Huge discount a few weeks prior to embarkation unfair for longtime booked passengers

Hello to everyone

I have booked a Q6 cabin last September 2013 for a cruise that will depart in august 2014. After some negotiation with my TA and a good amount of OBC I thought I have reached a good bargain.

I was really angry at Cunard when I discovered this week that the same cabin for the seam cruise is now on sale for almost half the price I have paid 9 months ago. This is totally unfair. At least when you travel by plane you know that the price can only increase with the time. Here it is kind of a lottery! I feel bad because we speak about thousands of euros at stake.

Do you know what I can do? Anybody has already experienced this situation? Thanks for your advices.

Best regards from Switzerland.

Christophe.

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

If it is more than 90 days to sailing have your travel agent call Cunard and ask for an adjustment. Failing that, you can calculate how much you might save should you cancel your booking (and thus lose your deposit) versus the cost of a new booking. (I don't know how cancellation works in Switzerland compared to the US and UK.)

If your sailing has just passed the final payment date there is nothing you can do.

You did say that you got what you considered a good price and some OBC when you booked. You also got specific stateroom selection and priority for a table for two (if that's what you want). How is it unfair? If I buy an evening dress at regular price, and two months later the store discounts the same dresses, are they unfair to me?

All cruise lines offer deeper discounts for unsold staterooms as the sailing date approaches. If you re-book now in June, and prices drop even further a week before sailing, you may still consider that unfair.

If getting the lowest possible price is the most important consideration for you then book only very, very late and give up choice of stateroom selection as a trade off for a great price. Or risk that prices may increase and the voyage may sell well and leave only insides and Q2s and Q3s open.

Hello to everyone

I have booked a Q6 cabin last September 2013 for a cruise that will depart in august 2014. After some negotiation with my TA and a good amount of OBC I thought I have reached a good bargain.

I was really angry at Cunard when I discovered this week that the same cabin for the seam cruise is now on sale for almost half the price I have paid 9 months ago. This is totally unfair. At least when you travel by plane you know that the price can only increase with the time. Here it is kind of a lottery! I feel bad because we speak about thousands of euros at stake.

Do you know what I can do? Anybody has already experienced this situation? Thanks for your advices.

Best regards from Switzerland.

Christophe.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

If you were happy with your bargained price then I'd say don't worry. My upcoming QE cruise dropped a further $1,000 since final payment, but I'm okay with that. I had a feeling it would happen.

In the end you have to ask yourself:

1. Did I get the cabin grade I desired?

2. Did I feel I got a good price/deal at time of payment?

3. Am I looking forward to my trip?

If you are a 'yes' for these then don't worry about a decline in price. It happens. You cannot control it. It's also a good rule of thumb not to peruse the pricing post final payment. You're only going to upset yourself.

As for airline prices only ever going up: I disagree. Airline prices fluctuate. I was going to book my flight for the end of this month as soon as they were available. However, my travel agent advised me to wait until the big Australiam airfare expo last October and November. Consequently, I saved a princely sum on my flights. Granted, since this year prices went up, remained steady, before rising dramatically to more than $15,000 more than what I paid (scarcity of seats).

On price rises (and taking this back to cruising): would you be offering Cunard extra payment and crying unfairness if, after final payment, the price of your cabin category increased? I assume you wouldn't.

Try to look on the bright side :)

Hello Cristophe

This subject has been raised a hundred times on this forum and every other cruise forum on the internet. With five minutes of research you would see that it is VERY common practice for all cruise lines to offer late deals if a ship is not full.

You can choose to book early and get the exact cabin you want, dining option you want, and possibly on board spend or free parking etc, Or you can wait till last minute and take a gamble that the cruise does not sell out completely. You also gamble on getting a poor cabin or location, a dining sitting that does not suit you etc.

You must make your own choice.

Either way have a fantastic trip and enjoy your cruise.

Hi. I'm afraid this is a common problem. It's a case of 'Let the buyer beware'. I think we all pay over the odds for our first couple of cruises. That's what keeps the cruise lines in business. After that , we learn the tricks. We then have to decide if the strategies are worth it in our particular case.

Let me give you some examples. I got a great price on a cruise last month. However, it meant booking it on the Thursday for a Monday departure. Would you really want that? That's the way to get the best prices if you don't mind the chance that the cruise might be sold out.

Remember that Carnival is a business and they have to do everything they can to keep the business going.

I know it's disappointing, but it's not unfair.

We want to travel everywhere in the world, but have no particular order in mind, so I don't book until I see a price that really appeals to me. When I see a deal that hits my target price, about $100 pp per night for a balcony cabin, I go for it. Rarely, if ever, does the price drop lower than what I paid. The price we paid for our currently booked cruises is less than half of what they cost now, so I am a happy camper. If they drop lower, so be it. You roll the dice, and you take your chances.

If you are in a situation where you really want a specific cruise at a specific time, for some special reason, you probably can't afford to wait around for the smoking deal to pop up. Those are the breaks of the game.

I also just signed up for Princess Standby fares so we will see how that works out. I have heard of people getting crazy low prices at the last minute. Does Cunard have a Standby program?

Many thanks for your answers. Maybe I was too strong when writing that Cunard is unfair but in my case I am not talking about further discount but about very huge discount by 50% and in that case it represents a lot of money. Thus my disappointment. At the same time I got the very cabin I wanted, the seating I wanted so I am fine (we will celebrate my mother's 80th birthday!

Thank you again for all your comments. Cheers from Montreux!

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

Many thanks for your answers. Maybe I was too strong when writing that Cunard is unfair but in my case I am not talking about further discount but about very huge discount by 50% and in that case it represents a lot of money. Thus my disappointment. At the same time I got the very cabin I wanted, the seating I wanted so I am fine (we will celebrate my mother's 80th birthday!Thank you again for all your comments. Cheers from Montreux!

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

Bonjour Christophe, encountered a similar situation a couple of years ago when going on a Christmas Caribbean 'voyage' on the QM2. Although we had paid in full, called Cunard and, in a very polite manner, expressed my concern with the C$1,500 price drop. Cunard, to their credit, treated me in an excellent fashion and, via my travel agent, refunded this amount to my credit card. Excellent customer service! My advice is to call Cunard. You may get the same top notch service. Can't hurt to try...

No one forced you to book so far ahead.. perhaps you can wait last minute next time you cruise but the risk you take is you may not get the cabin you want or even worse you may not get a cabin at all the ship may be sold out. You know what they say with risk comes reward. So that is up to you it's not the cruiselines fault.

The other option if you have paid in full is to look at the prices of staterooms a class or two higher. If they are now priced close to what you paid, ask your TA or ask Cunard to give you a higher class of suite than you booked.

This worked for me on a couple of voyages.

.

Last August we booked a balcony cabin on a Celebrity ship departing in two weeks. At that time we paid around $5200 plus $500 OBC. As the months passd the rate kept going up and up to where our same cabin was going for almost $7000. As of a month ago only a few inside cabins were available at a rate not too far from what we paid.

Draw your own conclusions as to what is fair or not and when is the best time to book

I can sympathize with the original poster, having experienced this many times.

I can tolerate hearing or reading that someone - a first time cruiser with Cunard - booked the inside cabin next to mine paying far less for 2 people than I had paid for 1.

However to me that which is truly "unfair" is to find out that they not only paid less, but within one week of booking ( booked within 3 weeks of sailing) they then were up graded from inside lowest grade to PRINCESS GTILL and received a LARGE OBC in addition , far more than I did - even though I booked as soon as the schedule came out and I am a Diamond member .

IMO Cunard should reserve the free upgrades to LOYAL FULL FARE passengers, there are many passengers who qualify (who have even done more cruises than I have with Cunard), yet these loyal people are ignored in favour of first time low fare passengers.

That is definitely NOT GOOD P.R.

Yawn............. same old whinge again.

The OP booked a Q6 and chances are, he will be early in the queue for an upgrade to Q4 or even Q3.

• If someone wants a cheaper price, the best bet is to book a lower grade cabin or hold your breath until the discounts come.
  
• If someone wants to pay more than now, the most straightforward route is to leave the higher priced QG and PG cabins completely emplty. Same fixed costs, fewer passengers therefore all pay more.
  
• But the most ridiculous comment of all is that upgrades should go to the long time loyal customers, especially those in the lowest grade inside cabins. I don't want to tar everyone with the same brush, but many of these folks are taking no tours, drinking "world cruise" cocktails instead of hitting the wine list and are not going to be generating extra revenue for Cunard above and beyond the basic cost of feeding people and transporting them from port to port. A late booking QG pax will likely make more profit for the line than one of the loyal but frugal brigade does in half a dozen cruises.
  

.

Many thanks for your answers. Maybe I was too strong when writing that Cunard is unfair but in my case I am not talking about further discount but about very huge discount by 50% and in that case it represents a lot of money. Thus my disappointment. At the same time I got the very cabin I wanted, the seating I wanted so I am fine (we will celebrate my mother's 80th birthday!

Yes, keep looking at those positives and you will have a fantastic time!

It IS a disappointment in terms of money but you have got what you wanted. On my last cruise (bought at the last minute) I was 'upgraded' to a room right at the front that was incredibly noisy when we pulled into port. I am noise sensitive and two hours of that had me in tears.

If I had the money I would always book early and book a specific stateroom. I would go for midships, midlevel in order to minimise noise and ship movement and distance to walk to everywhere. You have the room you want (no doubt different criteria from mine) and if you can afford it, then be pleased with it. It's better than leaving things to chance, especially with your mother on board.

On a future cruise you might want to be adventurous and go for a last-minute cheaper option, and see what happens, but I wouldn't advise it for a special occasion like this one.

I hope you come back to this thread afterwards and tell us what a fantastic time you had, and how much it was worth it in order to have the room of your choice.

Diane

Yawn............. same old whinge again.

 

The OP booked a Q6 and chances are, he will be early in the queue for an upgrade to Q4 or even Q3.

 

• If someone wants a cheaper price, the best bet is to book a lower grade cabin or hold your breath until the discounts come.
  
• If someone wants to pay more than now, the most straightforward route is to leave the higher priced QG and PG cabins completely emplty. Same fixed costs, fewer passengers therefore all pay more.
  
• But the most ridiculous comment of all is that upgrades should go to the long time loyal customers, especially those in the lowest grade inside cabins. I don't want to tar everyone with the same brush, but many of these folks are taking no tours, drinking "world cruise" cocktails instead of hitting the wine list and are not going to be generating extra revenue for Cunard above and beyond the basic cost of feeding people and transporting them from port to port. A late booking QG pax will likely make more profit for the line than one of the loyal but frugal brigade does in half a dozen cruises.
  

.

I wonder how many cruises you have taken with Cunard, how many bottles of wine you have purchased, how many tours you have taken?

Since Cunard make a profit on every booking, and since as a Solo I often have to pay the same as a couple, Cunard do make a profit on my booking even before I buy anything on board, - BTW what are "world cruise cocktails"? I can be found in the Chart Room for an hour before dinner and have never seen these on the menu!

Recently checking on my 3rd cruise with Cunard this year (I am Diamond member) I tried to book the Cunard package for Hotel pre cruise. I was asked $790 for one night for one person no meals, I checked each hotel listed by Cunard for their package. Discovered that the Hotel cost for the date required was $300-$400 solo for the room. Now at that that price , the bus transport provided by Cunard from JFK/Hotel/ship was $390-$490 one way.

H*** I could have a private limo for half that cost.

Cunard do not just make a profit, they make a "killing" and if you think that is fine . I think you really should consult a financial expert, you know the old saying "a fool and money are soon parted" For myself, this old lady is not yet senile.

World cruise cocktails........I believe ole Chunky was referring to the *free cocktails* at the Captains parties. As if.

I wonder how many cruises you have taken with Cunard, how many bottles of wine you have purchased, how many tours you have taken?

 

Since Cunard make a profit on every booking, and since as a Solo I often have to pay the same as a couple, Cunard do make a profit on my booking even before I buy anything on board, - BTW what are "world cruise cocktails"? I can be found in the Chart Room for an hour before dinner and have never seen these on the menu!

 

Recently checking on my 3rd cruise with Cunard this year (I am Diamond member) I tried to book the Cunard package for Hotel pre cruise. I was asked $790 for one night for one person no meals, I checked each hotel listed by Cunard for their package. Discovered that the Hotel cost for the date required was $300-$400 solo for the room. Now at that that price , the bus transport provided by Cunard from JFK/Hotel/ship was $390-$490 one way.

 

H*** I could have a private limo for half that cost.

 

Cunard do not just make a profit, they make a "killing" and if you think that is fine . I think you really should consult a financial expert, you know the old saying "a fool and money are soon parted" For myself, this old lady is not yet senile.

World cruise cocktail - a glass of ship's water with ice. True devotees ask for a slice of lime.

No, regrettably we only manage one, maybe two Cunard trips a year. Our next is November, booked as a Cunard fare. This despite me vowing never to go for anything but a discounted fare ever again. We did get $3000 of OBC though.

I shudder to think how many bottles of wine we've managed. But being of advanced years we prefer the good stuff and concentrate on quality, not quantity. Suffice to say our last 14 days on QV came to >$2700 of spend, which did include some tours and the odd aperitif.

Anyone who looks to book the Cunard pre-cruise package really is seeking to burn money. Our next voyage will begin at a delightful little place just outside Southampton with beautiful countryside and a three course evening meal cooked specifically to our request. The leg of lamb last time was sublime and the breakfast eggs came straight from under a chicken. The parking is 1/3 the price of Cunard's deal with C&PS.

If you are a solo traveller you have my sympathies - it's a raw deal pricewise. However, they expect your cabin to make a certain contribution to the total cost of the voyage and you fall foul of this. I once did an overnight from Kiel to Gothenberg, sharing a cabin in the bowels of the ship with five strangers in bunks three high. I prefer the Cunard option, even if the price is higher. If I were running the show I'd give you the other half of the fare as OBC but sadly I don't make those decisions.

I have no need of a financial expert, thank you. I love to do a deal and we've enjoyed a Q1 for less than 25% of list. As for senility, no signs yet but the grim reaper could come a knockin' any time, so I'm happy to enjoy quality rather than quantity before I lose my marbles.

We live in a commercial world, everyone needs to make a profit. There's no point whinging about it, the only option is to play them at their own game.

And yes, I do need to change my sig.

.

Yawn............. same old whinge again.

 

The OP booked a Q6 and chances are, he will be early in the queue for an upgrade to Q4 or even Q3.

 

• If someone wants a cheaper price, the best bet is to book a lower grade cabin or hold your breath until the discounts come.
  
• If someone wants to pay more than now, the most straightforward route is to leave the higher priced QG and PG cabins completely emplty. Same fixed costs, fewer passengers therefore all pay more.
  
• But the most ridiculous comment of all is that upgrades should go to the long time loyal customers, especially those in the lowest grade inside cabins. I don't want to tar everyone with the same brush, but many of these folks are taking no tours, drinking "world cruise" cocktails instead of hitting the wine list and are not going to be generating extra revenue for Cunard above and beyond the basic cost of feeding people and transporting them from port to port. A late booking QG pax will likely make more profit for the line than one of the loyal but frugal brigade does in half a dozen cruises.
  

.

This is what P&O say they are doing this year. Select passengers (those booking early) will get first chance at cabin upgrades, followed by advance savers and then finally those discount saver fares. Looks sensible to me, why irritate your best customers by an ill thought out marketing strategy. Putting long term customers with high loyalty status inot the equation is IMO also a good idea.

IMO Cunard should reserve the free upgrades to LOYAL FULL FARE passengers, there are many passengers who qualify (who have even done more cruises than I have with Cunard), yet these loyal people are ignored in favour of first time low fare passengers.

 

That is definitely NOT GOOD P.R.

Actually, the current upgrade system (which I suspect isn't as random as claimed) is good PR. Nothing sets newcomer cruisers in a good mood like a nice upgrade. In theory this means they might be more likely to spend a little more on board and they are more likely to book another cruise (possibly a higher cabin grade).

Given that repeat cruisers with Cunard are loyal, why would Cunard feel the need to provide special treatment through upgrades?

Why offer upgrades to people who continue to purchase cruises with that line? Don't get me wrong, I like the idea of loyal cruisers getting first preference, but it makes more sense to entice newer cruisers than to throw away an upgrade on someone who has little intention of cruising with the competition.

Since Cunard make a profit on every booking, and since as a Solo I often have to pay the same as a couple, Cunard do make a profit on my booking even before I buy anything on board, - BTW what are "world cruise cocktails"? I can be found in the Chart Room for an hour before dinner and have never seen these on the menu!

Not sure this is entirely true. A Britannia grade stateroom attracts a single supplement of only 175% of the normal twin share price. This means the stateroom is sold at a loss compared to two people booking it. Given that only one person is occupying a solo, the likelihood of them contributing as much revenue is also less than a couple. Generally speaking, a solo drinks less than a couple.

However, solos might be more likely to book excursions and use the spa. I don't want to generalise. I'm just speculating. So if that is true to any extent, then Cunard is making money off solos, but perhaps not as much as if two people occupied the stateroom.

It really all depends on the individuals involved. Everyone is different.

In Grills, where single supplement is 200%, I'd say you are right that Cunard is making a decent amount. However, they make no more profit than if two people occupied the stateroom.

Yes, keep looking at those positives and you will have a fantastic time!

 

 

 

It IS a disappointment in terms of money but you have got what you wanted. On my last cruise (bought at the last minute) I was 'upgraded' to a room right at the front that was incredibly noisy when we pulled into port. I am noise sensitive and two hours of that had me in tears.

 

 

 

If I had the money I would always book early and book a specific stateroom. I would go for midships, midlevel in order to minimise noise and ship movement and distance to walk to everywhere. You have the room you want (no doubt different criteria from mine) and if you can afford it, then be pleased with it. It's better than leaving things to chance, especially with your mother on board.

 

 

 

On a future cruise you might want to be adventurous and go for a last-minute cheaper option, and see what happens, but I wouldn't advise it for a special occasion like this one.

 

 

 

I hope you come back to this thread afterwards and tell us what a fantastic time you had, and how much it was worth it in order to have the room of your choice.

 

 

 

Diane

Diane,

Thank you so much for your kind reply.

I used to cruise QMII twice for Christmas 2009 and Christmas 2010 in the Caribbean. Were you aboard? I remember a couple from England was seated close to our table in the Queen's grill. They were very nice and her name was Diane!

Cheers. Christophe.

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

Diane,

Thank you so much for your kind reply.

I used to cruise QMII twice for Christmas 2009 and Christmas 2010 in the Caribbean. Were you aboard? I remember a couple from England was seated close to our table in the Queen's grill. They were very nice and her name was Diane!

Cheers. Christophe.

Thanks Christophe but it wasn't me. I'm a solo traveller. I have been on QM2 once with a friend and her teenage daughter, but that was an August TA.

Have a great time planning your cruise and looking forward to every moment. I am currently watching one cruise to see if the price comes down far enough for me to afford it. Fingers crossed.

Have so enjoyed the last several posts re:early booking security verses late booking gains , so glad i popped by tonight .

Thanks

Josie and Joan ...

Chunky, would you be willing to share where you are staying outside Southampton? We have two nights in the area before boarding our return TA this fall and wanted something not so commercial- some place with character. Was looking at New Forest perhaps?

Debbie

Sent from my KFJWI using Tapatalk HD

Chunky, would you be willing to share where you are staying outside Southampton? We have two nights in the area before boarding our return TA this fall and wanted something not so commercial- some place with character. Was looking at New Forest perhaps?

 

Debbie

 

Sent from my KFJWI using Tapatalk HD

I want to know the answer to this as well ... , not that we'll be using it on this cruise , but sounds like good information ...