P&O Price Promise Radio 4 investigate

[Skintman]

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.

 

 

Hi David

 

Yes P&O's marketing is much clearer now, but their Vantage "Price Promise" is still pretty worthless, as the Vantage prices don't drop.

 

I've always been a last minute holiday man. We booked for a Baltic cruise for May 13 in August 12, only after talking to P&O's staff, who said to us that we need not wait until the last minute as our booking has the "Price Promis". No mention of Vantage, Getaway, nothing. So we booked with "confidence". Of course the price plummited (Vantage £1850 each - New Getaway Fare £799 - both for a balcony. We would never, ever have booked in advance was it not for the "Price Promise" we were given. We would have waited for a late deal and if there wasn't any with P&O, then we would have gone somewhere else. This is the issue which many consider to be mis-selling. Hence the moneybox programme.

 

Yes the wording of the "Price Promise" is of course accurate, but the fact that the Vantage fare does not drop rather makes it a meaningless and pointless, so why have it at all. Other companies don't. It was introduced to try and get customers to book in advance - well it's backfired.

 

We had never even heard of a Getaway Fare when we booked.

 

I would still never, ever book any holiday or cruise in advance, except for long haul business flights, as good deals can nearly always be obtained last minute. You pays your money and you takes your choice.

 

If you want a specific cabin or ship location then go Vantage for sure, if you want a cheaper price go Getaway. It's simple and does not need a "Price Promise", so why have it - it's misleading.

[kevinyork]

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?

 

I wondered that too. I think they mean thousands have booked Vantage Fares, and therefore 'beneitted' from the price promise. They cannot mean thousands have received obc or upgrades due to vantage fare price drops since (apart from Dai) noone seems to have.

 

 

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[daiB]

I wondered that too. I think they mean thousands have booked Vantage Fares, and therefore 'beneitted' from the price promise. They cannot mean thousands have received obc or upgrades due to vantage fare price drops since (apart from Dai) noone seems to have.

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

 

There were thousands who gained when the Vantage fares started, all those who had already booked. They all got OBC. Quite substantial OBC. I have heard of one or two who got unexpected OBC when then boarded. Davecttr who is a regular contributor has got a little bit back.

 

I think they used the expression "price promise" because of all the late deals last year and the year before. These boards, the community site on P&O and others had a whole raft of them. What I mean is the complaints about them, complaints that prices had gone down for cruises they had already booked. Lots of advice and posts about cancelling the booking and booking it at a cheaper price.

 

Many people in these discussions made the point that they would like to see P&O keep the same price all the time, up until he final deposit as they do in the US. Well this is what we got.

 

 

 

Gan Canny

 

 

Dai

[daiB]

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.

 

 

 

There is the point that without the price promise the Vantage fare could go up an down as the price did before thus making it pointless havering the scheme.

 

 

Gan Canny

 

 

Dai

:cool:

[Skintman]

Also note david.dingle@carnivalukgroup.com

 

I think David is President of Carnival UK.

 

I emailed him some time ago (also sent to Moneybox) and got a long reply from his PA. It went on at length, as expected, about their right to have late deal sales (no argument with that at all), but no real explanation about their meaningless "Price Promise".

[davecttr]

I indeed got hundreds of pounds of extra obc when the Vantage sheme was introduced, but so did many tens of thousands of others. I believe this is what their money box reply was referring to.

 

I also got a small additional amount of obc on my last Arcadia cruise but P&O did not communicate it to me, it was just there. A similar situation applies to my Oceana cruise next month, no communication but a mysterious £25 appearing on the invoice.

 

ps - the utter joy of Arcadias additional £70 obc was tempered by them omitting to give me the Peninsular discount on the balance of the account once the obc was spent. I am still awaiting a reply on that one, apparently it is in channels, hopefully not the english one!.

[English Voyager]

There is the point that without the price promise the Vantage fare could go up an down as the price did before thus making it pointless havering the scheme.

 

 

Gan Canny

 

 

Dai

:cool:

But what is the point of a scheme that, as far as one knows, is never activated?

 

Additionally, the benefits attaching to a Vantage fare can be small beer compared to a Getaway fare.

 

As an example:

Adonia- Fjords-14 nights departing 25 August

Outside from:

Vantage: £1729

Getaway: £849

[Cosmic Rays]

Also note david.dingle@carnivalukgroup.com

 

I think David is President of Carnival UK.

 

I emailed him some time ago (also sent to Moneybox) and got a long reply from his PA. It went on at length, as expected, about their right to have late deal sales (no argument with that at all), but no real explanation about their meaningless "Price Promise".

 

Following an email to David I got a phone call from his PA the following morning with the same 'business is business' lecture. I then asked him for her to follow up in an email to clarify which she did with a short email. They just don't get it do they?

[old nutter]

How about this for an way out :

 

Stop the Vantage/Getaway fiasco and make the booking conditions much smaller and much easier to understand by using the same pricing structure used by airlines and many High Street shops when they have sales - just make a single price promise as follows:

 

"The price you pay for your cruise is the price you pay for your cruise when you book it - after you have booked, the price will probably change for others to suit us, but not you."

 

Doing that everyone knows where they stand. Nobody expects Easy Jet, RyanAir or even BA to hold their flight prices when they can model them to suit each individual aircraft at any time prior to take-off. Why should cruises be any different, the market for each cruise is set at the time each person makes their booking, so the product you buy is what it is at the point you buy it. Simples eh?

[Skintman]

I've just read an article from the business travel company TTG Digital from 17th June called -

 

"P&O Cruises to review marketing of its Vantage Fares after complaints".

 

The article says -

 

P&O admitted it may need to make the differences between Getaway and Vantage fares clearer.

 

In the article P&O state - “We will certainly look at how it is communicated and whether there needs to be any amendments,” said a P&O spokeswoman. “The point is that the Vantage fare has all these benefits. The Vantage price promise applies to the Vantage fare, not to the Getaway fare. With Vantage you get the difference paid in cabin upgrade, car parking or onboard value, that does not apply to Getaway fares.”

[kevinyork]

How about this for an way out :

 

Stop the Vantage/Getaway fiasco and make the booking conditions much smaller and much easier to understand by using the same pricing structure used by airlines and many High Street shops when they have sales - just make a single price promise as follows:

 

"The price you pay for your cruise is the price you pay for your cruise when you book it - after you have booked, the price will probably change for others to suit us, but not you."

 

Doing that everyone knows where they stand. Nobody expects Easy Jet, RyanAir or even BA to hold their flight prices when they can model them to suit each individual aircraft at any time prior to take-off. Why should cruises be any different, the market for each cruise is set at the time each person makes their booking, so the product you buy is what it is at the point you buy it. Simples eh?

 

Way too sensible.........

 

 

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[kevinyork]

There were thousands who gained when the Vantage fares started, all those who had already booked. They all got OBC. Quite substantial OBC. I have heard of one or two who got unexpected OBC when then boarded. Davecttr who is a regular contributor has got a little bit back.

 

I think they used the expression "price promise" because of all the late deals last year and the year before. These boards, the community site on P&O and others had a whole raft of them. What I mean is the complaints about them, complaints that prices had gone down for cruises they had already booked. Lots of advice and posts about cancelling the booking and booking it at a cheaper price.

 

Many people in these discussions made the point that they would like to see P&O keep the same price all the time, up until he final deposit as they do in the US. Well this is what we got.

 

 

 

Gan Canny

 

 

Dai

 

Dai, the people who had booked before Vantage Fares existed and received OBC were a one off and didnt actually benefit by booking a Vantage Fare that subsequently fell. Moneybox should have asked of P&O 'how many passengers have booked a Vantage Fare which has later dropped and triggered an upgrade or OBC'. I bet that figure is tiny.

 

 

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[daiB]

Dai, the people who had booked before Vantage Fares existed and received OBC were a one off and didnt actually benefit by booking a Vantage Fare that subsequently fell. Moneybox should have asked of P&O 'how many passengers have booked a Vantage Fare which has later dropped and triggered an upgrade or OBC'. I bet that figure is tiny.

 

 

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Exactly they were the only "thousands" I could think they were meaning. If there had benn thousands gaining in some other way we would have heard about them.

 

 

Gan Canny

 

 

Dai

 

 

:cool:

[daiB]

Well yes Old Nutter said:-

 

"The price you pay for your cruise is the price you pay for your cruise when you book it - after you have booked, the price will probably change for others to suit us, but not you."

 

This is exactly what was happening before August last year but without the wording and as I have said people did not like it as all the moans on here and other boards testify.

 

So with P&O cruisers you definitely cannot please all the people all of the time.

 

 

Gan Canny

 

 

 

Dai

 

 

:cool:

[kevinyork]

Exactly they were the only "thousands" I could think they were meaning. If there had benn thousands gaining in some other way we would have heard about them.

 

 

Gan Canny

 

 

Dai

 

 

:cool:

 

Dai, surely we dont actually agree on something..... :-)

 

 

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[daiB]

Dai, surely we dont actually agree on something..... :-)

 

 

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Don't get used to it. :D

 

 

 

Gan Canny

 

 

Dai

 

:cool:

[Thejuggler]

I indeed got hundreds of pounds of extra obc when the Vantage sheme was introduced, but so did many tens of thousands of others. I believe this is what their money box reply was referring to.

.

 

How many tens of thousands? Have P&O released the actual figure of how many tens of thousands received OBC?

[daiB]

How many tens of thousands? Have P&O released the actual figure of how many tens of thousands received OBC?

 

Exactly why would they do that?

 

 

 

Gan Canny

 

 

Dai

[wilson2579]

I also had quite a substantial amount of OBC when the Vantage Fare was introduced as I booked early May 2012 for a cruise next month. I also received a small upgrade last week but it didn't mention this was to do with the Vantage Fare.

[norfolkbill]

Also note david.dingle@carnivalukgroup.com

 

I think David is President of Carnival UK.

 

I emailed him some time ago (also sent to Moneybox) and got a long reply from his PA. It went on at length, as expected, about their right to have late deal sales (no argument with that at all), but no real explanation about their meaningless "Price Promise".

 

It would seem that David Dingle might be the last man standing since the latest posts indicate that Carol Marlow and Peter Shanks have been sacrificed as of September.

 

I am not convinced that this is necessarily a positive step - just evidence that Miami is seizing even more control and the proponents of the dark arts will finally ensure the demise of what was a shining example of style & good values.

[tartanexile81]

“The point is that the Vantage fare has all these benefits. The Vantage price promise applies to the Vantage fare, not to the Getaway fare. With Vantage you get the difference paid in cabin upgrade, car parking or onboard value, that does not apply to Getaway fares.”

 

When I book a cruise, I'm always prepared to pay the price quoted, and I almost always book Vantage. The reason I do so is that I like to know well in advance when I'm going but most importantly I like to choose my cabin and take care over doing so. I'm sure that's the reason many others choose Vantage too and an upgrade is no use to me.

 

I live too far away to drive so don't need car parking and before the intro of Vantage Fares I was able to negotiate good amounts of OBC - more that the so-called "onboard value". Although it suits me to book in advance, I'm gaining nothing from P&O's Price Promise and I certainly have never had any pay-back from fares going down - except on Celebrity!

[old nutter]

 

This is exactly what was happening before August last year but without the wording and as I have said people did not like it as all the moans on here and other boards testify.

 

:cool:

 

I think you missed the whole significance of my point Dai. The problem is that they did not say clearly that this was what they were doing back then. If it was made abundantly clear that prices are not fixed, but move around depending on the demand and once booked prices for that booking would be fixed, everyone would understand.

 

The current system is a bit like mending and old bike tyre. Once you patch a puncture in the old inner tube, another one pops up further round the wheel that you did not find last time. Because the programme was not fully thought out (now where have I heard that applying elsewhere?) there have to be new exceptions to stop the rot. Believe it or not, whilst the headline differences between the two fare types are now well known, there are still some small differences between them that are not fully out in the open - still to be patched up before the whole thing is binned as too complicated and a thoughtfully bad idea..

[daiB]

I think you missed the whole significance of my point Dai. The problem is that they did not say clearly that this was what they were doing back then. If it was made abundantly clear that prices are not fixed, but move around depending on the demand and once booked prices for that booking would be fixed, everyone would understand.

 

The current system is a bit like mending and old bike tyre. Once you patch a puncture in the old inner tube, another one pops up further round the wheel that you did not find last time. Because the programme was not fully thought out (now where have I heard that applying elsewhere?) there have to be new exceptions to stop the rot. Believe it or not, whilst the headline differences between the two fare types are now well known, there are still some small differences between them that are not fully out in the open - still to be patched up before the whole thing is binned as too complicated and a thoughtfully bad idea..

 

 

No you are wrong, read what I said. You are describing what happened before, and as I said above "without the wording."

 

Prices were never guaranteed, if you got a quote the stock phrase was this is valid only for the length of this phone call. When we booked our first cruise in 2001 the price went up from the morning I got a quote from my TA to us booking about an hour later. That was quite clear. And it was made clear when you asked for a quote.

 

To stop that the company brought a one price fare which they guaranteed would not move, and if by some circumstance it did then....and so on.

 

So again it was made clear every time you got a quote. I am sure the brochure said something like these prices are not guaranteed and are only a guide.

 

 

 

Gan Canny

 

 

Dai

[norfolkbill]

When I book a cruise, I'm always prepared to pay the price quoted, and I almost always book Vantage. The reason I do so is that I like to know well in advance when I'm going but most importantly I like to choose my cabin and take care over doing so. I'm sure that's the reason many others choose Vantage too and an upgrade is no use to me.

 

I live too far away to drive so don't need car parking and before the intro of Vantage Fares I was able to negotiate good amounts of OBC - more that the so-called "onboard value". Although it suits me to book in advance, I'm gaining nothing from P&O's Price Promise and I certainly have never had any pay-back from fares going down - except on Celebrity!

 

We (my wife & I) booked with Cunard on Vantage Fare Terms for a cruise this May when they were first announced in July 2012. We carefully selected our cabin and hence stated that we would opt for onboard credit in the event of a complimentary benefit. With no notification and only 4 days to our departure we discovered that they had bounced us from our selected cabin.

I telephoned Cunard immediately to be told initially that they couldn't change it back since "the ship was fully booked" (no doubt with all those on the cheap Getaway Fares)!

So much for the "Peace of Mind" promise - We lost a whole very stressful day in trying to get the nonsense sorted and did not receive any apology or response to my complaints via phone & E mail.

We would not have had the stress, would have been able to relax and enjoy our much anticipated cruise, would have obtained superior accomodation and have saved ourselves at least £1200.

This is an utter fiasco and Cunard & P&O should acknowledge this.

[daiB]

We (my wife & I) booked with Cunard on Vantage Fare Terms for a cruise this May when they were first announced in July 2012. We carefully selected our cabin and hence stated that we would opt for onboard credit in the event of a complimentary benefit. With no notification and only 4 days to our departure we discovered that they had bounced us from our selected cabin.

I telephoned Cunard immediately to be told initially that they couldn't change it back since "the ship was fully booked" (no doubt with all those on the cheap Getaway Fares)!

So much for the "Peace of Mind" promise - We lost a whole very stressful day in trying to get the nonsense sorted and did not receive any apology or response to my complaints via phone & E mail.

We would not have had the stress, would have been able to relax and enjoy our much anticipated cruise, would have obtained superior accomodation and have saved ourselves at least £1200.

This is an utter fiasco and Cunard & P&O should acknowledge this.

 

What you describe is nothing to do with Vantage fares. This has been going on for a couple of years, people moved from accommodation they had chosen to an upgrade which they did not want. Particularly bad on Azura/Ventura with some one moved from C deck with there very large balconies to A deck.

 

When you booked you should have been asked if you wanted an upgrade, if you did not want one then a box is ticked on the form. If you do not have the box ticked they will give you and automatic upgrade if one comes available.

 

The mistake in your case lies with whoever you made the booking. A TA or Cunard. Again nothing to do with Vantage fares.

 

 

Gan Canny

 

 

 

Dai

 

:cool: