Christmas cruises

emrachy

My family and I are booked to go on a cruise with P and O this Christmas time (departing 19th December 2020) to celebrate my Mum’s 60th birthday, which is on Christmas day. We booked the cruise last September, before the breakout of Coronavirus. Although we have had insurance since the day we booked the cruise, this still does not cover us for cancelling without a ‘valid reason’ to do so (e.g. FCO guidance, family illness).  

We paid deposits for the cruise at the point of booking last year, which totalled to £951 for both rooms. We are due to make the full payment of £5,389 by 20thSeptember, which is now fast approaching.  

Personally, from a risk perspective my family and I all still really want to go on this cruise. However, we all strongly believe that P and O are intending to cancel the cruise, only after we have paid the cost for it in full. Not only have P and O frozen all cruises until November, but they have also cancelled a number of long distance world cruises in 2021. They have also withdrawn all advertisement of their remaining cruises for 2020, including the one we have booked (Cruise J018). Furthermore, their sister cruise company Cunard has cancelled all of their Christmas cruises for this year.  

I have contacted P and O cruises twice, once on social media and once via email. I received what felt like a copy and paste response, outlining that there is a freeze until November 2020, that they can’t confirm whether the cruise will go ahead, and that if we were to cancel we would lose our deposit money.  

I completely understand why P and O cannot confirm, as the FCO may change their guidance which would mean that cruises could begin to resume. However, unless any measures are lifted between now and December, the cruise companies will surely not be allowed to run, based on the current guidelines they have issued. I find it extremely hard to believe that neither P and O nor the FCO have had any background discussions over the running of cruises over Christmas time. Therefore, it would be incredibly deceitful to expect customers to pay the full price for a cruise they are not intending to run.  

If the cruise is cancelled, I am expecting that we will be issued with cruise credits to rebook a cruise for next year. However, this will not solve our main problems. My mum will still be celebrating her 60th birthday this year, which is not negotiable! By P and O not cancelling or confirming the running of our cruise, it leaves me unable to book anywhere else for the Christmas period. By the time P and O decide to cancel, availability at all other venues will be extremely limited, or there wont be anything left. If we were lucky enough to be able to find availability to do something else, it would also mean two big upfront costs – one for the cruise (which we will be given credits for) and one for the new booking elsewhere. I am unsure as to whether we will be able to afford this, as we have been saving up all year to be able to afford the cruise as it is.  

I know that this issue probably seems insignificant compared to the financial worries that others have experienced during the last few months. But what I find unfair about this situation is that our financial concerns and Christmas plans are hinged on the decisions made by the FCO and P and O cruises. If it is unlikely that any measures will be lifted, P and O should take responsibility and do the right thing by cancelling the cruises now, before we are forced to pay our deposits, and allowing us to book elsewhere. Despite still really wanting to go on the cruise, if given the choice, my family and I would cancel the cruise now if we were offered a refund of our deposits. But as explained to me twice by P and O, their cancellation policy would not permit us to cancel without losing our deposits.  I feel completely trapped and powerless, which is why I am asking for any help, to see if there is anything I can do to try and resolve this situation, before our deposits are due.

bradders1983

Some people are only having holidays cancelled 2 weeks before, you are just going to have to be patient sadly.

macman

If the cruise is cancelled, then you'll be entitled to a full refund: there's no requirement to accept a voucher.

emrachy

macman said:

If the cruise is cancelled, then you'll be entitled to a full refund: there's no requirement to accept a voucher.

Thanks, but do you know that for sure - And how long would it take to be reimbursed? It still doesn’t solve many problems for us, as we are still unable to book anything else on the very small chance that the cruise would still go ahead. Then we would lose any deposit we made on another booking elsewhere. But if we waited until it was cancelled to book somewhere new, availability would be very limited.

eskbanker

emrachy said:

macman said:

If the cruise is cancelled, then you'll be entitled to a full refund: there's no requirement to accept a voucher.

Thanks, but do you know that for sure - And how long would it take to be reimbursed?

Cruises are generally structured as packages and are therefore within the scope of the Package Travel Regulations 2018, which mandates full cash refunds for cancelled bookings.  Theoretically providers must refund within 14 days but this has been widely breached during the current crisis, so you would get a refund but would probably have to wait a while for it, despite your legal rights....

Ladyshopper

emrachy said:

macman said:

If the cruise is cancelled, then you'll be entitled to a full refund: there's no requirement to accept a voucher.

Thanks, but do you know that for sure - And how long would it take to be reimbursed? It still doesn’t solve many problems for us, as we are still unable to book anything else on the very small chance that the cruise would still go ahead. Then we would lose any deposit we made on another booking elsewhere. But if we waited until it was cancelled to book somewhere new, availability would be very limited.

Yes, it is on their website. You can choose a future cruise credit, which is 125% value of the cruise, or a 100% cash refund. For a cancelled P&O cruise earlier in the year it took about 60 days for our refund.

We have just paid in full for a P&O cruise which is due to depart a week earlier than yours. I highly doubt it will go ahead, but had to accept that I needed to pay in full to avoid any cancellation fees on my part. I will be applying for a cash refund when it is inevitably cancelled.

[Deleted User]

It it unfortunate but just the way it is in these uncertain times.  P and O won’t cancel ahead of when they need to no matter how likely you feel the cruise won’t go ahead.  Nobody knows for sure at this point.  If you cancel now you will have to adhere to the terms you agreed to.  Your only choice at moment is pay the balance and wait to see how it all pans out or cancel and lose whatever t’s and c’s dictate. 

I understand your reasons but wouldn’t book anywhere else for December.  You can always celebrate your mums 60th at a later date. Not ideal but am sure she will get over it.  Almost everyone is having to adjust to these strange times in different ways.  

Edited to say I don’t mean don’t book anything else if you cancel the cruise. 

bradders1983

My other half lost his 30th birthday and a holiday this spring. Just one of those things isnt it? 

harz99

See below for a response i made to another post on 15th August, if this is still the case maybe another alternative is too rebook?
"From the P&O FAQs it looks as though you had until up to 90 days before sailing to move your deposit to a future booking of any cruise on sale at that time, regrettably you have missed that boat now. As has been said your only options now are cancel and lose the deposit, or pay the full balance and either take the cruise if it sails, or whatever offer is given when the cruise is cancelled".
HTH.

harz99

The link to the FAQs
https://www.pocruises.com/travel-health-advisories/frequently-asked-questions

gettingtheresometime

If it's any help we had plans to do a major trip for our 30th wedding anniversary but it soon became apparent that that wasn't going to happen.
We've decided that we will try and revive them next year and celebrate our 30+1 anniversary.
Personally if I were in your shoes, I'd hope for the best but plan for the worst so you could look at what you could do in this country (cottage with log fire, nice country hotel perhaps?) to celebrate your mum's birthday or even celebrate at home and celebrate her 60 + 6 months birthday next year.
Another thing to consider (as I've said to OH) I'd rather not do cruising at the moment as I personally don't feel I'd enjoy a cruise especially with all the measures that they're going to have to put in place if they are even to consider operating ( I have heard of one cruise operator banning people getting of ships if the passengers aren't going on an organised tour)