Azura

Having seen an advert in a national newspaper for a Western Med cruise on the Azura, I obtained a brochure and discovered that P & O were offering a fantastic deal on the cruise commencing 27th April. An outside (obstructed view) cabin was on offer at £799. As these cabins are obstructed by lifeboats they are only available for grades LA & LC. All these cabins are on E Deck and as the lifeboats do not extend the length of the ship, booking one of these cabins seemed to guarantee:-
(i) An obstructed view cabin on E. Deck
(i) A cabin which could not be placed in extreme forward or aft position
What an offer! I could not believe my luck and got in touch with my travel agent immediately.
I was delighted to hear that the obstructed view cabins were available, but my travel agent went at great length
to clarify the terms of the contract with P & O:-
(i) P & O reserved the right to select the number of the cabin. That did not worry me in the slightest
as I knew the cabin cabin would be on E Deck
(ii) P & O would guarantee that I would recieve a cabin which would be at least the same grade that I had
booked but may also upgrade my cabin. Fine, I may even be allocated a balcony cabin.
(iii) I would not be allocated my cabin number until a fortnight before sailing.

Eventually, I received my cabin allocation. I had been given an upgrade to a JD cabin which is situated on P
Deck, underneath the theatre and quite near the front of the ship. It was three decks lower than the E Deck I had anticipated. It is a cabin I would never have booked
under any circumstances as it is on the lowest passenger deck and in a poor location. Had P & O broken their contract? No! Although it is probably one of the worst cabins on the ship, there is no blocked view from the small porthole. Consequently, it is officially an upgrade according to P & Os own grading system.

Naturally I phoned customer services in an attempt to change the cabin. I was told that it was not possible as the ship was fully booked. I asked if I could pay for an upgrade and received the same response.I then asked if my name could be put on a list in case there were any cancellations and was told that this was unlikely but I could check in a few days time to see if the position had changed. I waited 3 days and checked on the P & O website. SURPRISE, SURPRISE, Not only were outside cabins available, Obstructed view cabins were available on, BELIEVE IT OR NOT, ON E DECK AND WHAT IS MORE THEY WERE NOW BEING OFFERED AT OVER £300 LESS THAN I HAD PAID.

Naturally, I phoned P & O again asking for my cabin to be changed back to the cabin I had originally booked. I went to great lengths to point out that I was not seeking any form of refund. I was told that as I had booked through an agent, I would need to make the transfer through my agent.

Having gone through the whole of what had happened I contacted my agent. He got in touch with P & O who, apparently stated that they would not dowgrade me back to my original choice of cabin on E Deck. After all, P & O had chosen to upgrade my cabin at no extra cost. Very ,very re-assuring!

There is a lesson to be learnt. P & Os contract on "getaway fares" is a restrictive contract an is a device
which seeks to avoid all the legal implications contained in the law of contract. It leaves the consumer in a situation whereby P & O are able to allocate any ocean view cabin to any person such as myself who books the Cabins under the category of "Obstructed View" because this means that whether or not the "Obstructed view
cabins are availble at the time of booking, P & O can use the loophole in their agreement to allocate a cabin
in the "part obstructed view" or "outside" cabin categories, and thus dispose of all the unwanted surplus cabins to unsuspecting customers such as myself who believe they are obtaining a bargain.

I have grave doubts about whether the courts would be prepared to uphold such a contact which seeks to bi-pass all consumer rights under contract law. It is a case that I intend to test in the near future