The Big Adventure

Sayschezza

We have had our cruise cancelled as well Goldie but Pn0 are only offering credits to be used before March 2022. We have a booking for 2021 but they won't take the credit for that it has to be a new cruise. The travel agent has sent them an email with our alternative choice but we haven't heard anything yet. Haven't been able to cancel port trips so all in all between my friend and I they have nearly 7k of our money. If we manage to get another cruise booked for 2021 we may cancel the original one for that year and lose the £119 deposit rather than go twice in the same year.

Karmacat

Goldie, thats a relief about the blinds guy cancelling - of course, it's on their end too, they're worried about picking it up just like we are.

Sayschezza - that sounds awful for you, I'm sorry to hear that.  The cancellations policy for port trips tripped me up during my recent one, so I lost the money for it (I wasn't well enough yet to go on it after all my seasickness).  Hope things work for you financially.

Sayschezza

When we had the novo virus we were credited the missed port trips and given £50 per day compensation. 

Goldiegirl

A few days after my last posting, I received an email from Fred Olsen, with the cancellation invoice attached. I haven't actually received the money back yet, but I phoned them on Friday, and they said the money should be paid within two weeks.  If that's the case, that will be a good result, under the circumstances.  They didn't say anything about the excursions I'd pre-booked, so I might have to follow that  up later.  
AS Sayschezza mentioned, the P&O cancellation policy seems a nightmare.  They originally offered a 125% Future Cruise Credit for people who wanted to cancel, then they changed it to 110% FCC. They have cancelled sailings up to 15th May, and people can have a refund for those cruises actually cancelled by P&O, but you have to look very carefully for the form to complete to ask for a refund, and the waiting time for a refund has gone up from 45 days to 60 days.  It's an awful situation, but P&O seem to have made it very confusing and upsetting for their passengers.

My next cruise isn't until March 2021. I haven't got to pay the final balance until December, so I have time to make a decision. At this point, it's difficult to imagine cruises starting up again by then, what with closed ports, health advisories about cruise ships and whether travel insurance will cover C19. Not to mention that my ship is still being built and work has shut down.  In any event, I'm not sure I'd actually want to go on a cruise now. 

I've got lots of other activities booked for the year, which almost certainly won't proceed. I'm just going to see what happens, and try and get my money back, whereas all the companies want to hang on to the customer's money.

Back in January, I applied for an old Barclays Bank pension which I was eligible for at 60. I've received confirmation that payment will start on 23rd April.  I'm quite pleased, as the admin process has been dire - I was thinking I'd have to wait until 'after'.

We remain well.  We get out for a walk each day, and when we are at home, it feels weirdly normal.

I haven't used my Sainsbury's online shopping for ages. When I tried to log in, the system wouldn't even recognise my details, not that we would have any priority for delivery slots.  However, Mr Goldie registered for Iceland online delivery, as the priority age is 65, so we now have a weekly Iceland delivery. It gets us most of the basics, then I go to either M&S, Sainsburys or the local Co-op once a week for the things we couldn't get delivered.  I've ditched Aldi for the duration, as it is in a less convenient location. We'll no doubt spend more on groceries this year, but it doesn't seem to matter, as we aren't spending so much in other areas.
Anyway, hope every one is keeping well. I'm not looking forward to the next couple of weeks, as I think things are going to get very bad now. Stay safe, everyone. 

Sayschezza

Further to my earlier post I now have received an email offering full refund which I accepted. But before it was processed P&O contacted my TA (who apparently are working from home) with the offer of our alternative cruise which was picked because not to do so would miss the only alternative acceptable in 2021 but which we didn't really want to go on. Was only picked rather than lose our money because FCC was the only offer at the time. The TA accepted the new booking without contacting us and then contacted us to advise. As we booked on board for £50 each we are quite prepared to lose this and cancel booking to get our money back as it's for October 2021 so under their normal terms we can do so but TA says new booking deposit will be 5% so we will lose £150. Not happy as we can't contact P&O to sort it out. It's a mess.

Karmacat

Goldie apart from P&O purposely making things difficult, that all sounds pretty good, actually - although you're right about the next few weeks, its going to get increasingly grim, isn't it   I'm starting to focus on the garden a *lot* now, but even I wish there were more trips out.

Saychezza, surely you can complain to the travel agent about making your holiday decisions for you?  That sounds really bad. 

We're wondering about cruising as an option too now - the virus isn't going to completely disappear, any ship might get stuck, for weeks at a time.  We really want to go to Greenland though ... and a cruise seems the only realistic way to do it.

Sayschezza

Karmacat I love cruising as I believe does Goldie and when this is all over I hope to enjoy it again. It's a difficult time for everyone including P&O so I am sure it will all come ok in the end. In the meantime I enjoyed the nice weather over the weekend and as an oldie I have a Mr S delivery slot every week so not all bad. Just watched the news and the filming from a London ICU. Cruise refunds are insignificant in the scheme of things right now.

Karmacat

Sayschezza said:

Karmacat I love cruising as I believe does Goldie and when this is all over I hope to enjoy it again.

Good!  Thats great to hear.

It's a difficult time for everyone including P&O so I am sure it will all come ok in the end. In the meantime I enjoyed the nice weather over the weekend and as an oldie I have a Mr S delivery slot every week so not all bad. Just watched the news and the filming from a London ICU. Cruise refunds are insignificant in the scheme of things right now.

Well, of course.  But you were posting on the thread that you were unhappy, and I was responding to that.

Sayschezza

Yes I know and appreciate your response very much. I gave myself a talking to hence my last post. 

Goldiegirl

Hello everyone, I thought I'd check with an update on lockdown life.

My biggest news is that I've had the refund for my cruise from Fred Olsen, well nearly all of it. It took 7 weeks from the day that I made my request.  Most of it has gone back to the card I paid with.  The £100  deposit I paid when I booked on board will be refunded 'soon' to my bank account. They phoned a couple of weeks ago to ask me for my bank details, so I was reassured that something was going on.  Although it was a long time to wait for the refund, Fred have done a lot better thank other companies. There was communication during the process, as well, which helped.  Based on this, if I ever go on a cruise again, I would be happy to use Fred Olsen

I booked several day trips for the year with a coach company. I was due to go on an excursion on 2nd May, but it was cancelled and they refunded me, and they have rescheduled a June outing for September. So far, they have been quite pro-active, so, based on their performance so far, I will be happy to use them again.

I'm not quite so happy with the other coach company that we use.  We've booked two coach holidays with this company, and it has been me who has had to constantly chase them. I've finally had confirmation that the trip to Beamish at the end of May has been cancelled, but they have literally refused point blank  to refund the £100 deposit that we paid. I've reluctantly added the £100 to our other coach trip in August. The August trip is for the Edinburgh Tattoo, and the Tattoo itself has been cancelled. I don't think the holiday will run anyway, and even if it does, I don't think we want to go as the activity that we wanted to see won't be available.

I've also got a cancelled show at the theatre.  Refunds should be done in '30 days'. It's day 27 today, so it should be soon.... otherwise I'll have to call them next week. It's like wading through treacle trying to get your money back!

My first Barclays pension amount was paid on 23rd of April, and I was very impressed with the tax office, as they allocated part of my unused tax code to the Barclays pension, with out any input from me.

We are quite happy in our lockdown life.  One week we have a  delivery from Iceland and I top up at the local Co-op, and the other week I go to Sainsburys. As we've ditched Aldi for the duration, it is more expensive, and we've been treating ourselves more.  However, I'm completely comfortable with this, as we are spending less than normal in other areas, as we aren't going anywhere.

The beautiful spring weather has been a joy. We go out for a walk each day, and have noticed, more than any other year, the gradual coming of spring, with all the blossoms and the trees coming into leaf. We've lived in this neighbourhood for nearly 39 years, and we've discovered places and pathways we never knew before.

Therefore, we are content - but we are aware of what is going on outside our bubble. The amount of deaths has been horrific, so dreadfully sad.

There's now talk that the lockdown (such as it was, not as stringent as other countries) will be loosened over the coming weeks.  It seems too soon for my liking, so I will not be rushing out into the world just yet, and I think I'll be socially distant for some time to come. I realise that I am lucky to have that luxury of making my own decision about this, it would be different if we were still at work.

I'm increasingly thinking that what we had before has now gone for a long time.  All the things that I enjoy, like cruises, coach outings, and theatre don't lend themselves to social distancing, and it'll be difficult for them to get going again in this climate. Additionally, I don't think I want to be doing this stuff, if I've constantly got to think about whether the people on the ship or the coach have C19 or if I've got to wear a mask. Therefore, I feel I've got to accept that, for the time being, my life will be quite restricted. That makes me sad, but at least I was lucky enough do lots of good stuff before all this happened.
I don't think too much about all that. We just take each day as it comes, and the days still go quickly.

Stay safe, everyone