Arcadia cancellations!

[wowzz]

Blimey - all sorts of discussions going  on here.  Perhaps different threads might help ?

[Fitzplumbago]

I too have received extra OBC of £75 for my August fjords cruise on Arcadia (No St Petersberg on original itinerary). I am guessing that customers are concerned that these cruises may also be shelved and are cancelling or rebooking to other ships. I've actually thought about it myself! 

[Jazzytelly]

We are booked on Arcadia in 2023, no compensation for us but not expected. 

 

Back to original thread.
Has anyone received the money for the cancelled cruises yet especially interested if anyone has had any back from the  well known TA beginning with a B?  The 2 weeks are up tomorrow 

[snaefell]

Funny,we sailed on Britannia in her first summer when these forums were full of posters saying how they wouldn't go near such a monster,funny how things change,& so quickly,now she doesn't even seem to be considered a large vessel & people actually say nice things about her!

Overall we quite liked Britannia,sailed on her twice,yes she has,or at least had,a poor lift set up,balconies too small,not the easiest ship to get around &,IMO can seem dark & crowded in places but we got to like her,on our second cruise we were in a stern cabin,seemed a heck of a long walk after a hard night in the Crowd Nest!

In contrast our last cruise was on RCI's Quantum Of The Seas,she may well have spoilt us for future cruises,fabulous cabin,never seemed overcrowded,everywhere seemed so bright,light & airy,full of really quirky 'artwork',we really loved that ship!

[terrierjohn]

6 minutes ago, snaefell said:

Funny,we sailed on Britannia in her first summer when these forums were full of posters saying how they wouldn't go near such a monster,funny how things change,& so quickly,now she doesn't even seem to be considered a large vessel & people actually say nice things about her!

Overall we quite liked Britannia,sailed on her twice,yes she has,or at least had,a poor lift set up,balconies too small,not the easiest ship to get around &,IMO can seem dark & crowded in places but we got to like her,on our second cruise we were in a stern cabin,seemed a heck of a long walk after a hard night in the Crowd Nest!

In contrast our last cruise was on RCI's Quantum Of The Seas,she may well have spoilt us for future cruises,fabulous cabin,never seemed overcrowded,everywhere seemed so bright,light & airy,full of really quirky 'artwork',we really loved that ship!

We have not been on one of RCIs biggest ships, but I agree they do make you feel you're on a spacious cruise ship, with lots of wonderful places to explore, and apart from party night the Royal Promenade rarely feels crowded.

Edited April 21, 2022 by terrierjohn

[mrsgoggins]

32 minutes ago, Jazzytelly said:

Back to original thread.
Has anyone received the money for the cancelled cruises yet especially interested if anyone has had any back from the  well known TA beginning with a B?  The 2 weeks are up tomorrow 

 

I booked 1st May Arcadia via a TA, but not yours.  Nothing heard about the refund yet and I do check my cc account daily.  I'll post when I do get news and hope others will too.

Edited April 21, 2022 by mrsgoggins
Clarity

[arlowood]

34 minutes ago, mrsgoggins said:

 

I booked 1st May Arcadia via a TA, but not yours.  Nothing heard about the refund yet and I do check my cc account daily.  I'll post when I do get news and hope others will too.

Yes I contacted my TA last week regarding the refund of our cancelled 1st May Baltic cruise on Arcadia. Response was that they has not heard anything from P&O but would process the refund as soon as it was received from P&O.

Having read other posts on this, I now realise that it is the TA's responsibility to honour the 14 day refund requirement irrespective of whether they have received the funds from P&O. 

Our 14 day deadline is tomorrow so I shall be chasing this up first thing on Monday if no refund is forthcoming.

[Fionboard]

Book direct, cut out the middle man. Got my refund,  15% Fcc and 100 quid obc all in my account within 3 days of cancellation email. Used to book another cruise departing Saturday. No problem!

[Britboys]

3 hours ago, snaefell said:

Funny,we sailed on Britannia in her first summer when these forums were full of posters saying how they wouldn't go near such a monster,funny how things change,& so quickly,now she doesn't even seem to be considered a large vessel & people actually say nice things about her!

Overall we quite liked Britannia,sailed on her twice,yes she has,or at least had,a poor lift set up,balconies too small,not the easiest ship to get around &,IMO can seem dark & crowded in places but we got to like her,on our second cruise we were in a stern cabin,seemed a heck of a long walk after a hard night in the Crowd Nest!

In contrast our last cruise was on RCI's Quantum Of The Seas,she may well have spoilt us for future cruises,fabulous cabin,never seemed overcrowded,everywhere seemed so bright,light & airy,full of really quirky 'artwork',we really loved that ship!

There are still a few of us around who are not interested in the 'big monsters' 😀. I try hard not to be critical of them however as I appreciate that although they are not my cup of tea, lots of others love them and have a great holiday aboard them.

[Jazzytelly]

1 hour ago, Fionboard said:

Book direct, cut out the middle man. Got my refund,  15% Fcc and 100 quid obc all in my account within 3 days of cancellation email. Used to book another cruise departing Saturday. No problem!

Our 10% FCC was showing on our account more or less straight away but no refund yet. We haven’t booked another cruise yet, jumped ship and booked one with Princess, so we can’t see about the OBC . 
 

Yes please mrsgoggins let us know when it pops onto your CC., likewise anyone else who booked through a TA . More ammunition to use with our TA if others are receiving theirs. 

[yorkshirephil]

4 hours ago, Britboys said:

There are still a few of us around who are not interested in the 'big monsters' 😀. I try hard not to be critical of them however as I appreciate that although they are not my cup of tea, lots of others love them and have a great holiday aboard them.

I have to say we do like the big ships, so much choice, however they do limit where they can dock and tendering can be an issue. We thought we wouldn't care for the big ships until we tried Independence and loved her.

[zap99]

5 hours ago, Britboys said:

There are still a few of us around who are not interested in the 'big monsters' 😀. I try hard not to be critical of them however as I appreciate that although they are not my cup of tea, lots of others love them and have a great holiday aboard them.

We have had 8 cruises on Britannia. Quite a cute little ship. Late summer we have a cruise booked on Anthem. It will be nice to try out a big ship for a change.🤣

[Britboys]

4 hours ago, zap99 said:

We have had 8 cruises on Britannia. Quite a cute little ship. Late summer we have a cruise booked on Anthem. It will be nice to try out a big ship for a change.🤣

The smallest ship I've cruised on was the mighty MV Funchal, weighing in at 9,500 tons... a mere 159,000 tons smaller than Anthem...😂

[jeanlyon]

Andrew, our first was on MV Athena, all the way to the Caribbean.  We had a marvellous time.  I think she was about 15,000 tons.

[Shipsareus]

On 4/21/2022 at 12:31 PM, Jazzytelly said:

Our 10% FCC was showing on our account more or less straight away but no refund yet. We haven’t booked another cruise yet, jumped ship and booked one with Princess, so we can’t see about the OBC . 
 

Yes please mrsgoggins let us know when it pops onto your CC., likewise anyone else who booked through a TA . More ammunition to use with our TA if others are receiving theirs. 

 

3 hours ago, jeanlyon said:

Andrew, our first was on MV Athena, all the way to the Caribbean.  We had a marvellous time.  I think she was about 15,000 tons.

We were booked on the 19 day cruise departing 1June. We can see the FCC and have had the excursion costs refunded, but no refund of the cruise as yet. I understand they should have refunded within 14 days. Checked with our TA this morning and she advised that the refund comes directly from P&O

Anyone booked on that cruise had a refund as yet? 

[mrsgoggins]

I checked in with my TA this morning being 14 days since we were told of the cancellations, reminding them of their obligations and the current legislation, but to know avail. I did not really get beyond polite words from them and, you will be refunded as soon as we receive the monies from P&O.  I must confess to having a bit of sympathy with the TAs on this, and so will be patient for a little longer.

[Shipsareus]

56 minutes ago, mrsgoggins said:

I checked in with my TA this morning being 14 days since we were told of the cancellations, reminding them of their obligations and the current legislation, but to know avail. I did not really get beyond polite words from them and, you will be refunded as soon as we receive the monies from P&O.  I must confess to having a bit of sympathy with the TAs on this, and so will be patient for a little longer.

It’s interesting as our TA - a nationwide high street company,  say that the refund will come directly from P&O. Have tried to get through on the phone to P&O, but as many people on these boards are aware, they don’t answer the phone. So, let’s see how long it takes ! 

56 minutes ago, mrsgoggins said:

I checked in with my TA this morning being 14 days since we were told of the cancellations, reminding them of their obligations and the current legislation, but to know avail. I did not really get beyond polite words from them and, you will be refunded as soon as we receive the monies from P&O.  I must confess to having a bit of sympathy with the TAs on this, and so will be patient for a little longer.

[mrsgoggins]

Anyone any idea why I can't edit my post in this thread?

 

I used the wrong 'know/no' and now I seem to be stuck with it!  And I can't 'like anyone's posts but I am able to do so on other threads.

 

Any suggestions appreciated 🙂

[Jazzytelly]

1 hour ago, mrsgoggins said:

I checked in with my TA this morning being 14 days since we were told of the cancellations, reminding them of their obligations and the current legislation, but to know avail. I did not really get beyond polite words from them and, you will be refunded as soon as we receive the monies from P&O.  I must confess to having a bit of sympathy with the TAs on this, and so will be patient for a little longer.

Just got this e mail from our TA, obviously they have had lots of phone calls. I have deleted the name of the TA but it is a very well known Cruise one 

 

Further to the emails from both ……….. ……… ….. and from P&O Cruises regarding refunds on cancelled cruises, we are currently getting lots of calls from our customers chasing refunds.

If you are still waiting for your refund, as you are aware, P&O Cruises will be making this payment directly to yourself and they have advised that these should be done within 28 days of your cruise being cancelled. Unfortunately, as refunds are in the hands of P&O Cruises, I am afraid we have no way of expediting these or indeed checking if they have been processed.

I appreciate this isn’t what you want to hear and it’s not the service we want to give, but the only thing that can be done is for you to wait for your refund to come through. If you call P&O Cruises to chase your refund, we are finding that they are directing our clients back to us, as the travel agent. Unfortunately, their call centre does not understand that we are unable to obtain information regarding direct refunds.

I would like to thank you for your understanding and ongoing patience in this regard.

Assuring you of my best attention at all times.
 

[Stokie33]

I can’t believe that you are still waiting for refunds, we booked direct with P&o and the money was back in my account the day after the cruise was cancelled but I did pay on my debit card as it wasn’t a lot of money.

 

[Fionboard]

Me too, but maybe because I booked direct?!

[bobgiles]

Hi all,

 

have been watching and reading this thread since P&O cancelled our 1st May Baltics by email with just 3 weeks notice.

 

Over the years we have almost only ever cruised with P&O as a major Cruise Line. We have done a couple of smaller lines (Hurtigruten) but have remained loyal to P&O.

 

Yes I agree with many that standards have changed (rather than slipped), ships have got bigger and on board "extra's for more  £"  have increased tremendously over the years. But throughout we stayed loyal........until now.

 

Shock is the only word I can use for that email. To send an off hand email stating "This is being done in order to maintain the company’s high standards of service of which we are very proud" was a slap in the face.

 

We booked this cruise through a well known (cruising) travel agent when P&O first released it offering us an early bird price with extra 5% Peninsular discount and extra on board spending etc etc as per many of the emails we all receive.

 

However in February we spotted we could book the exact same cruise as a "new booking" at over £1400 less!  same cabin grade,  just a little less on board spend. So much for the original email telling us of this fantastic price they were giving to us "loyal" customers.

 

We contacted our TA who have always given us tremendous service and they had a look. Their take on it was P&O probably had lots of cancellations due to the war and the then imminent change of itinerary removing the 2 days at Saint Petersburg. Hence the price drop to drum up business.

 

They suggested if we were happy to stay on the cruise (without St.P) then P&O were allowing any cancellation to be converted to FCC, so they could cancel our booking, leave it a day for that to work through P&O's system, then rebook us back onto the exact same cruise, even in the exact same cabin (so long as it hadn't been taken by another booking). Told you they are a great TA.

 

No brainer really so we asked them to go ahead and within 24hrs we were rebooked, same cabin number and £1400+ better off. However the TA did say P&O wouldn't be quick with the refund.

 

Well today we called the TA as not only have we not received that money (almost 8 weeks later) but also haven't got the refund either from P&O cancelling the entire cruise two weeks ago. 

 

For those of you who have been told by your TA that P&O will refund directly to the customer, think about it. If you paid your TA (as we did) how will P&O refund you? they haven't got your Bank Details or Credit Card on file. Our TA said that just like us they struggle to get through to P&O. They hold on for over an hour plus before getting through and generally then get someone who actually cannot help and often give (even them) conflicting information. Apparently it's not just the ships with no staff, our TA was told the accounts department have dropped to a 4 day week due to staffing issues. Those who paid P&O directly with CC etc have been repaid as its electronically done and easy to do. Our excursions came back onto the CC within a day or two.

 

However those of us who paid the TA for the cruise are awaiting P&O accounts to work out exactly how much needs to be refunded to each TA in bulk for all the customers that individual TA paid for, for each cruise that was cancelled, from both ships that were effected. This is a much more manual (human) job and they are short staffed and on a 4 day week!!

 

We trust our TA, they assure us they have not had the money back yet and we believe them.

 

However doesn't help us and yet more terrible customer service from P&O. Covid times or not, it is not acceptable.

 

We have jumped ship, booked a Celebrity Cruise for the first time ever as we cannot just change our Annual Leave from work to please P&O's itinerary. We found a cruise going 2 days later and coming back a day later, we will have a holiday!! P&O need to hope we "don't" have an amazing holiday as the way we feel about them we might not ever come back. My biggest issue is the new cruise is sitting on my CC until P&O refund me.

 

I'll let you all know if/when we get our refund from the TA and as others have said would appreciate if anyone else gets their monies back to let us all know.

 

Thanks Bob.

 

 

[paulatsea]

2 hours ago, Stokie33 said:

I can’t believe that you are still waiting for refunds, we booked direct with P&o and the money was back in my account the day after the cruise was cancelled but I did pay on my debit card as it wasn’t a lot of money.

 

Me too - booked direct and refunded within 3 days on credit card - refund was authorised on day of cancellation and excursion cancellation email received the next day.

 

[Jazzytelly]

Yet on 14th April, as I said earlier, I phoned P & O about our Peninsula points and the guy also told me our refund had been sent. When I told our TA that she said he shouldn’t have told you that. We still haven’t got our refund so who was telling the truth . Did the chap in P & O make a mistake ( I don’t think he deliberately misled us) or is it the very well know TA that are still working it out as they gave us a little bit of discount. As their invoice and the P & O invoice always differ by this amount I assume they calculate the amount at the TA.  We know that they are also a bit short staffed as if you book a new cruise it used to be you got your paperwork straight away now I have had to wait up to 2 weeks to get the email with invoice etc.

[jeanlyon]

33 minutes ago, Jazzytelly said:

Yet on 14th April, as I said earlier, I phoned P & O about our Peninsula points and the guy also told me our refund had been sent. When I told our TA that she said he shouldn’t have told you that. We still haven’t got our refund so who was telling the truth . Did the chap in P & O make a mistake ( I don’t think he deliberately misled us) or is it the very well know TA that are still working it out as they gave us a little bit of discount. As their invoice and the P & O invoice always differ by this amount I assume they calculate the amount at the TA.  We know that they are also a bit short staffed as if you book a new cruise it used to be you got your paperwork straight away now I have had to wait up to 2 weeks to get the email with invoice etc.

I would think that the chap at P&O just gave you the usual line that the refund had been sent.