Oriana completely knackered !

[Whynd1]

My friend had only a few options available to her, she didn't want to fly home from a leg of the Arcadia cruise. Aurora was sold out.
The Oceana cruise only had a few balcony cabins left and in the end that's what she went for. It has ended up costing g more than the Oriana cruise.
Supply and demand !!!

Myself personally I would have taken the refund.

Lindsey

[Dancing Queen]

Hello All,

I would agree that 5% seems rather stingy as compensation, but that is from my experience rather typical of P&O these days. In my opinion it is all a result of P&O's costing strategy placing their headline prices as low as they do. I suppose it is what people want, but it's not very honest and the payback is the hard sell on board of extras and inflexibility in terms.

Regarding the replacement cruises, I would think it may be difficult arranging sometime more unusual at such short notice. To be fair the replacement cruises seem to have sold out, so there was obviously a demand there. Much as I'm not a fan of P&O policies and marketing, I'm not into looking a gift horse in the mouth.....So I grabbed a real bargain at 8.20am on Friday morning. Prices climbed rapidly through the day as "Black Friday" mania took hold and I suspect P&O sold most of the cabins for a fairly normal price.

I've been on Oriana three times over the last few years and now have two cruises booked on her for next year so I like the ship. Yes, she's the oldest ship in the fleet and is showing her age a bit, but for me she is far preferable to the newer large ships. Everyone's different and I prefer ships to be ships rather than a massive floating hotel.

Best Wishes
Nigel

I wouldn't have thought arranging something more unusual would have been difficult, after all computers can do just about anything these days so I feel sure an itinerary could have been mapped out easily but that is by the by obviously P&O didn't think it worth the consideration

Good to hear you and others have got a bargain,although P&O isn't my choice of cruise line at this moment in time I do like Oriana and had it been a feasible option I too would have seriously thought about booking it .. enjoy

[CaroleF]

From what I've been reading the amount that P&O offered was 5% off the total the passenger had paid for the cancelled cruise, not 5% of another cruise, so it would depend on what grade of cabin the passenger had booked. I stand to be corrected but I've read this on P&O's own site - though, as we know, that's not always right!

Carole

[Kenmo1]

I wouldn't have thought arranging something more unusual would have been difficult, after all computers can do just about anything these days so I feel sure an itinerary could have been mapped out easily but that is by the by obviously P&O didn't think it worth the consideration

I think PO went for the easiest option which would attract the most people quickly and it seems to have worked as both the 30th January and the 11th February 2018 cruises have disappeared off the PO system so I am assuming that they have completely sold out - all in less than a week.

Maureen

[Dancing Queen]

I'm sure they did Maureen and I believe both the cruises are indeed sold out.