Where to complain about P&O shore excursion issue?

[oAlgo]

Hi, just finished our wonderful Nothern LIght cruise on Aurora, but still a bit angry about "an issue" that happened during one of our excursions in Andalsnes.
While we were travelling by bus, the guide received a call telling him to change the route and take us to a different cafe to have a coffee.
He told the bus driver and while he was driving us on slippery roads he took out his phone, and opened maps, typed in the new address and started looking on the phone without even slowing down. After looking for a while he found it and then drove the rest of the way with one hand on the wheel while holding his phone with the other hand, even going round roundabouts he didn´t put his phone away.
Not only this, but on the way back he received a videocall and took his phone out again, and took the call and then put his phone down on the side so he could continue the call.
I thought about reporting this, but I did feel a bit bad about doing this, but when we got back I told the guide that it was wrong to do that with a bus full of people, but he just said that everybody does it, and that even cars now days have screens that show your phone. I then told the driver that he should not do that and he just smiled at me as if I was crazy, didn´t even apologize. 
I went to shore excursion on the ship, and the guy said there after seeing the video that he was probably looking at maps, giving it no importance at all.
Now I do feel like I should do something, as this is very reckless, and if he keeps on like this people could get hurt.

[Ardennais]

I agree, very reckless and irresponsible. What does the law say in Norway?

[kruzseeka]

I agree - and even if the locals (or even authorities in Norway) find this acceptable I think P&O must be informed.  The shore excursion team have no business dismissing this without taking it seriously and reporting it (I suppose he may have done but just wasn't prepared to admit anything to you). 

 

P&O surely have a duty of care. Can you imagine the backlash if there was an accident and they knew about such a careless/dangerous approach to safety - and basically condoned it if they didn't take it seriously. 

 

I think you are being very responsible and would encourage you to report it officially.  Would others suggest the most effective route would be a direct email to the CEO?  

[Selbourne]

As using a mobile phone at the wheel in the U.K. is now deemed a very serious (and reckless) offence, carrying a 6 point penalty (or worse if you cause an accident), I agree that it comes as a shock now when travelling overseas to find drivers texting or making calls whilst driving.
 

On our recent cruise, where we visited 21 different countries, I witnessed this in almost all of them when on excursions. I must confess that I didn’t make a compliant, but I certainly felt that it was extremely dangerous, especially when in charge of a minibus or coach containing large numbers of people whose lives are in their hands.
 

Although the law in most countries still allows this dangerous practice, I think it would be a good idea to flag this with P&O. Even though it might not be illegal, P&O could issue instructions to the tour operators that they use saying that they should not do this when carrying their passengers. 

Edited March 31 by Selbourne

[ovccruiser]

It is illegal to drive in Norway whilst operating a mobile phone, much the same as here, but, would you call into your nearest police station if you saw someone in the UK doing the same? There are virtually no police on our roads so many people take the risk unfortunately.P & O will probably do nothing about it if you complained.

[david63]

Try this email - executive.correspondence@carnivalukgroup.com

[oAlgo]

Thanks for all the answers!
It is illegal in Norway to drive while looking at your phone, as the same as in most of the European countries.
David, thanks for the email, I´ll send them the complaint and the videos I recorded.

[GSPG]

If there was an ‘accident’ going forward that was due to the driver behaving this way, I would say now you have raised this concern with the company they would be negligent by not addressing it in some way.

 

People are often wiser after the event, you have raised the potential for disaster now.

I myself would have been sitting there on tenterhooks. In fact I would have shouted out at him to concentrate on the road, and leave his frigging phone alone.

 

All for the sake of finding another cafe, although as we know driver’s can make quite a bit of money from the cafe’s owners for bringing income to them.

What was the reason on going to a different cafe, as if driver’s can go off route as they please raises all sorts of questions, and being liable for this and that.

 

I think you need a lot of answers here.

[Megabear2]

20 hours ago, ovccruiser said:

It is illegal to drive in Norway whilst operating a mobile phone, much the same as here, but, would you call into your nearest police station if you saw someone in the UK doing the same? There are virtually no police on our roads so many people take the risk unfortunately.P & O will probably do nothing about it if you complained.

The new safety cameras which are being trialled deal with mobile phone use.

 

https://nationalhighways.co.uk/about-us/more-police-forces-join-our-trial-of-new-safety-cameras/

[kruzseeka]

22 hours ago, ovccruiser said:

It is illegal to drive in Norway whilst operating a mobile phone, much the same as here, but, would you call into your nearest police station if you saw someone in the UK doing the same? There are virtually no police on our roads so many people take the risk unfortunately.P & O will probably do nothing about it if you complained.

I understand the point you make - but whether or not it is reported/detected/prompts a police response I don't think is the critical issue here. 

 

It's whether P&O is prepared (knowingly, once reported) to put a coach load of their passengers on excursions where some drivers are not observing the law and taking risks with their safety. 

 

[nellydean]

This happened us in March in the Caribbean on Arvia. We were sitting up front next to the driver in one of the very small, cramped and run-down buses the islands use. Our guide was also the driver and, at some point early on, he took a call and then balanced the phone on his lap while he steered,  constantly looking at it while steering with only one hand, sometimes at speed, and around tricky corners on hillsides. He also spent a great deal of time fiddling about with various things by his side, including a large drinks container, which I eventually offered to hold so it didn't fall over and distract him further. He was a nice guy, but it was unnerving and, if it hadn't been for the fact I was suffering from a virus picked up in the first few days, I would have complained - we did complain about another trip in an open sided safari bus, where we couldn't hear any commentary from the driver/guide for most of the tour, as the speaker bust. He wasn't interested, but we did get a small amount of compensation, and the satisfaction that the problem had been verified and corrected so no-one else missed out knowing where they were going and what they were seeing.

 

There were LOTS of problems with ship's tours on that particular cruise, including one that we witnessed, where a large number of people crowded around the excursions desk and were shouting very loudly. P&O charges a lot of money for its excursions, and it is their responsibility to make sure people get what they pay for but, most importantly, that they are not exposed to any danger on the roads.

You should complain to them.

[Megabear2]

This is an emotive subject unfortunately.  Complaints are good, indeed I complained about a safety issue on a catamaran cruise in St Lucia, but realistically P&O will have little control over driver behaviour.  The OP is on fairly safe ground as it is illegal to use a handheld phone in Norway.  However the Caribbean islands are mainly third world countries and rules are frequently disregarded.  Many of these places follow the US and in quite a lot of states there is no ban on phone use.

 

Sadly a few years back a passenger from Azura was sadly killed in Tortola whilst on an excursion.  If anything would have tightened things up that would have been the time but truthfully I see little difference.

 

As passengers we have to take this into account when deciding to book excursions and make a personal choice as to whether to go or not.

[happy v]

Do they even take a test in the Caribbean? They definitely don't have mot's. We have been on Fred Flintstone mini busses!

[Megabear2]

1 hour ago, happy v said:

Do they even take a test in the Caribbean? They definitely don't have mot's. We have been on Fred Flintstone mini busses!

They all seem to have driving tests, some even have a theory too.What the level of competency required is I've no idea.

[doog442]

4 hours ago, Megabear2 said:

Sadly a few years back a passenger from Azura was sadly killed in Tortola whilst on an excursion.  If anything would have tightened things up that would have been the time but truthfully I see little difference.

 

As passengers we have to take this into account when deciding to book excursions and make a personal choice as to whether to go or not.

 

Dominica I believe. Regarding Tortola we did an official ships tour, the 'vehicle' if you can call it that I honestly thought was to transfer us out of the port area but no it took us around half the Island. 

 

No seat belts, bench seats, no doors, screaming brakes, horrific roads but fantastic views.

 

That said I've done public bus rides down the Amalfi coast in Italy last year that were nearly as bad. 

[Megabear2]

32 minutes ago, doog442 said:

 

Dominica I believe. Regarding Tortola we did an official ships tour, the 'vehicle' if you can call it that I honestly thought was to transfer us out of the port area but no it took us around half the Island. 

 

No seat belts, bench seats, no doors, screaming brakes, horrific roads but fantastic views.

 

That said I've done public bus rides down the Amalfi coast in Italy last year that were nearly as bad. 

Yes, sorry it was Dominica, actually one of my favourite islands but dreadful Road conditions particularly since the hurricanes in 2017.