New year P&o cruise

oldjohn_2

In a moment of madness in the summer we booked a New year cruise sailing 29th from Southampton just 5 days sailing to Hamburg and Belgium. We are finding it very difficult to get any update into from p&o there corvid hub just gives general info. Germany is out so no Hamberg. But nothing from the company. When you phone them they have no updates no information.  So we do not know where we going. have
 And that is before you have consider new corvid and  being crowded together ummm.
Now if you look at there t and c. Not visiting a destination is not considered important enough for you to be allowed to cancel before sailing without lose of your money.
the t &c get really interesting once you get on board it seems they are free to do what they want. Sail not sail.  We are being well tested but this new variant is very transmissible .
This company seem intent on going ahead just so they can get the revenue no matter what happens to the customers. Any thoughts?
 

soolin

What sort of thoughts are you looking for? those T and Cs seem normal for any cruise line as they are dependent on tides and room at ports etc.

If the cruise gets cancelled then you are entitled to a refund if that is the condition you booked under, if cruise goes ahead then you can choose not to board and almost certainly lose your money - unless your insurance covers change of mind cancellations. If you are reluctant to go then your best hope is that the cruise line cancels- and there are some cruise experts on here who might be able to advise you better about whether that is a likely scenario or not.

I'm due to go away on 2nd Jan- not a cruise and I'm waiting to see if there are any more announcements that might cover my departure, I am concerned about going into any form of lockdown and not being able to travel to airport- but flight still going. I assumed I was taking a risk when booking though and following the excellent advice on here have booked airline tickets that can be moved up to the day before, and also a fully refundable hotel for the night before our early flight.I suspect we are not alone in wondering what is coming next and whether our plans are going ahead or not.

Mrs_pbradley936

I cruise a lot and it is very common that you don't always go where the itinerary says you will. For example on one Transatlantic crossing we were supposed to have a couple of stops on Europe, 6 days at sea and then a few stops in the Caribbean. It turned out that there was a storm in the  mid Atlantic and so the Captain took us to more stops in Europe and waited a week for the storm to blow out then we went straight across without stopping anywhere but the destination port.

Absolutely nothing to be done about it because when the cruise was advertised nobody could have foreseen that the weather would be bad on the dates we picked.

mattyprice4004

If the cruise goes ahead but you don't want to go, your only options would be insurance or any kind of 'COVID guarantee' these firms make. 
You're not entitled to anything by default - if the Government allow travel, it's the same as deciding you simply no longer wish to go on holiday and thus you wouldn't be entitled to a refund. 

It's up to you if you want to take the risk or not, I guess  

Backbiter

Just came back from a P&O Channel cruise (Netherlands, Belgium and France). Our stop at Hamburg was also cancelled and replaced with Le Havre. I agree they are not easy to contact by phone, unless you are trying to make a new booking, so maybe choose that option on the phone menu and see if they transfer you to customer services.
I have to say I was VERY impressed with all their covid procedures. We felt very safe throughout, with EVERYONE masked when moving around the ship (obviously not in the bars, restaurants, hot tubs etc), and the crew were very vigilant with reminders.
They organised complimentary pre-boarding and on board testing to ensure compliance with all countries requirements.
We had a fabulous time, and I'm sure you will.

daveoc22

On P&O board it's reported that your 5 day cruise is now going to Belgium and Stavanger in Norway.

Westin

That sounds nice. All credit to P&O for creating a nice alternative.

davelewis

I'm joining P&O Iona for 6 weeks from 3rd January. I agree that P&O are difficult to get hold of on the phone and the Covid updates on their website are very general. However, I think that they are reluctant to cancel any cruises (obviously) and the Covid situation means that Countries will open and close at a whim. P&O will simply try and replace those cruise ports with alternatives to avoid cancelling. I am really looking forward to going and hope it all goes ahead. However I understand if you have booked a cruise as you wished to visit a specific port, any amendments are disappointing.