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October onwards cruisers…


ToxM
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5 hours ago, wowzz said:

I'm quite happy to drive down to Southampton the night before a cruise, but the Saga transfers "save"  me about £150. I know I'm paying for it in the cruise price, but it needs to be taken into account when comparing cruise prices with other lines.   

I forgot to add on the saving from not requiring car parking on a Saga cruise - the amount saved will obviously depend on the length of the cruise, but would be in excess of £100.  

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31 minutes ago, tring said:

Actually I have spoken to many people who have cruises with both Fred and Saga and they all reckoned the Saga folk are far older and nothing like as adventurous as the Fred cruisers.  Unless I am wrong, Saga seem to concentrate on UK departures, which could explain that.

I can only say that the cruisers I have met whilst on P&O,  who had cruised on Fred, were of the opinion that Fred cruisers were chronologically challenged! Without exception, none of them cruised with Fred again.

The same, I am sure, can probably be said about Saga, although the company does seem to have a marketing campaign that is targeted very much at a "younger" age group, looking for a bespoke cruising experience, whereas Fred does not appear to have any discernible target market,  or indeed marketing proposition, whatsoever.  

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4 minutes ago, wowzz said:

I can only say that the cruisers I have met whilst on P&O,  who had cruised on Fred, were of the opinion that Fred cruisers were chronologically challenged! Without exception, none of them cruised with Fred again.

The same, I am sure, can probably be said about Saga, although the company does seem to have a marketing campaign that is targeted very much at a "younger" age group, looking for a bespoke cruising experience, whereas Fred does not appear to have any discernible target market,  or indeed marketing proposition, whatsoever.  

 

I have come across some very mundane folk on p&o, probably because of the repetitive itineraries.  Fred has many very different itineraries including some great fly cruises with lots of interesting ports.  The times I have mentioned about our recent Indian explorations were on Fred. 

 

If you are going on hearsay, I suggest you have suffered from people who are just suggesting what they do is better than what other folk do, because we have experienced both and find Fred far better, in terms of the passengers overall, but no personal comment there as you do seem quite different to many on p&o ships, as do many other posters on here.

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10 minutes ago, wowzz said:

I can only say that the cruisers I have met whilst on P&O,  who had cruised on Fred, were of the opinion that Fred cruisers were chronologically challenged! Without exception, none of them cruised with Fred again.

The same, I am sure, can probably be said about Saga, although the company does seem to have a marketing campaign that is targeted very much at a "younger" age group, looking for a bespoke cruising experience, whereas Fred does not appear to have any discernible target market,  or indeed marketing proposition, whatsoever.  

But I've also seen Oriana, Aurora and Arcadia referred to as "Nursing Home at Sea". Adult-only and ships that clearly do not have children's facilities are bound to attract an older crowd generally. I've only done one Saga cruise several years back and yes, the age demographic was high but I found the pax to be lively, enquiring and interesting.

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18 minutes ago, tring said:

 

I have come across some very mundane folk on p&o, probably because of the repetitive itineraries.  Fred has many very different itineraries including some great fly cruises with lots of interesting ports.  The times I have mentioned about our recent Indian explorations were on Fred. 

 

If you are going on hearsay, I suggest you have suffered from people who are just suggesting what they do is better than what other folk do, because we have experienced both and find Fred far better, in terms of the passengers overall, but no personal comment there as you do seem quite different to many on p&o ships, as do many other posters on here.

Obviously I can ony go on anecdotal evidence,  so will just have to wait and see how our Saga cruise next year turns out.

Whilst Fred may have some interesting itineraries,  I have seen nothing on line, in the press, or on TV that would make me want to cruise with them. Yes, they show a very old ship at the beginning of "Place in the Sun", but that alone is not sufficient to get my attention.

Saga seem to be actively pursuing the 60+ demographic,  whereas Fred appear to have no target market at all.    

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Fred's market is simply those who want to sail without children and on smaller ships.  We have done a few on Fred, one of which took in Dakar, Banjul and the Cape Verdes.  We really enjoyed that one on the Braemar.  I wouldn't go on the Black Watch again, she really was showing her age and we didn't enjoy it.  A couple on Balmoral and I thought the food was actually better than P&O, but I don't cruise particularly for the food.

 

Fred's prices are very high at the beginning and come down later.  P&O seem to do it the other way round, low at launch and then shoot up.

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We would not pay the money that Fred and Saga charge, we have enjoyed our cruises with P&O and Marella and going on one with Princess because we got a good deal, strangely we met a lot of people onboard ship and off with our point of view.

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40 minutes ago, Bazrat said:

We would not pay the money that Fred and Saga charge, we have enjoyed our cruises with P&O and Marella and going on one with Princess because we got a good deal, strangely we met a lot of people onboard ship and off with our point of view.

 

Whatever cruise line you sail on , you will meet people who have a similiar decision process.

 

If you went on say Seabourn you'd find it full of people who like luxury, and think you get what you pay for and you have to pay for luxury 

 

I actually think that applies to most lines, even Fred who are expensive,  you pay more for a smaller ship and that's what Freds clientele like.

 

For those who lkke medium sized ship, P&O are good value especially if you compare them to Cunard who outside of grills are not that special, but don't tell the people on the Cunard board.

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Just had a payment reminder from our TA for our October 9th Britannia cruise, final balance due to them by 4th July.

We now have to decide whether to pay up, hope for the best and organise new travel insurance, or transfer the booking to later on, mmmnnn.

Edited by terrierjohn
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On 6/19/2021 at 5:27 PM, Bazrat said:

We would not pay the money that Fred and Saga charge, we have enjoyed our cruises with P&O and Marella and going on one with Princess because we got a good deal, strangely we met a lot of people onboard ship and off with our point of view.

As ever, it's a case of horses for courses or "you pays your money and you takes your choice".  I am one of those people who likes the smaller ships and whilst I am very happy so far with Aurora and Arcadia, I am aware that my choice with P&O has become very limited as they are now concentrating on large ships.

My budget doesn't stretch to Saga now that that they only sail all-balcony cabin ships but I am happy to pay a higher price for an inside cabin on Fred Olsen in preference to a cabin of any type on P&O's larger ships. I wouldn't completely rule out trying Marella again but the one cruise I have had with them definitely didn't leave me wanting to sail with them again. I just hope that the Pandemic doesn't bring about an early departure of Aurora from the P&O fleet...🤞🏻

I completely understand why others might think that crazy but that's what suits me.

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1 hour ago, Britboys said:

As ever, it's a case of horses for courses or "you pays your money and you takes your choice".  I am one of those people who likes the smaller ships and whilst I am very happy so far with Aurora and Arcadia, I am aware that my choice with P&O has become very limited as they are now concentrating on large ships.

My budget doesn't stretch to Saga now that that they only sail all-balcony cabin ships but I am happy to pay a higher price for an inside cabin on Fred Olsen in preference to a cabin of any type on P&O's larger ships. I wouldn't completely rule out trying Marella again but the one cruise I have had with them definitely didn't leave me wanting to sail with them again. I just hope that the Pandemic doesn't bring about an early departure of Aurora from the P&O fleet...🤞🏻

I completely understand why others might think that crazy but that's what suits me.

In total agreement with what you said especially about Aurora. 

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On 6/19/2021 at 1:38 PM, wowzz said:

Which is how Saga do their pricing as well.

The good thing about Saga pricing imo is that it is transparent by virtue of publishing both the full fare and any early booking discount currently applicable; this reduces as the ship fills up. Whereas P&O just tell you the current fare which goes up and down depending on some unpublished criteria.

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1 hour ago, Britboys said:

As ever, it's a case of horses for courses or "you pays your money and you takes your choice".  I am one of those people who likes the smaller ships and whilst I am very happy so far with Aurora and Arcadia, I am aware that my choice with P&O has become very limited as they are now concentrating on large ships.

My budget doesn't stretch to Saga now that that they only sail all-balcony cabin ships but I am happy to pay a higher price for an inside cabin on Fred Olsen in preference to a cabin of any type on P&O's larger ships. I wouldn't completely rule out trying Marella again but the one cruise I have had with them definitely didn't leave me wanting to sail with them again. I just hope that the Pandemic doesn't bring about an early departure of Aurora from the P&O fleet...🤞🏻

I completely understand why others might think that crazy but that's what suits me.

True it’s a case of horses for courses as I said we wouldn’t go on Saga or Fred unless there was a substantial discount, definitely would not go for an inside cabin beloved loves to sit on a balcony, size of ship doesn’t really bother us but prefer adult only cruises 

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1 hour ago, Denarius said:

The good thing about Saga pricing imo is that it is transparent by virtue of publishing both the full fare and any early booking discount currently applicable; this reduces as the ship fills up. Whereas P&O just tell you the current fare which goes up and down depending on some unpublished criteria.

And the other good thing about Saga is that if they subsequently reduce the price of a cruise, they reduce the fare for those already booked.

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4 hours ago, terrierjohn said:

Just had a payment reminder from our TA for our October 9th Britannia cruise, final balance due to them by 4th July.

We now have to decide whether to pay up, hope for the best and organise new travel insurance, or transfer the booking to later on, mmmnnn.

 

Could you ask for payment to be moved back? 

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4 hours ago, terrierjohn said:

Just had a payment reminder from our TA for our October 9th Britannia cruise, final balance due to them by 4th July.

We now have to decide whether to pay up, hope for the best and organise new travel insurance, or transfer the booking to later on, mmmnnn.

I think you should try to delay payment. The final balance for our cruise on 30th Sept (ok it's not October but pretty close) isn't due to our TA until August 24th

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2 hours ago, Britboys said:

And the other good thing about Saga is that if they subsequently reduce the price of a cruise, they reduce the fare for those already booked.

Although not always  - "We may pass on the value of the saving in 
the form of a higher-grade cabin, on-board credit or other value 
added benefit. "
 

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I’m optimistic about the Caribbean season. They have spent a lot of time and money getting crew over here and getting the ships back ready for service. 
 

Unless they cancelled everything and introduced Europe sailings, I can’t see them wanting to stop service again. 
 

American cruise lines are having no issues with the Caribbean. Celebrity and Royal sailing out of Bahamas/St Maarten, with the X Edge sailing out of the US this week. 
 

Logistics will be difficult, but at least they are chartered aircraft. 
 

I am on Azura 25th December (rebooked from last year which was cancelled) and Britannia 25th Feb. 
 

Cancelling and rebooking European destinations for November-March over 2 ships as well as deciding what to do with all the other ships is quite the logistical issue. 

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16 minutes ago, Glitterati said:

I’m optimistic about the Caribbean season. They have spent a lot of time and money getting crew over here and getting the ships back ready for service. 
 

Unless they cancelled everything and introduced Europe sailings, I can’t see them wanting to stop service again. 
 

American cruise lines are having no issues with the Caribbean. Celebrity and Royal sailing out of Bahamas/St Maarten, with the X Edge sailing out of the US this week. 
 

Logistics will be difficult, but at least they are chartered aircraft. 
 

I am on Azura 25th December (rebooked from last year which was cancelled) and Britannia 25th Feb. 
 

Cancelling and rebooking European destinations for November-March over 2 ships as well as deciding what to do with all the other ships is quite the logistical issue. 

Unless P&O get a very clear steer from the government that no testing will be required for returning passengers, with all the rigmarole involved (testing before flying home and on return) I would not be so confident.

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12 minutes ago, silkworms said:

Just had email from P and O to say that October 9th 2021 on
Arcadia is cancelled.

Me too, my Oct Azura to Barbados gone - my FCC pile now just plain silly

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Yups October 28th Arcadia is now gone. I have asked for a refund. 

 

Looking at anything else we MIGHT be able to do. I have no spare time off work next year and have no idea where we will be able to go if anywhere in October. 

 

Sorry to all those who have had their cruises cancelled. 

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