Next announcement of cancellations

[Britboys]

1 hour ago, zap99 said:

We have Alaska booked for June and Iona fjords for next August. Both will go, I'm sure. They can't keep messing Gary about😁

Hope your optimism is well-founded Zap as I am due on a cruise next June too...🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻

[Adawn47]

48 minutes ago, Britboys said:

Hope your optimism is well-founded Zap as I am due on a cruise next June too...🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻

A couple here with everything crossed for June.🤞

Avril

[molecrochip]

Everything seems to have changed today with the latest news, lets hope it works in the next 2-3 weeks. I've not been around today but this morning was given the tip to 're-read' the FCO advice. It says:

 

The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office advises against cruise ship travel at this time. This is due to the ongoing pandemic and is based on medical advice from Public Health England.

 

Cruise ship travel means staying overnight for at least 1 night on a sea-going cruise ship with people from multiple households.

 

Our advice against cruises applies to international travel on a ship that is exclusively for pleasure or recreation, providing overnight accommodation and other leisure facilities such as entertainment venues or swimming pools.

 

Now, I'm led to think that the definition of international travel is from one jurisdiction to another, i.e. cruising via international waters is not an issue. This is important as it actually means that three is nothing stopping P&O doing an around the UK mainland cruise within the FCO rules.

 

But then the numbers went up!

[grapau27]

7 minutes ago, molecrochip said:

Everything seems to have changed today with the latest news, lets hope it works in the next 2-3 weeks. I've not been around today but this morning was given the tip to 're-read' the FCO advice. It says:

 

The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office advises against cruise ship travel at this time. This is due to the ongoing pandemic and is based on medical advice from Public Health England.

 

Cruise ship travel means staying overnight for at least 1 night on a sea-going cruise ship with people from multiple households.

 

Our advice against cruises applies to international travel on a ship that is exclusively for pleasure or recreation, providing overnight accommodation and other leisure facilities such as entertainment venues or swimming pools.

 

Now, I'm led to think that the definition of international travel is from one jurisdiction to another, i.e. cruising via international waters is not an issue. This is important as it actually means that three is nothing stopping P&O doing an around the UK mainland cruise within the FCO rules.

 

But then the numbers went up!

Interesting.

 

[Chrisdriving]

And gatherings of more than 6 are banned possibly for 3 months plus.

So no cruising allowed anyway i would assume.

Edited September 9, 2020 by Chrisdriving

[No pager thank you]

31 minutes ago, grapau27 said:

Interesting.

 

In principle, the current travel advice would - if read literally - allow the "Round the British Isles" cruise, which I understand is usually featured about once or twice a year, usually on a smaller ship in July / August.  This would reflect the Costa model.

 

If international travel is still to be allowed then, again read literally, there is no reason why a cruise would have to be treated differently, as I would have thought that the 'rule of six' would be "dodged" by some sort of exemption linked to international waters, if not berthing.

 

Beyond the numbers, there are a number of practical issues with this:

 

-- A number of "ports" on a home cruise, could/would be covered by local lockdown.  This would restrict itineraries.

 

-- There is no guarantee that the devolved administrations in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland would interpret the advice in the same way as England.  This could lead to the farcical scenario where the English could go on a test cruise, but not the Welsh, Scots or Northern Irish.  Or vice versa.

 

-- Unlike the Mediterranean, adverse weather conditions are much more likely to render a round Britain cruise non-viable, particularly if it was to attempt to take in Shetland etc.

 

-- As the advice is not intended to be dodged, it is not clear how travel insurance coverage would apply.  This is not about off-board medical cover via NHS, but secondary losses and on-board cost liabilities.  To the best of my knowledge, there is only one travel insurance provider offering cover for traveling against FCO advice and the upper age limit is 60.  P&O's interpretation of the FCO advice is unlikely to be shared by the travel insurance industry, who insist on "no cover" in such scenarios.

 

-- The issue of which administration agrees to take responsibility and accept repatriation of the ship, if an outbreak occurs in international waters (including for ship's company) would need to be addressed.  I assume, but don't know, that the Costa safeguard is for all passengers to disembark at the nearest home port, if that was to occur on an "all Italy" cruise.  I imagine that this is one of the reasons why some international guests cannot travel.

 

That's before you get to passenger feelings etc.  I'm just not sure I see how this could work in Winter?

Edited September 9, 2020 by No pager thank you
Wording

[grapau27]

4 minutes ago, No pager thank you said:

In principle, the current travel advice would - if read literally - allow the "Round the British Isles" cruise, which I understand is usually featured about once or twice a year, usually on a smaller ship in July / August.  This would reflect the Costa model.

 

If international travel is still to be allowed then, again read literally, there is no reason why a cruise would have to be treated differently, as I would have thought that the 'rule of six' would be "dodged" by some sort of exemption linked to international waters, if not berthing.

 

Beyond the numbers, there are a number of practical issues with this:

 

-- A number of "ports" on a home cruise, could/would be covered by local lockdown.  This would restrict itineraries.

 

-- There is no guarantee that the devolved administrations in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland would interpret the advice in the same way as England.  This could lead to the farcical scenario where the English could go on a test cruise, but not the Welsh, Scots or Northern Irish.  Or vice versa.

 

-- Unlike the Mediterranean, adverse weather conditions are much more likely to render a round Britain cruise non-viable, particularly if it was to attempt to take in Shetland etc.

 

-- As the advice is not intended to be dodged, it is not clear how travel insurance coverage would apply.  This is not about off-boars medical cover via NHS, but secondary losses and on-board cost liabilities.  To the best if my knowledge, there is only one travel insurance provider offering cover for traveling against FCO advice and the upper age limit is 60.  P&O's interpretation of the FCO advice is unlikely to be shared by the travel insurance industry, who insist on no cover in such scenarios.

 

-- The issue of which administration agrees to take responsibility and accept repatriation of the ship, if an outbreak occurs in international waters (including for ship's company) would need to be addressed.  I assume, but don't know, that the Costa safeguard is for all passengers to disembark at the nearest home port, if that was to occur on an all Italy cruise.  I imagine that this is one of the reasons why some international guests cannot travel.

 

That's before you get to passenger feelings etc.  I'm just not sure I see how this could work in Winter?

Thanks.

Without FCO authorisation and no insurance coverage a round Britain cruise is a non starter.

[Goosebear Mum]

I phoned this afternoon, as I wasn’t sure if I had auto final payment set up or not for my 12th December cruise (final payment due 13th Sept). Friendly lady told me all automated final payments have been cancelled. We’ll apparently be emailed when they ‘know more’ which they (probably like ‘Mole’) are expecting soon... Sounds like P&O have realised it would be wrong to take final payments to then try and refund them all

 

I was hopeful of the cruise happening, but now with the increase in numbers across the UK, and the ban on gatherings of >6 people, I am now less hopeful. 

 

Shame as I was looking fwd to seeing what Iona would be like, having mainly sailed on Aurora. Esp. with a Conservatory suite

 

Next year’s cruises are all priced out of my price range with the amount of advance bookings using 125% FCC, sending prices sky high 😞 

 

GBM

 

 

 

[No pager thank you]

22 hours ago, yamanid said:

 

Will definitely be asking first thing in the morning  -  if I can get through Lol

Hello, I just wanted to ask if you had any joy in asking for the balance due date to be moved? 

 

Another poster has just said that the automated payments have been cancelled and that we should know more soon.  Thank you

[No pager thank you]

9 minutes ago, Goosebear Mum said:

I phoned this afternoon, as I wasn’t sure if I had auto final payment set up or not for my 12th December cruise (final payment due 13th Sept). Friendly lady told me all automated final payments have been cancelled. We’ll apparently be emailed when they ‘know more’ which they (probably like ‘Mole’) are expecting soon... Sounds like P&O have realised it would be wrong to take final payments to then try and refund them all

 

I was hopeful of the cruise happening, but now with the increase in numbers across the UK, and the ban on gatherings of >6 people, I am now less hopeful. 

 

Shame as I was looking fwd to seeing what Iona would be like, having mainly sailed on Aurora. Esp. with a Conservatory suite

 

Next year’s cruises are all priced out of my price range with the amount of advance bookings using 125% FCC, sending prices sky high 😞 

 

GBM

 

 

 

Thanks for this.  Sorry that it looks like your cruise will not be going too, like ours. 

 

In terms of rebooking, I did see that there were some (relatively) reasonably priced cruises in November 2021 left and/or January to February 2022 - from the current brochure.  So it might be worth having a look in case the email comes through.

[Dermotsgirl]

56 minutes ago, No pager thank you said:

 

 

-- As the advice is not intended to be dodged, it is not clear how travel insurance coverage would apply.  

 

That’s the key point for me - the virus will behave in the same way whether it’s an international cruise or a round Britain cruise! 

[yamanid]

46 minutes ago, No pager thank you said:

Hello, I just wanted to ask if you had any joy in asking for the balance due date to be moved? 

 

Another poster has just said that the automated payments have been cancelled and that we should know more soon.  Thank you

 

Hello, Both my husband and I took chances each at calling throughout the day (holding on for extremely lengthy times) eventually gave up.  will be back at it again first thing in the morning and will update with our outcome.

By reading the other posts tonight I think they must definitely be going to make some announcement very soon.

Will keep you all posted.  Thank You.

May

[cruisenewbie1976]

2 hours ago, Chrisdriving said:

And gatherings of more than 6 are banned possibly for 3 months plus.

So no cruising allowed anyway i would assume.

Only applies to the group that you're with. So you could only travel with friends/family as a group of up to 6. Same as pubs, restaurants, shops, outdoor/indoor performances, tourist attractions etc, otherwise they'd all be closing down if they could only have 6 customers in at a time. 

[Son of Anarchy]

1 hour ago, Goosebear Mum said:

I phoned this afternoon, as I wasn’t sure if I had auto final payment set up or not for my 12th December cruise (final payment due 13th Sept). Friendly lady told me all automated final payments have been cancelled. We’ll apparently be emailed when they ‘know more’ which they (probably like ‘Mole’) are expecting soon... Sounds like P&O have realised it would be wrong to take final payments to then try and refund them all

 

I was hopeful of the cruise happening, but now with the increase in numbers across the UK, and the ban on gatherings of >6 people, I am now less hopeful. 

 

Shame as I was looking fwd to seeing what Iona would be like, having mainly sailed on Aurora. Esp. with a Conservatory suite

 

Next year’s cruises are all priced out of my price range with the amount of advance bookings using 125% FCC, sending prices sky high 😞 

 

GBM

 

 

 

Thank you for posting.

 

It's good to read that they appear to being sensible about balance dates.

 

Just a shame that someone has to phone up to find that out.  Bearing mind that in the past, they had the ability to email pax with a reminder to pay their balance, I would have thought that PandO could send an email giving the information that you were provided on the phone.  But we are talking about PandO IT.

 

Our balance is also due on Sunday.  I can't remember whether or not I took the auto pay option, so I was going to pay on line on Sunday.  I think I will either email them and/or call by Saturday (the call doesn't work Sundays at the moment).

 

 

 

[grapau27]

1 hour ago, yamanid said:

 

Hello, Both my husband and I took chances each at calling throughout the day (holding on for extremely lengthy times) eventually gave up.  will be back at it again first thing in the morning and will update with our outcome.

By reading the other posts tonight I think they must definitely be going to make some announcement very soon.

Will keep you all posted.  Thank You.

May

Good luck tomorrow.

Graham.

[grapau27]

2 hours ago, Goosebear Mum said:

I phoned this afternoon, as I wasn’t sure if I had auto final payment set up or not for my 12th December cruise (final payment due 13th Sept). Friendly lady told me all automated final payments have been cancelled. We’ll apparently be emailed when they ‘know more’ which they (probably like ‘Mole’) are expecting soon... Sounds like P&O have realised it would be wrong to take final payments to then try and refund them all

 

I was hopeful of the cruise happening, but now with the increase in numbers across the UK, and the ban on gatherings of >6 people, I am now less hopeful. 

 

Shame as I was looking fwd to seeing what Iona would be like, having mainly sailed on Aurora. Esp. with a Conservatory suite

 

Next year’s cruises are all priced out of my price range with the amount of advance bookings using 125% FCC, sending prices sky high 😞 

 

GBM

 

 

 

Thanks for this information.

After today's news cruising this year is looking doubtful but I hope things work out for you.

Graham.

 

[Son of Anarchy]

 

14 minutes ago, Son of Anarchy said:

Thank you for posting.

 

It's good to read that they appear to being sensible about balance dates.

 

Just a shame that someone has to phone up to find that out.  Bearing mind that in the past, they had the ability to email pax with a reminder to pay their balance, I would have thought that PandO could send an email giving the information that you were provided on the phone.  But we are talking about PandO IT.

 

Our balance is also due on Sunday.  I can't remember whether or not I took the auto pay option, so I was going to pay on line on Sunday.  I think I will either email them and/or call by Saturday (the call doesn't work Sundays at the moment).

 

 

 

 

Additionally, the balance for our November cruise was due at the end of August.  

 

We booked using FCC that exceeded the cost of the cruise, so no balance to actually pay.  However...

 

The balance screen continues to show an incorrect amount of balance still to pay, and PandO's site continues to show an unamended FCC.  So in other words they haven't moved money from the FCC to the booking.

 

I emailed PandO a couple of weeks after booking to point out the anomalies in the booking confirmation and the balance screen.  I received a reply that their system was flagged that the booking was to paid out of FCC and I only needed to wait for them to update the system in due course.

 

Might query that again when dealing with the other booking.

[Chrisdriving]

9 hours ago, cruisenewbie1976 said:

Only applies to the group that you're with. So you could only travel with friends/family as a group of up to 6. Same as pubs, restaurants, shops, outdoor/indoor performances, tourist attractions etc, otherwise they'd all be closing down if they could only have 6 customers in at a time. 

 

Ah yes thats the case but i was thinking ahead as the Virus does not care whether the 6 people know each other or not, a gathering of people is a gathering of people and we all know where this is heading i think.Hopefully next spring things will start improving again.

Edited September 10, 2020 by Chrisdriving

[davecttr]

10 hours ago, cruisenewbie1976 said:

Only applies to the group that you're with. So you could only travel with friends/family as a group of up to 6. Same as pubs, restaurants, shops, outdoor/indoor performances, tourist attractions etc, otherwise they'd all be closing down if they could only have 6 customers in at a time. 

The problem with my social club is even with 6 person groups when the bar is 'full' it is essentially a social group of over 70. Nobody wearing masks including the staff and people wandering around talking to friends in other groups. I should be going there this weekend, problem is there are 7 in my social group, so who is not going or will have to sit on their own in the corner.

[cruisenewbie1976]

2 minutes ago, davecttr said:

The problem with my social club is even with 6 person groups when the bar is 'full' it is essentially a social group of over 70. Nobody wearing masks including the staff and people wandering around talking to friends in other groups. I should be going there this weekend, problem is there are 7 in my social group, so who is not going or will have to sit on their own in the corner.

Totally agree about the situation as a whole. I was just pointing out that it doesn't mean that only 6 people are allowed in a pub/restaurant/shop etc at a time. 

[terrierjohn]

57 minutes ago, Chrisdriving said:

 

Ah yes thats the case but i was thinking ahead as the Virus does not care whether the 6 people know each other or not, a gathering of people is a gathering of people and we all know where this is heading i think.Hopefully next spring things will start improving again.

I doubt that any cruise line could exist by only operating 6 months a year outside the winter flu season.  Sooner or later we are going to have to bite the bullet and devise a way of safely cruising and holidaying without the need for quarantine, otherwise life as we know it will start to crumble.  If Sweden can survive this pandemic without a lockdown, we should be able to do the same.  Maybe a cull of those unwilling to follow the social distancing rules or guidelines will be the way forward.

[Dermotsgirl]

A cull? 😱

[wowzz]

The latest information shows infection rates going up, but hospital admissions and deaths at low levels.

 Why all the fuss?

[Son of Anarchy]

4 minutes ago, wowzz said:

The latest information shows infection rates going up, but hospital admissions and deaths at low levels.

 Why all the fuss?

I tend to agree.

 

I still and will continue to consider that elements of what a certain Govt advisor did several months ago were wrong.  However, if he were to that today, what's the problem?  Unfortunately, I'm also tending to believe that that advisor's herd immunity policy, may be the way forward.  

[Adawn47]

18 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

If Sweden can survive this pandemic without a lockdown, we should be able to do the same.  

From what I've read about Sweden, their situation and outcome was different to ours. The majority of the younger population lived alone or not with elderly relatives, a higher percentage of elderly and vunerable died than did here and it is a less densely populated  country. Waiting  and expecting to be corrected😊

Avril