Late Saver v Select Prices on Transatlantic - What a difference.

[the english lady]

We've booked transatlantic on Adonia for this March and booked early as it is to celebrate our ruby anniversary. At that time cruises were full fare but we booked because Adonia is a small ship and we thought it would get booked up quickly - how wrong can you be? Fares have plummeted but when we asked if we could change to a balcony at the new lower fare, we were told we could only do so if we paid the full brochure price.

 

I eventually complained to David Dingle who is the CEO and got a reply from one of his team who said that P&O was a commercial company and they needed to maximise profits so tough. (Still have the email if anyone wants to read it.)

 

We shall not be sailing with P&O again unless we take advantage of a bargain basement, late sailing fare. By contrast we cruised with Princess in October, they reduced our fares when they had a special offer and gave us 50 dollars OBC for the inconvenience.

 

P&O have become arrogant and feel that they have such loyal customers that they can treat us all with disdain.

 

Have you never ever purchased anything in a shop at one price and gone in a couple of weeks later to find it at half the price.

You could just as easily decided not to book at full select fare price and the grade you wanted could have sold out, then no cruise at all.

They are not treating you with distain. They are a business and have to make a profit. If all the ships sailed all the time with all fares at saver levels there would be no p and o very soon.

[jeanlyon]

I was just about to say the same thing. We have booked Adonia for April. I liked the price when I booked and at the moment, the cheapest fare is £300 pp more than I paid. Swings and roundabouts.

 

Crossing the Atlantic in March would not suit everyone so maybe it's not a popular option?

Edited January 13, 2015 by jeanlyon

[silver wedding]

I fully appreciate that P&O is a commercial company but its pricing policy stinks.

[davecttr]

I fully appreciate that P&O is a commercial company but its pricing policy stinks.

Would it have been cost effective to cancel your original booking and make a new booking at the reduced price?

[daiB]

I fully appreciate that P&O is a commercial company but its pricing policy stinks.

 

 

Sorry but every single cruise company reduces the price if they have not sold their cabins some up to 80%. Saying it is only P&O is just wrong.

 

 

 

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[Scriv]

Look at all the sales in the shops at the moment..... are you going to go back and ask for a refund on the lovely item you bought before Christmas because you saw what you wanted then?

[warringtonian]

Would it have been cost effective to cancel your original booking and make a new booking at the reduced price?

 

We did that a few years ago with Fred Olsen. For the second year running after we had booked a cruise they reduced the prices but refused to reduce ours. We cancelled and lost our deposit but booked a cheaper Princess cruise instead so if anything we got more for our money.

We have gone from being a regular Fred Olsen customer to not using them at all and as we usually stay in suites it is their loss.

[terrierjohn]

Oh I didnt know that we could end up on seperate flights. That would be a non starter as Mum is in a wheelchair and needs assistance from one of us with one or two of the others carrying the wheelchair pushers' hand luggage. (she hates having to reply on airport/port disabled asssistance.

 

Kevin, I cannot envisage any cruise line not being accomodating with flight preferences for a wheelchair customer, even P&O's customer service would surely not risk the sort of backlash this would create in the media.

[Haworth]

I believe that the passenger mix on P&O helps them with their pricing strategies, the majority of passengers are British, booking through UK travel agents and covered by UK consumer law.

 

Other lines e.g. Celebrity have a much broader mix of passengers including those in the USA who can cancel up to final payment with no loss of deposit, in this market the Select/Saver pricing structure would not work.

 

People will continue to book early with P&O as they have specific needs for, cabin type, dining time or no fly cruises, whilst passengers continue to accept this then the pricing will continue

 

We would like to cruise with P&O again but on our terms not theirs

[heywood]

We have gone from being a regular Fred Olsen customer to not using them at all and as we usually stay in suites it is their loss.

 

It is only FO's loss if the suite remains unsold.

[warringtonian]

It is only FO's loss if the suite remains unsold.

 

But we would have paid full price had we not found out that the prices had later been reduced so whoever took over the suite from us presumably paid the lower price.

[the english lady]

Kevin, I cannot envisage any cruise line not being accomodating with flight preferences for a wheelchair customer, even P&O's customer service would surely not risk the sort of backlash this would create in the media.

 

If all the flights are booked up-if we have gone down to saver fares one can assume close to sailing, pray tell where would they magic these extra seats from.

They cannot do the impossible.

I am not being sarcastic, just reading your post my first thought was flights are full, except for 2 seats..where do they magic the extra 2 seats up,for a party of 4.

[richleeds]

Kevin, I cannot envisage any cruise line not being accomodating with flight preferences for a wheelchair customer, even P&O's customer service would surely not risk the sort of backlash this would create in the media.

 

 

If the flight is full, the flight is full, they wouldn't offload booked passengers on a flight to accommodate a wheelchair user.

[kersh]

Check out the select prices now compared to early saver. They are giving a lot extra OBC on select fares that they work out little difference to the saver fares as long as you usually have a large on board spend to pay.

You need to go right through the booking process to get to the right OBC figure.

[the english lady]

Check out the select prices now compared to early saver. They are giving a lot extra OBC on select fares that they work out little difference to the saver fares as long as you usually have a large on board spend to pay.

You need to go right through the booking process to get to the right OBC figure.

Which kind of ties in with a post I did a few months ago.

Basically start of with select price with the OBC, how in the end does it compare with the early saver/saver fares.

Agreed you need to be the sort of person/people who usually have a large bill at the end for it to be worth it.

Thinking about it any cruise line must have a base figure that they would not sell a cabin below, as they still have to feed that person etc.

[Blodders70]

We've just come back from our New Year Caribbean cruise on a select fare. We were a family of 4 sharing one cabin. P&O sold us another outside cabin 5 days before we left for £250, which we considered a bargain, and probably saved our sanity too!

[jasperado]

Which kind of ties in with a post I did a few months ago.

Basically start of with select price with the OBC, how in the end does it compare with the early saver/saver fares.

Agreed you need to be the sort of person/people who usually have a large bill at the end for it to be worth it.

Thinking about it any cruise line must have a base figure that they would not sell a cabin below, as they still have to feed that person etc.

Booked last week on Ventura for 27 September....inside B deck. Long time to wait for holiday.

Early saver : no dining choices, no OBC, no shuttles in certain ports £999.

Select : dining choices, shuttles, choice of location of cabin £1159 - less £65 OBC for booking select, £50 OBC for booking before 28/02/15, extra £50 OBC for going through a specialist TA, £994

Only a £5 saving, but a £5 saving with choices.

This might be a fluke, but it was comparible this time last year as well.

 

Whoops!! Just realised this is for Carribean cruises and I have priced for a Med cruise. Apologies to all. Wish I could erase the post and stick a fork in my eye. :(

Edited January 16, 2015 by jasperado

[richleeds]

.....youve still got time to click the edit button and put "I love P&O" as your message.

[richleeds]

We've just come back from our New Year Caribbean cruise on a select fare. We were a family of 4 sharing one cabin. P&O sold us another outside cabin 5 days before we left for £250, which we considered a bargain, and probably saved our sanity too!

 

Sounds very reasonable and a bit of extra revenue for P&O on an empty cabin.

[jasperado]

.....youve still got time to click the edit button and put "I love P&O" as your message.

 

No can do!!! I have chosen the fork.....there is no going back, :)

The moral of the posting is......read the question and do the sums!! :p

[kevinyork]

Thanks to all who offered advice on this thread. After much deliberation, P&O doubled their current OBC offer. So we are now taking our respective Mums, who both turn 80 this spring so this is a birthday treat for them, on Britannia at the end of March with £640 OBC per cabin and freedom dining! Luckily my trepedation about booking the transatlantic Saver fare kept me from booking long enough for this offer to come up.

 

 

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[Scriv]

Great news - hope you all have a brilliant time and enjoy spendning all that lovely OBC. I bet the 80 year olds will have the time of their loves. :)

[richleeds]

Thanks to all who offered advice on this thread. After much deliberation, P&O doubled their current OBC offer. So we are now taking our respective Mums, who both turn 80 this spring so this is a birthday treat for them, on Britannia at the end of March with £640 OBC per cabin and freedom dining! Luckily my trepedation about booking the transatlantic Saver fare kept me from booking long enough for this offer to come up.

 

 

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I echo Scriv - great news! And with us giving you so much to think about option wise and delaying your decision making, we are also taking full credit!!

[Scriv]

Oops typo - 'lives' not 'loves' for the 80 year olds! And yes, have a tipple on us!

[kevinyork]

I echo Scriv - great news! And with us giving you so much to think about option wise and delaying your decision making, we are also taking full credit!!

 

 

Credit given! Its going to be a trial spending £640 OBC. but we will do our best and think of England!

 

 

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