P&O Price Promise Radio 4 investigate

[daiB]

I repeat, I wrote to Moneybox not because of the reduced fares (as all companies have sales), but due to the "Price Promise". "Price Promise" was the title of the Moneybox programme. I did not write to the BBC about any other cruise line dropping their prices, just about P&O's "Price Promise".

 

I have no beef with Princess, Celebrity, NCL etc, who also offer late deals, but they do not offer a misleading "Price Promise". To me the "Price Promise" is the only issue, not the last minute deals. Whenever you buy anything (a shirt, a car, a holiday), you might get a better deal later - that is your choice - to buy now or wait for the sales, but you might miss out on what you wanted. This is normal buying.

 

P&O's "Price Promise" was the issue that annoyed me and why I wrote to the BBC and to Carnival's President.

 

For sure, P&O will soon drop this marketing slight of hand, as hopefully most cruisers now knows that it is a worthless promise.

 

It is interesting that you feel you have to say this over and over again. When I have said that I agree that they got it wrong in the first place.

 

You were the one who had a go at me even before I had commented at all on the thread. And continued to put down things I say but I had posted as I said weeks ago that this was the case. So why attack me. You brought me into it and now I am here I will have my say.

 

P&O should have spelt out more clearly that getaway fares could come in and would undercut Vantage fares. They said Vantage would not come down and they did not. They should have said that a second type of fare would come in later.

 

What has happened since has in many ways been fire fighting.

 

 

Gan Canny

 

 

 

Dai

[2irisheyes]

Getaway fares and/or gty bookings are not just to mop up unsold cabins but also to fill cabins where people have had to cancel for one reason or another. Out of 2k or 3k people, some of a good age, there will always be a percentage of cancellations.

[Skintman]

It is interesting that you feel you have to say this over and over again. When I have said that I agree that they got it wrong in the first place.

 

You were the one who had a go at me even before I had commented at all on the thread. And continued to put down things I say but I had posted as I said weeks ago that this was the case. So why attack me. You brought me into it and now I am here I will have my say.

 

P&O should have spelt out more clearly that getaway fares could come in and would undercut Vantage fares. They said Vantage would not come down and they did not. They should have said that a second type of fare would come in later.

 

What has happened since has in many ways been fire fighting.

 

 

Gan Canny

 

 

 

Dai

 

I am not attacking you Dai, I just disagree with things that you have said here. It's a forum and people have the right to disagree with your comments. You might not like it, but sorry Dai, you'll just have to deal with it or dip out. You might not have been caught up in their misleading marketing, and good luck to you, but many others have, hence the huge number of negative reactions to P&O. I suspect that the press will get hold of this story after the Moneybox programme - I hope so.

 

I will continue to criticise P&O on this forum and others, while P&O continue with their misleading "Price Promise". If they stop it, I'll stop criticising them. If that means repeating myself ad nauseam, then so be it. The more people are aware of this P&O wheeze, the better. I'm not anti P&O, I've just done 3 weeks on board their ships (Arcadia and Ventura) in the past 5 weeks and I'll sail with them again for sure - I'm just anti being misled.

[kruzgal]

Guarantee/getaway fares have previously been thought of as a device to sell off the remaining few cabins, maybe in undesirable locations, in the last couple of months before the cruise. Selling getaway fares 6 months ahead is quite clearly not a strategy for selling off the remaining few cabins, but a mechanism for increasing bookings which are low. It says a lot about the state of bookings if these fares are being introduced so far ahead.

[English Voyager]

" Getaway fares are there to mop up the cabins not sold." , an assertion made in Message 41, prompted my question.

 

Here are two examples from last Saturday's newspaper:

 

The Canaries & Iberia:

20 October2013, 12 Nights, Azura

 

Getaway Inside: £744

Vantage Inside: £894

 

The Caribbean:

 

15 & 16 November 2013, 15 Nights, Azura

 

Getaway Inside: £1389

Vantage Inside: £1569

 

So, rather than reduce the Vantage fare, P & O introduce a Getaway fare several months in advance of the departure date.

[daiB]

I am not attacking you Dai, I just disagree with things that you have said here. It's a forum and people have the right to disagree with your comments. You might not like it, but sorry Dai, you'll just have to deal with it or dip out. You might not have been caught up in their misleading marketing, and good luck to you, but many others have, hence the huge number of negative reactions to P&O. I suspect that the press will get hold of this story after the Moneybox programme - I hope so.

 

I will continue to criticise P&O on this forum and others, while P&O continue with their misleading "Price Promise". If they stop it, I'll stop criticising them. If that means repeating myself ad nauseam, then so be it. The more people are aware of this P&O wheeze, the better. I'm not anti P&O, I've just done 3 weeks on board their ships (Arcadia and Ventura) in the past 5 weeks and I'll sail with them again for sure - I'm just anti being misled.

 

Well as I said before you just post and do not read. I have agreed with you 4/5 times and still you attack. What other agenda do you have.

 

Dai

[simonpjd]

P&O are probably just as hacked off as some of our repetitive posters. They have almost been forced into this price war which has seen prices from ALL cruise lines plummet in the run up to departure date and in some cases many months before. Because of the economy there were an awful lot of unsold cabins and if other lines had reduced their prices what was P&O to do. They had to cut prices and as they had just introduced the new fare strategy (Vantage and Getaway) they brought in the Getaway fares - probably a lot earlier than they wanted.

And, as can be seen by the hundreds of postings on here and other forums, the P&O clientele are not happy either.

Don't forget Carnival have even had to issue a profit warning to the stock exchange and the share price has fallen dramatically. But the warning also stated it was because of the drastic price cutting war going on and prices were being cut to barely break even levels.

So if you have some spare cash then now is a great time to go cruising. You will never have it so cheap again. All these offers will go very quickly when the economy starts to pick up. I just hope that standards don't drop too far during this cost cutting exercise as getting them back up again will not happen.

[daiB]

P&O are probably just as hacked off as some of our repetitive posters. They have almost been forced into this price war which has seen prices from ALL cruise lines plummet in the run up to departure date and in some cases many months before. Because of the economy there were an awful lot of unsold cabins and if other lines had reduced their prices what was P&O to do. They had to cut prices and as they had just introduced the new fare strategy (Vantage and Getaway) they brought in the Getaway fares - probably a lot earlier than they wanted.

And, as can be seen by the hundreds of postings on here and other forums, the P&O clientele are not happy either.

Don't forget Carnival have even had to issue a profit warning to the stock exchange and the share price has fallen dramatically. But the warning also stated it was because of the drastic price cutting war going on and prices were being cut to barely break even levels.

So if you have some spare cash then now is a great time to go cruising. You will never have it so cheap again. All these offers will go very quickly when the economy starts to pick up. I just hope that standards don't drop too far during this cost cutting exercise as getting them back up again will not happen.

 

 

Hi Simon,

 

Your are right in fact everyone is now correct, even Skintman, I have just had P&O on to offer us an upgrade for our next cruise. The upgrade is to a suite. Happy days.:D:D

 

 

Gan Canny

 

 

 

Dai

[rubydoobydoo]

" Getaway fares are there to mop up the cabins not sold." , an assertion made in Message 41, prompted my question.

 

Here are two examples from last Saturday's newspaper:

 

The Canaries & Iberia:

20 October2013, 12 Nights, Azura

 

Getaway Inside: £744

Vantage Inside: £894

 

The Caribbean:

 

15 & 16 November 2013, 15 Nights, Azura

 

Getaway Inside: £1389

Vantage Inside: £1569

 

So, rather than reduce the Vantage fare, P & O introduce a Getaway fare several months in advance of the departure date.

 

The 20th 0ct on Azura is the cruise I booked last October so a year in advanced

 

Getaway fares were never mentioned to us at the time of booking but we were clearly told that if the price of the cruise dropped we would get an upgrade or OBC, we even had to choose at the time what we wanted.

 

We were led to believe that we could not loose by booking now as if the price of our cruise went up we would still only pay the lower price

 

I can see both sides of this as whilst I am unhappy that these getaware fares have come in so early for our cruise I also had the peace of mind knowing that my cruise was confirmed and I had the cabin I wanted at a price I was happy to pay at the time.

 

I never really expected the price of my cruise to go down until late on so was never expecting anything back but on the other hand I also feel cheated that it has gone down so early, I have not even made my final payment yet.

 

I think I would be happy to accept all this more if P and O made it that if the getaway fare was reduced again then they guarantee to promise me something back and those that booked the initial getaway are not included in this, even if it was a token gesture of goodwill.

[jessybell]

Dai B you are wrong.....Fred Olsen reduces prices at the last minute......we took up an offer of £899 for 23 nights in April.....two weeks before travelling.....:):)

[English Voyager]

P&O are probably just as hacked off as some of our repetitive posters. They have almost been forced into this price war which has seen prices from ALL cruise lines plummet in the run up to departure date and in some cases many months before. Because of the economy there were an awful lot of unsold cabins and if other lines had reduced their prices what was P&O to do. They had to cut prices and as they had just introduced the new fare strategy (Vantage and Getaway) they brought in the Getaway fares - probably a lot earlier than they wanted.

And, as can be seen by the hundreds of postings on here and other forums, the P&O clientele are not happy either.

Don't forget Carnival have even had to issue a profit warning to the stock exchange and the share price has fallen dramatically. But the warning also stated it was because of the drastic price cutting war going on and prices were being cut to barely break even levels.

So if you have some spare cash then now is a great time to go cruising. You will never have it so cheap again. All these offers will go very quickly when the economy starts to pick up. I just hope that standards don't drop too far during this cost cutting exercise as getting them back up again will not happen.

The economy does not appear to have impacted on the UK cruise industry in general, and embarkations from UK ports in particular.

2012 saw a 10% increase-the fourth double digit increase in seven years.

 

http://blogs.mirror.co.uk/captain-greybeard/2013/03/adding-up-the-cruise-numbers.html

 

When the economy picks up, there will be even more capacity due to the mega ships that are on stream, so I don't see prices firming up too much.

Circumstances can affect prices.

In fact, we had far cheaper luxury cruises in 2003, and 2004, due to very few Americans traveling out of the USA.

70% discount on Seabourn to the Baltic, and on Silversea to the Middle East, we had discounted fares together with free flights, and free hotel accommodation, with full board, and excursions.

[daiB]

Dai B you are wrong.....Fred Olsen reduces prices at the last minute......we took up an offer of £899 for 23 nights in April.....two weeks before travelling.....:)

 

Well I would be wrong. :confused: However in this case I am not sure why. I am the one who says all the companies discount at the last moment.

 

So in fact you are proving me right:D

 

Nice of you to do that :D:cool:

 

 

Gan Canny

 

 

Dai

 

:cool:

[Skintman]

Well as I said before you just post and do not read. I have agreed with you 4/5 times and still you attack. What other agenda do you have.

 

Dai

 

No other agenda Dai, I'm just commenting on the P&O "Price Promise" which I consider to be misleading. That is what Moneybox was all about and why I contributed to the programme.

[daiB]

No other agenda Dai, I'm just commenting on the P&O "Price Promise" which I consider to be misleading. That is what Moneybox was all about and why I contributed to the programme.

 

 

Well I now fully agree with you these Vantage fares are rubbish. Well apart from us getting our upgrade on Oriana on our Vantage booking. :D:D:D

 

 

 

 

Gan Canny

 

 

 

Dai

[Skintman]

Well I now fully agree with you these Vantage fares are rubbish. Well apart from us getting our upgrade on Oriana on our Vantage booking. :D:D:D

 

 

 

 

Gan Canny

 

 

 

Dai

 

It's not the Vantage Fares that are rubbish, it's the "Price Promise"

[daiB]

It's not the Vantage Fares that are rubbish, it's the "Price Promise"

 

So the price promise, which is rubbish, could have worked for me.:D

 

But then there were no suites on offer a little while ago. I suspect someone had to drop out very late.

 

 

Gan Canny

 

 

 

Dai

[Skintman]

So the price promise, which is rubbish, could have worked for me.:D

 

But then there were no suites on offer a little while ago. I suspect someone had to drop out very late.

 

 

Gan Canny

 

 

 

Dai

 

Sorry, I didn't realise that this thread was about you Dai, I thought it was about the BBC's Moneybox programme, which you seem to comment very little about.

[simonpjd]

Enough now you two.

Give it a rest.

[Daftlad]

Enough now you two.

Give it a rest.

Will echo this post. You have both made your point.

[norfolkbill]

I feel that everyone should support Skintman and turn their firepower on the cynical tactics of P&O/Cunard. This marketing/sales strategy is most definitely a dis-incentive for those considering booking early and a better term would be disadVantage Fares. The so called Price Promise is meaningless and misleading,the additional benefits do not justify the huge price differentials and as for the Peace of Mind - they still try to change your arrangements at the last minute without notification causing great inconvenience (just to accomodate their Getaway Fare Customers?). The customer services department is so defensive, unhelpful and do not respond to your complaint so you try to contact the Chief Execs-no contact details given out. I managed to get hold of some contact details and they still fail to acknowledge receipt of your complaint or respond which really does make you know - they just do not care!

I & my wife have spent tens of thousands of pounds with Cunard and hold Platinum World Club membership - not one penny more unless they acknowledge their failures and mistakes and compensate.

I have added my comments to the Moneybox report on the BBC and urge all of you to fire up your keyboards and get things improved -although I fear it is too late for us to change our decision no more P&O/Cunard - Carnival Group.

I also give some contact datails which I believe to be current and accurate for those of you in the UK who are coming up against the 'stonewall' and can therefore at least express to them the number of their loyal customers they have had over.

Carol Marlow - carol.marlow@pocruises.com

Peter Shanks -peter.shanks@carnivalukgroup.com

-Tel. 02380 656549

Trevor Slade - Customer Services Manager

- Tel. 02380 657207

[JEBEV]

Lots of endless posts on this subject which to me basically confirms that the whole thing is way too complicated than it should be. You should not need a degree in a particular cruise lines T and C's to feel confident about booking a cruise.

 

The days of the high street TA's are limited and customers are increasingly booking holidays via the internet and rightly expect simple and uncomplicated transactions with trusted operators.

 

As such a customer I search the Cruise / TA sites for value not cheap deals.

[balf]

, I'm just commenting on the P&O "Price Promise" which I consider to be misleading. .

 

As featured now the brochure seems to be very clear about the two price structures. Even the dimmest of us could work out the advantage, and disadvantages, and book the one best for us.

 

Are you saying that previously this was not made clear. Do you have the actual wording used then.

 

When the Getaways were first brought in are you saying that it was stated that the price promise applied to Vantage.

 

It would not take a genius to work out that if it did there would be no reason to have Getaways at all.

 

Disregarding the price, Vantage is the best choice, guarantee of sailing, choice of cabin, dining, OBC etc. yet people expect this for the Getaway price?

 

David.

[Thejuggler]

I've now listened to the whole piece on Moneybox and my ears pricked up at this statement.

 

"Tens of thousands have benefitted from the price promise since its launch"

 

What do you think this means?

[Skintman]

I feel that everyone should support Skintman and turn their firepower on the cynical tactics of P&O/Cunard. This marketing/sales strategy is most definitely a dis-incentive for those considering booking early and a better term would be disadVantage Fares. The so called Price Promise is meaningless and misleading,the additional benefits do not justify the huge price differentials and as for the Peace of Mind - they still try to change your arrangements at the last minute without notification causing great inconvenience (just to accomodate their Getaway Fare Customers?). The customer services department is so defensive, unhelpful and do not respond to your complaint so you try to contact the Chief Execs-no contact details given out. I managed to get hold of some contact details and they still fail to acknowledge receipt of your complaint or respond which really does make you know - they just do not care!

I & my wife have spent tens of thousands of pounds with Cunard and hold Platinum World Club membership - not one penny more unless they acknowledge their failures and mistakes and compensate.

I have added my comments to the Moneybox report on the BBC and urge all of you to fire up your keyboards and get things improved -although I fear it is too late for us to change our decision no more P&O/Cunard - Carnival Group.

I also give some contact datails which I believe to be current and accurate for those of you in the UK who are coming up against the 'stonewall' and can therefore at least express to them the number of their loyal customers they have had over.

Carol Marlow - carol.marlow@pocruises.com

Peter Shanks -peter.shanks@carnivalukgroup.com

-Tel. 02380 656549

Trevor Slade - Customer Services Manager

- Tel. 02380 657207

 

Aw thanks Bill.

 

I don't really think P&O's problems with this issue will stop until the "Price Promise" has been ditched. I note with interest that the "Price Promise" has moved from the top of their Blue Ribbon to the bottom - on it's way out I suspect, like the CEO!!

 

Please keep writing to the BBC and perhaps they'll have a follw up show.

[English Voyager]

As featured now the brochure seems to be very clear about the two price structures. Even the dimmest of us could work out the advantage, and disadvantages, and book the one best for us.

 

Are you saying that previously this was not made clear. Do you have the actual wording used then.

 

When the Getaways were first brought in are you saying that it was stated that the price promise applied to Vantage.

 

It would not take a genius to work out that if it did there would be no reason to have Getaways at all.

 

Disregarding the price, Vantage is the best choice, guarantee of sailing, choice of cabin, dining, OBC etc. yet people expect this for the Getaway price?

 

David.

I posted the link in Message 49.

 

The Vantage fare Price Promise is misleading in that for the quoted benefits to be triggered there has to be a reduction in the Vantage fare.

It would appear that rather than reduce a Vantage fare, and thus trigger compensation, P & O introduce a Getaway fare sometimes several months in advance of the departure date.

Examples are in Message 55.