It’s all change for P&O this Winter…………

There was disappointing news for guests booked to cruise the Arabian Gulf this Winter on board P&O Oceana last week as P&O made the decision to redeploy the ship following recent events involving the British flagged ship Stena Impero in that area.

It was a difficult decision for P&O to make with 1000’s of passengers already booked and looking forward to a week or a fortnight of guaranteed Winter sunshine.

President of P&O, Paul Ludlow, made the following statement to explain their decision: “The increased tension in the region highlighted by the attacks on tankers in the strait and the detention of a British-flagged tanker by the Iranian authorities means as a British company flying the Red Ensign it is not advisable for us to maintain our planned Dubai and Arabian Gulf programme this winter season”.

“Whilst we appreciate our guests will be disappointed, the safety of our guests and crew is absolutely paramount and given our UK status, coupled with the uncertainty in the region, we have had to make this difficult decision.”

Although extremely disappointing for guests, I really think that P&O have made the right decision, they could not risk the safety of so many guests and staff throughout the season in such a dangerous situation, it would have been foolhardy to keep the ship out there.

All booked guests will receive a full refund and instead of heading to Dubai Oceana will return to Southampton where she will home port for the Winter offering guests itineraries to the Canary Islands and Spain and Portugal – a much safer bet for the time being until the situation in the Gulf is resolved.

As yet, we do not have exact details of departures from Southampton, these itineraries are due to be released on 20th August. No doubt staff at P&O are working round the clock to put these cruises together for their loyal guests.

Another blow comes from Celebrity who have also announced they are pulling Constellation from the Gulf over Winter 2020 and she will instead be home porting in Tampa due to high demand for departures from there.

One thing is sure, life in the world of cruising is never dull and however inconvenient these changes are for clients, rest assured the cruise lines have their guests and staff’s best interests at heart.

For now, happy cruising! I will be back soon, with news of wedding bells!