P&O Adult Only refund issue

anotherwrenservicemoan

I am trying to get a refund (as advertised on the P&O website) for a cruise on an Adult Only ship as P&O changed the 2 ships in their fleet to allow families on board. 

You cannot get through to customer services as the phone goes dead. 

I have sent them 2 emails about this but both have been DELETED  without being read.

My travel agent has also had the same issue with their email being DELETED without being read.

So as the deadline for refund claims is fast approaching  (1st December) I have no idea if we will get our money back!

Myself and my travel agent have even tried contacting the P&O CEO, Paul Ludlow, but no response from him either. 

So all in all P&O DO NOT care about their customers and prefer to ignore them.

Any help.or advice would be welcome 

wolvoman

Money claim online?

JIL

Isn't there a call back facility when you phone? 
Face book recommends the live chat but it's only available during business hours.  
According to the cruise magazine you should be contacted, not all cruises on board both ships are affected. Its mostly school holiday times. 

https://sailawaymagazine.com/po-cruises-sparks-fury-after-opening-adult-only-ships-to-kids/

Good luck.

HampshireH

How you know you emails have been deleted unread? Id love to be able to use this functionality.

Have you actually put pen to paper and put a claim in writing as a back up /precursor to any action you may take

MyRealNameToo

anotherwrenservicemoan said:

I am trying to get a refund (as advertised on the P&O website) for a cruise on an Adult Only ship as P&O changed the 2 ships in their fleet to allow families on board. 

You cannot get through to customer services as the phone goes dead. 

I have sent them 2 emails about this but both have been DELETED  without being read.

My travel agent has also had the same issue with their email being DELETED without being read.

So as the deadline for refund claims is fast approaching  (1st December) I have no idea if we will get our money back!

Myself and my travel agent have even tried contacting the P&O CEO, Paul Ludlow, but no response from him either. 

So all in all P&O DO NOT care about their customers and prefer to ignore them.

Any help.or advice would be welcome 

For a start, dont make stuff up. There is no way you can tell if an email has been deleted or not. There is no fully reliable way to know if an email has been read or not either. For most companies of any size the emails will be received by a generic mailbox which is then consumed into a CRM system and the staff responding will deal with the whole matter within the CRM not in the mailbox. As its read in the CRM not the mailbox any attempt to get a mail read receipt and/or embedding a 1x1 pixel as an alternative read mechanism will all fail so the mail will never be reported as read even if 6 people have read it. 

CEOs of multinational companies dont have the time or inclination to deal with individual customer emails especially on something as mundane as a ship going from adult only to family friendly... had you been killed on one of their boats then matters may be different. 

What actually happens to such emails varies notably, in some places they will be ignored as someone who can't follow basic instructions or thinks themselves too important etc not to deal with the regular customer service staff, some will just be bulk forwarded to the regular customer service staff, some may have an exec complaints team. 

On forums the impact is people arent willing to help the melodramatic who make stuff up, in the courts, as others have suggested, if the defendant can show you are making stuff up then the judge will be less inclined to believe you on other aspects too. 

Grumpy_chap

anotherwrenservicemoan said:

I am trying to get a refund (as advertised on the P&O website) for a cruise on an Adult Only ship as P&O changed the 2 ships in their fleet to allow families on board. 

What actually has to be changed on a ship to differentiate it between "Adult Only" or "Family"?

I would always have expected that the actual ships are configured to support the maximum flexibility in itinerary but then the actual individual cruises tailored for different markets - so any specific ship might be offering a family-focused itinerary in, say, August but the same ship offering adult-only cruises in September.  Another date, the same ship might be offering an itinerary better matched to senior citizens.  Another date, targeting as a party cruise.

in_my_wellies

I've been on several P&O cruises both term time and holiday time. I don't like crowds. These ships are so big that despite 4000+ passengers there are always plenty of quiet areas to sit and enjoy the sun, (or shade), read, etc. both inside and out outside. Many times I've been the only one in the upper deck pool and not another person there. The buffet is known to be a bit of a scrum. I went once for the experience, however, there are many other restaurants where you can eat at your own table or share with a few others. These are generally quiet and I've seen very few children eating in them
If you want to find business and socialising then you can but the opposite is possible. I would not worry about going on a cruise with children

daveyjp

Grumpy_chap said:

anotherwrenservicemoan said:

I am trying to get a refund (as advertised on the P&O website) for a cruise on an Adult Only ship as P&O changed the 2 ships in their fleet to allow families on board. 

What actually has to be changed on a ship to differentiate it between "Adult Only" or "Family"?

I would always have expected that the actual ships are configured to support the maximum flexibility in itinerary but then the actual individual cruises tailored for different markets - so any specific ship might be offering a family-focused itinerary in, say, August but the same ship offering adult-only cruises in September.  Another date, the same ship might be offering an itinerary better matched to senior citizens.  Another date, targeting as a party cruise.

The biggest change on the ship is the provision of a child care/child activity facility split into different areas for different ages from baby to about 15 year olds - usually baby to about 5, 5-11, 12 to teens.  A night nursery with beds etc is also provided for smaller children.  Each age group will have a maximum number of chidren on each cruise.

You then need to employ staff to manage the new facility and to provide child focussed activities etc.

Grumpy_chap

daveyjp said:

Grumpy_chap said:

anotherwrenservicemoan said:

I am trying to get a refund (as advertised on the P&O website) for a cruise on an Adult Only ship as P&O changed the 2 ships in their fleet to allow families on board. 

What actually has to be changed on a ship to differentiate it between "Adult Only" or "Family"?

I would always have expected that the actual ships are configured to support the maximum flexibility in itinerary but then the actual individual cruises tailored for different markets - so any specific ship might be offering a family-focused itinerary in, say, August but the same ship offering adult-only cruises in September.  Another date, the same ship might be offering an itinerary better matched to senior citizens.  Another date, targeting as a party cruise.

The biggest change on the ship is the provision of a child care/child activity facility split into different areas for different ages from baby to about 15 year olds - usually baby to about 5, 5-11, 12 to teens.  A night nursery with beds etc is also provided for smaller children.  Each age group will have a maximum number of chidren on each cruise.

You then need to employ staff to manage the new facility and to provide child focussed activities etc.

So, some part of the ship is used for a kids club when it is a "family friendly" cruise.  
I assume when the ship is assigned as "adult only" they simply do not run the kids club.  Either the play stuff is offloaded and the space used for another bar / lounge, or that space simply locked.
It seems perfectly reasonable that the same ship could be designated as "family friendly" or "adult only" depending on itinerary and dates.

MyRealNameToo

Grumpy_chap said:

daveyjp said:

Grumpy_chap said:

anotherwrenservicemoan said:

I am trying to get a refund (as advertised on the P&O website) for a cruise on an Adult Only ship as P&O changed the 2 ships in their fleet to allow families on board. 

What actually has to be changed on a ship to differentiate it between "Adult Only" or "Family"?

I would always have expected that the actual ships are configured to support the maximum flexibility in itinerary but then the actual individual cruises tailored for different markets - so any specific ship might be offering a family-focused itinerary in, say, August but the same ship offering adult-only cruises in September.  Another date, the same ship might be offering an itinerary better matched to senior citizens.  Another date, targeting as a party cruise.

The biggest change on the ship is the provision of a child care/child activity facility split into different areas for different ages from baby to about 15 year olds - usually baby to about 5, 5-11, 12 to teens.  A night nursery with beds etc is also provided for smaller children.  Each age group will have a maximum number of chidren on each cruise.

You then need to employ staff to manage the new facility and to provide child focussed activities etc.

So, some part of the ship is used for a kids club when it is a "family friendly" cruise.  
I assume when the ship is assigned as "adult only" they simply do not run the kids club.  Either the play stuff is offloaded and the space used for another bar / lounge, or that space simply locked.
It seems perfectly reasonable that the same ship could be designated as "family friendly" or "adult only" depending on itinerary and dates.

I suspect the OP booked the particular vessel because they wanted to be able to use the pools, restaurants etc without having to deal with other peoples uncontrolled kids etc running amok  so is less about the fact that the kiddy club will be running on sub deck 6 rather than it being locked up and more about them being outside of the kids clubs at some times. 

Grumpy_chap

MyRealNameToo said:

Grumpy_chap said:

daveyjp said:

Grumpy_chap said:

anotherwrenservicemoan said:

I am trying to get a refund (as advertised on the P&O website) for a cruise on an Adult Only ship as P&O changed the 2 ships in their fleet to allow families on board. 

What actually has to be changed on a ship to differentiate it between "Adult Only" or "Family"?

I would always have expected that the actual ships are configured to support the maximum flexibility in itinerary but then the actual individual cruises tailored for different markets - so any specific ship might be offering a family-focused itinerary in, say, August but the same ship offering adult-only cruises in September.  Another date, the same ship might be offering an itinerary better matched to senior citizens.  Another date, targeting as a party cruise.

The biggest change on the ship is the provision of a child care/child activity facility split into different areas for different ages from baby to about 15 year olds - usually baby to about 5, 5-11, 12 to teens.  A night nursery with beds etc is also provided for smaller children.  Each age group will have a maximum number of chidren on each cruise.

You then need to employ staff to manage the new facility and to provide child focussed activities etc.

So, some part of the ship is used for a kids club when it is a "family friendly" cruise.  
I assume when the ship is assigned as "adult only" they simply do not run the kids club.  Either the play stuff is offloaded and the space used for another bar / lounge, or that space simply locked.
It seems perfectly reasonable that the same ship could be designated as "family friendly" or "adult only" depending on itinerary and dates.

I suspect the OP booked the particular vessel because they wanted to be able to use the pools, restaurants etc without having to deal with other peoples uncontrolled kids etc running amok  so is less about the fact that the kiddy club will be running on sub deck 6 rather than it being locked up and more about them being outside of the kids clubs at some times. 

I understand that.
BUT the OP has only said that the ship has been upgraded to include family friendly features.
The OP has not said what the basis is for the specific cruise itinerary they are booked on.
I have been on cruises that are "adult only" on one sailing and "family friendly" on another - date and route dependant.