Anyone pre-registering ready to book late 2022/early 2023?

[tring]

28 minutes ago, yorkshirephil said:

We were told by P&O that a deposit was not required as our FCC was used, we booked via phone, however someone said they had booked online (Tring I think) and also had their FCC used but also had to pay the deposit.

Yes we did an online booking for the Azura translocation to the Canaries Oct '22.  The system automatically added our FCC's to the booking, but a deposit was also requested.  Really no issue as the amounts of our FCC and deposit were not much.

 

We do have a firm booking as I understand it at a firm price which would not be the case with an agent.  I also assume that is something we are also obliged to adhere to as we have all the normal paperwork, including booking ref for that, though if someone wants to cancel they could always ask.  I remember looking at posts on a previous launch day and some people were saying they did not get the intial price as it had risen by the time their agent's booking wen through, so we are very happy bunnies with that at the price and can still change to a preferred cabin if we want to do so - loads of cabins in the grade we have booked and only a small proportion would be a problem.

 

We felt quite differently about our Aurora Caribbean booking as few cabins which we would be happy with, so decided to try another agent for that.  We have decided to sack our previous long standing one since their pre-registration did not work as planned last time we did that.  Though tbh they had been spot on previously and done us proud on a number of occasions on very difficult to book cruises - one of which the well used agent on here refused to take our pre-registration as they said they had a lot of pre-regs for that.  We would have been new customers and they were just not interested.  Does make me think our Aurora Reg may take a back seat in their system this time as a new customer, but we will see - prefer not to book that one if we do not get a good cabin. 

Edited April 21, 2021 by tring

[bobstheboy]

My TA booked everything I wanted for my Arvia 22 night TA to Antigua in Jan 23. Balcony in the right place, port side on the deck I wanted, premium seating on the return flight to Manchester and coach to join the ship. Booked and on the Personalizer by 9am, that's what I call service.

[MX-Drew]

Just heard from P&O, 1st choice of cabin (had to phone to change cabin).

Also it is correct, if you pre register with P&O you have a firm booking at the price stated but the price may change if you use an agent. I asked as I wanted to know which was best, book direct or via an agent. 

As for paying the deposit a week or so before if booking direct, does it really matter?

Edited April 21, 2021 by MX-Drew

[wowzz]

45 minutes ago, MX-Drew said:

As for paying the deposit a week or so before if booking direct, does it really matter?

I suppose it matters if you are allocated cabin you don't want, and there are no others available. You then have to wait for your deposit to be refunded. If you use a TA, no deposit is required, therefore no need to go through the refund process.

I also especially don't like the fact that booking with P&O,  you cannot even specify which side of the ship you want to be on. 

[MX-Drew]

32 minutes ago, wowzz said:

I suppose it matters if you are allocated cabin you don't want, and there are no others available. You then have to wait for your deposit to be refunded. If you use a TA, no deposit is required, therefore no need to go through the refund process.

I also especially don't like the fact that booking with P&O,  you cannot even specify which side of the ship you want to be on. 

In my case there are plenty of cabins in the grade I was after, it was a case if I couldn't yet 1st choice then any of the next (approximately) 10 choices where fine and failing that any in that grade where fine. As for side of ship, you can ring and change it but even then I'm not that fussy on which side.

We all have our own priorities to fulfil. Mine was to get a cruise booked at the right price. Oh and I did check with my TA for the same cruise and they wanted nearly £500 more than booking direct so the need to phone P&O was worth it in my opinion. 

[Windsurfboy]

Only pre registered once with P&O on Arcadia  it worked out OK as a med cruise from UK so it didn't matter what side. Of our grade 8 of 11 cabins were acceptable , other 3 overlooked by glass lifts. Had a long discussion on phone try to see if we could specify not one these but not possible.  In end happy with allocated cabin. 7 of the 11 cabins went at pre- registration , none by lifts taken. We would have been upset if more people had pre-registered and we'd ended up with an overlooked cabin.

 

Think we will preregister with TA from now on, even if not 100% guaranteed best price , especially if we want a specific side.

[MX-Drew]

6 minutes ago, Windsurfboy said:

Only pre registered once with P&O on Arcadia  it worked out OK as a med cruise from UK so it didn't matter what side. Of our grade 8 of 11 cabins were acceptable , other 3 overlooked by glass lifts. Had a long discussion on phone try to see if we could specify not one these but not possible.  In end happy with allocated cabin. 7 of the 11 cabins went at pre- registration , none by lifts taken. We would have been upset if more people had pre-registered and we'd ended up with an overlooked cabin.

 

Think we will preregister with TA from now on, even if not 100% guaranteed best price , especially if we want a specific side.

I can fully understand your situation and I would consider a TA if things were that important (cabin choice wise) but I was shocked a TA wanted £500 pounds more. P&O £4500 and TA £500! That is a lot of drinks.

[wowzz]

27 minutes ago, MX-Drew said:

Oh and I did check with my TA for the same cruise and they wanted nearly £500 more than booking direct so the need to phone P&O was worth it in my opinion. 

I'm amazed at that price differential. I can only say that, bearing in mind the regional airport supplements, the prices I was quoted by my TA were in line with the P&O online prices.

At the moment I have specified one of 8 suites,  or one of 20 or so specific cabins with my TA - you can't do that with P&O.

I agree that if you are not worried about cabin location, there is no great difference between booking direct or with a TA.

[bobstheboy]

£500 more to book direct  ?  I have cruised more than 30 times, different lines and always got a discount with an agent and got what I wanted.

[janny444]

1 minute ago, bobstheboy said:

£500 more to book direct  ?  I have cruised more than 30 times, different lines and always got a discount with an agent and got what I wanted.

I too am very surprised at having to pay £500 more to book with a TA.....seems very strange. The TA I book with offers 5% discount plus another £50 off at the moment with their flash sale

[tring]

12 minutes ago, MX-Drew said:

I can fully understand your situation and I would consider a TA if things were that important (cabin choice wise) but I was shocked a TA wanted £500 pounds more. P&O £4500 and TA £500! That is a lot of drinks.

 

Must admit I am surprised that the price was higher with a TA.  I am wondering if there may have been a misunderstanding regards the grade quoted by the TA.  It would have been easy to get confused with grades on P&O since they only give locations on the ship rather than the actual grade code as defined by themselves.  Now you have the cabin numbers, there is clearly no confusion on the P&O side.

 

Glad you are sorted with a cabin number, next Wed and Thurs for our allocations.

 

[terrierjohn]

6 hours ago, ToxM said:

i have no idea who them is at this point. I don’t think deposits are refundable.

Surely if you cancel before the actual launch date, P&O would refund your money?

[ToxM]

24 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

Surely if you cancel before the actual launch date, P&O would refund your money?

No idea. I have a few days to get the ducks in the right place. I was just wondering people had experience of transferring bookings or if that was even a thing that was possible. I didn’t realise I would have to quantify who I was transferring it to 😉

[wowzz]

4 minutes ago, ToxM said:

No idea. I have a few days to get the ducks in the right place. I was just wondering people had experience of transferring bookings or if that was even a thing that was possible. I didn’t realise I would have to quantify who I was transferring it to 😉

You can transfer a booking to most TAs, but I don't know what benefit that would give you. You would still have to pay the deposit.  

[Purdey16]

5 hours ago, MX-Drew said:

In my case there are plenty of cabins in the grade I was after, it was a case if I couldn't yet 1st choice then any of the next (approximately) 10 choices where fine and failing that any in that grade where fine. As for side of ship, you can ring and change it but even then I'm not that fussy on which side.

We all have our own priorities to fulfil. Mine was to get a cruise booked at the right price. Oh and I did check with my TA for the same cruise and they wanted nearly £500 more than booking direct so the need to phone P&O was worth it in my opinion. 

I’m very surprised at this normally travel agents are equally priced or much cheaper , in my 30 plus cruise booked and many many cancelled I have always got cheaper than going direct with P&O , I have booked direct also but my travel agent is brilliant much cheaper, discount on next cruise taken and plenty of wine through the post or champagne on some , can’t understand why they were dearer, but I’m happy you are happy and booked your cruise that you wanted.

[MX-Drew]

3 minutes ago, Purdey16 said:

I’m very surprised at this normally travel agents are equally priced or much cheaper , in my 30 plus cruise booked and many many cancelled I have always got cheaper than going direct with P&O , I have booked direct also but my travel agent is brilliant much cheaper, discount on next cruise taken and plenty of wine through the post or champagne on some , can’t understand why they were dearer, but I’m happy you are happy and booked your cruise that you wanted.

To be honest I was surprised too but they are the numbers and they are for exactly the same cabin grade.

[MX-Drew]

1 hour ago, ToxM said:

No idea. I have a few days to get the ducks in the right place. I was just wondering people had experience of transferring bookings or if that was even a thing that was possible. I didn’t realise I would have to quantify who I was transferring it to 😉

If you booked by phone or internet you could try the distance selling regs, 14 day cool off period.

[Purdey16]

I’m very happy today I got my well second choice of cabin xtra large balcony on Arvia 6 th January my first choice went with the higher tiers a couple of days ago but I’m certainly happy with the one my agent booked today and also got mail through the post today from P&O with same cruise but £300 dearer, so different prices from a couple of weeks back mail 🤷‍♀️

[crimson moon]

Very happy today. Had pre-registered with TA for Arvia 6 Jan transatlantic. Got a phone call at 8.40 from TA to say that she couldn't get the cabin we wanted but had put a hold on the cabin next door but one. Same grade but £50 per person cheaper than price quoted when pre-registering did I want it? Yes please thank you very much. Ten minutes later confirmation email dropped into my inbox

 

[purplesea]

I too an booked on Arvia 6th Jan but didn't pre-register as I wanted to move a booking from this year, but still happy have got the grade I wanted at the price I saw online.

[tring]

16 hours ago, MX-Drew said:

If you booked by phone or internet you could try the distance selling regs, 14 day cool off period.

 

Sadly, I understand they do not apply to holidays or accomodation.  Still worth speaking to P&O just in case they will allow cancellation, but probably no clear right to do so.

 

No one will get what they do not ask for though 🙂

Edited April 22, 2021 by tring

[MX-Drew]

47 minutes ago, tring said:

 

Sadly, I understand they do not apply to holidays or accomodation.  Still worth speaking to P&O just in case they will allow cancellation, but probably no clear right to do so.

 

No one will get what they do not ask for though 🙂

I had an issue with a Celebrity booking and I wanted to cancel so I said about the distance selling and it worked for me so always worth a try.

[MX-Drew]

Just ( about 2 hours ago) phoned P&O re second cruises on pre registration and got 2nd cabin of choice, it is next to the 1st choice so no real difference.

 

On a roll here cruise one 1st cabin of choice & cruise two 2nd cabin of choice. Both booked direct with P&O. Oh and both reduced in price after talking to P&O.

 

Good luck to those waiting to hear but if you can login to cruise personalizer it may be worth giving P&O a ring even if no cabin is shown as allocated.

[majortom10]

Distance Selling Regs do not cover you if you booked a Package Holiday under Packaged Travel Regs. Whether a cruise is classified as a Package Holiday if it is cruise only with no flights I dont know.

Edited April 22, 2021 by majortom10

[zap99]

9 hours ago, purplesea said:

I too an booked on Arvia 6th Jan but didn't pre-register as I wanted to move a booking from this year, but still happy have got the grade I wanted at the price I saw online.

Isn't it great that folk can talk about cruises again without being accused of dreaming. I hope your interview went well.