Clocks forward today...if only!!!

[casbar3]

We've all put our clocks forward today:)....I only wish I could put mine back two months and alter our Vantage fare booking and in so doing, save ourselves roughly £1100:mad:.

 

Oh, the naivety of new cruisers, but once bitten pando...never again.

[jeanlyon]

Not just P&O - they all do it! Cunard, Princess, Fred.

[Presto2]

And don't forget Celebrity who have made sure that us folk in the UK have not been able to take advantage of the 1,2,3 offer :mad:

[terrierjohn]

And don't forget Celebrity who have made sure that us folk in the UK have not been able to take advantage of the 1,2,3 offer :mad:

But their launch prices are generally much better than P&O and they do reduce the normal fares occasionally and will then reduce your price if higher.

[Roxally]

We also were "caught" with Vantage fares when our 2 balcony cabins on a Caribbean fly cruise ended up costing us 2500 more than the Getaway price issued 6 months before cruising Never again. It's late deals for us from now on.

[Presto2]

Sorry, I think I am being really stupid, but checking on the new price promise don't P&O promise to give on board credit / an upgrade if the price goes down after you book?

 

Is it just the case that they never put their prices down anyway? :confused:

 

Thanks

[John Bull]

Sorry, I think I am being really stupid, but checking on the new price promise don't P&O promise to give on board credit / an upgrade if the price goes down after you book?

 

Is it just the case that they never put their prices down anyway? :confused:

 

Thanks

 

I'm no expert, but my understanding is that if the Vantage fare goes down then those already booked get a credit/upgrade/whatever.

 

So if P&O need to reduce fares to increase bookings, to avoid those refunds they can just give the reduced prices a different name.

Which makes the promise worthless.

 

I don't suppose I've got it 100% right, but I've heard plenty of cries of "con", & certainly have no confidence in this new pricing policy.

I shall continue to book late. With any cruise line.

 

JB :)

[AnnieC]

Sorry, I think I am being really stupid, but checking on the new price promise don't P&O promise to give on board credit / an upgrade if the price goes down after you book?

 

Is it just the case that they never put their prices down anyway? :confused:

 

You've just summed what I, and others, have been saying for a while. The price promise was marketed in a deliberately misleading way and is not worth the paper it's written on - P&O and Cunard simply changed the name of any price decreases to a Getaway, at which point the price promise doesn't count.

 

You are not stupid, but have fallen into a deliberate trap set by P&O to make pax book early, believing that they were protected price-wise.

 

Very naughty, if not worse.

 

Annie

[Presto2]

You've just summed what I, and others, have been saying for a while. The price promise was marketed in a deliberately misleading way and is not worth the paper it's written on - P&O and Cunard simply changed the name of any price decreases to a Getaway, at which point the price promise doesn't count.

 

You are not stupid, but have fallen into a deliberate trap set by P&O to make pax book early, believing that they were protected price-wise.

 

Very naughty, if not worse.

 

Annie

 

Thanks folks - this is really helpful because we haven't booked yet ! We were going to book on Saturday but for one reason or another couldn't.

We thought that the Price Promise was like the Celebrity one, and, to their credit we have got about £500 back for the last 2 cruises because the price dropped.

 

Thanks again everyone - something to think about. Ironically our first cruise with P&O was at last minute. We booked in June for August and paid only £3000 for a GC balcony cabin 2 week med cruise. Does make us re think.

 

:)

[qm2lover]

Obviously Princess have there own way of doing things, but they dont go in for this Disad-Vantage/Getaway fare "promise".

[casbar3]

Well, we have certainly learned our lesson.

 

To us, and like most people, £1100 is a lot of money which could have been saved for other purposes. The heating could have been on for a couple of hours during this lenghty cold spell and we could also have gone back to having three meals a day!!!

[Presto2]

Well, we have certainly learned our lesson.

 

To us, and like most people, £1100 is a lot of money which could have been saved for other purposes. The heating could have been on for a couple of hours during this lenghty cold spell and we could also have gone back to having three meals a day!!!

 

To a lot of people it the cost of their annual holiday. Silly amounts of money. :(

[the english lady]

I have been reading all about the vantage/getaway comments, I tried to remember what happened when it first came out. The pando community page was working then and I know the day after the news were released, people on that site had picked up that if they wished to reduce prices, leave the vantage fare alone and call it something else.

 

If P&O honour their promise then yes, but it is quite possible that the Vantage price may never reduce and that discounted prices will all be "Getaway Deals", which of course they have already stated will not be price matched,; but that's just the cynic in me.

 

The above was posted in July 2012, on cruise critic. So for nearly a year if someone did any research prior to booking their cruise they would have found out about the pro/cons. I am sometimes very surprised by how little research some people do.

Have to say I am sort of waiting for postings on here when people end up with a cabin above the theatre, etc.

[Presto2]

I am sometimes very surprised by how little research some people do.

 

Have to say I am sort of waiting for postings on here when people end up with a cabin above the theatre, etc.

 

My problem is that I research too much and end up with too much information sometimes. It is trying to sort the good info from the bad that is difficult.

 

To be fair to anyone who has lost out - it is easy to do when you are new to a line. I automatically took it that the P&O price promise was the same as the Celebrity one. Thankfully, the OP for this thread made me sit up and take notice that it wasn't.

 

I think my hubby is right - we never get a deal - 'we don't get nothing for nowt'. The cruise line always make a profit somewhere along the line. Nothing is 'free'.

[jenny wren]

Well, we have certainly learned our lesson.

 

To us, and like most people, £1100 is a lot of money which could have been saved for other purposes. The heating could have been on for a couple of hours during this lenghty cold spell and we could also have gone back to having three meals a day!!!

 

Are you particular about which cabin you have? If not have you worked out if you would be better off cancelling and rebooking a getaway fare? This is what we did last year...lost our deposit and free parking and the cabin we had chosen ...but we were still £600 each better off and we had a better grade cabin than we originally booked!! It was a 30 day cruise so the savings may have been bigger for us but it is definitely worth doing some sums!!

[casbar3]

Unfortunately after taking our deposit the balance was asked for just 2 weeks later, otherwise we would most certainly have done what you have suggested. We were trusting enough to take things as we first saw them, much to our cost.

 

With it being our first cruise we relied heavily on advice from friends who had cruised before but never did we hear about any specific cruise line and their devious standards. We also made our booking through our local travel agent, who although being a pleasant enough lady, didn't seem to have enough experience when it came to booking cruises, having to ask her coleagues on numerous occasions what was what. She became more interested in trying to sell us their company's insurance but didn't know if we actually required european or world wide cover (our cruise visits Russia!). Is this a commision thing?

 

Having said all that, I suppose it really does fall on our own shoulders as regards research. All our other holidays are researched meticulously....so the buck stops with me.

As my OH says.....after bookin..no more lookin, but easier said than done.

[Morgans]

Don't assume that the getaway price means a "bad" cabin. There are some good ones included so are well worth considering. In fact at times the difference in price is so huge there's no contest.

[Presto2]

Don't assume that the getaway price means a "bad" cabin. There are some good ones included so are well worth considering. In fact at times the difference in price is so huge there's no contest.

 

Now I am being thick - what is a 'getaway price'. I take it that it is another offer, but what does this give you that is supposed to be 'special' that other's don't?

[Somerset Cruiser]

I am sort of waiting for postings on here when people end up with a cabin above the theatre, etc.

 

Been there on Azura ;)

[the english lady]

Now I am being thick - what is a 'getaway price'. I take it that it is another offer, but what does this give you that is supposed to be 'special' that other's don't?

P and O with their vantage promise say if the price goes down you get things back(obs or upgrade) So they do not have to do that they brought in the "getaway fare" This is usually for a lot less, but you have no say in where the cabin will be (just the grade) you have to pay 100% at time of booking and lose 100% if you then have to cancel.

You pays your money and takes your choice. Pay more for vantage or pay less for getaway..depends what choices you would like.

I have said getaway is the wrong name at they are coming out for some cruises 5-6 months before sailing, not really last minute. Also Getaway fares can be reduced, vantage probably never will be.

[Presto2]

P and O with their vantage promise say if the price goes down you get things back(obs or upgrade) So they do not have to do that they brought in the "getaway fare" This is usually for a lot less, but you have no say in where the cabin will be (just the grade) you have to pay 100% at time of booking and lose 100% if you then have to cancel.

You pays your money and takes your choice. Pay more for vantage or pay less for getaway..depends what choices you would like.

I have said getaway is the wrong name at they are coming out for some cruises 5-6 months before sailing, not really last minute. Also Getaway fares can be reduced, vantage probably never will be.

 

Thanks for that - now I know what everyone is talking about.

 

As we like to pick our cabin and research it well then this would be a definite no go for us. :)