Wine Package

Hi folks, hoping you die-hard P & O's can answer my question Having done several cruises with P & O we have a small Peninsular Club discount. I was under the impression that if I booked and paid for a wine package up front for a forthcoming cruise that I would get the loyalty discount on the package. Contacted P & O today with debit card in hand to be told there is no discount buying it up front, yet I'm sure that I've seen reviews where members have said you get the discount buying up front. The person on the end of the phone kept going on about onboard credit we have, tried explaining this will get used up buying individual drinks, therefore wanted to buy package ahead of cruise. Obviously if no benefit from buying in advance will wait until onboard. Can any one advise.

Kind regards

Viv

Loyalty discounts are always applied to shore excursions when pre-booked through your cruise personalised. Not sure if you can book a wine package this way but it might be worth checking.

From my own experience I have always just booked a wine package on the first day of a cruise. You get the savings on the package (about 15%) then your loyalty discount on top of that. Can't see the advantage of pre-booking wine - we only pre-book excursions because some popular one's sell out quickly.

As far as I know. you don't get the Loyalty Discount when you buy the Wine Package prior to the cruise. In fact, if you have a lot of Cruise Credit then you won't get it if you buy on the first day of the cruise either. I would think the "discount" that most are referring to is the cost savings. I normally get a Wine Package but I'm not convinced its worth it and my not bother on my next cruise.

Sorry but P&O stopped loyalty discount on wine packages a year or two back.

Sorry but P&O stopped loyalty discount on wine packages a year or two back.

That's interesting. I'm afraid I beg to differ

We've just returned from a 30 night cruise on Aurora. I ordered a 12 bottle Captain's Collection on the first day and our on board account clearly shows our loyalty discount was applied to that figure. Towards the end of the cruise we ordered another 4 bottle package and again our discount was applied.

Just to add a factor that might be relevant. We chose free parking on our Select Price for that cruise so we did not have any initial on board credit

Just to add a factor that might be relevant. We chose free parking on our Select Price for that cruise so we did not have any initial on board credit

That's correct. If you don't have OBC you'll get the Loyalty Discount but it isn't applied for anything onboard until the OBC is used up.

Many many thanks for all your replies, we were hoping by buying it up front we would get the extra loyalty discount as we have onboard credit so won't get any extra discount until its used up. Never mind it was worth a try, as we say in the North 'A shy bairn gets nowt'.

Kind regards to you all, Viv.

Many many thanks for all your replies, we were hoping by buying it up front we would get the extra loyalty discount as we have onboard credit so won't get any extra discount until its used up. Never mind it was worth a try, as we say in the North 'A shy bairn gets nowt'.

Kind regards to you all, Viv.

One option to consider is this. If you haven't already booked shore excursions through the cruise personaliser then book these on board as soon as possible. That will hopefully exhaust most if not all of your OBC and you can then benefit from that extra discount on your wine package

Well that's interesting about the wine package Arlowood. Certainly P&O used to give loyalty discount but then stopped saying the packages were already reduced so you couldn't also have your loyalty disount. Maybe they have reconsidered.

That's interesting. I'm afraid I beg to differ

 

 

 

We've just returned from a 30 night cruise on Aurora. I ordered a 12 bottle Captain's Collection on the first day and our on board account clearly shows our loyalty discount was applied to that figure. Towards the end of the cruise we ordered another 4 bottle package and again our discount was applied.

Interesting.

On my most recent cruise I asked prior to purchase and was told it would not benefit from Loyalty Discount. This was confirmed on my Account documents.

The P&O Advice web page still shows the following:

Wine Packages

Various wine packages are available. Wine packages can be consumed either in the restaurant or in your cabin. Please note loyalty discount will not be applied when purchasing wine packages.

Please note that these packages are non-refundable and may not be exchanged for another item, or for on board credit

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Hi there

FYI I have included an attachment PDF which was scanned from our on board account showing the Wine Package item at £203 bought on the first evening of our cruise. You can see that a Loyalty Discount of £17.26 was applied to that figure.

The later 4 bottle package also shows the appropriate discount

Don't quite know what is happening based on you experience and the P&O Advice webpage

Aurora Account.pdf

Hi there

 

 

 

FYI I have included an attachment PDF which was scanned from our on board account showing the Wine Package item at £203 bought on the first evening of our cruise. You can see that a Loyalty Discount of £17.26 was applied to that figure.

 

 

 

The later 4 bottle package also shows the appropriate discount

 

 

 

Don't quite know what is happening based on you experience and the P&O Advice webpage

Please do not think I disbelieved you. But now, even more looking forward to an extra 10%. Yippee!

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There are some interesting issues raised in this thread. I can also confirm that I have had the loyalty discount applied to the many wine packages that I have purchased on board.

I have never pre booked a wine package before sailing so I am unable to comment as to whether the discount is applied then. I have also read the entry on the FAQs which state that no discount is given and I can only assume that this refers to when the purchase is made prior to sailing.

With regards to the OBC, it is interesting to note that no loyalty discount is given on your account until this credit is used up.

As I normally book saver fares I do not received OBC and the first items applied to my account are the gratuity charges. On our last cruise when we did received some OBC I noted that the gratuities did not appear on our account until the OBC was used up.

I raised this issue with reception and I was informed that the gratuities are entered on the accounts by head office and not on board. I pointed out that in view of the fact that there is no loyalty discount on gratuities then they should have been the first items to have been charged.

After some discussion I won the day, financially it was not really worth the effort but I did consider it a point of principle.

I am quite sure that the P and O accounts softwear is set up so that the the gratuities to not appear on the account until the OBC is used up on other charges which would normally attract a loyalty discount.

I would be interested to hear other posters experiences in this regard.

 

As I normally book saver fares I do not received OBC and the first items applied to my account are the gratuity charges. On our last cruise when we did received some OBC I noted that the gratuities did not appear on our account until the OBC was used up.

 

I raised this issue with reception and I was informed that the gratuities are entered on the accounts by head office and not on board. I pointed out that in view of the fact that there is no loyalty discount on gratuities then they should have been the first items to have been charged.

 

After some discussion I won the day, financially it was not really worth the effort but I did consider it a point of principle.

.

That is pretty poor. I know it was a point of principle but I'm glad you won regardless of the amount.

I must admit that I thought the gratuities were added at start of cruise, having said that, we didn't have much onboard credit on last cruise and it was used up on first day ordering the wine package, hence I probably didn't take much notice.

This time we have more onboard credit. I think its a bit underhanded of P & O to wait until credit is used up before putting gratuities onto account. I wonder what they would do if you went to reception and said either put gratuities on account in full at start of cruise or remove my gratuities altogether and I'll tip as I go.

On cruise R715 the gratuities were put onto peoples account at 02.45 on the 28/08. Not bad since the cruise only began the day before. In my experience this is the norm.

Certainly on our last two cruise, one in January and the other last December, the gratuities were added to our account by the third day and we had a sizeable amount of OBC.

They initially informed me that they had no control on the ship as to when the gratuities were added as this was done centrally.

When I spoke with a more senior officer at reception he agreed to resolve the situation. He achieved this by removing the charges prior to the gratuities and placing them back on after. This had the desired effect of the gratuities being the first items to come off the OBS.

He said no one on board could move he date the gratuities were applied. Although he did not acknowledge it, I had the distinct impression that this was a deliberate policy imposed by the number crunchers at head office.

Although it meant only about £16 difference in my case, when this is applied to all passengers receiving OBC, it represents a significant amount of money.

Was it worth the effort? Probably not but I am the type to cut my nose off to spite my face.

I just find that if, as I suspect, this is a deliberate policy, it should be shown for what it is.

Just off Azura and looking at my bill now. Boarded 16/9/17 tips off at 02.45 on 17/09/17.

Looks like they were taken off very quickly.

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They initially informed me that they had no control on the ship as to when the gratuities were added as this was done centrally.

 

When I spoke with a more senior officer at reception he agreed to resolve the situation. He achieved this by removing the charges prior to the gratuities and placing them back on after. This had the desired effect of the gratuities being the first items to come off the OBS.

 

He said no one on board could move he date the gratuities were applied. Although he did not acknowledge it, I had the distinct impression that this was a deliberate policy imposed by the number crunchers at head office.

 

Although it meant only about £16 difference in my case, when this is applied to all passengers receiving OBC, it represents a significant amount of money.

 

Was it worth the effort? Probably not but I am the type to cut my nose off to spite my face.

 

I just find that if, as I suspect, this is a deliberate policy, it should be shown for what it is.

Yes it was worth it. £16 is a bottle of wine and it is still a point of principle. Well done!

I'd like to ask a question with regards to wine packages if I may.

If I purchase a 12 bottle package will I be restricted were I can consume my wine? I'd like to drink some with my main meal but also at times like a glass later in the evening, is it kept centrally or will I have to return to my room to get a glass?

I'd like to ask a question with regards to wine packages if I may.

 

If I purchase a 12 bottle package will I be restricted were I can consume my wine? I'd like to drink some with my main meal but also at times like a glass later in the evening, is it kept centrally or will I have to return to my room to get a glass?

If you don't finish the bottle they will keep it until the following evening or you can simply take it with you and finish it in a bar.

As far as I know you can use the vouchers at bars and other restaurants but they may not have the full selection.

You can use the vouchers anywhere, take the unfinished bottle with you - (i'm not sure they will let you take the bottle but they will put your wine in a normal glass and you can take that out with you - never tried taking the bottle). You can also phone the wine line arrange for the bottle to be at a bar for say pre-dinner drinks ( possibly even your cabin ) and take that into dinner with you. As above the bars dont have the same selection as the restaurants readily available.

Wines from a wine package are sourced from whichever MDR you are using. This does present problems when trying to use the vouchers outside of your MDR.

When you use the vouchers in the alternative dining venues they will get you, your choice of wine from the MDR but sometimes this involves a delay.

Because most of the wines in the wine packages are not stocked in the various bars you may experience difficulty getting them unless you find a particularly friendly waiter who is prepared to go to the MDR. Even then it has to be when the MDR is open and you friendly waiter has sufficient time.

If the wine you want is stocked at the particular bar, they will normally supply their wine and sort the internal elements at a later time.

To summarise it is not straightforward using the vouchers outside the MDR although it is possible. Personally if I fancy another bottle of wine after dinner, I order another bottle with the wine waiter and take it with me to whichever bar I am going.