Next announcement of cancellations

[No pager thank you]

In terms of the Christmas cruises, fingers crossed 🤞

 

The interesting issue is if the advance passenger cancellation rates are lower than for the remaining November cruises, which makes perfect sense to me, what passenger capacity level are P&O planning to travel with?

 

I haven't heard of a "cull" yet, again fingers crossed 🤞

[Dermotsgirl]

32 minutes ago, No pager thank you said:

In terms of the Christmas cruises, fingers crossed 🤞

 

The interesting issue is if the advance passenger cancellation rates are lower than for the remaining November cruises, which makes perfect sense to me, what passenger capacity level are P&O planning to travel with?

 

I haven't heard of a "cull" yet, again fingers crossed 🤞

Maybe passengers, even on the Christmas cruises, have ‘self culled’ by cancellations to get to the capacity to an acceptable level.

 

However, if P&O are genuinely planning a restart, now is the time to be telling their passengers what conditions they’ll be sailing under.

I think other cruise lines are working on up to 70% capacity? That still seems like an awful lot of people to me ! 

 

[No pager thank you]

6 minutes ago, Dermotsgirl said:

Maybe passengers, even on the Christmas cruises, have ‘self culled’ by cancellations to get to the capacity to an acceptable level.

 

However, if P&O are genuinely planning a restart, now is the time to be telling their passengers what conditions they’ll be sailing under.

I think other cruise lines are working on up to 70% capacity? That still seems like an awful lot of people to me ! 

 

I agree entirely.  We are supposed to be paying in full I believe on the 20th, but the lack of information is concerning, I would like to know.

 

We are going on the premise that the only way to receive money back is to let P&O cancel.  If they do that then we will book either a hotel or cottage, as barring a full lockdown (and I can't see the Government doing that easily) we are not staying at home over the festive season. 

 

Nor are we going to some crowded pub on Christmas Day or worse still on New Year's Eve...come on Iona!!

[bee-ess]

25 minutes ago, Dermotsgirl said:

Maybe passengers, even on the Christmas cruises, have ‘self culled’ by cancellations to get to the capacity to an acceptable level.

 

However, if P&O are genuinely planning a restart, now is the time to be telling their passengers what conditions they’ll be sailing under.

I think other cruise lines are working on up to 70% capacity? That still seems like an awful lot of people to me ! 

 

 

100% agree - it is unfair to expect passengers to pay before they know what the conditions will be like, unless there is an option to back out or transfer.

[nosapphire]

28 minutes ago, Dermotsgirl said:

Maybe passengers, even on the Christmas cruises, have ‘self culled’ by cancellations to get to the capacity to an acceptable level.

 

However, if P&O are genuinely planning a restart, now is the time to be telling their passengers what conditions they’ll be sailing under.

I think other cruise lines are working on up to 70% capacity? That still seems like an awful lot of people to me ! 

 

80% in the case of Saga - which is, I think, not much more than they usually sail with.

And no information about what conditions they will have in place.

Must be a UK thing........ maybe they are not expecting the FCO to change their cruise advice yet, so unable to make any firm plans?

We're quite looking forward to a quiet Christmas at home this year.

[No pager thank you]

8 minutes ago, nosapphire said:

Must be a UK thing........ maybe they are not expecting the FCO to change their cruise advice yet, so unable to make any firm plans?

We're quite looking forward to a quiet Christmas at home this year.

I can't imagine why P&O would have placed some of their crew on standby unless the perception was/is that the FCO will change from its current position? 

 

It seems strange to me that on the one hand preparations are being made for a massive flu vaccination campaign to avoid the possibility of any Covid-19 cases overwhelming the NHS (the idea of both striking together) from around November...the same time on the other hand that the cruise companies are assuming that international travel restrictions may be relaxed. 

 

You would hope that some of the larger travel companies have insider knowledge, but the current complaints about airport testing suggest otherwise.

[Britboys]

Not trying to burst anyone's balloon here and I really hope those booked on Christmas cruises get to go on them and have a fab time. What has to be borne in mind however is that things are still changing rapidly and none of us know what the situation will be in two or three months. Look at how the advice on the air corridors keeps changing. With any travel plans - local or further afield, we all have to accept that they could be changed according to the path and spread of this horrible virus. So a decision by the government and/or P&O is currently made by people standing on shifting sands... I will keep my fingers crossed 🤞🏻 for all of you with cruises booked over the next 6 months however!

[Britboys]

45 minutes ago, nosapphire said:

80% in the case of Saga - which is, I think, not much more than they usually sail with.

And no information about what conditions they will have in place.

Must be a UK thing........ maybe they are not expecting the FCO to change their cruise advice yet, so unable to make any firm plans?

We're quite looking forward to a quiet Christmas at home this year.

Saga maybe have a slight advantage in that all cabins on their two ships are balcony cabins?

[AndyMichelle]

I have heard that a lot of the industries still closed will be allowed to reopen by the end of November. This includes spas, conferences and nightclubs, so an assumption that social distancing will be eased or stopped completely. 

Perhaps P&O are taking this as a blanket for all industries to resume normal service? 

As for letting us know what procedures will be in place, they probably don't know. Remember, they haven't announced anything yet. 

Andy 

[cruisenewbie1976]

20 minutes ago, AndyMichelle said:

I have heard that a lot of the industries still closed will be allowed to reopen by the end of November. This includes spas, conferences and nightclubs, so an assumption that social distancing will be eased or stopped completely. 

Perhaps P&O are taking this as a blanket for all industries to resume normal service? 

As for letting us know what procedures will be in place, they probably don't know. Remember, they haven't announced anything yet. 

Andy 

I've heard the same but it seems a bit too optimistic to me (even as an eternal optimist), that we won't need social distancing by then. I also heard that the use of masks will be dropped in October but again, wouldn't seem logical given what's happening at mo. 

Maybe there is a lot more known about the vaccine than they're letting on but as others have said in the past, a vaccine roll out will be a huge task in itself. 

Lots of unknowns! Must be a total nightmare for cruise companies to try and calculate when they can restart. 

[nosapphire]

I think that cruise lines probably have the biggest problems of all industries.

They have to put in place measures for hotels.

They also have to put in place measures for clubs, bars, theatres.

Then they also have to prepare itineraries - without knowing whether or not the ports they plan to go to will be open.

Even if the ports they have to go to will be open, will places of interest at those ports be open?

So they also have to have back-up itineraries - without being certain whether or not those back-up ports and places will be open.

They also have to look at the supply facilities - if one port suddenly closes, where is the next port for supplies?

On top of all that, they have to consider getting crew back - many of whom are in countries that have closed borders.

When I think of all that, it should not surprise me that they are rather vague on when and how they plan to restart.

 

 

[Dermotsgirl]

13 minutes ago, AndyMichelle said:

I have heard that a lot of the industries still closed will be allowed to reopen by the end of November. This includes spas, conferences and nightclubs, so an assumption that social distancing will be eased or stopped completely. 

Perhaps P&O are taking this as a blanket for all industries to resume normal service? 

As for letting us know what procedures will be in place, they probably don't know. Remember, they haven't announced anything yet. 

Andy 

Social distancing and mask wearing will be part of our lives for some time to come, so I feel sure that any resumption will have to reflect this particularly on cold weather cruises as people spend more time inside.

 

What I can't quite get my head around is that, with the backdrop of rising cases, and ever increasing complexity with travel restrictions, not to mention local restrictions changing all the time, is how they can consider starting again this winter. And that's just in this country - there's all the regulations and restrictions in other countries to consider.

 

The time has come for them to decide what to do and to communicate it to the passengers.  If it's too uncertain they must make the decision to cancel cruises for the longer term, or if they think they can get cruising again, it's time to tell us what the cruise experience looks like and when they plan to start. 

 

Of course, the government restrictions on cruising would have to be lifted, and I've heard no chatter anywhere (apart from on here!) about this happening. Why would the government lift the restrictions at the moment? We are going into winter and the bulk of P&O's passengers are in the category that is most at risk of  getting seriously ill from COVID.  I genuinely can't see how cruising can happen this year.

 

If there's no proper announcement within the next two weeks, my exasperation levels will rise again 

 

 

[Dermotsgirl]

5 minutes ago, nosapphire said:

I think that cruise lines probably have the biggest problems of all industries.

They have to put in place measures for hotels.

They also have to put in place measures for clubs, bars, theatres.

Then they also have to prepare itineraries - without knowing whether or not the ports they plan to go to will be open.

Even if the ports they have to go to will be open, will places of interest at those ports be open?

So they also have to have back-up itineraries - without being certain whether or not those back-up ports and places will be open.

They also have to look at the supply facilities - if one port suddenly closes, where is the next port for supplies?

On top of all that, they have to consider getting crew back - many of whom are in countries that have closed borders.

When I think of all that, it should not surprise me that they are rather vague on when and how they plan to restart.

 

 

Agreed - that's why I think, if they don't know when they can restart, they need to cancel everything fully until at least the spring, and communicate that decision to passengers.

 

I find the current pussyfooting around to be somewhat frustrating! 

[Bazrat]

10 minutes ago, Dermotsgirl said:

Social distancing and mask wearing will be part of our lives for some time to come, so I feel sure that any resumption will have to reflect this particularly on cold weather cruises as people spend more time inside.

 

What I can't quite get my head around is that, with the backdrop of rising cases, and ever increasing complexity with travel restrictions, not to mention local restrictions changing all the time, is how they can consider starting again this winter. And that's just in this country - there's all the regulations and restrictions in other countries to consider.

 

The time has come for them to decide what to do and to communicate it to the passengers.  If it's too uncertain they must make the decision to cancel cruises for the longer term, or if they think they can get cruising again, it's time to tell us what the cruise experience looks like and when they plan to start. 

 

Of course, the government restrictions on cruising would have to be lifted, and I've heard no chatter anywhere (apart from on here!) about this happening. Why would the government lift the restrictions at the moment? We are going into winter and the bulk of P&O's passengers are in the category that is most at risk of  getting seriously ill from COVID.  I genuinely can't see how cruising can happen this year.

 

If there's no proper announcement within the next two weeks, my exasperation levels will rise again 

 

 

Costa as restarted in Italy only two cruises at the moment but testing the waters 

[cruisenewbie1976]

11 minutes ago, Dermotsgirl said:

Agreed - that's why I think, if they don't know when they can restart, they need to cancel everything fully until at least the spring, and communicate that decision to passengers.

 

I find the current pussyfooting around to be somewhat frustrating! 

As a business, you wouldn't want to do that and then find out that you could have started up and you've lost out on revenue. Particularly when they've had none since March. 

I'm booked on Iona in March and I'd rather they didn't cancel months in advance, even if that means we get cancelled at short notice. I'm happy to take the chance that things might have improved. I've already committed to spending the money for the cruise, so doesn't really have any financial impact on us. I appreciate that not everyone is in the same position though. 

They've never going to please everyone, no matter what they do. 

Edited September 6, 2020 by cruisenewbie1976
Typo

[Josy1953]

36 minutes ago, cruisenewbie1976 said:

I've heard the same but it seems a bit too optimistic to me (even as an eternal optimist), that we won't need social distancing by then. I also heard that the use of masks will be dropped in October but again, wouldn't seem logical given what's happening at mo. 

Maybe there is a lot more known about the vaccine than they're letting on but as others have said in the past, a vaccine roll out will be a huge task in itself. 

Lots of unknowns! Must be a total nightmare for cruise companies to try and calculate when they can restart. 

I think that we will still be social distancing and wearing masks for a while yet.  I personally think that even after vaccination a lot of people will continue to wear make in crowded places (I know that I will) because there will be people who will refuse to be vaccinated and will still be passing the virus around in the community.

[cruisenewbie1976]

1 minute ago, Josy1953 said:

I think that we will still be social distancing and wearing masks for a while yet.  I personally think that even after vaccination a lot of people will continue to wear make in crowded places (I know that I will) because there will be people who will refuse to be vaccinated and will still be passing the virus around in the community.

I'm inclined to agree. The government do seem to be pressing ahead with getting everything opened up though. Only time will tell! 

[Dermotsgirl]

30 minutes ago, cruisenewbie1976 said:

As a business, you wouldn't want to do that and then find out that you could have started up and you've lost out on revenue. Particularly when they've had none since March. 

I'm booked on Iona in March and I'd rather they didn't cancel months in advance, even if that means we get cancelled at short notice. I'm happy to take the chance that things might have improved. I've already committed to spending the money for the cruise, so doesn't really have any financial impact on us. I appreciate that not everyone is in the same position though. 

They've never going to please everyone, no matter what they do. 

I’m also on Iona in March, and unless there’s a miraculous improvement in the global situation by the time the balance is due I won’t be paying the balance.

 

I’m simply not inclined to travel in the current climate, under the restrictions that will probably be in force on the cruise, so I’m not going to pay in full for a cruise that I don’t want to do. I’d rather repurpose the money and put it with the money from last March’s cancelled cruise and have a new patio. 

[Dermotsgirl]

41 minutes ago, Bazrat said:

Costa as restarted in Italy only two cruises at the moment but testing the waters 

That’s fine if P&O want to test the waters, but what I’m saying is, it’s time they told us their plans for doing that. Because 35 night ex-Southampton cruises and Caribbean fly cruises aren’t testing the waters. 

[wowzz]

20 minutes ago, Josy1953 said:

I think that we will still be social distancing and wearing masks for a while yet.  I personally think that even after vaccination a lot of people will continue to wear make in crowded places (I know that I will) because there will be people who will refuse to be vaccinated and will still be passing the virus around in the community.

Although as we now know, wearing a non-medical mask only helps stop the transmission of the virus by the wearer. It doesn't give the wearer any significant protection.

[cruisenewbie1976]

7 minutes ago, Dermotsgirl said:

I’m also on Iona in March, and unless there’s a miraculous improvement in the global situation by the time the balance is due I won’t be paying the balance.

 

I’m simply not inclined to travel in the current climate, under the restrictions that will probably be in force on the cruise, so I’m not going to pay in full for a cruise that I don’t want to do. I’d rather repurpose the money and put it with the money from last March’s cancelled cruise and have a new patio. 

You want them to cancel and I don't. It sort of highlights their predicament, doesn't it? 

[Adawn47]

2 hours ago, Dermotsgirl said:

Maybe passengers, even on the Christmas cruises, have ‘self culled’ by cancellations to get to the capacity to an acceptable level.

 

However, if P&O are genuinely planning a restart, now is the time to be telling their passengers what conditions they’ll be sailing under.

I think other cruise lines are working on up to 70% capacity? That still seems like an awful lot of people to me ! 

 

70% capacity might sound like a lot, but on the smaller ships we sail on they never look or feel crowded when full. Aurora has a capacity of around 1,870 and that would means she would be sailing with around 1,300 give or take. That's 5 to 600 people less. Not an insignificant number I would have thought.

Maths isn't my strongest subject, so I'm sure someone will correct me if I've got it completely wrong😉

Avril

[Dermotsgirl]

9 minutes ago, cruisenewbie1976 said:

You want them to cancel and I don't. It sort of highlights their predicament, doesn't it? 

They can’t please all the people all of the time.

 

But it’s time for them to make some sort of decision so people know where they stand, especially with the Christmas cruises 

[Bazrat]

15 minutes ago, Dermotsgirl said:

That’s fine if P&O want to test the waters, but what I’m saying is, it’s time they told us their plans for doing that. Because 35 night ex-Southampton cruises and Caribbean fly cruises aren’t testing the waters. 

That was the point I was trying to make costa is part of carnival so they are seeing what works, MSC have already tried cruises without any ill effects at the moment so if they are proved successful than a bigger rollout will begin, as for next year your guess is as good as mine.

[Adawn47]

41 minutes ago, Josy1953 said:

I think that we will still be social distancing and wearing masks for a while yet.  I personally think that even after vaccination a lot of people will continue to wear make in crowded places (I know that I will) because there will be people who will refuse to be vaccinated and will still be passing the virus around in the community.

I agree with you Josy. I've begun to feel confident going out now wearing a mask, but it took some time. I think it will take me a lot longer to go without one, besides, it will keep my face warm in the winter.

Avril