Greedy P and O ferry no alcohol rule

mcfisco

dannny wrote: »

To call the crossing from Hull to Zeebrugge a "cruise" is also a misuse of the word "cruise" IMO.

I agree, the word is pretty much totally associated with driving around looking for sex these days.

whatmichaelsays

zagfles wrote: »

It's also pretty petty - how much profit will they really make per customer on selling drink? Say the average customer drinks 3 pints, spending maybe £10-12, maybe £5-10 profit max per customer. It is really worth searching peoples' bags and confiscating booze and annoying customers, making the boarding procedure slower for everyone, just to make a measly few pounds?

But times that figure by about 2m passengers a year and all of a sudden, it's not a "few measly pounds".

P&O Ferries are like many other business in that ancillary revenue is a huge part of their business. As consumers, we demand low headline fares - that has to be made up somewhere.

mcfisco

whatmichaelsays wrote: »

But times that figure by about 2m passengers a year and all of a sudden, it's not a "few measly pounds".

P&O Ferries are like many other business in that ancillary revenue is a huge part of their business. As consumers, we demand low headline fares - that has to be made up somewhere.

Ryanair reckon to only earn €6 per customer in total

maman

mcfisco wrote: »

Ryanair reckon to only earn €6 per customer in total

That could be because passengers feel so ripped off with all the 'add-ons' to booking no-frills flights that they refuse to part with any more.

whatmichaelsays

mcfisco wrote: »

Ryanair reckon to only earn €6 per customer in total

Ryanair's May revenue announcement revealed €651m pre-tax profit from 81.5m passengers, which works out at just shy of €8 pre-tax profit per passenger.

Small profit-per-customer figures at big firms is not unusual. For all of the outrage that follows when British Gas reveal their figures, they actually make little more than £35 per customer.

To the average customer, micro-changes such reducing the size of a product by a few grams or changing a policy might seem trivial, but multiply that by several million units and the savings (or revenues) add up.

old_biker

I'm a bit late with my reply to this one and my first post but I would like to correct some misconceptions.

The alcohol rule applies to car and foot pax. We were stopped last year in the car at Hull. The car was checked and luggage put through the xray machine. I was warned about taking alcohol on board the ship but it was not confiscated. However I now have access to an email from the port security manager which says

The searching for alcohol is a secondary matter related toOnboard Services and alcohol related incidents that occur on thevessels. Ship’s Security Wardens carry out the alcoholsearch and not the Profile Security officers, whoseprimary search role is related to ISPS.

In other words the port security officers have no jurisdiction so tell them to mind their own business.

I too am indignant that P&O have stopped a tradition of mine. For the last 20 years I have bought a bottle of wine from the onboard shop and took it back to my cabin after dinner. They have also taken bar prices to a new level. Abottle of cider which costs just over £1 in the supermarket is now £4 in the bar. Bear in mind also that onboard stock is bought by P&O at export (duty-free) prices.

duchy

zagfles wrote: »

Silly comparison, the primary purpose of a ferry is transport, not selling booze. What next, should they stop people bringing food on because they sell it? What about toothbrushes, toothpaste, razors, shaving foam etc? They sell those onboard too. Should people not be allowed to use their own onboard?

Guess the solution is just to disguise it better

Now who is getting silly ?
Minicruises are cheap -part of the reason for that is the point is to increase onboard sales-primarily alcohol.

I suppose you think the primary purpose of a pub is to sell booze so you can order a beer and then unwrap your pack up your Mummy made.....I used to have a bloke do this on a regular basis until I told him one more time and I'd bar him. He was in his early twenties ...suited and booted and with a pack of office types who used to roll their eyes when he did it...I never worked out if he was really tight or really stupid (This was a Wetherspoons so hardly mega expensive for food)

DTDfanBoy

Well I'm glad that this doesn't apply on the Calais to Dover ferry, we always have a bit of a picnic & sample a few French purchased bottles of wine on the way back and have never been bothered by the staff :beer:

zagfles

old_biker wrote: »

I'm a bit late with my reply to this one and my first post but I would like to correct some misconceptions.

The alcohol rule applies to car and foot pax. We were stopped last year in the car at Hull. The car was checked and luggage put through the xray machine. I was warned about taking alcohol on board the ship but it was not confiscated. However I now have access to an email from the port security manager which says

The searching for alcohol is a secondary matter related toOnboard Services and alcohol related incidents that occur on thevessels. Ship’s Security Wardens carry out the alcoholsearch and not the Profile Security officers, whoseprimary search role is related to ISPS.

In other words the port security officers have no jurisdiction so tell them to mind their own business.

I too am indignant that P&O have stopped a tradition of mine. For the last 20 years I have bought a bottle of wine from the onboard shop and took it back to my cabin after dinner. They have also taken bar prices to a new level. Abottle of cider which costs just over £1 in the supermarket is now £4 in the bar. Bear in mind also that onboard stock is bought by P&O at export (duty-free) prices.

Is this s new thing then - I've never had any problems, last time I travelled with them was a year ago. Surely they can't search every car, that'd take ages! There's nothing in the T&Cs which says you can't transport booze anyway, so what could they actually do? I suppose they could search passengers stuff which they take from the car onto the ship, but that would cause chaos! Would be a good way to lose custom!

zagfles

duchy wrote: »

Now who is getting silly ?
Minicruises are cheap -part of the reason for that is the point is to increase onboard sales-primarily alcohol.

I suppose you think the primary purpose of a pub is to sell booze so you can order a beer and then unwrap your pack up your Mummy made.....I used to have a bloke do this on a regular basis until I told him one more time and I'd bar him. He was in his early twenties ...suited and booted and with a pack of office types who used to roll their eyes when he did it...I never worked out if he was really tight or really stupid (This was a Wetherspoons so hardly mega expensive for food)

Maybe he just didn't like your food?