Cruise Cancellation

[Bobblehat71]

Hello,

 

Will P&O automatically cancel my cruise if I don't pay the balance on time?

 

My final payment date was yesterday. I tried paying yesterday through their online payment system but it now looks like the payment hasn't gone through. 

We are in two minds as to go or not are now happy to lose the small deposit if the payment hasn't gone through but just wondering what the process is for non payment. Are there any penalties?

[jeanlyon]

If they don't know you are cancelling, you will be in the next bracket and will be charged if you are after the balance date.

[terrierjohn]

4 hours ago, jeanlyon said:

If they don't know you are cancelling, you will be in the next bracket and will be charged if you are after the balance date.

I dont believe that would be true Jean, but P & O would likely be in their rights to now refuse to allow you to switch this booking to a new future one.

[Bobblehat71]

Thanks for the replies both.

 

All sorted now. Finally managed to get through after an hour on hold.😣 They let me cancel the cruise.

They did offer to let me transfer the deposit to something else but to be honest having just got off Ventura I'm not in a huge rush to book with P&O again. 

[Megabear2]

1 hour ago, Bobblehat71 said:

Thanks for the replies both.

 

All sorted now. Finally managed to get through after an hour on hold.😣 They let me cancel the cruise.

They did offer to let me transfer the deposit to something else but to be honest having just got off Ventura I'm not in a huge rush to book with P&O again. 

Intriguing. May I ask what put you off P&O?

[wowzz]

24 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

Intriguing. May I ask what put you off P&O?

I was going to ask the same question !

[terrierjohn]

2 hours ago, Bobblehat71 said:

Thanks for the replies both.

 

All sorted now. Finally managed to get through after an hour on hold.😣 They let me cancel the cruise.

They did offer to let me transfer the deposit to something else but to be honest having just got off Ventura I'm not in a huge rush to book with P&O again. 

Rather than lose the deposit, why not move it to something in the future that you might fancy, just in case you change your mind.

[Bobblehat71]

1 hour ago, Megabear2 said:

Intriguing. May I ask what put you off P&O?

 

Nothing major .Food was great , ship was clean and tidy and service was great.

However, the entertainment was particularly poor both in quality and choice. The daytime guest speakers drew bigger audiences than the headline shows!  The whole entertainment set up just felt very out dated and a bit Hi De Hi 😂

I've always thought P&O was good value for money but now it seems its just a case of "you get what you pay for". 

[wowzz]

16 minutes ago, Bobblehat71 said:

 

Nothing major .Food was great , ship was clean and tidy and service was great.

However, the entertainment was particularly poor both in quality and choice. The daytime guest speakers drew bigger audiences than the headline shows!  The whole entertainment set up just felt very out dated and a bit Hi De Hi 😂

I've always thought P&O was good value for money but now it seems its just a case of "you get what you pay for". 

Thanks for that. As we are not bothered about the shows it appears that P&O is still an excellent choice.

[Harry Peterson]

1 hour ago, Bobblehat71 said:

 

Nothing major .Food was great , ship was clean and tidy and service was great.

However, the entertainment was particularly poor both in quality and choice. The daytime guest speakers drew bigger audiences than the headline shows!  The whole entertainment set up just felt very out dated and a bit Hi De Hi 😂

I've always thought P&O was good value for money but now it seems its just a case of "you get what you pay for". 

I’d go along with that. The entertainment now is pretty poor now with P&O - not even sure it’s even managing to reach that ITV Saturday night audience they said they were aiming for not so long ago!

[wowzz]

16 minutes ago, Harry Peterson said:

I’d go along with that. The entertainment now is pretty poor now with P&O - not even sure it’s even managing to reach that ITV Saturday night audience they said they were aiming for not so long ago!

I suppose it depends on how much you value the evening entertainment. Bobblehat was full of praise for the food, service and cleanliness,  but disappointed with the entertainment. Whilst 4 out of 4 would be perfect, 3 out of 4 is pretty good.

At least P&O had speakers and evening shows, which is more than Princess had on our recent cruise!    

[jeanlyon]

Yep, I agree too.  I quite enjoy the Headliners if it's a musical show stuff, but the rest of it is pretty naff.  Having said that, we don't cruise for the entertainment or the food particularly.  Just like being on board, going to some nice ports and getting some sunshine.

Edited December 7, 2021 by jeanlyon

[wowzz]

9 minutes ago, jeanlyon said:

Yep, I agree too.  I quite enjoy the Headliners if it's a musical show stuff, but the rest of it is pretty naff.  Having said that, we don't cruise for the entertainment or the food particularly.  Just like being on board, going to some nice ports and getting some sunshine.

I agree. The entertainment comes way down our list of priorities when deciding on a cruise.

[Harry Peterson]

3 minutes ago, wowzz said:

I suppose it depends on how much you value the evening entertainment. Bobblehat was full of praise for the food, service and cleanliness,  but disappointed with the entertainment. Whilst 4 out of 4 would be perfect, 3 out of 4 is pretty good.

At least P&O had speakers and evening shows, which is more than Princess had on our recent cruise!    

Frankly, the only evening entertainment we found worth watching was the Headliners, and that was variable. They do put on a pretty slick show though.

 

Daytime was very limited indeed, and a lot more limited than even a few years ago.  I know they need to cut corners, but speakers are pretty cheap spread across 3000+ passengers, and one of the big cruising offers is plenty to do.

 

Food and service I’d agree with too, but last time we were on Azura the accommodation was somewhat past its best before date.

[zap99]

2 hours ago, Bobblehat71 said:

 

Nothing major .Food was great , ship was clean and tidy and service was great.

However, the entertainment was particularly poor both in quality and choice. The daytime guest speakers drew bigger audiences than the headline shows!  The whole entertainment set up just felt very out dated and a bit Hi De Hi 😂

I've always thought P&O was good value for money but now it seems its just a case of "you get what you pay for". 

An honest opinion based on your experiences. That is fair. We have done 3 staycation cruises and were quite happy. I find it puzzling that some folk describe the falling standards without even having been on a P&O cruise for a few years.

[Bill Y]

2 hours ago, Bobblehat71 said:

 

Nothing major .Food was great , ship was clean and tidy and service was great.

However, the entertainment was particularly poor both in quality and choice. The daytime guest speakers drew bigger audiences than the headline shows!  The whole entertainment set up just felt very out dated and a bit Hi De Hi 😂

I've always thought P&O was good value for money but now it seems its just a case of "you get what you pay for". 

Tend to agree with you about the entertainment, we have thought in the past that it was aimed at my parents generation, to put that into context if they were still with us they would be in their 110's. We like the headliners but have seen their shows many times. Maybe our problem is too many cruises with P&O.

[Bobblehat71]

Great to hear everyone's opinions on this.  

 

Regardless of the entertainment we had a great time and it was fantastic to be back at sea.So I'm not trying put a downer on P&O. However it does make me wonder what demographic they are trying to attract.  

P&O's advertising would suggest the ships are full of 40' something professionals . The reality is though the majority of their customers are retired and well in to their 60's and beyond and they appear to be intent on catering for the them. Not sure how sustainable that model is going to be long term. Cheap prices may attract first time younger cruisers but IMHO what they currently offer is not going to keep them.  

[wowzz]

7 minutes ago, Bobblehat71 said:

Great to hear everyone's opinions on this.  

 

Regardless of the entertainment we had a great time and it was fantastic to be back at sea.So I'm not trying put a downer on P&O. However it does make me wonder what demographic they are trying to attract.  

P&O's advertising would suggest the ships are full of 40' something professionals . The reality is though the majority of their customers are retired and well in to their 60's and beyond and they appear to be intent on catering for the them. Not sure how sustainable that model is going to be long term. Cheap prices may attract first time younger cruisers but IMHO what they currently offer is not going to keep them.  

I agree with you about P&O advertising. They are trying to give out this sophisticated image,  whereas the reality is somewhat different.

The age profile is an interesting one. My take is that ages differ significantly depending on time of year and cruise length. During school holidays,  the age profile will be significantly younger, and in all honesty I can't see many "youngsters " being attracted to a European cruise in late November.  

The average age on Iona in August will be much nearer to 40 than 60.

    

[Guest]

If anyone has seen the current P&O advert for Iona- I laughed the first time I realised what it was advertising! It looked nothing like my cruise 😂

 

For me, no one tops Royal Caribbean’s entertainment. Actual Broadway shows, Ice skating shows and the usual other shows put on by the entertainment teams. Go on the Oasis class and you also have the high ropes and diving shows. So unique and entertaining.
P&O’s “Sound of the Underground” is good, but that’s where it ends for me! 
 

My personal favourite line is Celebrity, but I don’t rate their entertainment. It’s all a bit abstract. Good mix of ages when you sail out of Italy/Spain and The US during spring break. 

 

And for reference, I am 27 and female. 

Edited December 7, 2021 by Guest

[terrierjohn]

1 hour ago, Harry Peterson said:

Frankly, the only evening entertainment we found worth watching was the Headliners, and that was variable. They do put on a pretty slick show though.

 

Daytime was very limited indeed, and a lot more limited than even a few years ago.  I know they need to cut corners, but speakers are pretty cheap spread across 3000+ passengers, and one of the big cruising offers is plenty to do.

 

Food and service I’d agree with too, but last time we were on Azura the accommodation was somewhat past its best before date.

Not sure which category we fall into, certainly not Ant & Decs Saturday night live, but as well as "musical" headliners shows, we also like many tribute acts, and we are equally happy with any good standard lounge singers in a nice bar area. In fact after dinner and a glass or two of wine we are very easily entertained.

[Ardennais]

9 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

Not sure which category we fall into, certainly not Ant & Decs Saturday night live, but as well as "musical" headliners shows, we also like many tribute acts, and we are equally happy with any good standard lounge singers in a nice bar area. In fact after dinner and a glass or two of wine we are very easily entertained.

We’re very much the same - minus the glass or two of wine! And my children are the same, all in their 20s. They just love being on a ship and visiting the ports more than anything else. 

[wowzz]

13 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

Not sure which category we fall into, certainly not Ant & Decs Saturday night live, but as well as "musical" headliners shows, we also like many tribute acts, and we are equally happy with any good standard lounge singers in a nice bar area. In fact after dinner and a glass or two of wine we are very easily entertained.

We are the same, but a  glass or three of wine !

[Ardennais]

The other guests on our table at the wedding last weekend were well pleased to be sharing with us. They got to drink all the wine! Mind you, they made less sense as the hours passed! 

[Harry Peterson]

53 minutes ago, Bobblehat71 said:

Regardless of the entertainment we had a great time and it was fantastic to be back at sea.So I'm not trying put a downer on P&O. However it does make me wonder what demographic they are trying to attract.  
 

P&O's advertising would suggest the ships are full of 40' something professionals . The reality is though the majority of their customers are retired and well in to their 60's and beyond and they appear to be intent on catering for the them. Not sure how sustainable that model is going to be long term. Cheap prices may attract first time younger cruisers but IMHO what they currently offer is not going to keep them.  

Paul Ludlow, the P&O President, said that their target market was the Saturday night ITV audience.

 

Make of that what you will, but I doubt ITV are attracting many 40 something professionals - much as they might like to!  I don’t think P&O are either.

[terrierjohn]

29 minutes ago, Harry Peterson said:

Paul Ludlow, the P&O President, said that their target market was the Saturday night ITV audience.

 

Make of that what you will, but I doubt ITV are attracting many 40 something professionals - much as they might like to!  I don’t think P&O are either.

Not sure which cruise lines do attract 40 something professionals. RCI, Carnival, NCL, and MSC seem to be aimed at families, HAL must be well healed seniors, and Celebrity well healed empty nesters, FO and Ambassador well off working class and TUI probably similar to P&O but with a younger demographic.