Limit on kids ages – is P&O losing customers to their rivals?

Recently I have had to disappoint guests whom are looking for a family cruise with P&O, although I can offer them a 3 or 4 berth cabin to accommodate their needs, I cannot book their cruise because their child is the wrong age and this is happening now for Easter or Summer 2018 sailings.

If you don’t know what I mean, then let me explain… P&O our British cruise line with family friendly ships, great facilities and kids clubs on board, will only accept a certain amount of children per age group. Along with Cunard and Princess (but very rarely do we have to disappoint with these two cruise lines) P&O have an age limit and once that is full, you cannot book a child of that age category regardless if the child intends to use the kid’s club or not.

It is very frustrating, not just for us agents as it means we are turning business away but also for families looking forward to booking their next cruise, especially if a family is not in a position to book 18 months in advance can only book 4-6 months in advance.

Other family friendly cruise lines do not have this restriction and if the cabins are available all ages are welcome, so why do P&O alienate  potential families with their rules. Surely as a family cruise line they need to re look at this. All the cruise lines work in similar ways with their kids clubs, it just seems to me that P&O will push guests towards MSC, Royal Caribbean, NCL and Princess rather than accept an extra 8 year old child!

I accept maybe a limit on the amount of children on board but not age groups. They are advertising family cruises and they have specific ships for adults only. There is nothing more frustrating when you have a family with twins but only one child space available for that age and believe me P&O will not budge on this.

Here is an example of a sailing for Britannia with plenty of 3/4 berth cabins available during a school holiday period.

AVAILABILITY INFORMATION Dining: Trad: 1A2A      Open A Land Availability 0 Exclusive Occupancy Available Upper Berths Available Min Infant Age 6 Months 6 Months – 23 Months Closed 24 Months – 35 Months Available 3 Years – 4 Years Available 5 Years – 8 Years Closed 9 Years – 12 Years Closed 13 Years – 16 Years Available

I thinks P&O need to re look at this and make it fair for growing families. Do you agree? Have you had an issue where you couldn’t book your family cruise due to their age limits?

Rant over for now, until next time.

Dawn

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