimented dining etc  will totally detract from the pleasure.

So, move your deposit to a cruise as far in the future as possible.  We've already moved our January 21 Ventura deposit to Arcadia in March 22, and will move it again when the new brochure comes out, to hopefully secure another cruise at a better price. 

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We have Iona booked for 24th October 2020 and final balance is 26th July.  My bugbear is why is the final payment date for P&O and Cunard so early?!!  Royal Caribbean has a final payment date of the month before.  Similarly if booking through an overseas TA, MSC is the month before.  Interestingly, I have also booked Cunard via a German TA and the final payment is about 6 weeks before.  So it can be done.  

 

I "only" paid £60 so think will just absorb the loss. (I'll leave it until a couple of days before in case they announce another extension to the pause).  There is nothing more that I can fit into the next 18 months!  I have also noticed that prices have shot up.  Two nights Britannia (16.4.21) is now £967 for a standard balcony!!  I've also noticed the deposits have crept up so if I did wish to move my current booking, I would have to tie up even more money into P&O in the way of enhanced deposit.  Fortunately, I have Iona booked for Easter next year, and have £60 obc, so that will negate my upcoming loss!! 

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12 minutes ago, panamapd said:

We have Iona booked for 24th October 2020 and final balance is 26th July.  My bugbear is why is the final payment date for P&O and Cunard so early?!!  Royal Caribbean has a final payment date of the month before.  Similarly if booking through an overseas TA, MSC is the month before.  Interestingly, I have also booked Cunard via a German TA and the final payment is about 6 weeks before.  So it can be done.  

 

I "only" paid £60 so think will just absorb the loss. (I'll leave it until a couple of days before in case they announce another extension to the pause).  There is nothing more that I can fit into the next 18 months!  I have also noticed that prices have shot up.  Two nights Britannia (16.4.21) is now £967 for a standard balcony!!  I've also noticed the deposits have crept up so if I did wish to move my current booking, I would have to tie up even more money into P&O in the way of enhanced deposit.  Fortunately, I have Iona booked for Easter next year, and have £60 obc, so that will negate my upcoming loss!! 

You could always transfer the deposit to another cruise.We have Arcadia booked in October with the deposit due 20Th July.I am going to phone P and O a day before balance date and ask for an extension.(See thread 6 November... Someone has been given an extension to their balance

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Forgot to say in answer to the original poster.  We would cancel anyway.  This is based on the cruise being in October to northern ports.  With all the possible new protocols in place, we feel it would be miserable.  (Hopefully you have seen how Aida plan to manage their upcoming August 2020 cruise)?

 

I would only now cruise, if possible, during the summer months from the UK.  It seems as though the only way to have an enjoyable, cruise that bears some relation to cruise of old ,is being out on the decks for most of the cruise and in fine weather!

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11 minutes ago, panamapd said:

We have Iona booked for 24th October 2020 and final balance is 26th July.  My bugbear is why is the final payment date for P&O and Cunard so early?!!  Royal Caribbean has a final payment date of the month before.  Similarly if booking through an overseas TA, MSC is the month before.  Interestingly, I have also booked Cunard via a German TA and the final payment is about 6 weeks before.  So it can be done.  

 

I "only" paid £60 so think will just absorb the loss. (I'll leave it until a couple of days before in case they announce another extension to the pause).  There is nothing more that I can fit into the next 18 months!  I have also noticed that prices have shot up.  Two nights Britannia (16.4.21) is now £967 for a standard balcony!!  

If it helps, as opposed to losing your £60, if you don't want to pay, transfer it to another cheap cruise (even that Balcony on Britannia...!), then transfer it again when the 2022/23 brochure is released.  Prices should be better then and even if they aren't, then you'll still only lose £60.

 

That's part of the reason why the short cruises are so overpriced, the current policy forces customers to "game" the system.

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Thank you to those who have shared their thoughts on this thread so far.  My own issue will come with a Christmas cruise, however I should expect that by mid September, there should be either a clear and/or restart protocol, or an extension of cancellations.

 

My perception of this has shifted a bit.  Most people are "dodging the bullet" and either cancelling or transferring their own cruise, for any one of a number of very sound reasons.  Strangely, the worse P&O do with customer service and refunds, the more who may pursue this path.

 

Therefore, the worst possible outcome (beyond being on a ship with an outbreak) - you pay full whack, P&O then "cull you" from the cruise (overbooking/commercial reasons), and then take an eternity to refund you with  a poor value FCC alternative seems less likely than it did six weeks ago.

 

This is because enough passengers are deciding they don't like the smell of the coffee at the moment.  Anyone disagree?  

 

Thank you again for sharing your thoughts.

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5 hours ago, No pager thank you said:

This is because enough passengers are deciding they don't like the smell of the coffee at the moment.  Anyone disagree?  

 

I dont disagree at all. 

If I had a deposit on a 2020 cruise, I would be moving it immediately.  

 

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9 minutes ago, Bazrat said:

We still intend to go in November unless they change it again,next year already booked up and 2022 to far off for us to consider at the moment 

Fair enough, as with you I booked throughout the brochure from pre registration so I have holidays booked from before the pandemic up to 2022, as I say my next one is Christmas.

 

If I'm reading this correctly, your balance will be due in August; are you expecting to be given any leeway on when to pay it, or do you think that P&O would allow you to use any FCC against an existing booking, should the cruise be paid for and then not go ahead (fingers crossed it does of course🤞)?  Or, are you happy to wait for a refund if it comes to it?

 

The press release from Carnival suggests that upon restart, cruises may travel on 50% or less occupancy; hopefully a free cabin upgrade then 😁

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23 minutes ago, PRINCESSTHE BEST said:

A good article on the dilemma for the cruise industry.

 

https://apple.news/AIjLPe9-1SjCUJtrtWyfJoA

Interesting article, thank you.

 

Underlines that the P&O statement that they will not be sailing until 15th October does not mean that passengers should expect that they are from 16th October, in all or most cases necessarily. 

 

On the other thread, the rumours are Transatlantic being restarted with less than 50% occupancy and a trek round the British Isles on one of Ventura or Azura.

 

What I would say is that if you are booked on the "new maiden" for Iona, the chances look lower, again from speculation elsewhere.

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25 minutes ago, PRINCESSTHE BEST said:

A good article on the dilemma for the cruise industry.

 

https://apple.news/AIjLPe9-1SjCUJtrtWyfJoA


Very interesting article. I hadn’t appreciated just how much deterioration a ship can experience in these circumstances. I guess it means that some ships could have residual problems well beyond resumption of service and, in extreme cases, could result in more disposals should repairs become uneconomical. 

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8 minutes ago, No pager thank you said:

The press release from Carnival suggests that upon restart, cruises may travel on 50% or less occupancy; hopefully a free cabin upgrade then 😁

Dream on!

I would have thought that from a financial point of view,  they would just cancel everyone with an inside cabin.

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11 minutes ago, No pager thank you said:

Fair enough, as with you I booked throughout the brochure from pre registration so I have holidays booked from before the pandemic up to 2022, as I say my next one is Christmas.

 

If I'm reading this correctly, your balance will be due in August; are you expecting to be given any leeway on when to pay it, or do you think that P&O would allow you to use any FCC against an existing booking, should the cruise be paid for and then not go ahead (fingers crossed it does of course🤞)?  Or, are you happy to wait for a refund if it comes to it?

 

The press release from Carnival suggests that upon restart, cruises may travel on 50% or less occupancy; hopefully a free cabin upgrade then 😁

We rebooked using the fcc and they let us add the beloved blue light card to get an extra £150 obc,so saved us about £600

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Just now, wowzz said:

Dream on!

I would have thought that from a financial point of view,  they would just cancel everyone with an inside cabin.

We can all live in hope, even false hope...🤣

 

Suppose that it's possible that more people will move their bookings from arguably overpriced balconies than they  will do cheaper insides, so you could have spare cabins available and in those weird circumstances, upgrades make sense.

 

If they can't fill to 50% anyway they won't necessarily cancel the insiders?  False hope...

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8 minutes ago, wowzz said:

Dream on!

I would have thought that from a financial point of view,  they would just cancel everyone with an inside cabin.


I agree. I’ve said before that I think it’s extremely naive of so many people making the assumption that reduced capacity automatically means those in inside cabins will be upgraded. It makes far more sense commercially to just cancel the bookings of those in inside cabins. Also, how would those who booked and paid for a balcony cabin feel if everyone who paid for an inside was upgraded to one free of charge? There aren’t enough suites to upgrade all of those passengers! Finally, those living in hope of these automatic upgrades must be confident that there will be tons of empty balcony cabins available for this huge act of generosity by P&O. If the Carnival press release is to be believed, there aren’t going to be many left. But, of course, P&O are renowned for their generosity to customers, so I might be wrong 😉

Edited by Selbourne
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