UK-based P&O Cruises has been forced to cancel a short cruise at very short notice due to a refit overrun.
The delay in the scheduled drydock work led to the cancellation of a three-day cruise to Zeebrugge, Belgium, from Southampton on Monday, 21 April.
Guests to Get Full Refund and Future Cruise Credit
The 1,874 passengers booked on the cruise were informed of the cancellation just 24 hours before.
P&O Cruises apologized in an email and confirmed it will process full refunds for all guests.
Additionally, they will also receive a future cruise credit worth 20% of the fare paid.
Still, guests booked on the cruise could not personally contact P&O Cruises as the contact center was closed on Easter Sunday.
“Following a delay to Aurora’s refit, we need to cancel Aurora’s cruise from Southampton to Zeebrugge,” the email said. One passenger, Stacey Pinhorne, told the BBC said the cruise line should have given way more notice.
It was “quite a shock” to receive the email one day before, she said. “At the start of it I thought: ‘Is it a joke? Is it a spam email?”
The short notice has led to a flood of complaints online with several noting they had made non-refundable travel arrangements to and from the port and taken time off work.
This included cruise vloggers, ‘Cruising With The 4Bs’ who made a YouTube video.
“We even upgraded to a mini-suite – we were so excited for a short getaway with friends. Then, with less than 24 hours to go, boom – cancelled,” they said. “This could have been avoided. There was no wiggle room in the schedule. If they’d given just a couple of extra days, this wouldn’t have happened.”
“We appreciate how disappointing this is for our guests who were booked to travel, a cruise line spokesperson said.
Aurora is in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, completing the scheduled work. The next cruise is scheduled to leave Southampton on April 24.
