Fly cruise to the med - missing the ships departure

[davecttr]

I see P&O offer flight and transfer packages to the new Ventura cruises next summer. You can either buy P&O's flight package for about £250 or book your own flights.

My question is, what happens if the flight is delayed?

All my previous fly cruises have been with Thomson where they get you to the ship, even if the ship has to wait, or the cruise schedule rearranged, or putting you up in a hotel and flying you to the next port of call etc etc. In other words a true package holiday where you feel secure.

what about P&O fly cruises. Are they a package as they are sold by P&O. Or is the mysterious reference to ensuring you have your ATOL documentation an indication that the holiday is not a package and if your flight is delayed - tough.

[Kendhni]

Not sure BUT I would like to think that if you book P&O's package then, like shore excursions they will make sure that you get to the ship before it departs or, at worst, sort out transfers to another port. If however you book your own then caveat emptor.

[Capn Bob]

Looking at the places these cruises start and end at it is going to be really interesting to see how the airports and docks fare accomodating such an influx of passengers as Ventura holds every couple of weeks. Tired passengers on cheap holidays wanting to get on board with delays = @*)%£"! - hope they have a good medical centre there.

Cap'n Bob

[Dancing Queen]

The way I'm reading it is if you book your flight with P&O then you book "the package" but who knows it is certainly a question I would be asking if I was considering booking.

I think it is a bit of a marketing ploy to make the cruises look more attractive ( price wise ) there are some who will be happy to arrange their own flights ( if available ) but I think there will be many more who will feel much more confident letting P&O do the arranging.

[Andrea S]

I can fly locally for less money than P&O are charging, BUT, there is no way I would fly on the day of the cruise. Umpteen hold ups could happen. I would travel the day before and book a hotel so any saving goes out of the window. My choice would be the P&O package.
The beauty is that you can travel independently and extend the cruise by spending time before or after exploring the area .

[Manoverboard]

Cannot see the problem myself ... book an extra few days in the Gateway Port and it's fail safe

[daib GC]

Cannot see the problem myself ... book an extra few days in the Gateway Port and it's fail safe

Or go overland

To return to the original question will the fly cruises not work as they do in the Caribbean, ie if the flight is late the ship waits. This happened to us in Oct 06 when the flight out had a problem and we had to stay an extra night on Arcadia. It was hell. They gave us a free bar


Gan Canny


Dai

[Capn Bob]

Cannot see the problem myself ... book an extra few days in the Gateway Port and it's fail safe

That's ok if you are retired etc. If you are working and are limited for leave then every day is special. Some of us have difficulty in getting more than 10 working days off at a time. The fly cruises potentially open up more opportunities as you do not have to spend 2-3 days crossing the BoB. P&O already have a single supplement, in line with one airline now, when will they add a passenger weight supplement for flying

Cap'n bob

[Manoverboard]

Cannot see the problem myself ... book an extra few days in the Gateway Port and it's fail safe

That's ok if you are retired etc. If you are working and are limited for leave then every day is special. Some of us have difficulty in getting more than 10 working days off at a time. The fly cruises potentially open up more opportunities as you do not have to spend 2-3 days crossing the BoB. P&O already have a single supplement, in line with one airline now, when will they add a passenger weight supplement for flying

Cap'n bob

The Med cruises are I believe 7 days / nights duration so even with extra days in the departure Port they are tailor made for anybody with a ten day holiday restriction

Apart from that ... if P&O offer a flight on the actual day then that to me would be fine because it is they who have the responsibility to get me to the ship on time, when we cruised on Adonia from Venice in December 2011 we were in the City by 09:30 in the morning so there would be plenty of time to recover from a delay with a flight.

[davecttr]

Cannot see the problem myself ... book an extra few days in the Gateway Port and it's fail safe

That's ok if you are retired etc. If you are working and are limited for leave then every day is special. Some of us have difficulty in getting more than 10 working days off at a time. The fly cruises potentially open up more opportunities as you do not have to spend 2-3 days crossing the BoB. P&O already have a single supplement, in line with one airline now, when will they add a passenger weight supplement for flying

Cap'n bob

The Med cruises are I believe 7 days / nights duration so even with extra days in the departure Port they are tailor made for anybody with a ten day holiday restriction

Apart from that ... if P&O offer a flight on the actual day then that to me would be fine because it is they who have the responsibility to get me to the ship on time, when we cruised on Adonia from Venice in December 2011 we were in the City by 09:30 in the morning so there would be plenty of time to recover from a delay with a flight.

I believe Ventura does not sail until 8pm so plenty of time to get to the ship. If the flight arrives early you can have the afternoon in Venice as well, plus the afternoon and evening at the end of the cruise if you are doing a 14 nighter.

I just dummy booked a 14 nighter and am off to the TA as soon as my bus pass becomes valid!

[Flora8]

The way I'm reading it is if you book your flight with P&O then you book "the package" but who knows it is certainly a question I would be asking if I was considering booking.

I think it is a bit of a marketing ploy to make the cruises look more attractive ( price wise ) there are some who will be happy to arrange their own flights ( if available ) but I think there will be many more who will feel much more confident letting P&O do the arranging.

JO -In my opinion--it is a better deal for singles as we are not paying the % on the fare or transfer's ---we only pay the cruise + £250 or whatever it will be !!

regards Flora x

[Flora8]

Cannot see the problem myself ... book an extra few days in the Gateway Port and it's fail safe

That's ok if you are retired etc. If you are working and are limited for leave then every day is special. Some of us have difficulty in getting more than 10 working days off at a time. The fly cruises potentially open up more opportunities as you do not have to spend 2-3 days crossing the BoB. P&O already have a single supplement, in line with one airline now, when will they add a passenger weight supplement for flying

Cap'n bob

The Med cruises are I believe 7 days / nights duration so even with extra days in the departure Port they are tailor made for anybody with a ten day holiday restriction

Apart from that ... if P&O offer a flight on the actual day then that to me would be fine because it is they who have the responsibility to get me to the ship on time, when we cruised on Adonia from Venice in December 2011 we were in the City by 09:30 in the morning so there would be plenty of time to recover from a delay with a flight.

I believe Ventura does not sail until 8pm so plenty of time to get to the ship. If the flight arrives early you can have the afternoon in Venice as well, plus the afternoon and evening at the end of the cruise if you are doing a 14 nighter.

I just dummy booked a 14 nighter and am off to the TA as soon as my bus pass becomes valid!

I have booked a back to back in May !! just to try it out I do not mind the B O B Or the sea days --but thought it would be nice to get to warm waters sooner !!

[davecttr]

The way I'm reading it is if you book your flight with P&O then you book "the package" but who knows it is certainly a question I would be asking if I was considering booking.

I think it is a bit of a marketing ploy to make the cruises look more attractive ( price wise ) there are some who will be happy to arrange their own flights ( if available ) but I think there will be many more who will feel much more confident letting P&O do the arranging.

JO -In my opinion--it is a better deal for singles as we are not paying the % on the fare or transfer's ---we only pay the cruise + £250 or whatever it will be !!

regards Flora x

correct my TA made all the calculations and then added on £250 to cover the flights and transfers. I booked an outside obstructed view and the single supplement appeared to work out at about 52%

[davecttr]

I have booked a back to back in May !! just to try it out I do not mind the B O B Or the sea days --but thought it would be nice to get to warm waters sooner !!

I booked a 14 nighter in May as well. Venice to Venice as I thought it was a better deal than Savona to Savona. Plus Savona is a a new port for me and a sea day on day 2 is more relaxing, as is having the overnight in venice before you fly home. Now these are Vantage fares. i wonder if they will ever reduce!.

[Lollie]

We have booked a Med fly cruise for next year with the flight package and having booked with P&O we would expect the ship to wait as it did on our first cruise to the Caribbean. Instead of being on board in Barbados by 3pm we actually made it to the ship at almost 10pm courtesy of Monarch, by the time we made it from the bottom of the atrium on Arcadia up to the top deck we were moving away from the quay!

[ZepHead]

Another scenario to ponder ... what if you arrive at the embarkation port, but your luggage doesn't?! This happened to me on an Ocean Village cruise back in 2006 or 2007 (can't remember which it was now). Two of our suitcases didn't appear on the carousel at Palma (there had been issues with all the baggage belts being out of action at Manchester Airport that morning). We were told that if they didn't turn up before the ship sailed, they would be sent on to the first point of call (always assuming they turned up at all). The next port of call was La Goulette, however - a couple of days away! Sod's Law said that the two cases which were missing contained ALL of my daughter's clothes and mine, so we faced the prospect of starting our cruise with only the clothes we stood up in - I can't begin to tell you the sick feeling in the pit of my stomach at the thought.

Anyway, the Ocean Village reps shoreside were excellent and I was extremely relieved when said cases turned up via a different flight, about 30 minutes before the ship sailed. I now spread my packing between all the suitcases, even though it makes the packing and unpacking more awkward - but my nervousness about lost luggage when flying has not gone away. Cruising from and to Southampton is much less stressful!

[Manoverboard]

Another scenario to ponder ... what if you arrive at the embarkation port, but your luggage doesn't?! ...

Taking a change of essentials in your hand luggage would help.

Once on board buy some clothes asap, or elsewhere, pending the arrival of your lost luggage ... then make a claim on your travel insurance.

Eat in the buffet, room service, laundry services ... no problem

ps ... tis always a good idea to split the clothes but having said that we never do

[Mervyn and Trish]

We always split the clothes if a flight is involved.

[Manoverboard]

Not even then, we are prepared to wear the same clothes for a couple of weeks ... no problem, sniff, sniff ?

Just buy a new lot at the first Port.

We have actually had pax arrive on our table for the first Formal night wearing the clothes they arrived in, it happens and it's a real ice breaker