Originally Posted by
Wycombe
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!
To clarify, P&O require 1200 seats over and above the number contracted to TUI.
There is a suggestion/rumour that in future, P&O will sell a certain number of cruise only fares in the Caribbean (as you know, you cannot currently unbundle the fly/cruise package). This will obviously appeal to those who want to add on a pre or post cruise hotel stay, but given the current BA/VS fares to the Caribbean, P&O will need to offer some extremely attractive prices if they wish to divert a singnificant number of custoners away from their charter flights.