P&O Cruises Senior Vice President Paul Ludlowon posted a comment on the P&O Facebook page announcing the cancellation of a cruise aboard the Oriana (voyage X801). P&O says that the Oriana will "undergo three week technical maintenance from January 6 2018."
Mr. Ludlowon writes that "as a result we will be canceling this cruise . . . and we are extremely sorry for the late notice and disruption."
215 comments about the cancellation of the 50-night itinerary were posted on the P&O website as of this morning. P&O intended to visit 13 different countries during the "Caribbean & Amazon Adventure" cruise.
P&O offered just a 5% future cruise credit. Many disappointed customers complained about P&O’s meager compensation offer. One person wrote that the offer "is hardly generous given the inconvenience this is causing passengers like us." P&O response to this comment was typical to P&O’s non-negotiable response to the problem – "We are sorry you are disappointed by this however this will be our only offer in terms of compensation."
P&O did not offer any explanation of the details of the so-called "technical maintenance." Many cruise lines use this euphemism to refer to engine, propeller or other propulsion-related problems. P&O referred to a "technical issue" in a statement when the Oriana’s arrival in Southampton was delayed seven weeks ago due to a boiler problem.
The Oriana underwent a cosmetic refit one year ago.
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Photo credit: Antonio from Trieste, Italy, CC BY 2.0, commons / wikimedia.