“This Is the life”

As consumers we believe in the dream or product that a corporation or company are selling us. No matter what media platform we use we are bombarded with images both visual and verbal and often they are hard to ignore.

I consider myself a loyal customer of P&O for a considerable time.  They first appealed to me because they sold themselves as being a British tradition in cruising that catered for all the family and in the main they do, I had up until 2016 been satisfied with the service I had received.

Their advertising slogan “This Is the life” is inviting and before you know it you have been drawn in to the dream.  In August 2016, I was looking for a cruise that ticked all my boxes and I found one on Ventura (N729).  The cruise was only twelve nights and I was looking to extend it to a fortnight.  The previous cruise (N728) was described as a two-night mini break and I thought this was perfect, I booked the back to back cruises and thought no more of it.  As the months and weeks past my excitement grew.  These two cruises were extra special because it was my best friend’s birthday while on board ship and I had planned a variety of surprises for her to celebrate her day.

I am an infrequent visitor to several cruise forums and I saw nothing to alert me that something might be amiss.  The only comments I found were that Ventura looked dated and in need of a refit.

Embarkation was efficient and quick taking around thirty minutes from car to ship.  Lunch was fine, and our cabin was clean.  I saw no issues with the décor.  We spent the next couple of hours unpacking and settling in and did not leave the cabin until the muster drill.  It was at this drill that my friend and I noticed passengers bringing alcohol and filled glasses into muster station along with their life jackets; I was horrified!  I know many passengers find the drill boring, but it is important as it could one day save your life.  It was after the drill that I realised what N728 was, it was full of hen and stag parties.  The lifts smelt like a brewery and I was verbally abused in the lift, being called a spastic.

Back in my cabin my friend and I prepared for sail away and tried to make the best of a bad situation, looking forward to N729.  Dinner that night was smart casual, but you would never have thought that with the variety of novelty sailor costumes and bride’s veils worn in the restaurants.  Their behaviour was not only loud but extremely rude to the waiting staff; this was not the P&O that I had come to love and respect.  That evening we went to the Headliners show “Paradise City” after dinner and then to bed.  This is unusual behaviour for us as we like a cocktail before heading to the casino. 

The next day we were in Zeebrugge and for a while some normality on board.  That night was worse with large groups of people moving from one bar to another and all inebriated and swearing if you didn’t move out of their way.  That was a formal night and again many were inappropriately dressed, but no one refused them entry into the restaurants, regular cruisers will know that after 6pm the ship reverts to a dress code.  After dinner we went and saw an Adele tribute act and she was fantastic.  Shame a group of drunk hens got up and left half way through her act; they must have needed a top up of alcohol.

The following morning thankfully, they all disembarked, and piece rained once more.  Being only a handful of transition passengers left on board I took my chance and spoke with reception about the two-day mini break.  The officers referred to it as a “party cruise”, while other crew refer to them as a “booze cruise” and that explains why no duty-free alcohol was sold on board.  For other passengers like myself and the young families on board I felt sorry, this is not the standard we expect from P&O.  But when they offer a suite at only £329 what do you expect.

I was young once and like everyone to have fun but many of the under 25’s were binge drinking and had no consideration for their fellow passengers.  I am just thankful that an emergency never happened, many couldn’t walk straight so how would they find their muster station.  The people who really suffered were the bar staff, waiters and reception they seemed to work double hard and were often spoken to rudely.

A few days after we returned I contacted P&O to discuss N728 and several other issues that had arisen during N729.  The lady I spoke with was very helpful and let me off load.  From the conversation it appears they have had many complaints about two and three-night mini breaks and in response P&O have a new code of conduct which comes into being on 1^st January 2018.  I was offered £50pp on board spend on my next cruise, which I excepted.

I was not looking for any compensation, but it was a gesture of good will from them.  People have said I should have pushed for more, but it wasn’t about the money.  P&O have lost far more than me in reputation alone.  This is their 180^th year in service and I personally thought they would never have stooped so low as to want to be associated with hens and stags.  I knew of several couples who were using it as a taster to cruise and from their own experience vowed never to return.  Back on dry land I have a couple of friends who were considering booking a two-night mini break as a taster but have decided not to book after hearing our experience.  I hope that P&O do in force their new code of conduct for everyone sake.

Suites, mini suites and mobility scooters!!

I suppose this post is continuing on from my last one about disabiity and accessibility on board P&O's fleet.  I have previously mentioned that I had been told that when Carnival reshuffled it was decided that a dedicated disability team was no longer required and that their customer service could answer any disability related questions; I disagree with this decision and can prove it does not work.
I believe it was around the time of the reshuffle that P&O decided that disabled passengers who used a mobility scooter could no longer take then on-board unless they had an accessible cabin or another cabin that was deemed suitable and in most cases these are non adapted suites and mini suites.  The reason for this decision I understand was purely for health and safety.
I am not a fan of the mobility scooter but I feel that it is unfair on passengers who use a scooter to move around and wish to stay loyal to P&O.  I believe that their choice of cabin has been away and has obviously restricted their choice of ship and cruise as many of them cannot afford the price of suites and mini suites.
Arcadia, does not have any accessible accommodation that is suitable for a full-time wheelchair or mobility scooter users as none of their cabins are large enough to manoeuvre around.  However, they do have 51 non adapted cabins that are suites and mini suites. The ship also has 11 partially adapted cabins in grades from suites to larger inside cabins.
Aurora, does have 22 cabins that are suitable for full-time wheelchair and mobility scooter users in grades from balcony cabins to inside cabins.  The ship also offers 30 non adapted cabins that are suitable for mobility scooters in suite and mini suite grades.
Sister ships the Azura and Ventura each offer 31 adapted cabins that are suitable for full-time wheelchair and mobility scooter users in cabin grades from a suite to inside cabins.  Both ships also offer 27 non adapted suites which are suitable for mobility scooter users.
Oriana only has 8 outside cabins that are suitable for full-time wheelchair and mobility scooter users. However, she has 24 non adapted suites and mini suites that are suitable for mobility scooter users.
Oceana offers19 adapted cabins which are suitable for full-time wheelchair and mobility scooter users in grades from a mini suite to inside cabin.  She has 38 non adapted suites and mini suites that are suitable for use by mobility scooters users.
Britannia, P&O's flagship offers 37 adapted cabins that are suitable for both full-time wheelchair and mobility scooter users in grades from suites to inside cabins.  They also offer 44 non adapted suites that are suitable for mobility scooters users.
Any passenger who is disabled knows that adapted cabins sell out very quickly, usually as soon as a cruise goes on sale and as adapted cabns are very limited in number it means that they would have to swallow the cost of higher grade cabins and suites or go with another cruise company. 
When P&O introduced this new rule I was so furious that they were taking away a passengers choice of cabin and I actually moved away from P&O even though I use a manual wheelchair and the new rule did not apply to me. I went and did several cruises with RCI.  RCI do not have any rules regarding the use of scooters and we never found them to be a pest while on board "Indy".

Open wardrobe on Britannia

What does bother me is that this could be the start of a trend; starting with scooters.  At the moment I am able to manage in a standard cabin with a shower and my manual wheelchair folds small enough to fit in the open wardrobe area.  I do not require space to manoeuvre a wheelchair around the cabin.  When booking a cruise I go no higher in grade than a balcony for the simple reason that the higher grades often come with a bathtub and overhead shower.  I am unable to get in and out of a bathtub safely.  So if P&O brought in a rule regarding manual wheelchairs I would not be able to stay loyal to P&O and would not hesitate in going back to RCI or another cruise line.
I know this topic often comes up on boards and forums and I do feel sorry for mobility scooter users especially when some scooters fold up as small as a manual whelchairs and yet they are still not allowed on-board P&O's fleet.  If I was a scooter owner I would want answers as it does seem a little bit unfair.  If they were to say no manual wheelchairs on-board I believe this would be one step too far; something I don't think they can afford to do. 
I am only able to use a manual wheelchair because I have friends who can push me when I get too tired but if I had no one to push me I would have to rely on a mobility scooter and I feel that my choices should not be compromised should I use a scooter in the future.  It would be nice if one day this rule on mobility scooters could be reversed but I doubt that will ever happen.  I have been on four of the ships in the P&O fleet and they all have something different that makes them special and unique and will remain loyal but loyalty is a two way thing. 

Disability Factsheet?

Last year after returniing from our cruise on P&O's Britannia I had a few comments and suggestions that I felt P&O needed to hear that could improve accessibility not only on this ship but also other ships in the fleet.
Whilst on our 14 day cruise I wondered at times if I was the only disabled passenger who felt that there was a lack of information regarding accessibility around the ship but after my friend met a struggling visually impaired passenger struggling with the stairs between Deck 17 and Deck 18 apparently not.  This meeting happened nearing the end of the cruise and this passenger was not aware that there was a disabled lift that would take her between these decks and said that it was a shame that noone had told her of this lifts existance at the beginning of the cruise.  This passenger could so easily had fallen down these stairs.

Disabled lift on Deck 17

This lift was not origionally indicated on deck plans for Britannia in 2015 it just showed an empty space.  I only found out about its existance because of my dogged determination.  When I book a cruise I research everything that I can including the ships deck plans and from looking at Britannia's I could see that the lifts stopped at Deck 17 and that access to Deck 18 was via stairs.  I had read somewhere online that she was fully accessible so therefore there must be a way up to Deck 18.  I called P&O's customer service as I thought they would know for sure.  I have to say that they have some of the rudest customer service staff that I have ever come across.  I had to make several calls before someone explained that they have a disabled team who you cannot talk to but they would try and find out if someone knew about access.  The person did come back and explained to me exactly where to locate a lift.  She also told me that they did not want to make it public knowledge because they did not want all and sundry using it.

When I was on Britannia one of the first things we did was to check that the information was correct and that the lift was there.  As you can see from my photographs it does exist.  As you can clearly see it does not look like a lift door and most people mistook it for a crew entrance; that's why we got a few weird looks from fellow passengers.
I have sailed on Azura (2010) and Ventura (2011) and we are sailing again on Azura in June this this year and like Britannia their deck plans do not show that there is a platform lift between Azura's Aqua Deck and Sun Deck and Ventura's Sun Deck and Sports Deck.  I was told by a fellow passenger on Azura in 2010 that there was a small platform lift for the use of disabled guests. 

I unfortunately do not have photographs but this image is representative of what it looks like.  This lift can be found on both ships if you walk around Breakers Bar and round towards the Ivory Suite you will see a small glass lift that is large enough for one wheelchair and one standing person.
As I have previously said on returning home after my cruise on Britannia I contacted P&O with comments and suggestions  about accessibility on the ship and I have to say that I did got pushed from pillar to post with no answers and offered £100 OBC for my next cruise for my trouble.  Unsatisfied with the treatment I received from P&O's customer care I found an email for Christopher Edgington (Marketing Director, P&O) and started communicating with him.  Eventually I was passed onto a person who is a disability advisor for P&O and she has told me herself that she does not have any contact with customers as their customer service people could answer all questions relating to disability and accessibility.  I told her that was an error in judgement because I had tried and they know very little.    Something like knowing the position of disabled lifts on their fleet of ships is not rocket science. 
One suggestion I had was that P&O could produced a factsheet for every ship in their fleet detailing information such as the position of lifts for use by disabled passengers. A factsheet for the ship that a person is sailing on could be emailed to them once they have  submitted a disability questionnaire.  I have to say that I was told that this would be costly?  How much does it cost to produce a word document that details ship information and is them emailed out. Answer is minimal.  It is not as if the information is waiting for you in your cabin when you board.  The only contact I ever get when I am on board is contact from the excursions team trying to sell me an over priced accessible tour.
In conclustion I have to say that when I first started crusing there was a dedicated disability number that you could call and their team was very knowledgable and helpful but as I have been told that when P&O reshuffled several years ago they felt that a dedicated disability team was not required as their customer service could answer disability related questions.  I strongly disagree.  I am very passionate about equality and the more I see that is unjust the more I will complain, I may be disabled and what I may lack in movement I make up for in voice.