Cruise line leaves passengers stranded with 24 hours' notice

You are just 24 hours away from departing on a short cruise for a long weekend when an email lands.

Sorry. Your cruise is cancelled.

That is what happened to 1800 passengers when P&O Cruises UK cancelled a three-day cruise onboard the Aurora this week: giving booked guests just a day’s notice.

The cruise line said the cancellation of Aurora’s three-day cruise to Zeebrugge was due to a scheduled maintenance delay in dry dock.

The cruise scheduled to depart from Southampton on Monday was cancelled on Easter Sunday.

Guests were unable to speak to the line’s customer services due to the contact centre being closed on Easter Sunday. That's service for you. 

And tough luck if you'd spent big bucks travelling to Southampton. .

“Following a delay to Aurora’s refit, we need to cancel Aurora’s cruise from Southampton to Zeebrugge,” the email said.

P&O Cruises said it will issue full refunds and offer a 20% future cruise credit. No mention of reimbursing for costs already incurred.

“We appreciate how disappointing this is for our guests who were booked to travel," a P&O Cruises spokesperson said, news hub Travel Mole reported.

The ship was in Rotterdam after scheduled refit and maintenance work ran over time.

The Aurora did welcome guests back onboard on Thursday and is now on a 12-night cruise to the Norwegian Fjords. 

A new way from the UK to Paris

So you are in the UK but fancy a few days in Paris?

If you don't want to travel from the busy London airports, or catch the train (my preference), easyJet has announced its eighth route from Southampton Airport (above), on the south coast.

New twice-weekly Paris flights will take off from Southampton from March 31, 2025, news portal Travel Mole reports.

The Paris Orly flights will run on Monday and Fridays with easyJet planning up to 21 weekly departures to various from Southampton during peak summer 2025.

This represents a 31% increase compared to summer 2024.

Paris Orly, the French capital's second airport, is 25 minutes by public transport to central Paris by train, or the Line 14 Metro.

Frequent daily shuttle buses connect Paris Orly directly to Euro Disney.

Tour operator easyJet Holidays is also offering Paris city break packages.

All easyJet holidays city breaks include flights and hotel. See https://www.easyjet.com/en/holidays/france/paris

Chris Tibbett, aviation firector at AGS Airports, said: “Paris is a well-loved destination for the central south region, and we’re thrilled to see easyJet launch this direct service to Paris Orly.”

Since easyJet expanded from its seasonal Geneva service 12 months ago, the airline has flown over 173,000 passengers to and from Southampton.