kevinyork

Im feeling guilty now........... are the porters part of CPP or the Port Authourity?

Two points, they cannot go it alone, commercial disaster.

 

I have never been convinced about the sense of P&O doing these fly cruises. Too much competition, far better sticking to there core market.

 

This low fare cannot be with a P&O charter if they are adding in extra nights. The charter will only go to the ship on sailing day.

I dont think it will be a P&O charter either as I think the two hotel night are ine at the start and one at the end. Either way its a very low price.

Have spotted today a major online agent offering big discounts on spring 2014 Med Fly Cruises. As an example P&O Early Saver deal on their website £749 for 7 days. Online agent £499 incl 2 nights in a hotel in Venice.

How can they be offering such massive discounts given their low commission rate from P&O? Does this suggest the Fly Cruises are not selling well?

.. .

If you mean at Southampton then no, weve never tipped and never seen anyone do so. I consider it part of the parking fees.

hi. people have been very helpful on here giving me advice and their opinion on what Caribbean islands they like but nobody has mentioned Bonaire. can anyone please tell me if this is a nice island? I am just deciding what excursions to go on and where. thank you

Bonaire is sweet. But unless you want to take a trip/taxi to a beach the main street will occupy only a couple of hours or so. The dock is immediately next to the town.

Why would Celebrity choose to have different rules in different countries? Seems like an awful lot of hassle that would cost a lot in time, training, money and customer satisfaction.

 

I may be confused but how could using a travel agent in the US result in any differences as opposed to using a travel agent in a different country?

 

Could it be that Celebrity HAS to conform to different rules/laws/requirements in those different countries? Anybody in the know?

Competition is higher in the US. Also in the UK we are more used to bookings being final with no adjustments afterwards. On our holidays deposits are totally non refundable under any circumstance.

I remember our first cruise with RCI booked in the UK where we booked two cabins on a guarantee basis and they were allocated cabins at opposite ends of the ship despite closer, same grade cabins, being available. I had to fight tooth and nail to get them see reason and their response was ' you should not have booked guarantee cabins'.

Our first X cruise this year was a Balcony Guarantee which was 35% less expensive than a 2D at the time. Booked it and within 5 days were allocated a 1A on the hump. We were very pleased.

Surely crews dont change en masse? Crews change all the time with some staff leaving and new staff arriving. Am I wrong in believing this?

Ive just checked their site again (yet again). Same price as I said. Cannot post the link here but PM me and I will send it to you. Or email me at contact dot me @ virgin dot net for the link.

Sorry. Its contact dot me @virgin dot me

Well done, I don't know how you do it. The cheapest balcony cabins I can see are £1875 each (USD3069).

Ive just checked their site again (yet again). Same price as I said. Cannot post the link here but PM me and I will send it to you. Or email me at contact dot me @ virgin dot net for the link.

All the US agents, including CON, are quoting £2093 for a 2D now. Are you saying when you spoke to them they gave you the cabin for £1309?

 

Your earlier post said you had a C3 for £1465, are you referring to two different cruises?

Nope. 10th May, Eclipse. 2D now sold out but CON have 2C for £1309 as I type this (from their live online website). We went for the C3 as there were two adjacent cabins at that grade.

I have just googled US travel agents but can't find one doing those sort of prices. Can you give us another clue?

 

Sue

Its hard as I cannot mention a name. If you are looking for a CRUise it isnt a CON. Oops my caps lock got stuck there. Hope that helps. The price shown in the summary of all prices may change when you click to get an actual quote. Thats what happened to me. Currently have a 2D Balcony for 10th May on Eclipse for & £1309pp, free classic package, tips and $300 obc.

Thats a fantastic deal Kevin. Which cruise are you on? We are on 10th May 2014.

 

Lou

Thats the one!

Its nice to see the promo for UK cruises. However, on one cruise for May I was keeping an eye on, the price for the lowest grade of balcony went up by £350 in the week before the promo started so Free isnt always Free.

Sounds good, P&O can't compete with that - which agent did you use ?

Cannot name them on here. Its a biggie and not a 'con'. Hope that helps.

I have a question, would this be anything like using an iPhone as a hot spot?

Sorry, I am obviously not very IT savvy, but I did use my iPhone as a hot spot in New Zealand a few times. :) Please explain the difference because I may want to buy a "pocket router" before my next cruise. Thanks! :D

You can use an iphone as a hotspot but it needs a 3g/4g phone signal which it then allows you to share by connecting to the iphone wirelessly.

This is an example of a pocket router:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/TP-Link-TL-WR702N-Wireless-Extender-Set-top/dp/B006PYGWG6/ref=pd_sim_sbs_computers_1

£14.99 delivered from Amazon.

As long as the cabin has an ethernet port, you would connect this device to that port using an ethernet cable then connect to this device wirelessly. Basically acts the same as the Apple Airport Express for a lot less but without the ipad app to configure it.

Well after considering this early saver deal on Azura Ive now booked a cruise....with Celebrity, still to the med just a few days earlier than the Azura cruise. This is for a 2 week cruise in May on Eclipse ( sailed on her this year and really enjoyed it ).

I went looking for a US agent. Found a great deal and booked it up over the phone.

C3 Concierge Balcony -£1465pp

Free Drinks Package worth $55 per day pp

Free Tips worth $104 pp

$300 per cabin OBC

The UK price for a C3 is currently £2255 with no OBC.

Despite it being an offer, I could choose the exact cabins and dining choice without restriction. Very very pleased with this deal. If P&O hadnt restricted dining choices for early saver prices they would have got my booking about a week ago however Im very glad now that I waited.

After 5 P&O cruises this will now be my third cruise in a row away from P&O......hope they sort out their price structures so I can consider them again in the future.

Well after posting on here about price increases if booking in the UK on a May cruise I was looking at prior to the 123 Promo starting, I went looking for a US agent. Found a great deal and booked it up.

As a comparison: UK agent

2D Obstructed Balcony - £1849

Free Drinks package

Free Tips

US agent

C3 Concierge Balcony -£1465

Free Drinks Package

Free Tips

$300 per cabin OBC

The UK price for a C3 is currently £2255!

Didnt particularly want a C3 but its all they had left on that rate and with those savings Im extremely happy.

Fred Olsen seem to have got it better. If you book an Anchor Fare, (Saver), you can choose to pay just the extra to get which sitting you want. £2 pp per night of cruise.

 

Having said that, although we could not eat at 6.30, the early sitting seems to be the most popular, so you would be unlikely to get that.

Ok thats reasonable. However Ap&O want to encourage early bookers with lower fares and yet reduce their options. Surely the people who's business they secure earliest should have all the options?

C Deck for standard balconies every time they are twice as deep as balconies on any other deck you can actually lie down on them if you want

What he said. C deck every time.

I have searched, could not find an answer so have decided to risk posting the question here:)

I am booked on a cruise in July 2104. Deposit paid and now I seem to be getting weekly emails from Celebrity letting me know that it is not long until I go and that I need to buy my drinks (and dining) packages. I have decided to go with the premium package but wondered what advantages (apart exchange rate fluctuations as I am in UK) there are in paying in advance?

Yes, now more expensive to buy onboard. Also until recently you could gift yourself on board credit and get 1.6 dollars to the pound saving you 8% but that advantage has now gone. If you want a drinks package its cheaper to book in advance.

This year they have 14 night caribbean from barbados for 999

 

If they are scrapping the getaway deal, do you think those prices will be no more?

 

:D

I think its horses for courses. A couple years back friends of ours were looking for a caribbean cruise in the run up to christmas. We founds them a Ventura cruise for two weeks in a balcony cabin at £1350 with £600 OBC.

The current deals restrict P&O, and their agents, offering such OBC deals to entice people to book.

P&O are going to charge you an extra £1500 for the privilege of having a choice of dinning tables/times. The head waiter might be getting a good handfull of cash but you can turn your discount cruise into a full on cruise for much less than P&O will charge you.

I agree however there is still uncertainty and no guarantee he will be able to move the dining option which would leave us very unhappy.

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