upcoming cruises

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kaymar
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upcoming cruises

#1

Post by kaymar »

We are booked on E020 on 3rd September, booked through Bolsover who have now invoiced us for the balance payment.

We are not paying, of course, but I was just wondering what thoughts anyone has on the topic. As far as I am aware, cruises are cancelled up until 31st July and I would have thought that this is likely to be extended. I have emailed Bolsover asking for their thoughts on this

We already have £2.4k in FCC from J003 which I have asked to be refunded via the P&O online request form without any response so far and I have no desire to add to that. I just want our deposit of £330 for E020 refunded and we'll start afresh sometime, maybe.

Any suggestions regarding any further action I might take or what I might expect?

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barney
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Re: upcoming cruises

#2

Post by barney »

It’s a tough call and I have no idea how you can solve it.

Our next cruise is June 2021 and we’ve already decided that if things are not back to normal and there are social restrictions, we’ll give it a miss.
I expect to lose the deposit although may just defer it for as long as possible.
Empty vessels .. and all that

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towny44
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Re: upcoming cruises

#3

Post by towny44 »

Like you Kaymar we have a Sept cruise due for its balance payment in June and, unless there are major changes in the next 3 or 4 weeks we will also be cancelling this.
However I don't believe you will be able to get a refund of the deposit, unless and until P&O definitely cancel the cruise. But you won't loose the deposit it should automatically be converted to a FCC which could be used against any future booking, and I hope this will also include any summer 2022 cruises if they are launched in September as normal; if P&O do cancel your cruise I would hope you could request that the FCC, if not already used, is refunded in full to you.
PS Do ensure you cancel before the balance payment date, or you would lose some, probably all, of your deposit in cancellation fee, and you might still owe them something as well, if the deposit does not cover the cancellation fee.
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Ian Perth
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Re: upcoming cruises

#4

Post by Ian Perth »

We are similar, cancelled April cruise and filled out form but no refund yet, cruise for October plan to move deposit to another cruise 2021 rather than loose. Can’t see many cruises going this year although would consider a round Britain If social distancing and other safety measures were put in place.


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Re: upcoming cruises

#5

Post by CaroleF »

We have three cruises booked. The first one is next May with Saga. This is a transferred booking from this last Easter, paid in full so this was transferred to the one next May and we only have a very small amount to add to the balance. I guess we'll just wait and see what happens. We have insurance from Saga with the cruise but how much that will be worth goodness knows and I assume will not cover Covid 19. The other two cruises are with P&O. The first one is next July on Arcadia to the Fjords. We transferred a deposit we already had for this July to that one. The other isn't till the end of March 2022 again on Arcadia but to the Canaries, again this was a transferred deposit. Goodness knows what the situation will be like by then - will P&O still have Arcadia in the fleet even? Obviously we don't have insurance for either of those two. My husband had insurance from his bank but we've already had notice that this will end. It's a wait and see game.

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Stephen
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Re: upcoming cruises

#6

Post by Stephen »

Our cruise for the end of this month has been cancelled and we await the refund which has several weeks to run yet. A shame as it was a great itinerary.


Whynd1
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Re: upcoming cruises

#7

Post by Whynd1 »

A friend of mine who books through Bolsover had a phone call from them about a cruise with Princess. During the call the Bolsover representative said they were discouraging passengers from booking anything for this year.


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Re: upcoming cruises

#8

Post by Whynd1 »

Lucky you people who can transfer deposits. I tried to transfer a single supplement deposit to a dual occupancy cruise only to be told the system wont allow it. You can however domot the other way round.
So it looks like I will lose my deposit for my next cruise in Octoner which has to be paid for in June.

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Kenmo1
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#9

Post by Kenmo1 »

We had 4 cruises booked for this year. We jumped the gun in March for the Azura 19th April cruise and it looked as if we would lose £1438 in cancellation fees and get £909. 20 as a refund. We later received an email from PO saying the cancellation fee would be converted to an FCC. Hopefully will receive the £909 shortly or I will start chasing. We didn't pay the balance on the Aurora June 5th cruise and lost a very small deposit. We didn't pay the balance for the Crown Princess 22 August cruise to the North Cape so I assume we have an FCC for £150 for that. We are due to pay the balance for our October 12th Aurora cruise in June but will not be paying that so will probably get an FCC for the £100 deposit as we booked on board. We have a cruise booked for Christmas 2021 and will make a decision in August 2021 about that one when hopefully things will be a bit clearer. I am not keen on cruising holidays at the moment but only time will tell how I feel later.

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Re: upcoming cruises

#10

Post by Manoverboard »

I would fight tooth and nail for a refund, ' K ' , perhaps through one's Credit Card provider if that was the method used to pay the deposit. It is highly unlikely that cruising will return to anything like normal on the ships or in the Ports any time soon. For me a vaccine tested for a period of two more years would be the minimum to get me on a Cruise that due to my vulnerable status could be my final sailing.
Keep smiling, it's good for your well being

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david63
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Re: upcoming cruises

#11

Post by david63 »

We have one booked in March on Iona with the balance to be paid in December. Will wait until then to decide what to and what we might be able to do - no guarantee that Iona will be sailing by then. Not too worried about the deposit as it was booked on board and was only £50 pp.

The one after that is in August next year which I am a bit more hopeful about.

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Kenmo1
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Re: upcoming cruises

#12

Post by Kenmo1 »

If we return to cruising, I don't think that we will ever book so far in advance in future. We will revert to last minute cruises like we used to do a few years ago.

Maureen

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Jan Rosser
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Re: upcoming cruises

#13

Post by Jan Rosser »

Already cancelled two cruises (May and July 2020) and am due end of August to pay balance on Christmas cruise but having spoken to my son last night we are very unlikely to pay it - just cannot see how it is going to work added to the fact that I am over 70 and his in-laws are in their 80s - one with a heart condition. After that we have a cruise in August 2021 - it’s a case of wait and see for that one. I am waiting for a refund on the May cruise and had the deposit refunded on the July cruise. I did see something on Facebook about P&O having a new system to cope with the refunds by cheque which has been tested on the Iona maiden cruise passengers and indeed some have received their refund. This has caused uproar in those people waiting for refunds on March April May cruises - they feel they should have been refunded first. I didn’t read anymore it’s the same old moans and whingeing :crazy:
Janis


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Re: upcoming cruises

#14

Post by Whynd1 »

The reason for Jan might be that we were originally told that refunds would be done in cruise order with R003 first etc. I am R006 .

Lindsey

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kaymar
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Re: upcoming cruises

#15

Post by kaymar »

Thank you all for your views.

A less than helpful response from Bolsover :-
At this moment in time P&O have only suspended sailings up until 31 July 2020 so as far as we know at this moment in time it is still scheduled to go as planned. They have therefore advised us to collect balances as scheduled or bookings would be cancelled at loss of deposit. They have introduced the flexible cancellation policy but this does not alter or delay their balance due date I am afraid nor do you have the option currently of having your deposit refunded.



https://www.pocruises.com/travel-health ... ion-policy


but I suppose there is not much that they can do. Although Bolsover are asking for payment on 29th May, we will cancel before P&O's due date on 5th June, by which time we may have more news. We certainly don't plan to hand over another £6k, whatever promises we may be given
Last edited by david63 on 19 May 2020, 14:03, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Formatting fixed

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Mervyn and Trish
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Re: upcoming cruises

#16

Post by Mervyn and Trish »

barney wrote: 19 May 2020, 10:19
It’s a tough call and I have no idea how you can solve it.

Our next cruise is June 2021 and we’ve already decided that if things are not back to normal and there are social restrictions, we’ll give it a miss.
I expect to lose the deposit although may just defer it for as long as possible.
That's pretty much our position on our QM2 cruise deferred from May this year to May next year. We have until mid February to make our minds up.


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Re: upcoming cruises

#17

Post by Finker »

After speaking to a cruise consultant I said that we were finished with cruising due to poor hygiene from some cruisers which impacts everyone.

She replied that there is going to be a big shake up on the ships with regard to this.

I just hope so.

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towny44
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Re: upcoming cruises

#18

Post by towny44 »

kaymar wrote: 19 May 2020, 14:01
Thank you all for your views.

A less than helpful response from Bolsover :-
At this moment in time P&O have only suspended sailings up until 31 July 2020 so as far as we know at this moment in time it is still scheduled to go as planned. They have therefore advised us to collect balances as scheduled or bookings would be cancelled at loss of deposit. They have introduced the flexible cancellation policy but this does not alter or delay their balance due date I am afraid nor do you have the option currently of having your deposit refunded.



https://www.pocruises.com/travel-health ... ion-policy


but I suppose there is not much that they can do. Although Bolsover are asking for payment on 29th May, we will cancel before P&O's due date on 5th June, by which time we may have more news. We certainly don't plan to hand over another £6k, whatever promises we may be given
Kaymer, I hope their comment about losing the deposit refers only to cancelling after the balance due date, I have been advised by P&O that the deposit will become a FCC for use on any new or upgraded booking.
John

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Gill W
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Re: upcoming cruises

#19

Post by Gill W »

As far as I can see the only way to get the deposit back as cash is to pay the final balance, then wait for the cruise to be cancelled, and get all all the money back at some point 2 months ahead, if you are lucky. I don't think anybody would be up for that.

P&O have been very careful not to cancel cruises until after the final payment date, so if anyone doesn't pay their balance on the due date, they could be deemed as in breach of contract, and lose the deposit altogether. That's my understanding, but as I haven't needed to cancel a P&O cruise yet I haven't been that attentive.

I think Kaymar's only course of action is to cancel and convert the deposit to a FCC, which may or may not be used at a later date.

I was planning to have the rest of 2020 off from cruises, so, fortunately for me, I haven't got to make any decisions yet.

I've got Iona next March. We only paid £146 deposit on that one, so I'm not too bothered about losing that. Iona may not even be ready by then.

Then I've got a three day cruise on Amy Johnson in May 2021. The ship that is going to be Amy Johnson is currently languishing in Manilla harbour, so there's a possibility that the hand over to CMV may be delayed.

Then there's our Queen Victoria cruise in October 2021. This is a big cruise for us, as it will celebrate our 40th wedding anniversary and my husband's 70th birthday. We've paid £1530 deposit for that, so it's a sizable chunk of money.

Then we have a 55 night cruise on Arcadia in January 2022. Right now, I can't imagine wanting to be away for so long, and travelling so far from home. We have £765 tied up in that one.

As Barney said, I don't want to cruise if there's going to be restrictions on onboard life. I'll just have to wait and see what happens, and make decisions at the time.

As lot of people have moved their bookings to 2021, I imagine the ships are getting quite full. As social distancing will likely mean sailing at reduced capacity, I wonder how they will achieve this, and who they will 'bump' off the cruises. If they are looking for volunteers, I'd put my hand up, as long as they refunded me in a timely way.
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Gill W
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Re: upcoming cruises

#20

Post by Gill W »

Kenmo1 wrote: 19 May 2020, 12:31
If we return to cruising, I don't think that we will ever book so far in advance in future. We will revert to last minute cruises like we used to do a few years ago.

Maureen
That's how I feel. it wasn't so bad when cruises came out one year ahead, but these days you can book for two years ahead, and we've learnt that a lot can change in two weeks, let alone 2 years !
Gill

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barney
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Re: upcoming cruises

#21

Post by barney »

A consideration is also how foreign ports will cope with cruise ships.
If they have restrictions on tourism, it would be a very different experience
Empty vessels .. and all that

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Jan Rosser
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Re: upcoming cruises

#22

Post by Jan Rosser »

Just had two emails from P&O about my refunds. Very apologetic about the delay and explaining why - I imagine all who are waiting will have received an email - I can post the contents if anyone wants to read it.

This surprised me:

“Following initial trials of our new processes, we are responding to refund requests received in date order, with this our priority focus and will respond to your request as soon as we possibly can.”

Does this mean date order of cruise or the actual date of refund request - I’m confused :crazy:

Well it’s “carry on waiting” I guess :roll:
Janis

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kaymar
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Re: upcoming cruises

#23

Post by kaymar »

I read it as date order of refund request, Jan.

I have to say, I'm not too bothered to a few days, as long as it comes sometime :relaxed:

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david63
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Re: upcoming cruises

#24

Post by david63 »

I had the same email for a cruise on Iona in July apologising for the delay in the refund - the only problem is that when I cancelled all I was allowed to do was FCC. It actually makes little difference as it was an on board booking at £50pp deposit - don't think I will loose much sleep if I never see it again!

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Stephen
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Re: upcoming cruises

#25

Post by Stephen »

Jan Rosser wrote: 19 May 2020, 17:19
Just had two emails from P&O about my refunds. Very apologetic about the delay and explaining why - I imagine all who are waiting will have received an email - I can post the contents if anyone wants to read it.

This surprised me:

“Following initial trials of our new processes, we are responding to refund requests received in date order, with this our priority focus and will respond to your request as soon as we possibly can.”

Does this mean date order of cruise or the actual date of refund request - I’m confused :crazy:

Well it’s “carry on waiting” I guess :roll:

I had the same Jan. It was just a slight variation on the one they put out a while ago.

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