Booked select fare but can't select cabin?!

[Plastowc]

Hi 

I'm completely new to all of this! Booked to go on Ventura (P&O) for next June. Was told by a friend to book the select fare as can chose our cabin. So Iv booked on a select but had no option of choosing a room?! 

Cruise personaliser website says a room would be allocated from 42 days prior to departure on a guaranteed basis. Bit annoyed by this, travelling with a young toddler I wanted to book early and pay extra to select a cabin so we won't get all the loud noise . 

Is this correct?! 

Also we booked an inside room and keep seeing obline there are different grades, but again I had no option of this and no idea what grade we have. 

 

Apologies if I am being really stupid here!! 

Thank you 

[ann141]

1 minute ago, Plastowc said:

Hi 

I'm completely new to all of this! Booked to go on Ventura (P&O) for next June. Was told by a friend to book the select fare as can chose our cabin. So Iv booked on a select but had no option of choosing a room?! 

Cruise personaliser website says a room would be allocated from 42 days prior to departure on a guaranteed basis. Bit annoyed by this, travelling with a young toddler I wanted to book early and pay extra to select a cabin so we won't get all the loud noise . 

Is this correct?! 

Also we booked an inside room and keep seeing obline there are different grades, but again I had no option of this and no idea what grade we have. 

 

Apologies if I am being really stupid here!! 

Thank you 

Did you just book online or did you book through an agent? If you booked online I would recommend phoning customer services (Freephone 08000523840) to explain what you have stated here and hopefully they may be able to help

[Harry Peterson]

 Not being stupid at all. I can see why you’re not happy. It looks rather as if you haven’t got a Select booking. Best contact your agent or P&O if no agent for advice.

[Plastowc]

Yes book online direct with p&o! 

[delgirl]

We had the same when we booked for oceana, apparently if you book the lowest grade (a balcony in our case) you just get a guarantee but with select promises (ie, onboard spend and we picked our dining times). If we had paid for the next grade up it would have cost us nearly £100.00 more each, just to pick our cabin. As we are not bothered where we are on the ship we left it as a guarantee. We still have our £150.00 onboard spend per cabin so am quite happy.

[Plastowc]

Hi, 

We only had option of early saver or select fare. There wasn't anymore options. 

Also got £30pp onboard spend

I'm so confused lol  

[terrierjohn]

8 minutes ago, Plastowc said:

 We have already booked ☹️

You can request to have your booking transferred to an agent of your choice, if you find a good one they should give you independent advice and warn of the pitfalls for the unwary or inexperienced cruiser.  You might even get additional discount or OBC from them if you ask nicely.

[P-L-B]

1 hour ago, Plastowc said:

Hi 

I'm completely new to all of this! Booked to go on Ventura (P&O) for next June. Was told by a friend to book the select fare as can chose our cabin. So Iv booked on a select but had no option of choosing a room?! 

Cruise personaliser website says a room would be allocated from 42 days prior to departure on a guaranteed basis. Bit annoyed by this, travelling with a young toddler I wanted to book early and pay extra to select a cabin so we won't get all the loud noise . 

Is this correct?! 

Also we booked an inside room and keep seeing obline there are different grades, but again I had no option of this and no idea what grade we have. 

 

Apologies if I am being really stupid here!! 

Thank you 

We have always booked select fare through our TA and have always been able to select our cabin.

I would suggest you to take ann141 and docco advice and contact P&O direct.

Ask them for clarification as to why you were not offered the option of selecting your cabin when making your on line select fare booking.

We would be interested to hear what their response is and if they have recently changed their select fare terms and conditions of booking.

[P-L-B]

19 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

You can request to have your booking transferred to an agent of your choice, if you find a good one they should give you independent advice and warn of the pitfalls for the unwary or inexperienced cruiser.  You might even get additional discount or OBC from them if you ask nicely.

Agreed, that's another option to consider.

[stephen@stoneyard.co.uk]

I always book Select fares. On two occasions I have not been able to select my cabin. I received all of the other Select perks. 

 

 Best wishes, Stephen. 

[P-L-B]

23 minutes ago, stephen@stoneyard.co.uk said:

I always book Select fares. On two occasions I have not been able to select my cabin. I received all of the other Select perks. 

 

 Best wishes, Stephen. 

Thanks Stephen for sharing your experiences regarding you Select Fare Bookings.

It looks like we have been lucky so far with our Select Fare bookings.

Is it documented anywhere in P&O small print that you are not guaranteed to be able to always choose your cabin when making a Select Fare booking?

If not it should be made clear to potential customers early in the booking process.

In my case I have always booked through my travel agent and they have never mentioned this to me in the past.

Edited May 25, 2019 by P-L-B

[wowzz]

I would say that comparing fares when booking with P&O or with some other inland travel agent, P&O have always been the more expensive. I therefore never book direct, as it is more expensive.

[Plastowc]

42 minutes ago, stephen@stoneyard.co.uk said:

I always book Select fares. On two occasions I have not been able to select my cabin. I received all of the other Select perks. 

 

 Best wishes, Stephen. 

 Ok thank you. 

Does that mean I wouldn't have been able to select the grade of inside room either? - so basically am I stuck with what I am given?! 

[Plastowc]

28 minutes ago, P-L-B said:

Thanks Stephen for sharing your experiences regarding you Select Fare Bookings.

It looks like we have been lucky so far with our Select Fare bookings.

Is it documented anywhere in P&O small print that you are not guaranteed to be able to always choose your cabin when making a Select Fare booking?

If not it should be made clear to potential customers early in the booking process.

In my case I have always booked through my travel agent and they have never mentioned this to me in the past.

I have to agree. It lists being able to chose a cabin as a benefit, along with freedom dining etc so wish it was made clearer. 

[Tom Baker]

If you booked direct with them through their website you have a short window of opportunity to cancel your booking (should you wish to) without losing your deposit.

 

They will (probably) tell you that if you cancel you will lose your deposit. This is not true. You have the right to cancel with a full refund under "Distance Selling Regulations"

 

Contact them by phone asap explaining the situation and if they can't help cancel.

[bee-ess]

9 hours ago, Plastowc said:

Hi 

I'm completely new to all of this! Booked to go on Ventura (P&O) for next June. Was told by a friend to book the select fare as can chose our cabin. So Iv booked on a select but had no option of choosing a room?! 

Cruise personaliser website says a room would be allocated from 42 days prior to departure on a guaranteed basis. Bit annoyed by this, travelling with a young toddler I wanted to book early and pay extra to select a cabin so we won't get all the loud noise . 

Is this correct?! 

Also we booked an inside room and keep seeing obline there are different grades, but again I had no option of this and no idea what grade we have. 

 

Apologies if I am being really stupid here!! 

Thank you 

 

I agree with all the advice given. Frankly the new website is a bit of a mess and I can understand your situation happening to anyone. Being able to choose your cabin grade and cabin number on a Select fare is the fundamental reason for choosing a Select Fare over Saver Fare and the new website has made this difficult to achieve.

I would phone them ASAP (today) and tell them that you want to choose your cabin Grade and cabin otherwise you want to cancel. Your may have to pay a little more to get what you want as I guess they have allocated the cheapest grade cabin.

As others have said I would use a travel agent in the future as they will talk you through the process of choosing cabins etc and you will get the cruise for a little bit cheaper price.

[the english lady]

If the grade you want is very close to selling out there are 2 options.

1-----they say sorry sold out and you pay more for the grade that does still have cabins available .

2----they say sorry that grade is guarantee only. You are basically paying the price for that grade, get all the other bits and pieces of select fare , but usually you are upgraded to the grade you could have paid more for in scenario 1.

If people have never come across this before they have been lucky in that the grade they wanted was nowhere near selling out.

A few ago it would have just been a case of sold out and thats it.. now there is this option, and also it means people on select fare are the first in line to be upgraded. I think it came in roundabout when Brittania came on line. Cetainly thats when I started seeing posts about it.

[Plastowc]

Thanks everyone, will call them this morning and see if I can select a cabin or how much extra it is to be able to do so- if they can't help I will look to cancel and rebook with a ta however on first glance the one recommended above was slightly more expensive 

 

 

I guess that leads me onto the most asked question... any suggestions what deck / cabin location I should chose? It's on Ventura- 

Husband potentially gets sea sick (although I've only got the bay of Biscay in a major storm as proof he suffers with it so he may be fine!) 

And quiet enough for our 3 year old to sleep 

Thank you 

[Plastowc]

The phones open at 10am. 

Just did a dummy booking for my cruise and it now lets me select a room- however all the midship ones have sold out which I believe are best. 

 Deck choices available 8,9,10,12,14 

Aft, mid forward or forward 

[AndyMichelle]

18 minutes ago, Plastowc said:

Thanks everyone, will call them this morning and see if I can select a cabin or how much extra it is to be able to do so- if they can't help I will look to cancel and rebook with a ta however on first glance the one recommended above was slightly more expensive 

 

 

I guess that leads me onto the most asked question... any suggestions what deck / cabin location I should chose? It's on Ventura- 

Husband potentially gets sea sick (although I've only got the bay of Biscay in a major storm as proof he suffers with it so he may be fine!) 

And quiet enough for our 3 year old to sleep 

Thank you 

Mid ship fairly low seems to be the rule of thumb for sea sickness.

Obviously, these tend to be the higher grade cabins as sought after, the lower grades are invariably high front or have other issues. Fine if you want rocking to sleep, but not good for sea sickness.

I hope you get it sorted and have a great time.

Andy

[AndyMichelle]

2 minutes ago, Plastowc said:

The phones open at 10am. 

Just did a dummy booking for my cruise and it now lets me select a room- however all the midship ones have sold out which I believe are best. 

 Deck choices available 8,9,10,12,14 

Aft, mid forward or forward 

Low, mid forward for sea sickness from them choices, but be careful of other potential issues around, like noise from theatres etc.

Andy

[Harry Peterson]

1 minute ago, AndyMichelle said:

Low, mid forward for sea sickness from them choices, but be careful of other potential issues around, like noise from theatres etc.

Andy

I’d agree. Aft might also suit - we love it - but it’s not everybody’s cup of tea. Better than forward for sea sickness, certainly.

[annieuk]

I recently booked Select but in the grade cabin I wanted, a Mini Suite, the only option was to accept a Guarantee cabin.  This meant that I would get, at a minimum, the grade Mini Suite I wanted but wouldn't be able to select the cabin itself.  I was told there was a chance that I would get above the grade I had booked and paid for.  In the event I was allocated a grade above the one I had booked - a Mini Suite but in a better position than the one I'd paid for.  I wasn't asked for any extra money.  I assume that depending on how many cabins of a particular grade have already been booked, then they can't allocate you a specific cabin and you'll have to wait until they start allocating the remaining cabins.  People cancel at the last minute due to all sorts of things - I've had to do it just three weeks before sailing so cabins do become available at the last minute.  I don't think you can insist on having a specific cabin if you accept a Guarantee cabin, even if it's on a Select Booking.  Anyway, we were very pleased with our allocation.

[Selbourne]

I must confess that I have never understood the ‘guaranteed cabin’ concept, just the standard Select and Saver fares but, if it helps, we have always booked direct with P&O under a Select basis and always been able to choose a specific cabin number. However, I do not book online, I phone them. The reason for this is that the website only offers you a small selection of cabins whereas the advisor can check availability of all available cabins.

 

As a newbie, you might be best to use a 3rd party cruise specialist (rather than generic travel agent) as up to five per cent discount is usually available and they have good knowledge of good and bad cabins and can access all availability as well. I only book direct as I am fortunate to be eligible to get just as good a deal (often better) doing so and I have used the same advisor for years who knows me when I call and has always got me my first choice cabin at launch etc. If I was unable to benefit from these aspects I would use a cruise specialist. 

 

As far as ‘good and bad’ cabin locations, a simple rule is not to book any cabin that is directly above, below or adjacent to any public areas. The absolute worst cabins will be above live music venues or underneath sunbathing decks as you will be disturbed at ungodly hours by deck crews dragging deck chairs around to clean the decks etc. 

 

In your case, a telephone call to P&O should be able to resolve the issue. 

[Selbourne]

Two things I forgot to say. 

 

Sea sickness - we have had cabins at the very front, at the very rear and midships and have to say that, if the seas are rough, you will feel it everywhere. Once on Britannia in rough seas on the Bay of Biscay, where the ship was ‘corkscrewing’,  I did an ‘experiment’. I went to various areas of the ship (forward, aft, midships etc) and there was negligible difference in each area. Received wisdom is that ‘middle and low’ is the best for least motion and this is easily achievable with an inside cabin. The key is Stugeron, a brilliant sea sickness tablet. We tried several remedies before we were recommended them. None had worked. Since discovering Stugeron none of us has ever felt sea sick, even in force 11 seas!

 

Upgrades - be aware that what P&O constitutes to be an ‘upgrade’ isn’t what I would consider to be one. There are also two types of ‘upgrade’. At the ‘default’ level, an upgrade can be to exactly the same type of cabin but just at a sub grade that P&O classified as higher. P&O sub grades are determined almost solely by proximity to midships, yet these aren’t always better from a noise perspective. Some friends of ours were ‘upgraded’ to a midships Suite on Azura and hated it as they were woken at 6am every morning by the scraping of deck chairs overhead as they were being moved for deck cleaning. You can specify ‘Upgrade but only if to a different TYPE of cabin’, in other words, if you booked an inside cabin, the least you would get is an outside (with window) cabin. Again, you might end up in a worse position, but the trade off will be a nicer cabin.