Saver dining allocation

We always book early because I am fussy about which cabin I have and which dining sitting I have and usually get offered free parking if it's from Southampton. So I am an early booker and I expect to have some advantages to booking early. If we chose to book a late saver fare I wouldn't expect to have the same extras that an early booker has. We have just returned from a cruise that we booked about 17 months before sailing, we got the specific cabin and dining sitting we wanted, free parking, and as the price of our specific grade of cabin went down we were given extra OBC so in the end, including the OBC we get as Carnival Shareholders (£150 in this case) we had over £700 OBC - did we manage to spend it? Oh yes!

So we are happy early bookers.

We are very happy early bookers too as we like to choose the dining and cabins etc :)

I would like to add that i book direct with P&O and I am very internetsavvy. It is a matter of choice, not ignorance of what is around on the internet.

Am I of a certain age? I dunno, what age do I have to be to qualify?

I booked a saver fare and I am fine with not choosing cabin or dinning time but what does annoy me is the fact that I booked and paid on my card for two cabins and no where did it say we would be separated up in two bookings and would not necessarily dine at the same time! I think that is really bad as it was booked as one booking, if you do that on any other holiday it is treated as one! I have made sure they are linked but they can not say 100% that we will dine together not worried about cabins being together! :mad:

That is because as a late booker they slot you in where there have availability. They are not doing it to be awkward. When all the Select /early saver bookings have their choices etc. they then hit the magic button on the computer to say slot any future bookings into these cabins

It is quite likely you will get freedom dining, so you can all choose to dine when you want.

They are covering their bottoms ref they will not say 100%.

They cannot GUARENTEE that you will sit together ,as they are saver bookings and you were aware of the T and C when you booked them. They will do their best ,but if they cant then there are the T and C to say we cannot guarantee.

If you book a land based holiday you tend not to have 2 set dining periods, so they cannot be compared.

Why do people who book saver fares not understand that for getting their holiday a lot lot cheaper than the other people onboard they do not get the same T and C ,and should not complain that they want their cake and eat it..and cant.

My only complaint as a Late Saver was that we weren't advised about the dining situation, and although they didn't tell any fibs, they weren't upfront. In some ways it was my own fault: I researched the ship, itinerary, facilities, reviews etc, but didn't understand how the pricing worked (it didn't help that the naming of the catergories changed around the time we booked) and I didn't ask the right questions! For example I said "i don't want set dining on a shared table" and rather than being told it could be allocated we were told "don't worry, that's not on your booking." It also doesn't help that we had been used to NCL freestyle previously and didn't understand the set dining thing!

For us we aren't bothered about about the position of the room, floor, proximity to lifts, shuttles, but really do care about dining. We were super lucky to get Freedom, but because of the risk of set dining, and the fact that we generally only ever book a month out due to health/work reasons, it looks like (sadly) we wouldn't be able to book with P&O again: unless we could get a super cheap price for a big balcony or suite so we could just have room service every night if we were unlucky enough to be allocated set dining.

We are very happy early bookers too as we like to choose the dining and cabins etc :)

 

I would like to add that i book direct with P&O and I am very internetsavvy. It is a matter of choice, not ignorance of what is around on the internet.

 

Am I of a certain age? I dunno, what age do I have to be to qualify?

LOL

I should add that I am certainly "of a certain age" but very computer literate.

My only complaint as a Late Saver was that we weren't advised about the dining situation, and although they didn't tell any fibs, they weren't upfront. In some ways it was my own fault: I researched the ship, itinerary, facilities, reviews etc, but didn't understand how the pricing worked (it didn't help that the naming of the catergories changed around the time we booked) and I didn't ask the right questions! For example I said "i don't want set dining on a shared table" and rather than being told it could be allocated we were told "don't worry, that's not on your booking." It also doesn't help that we had been used to NCL freestyle previously and didn't understand the set dining thing!

 

For us we aren't bothered about about the position of the room, floor, proximity to lifts, shuttles, but really do care about dining. We were super lucky to get Freedom, but because of the risk of set dining, and the fact that we generally only ever book a month out due to health/work reasons, it looks like (sadly) we wouldn't be able to book with P&O again: unless we could get a super cheap price for a big balcony or suite so we could just have room service every night if we were unlucky enough to be allocated set dining.

You say you researched ship/cabins etc. However you then go on to say you didn't understand about the pricing. Surely it is more important to understand the prices and t and c than anything else.

Other lines that do late booking deals will also have their own t and c. I feel pando are more likely to book freedom dining for the late bookers than anything else.

Was your late booking with pando direct or a TA.

From what people have posted if anyone does not like the seating they have been allocated, they have asked to change on board, and some have been successful in changing

I think my point was missed as the two cabins were booked together that is meant to be one booking not two, I don't care what cabin or what sitting I just want my booking to be counted as one not split into two! It is the same as saying because you are a saver booking the two people in one cabin might be split up! If they have the room to sale the cabins on one booking they should have a way to make sure all people on that booking are kept together. I want freedom dining so should be simple!

You say you researched ship/cabins etc. However you then go on to say you didn't understand about the pricing. Surely it is more important to understand the prices and t and c than anything else.

Other lines that do late booking deals will also have their own t and c. I feel pando are more likely to book freedom dining for the late bookers than anything else.

Was your late booking with pando direct or a TA.

From what people have posted if anyone does not like the seating they have been allocated, they have asked to change on board, and some have been successful in changing

As I said, it was around the time that the Vantage Fare was still being referred to online in reviews and I didn't realise that "late saver" was a type of fare - I just assumed it was the way they classed the late deals, and that a Vantage was like a premium package. It wasn't pointed out to be a different "product." We spoke to a TA (big cruise TA) and with P&O before booking and neither advised us.

Also, in all fairness, every other holiday/cruise we have ever been on has been a late deal (2 per year) and there haven't ever been any "conditions" to it being a late booking. No separate t&c's, and there hasn't ever been anything that has differed. Obviously with some cruises I understand early bookers get OBC or transport, but other than that I wouldn't have know it was different.

With regards to changes on board we called and were told by one person we could be swapped if we got there early, and then by another we wouldn't be able to change at all. It didn't help that they then changed the flights to mean we were amongst some of the last people to arrive (after 3pm instead of the 11am we were expecting.)

I just want to confirm I'm not complaining or criticising the system operated by P&O, just pointing out that they do offer a different system to their reduced price structure than a lot of other cruise and travel companies, and that sometimes this isn't being explained properly. Sadly the risk of being on set dining, however small, is a very important issue to us and too big to gamble on.