Price drop

[suekay]

There's been a substantial price drop on our Britannia cruise departing 4th December. Is there any reason we couldn't cancel and lose the deposit then rebook at the lower price?  An added complication is that my friend used FCC from a cancelled cruise to pay part of her fare. Thanks for any  help from all you experienced  P&O'rs 

[wowzz]

53 minutes ago, suekay said:

There's been a substantial price drop on our Britannia cruise departing 4th December. Is there any reason we couldn't cancel and lose the deposit then rebook at the lower price?  An added complication is that my friend used FCC from a cancelled cruise to pay part of her fare. Thanks for any  help from all you experienced  P&O'rs 

No reason at all, but you will probably not get the same amount of obc, and you might not get the same cabin. If you have booked flight seats, these will need to be rebooked. 

I would talk through the options with your TA or P&O before making the final decision 

[bbtablet]

9 Caribbean islands and return flights 15 days balcony for £1,299pp seems a good price!

I suppose they have had a lot of cancellations because this cruise has been caught in the de facto "no children" stipulation for Caribbean bookings?

 

As far as I know there is nothing stopping you from taking the lost deposit hit and trying to rebook if it makes financial sense, but make sure you don't fall between the two and end up with no holiday!

If you are trying to rebook the same room you already have that might be risky as the second it is placed back on the "available" list it might be snapped up by another TA etc, and there may well be a waiting list which you could go to the end of the moment you cancel.

I would take advice from your TA or P&O directly (good luck wtih that last one) but suggest it is not going to work without a serious risk of no new booking replacement being available to you - otherwise people would do it all the time and it would be a nightmare for P&O and TAs.

Don't fall between the two stools!

If you try it the other way round - book again before cancelling the first booking -  you will be on safer ground but your current booking's cabin will not be available.

Of course, you may not have a fixed cabin number booked at the moment so it may not matter to you..

Edited October 16, 2021 by bbtablet

[wowzz]

2 minutes ago, bbtablet said:

I would take advice from your TA or P&O directly

A good TA, with real time access to cabin availability would probably be able to give you an idea of what cabin you might get. To be honest, if you are in a bog standard balcony cabin, I don't think you will be taking too much of a risk.

[bbtablet]

Suekay - you will tell us what you decide and the outcome on this thread, won't you?

It would be of interest to cruisers in general to know how you get on.

Thanks.

[wowzz]

6 minutes ago, bbtablet said:

Suekay - you will tell us what you decide and the outcome on this thread, won't you?

It would be of interest to cruisers in general to know how you get on.

Thanks.

Good idea.

[lujaha]

1 hour ago, suekay said:

There's been a substantial price drop on our Britannia cruise departing 4th December. Is there any reason we couldn't cancel and lose the deposit then rebook at the lower price?  An added complication is that my friend used FCC from a cancelled cruise to pay part of her fare. Thanks for any  help from all you experienced  P&O'rs 

I can only tell you my experience with Spain & Portugal on Iona.  We booked straight away when the cruise this January was cancelled for the same in 2022.  When I looked a few weeks ago the cruise was down £550.  I phoned P&O and got through after 25 mins.  There was no problem.  I lost deposit and I think it was £60 less in OBC.  But I was able to carry forward my Tesco vouchers which totalled £580 and they let me use my Future cruise credit from another cruise, which got rid of that and reduced the final payment.  In the end we saved £380 so it was was worth it.  We kept the same cabin, which has a larger balcony than norm.

[Son of Anarchy]

1 hour ago, suekay said:

There's been a substantial price drop on our Britannia cruise departing 4th December. Is there any reason we couldn't cancel and lose the deposit then rebook at the lower price?  An added complication is that my friend used FCC from a cancelled cruise to pay part of her fare. Thanks for any  help from all you experienced  P&O'rs 

We've done that in the past with a Southampton cruise.  Even after forfeiting our deposit, we still saved over £700 between us. 

 

However, we cancelled & re-booked over 90 days before departure, so we only lost our deposit.

You are about 50 days before departure.  Not fully au fait with the cancellation t & cs for less than 90 days, but I thought you forfeited more than just your deposit.

[suekay]

Well, it looks like cancellation is a no-go at this stage as the penalty is 60% of the fare. Such a difference from Royal Caribbean. We have another (b2b) Caribbean cruise booked for April 2022 and thanks to the "cruise with confidence " guarantee we can postpone the cruise up to 48 hours prior to sailing plus the "best price guarantee " means Royal will honour any price drop up to final payment date or give equivalent obc if the price drops after final payment.   I wonder which line will get our future bookings?!

But thanks to all for your input.....much appreciated 

[molecrochip]

@suekay You've hit the nail on the head, prices do drop after the 90 day balance payment deadline.

 

RCI's policy is different as they mainly (globally) target US travellers and the rules in the US are very different to those in the UK.

[Interestedcruisefan]

You get the feeling lots of cruise prices are going to keep dropping once the balance payment deadlines pass

 

Especially overseas cruises

 

Will be more last minute deals available than ever

 

 

[jeanlyon]

Yes especially when folk like me are going to move their cruises once the 2023 ones come out.

[yorkshirephil]

17 hours ago, molecrochip said:

 

 

RCI's policy is different as they mainly (globally) target US travellers and the rules in the US are very different to those in the UK.

Surely there is nothing stopping P&O applying similar/same rules? 

[suekay]

19 hours ago, molecrochip said:

@suekay You've hit the nail on the head, prices do drop after the 90 day balance payment deadline.

 

RCI's policy is different as they mainly (globally) target US travellers and the rules in the US are very different to those in the UK.

Rules are broadly similar this year whether booking Royal Caribbean cruises in the US or the UK. Even in the UK we are getting the benefit of price drops both before and after final payment. 

[Son of Anarchy]

Thought I'd have a quick look at Iona's Christmas & New Year cruise, to see if there were any sub 90 days to go deals.  Sold out!