Hello and Happy New Year!
In December I left you with an optimistic tone as the early signs of Omicron were upon us, and initial indications were that the new variant was less severe. A month later and the highly infectious nature of Omicron has resulted in a further period of difficulty for the travel industry in general, which we certainly could not have anticipated! Fortunately, cruises on the whole have continued over the past month or so and it has been great to see significant numbers of our clients successfully completing their travel plans. That in itself is a massive step forward compared to the previous period of continued suspensions.
However, on a less positive note, changes in international travel requirements and testing, plus the ongoing mammoth quest of dealing with so many transferred bookings, has again resulted in a massive spike in call volumes. Like many other businesses, we are also suffering from significant staff shortages with many on sick leave with Covid and I find myself once again asking for your patience as we battle to keep up with demand. I fully appreciate that from a client’s perspective it is very frustrating having to queue to reach us by telephone and I sincerely appreciate your understanding. I receive numerous personal notes of thanks on a daily basis about individual members of staff and it is clear from these that you understand the pressure they currently face in these unprecedented times.
Staying on the subject of our team, Omicron has meant that our previous efforts to return to the office have been set back and under government guidance, we have been forced to return to working from home wherever possible. This of course adds to the difficulties of working to an optimum level and we very much look forward to returning to normality again soon. Sadly, this also means that our popular Cruise Bureau remains closed for the foreseeable future.
The current situation with cruises is a little mixed, with some positive developments and others not so! On the positive side, the less severe nature of Omicron and its now global reach has led the government to remove the highly inconvenient requirement to take a PCR test two days prior to coming home. This made travelling particularly difficult with some complex itineraries and is therefore a very welcome step forward indeed. Plus, having returned home, travellers are only now required to take a day two lateral flow test, which means that the overall process is significantly less expensive. These new rules are now in place for all passengers returning to England.
On the less positive side, one or two cruises have been cancelled in the first few weeks of this year as the cruise lines also suffer staffing issues on a global scale. I am confident this is only a minor blip as more and more evidence is pointing to Omicron being a limited issue and as a result, I only foresee the odd cancellation here and there.
The last month has also seen the move from the Carnival Corporation to change Future Cruise Credits (FCCs) to Future Cruise Payments (FCPs). The pandemic and the subsequent large number of FCCs has highlighted how cumbersome and complex they are to manage, and this change is a global response to simplify the way in which cruise credits are provided. Essentially, FCCs reduced the cruise fare, but FCPs act as a payment deducted from the cruise fare. With some 8,000 future bookings with FCCs applied here at Bolsover Cruise Club, I have instructed our staff to change each booking individually within our own system to ensure the update takes place correctly. As you can imagine, the timing of this major change could not have been worse for our business when Omicron has caused such a huge spike in other general queries. This is effectively just an administrative process as the final balance from a customer perspective remains unchanged. As a result, only a small number of clients will receive a new financial summary from us.
Despite ongoing issues, I was interested to read recently that globally there are currently some 77 new ships on the order book, due to be delivered between this year and 2027, at a staggering value of over $50 billion. That represents over 177,000 new berths and shows that the cruise industry’s amazing growth over the past few decades or so is set to continue.
Firmly in our sights is the eagerly awaited debut of the new ship for P&O Cruises, Arvia, now under a year to go until her first sailing. I am delighted to share with you that the 41st edition of our magazine Into the Blue went to print earlier this week, and will be finding its way to your letterbox soon. We have dedicated lots of space to Arvia; there’s a great article on Captain Camby who takes the helm, who like me first experienced cruising on Canberra. Plus, we have included a full update of what we know so far about the existing features of this new Excel class ship, including the new Local Food Hero, Shivi Ramoutar, who brings local Caribbean flavour to Taste 360 and The Beach House. I really hope you enjoy this latest edition of our popular magazine which is full of ideas for 2022 and beyond. If you haven’t signed up for our free Cruise Club and would like to receive future issues, you can do so by clicking here.
Once again thank you for following my updates and I wish everyone travelling over the next month Bon Voyage and have a great holiday.
Yours sincerely
Michael Wilson
24 thoughts on “Your January Update from Michael Wilson”
Always good to see your interesting updates and I can only imagine how difficult it has been for yourselves and all in the cruise (and wider travel) industry over the last 18 months or so.
Whilst I understand P&O’s desire to introduce ever-larger ships and trying to appeal to new cruisers, I feel sad that those of us looking for a more traditional, ex-UK cruise at a mid-range price on a smaller (E.G. Aurora) ship are increasingly facing less choice. There are now plenty of ‘luxury’ lines offering smaller ships but if you don’t have that sort of cruise budget, you are down to two P&O ships (that increasingly pretty much repeat the same itineraries year in, year out) and Fred Olsen, whose launch prices are not far behind the luxury lines and include far less.
All very frustrating for those of us who don’t wish to sail on ships carrying 3,500 to over 5,000 pax…
Hi Andrew, although P&O Cruises newer ships are much bigger, they do still have Aurora and Arcadia. Alongside Fred. Olsen, there are quite a few cruise lines that offer small ship cruising. Please feel free to get in touch if you’d like any further information.
My wife and I love cruises and have many friends who do the same – perhaps to an even greater extent. However many of them have returned from cruises in the past 12 months and expressed disappointment at the cuts, restrictions or travel difficulties compared to pre Covid. So we are reluctant to spend all that money on a cruise until we know that everything is back to how it was.
HI Bill, cruising in the last 12 months has certainly been different and not what we’re used to. With guidance easing all the time, cruising is slowly getting what to what we knew.
I am so pleased that someone on a cruise 20 years ago recommended Bolsover to me. (You we’re operating in Bolsover then).These last two years I have had to ring for help to change cruises several times. All the staff have been so helpful and really appreciate there comprehensive knowledge of the ships and estimations. My next hope of getting on a ship has been deferred to September.
Hi Beryl, thank you for your lovely comments, we’ll pass these onto the team. We have everything crossed for your September cruise.
As we now have to take a day two lateral flow test after returning home instead of a PCT can you please advise how this is done. Do we have to book in at a covid testing centre, and if so is there a charge, or can we use our own lateral flows at home? I understand the pre-departure testing at the dock has now been scrapped. Can you please confirm. Thank you for your help.
Hi Carol, cruise lines are still testing at port. For the lateral flows when you return, you have to purchase these through a gov approved company (all details on gov website). They do not allow the use of the NHS ones. I hope this helps.
Dear Michael, thank you for your informative newsletter comments and I very much look forward to receiving the latest edition of “Into the Blue.”
I second all the positive comments posted about the wonderful Bolsover team. We have several cruises booked for 2022/23 and although we accept that there will still be some “bumps” along the road throughout this year, we know we can rely on your wonderful team to support and assist us in any eventuality. Thanks again to your fantastic team for their excellent customer service.
Hi Ron, thank you very much for your lovely comments. We’ll make sure these are passed on to the team.
Please may I say how wonderful Laura Anderson has been to me having had 9 cruises cancelled. She has handled my re-bookings with care and professionalism, keeping me informed throughout. She is always so lovely when I ask for advice especially after loosing my husband and cruising alone. Thank you Laura you have been a gem to me ,Bolsover is fortunate to have you.
Hi Mrs Gething, thank you for your lovely comment. We’ll pass this onto Laura.
Hello Michael, I would like to second Julie Slater’s comments about Laura. We have booked our cruises through Bolsover since we discovered cruising in 2006/7 and Laura has been our point of contact for years now. She is unfailingly friendly, helpful, extremely competent and has never let us down. We think she is a star and a great credit to the Company. Jane Gochin
Hi Jane, thank you for your lovely comment. We’ll pass this onto Laura.
Your staff are simply amazing, knowledgeable, patient and understanding. We’ve used Bolsover for over a decade now due to the quality of customer service, we have 2 Cruises booked so far this year and are just praying now that they go ahead. Thank you all & stay safe xx
Hi Lynne, thank you for your lovely comments, we’ll pass this on to the team.
Dear Michael,
I would like to commend Laura who very efficiently rebooked our cruise credit from a cancelled Carribbean cruise on Azura 8th Jan out of Barbados due to covid infections, she swiftly rebooked us onto an exciting Med cruise on the 8th September 22 on the beautiful Azura. Thank you Laura.
She has then taken details to pass on to the relevant team for a planned Alaskan cruise/Rocky mountaineer/stay vacation in June of 2023. She emailed the following day with details and we await a price which we truely hope is competitive so we can go ahead and book with your good selves.
I thank you all at Bolsover for making all the processes around cruising at this time as easy to understand as possible, no easy task indeed.
Many thanks. julie.slater150760@gmail.com
Hi Julie, thank you for your lovely comments. We’ll make sure these are passed on to Laura.
We have a P&O cruise booked for May and we have to pay our balance in February.
Our main concern is what happens to us if one or both of us catch Covid 19 while we are on the cruise.
I can understand that we would need to be isolated in our cabin. BUT we have heard of passengers being “put of the ship” at the next port! Is this correct?
P&O number EU23573A Cruise R205
Hi David, it all depends on which country the ship is in, it isn’t down to P&O Cruises. Although most countries allow passengers to self isolate in your cabin, some do require passengers to disembarkation. Guidance is changing daily.
I do not understand the implications of the change from FCC to FCP by Carnival group and will this apply to Cunard and P&O
Thank you
Albert Willett
Hi Albert, this does apply to Cunard and P&O Cruises. Before it was a credit coming off your cruise fare, whereas now it is a payment instead.
Give a pat on the back to Melissa.
She is a gem and has handled our cruise bookings with Bolsover for a number of years.
Hi Robert, thank you for your kind comments. We’ll make sure this is passed on to Melissa.