Back to back cruises

[longton]

We are planning our first P&O cruise. We have sailed with Cunard and Seabourn previously.

 

We like Cunard but their Med cruises begin and end in Southampton and we don't want to spend a few days crossing the Bay of Biscay. 

 

We want to do 2 back to back Med cruises on Azura which start and finish in Malta.

 

I have a couple of questions:

 

Would we keep the same cabin for both cruises?

 

Is there any discount for booking b2b cruises?

 

Many thanks for taking the time to reply.

 

 

 

 

[Bin man]

I think you would have to book the same cabin when you booked and I'm sure you get a discount think its 10 % check with a cruise agent 

[No pager thank you]

24 minutes ago, Bin man said:

I think you would have to book the same cabin when you booked and I'm sure you get a discount think its 10 % check with a cruise agent 

You can get a 10% discount but it depends on the individual and combined lengths of the cruises.  I think that the minimum length of each cruise has to be more than five days, which it sounds as if yours will be. 

 

What you will need to check is the base cost as you will of course only need one set of return flights.  P&O will answer pretty quickly on new bookings and best to do this on the phone either with them or if you prefer a TA.

 

We have done this in the past and have booked the cruises at the same time, requested and selected the same cabin and said no to an upgrade to guarantee no problems. 

 

You have to do the muster drill each time and swap cards at reception, but otherwise very straightforward.  We booked the select fare, as we like Freedom dining, but not sure if this is required.  It is on FAQs on their website by memory.  Hope this helps.

[No pager thank you]

2 minutes ago, No pager thank you said:

You can get a 10% discount but it depends on the individual and combined lengths of the cruises.  I think that the minimum length of each cruise has to be more than five days, which it sounds as if yours will be. 

 

What you will need to check is the base cost as you will of course only need one set of return flights.  P&O will answer pretty quickly on new bookings and best to do this on the phone either with them or if you prefer a TA.

 

We have done this in the past and have booked the cruises at the same time, requested and selected the same cabin and said no to an upgrade to guarantee no problems. 

 

You have to do the muster drill each time and swap cards at reception, but otherwise very straightforward.  We booked the select fare, as we like Freedom dining, but not sure if this is required.  It is on FAQs on their website by memory.  Hope this helps.

Sorry to correct myself, it does not appear that combination saver applies to non select fare bookings, or on 7 day Med Fly Cruise routes unless the policy has recently changed.

 

Still worth checking though.

[longton]

Many thanks for the quick and helpful replies.

 

The cruises are two weeks and one week.

 

Geat if we can get a discount. I'll check prices with P&O and my usual travel agent and let you know what transpires.

[Manx buoy]

You don’t get the back to back discounts on fly cruises unfortunately 

[wowzz]

1 hour ago, Manx buoy said:

You don’t get the back to back discounts on fly cruises unfortunately 

Which makes sense.

[terrierjohn]

9 hours ago, wowzz said:

Which makes sense.

You would think P&O would offer it against the cruise cost though.

[wowzz]

3 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

You would think P&O would offer it against the cruise cost though.

I'm assuming that a b2b on a fly cruise causes difficulties in maximising seat utilisation on the "middle" flight sectors,  hence the decision not to offer any discount.

[terrierjohn]

3 minutes ago, wowzz said:

I'm assuming that a b2b on a fly cruise causes difficulties in maximising seat utilisation on the "middle" flight sectors,  hence the decision not to offer any discount.

Yes I thought of that problem just after I posted, as usual I have 20/20 hindsight.

[TPers]

We did three weeks on Oceana last year and did not get the B2B discount.
 

We changed cabin for the third week of the cruise - to the one next door.

 

Our cabin steward was brilliant and ensured that the cabin we were moving into was cleaned more or less first thing and we just swopped drawers and carted all our stuff next door. We were in and settled into the cabin around 10ish.

 

The only problem we had was the issuing of new key cards for the cabin. We picked them up at reception and wandered into Malta for a bit. Although they scanned properly leaving the ship they didnt coming back on. We were given another set at reception but when we came to purchase a drink they weren’t recognised. So another reissue and third time lucky.

 

We did not have to do a muster for the third week. We did enquire when we picked up our new card but were told we did not have to attend. 
 

We loved the three weeks. It flew by and we could have easily stayed on for a fourth. I would love to do again but lack of holidays means it’s two weeks next year.

 

 

 

[longton]

An update.

 

I phoned P&O and my travel agent this afternoon.

 

We do get a 10% discount off both cruises but the discount is only off the Select Fare and not the Early Saver Fare.

 

With the discount and the onboard credit the fare was only slightly higher than the Saver Fare.

 

We are happy.

[No pager thank you]

15 minutes ago, longton said:

An update.

 

I phoned P&O and my travel agent this afternoon.

 

We do get a 10% discount off both cruises but the discount is only off the Select Fare and not the Early Saver Fare.

 

With the discount and the onboard credit the fare was only slightly higher than the Saver Fare.

 

We are happy.

That's a good result.

 

Hopefully all goes smoothly with the cruises - enjoy 👍

[terrierjohn]

1 hour ago, longton said:

An update.

 

I phoned P&O and my travel agent this afternoon.

 

We do get a 10% discount off both cruises but the discount is only off the Select Fare and not the Early Saver Fare.

 

With the discount and the onboard credit the fare was only slightly higher than the Saver Fare.

 

We are happy.

Good news for you as the consensus on this post was that the B2B discount did not apply to fly cruises.

[wowzz]

2 hours ago, terrierjohn said:

Good news for you as the consensus on this post was that the B2B discount did not apply to fly cruises.

Glad you got the discount. 

However, as I am now the Corporal Jones of this site, I do have to add that it is, of course, very unlikely that your cruise(s) will go ahead. 

[Manx buoy]

9 hours ago, terrierjohn said:

Good news for you as the consensus on this post was that the B2B discount did not apply to fly cruises.

You definitely don’t for the Caribbean ones as we’ve done several of them and had nothing

[AndyMichelle]

7 hours ago, wowzz said:

Glad you got the discount. 

However, as I am now the Corporal Jones of this site, I do have to add that it is, of course, very unlikely that your cruise(s) will go ahead. 

We're doomed.. 😊

[Son of Anarchy]

Prior to recent global events, we were thinking about a Caribbean b2b.  Phoned PandO to ask if the price would be reduced due to not having 2 flights.  Was told that we get 10% b2b discount on both cruises.  I said that I thought the website said that b2b discount doesn't apply to fly cruises.  The person on the end of the phone checked with one of her colleagues, the website was correct, and no reduction for not needing inbetween flights.  I wasn't surprised at the initial mis-information, but it did worry me that the person on the phone would have happily taken a booking offering me a 10% discount, which actually wasn't available.  

[No pager thank you]

3 hours ago, Son of Anarchy said:

 I wasn't surprised at the initial mis-information, but it did worry me that the person on the phone would have happily taken a booking offering me a 10% discount, which actually wasn't available.  

It is surprising that P&O often gives the flights a value of zero.  A number of other lines would deduct from the fare if either a set of flights were not required, or if the customer preferred to make their own arrangements.

 

To be honest, and you will probably know this I imagine 😃 - with P&O, if you get actually misinformed to your genuine disadvantage first time, then it always worth "having a think about it" and then calling back again....

[Manx buoy]

4 hours ago, Son of Anarchy said:

Prior to recent global events, we were thinking about a Caribbean b2b.  Phoned PandO to ask if the price would be reduced due to not having 2 flights.  Was told that we get 10% b2b discount on both cruises.  I said that I thought the website said that b2b discount doesn't apply to fly cruises.  The person on the end of the phone checked with one of her colleagues, the website was correct, and no reduction for not needing inbetween flights.  I wasn't surprised at the initial mis-information, but it did worry me that the person on the phone would have happily taken a booking offering me a 10% discount, which actually wasn't available.  

According to their brochure the discount is not available for 7 night Med cruises so I don’t know how it works  If Longton is doing a 14+7 🤷‍♂️  Like you say the reservation/refund staff don’t seem to have much idea as to what their own terms and conditions actually are so there’s no hope for the rest of us

[longton]

Yes, we are doing 14 + 7 day cruises.

 

When I mentioned we want to do back to back cruises both the P&O agent and the travel agent immediately told me we would get 10% off without any prompting from me.

 

I agree that the brochure does seem to contradict what we were told and sold.

[Manx buoy]

48 minutes ago, longton said:

Yes, we are doing 14 + 7 day cruises.

 

When I mentioned we want to do back to back cruises both the P&O agent and the travel agent immediately told me we would get 10% off without any prompting from me.

 

I agree that the brochure does seem to contradict what we were told and sold.

Don’t argue with them if it’s in your favour not very often that happens enjoy it

[KnowTheScore]

On ‎6‎/‎12‎/‎2020 at 7:29 PM, longton said:

We want to do 2 back to back Med cruises on Azura which start and finish in Malta.

 

I have a couple of questions:

 

Would we keep the same cabin for both cruises?

 

 

Ideally you would try to book the same cabin on both cruises if that cabin is to your taste.  Then there's no fuss and you have nothing to worry about on the disembarkation day of the first cruise.

 

However it's absolutely not a requirement to do B2Bs

 

You can quite happily have different cabins.  If you do so then on the morning of the disembarkation day after everyone else has got off, stewards will come to you cabin with a rolling clothes rail and transfer all your clothes from your wardrobes to it and take it to your new cabin for you as well as any other cases and bags.  The staff are very good.

 

When we did this we found that the cleaning and preparation of our 2nd cabin had been given priority so that this move could be undertaken as early as possible.   All very simple and relatively seamless.

 

.

[yamanid]

On 6/12/2020 at 9:30 PM, Manx buoy said:

You don’t get the back to back discounts on fly cruises unfortunately 

 

 

We have done BtoB fly cruises for years with P&O and you will get 10% discount if you are booking a Select fare.

😎

[Manx buoy]

1 hour ago, yamanid said:

 

 

We have done BtoB fly cruises for years with P&O and you will get 10% discount if you are booking a Select fare.

😎

Always booked select fare never had discount on Caribbean fly cruises as per what it says in the brochure but with the high level of customer service given by P&O it wouldn’t surprise me that it varies from booking to booking. Always get it for B2B from Southampton no problem