New P&O marketing campaign

[Dermotsgirl]

Am I allowed to mention that P&O have started a big new marketing campaign in newspapers, You Tube and social media to clarify that the are owned by Carnival, and that they have nothing to do with someone else?

 

Just wondering if Molecrochip had any insight into the current thinking - whether P&O cruises believe they can ride out the storm, or whether they will ultimately have to rebrand.

 

It's been a torrid week for them on social media, and its's not letting up. Will their campaign be enough to distance themselves from that other company 

 

 

[Angel57]

I feel sorry for them over this as there has been a lot of negative posts in another place that cannot be mentioned from people who just post vile drivel without looking into the facts first.

[jeanlyon]

Agree.  That might put the price of cruises up!!  A couple of the ships are registered in the UK though, so not sure how that works.

Edited March 25, 2022 by jeanlyon

[Thejuggler]

P&O cruises will have some re-educating to do.

 

However the issue on salaries won't hit the fan because Government can frame the law in terms of ferries operating from UK ports.

 

At the moment the minimum wage law applies to operating purely in UK territorial waters, so once you get half way across the channel, or 12 miles off the east coast from Hull, or west coast if serving Dublin, the laws don't apply.  This is a simple loophole to close.

Edited March 25, 2022 by Thejuggler

[Dermotsgirl]

36 minutes ago, Thejuggler said:

P&O cruises will have some re-educating to do.

 

However the issue on salaries won't hit the fan because Government can frame the law in terms of ferries operating from UK ports.

 

At the moment the minimum wage law applies to operating purely in UK territorial waters, so once you get half way across the channel, or 12 miles off the east coast from Hull, or west coast if serving Dublin, the laws don't apply.  This is a simple loophole to close.

That  makes sense, because the crew are not actually working in the U.K. , but on a cruise ship that happens to be in the U.K. for a few hours.

If the ship was homeporting in Barbados, they wouldn’t go anywhere near the U.K. 

Edited March 25, 2022 by Dermotsgirl

[Harry Peterson]

56 minutes ago, Thejuggler said:

P&O cruises will have some re-educating to do.

 

However the issue on salaries won't hit the fan because Government can frame the law in terms of ferries operating from UK ports.

 

At the moment the minimum wage law applies to operating purely in UK territorial waters, so once you get half way across the channel, or 12 miles off the east coast from Hull, or west coast if serving Dublin, the laws don't apply.  This is a simple loophole to close.

And yet British based cruise companies (not just P&O) operating from UK ports should be exempted?

[AuroraCruiser08]

The crew onboard are paid more to work on the ships than they do in any other job back home, as has already been mentioned. The point of their new marketing campaign is to tell people they are not the same as the ferry company and nothing to do with hiding salaries,etc. It's just them needs to clear up the misleading narrative that the ferry company and cruise company are related which ofcourse for the last 20 years they have had nothing to do with each other....apart from crossing paths in the Dover straights.

Edited March 25, 2022 by AuroraCruiser08

[tring]

1 hour ago, Harry Peterson said:

The one thing they'll carefully not be mentioning is that P&O Cruises are paying most of their staff even less than the rates at the centre of the P&O Ferries furore.

 

And I rather think that's going to hit the fan pretty soon, because certain members of the government are talking about changing the law which enables them to avoid UK minimum wage regulations by registering the ships in places like the Bahamas.

 

That is what I immediately thought when I saw people complaining about P&O ferries, but take cruises from any cruise line.  I do think it is important though to remember though, that this is a cruise industry way of paying staff worldwide and not just one particular cruise line. 

 

[Snow Hill]

P&O have been engaging crew from South Asia Region for well over a 100 years.

 

https://mha.mun.ca/mha/mlc/seafarers/lascars/

[zap99]

2 hours ago, Thejuggler said:

Exempted from what?  A cruise ship isn't a ferry and that's  how you frame the law.

 

I hope you can recognise the difference between a cruise ship which spends all year going around the world with the same crew for periods of 6 months and a ferry which goes from Dover to Calais ten times a day with crew working week on week off.

 

 

 

 

 

Most folk who book cruises have a degree of intelligence. If they go onto the P&O ferries website to book their cruise to the canaries, no amount of clever marketing will save them for their folly, now Brittany ferries is another matter. Nice short cruises to be had there.🤣

[Britboys]

6 hours ago, Dermotsgirl said:

Am I allowed to mention that P&O have started a big new marketing campaign in newspapers, You Tube and social media to clarify that the are owned by Carnival, and that they have nothing to do with someone else?

 

Just wondering if Molecrochip had any insight into the current thinking - whether P&O cruises believe they can ride out the storm, or whether they will ultimately have to rebrand.

 

It's been a torrid week for them on social media, and its's not letting up. Will their campaign be enough to distance themselves from that other company 

 

 

I don't think it is likely that P&O Cruises will change its name. More likely is that the Ferry company will, at some future point, try to quietly change its name to dissociate itself from all the rightly bad publicity they have had.

[Dermotsgirl]

23 minutes ago, Britboys said:

I don't think it is likely that P&O Cruises will change its name. More likely is that the Ferry company will, at some future point, try to quietly change its name to dissociate itself from all the rightly bad publicity they have had.

To be honest, I’m not so sure. Judging by the state of social media  the very name P&O is toxic. People can’t tell the difference between the cruise company and the other lot, and when somebody does point out that the cruises are a different company, under different ownership, people are finding some other stick to beat P&O with.  
 

It’s really grim. It’s like a Ratner moment, but the Cruises didn’t do anything to deserve it 

[wowzz]

2 minutes ago, zap99 said:

On your first seaday, you could do a survey by wandering around the ship asking the folk that work on board how much they earn and are they doing it willingly. I suspect they do it because they are happy, smiley people. Interesting concept..........happy.🤣.

And, suprisingly,  they volunteer to come and work for P&O.  However,  that does not fit into the agenda of some people!

[zap99]

14 minutes ago, wowzz said:

And, suprisingly,  they volunteer to come and work for P&O.  However,  that does not fit into the agenda of some people!

There does seem to be a downer on Cruising in general and P&O in particular. I know this is cruise critic but........really? Anything positive ? As you say ...agenda.

Edited March 25, 2022 by zap99

[Harry Peterson]

Wowzz, I believe you asked a question about current rates of pay on P&O Cruises.  This might help:
 

 

https://novaramedia.com/2022/03/25/75p-an-hour-po-is-the-tip-of-the-iceberg-when-it-comes-to-exploitation-at-sea/

[Mickb]

I was in the TA today and whilst there the phone rang 3 times with people wanting to cancel their cruises because of the treatment of the crew. The agent very patiently explained that they were different companies but one caller still insisted on cancelling ( presumably lost their deposit). On the news nobody ever differentiates between ‘Ferries’ and ‘Cruises’. I think P&O cruises may have to rebrand?

[Fionboard]

Why did P &O allow DP World to keep the name and logo when they acquired the business?!!! Big mistake!

[terrierjohn]

10 minutes ago, Fionboard said:

Why did P &O allow DP World to keep the name and logo when they acquired the business?!!! Big mistake!

It was Carnval that bought P&O, Princess cruises from P&O UK. So in fact it was Carnival that presumably had to seek approval from P&O UK to  keep the P&O brand name.

[Harry Peterson]

It’ll all pass in a short while. People forget, and all those promises to boycott soon vanish when there’s a good offer.

 

Nestle is a company with an absolutely appalling record on any number of counts, and a fair number refuse absolutely to buy any of its products, but it still motors on in profits for its shareholders. Presumably they take the same line as P&O Ferries - do what you like if the additional profits outweigh the loss of part of the customer base.

[Snow Hill]

3 hours ago, Harry Peterson said:

It’ll all pass in a short while. People forget, and all those promises to boycott soon vanish when there’s a good offer.

 

Nestle is a company with an absolutely appalling record on any number of counts, and a fair number refuse absolutely to buy any of its products, but it still motors on in profits for its shareholders. Presumably they take the same line as P&O Ferries - do what you like if the additional profits outweigh the loss of part of the customer base.

I have only used a ferry to cross channel once in the last 12 years, that was Brittany Ferries to Caen, we usually use the Tunnel much quicker and not weather affected. 
 

[twotravellersLondon]

 

14 hours ago, terrierjohn said:

It was Carnval that bought P&O, Princess cruises from P&O UK. So in fact it was Carnival that presumably had to seek approval from P&O UK to  keep the P&O brand name.

 

No permission was needed. In 2000 P&O divested its cruise business to form P&O Princess Cruises which became an independent company. A couple of years later, P&O Princess Cruises agreed to join forces and merge with its US rival Carnival Corporation. By that time, P&O had no say in the matter

[amajaa]

15 hours ago, Mickb said:

I was in the TA today and whilst there the phone rang 3 times with people wanting to cancel their cruises because of the treatment of the crew. The agent very patiently explained that they were different companies but one caller still insisted on cancelling ( presumably lost their deposit). On the news nobody ever differentiates between ‘Ferries’ and ‘Cruises’. I think P&O cruises may have to rebrand?

It’s such a shame isn’t it that the News Channels aren’t differentiating between the two, I have only once heard them say not P& O Cruises and that was Naga on BBC Breakfast.

Apparently they took full page adverts out in all the Newspapers yesterday, unfortunately not as many people read newspapers now they just look online. 

 

14 hours ago, Harry Peterson said:

It’ll all pass in a short while. People forget, and all those promises to boycott soon vanish when there’s a good offer.

 

Nestle is a company with an absolutely appalling record on any number of counts, and a fair number refuse absolutely to buy any of its products, but it still motors on in profits for its shareholders. Presumably they take the same line as P&O Ferries - do what you like if the additional profits outweigh the loss of part of the customer base.

Well that may be true but P& O Cruises isn’t the culprit here so why should they have to ride out the storm. 

 

[Astrajet]

17 minutes ago, amajaa said:

It’s such a shame isn’t it that the News Channels aren’t differentiating between the two, I have only once heard them say not P& O Cruises and that was Naga on BBC Breakfast.

And Naga only said that following a piece by Simon Calder in which he made it clear that  P&O Ferries and P&O Cruises were two different companies and had been for twenty years.  When the P&O Ferries issue was covered earlier or indeed later in the programme, no mention was made of this fact. 

[molecrochip]

On 3/25/2022 at 4:13 PM, Dermotsgirl said:

Am I allowed to mention that P&O have started a big new marketing campaign in newspapers, You Tube and social media to clarify that the are owned by Carnival, and that they have nothing to do with someone else?

 

Just wondering if Molecrochip had any insight into the current thinking - whether P&O cruises believe they can ride out the storm, or whether they will ultimately have to rebrand.

 

It's been a torrid week for them on social media, and its's not letting up. Will their campaign be enough to distance themselves from that other company 

 

 

The heritage of P&O is actually the cruise line which cruised from the UK to the far east. So rightly, they wish to fight to keep the brand safe. A rebrand is usually a multi-year project so not something that you do overnight because of some bad press.

 

You will have noted that P&O are currently in advert mode so they already had the slots bought and someone has decided that this is a more beneficial use of the airtime than the advert they had planned.

 

On 3/25/2022 at 5:29 PM, Thejuggler said:

P&O cruises will have some re-educating to do.

 

However the issue on salaries won't hit the fan because Government can frame the law in terms of ferries operating from UK ports.

 

At the moment the minimum wage law applies to operating purely in UK territorial waters, so once you get half way across the channel, or 12 miles off the east coast from Hull, or west coast if serving Dublin, the laws don't apply.  This is a simple loophole to close.

Almost, if the ship operates solely in the UK then it applies. If its an international service then it only applies if the crew are employed on UK contacts. In the P&O Ferries case, it appears that they were employed on foreign contracts but members of UK trade unions. That made consultation with trade unions a legal requirement but NMW and consultation periods did not apply in the way they would in the UK.

 

15 hours ago, terrierjohn said:

It was Carnval that bought P&O, Princess cruises from P&O UK. So in fact it was Carnival that presumably had to seek approval from P&O UK to  keep the P&O brand name.

Again, this goes back to the origin of the name hence it staying with the cruise line. It will have been part of the commercial negotiations of the purchase.

 

That said, I can't tell you who owns the actual P&O trademark however its also used in P&O Australia.

[amajaa]

36 minutes ago, Astrajet said:

And Naga only said that following a piece by Simon Calder in which he made it clear that  P&O Ferries and P&O Cruises were two different companies and had been for twenty years.  When the P&O Ferries issue was covered earlier or indeed later in the programme, no mention was made of this fact. 

Oh good I did wonder about Simon Calder and whether he had said anything. 
 

I know the News Channels are saying P & O Ferries but it’s pretty obvious from all the social media etc that people still think it’s the same company.