Wheelchair user on P&O minicruise......

Blakespops

What a Joke the service is from P&O. I telephones and pre booked a mini cruise after winning my DLA Appeal felt we deserved a break from everything and informed them I was disabled and normally use a wheelchair but for the trip would be using an electric scooter that was small enough to get in the rooms and collapsable so could be folded down when needed and was quoted a price and told I had until the next day to pay and Disabled transport would not be a probelm so all was well. The next day we phoned to pay and were told that I would be ok to travel on the ship but could not be given the disabled tranvel in belgium as they do not provide this service. so you can guess we complained and after two days of back and forth on the phone making me feel smaller and smaller they stated I would have to pay 92 euro for the hire of a mini bus for the trip, more talks and hours on the phone before on the day of the trip we found out P&O were indeed going to pay the travel costs.

Has anyone else had this with P&O? yes they did pay in the end but not before they said things like.... " well could you not crawl up the stairs on the normal coach or have your wife carry you?" among many other things. all in all not a good thing. we just would like to know if anyone else has had any situations like this and what could be done about it?

krisskross

I have cruised several times with P&O and although I do not have limited mobility myself there were lots of passengers who did. All the people I spoke to with wheelchairs etc were very happy with the service they were receiving. The staff at the gangways to shore and to the tenders appeared to be very helpful by carrying the wheelchairs or scooters, assisting the passengers to board etc. They do state quite clearly that passengers must be able to bear their own weight and that there will be no lifting. I ohnestly cannot believe they would have asked you to crawl up the coach steps....it would have been much easier for them to merely say that the trip was not suitable for someone with such limited mobility. Did you pay extra for disabled travel?

Some cruises I have been on passengers who cannot get down the gangway under their own steam simply cannot leave the ship during the cruise. So do no shore excursions.

Sorry you had a poor experience, what trip were you doing in Belgium?

WaveyDave_2

I've travelled with P&O previously. My wife has limited mobility and uses a wheelchair sometimes. Have to say, on the whole we found P&O excellent. We had quick checkin, excellent transfers, and the staff on board were very good.

Guess it very much depends on what ship you travel on and the staff.

krisskross

WaveyDave wrote: »

I've travelled with P&O previously. My wife has limited mobility and uses a wheelchair sometimes. Have to say, on the whole we found P&O excellent. We had quick checkin, excellent transfers, and the staff on board were very good.

Guess it very much depends on what ship you travel on and the staff.

Depends really on what your expectations are. I wasn't aware that P&O did cater specifically for disabled people whilst ashore. I wouldn't have thought this was something they had control over.

Ruby_Moon

Sorry that you were unhappy with P&O and your trip but you must remember that these ships and trips arent full packages like a cruise is. Yes, they may 'call' them mini cruises but they arent really. They are ferry crossings.

The buses that are used in Beligium and Holland are similar to local transport which basically P&O pay the small fee on behalf of its passengers and anyone who has trouble with these buses or doesnt want to use them can find their own way out and about.

You do have to remember that, as I said, it is just a ferry crossing and that most extras need to be paid for. I do think its a bit off to stamp your feet demanding a special bus to drive you into town which probably cost the company more than you paid for crossing one way.

It often upsets me when I come across other disabled people who think they can have it all as when they were able bodied. We cant. But that isnt all 'some companies fault'.

Ive been on these crossings a few times and I get a taxi at the other end.

krisskross

I didn't realise it wasn't a 'real' cruise. I thought he meant one of the 3 night ones that the ships do to fill in an odd few days.

Blakespops

Ruby_Moon wrote: »

Sorry that you were unhappy with P&O and your trip but you must remember that these ships and trips arent full packages like a cruise is. Yes, they may 'call' them mini cruises but they arent really. They are ferry crossings.

The buses that are used in Beligium and Holland are similar to local transport which basically P&O pay the small fee on behalf of its passengers and anyone who has trouble with these buses or doesnt want to use them can find their own way out and about.

You do have to remember that, as I said, it is just a ferry crossing and that most extras need to be paid for. I do think its a bit off to stamp your feet demanding a special bus to drive you into town which probably cost the company more than you paid for crossing one way.

It often upsets me when I come across other disabled people who think they can have it all as when they were able bodied. We cant. But that isnt all 'some companies fault'.

Ive been on these crossings a few times and I get a taxi at the other end.

Ok you have a point on the part of not expecting more than is sold as part of the package, but as I had told them that I used a wheelchair and would for the trip be using a powered one and am assured that the travel would be suitable for me and it would not be a problem as they have the disabled transport available how is it that you say I am stamping my feet? all I am doing is expecting what was agreed with the P&O booking staff. this was me checking out that the trip would be suitable prior to booking so my expectations were only raised by the P&O Sales staff. Then as the lady had reserved the booking with all the details. We had Paid Extra to upgrade the room to Club Class cabin as this had more room and we were happy to pay the extra for the room. so once we had agreed what the package would cost and what was included I am fully intitled to stamp my feet and demand all that I paid for. P&O by accepting and agreeing to provide the transport when quoting the price had raised the expectations. if they had said "sorry but it is not possible we could have looked at going by Eurostar or something that would have been suitable.

As the "Mini Cruises" are sold as a package to include travel into the city they have to provide suitable travel for disabled, however if you just book a normal crossing they do not as the transport is not included in the price of the tickets.

As for them having to pay more than we paid for the crossing to hire a bus... we paid a total of £492 and some small change for the return trip. if we had gone for the cheapest rooms that the chair would not have fitted and would have had to be broken down into the 5 bits it does for travel and not include the meals we would have paid over £200 less. Price was not the issue as we were just having a well earned break and a chance to visit the chocolate capital of the world....mmmmmmmm Chocolate:j

The reason we were choosing the mini cruises is to see if our son would be ok on the ships as we are planning on a long cruise to america next year where my wife and son were born and see her family before flying back to the uk or even if can get it a cruise that would be coming back to the uk.

krisskross Had stated was a Mini cruise as you say its not a real cruise but they do sell them as a package deal rather than just a ferry crossing.

"Depends really on what your expectations are. I wasn't aware that P&O did cater specifically for disabled people whilst ashore. I wouldn't have thought this was something they had control over." As stated we only expected what we were told was available at the price we agreed. when they said it was not available we asked for the price to be adjusted to reflect this and were told the price would be the same. so why should we pay extra for funding the travel when it was agreed to be part of the trip at the price? I never expect anything for nothing in anyway and had paid extras all round upgrading etc so if was told when booking price would be higher to cater for transport then we would have accepted it but why should we not stand up for ourselves and demand the full package that was agreed and paid for?

Ruby_Moon

Blakespops wrote: »

What a Joke the service is from P&O.

The next day we phoned to pay and were told that I would be ok to travel on the ship but could not be given the disabled tranvel in belgium as they do not provide this service. so you can guess we complained

Has anyone else had this with P&O? yes they did pay in the end but not before they said things like.... " well could you not crawl up the stairs on the normal coach or have your wife carry you?" among many other things. all in all not a good thing. we just would like to know if anyone else has had any situations like this and what could be done about it?

The ferry crossings from Hull to Zeebruger are not packages.

You get a basic room and have to pay extra for everything.....food, drinks, entertainment etc etc.

I can understand if you had already paid for your trip when you found out that you wouldnt be able to get on the bus but you knew before you paid that the bus wasnt able to take wheelchair bound passengers, so I dont understand you making a fuss and demanding you get what you want.

You had the option to say "Oh....theres been a misunderstanding. Ill get back to you when Ive thought through the options" (one option to be get a taxi )

How is it P&O's fault that the bus you want isnt available when they hadnt even taken your booking?
And why are you making out that the company are inconsiderate towards disabled passangers when you had not booked anything with them?

Things like this are what give disabled people bad press. Its not P&O. Its the "know their rights" brigade.

krisskross

The ships are still ferries not cruise ships.

You got your own way in the end but probably did no favours for any other wheelchair users. How are you going to get up the stairs to an aircraft or get off and on a normal cruise ship if you cannot negotiate a couple of steps to get on a coach?

I understand that you have limited mobility but this description would cover a huge range, from not being able to stand or walk at all to having to stop every 50 yards to get your breath back. I don't think you could reasonably have expected P&O staff who do not know you to envisage every type of limited mobility you could possibly have.

I thought the DLA payments were for this very type of eventuality. You are given the money to get taxis etc when public transport is not suitable.

Try one of the American companies for your next 'cruise'. They charge $10 for each passenger on their 'courtesy' buses.

Ruby_Moon

Krisskross, you are right. They do charge for the buses. But there again some of the British ones do too.
I really don't understand the gripe the OP has, do you? If you look back he hadn't even paid for it when he was demanding his rights.
Its this sort of thing that gets ALL wheelchair users a bad name.

McKneff

P & O mini cruises do charge for the transport into Brugge, Amsterdam, Rotterdam, They ask you if you want transport and its added to the bill.

I have booked to go to Amsterdam in October, (the buy one get one frees are on now) My OH and I, in a 2 bedded (not bunks) transfers into Amsterdam all for £88 for the 2 of us.

P & O staff are just the best. Excellent customer services bothon the boat and at their call centres.

We tried once going from Newcastle to Amsterdam on the DFDS from Newcastle, never again.