Carol Marlow
Hello everyone,
A few weeks ago we invited our Facebook fans to ask me any questions, and I would answer them in a future blog article. Thank you all for your questions! As there were so many, I have concentrated on those that were ‘liked’ by the highest number of people, and have answered these first as they are clearly the most burning topics. I hope you find this helpful. I will respond to other questions over the next few weeks and then we will do another Q&A session in a few months’ time.
Kind regards,
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Managing Director, P&O Cruises
Hello everyone,
A few weeks ago we invited our Facebook fans to ask me any questions, and I would answer them in a future blog article. Thank you all for your questions! As there were so many, I have concentrated on those that were ‘liked’ by the highest number of people, and have answered these first as they are clearly the most burning topics. I hope you find this helpful. I will respond to other questions over the next few weeks and then we will do another Q&A session in a few months’ time.
Kind regards,
Cliff
"Getaway prices so unfair to those who book early!"
Getaway Fares are our lowest fare, however they don’t include the range of benefits and all the advantages that a VantageFare offers – a new type of fare which we introduced last summer. With Vantage Fares you can chose the exact cabin you prefer, subject to availability, plus you have the flexibility to make amendments to, or even change, the choice of cruise or cabin up to 90 days before your departure. You even get one of the following included in the price; on board spending money, car parking or return coach travel to Southampton. And we also offer Price Promise Protection, which ensures that should the price of a cruise reduce after you've booked, the difference will be awarded in on board spending or a cabin upgrade. If, however, the price of a cruise should rise after the booking has been made, you are assured to have received excellent value by booking early.
Getaway Fares have limited availability; are not backed by our Price Promise, do not come with any of the Vantage Fare benefits, and come with restrictive terms and conditions. They must be paid for 100% in full at the time of booking, carry 100% cancellation fees and when booking, only the cabin grade can be selected, not the specific cabin. Therefore we think that the best way for our passengers to book a P&O Cruises holiday is to take advantage of the Vantage Fares.
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| Vantage Fares are backed by our Price Promise and come with added benefits |
Alan
"Why are standards slipping year on year? Especially the food quality...."
I was concerned that you felt there has been a drop in the standards we offer to our passengers. We certainly do not wish to lower our standards and I apologise if this is the impression that you gained. Special attention is always given to dining, as this is a subjective and sensitive area and one that plays a great part in the success of any cruise. In fact, we have updated and changed our menus recently and take into account passengers’ comments. In general, we seem to achieve our aims in this regard and during this season we have had a gratifyingly favourable response from passengers on the many comment forms we have received, with a great many complimentary remarks about the food. I therefore sincerely apologise that your own impressions should have been so different.
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| We will go to any length to ensure you enjoy the holiday of a lifetime |
Brian
"I have done 8 cruises and cannot see any loyalty in those years. Could you please let me know what you give back for being a loyal customer?"
At P&O Cruises we greatly value customer loyalty and have built our Peninsular Club to ensure loyalty is rewarded. For each night you spend on board a P&O Cruises ship, you'll be awarded 10 loyalty points applied at the end of your cruise. Once you have earned a minimum of 150 points you will automatically become a member of the P&O Cruises Peninsular Club.
The club consists of six different levels, known as tiers. Entry into each tier requires a minimum number of nights to have been spent on board a P&O Cruises ship, plus at the highest levels, a degree of recency and frequency of cruising. As the number of nights you spend on board increases, so too does your tier status.
We are honoured to welcome so many loyal passengers back on board time and again and so we are delighted to be able to reward this loyalty through our new P&O Cruises Peninsular Club. I do hope you can take full advantage of the benefits offered by your tier of the club.
Graham
"Why are the trips from the ship so expensive compared with what you can do on your own?"
We want to offer our passengers great value on our shore excursions, and give them the opportunity to explore places easily – with good quality transport and guides. It’s certainly not our aim to make them expensive.
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| Experience your destinations with great value shore excursions |
Jenny
"Why are P & O no longer doing the cruises calling at New Orleans etc or sailing completely through the Panama Canal (other than world cruises) and do they intend to reinstate them in the future?"
We plan our cruises based on passenger demand, and what we think will be most popular, so thank you for your feedback. We’ll be asking for more feedback on all aspects of our cruises from an online panel of passengers we have set up to give us representative views, and of course any feedback we receive on Facebook will be added to our learnings.
Ann
"Why do we no longer get big name entertainers?"
We do periodically offer cruises with big name entertainers – do watch out for them! They tend to be shorter cruises, so accessible to everyone. You can view this year's cruises on our homepage www.pocruises.com. We trust the entertainers on our ships are offering our passenegers some great entertainment. Some are new names, and others have been very popular with our passengers on previous cruises. These include headline acts such as tenor Russell Watson and classical singing duo Jonathan &Charlotte from Britain’s Got Talent. Plus, don’t forget we have various professional dancers from the BBC hit show Strictly Come Dancing joining us with Craig Revel Horwood on this year’s Strictly themed cruises and Classic FM hosts on our ‘Music Festivals at Sea’. We are going to be releasing more ‘big name entertainer’ cruises later this spring – so watch this space!
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| Classical singing star Russell Watson, available on select cruises in 2013 |
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