Flippin' P & O!

But they will refund your money, right?
At least that's something. Then you can shovel that refund into another cruise to some delightful corner of the tropics.

Chin up

Mandy-Jane,

Check out www.vacationstogo.com. You can search for discounted cruises there (the same ones being sold by the agents and the cruise lines themselves). I find it really convenient to find cruises I'm interested in. You can search by month, cruise line, region, port of departure, port visited, and so on. It's the quickest way I've found to compare all the different lines traveling in a given area.

Hope you find your dream cruise quick. Me, I just want to do another Transatlantic with my husband. There's no vacation like being at sea with absolutely nothing you have to do.

I know this isn't strictly relevant (or at all), but I can't quite decide which one of your avatars is nicer.
I think M-J's got the better view, but Maggie's got more greenery...

Mandy-Jane said:

Okay. I'm upset. We've booked a cruise for next year. A great one. Flying to Singapore first, spending a couple of days there and then sailing from Singapore around Malaysia to Thailand and back. Fantastic hey! But today, I find out that those idiots at P & O have sold, yes SOLD the ship that was going to be cruising out of Singapore, and now, the cruise has been CANCELLED! Oh my God! Can you believe it? They spent so much on advertising these great Asian cruises, and now for some unknown, inexplicable, maddening reason, they've sold the ship! You'd think they'd have a replacement wouldn't you? No. Instead they just cancel our cruise! I am so beside myself!

Right. I feel just a little better now. Thanks for listening.

Click to expand...

Sorry Mandy. Sounds like exciting places to visit --good luck.

I want to ask the mods to remove your GD word from your post.
Wasn't exactly what I needed to see when I was tapped in to AW for some research with my daugh sitting next too me.

Mods...? appreciate it.

Before America West merged with US Air (and who knows, maybe still today) it was STANDARD PRACTICE for them to cancel flights for bogus reasons anytime they hadn't sold out a flight -- without notifying anyone.

On more than one occasion, my wife and I would call the airline to confirm our flight only to hear "Oh yeah, we cancelled that flight."

"Really? We booked this flight 3 months ago. It was supposed to fly out in a week. Were you ever going to mention this to us?"

"No. But we can get you on the next flight out."

"What about the connecting flight we were supposed to get?"

"Oooh, bad news there. Sorry."


My parents got burned so bad by America West once, they ended up renting a car and driving home from Phoenix, having been stranded there and not willing to spend the night to wait for a morning flight to LA.

So, yeah, travel companies suck ass. I'm right there with ya. Selling the boat! LOL! (You'd think whoever bought it would have continued the cruise).

Mandy-Jane said:

You've done a transatlantic? That's my long-term cruising dream! I'll do it one day.

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Yeah, we did it on the QE2 for our 25th anniversary. It was a great deal, since the airfare one-way home from England was included. And we booked it only about a month in advance, because we didn't think of it until then. Sometimes you can get incredible deals if you just check frequently. I'm sure you'll find a replacement cruise--go for it.

BTW - Vacations To Go is a real agency, based in Houston. After Hurricane Katrina, they collected donations for storm refuges and I sent them a bunch of kids' toys and books to distribute.

I agree with you Kimmie. The "GD" offends many of us and is not necessary.
It really upsets me when someones cruise gets cancelled.
What a bummer!!
Jim

Come Back Kid said:

I agree with you Kimmie. The "GD" offends many of us and is not necessary.

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Really? I'm surprised the poor woman didn't include a few F-bombs in her thread title. Can't you see she's upset?

Oh, I see. It's the G-word you're touchy about...

Mandy-Jane, on the trans-atlantic.

I recommend traveling by merchant ship rather than cruise ship.

One, it is way, way, way cheaper. Two, cruise ships keep a few hundred mercury vapor lights on at night, so you can't see any stars. That's the most beautiful part of a transatlatic crossing.

The ships have no entertainment, so bring a few fav books and your laptop to work some.

Pick a ship which has a crew of your nationality so the food is something you would enjoy.

One nice thing about british ships, they have pubs aboard!

Title changed -- I hope that works for everyone!

(What a stinkin' thing for them to do to you Mandy-Jane. When you're in Sydney, give a holler, and I'll buy you a coffee... somewhere away from where the cruise ships dock!)

And my sister's trying to make me audition as a production singer for P&O. Ha! Now I've got a great excuse not to. Solidarity!

Joe270 said:

Mandy-Jane, on the trans-atlantic.

I recommend traveling by merchant ship rather than cruise ship.

One, it is way, way, way cheaper. Two, cruise ships keep a few hundred mercury vapor lights on at night, so you can't see any stars. That's the most beautiful part of a transatlatic crossing.

The ships have no entertainment, so bring a few fav books and your laptop to work some.

Pick a ship which has a crew of your nationality so the food is something you would enjoy.

One nice thing about british ships, they have pubs aboard!

Click to expand...

I've always wanted to do that. The only problem is that they don't guarantee you'll even end up in the port where you're booked to travel. I suppose as long as you're somewhere nearby it wouldn't be too expensive to get to where you're going.

K1P1 said:

I've always wanted to do that. The only problem is that they don't guarantee you'll even end up in the port where you're booked to travel. I suppose as long as you're somewhere nearby it wouldn't be too expensive to get to where you're going.

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And there's the problematic issue of being pressed into service in the coal room.

Hi,Yo, Silver( King);
I throw out a few F's myself, on occasion. I know it sounds silly, to some, but the other is almost painful. Sorry if I hurt anyones feelings.
BTW I love cruises.
Jim

Joe270 said:

I recommend traveling by merchant ship rather than cruise ship.

One, it is way, way, way cheaper. Two, cruise ships keep a few hundred mercury vapor lights on at night, so you can't see any stars. That's the most beautiful part of a transatlatic crossing.

The ships have no entertainment, so bring a few fav books and your laptop to work some.

Pick a ship which has a crew of your nationality so the food is something you would enjoy.

Click to expand...

You can do that?

Really?
Funny thing. While I'm walking to work (Or anywhere else, my flat's on the waterfront) I see all these big ships carrying stuff all around the world. It never occured to me that they would take on Passengers.
How would one go about booking that you think?
Mayhaps, I'll stop in to the harbour office on the way home.

One nice thing about british ships, they have pubs aboard!

Click to expand...

I'm sold.

There's more info about traveling on cargo ships here: http://www.freightertrips.com/
with descriptions of various types of freighters here: http://www.freightertrips.com/guide/ships.html

Since I work in energy research I'd avoid passage on coal ships to certain ports, because they're working at above capacity the ships can have long waiting periods to get into port. And there are areas where I wouldn't feel comfortable as a passenger because of piracy, like off the coast of Somalia.

You want to stick with 'liners', those are typically containerships. They are on a set schedule and hit regular ports with a decent on-time record. They are also faster, 24+ knots compared to 14 knots. They are also cleaner, the quarters are normally nicer, and they dock closer to major cities.

Bulkers normally load farther away from cities because of the loading techniques, which can be messy. Bulk ships also have a habit of not going where they say. Where ever they get the highest price for the goods, that's where they'll go. I sailed bulkers for years and loved the life, but you gotta be willing to wing it. Sometimes we went to a completely different continent.

Those dorks.