P&O just cancelled my half term holiday because I have kids !

[IhatePandO]

I am furious, just received a notice from P&O saying they had cancelled my booking for a 7 day cruise during half term week because they have decided to reduce the number of unvaccinated passengers. Unless my 11 year old child complies with their vaccination policy of 2 vaccines we have been turfed off. I called and clearly explained that there is no approved available vaccine for children under 11, only to be told "yes we know that". I'm bloody furious, they must have known this when we booked weeks ago and now they are selling my cabin off on their website at a much higher price. I didn't expect this from a company like P&O. AIBU to never travel with them again?

I assume you booked some time ago , and paid quite a lot up front? So they have basically converted your deposit into an interest free loan. Having your money in their bank helped them ride out the dark times, but now ...

We all know that kids spread it

Don't adults?

If anyone knows the reason why our kids aren’t being fully vaccinated I’d like to know
People in pressure groups who aren't satisfied with simply not getting their children vaccinated, but want to control whether other people get their children vaccinated as well.
Children over 12 are now getting their 3rd boosters in Israel now, no-one grew 3 heads yet.

@Daisyhoney

We've got a cruise booked with them next September and tbh the amount of hoops you need to jump through now is making me feel like it's not worth the bother. The list of requirements is getting beyond a joke - they are now stating you have to bring a device ( smartphone or tablet ) - since when was that a condition of going on holiday? If you check their health protocols it states clearly that children between 5 - 17 who aren't vaccinated yet just need to produce a negative PCR test within 120 hours of sailing so there's no reason why they should cancel your holiday for this. I would point this out to them and see what they say, it's clearly stated on their website.

This is what I was told at the time of booking, that the children (and the vaccinated adults) would need to have a PCR test prior to travel.

@Explosivefarts

Shame on them speak with your feet don’t book them again

I certainly won't ever book with them again!

This really annoys me. My 16 year old is fully vaccinated because she has had one vaccine. Two are only given to ECV/living with ECV at the moment.

This is what I was told at the time of booking, that the children (and the vaccinated adults) would need to have a PCR test prior to travel.

And they’ve gone back on this and said nope PCR isn’t enough it must be vaccination?

I’d be tweeting them and tag various papers too

@RussianSpy101

This is the email I received

It's ridiculous isn't it RussianSpy101. The email I got is slightly different for this cruise (Northern Europe one) they have just decided that there are too many unvaccinated people on board and have kicked us off.

@ElizaDarcysDeeds

Well if it's a choice between holidays or DCs being doubly vaccinated against all medical advice, it doesn't seem a difficult choice. No holidays for DCs it is.

You can still catch and spread Covid even when vaccinated but I'm guessing their legal team have said they're covered for liability if they enforce vaccines for passengers as much as possible. I know businesses that have been advised similar by their lawyers. It's all about legal responsibility and nothing to do with health.

But it isn’t all Medical advice! The US Israel large swathes of Europe ((many of whom use Pfizer) have all double jabbed their 12-18 year olds

I know other countries that haven’t offered jabs to 12-15 year olds yet but actually don’t know if any that have decided to half vaccinate.

Do you?

Ah, yes, Disney is making anyone under vaccination age pcr test and then again at departure. Everyone else must be double vaccinated. Seems fair.

Lols people thinking vaccines stop the spread of covid….. covid is at the highest despite 85% vaccine

I think it's very poor service to cancel, but at the same time I'm surprised they accepted the booking in the first place.
Most cruise companies I was looking at this year made it quite plain that only fully vaccinated passengers would be allowed.
I thought that was absolutely fine as I would not want to be in close proximity to unvaccinated people - regardless of age.

@GoodnightGrandma

This really annoys me. My 16 year old is fully vaccinated because she has had one vaccine. Two are only given to ECV/living with ECV at the moment.

No she's not. She's fully vaccinated in the UK, because that is what has been decided. Meanwhile in France, my child is fully vaccinated with two vaccines. Yours wouldn't be.

Surely a beach of contract if this wasn't a term when you booked?

P&o seem to have really struggled here, other cruise lines allowed (unvaccinated) kids on with negative tests this summer but P&o didn’t. They have been repeatedly offloading passagers, esp those in midship disabled cabins. We rolled forward a cruise from last year to this to next and I’m not confident about this. They’ve been bad at refunds and they’re sat on thousands of pounds of our money. They’ve been
Really rubbish compared to other lines

Had our Xmas cruise cancelled; paid in full for 4 adults and 2 children only 2 weeks ago, when surely they knew this change was imminent. So they get to hold on to our payment and re sell the cabins. Shabby behaviour.

Don't disagree that this is shit for you OP, and you have my sympathies, but I dispute your comment that 'they must have known this weeks ago'. I work in the travel industry and there have been many times in the past 18 months when what we thought we knew for sure on Monday was completely wrong/different on Tuesday and more often than not entirely out of our control.

I don't know why they've changed their tune but could be any number of things. Policy change decided by senior management, an insistence by their insurers, issues with permissions at the harbours they plan to visit or the suppliers they use abroad. Cruises are extremely risky for infection spread at the best of times, there's likely to be factors that wouldn't even occur to a passenger.

@IhatePandO it is! I hope you’re able to get something else sorted. They only emailed me last week regarding excursions so it seems ridiculous that they have today sent me that.
Did you receive the second email with the link for a refund? Make sure you fill it in as in small print it says if you don’t send it before 6th October, they will automatically give you “cruise credit” instead.

We had booked a suite and as there are only a few on each ship I’m sure they will resell it quickly which annoys me 🤬 we have cruised with them several times before but never will again.

What's to stop them saying next 'two vaccines and a booster'? Where does this end? Only over 70s being allowed?

I'm double vaccinated and still caught Covid - it laid me up for 10 days. Foolish to think two vaccines make people Covid proof.

Post it all over their social media, they might change their minds if they get enough bad publicity.

I think I'd even email the Daily Mail if I were you op

And I'd speak to trading standards.

@Stormsy

Surely a beach of contract if this wasn't a term when you booked?

Yep

@NashvilleQueen

I think a lot of cruise lines are American owned and children have been vaccinated in the US.

This is P&O a UK owned cruise line. I originally wanted to book with Royal Caribbean but didn't because we didn't meet their requirements for Covid so was very careful checking the requirements for P&O to make sure we met them prior to booking

Although wouldn’t surprise me if the terms and conditions have some small print saying “we can make any changes we need to due to covid” or something like that