Originally Posted by
wowzz
According to a P&O insider on another forum, neither BA or VS signed any contracts, so no company reneged. However P&O proceeded with their W23/24 Caribbean cruise programme on the assumption that they would get the capacity they required from BA/VS. However, BA/VS felt that their aircraft could be more profitably utilised on scheduled flights, rather than P&O charters.
Fast forward to 2023, and suddenly P&O find they need 1200 l/h seats every weekend for their winter Caribbean season, with no obvious options. The P&O shortlist for potential suppliers must have been extremely short ! Maleth must have been able to drive a pretty hard bargain, knowing that P&O had really no other options.
Well, like I said there was lots of rumour as to what's gone on, both on board ship and on various fora. What seems to be for sure, as you say, is that P&O found themselves in a tight spot short of capacity to get pax to and from the 2 ships that they have in the Carribean this Winter, and have probably paid over the odds for what has turned-out to be a far from great service from Maleth. The CAT encounter could, again, of course, have happened to any carrier, but the recovery from the situation seems to be far from optimal also (although the fact that this happened over xmas has probably not helped).
By the way, it's a lot more than 1,200 seats needed every weekend, the 2 ships currently in Carribean, Britannia and Arvia have capacities over around 3,600 and 5,000 respectively. They do turn-arounds (in BGI or ANU) on alternate weekends. Or maybe you meant 1,200 extra seats over and above what they already had contracted? As I said to people I discussed this with on our cruise, that kind of short-notice capacity doesn't grow on trees!