P and O isolation cabins

[TangerineWillow]

Covid is here, been here for years and will be for years. P and O take cabins out for isolation on all ships. So why do they decide which cabins ten days before sailing, why sell those cabin and upset passengers by withdrawing paid for cabins. Iona in May and now Azura in Sept our selected select fare cabins have been withdrawn and replaced by obstructed view poor cabins, P and o and Cruise.co dont give a damm.

I got compo on Iona from Carnival CEO and suppose it must happen again this time. Thats us finished with P and O

[emam]

For it to happen to you once is bad enough, but twice not good. It must be so disappointing for you. 

[Angel57]

21 minutes ago, TangerineWillow said:

Covid is here, been here for years and will be for years. P and O take cabins out for isolation on all ships. So why do they decide which cabins ten days before sailing, why sell those cabin and upset passengers by withdrawing paid for cabins. Iona in May and now Azura in Sept our selected select fare cabins have been withdrawn and replaced by obstructed view poor cabins, P and o and Cruise.co dont give a damm.

I got compo on Iona from Carnival CEO and suppose it must happen again this time. Thats us finished with P and O

So sorry. That is a real bummer.

[JAJ66]

15 hours ago, TangerineWillow said:

Covid is here, been here for years and will be for years. P and O take cabins out for isolation on all ships. So why do they decide which cabins ten days before sailing, why sell those cabin and upset passengers by withdrawing paid for cabins. Iona in May and now Azura in Sept our selected select fare cabins have been withdrawn and replaced by obstructed view poor cabins, P and o and Cruise.co dont give a damm.

I got compo on Iona from Carnival CEO and suppose it must happen again this time. Thats us finished with P and O

You have my sympathy. This has happened to us, with just under four weeks to our cruise, P and O also changed our Azura C deck aft cabin to an obstructed cabin. We booked this cruise in April 2021 on the Select fare, so paid a premium to chose our cabin. I just don’t understand why P & O do this. They clearly do not care - it’s appalling customer service.  I have emailed Carnival to express my dissatisfaction - let’s see their response, I’m not holding my breath.

[True Devonian]

52 minutes ago, JAJ66 said:

You have my sympathy. This has happened to us, with just under four weeks to our cruise, P and O also changed our Azura C deck aft cabin to an obstructed cabin. We booked this cruise in April 2021 on the Select fare, so paid a premium to chose our cabin. I just don’t understand why P & O do this. They clearly do not care - it’s appalling customer service.  I have emailed Carnival to express my dissatisfaction - let’s see their response, I’m not holding my breath.

We are on Ventura, which is the same lay out as Azura, at the end of October and are now concerned. We have booked an aft balcony cabin and certainaly would not be happy to be moved to an obstructed view cabin. Could you confirm which cabin you were moved from and which cabin you were moved to. Thank you.

[arlowood]

Not only do they not care but they are also staffed by people appear to be strangers to logic.

 

On our  1st May cruise on Arcadia we had booked a select fare cabin in the mid-aft section of A deck (A129). Shortly after we had paid our full balance?????, we had an email apologising but informing us that we were being moved from our chosen cabin to a forward cabin on B-deck. Not a happy camper at that point as we would definitely not have selected a cabin there. I went on to the P&O website and did a "dummy" booking and established that they were still offering cabins on A-deck just slightly further aft of our chosen one.

 

I contacted our TA and after much toing and froing she eventually managed to persuade them to switch us to A137 - pretty close to were we wanted to be.

 

Now what I can't fathom is why they could not have switched me to that cabin in the first place. I would still have been a bit upset at losing our chosen cabin but would have been relatively happy with the A137 alternative. Instead they shunted me to a lower forward cabin.

 

I'm afraid in the end it all proved to be a bit academic as they contacted us in early April to cancel the cruise due to staff being re-deployed from Arcadia to other larger ships.

 

Where logic is concerned I fear that P&O were missing in action at the tutorial

[Danamis]

52 minutes ago, True Devonian said:

We are on Ventura, which is the same lay out as Azura, at the end of October and are now concerned. We have booked an aft balcony cabin and certainaly would not be happy to be moved to an obstructed view cabin. Could you confirm which cabin you were moved from and which cabin you were moved to. Thank you.

I think you will be ok as P and O are removing all isolation cabins apparently. We were moved from our lovely Aft cabins in April to C deck midships. P and O considered this to be an upgrade so no compensation. We didn't consider it to be an upgrade from our carefully chosed Select price cabins. P and O completely ignored our email stating this. We had ticked the 'no upgrades' box too...  Customer service is somewhat lacking.

[TangerineWillow]

3 hours ago, True Devonian said:

We are on Ventura, which is the same lay out as Azura, at the end of October and are now concerned. We have booked an aft balcony cabin and certainaly would not be happy to be moved to an obstructed view cabin. Could you confirm which cabin you were moved from and which cabin you were moved to. Thank you.

 

[TangerineWillow]

We were C Deck aft, three cabins from back, and moved to the back of deck 11 obstructed view

[JAJ66]

4 hours ago, True Devonian said:

We are on Ventura, which is the same lay out as Azura, at the end of October and are now concerned. We have booked an aft balcony cabin and certainaly would not be happy to be moved to an obstructed view cabin. Could you confirm which cabin you were moved from and which cabin you were moved to. Thank you.

We were in C734, considered overlooked, but we enjoy the big C deck balconies, to cabin B751, obstructed view.  I have since managed to speak to P & O and got us moved to a cabin on A deck aft which, although not our choice, is better than B751 which has a big stantion post through the middle of the balcony and would certainly not be our choice. Given this experience, we are now worried for our Aft balconies on 2 further cruises booked and are considering moving them whilst there is more availability. But this would obviously be an additional cost and we have already paid Select price so that we could choose our cabin ! 

[Trevor Fountain]

19 hours ago, JAJ66 said:

We were in C734, considered overlooked, but we enjoy the big C deck balconies, to cabin B751, obstructed view.  I have since managed to speak to P & O and got us moved to a cabin on A deck aft which, although not our choice, is better than B751 which has a big stantion post through the middle of the balcony and would certainly not be our choice. Given this experience, we are now worried for our Aft balconies on 2 further cruises booked and are considering moving them whilst there is more availability. But this would obviously be an additional cost and we have already paid Select price so that we could choose our cabin ! 

I think in circumstances where passengers are moved after paying the Select fare, the very least P&O should do is refund the difference between the Select fare and the Saver fare, regardless of any other perks that might be afforded to the Select fare.

[J110]

I thought in one of the other threads re quarantine cabins people were refunded if they were moved but didn’t select an upgrade.

Has this now changed?

 

[Son of Anarchy]

1 hour ago, Trevor Fountain said:

I think in circumstances where passengers are moved after paying the Select fare, the very least P&O should do is refund the difference between the Select fare and the Saver fare, regardless of any other perks that might be afforded to the Select fare.

Totally agree

[terrierjohn]

1 hour ago, J110 said:

I thought in one of the other threads re quarantine cabins people were refunded if they were moved but didn’t select an upgrade.

Has this now changed?

 

People testing positive during a cruise, and being moved to a quarantine cabin, do get a refund in the form of an FCC for the days they are in quarantine, but not heard that people being moved have been offered anything.

[yorkshirephil]

25 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

People testing positive during a cruise, and being moved to a quarantine cabin, do get a refund in the form of an FCC for the days they are in quarantine, but not heard that people being moved have been offered anything.

The FCC for quarintining is also coming to an end soon:

***IMPORTANT UPDATE FROM P&O***

Removal of COVID-19 related Future Cruise Credits (FCCs)

We are updating our vaccination and testing policies for P&O Cruises and Cunard from 5 September 2022. As part of these changes, we’ll no longer be issuing COVID-19-related Future Cruise Credits (FCCs). This means P&O Cruises and Cunard will no longer offer FCCs to customers who have been unwell with confirmed or suspected COVID-19 or have been in close contact with someone with con-firmed or suspected COVID-19, within 10 days prior to their cruise, or to customers that are required to isolate on board during their cruise.

Your customers must have travel insurance that includes cover for COVID-19 at the time of sailing and we highly recommend that your customers arrange the insurance at the time of booking their holiday. Should your customer’s holiday be impacted by COVID-19, we will ask that they contact their travel insurance provider in order to claim for any associated loss. We encourage your customers to keep hold of their booking documentation to assist them with any claim they may need to make.

[FangedRose]

3 hours ago, yorkshirephil said:

The FCC for quarintining is also coming to an end soon:

***IMPORTANT UPDATE FROM P&O***

Removal of COVID-19 related Future Cruise Credits (FCCs)

We are updating our vaccination and testing policies for P&O Cruises and Cunard from 5 September 2022. As part of these changes, we’ll no longer be issuing COVID-19-related Future Cruise Credits (FCCs). This means P&O Cruises and Cunard will no longer offer FCCs to customers who have been unwell with confirmed or suspected COVID-19 or have been in close contact with someone with con-firmed or suspected COVID-19, within 10 days prior to their cruise, or to customers that are required to isolate on board during their cruise.

Your customers must have travel insurance that includes cover for COVID-19 at the time of sailing and we highly recommend that your customers arrange the insurance at the time of booking their holiday. Should your customer’s holiday be impacted by COVID-19, we will ask that they contact their travel insurance provider in order to claim for any associated loss. We encourage your customers to keep hold of their booking documentation to assist them with any claim they may need to make.

 

Well, that's another reason not to report any symptoms to the medical centre.

 

Mind you, you don't get compensation from P&O if you catch flu or a cold, or anything else and stay in your cabin for a few days. And, I've felt far worse with a "normal" cold than I did with covid. (Yes I know it's not the same for everyone, so no comments about long covid etc).

Edited August 28, 2022 by FangedRose

[Megabear2]

2 hours ago, FangedRose said:

 

Well, that's another reason not to report any symptoms to the medical centre.

 

Mind you, you don't get compensation from P&O if you catch flu or a cold, or anything else and stay in your cabin for a few days. And, I've felt far worse with a "normal" cold than I did with covid. (Yes I know it's not the same for everyone, so no comments about long covid etc).

So we go back to the close contact not being insurable.  Assume that no one will be picked as a close contact going forward then.

[Snow Hill]

1 hour ago, Megabear2 said:

So we go back to the close contact not being insurable.  Assume that no one will be picked as a close contact going forward then.

If unvaccinated then a number of insurance companies won’t provide Covid Cover, this includes Holiday Extras Travel Insurance, which I believe P&O recommend.

 

Am I covered if I do not have the COVID-19 vaccination?

If you or any other traveller on this policy contract COVID-19 and have chosen not to have the recommended vaccination(s) you will not be covered for any COVID-19 related claims under this policy. The UK Government has recommended that all eligible persons have a booster vaccination. If you have not had the booster vaccine you may not be covered under our policy. Discretion may be applied if you are medically exempt to have the recommended vaccination(s) and this is shown on your medical records.

 

Currently P&O are not accepting unvaccinated passengers, but that could change at some point, but when it does P&O will need to review who they recommend as travel insurers. 

 

[Megabear2]

7 hours ago, Snow Hill said:

If unvaccinated then a number of insurance companies won’t provide Covid Cover, this includes Holiday Extras Travel Insurance, which I believe P&O recommend.

 

Am I covered if I do not have the COVID-19 vaccination?

If you or any other traveller on this policy contract COVID-19 and have chosen not to have the recommended vaccination(s) you will not be covered for any COVID-19 related claims under this policy. The UK Government has recommended that all eligible persons have a booster vaccination. If you have not had the booster vaccine you may not be covered under our policy. Discretion may be applied if you are medically exempt to have the recommended vaccination(s) and this is shown on your medical records.

 

Currently P&O are not accepting unvaccinated passengers, but that could change at some point, but when it does P&O will need to review who they recommend as travel insurers. 

 

The vaccination status isn't going to be the problem.  Unless the insurance market has changed passengers who do not have a positive test for covid are not covered on insurance policies if they are quarantined.  The current "honour" system P&O and Cunard have been offering has therefore been picking up the tab which the insurer doesn't meet.  

 

The relevant section of the new policy is:

 

"This means P&O Cruises and Cunard will no longer offer FCCs to customers who have been unwell with confirmed or suspected COVID-19 or have been in close contact with someone with con-firmed or suspected COVID-19, within 10 days prior to their cruise, or to customers that are required to isolate on board during their cruise" .

 

Assumedy P&O have done their homework with the insurance companies this time around but the wording does not mention anything to indicate who is picking up the tab or relocating any fly cruise passengers who are "close contacts" or "suspected COVID-19" cases.  Losing days of your holiday for isolation should be covered under a decent policy of insurance if the cruise extension is triggered so hopefully passengers can claim up to their limit and at least get some money back.  It should be remembered that some passengers choose to not purchase the extra cruise cover to top up their policies and these people will need to be particularly careful as if they are quarantined there will be no recompense from any source.

 

Fly cruise passengers in particular should expect P&O at the very least to confirm what will happen to any passengers who do not provide a positive covid test but end up quarantined because they are "close contacts" or "suspected".  There are still countries on P&O's itineraries who will isolate or offload people with/suspected of having covid and the cruise lines are muddying the waters without stating their clear policies once more.  Financial loss is one thing as assumedly quarantine in your own cabin if you are a contact will occur and be covered by cruise extension insurance, but the situation regarding places where theoretically you could still be offloaded needs further clarification as to whether P&O will continue to assist with repatriation/travel costs.  

 

Currently numbers with covid are falling but if there is a winter surge countries may well tighten their restrictions and requirements again and then the passengers may find themselves back in the "grey" area once more.

[Astrajet]

4 hours ago, Megabear2 said:

There are still countries on P&O's itineraries who will isolate or offload people with/suspected of having covid

Am I correct in thinking that Spanish ports no longer offload positive/close contacts unless hospitalisation is required?  I'm sure I read a post saying that the EU directive had been updated but I can't find it!  Many thanks.

[Megabear2]

22 minutes ago, Astrajet said:

Am I correct in thinking that Spanish ports no longer offload positive/close contacts unless hospitalisation is required?  I'm sure I read a post saying that the EU directive had been updated but I can't find it!  Many thanks.

The EU directive was updated earlier this year.  I'm uncertain whether it has been amended since but I'm sure others on here will have information for you.  It is however an individual country's right to set rules.  Certainly there were 50 people leaving Regal Princess into quarantine in Rome when I disembarked there on 9 July.

 

I have not heard of anyone offloading anywhere in Spain for a couple of months now that US people can return home without testing, but with the cruise lines not providing covid figures it is impossible to say.  However I wasn't thinking of Europe more Canada, the Caribbean and the upcoming world and South American cruises.

Edited August 29, 2022 by Megabear2

[Danamis]

On 8/28/2022 at 12:58 PM, Son of Anarchy said:

Totally agree

Agree but it didn't happen to us.Our emails to P and O and Carnival were ignored. We have three future cruises booked. A mixture of Saver and Select. We have just gone with the best deals at the time. We have found that relying on keeping your cabin when booking Saver fares cannot be relied on. Still love cruising though so for now they still get our business...

[TangerineWillow]

Well Carnival response is they do not pay compensation when cabins are moved for covid isolation. We paid £300 e tra to selct our cabin and dining. So no select of cabin but they do not recognise that. Dining is easy nowadays as anytime is common, and shuttles when ever, never see then free. The chap dealing with our complaint offered us £100 but it should be £300 he has waffled his way through various excuses. Decided now never to sail on P and O again and as soon as share prices increase we will sell,our shares. Celebrity are the best at sea and will benefit.

[florence11]

I have just come across this thread about FCC, I tested positive on the last day of my cruise so had to isolate do I get anything from P&O or does everything have to go through my travel insurance.

[Megabear2]

1 hour ago, florence11 said:

I have just come across this thread about FCC, I tested positive on the last day of my cruise so had to isolate do I get anything from P&O or does everything have to go through my travel insurance.

Through your insurer I'm afraid. FCC stopped at the beginning of September.