My cruise

Thank you Morty,

As a matter of interest how did you find your cruise, I ask because a friend of mine recently returned from a P&O cruise (not IONA) and whilst he enjoyed it he felt a noticeable fall in standards compared to the several other P&O cruises he has had. We have had one P&O cruise previously on Brittania which we felt was our best cruise ever, service and personal attention to my gluten free (Coeliac) diet just made the holiday experience so much more stress free.

Just doing our cancellation claim with insurance people (Staysure) hope this is grief free.

Bill D.

Hi Bill!

I agree with Your friend, and it answers a question for Us too!

We have been fortunate to go on four cruise previous to the Iona one, ( two on Azura, the maiden cruise of Britannia,

And one on Ventura), all good, but the experience on Iona was not good.

The Ship seemed 'faceless' in as much as You could walk from one end to the other without knowing You were on a P&O ship.

There was one cabin steward doing a lot of cabins on His Own, and He had no cleaner to help Him.

Resteraunt food was good, but the staff numbers were reduced which put them under excessive pressure.

The Buffet,always usually a highlght...... was awful!!!! Went once when We boarded, never went back,food very variable, slow refilling and temperature hit and miss, very disappointing.

Never went to a show,as We were led to believe We had to book on the 'App'' but found out on the last day We could have just turned up! (My Wife tried to use the app once and it took Her phone down)

Reception Staff did not seem interested at all ,not Our experience on previous cruises.

It put us off going with P&O again, if We did it would be on Azura/Ventura or one of the smaller ships, but We did not know if the standards had dropped on the whole fleet.I

Which ship did Your friend sail on Bill?

It would be interesting to know if they have messed one of Our favourites up!

All the best, Pete

Interested to know if P & O prices fell in line with the reduction in quality?

Tony

A colleague of mine, who I shoot with on Sundays, has just returned from a cruise which was around the Northern Canadian coast and was meant to call in at a number of small harbours, unfortunately the cruise coincided with the two recent hurricanes reaching Canadian waters, he said the ship was subjected to prolonged periods of 5 metre swells which meant that navigating into the small harbours was not possible. The icing on the cake was that he and his wife both contracted Covid whilst onboard, this meant that they were virtually locked in their cabin for 10 days with meals brought to them, he said that the Covid was pretty vicious and affected them both very badly. He has thoughts about how stringent the company were about Covid screening both passengers and crew before they embarked. I question, because Covid cases are rising rapidly, how safe from infection can you be if you and 2,000 others are confined in a steel box and all breathing the same air, not my idea of a holiday but perhaps Covid will at some point be eradicated and circumstances change. Dave W

If you don't want to be exposed to covid then avoiding major public use areas/places is the only way to go

Otherwise you will always be "in the zone"

Apart from a successful legal complaint and individual good-will gestures, the world of buying and selling doesn't work like that. Be nice if it did, but life is tough. What does reduce prices is customers doing due diligence and not buying on faith. Prices drop when people stop buying.

My view that brand-names and trade marks are fundamentally untrustworthy is a hobby-horse, but nonetheless I'll try and bang the point home again. I say believing one ship or cruise-line is better or worse than others, or that companies registered in one country will do better than those registered in another is building on sand! A few seconds research on the web for "P&O Iona complaints" reveals lots of dissatisfied customers, for example Trustpilot shows 76% of 946 contributors giving P&O only 1 star, with reasons very like Morty's. Although people are more likely to complain than praise, 76% is cause for concern. A number of reviews point to staff shortages on a full ship, which could be bad luck - illness etc - or a persistent management problem. The ship being full suggests P&O have no difficulty attracting customers, perhaps because they trusted the brand rather than checking recent experience.

The original 'Peninsular and Orient Steam Navigation Company' was British, but the original company is long gone, following the usual sequence of mergers and acquisitions that companies get involved in over several decades. Today, PO Cruises is a brand operated by Carnival Corporation of Miami, Florida, and PO Ferries is owned by DP World of Dubai.

Holidays on the Cruel Sea can get much nastier than a disappointing buffet! PO Cruises are in the same group as the Costa Concordia, where the Captain abandoned ship leaving the passengers to save themselves after irresponsibly running his ship on the rocks (32 dead). PO Ferries are descended from the group operating the Herald of Free Enterprise, a roll-on roll-off ferry where the crew forgot to close the bow doors (193 dead). But catastrophes are unlikely and many people enjoy cruising. A colleague sailed on over a dozen cruises whilst I knew him and he said best holidays ever. But bear in mind that anecdotal evidence is carp, good or bad. The truth is revealed by the combined experiences of many people. There will always be outliers of exceptionally good and exceptionally bad experiences; what purchasers need to look for is the average experience.

Nothing has changed since the Romans: caveat emptor (buyer beware)

Dave

Edited By SillyOldDuffer on 12/10/2022 10:31:25

Roman cruises were cheaper with the opportunity for plenty of fresh air, exercise and adventure..

Morty, ship my friend went on was Azura.

Bill D.

PO Ferries are descended from the group operating the Herald of Free Enterprise, a roll-on roll-off ferry where the crew forgot to close the bow doors

They didn't "forget to close the doors" Dave, it was a regular practice to set off before the doors were closed to save time when departing .

I witnessed this myself on a departure from Dover on a TT ferry not long before the Herald disaster - I had arrived early for my booked crossing on my motorcycle & was told I could get on the earlier one that was about to depart if I got a move on. The ramp was pulled up after I got on board & I was told to secure my bike against the hull close to the bow doors - there were lashing points there & motorcyclists were given a hank of grubby rope to secure their own bike as best they could. I was stood next to the open bow doors tying the bike down as the ship manoevered in the harbour & made towards the exit into the Channel.

I have used North Sea Ferries from Hull since the late '80s & have witnessed a steady decline in the quality of the service since it was re-branded P & O Ferries. The decline has accelerated in the last couple of years. I have just recently managed to take the last of two crossings I paid for over 2 1/2 years ago (Covid issues - P & O would not issue refunds, only "credits for future travel" ) & it will be my last with them. Getting food poisoning in the restaurant on the return crossing wasn't the end to my holiday that I was expecting & a new low even by their declining standards.

NSF used to use an advertising slogan along the lines of "Why drive South ? " for their services - to avoid P &O Ferries from Hull is reason enough for me now. Stena from Harwich next year.

Nigel B.

When the Herald of Free Enterprise capsized I write to my mp suggesting that it would be simple to fit an interlock so that the ship could not go forward if the bow doors were open, ditto reverse. I received a verbose but badly argued response from whichever minister was responsible stating that the captain had to be in full command of the ship at all times. Relying on someone checking that the door is shut on a process repeated many times a day is bound to go wrong. Humans make mistakes more frequently than we like to admit.

Yes an 'accident' waiting to happen? I believe they use cameras and other methods to check the door closing now?

Tony

The main problem at sea is staffing levels, decent experienced people cost money

Plus there are an awful lot of get-out-of-jail-free legal holes in the maritime laws

Staff are often expendable, since the insurance will cover any management decisions which end in disaster

Piracy off Somalia etc was a good example, none of those ships would have gone anywhere near that coast if the insurance companies had not provided cover

There was a standing joke at sea in the 80s.

Israeli ships never get hijacked because they can shoot back

edit: I left in the mid 1980s because things were getting so bad, everything from bad food to skeleton staffing levels to a 100% increase in the length of trips served drove huge numbers of people out

Edited By Ady1 on 13/10/2022 09:45:31

A camera doesn't check that the door is closed, it still requires a human to look at it.

If only cruise liners were as clean that one. Not a bit of fluff muck or dust in sight.

regards

Pleased to say that we now have a full refund of cruise, excursions and travel insurance following complaint to chief exec of P&O. (in these days of 'Do not reply' messages from large organisations it was refreshing to find an email address for the top man.

I think they accepted that the on line medical questionnaire was badly designed (it was withdrawn shortly after our complaint)

Still took a long time but we got there, some faith restored.

Bill D.

Whilst on the subject of cruises myself and wifey have booked a northern lights trip from London to the coast of Norway well up into the artic circle (15 nights) in November

has anyone done this before or similar and can advise any tips? What to take to wear what photo equipment to take..do we see much daylight?

Ian

Seem to remember that the White Star Line [of Titanic fame ], became the P and O line.

Same attitude seems to have applied.

How little changes !

Ian, For daylight , it will depend on how far North you go, by the time you get up near the north cape there will be not much. As for the Northern lights, I went to the pub one night (in Norfolk ) and saw them, amazing ! Noel.

Edited By noel shelley on 01/07/2023 10:07:31

Ian, we did a similar cruise last year. When we got to Norway the captain said he didn't want us to miss the lights so would make a ship wide announcement when they were visible regardless of time. The call duly came, at 2.30am. Everyone on deck to see them. The deck was frozen & crew putting salt down so you will need a hat & warm clothes. Regarding photography here is one taken on a cheap android phone.

This was a 1/2 second exposure which was the longest my phone could do in manual mode. If you want better pictures you will need a tripod and a camera or phone capable of long exposures between 1 & 10 seconds.The best display we had was whilst leaving Tromso.

Hope this helps, Paul