Cruise is cancelled as Adonia heads for ‘essential’ repairs in dry-dock

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adonia.jpgA New Year’s cruise on P&O’s newest ship, Adonia, has been cancelled at short notice in order to carry out what the company has described as “essential maintenance.”
The 30,000-ton ship, which has been sailing in the Mediterranean since the autumn, was due to have set out from Naples on January 3 for a 10-night voyage to Southampton.
Instead it will now go into dry-dock in Falmouth, Cornwall, prior to setting out on January 13 for a marathon 87-night South American Adventure which will take it around Cape Horn and through the Panama Canal.
Hundreds of passengers have been contacted this week to be told their fly-cruise from Naples has been cancelled; they have been given a full refund, and promised a 25 per cent discount on a future booking.
A reader who says his brother-in-law had booked “a major suite for less than half price” said P&O told him there was “a problem” with the ship.
A spokesperson for the company confirmed this morning: ” P&O Cruises needs to carry out some essential maintenance work to Adonia, and has therefore taken the regrettable but unavoidable decision to cancel a 10 night Western Mediterranean cruise departing January 3, 2012. All passengers have been contacted and given a full refund a 25 per cent future cruise credit based on the value of their booking.”
She was unable to elaborate on the nature of the “essential maintenance.”
Adonia, which can carry up to 710 passengers, joined the P&O fleet in May and was named in Southampton by Dame Shirley Bassey. Originally built for the now-defunct Renaissance Cruises in 2001, the ship has also sailed as Minerva II and Royal Princess. It spent two weeks in dry-dock in Grand Bahama just eight months ago.
In June 2009 an engine room fire disabled the ship during a 12-day Holy Land cruise from Rome to Athens. It returned to Port Said, Egypt, and was later repaired in Greece.

By | 2017-06-15T15:59:57+00:00 16 December 2011|Cruise News, Cruise Ships|7 Comments

About the Author:

John Honeywell is a travel writer specialising in cruise ships and cruise travel. Winner of CLIA UK's Contribution to Cruise award 2017.

7 Comments

  1. Anonymous 16 December 2011 at 10:41 am - Reply

    left Istanbul last night at 18.00hrs….slowly !

  2. Barry Brewer 16 December 2011 at 12:30 pm - Reply

    They have said the 25% discount can only be used on P&O ships and not any other ships sailing under the ‘Carnival’ umbrella making it impossible to book a replacement cruise at this short notice.
    We won’t be sailing P&O again!

  3. mike ashton 17 December 2011 at 1:14 pm - Reply

    It can be used on Cunard line as I have changed over to them….

  4. Dismayed Sailor 17 December 2011 at 5:59 pm - Reply

    I had Oriana cruise 30.11.11 cancelled, then Oriana 9.12.11 cancelled (both due to refit problems). Then Oriana 24 night cruise to Israel Jan 2013 cancelled due to cruise not selling. Have not received a penny in compensation or future credit. Thank you very, very much P&O!!!!!!

  5. Andrew Thomas 18 December 2011 at 12:28 pm - Reply

    My wife & I were booked on the cancelled Adonia cruise in January, we were supposed to celebrate here 60th birthday, if we cancelled at such a late time I think they would charge us far more than 25%. we have always been loyal to P&O & thought they valued that loyalty.

  6. DISMAYED SAILOR 18 December 2011 at 5:23 pm - Reply

    No they don’t unfortunately. They are just out to make a profit. I have never known them be generous with compensation. In complete contrast, 2yrs ago Princess Cruises rang me three weeks before i was due to go on the Diamond Princess. They stated they had overbooked the ship and offered a complete refund and a free cruise of an equivalent value if i cancelled. We were so excited about going to Australia so we declined their offer, but what a difference to P&O!!!!

  7. briansnail 8 January 2012 at 1:02 am - Reply

    due into Falmouth docks for urgent repairs at 15.30 gmt , will be at least 12 hours late into dry dock .
    will make effort to go and see her. only chance a poor land lubber will get

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