Another Promotion, another day..!

[LibraLass41]

Last weekend it was ' a inside for the price of a balcony' today I have received a february sale collection' for a large cruise TA (Begining with 'B) giving MASSIVE amounts of onboard credit with a cruise booking.... When I say massive I'm talking £800- over £1000 per stateroom . On a caribbean 22 nighter 'upto £1720 per stateroom' blimey, I'd have trouble spending that, and would to visit the ships jewellers to spend it all before we got off!

 

But, its all a bit of 'fun with numbers' , as I know for a fact that balcony on the deal last week on a 16nighter cruise was around £1700, on the 'inside for a balcony' deal, now a similar 17n Venice cruise in a low grade balcony is £2400 and thats in mid Oct, the £1700 was for primetime June!

Thats £700pp more!! so they put the cabin prices UP and give you lots of obc.... not keen on that.

 

I thought when then took away the extra discounts from the cruise TA's so we all couldn't shop around to give a level playing field to all to make the prices the same, we wouldn't have this big drop in prices...but ofcourse they have to fill the ships and deals will still be there.

But this promotion - very high cabin prices then lots of obc doesn't do it for me... - a 14n Med cruise on Oceana is showing at £2788 for a jb balcony, blimey!!!! nearly £6k for a balcony for a fortnight - you must be joking!

[Essexlass2]

Mmm, bit naughty eh. Always pays to do our sums before jumping at these so-called 'offers' :)

[Host Sharon]

I have noticed all these "offers" are still far more expensive than I paid back last April for this coming May - so perhaps it can still pay to book early!

[southwinds]

I have been monitoring a few cruises over the months and still have the first edition brochure... Its interesting noticing how the prices on some cruises go up and down. Of course its supply and demand... One we liked hasnt come down or been in a sale or promotion.. largely because its the double bank holiday cruise .. Early June...

Last year we did the same but everyone said for Greenland as they only go once a year it wouldnt be discounted... But when I contacted Bolsover just to see if it was a possiable.. I found out that a Getaway deal was available. But it wasnt on the sites or on flyers for a couple of weeks from them . Many other well known agents were still promoting the full price and then in time they started to mention Getaway prices on that cruise... SO from what i have found its good to get on good terms with the staff at the agents..!! and look for Getaway deals... ALos look around the invoice due date. Its amazing how many cancel then and the cabins come back on the market.. so if you can swoop then !!! before they do another promotion you could get a deal ahead of the crowd..

Its that or book very early then DONT look again at the prices...

[LibraLass41]

Yes, actually the norway cruises are more expensive now , and my cruise wasn't even in the promotion brochure they sent me today (why send me a' come to Norway' brochure when I'm already cruising with them to Norway?) ..It really would of been rubbing salt in the wound if that brochure had my cruise cabin cheaper as well....I knew a Oriana balcony was going to be expensive compared to any other ship in the fleet balcony, but now the prices of even the bigger ships is coming in within £100-200 of what I paid.

 

The extra OBC offer was a play with numbers (won't say con). They put the price up £300pp and gave £500 OBC...

[terrierjohn]

Yes, actually the norway cruises are more expensive now , and my cruise wasn't even in the promotion brochure they sent me today (why send me a' come to Norway' brochure when I'm already cruising with them to Norway?) ..It really would of been rubbing salt in the wound if that brochure had my cruise cabin cheaper as well....I knew a Oriana balcony was going to be expensive compared to any other ship in the fleet balcony, but now the prices of even the bigger ships is coming in within £100-200 of what I paid.

 

The extra OBC offer was a play with numbers (won't say con). They put the price up £300pp and gave £500 OBC...

Not sure I agree about Norway cruise prices, we just saved over £1000 on our Ventura cruise to Iceland and Norway by cancelling and re-booking. JC Balconies are now £1499pp well below all previous brochure prices.

[cruiseluvva]

Not sure I agree about Norway cruise prices, we just saved over £1000 on our Ventura cruise to Iceland and Norway by cancelling and re-booking. JC Balconies are now £1499pp well below all previous brochure prices.

 

There are some real bargains out there. :D

[LibraLass41]

Not sure I agree about Norway cruise prices, we just saved over £1000 on our Ventura cruise to Iceland and Norway by cancelling and re-booking. JC Balconies are now £1499pp well below all previous brochure prices.

 

 

Out of interest, how does that work, did you just pay a admin charge to cancel and re-book? (About £100 isn't it?)

 

Yes, I had the 'Norway and Iceland' offers booklet, as I was saying above , but my cruise wasn't in there on the offers. So no sleepless nights then , lol./:rolleyes::)

[terrierjohn]

Out of interest, how does that work, did you just pay a admin charge to cancel and re-book? (About £100 isn't it?)

 

Yes, I had the 'Norway and Iceland' offers booklet, as I was saying above , but my cruise wasn't in there on the offers. So no sleepless nights then , lol./:rolleyes::)

No we cancelled the original booking lost the deposit and re-booked at the new lower price and still paid £1100 less.

Our TA managed to re book out accessible cabin as well, which was of course essential for us, I think these low prices should really apply only to GTY cabins.

As for booking a balcony on Oriana, surely these are only for the rich or foolish!

[tom_uk]

I've just been looking at some of the prices for the March promotion - 'Cabin Upgrades'. Basically, P&O are saying that for the qualifying cruises, you'll pay the cost of a next lower cabin type (I think - not just grade) rather than what you've chosen.

 

Being a cynic I thought I'd check a few of these out and compare them with the prices in the 2012 launch brochure (from almost a year ago). On Ventura, the one or two cruises I checked were actually a little bit more expensive for a balcony cabin, but not much, and they could well be slightly lower than prices in later editions of the brochure.

 

Then I checked a cruise on Aurora - R214, the 2012 iteration of her annual 20+ night voyage to North America. To my surprise the new prices are significantly lower than in the launch brochure, at least for balcony cabins: £4389 and £3999 in the original brochure, £3799 and £3519 in the current offer. And this is for what I had always believed was one of Aurora's fastest-selling cruises....

 

So what does this tell us about this year's cruise market? Perhaps people are still cruising, but looking for cheaper/shorter cruises this year? I see that on our 'main' cruises this year, 13 nights to the Canaries on Arcadia in the Autumn, the on-line prices are actually quite a bit higher than the original brochure prices, and this cruise isn't included in the promotion. However, on Arcadia's 24-night North American cruise in September, prices for Balcony cabins are lower than in the brochure, in some cases quite markedly: cat DD was £3979 in the brochure and are £3599 with the current offer.

[davedex]

Last weekend it was ' a inside for the price of a balcony' today I have received a february sale collection' for a large cruise TA (Begining with 'B) !

 

am just in the process of paying our balance to this agent in question and must say I think that they are loosing the plot , needless to say that due to the service we have recently received from them it is unlikely that we will be using them again!! Amongst other things am fed up with hearing that we got "a barrrrrrgen" in her lovely Lancashire accent when she had no idea how much we had paid!!!

[terrierjohn]

am just in the process of paying our balance to this agent in question and must say I think that they are loosing the plot , needless to say that due to the service we have recently received from them it is unlikely that we will be using them again!! Amongst other things am fed up with hearing that we got "a barrrrrrgen" in her lovely Lancashire accent when she had no idea how much we had paid!!!

Before paying did you ask her to check if you could cancel and re book with a saving? Better still did you check with any other TA to see what they could offer.

By the way surely the TA beginning with B is nowhere near Lancashire, or are you thinking of another TA not near Chesterfield.

[davedex]

I was 'bowled over' by what she said , she actually told me that there was no point in cancelling and re booking as our children were getting 90% reduction ( which she kept using the word bargain ) and there was no way we'd get that if we cancelled! Spoke to p&o and they called her a silly mare because there was no way she'd know that as fares did not come out till the next day and there was no way she had any prior info. Sure enough the next day kids still got the 90% so we did canc and re book. Think it was more the case that she could not be bothered!!

[white duck]

Just after paying the final balance, noticed a travel agent was advertising a mini suite on Oriana in April for £3999. We booked on the first day of booking last year after pre registering, we paid £5500,that's a drop of £3000 for us two.

Strange the price suddenly dropped after the cancellation charge went to 50%.

Just can't see as a long term business model this makes sense, as surely fewer people will book early. I know I, who usually book by pre registering , certainly won't get caught out again I