PRICE DROP

[Eik]

My husband and I are cruising on the PO Azura 4th March until 18th March.  We have just checked the price and it has dropped by approximately £2000. We booked an early saver early to ensure we got flights from Glasgow as they are hard to come by.  We paid the cruise off early also.  On calling PO they advised that we could not make any changes. 🥵 When is an early saver not an early saver?..

[Harry Peterson]

1 minute ago, Eik said:

My husband and I are cruising on the PO Azura 4th March until 18th March.  We have just checked the price and it has dropped by approximately £2000. We booked an early saver early to ensure we got flights from Glasgow as they are hard to come by.  We paid the cruise off early also.  On calling PO they advised that we could not make any changes. 🥵 When is an early saver not an early saver?..

Sadly, the answer to that question is whenever the P&O algorithms determine that the price needs to be reduced in order to achieve the desired capacity.

 

Usually early booking (ideally on the first day of sale or immediately afterwards) provides the best prices, but that's not always the case, and it certainly hasn't been post-Covid.  Impossible to predict which way things will go, though.

 

It's very unfortunate, and it's not good PR for P&O, but it's something we have to live with - unless someone else who's had this happen to them has any ideas or suggstions?

[wowzz]

I'm assuming you booked direct ? Sometimes booking through a major TA can help in situations like this, as they have rather more "clout".

Not much help in your current situation I'm afraid.

 

[CRUISENSNOOZE]

5 minutes ago, Eik said:

My husband and I are cruising on the PO Azura 4th March until 18th March.  We have just checked the price and it has dropped by approximately £2000. We booked an early saver early to ensure we got flights from Glasgow as they are hard to come by.  We paid the cruise off early also.  On calling PO they advised that we could not make any changes. 🥵 When is an early saver not an early saver?..

Hello Eik, I'm afraid that seems to be the law in the UK. (US seem to get OBC if this happens). You pay the price and take your chance. By paying it all off before the date, you also have no bargaining power. We have found this before and depending on your TA or if you booked direct, we have been able to get an upgrade to offset the price drop. But beware, it might feel like an upgrade, but you could end up with a cabin in a far unfavourable part of the ship. Have another talk with them, you may get some OBC or upgrade, but don't let it spoil your cruise.

[Eglesbrech]

17 minutes ago, Eik said:

My husband and I are cruising on the PO Azura 4th March until 18th March.  We have just checked the price and it has dropped by approximately £2000. We booked an early saver early to ensure we got flights from Glasgow as they are hard to come by.  We paid the cruise off early also.  On calling PO they advised that we could not make any changes. 🥵 When is an early saver not an early saver?..

When is an early saver not an early saver? When you need a flight from a “regional” airport.

 

Scottish (and I’m sure other more convenient non London flights) are rarely if ever on offer late so we end up paying much more. It is complete pain but then so is doing a double drop at a hub when you are tired and don’t want your luggage lost in transit.

 

It is part of rip off Britain. Personally I would try to escalate it to get something back. Sometimes it works, sometimes it does not. Worth a try.

 

 

[jeanlyon]

I would never pay the balance until the last moment.  Why would I let them have the use of my money before they need to?

[terrierjohn]

1 hour ago, wowzz said:

I'm assuming you booked direct ? Sometimes booking through a major TA can help in situations like this, as they have rather more "clout".

Not much help in your current situation I'm afraid.

 

I dont think anyone on fly cruises has successfully moved their booking after final balance payment date.

[Eik]

Thanks everyone, you learn from your mistakes! Won’t be paying my balance until last moment on future.  If it had been a couple of hundred I would probably shrug it off.  I never expected it to drop £2000 per couple.  If I had waited until last minute the Scottish flights would normally have been booked up ! Thinking now I could have travelled South stayed in a 5 star hotel and upgraded my flight seats if I had waited last minute! Anyway you live and learn.  Sour grapes on my part🤗 The good thing is I was happy to pay the price before it dropped and I am happy to be back cruising and Covid free.. Good health to you all. 

[seapals2]

We managed to transfer our Jan Caribbean sailing after paying the balance but it took a lot of persistence.  We changed to a Med cruise in Oct sailing out of Southampton as it seemed at the time when the new variant emerged there was a good chance we would find ourselves put ashore into quarantine if we tested positive.  Some islands have no direct flights and it was a concern for us.  We are over 70 and the stress was having an impact on our health.  After several emails and telephone calls our TA finally got someone able to make the transfer.  Our cruise had dropped over £3400 for the two of us and for just a little more we were able to get a suite on the Oct sailing.  Having your holiday devalued in this way is very unfair.  
We’ve no guarantees it won’t happen again but think prices should be more stable by the end of the year.  Good luck with your cruise .. if you can provide an alternative cruise and show good reason for a transfer other than just the price drop you may be in with a chance.  I know the risk of quarantine certainly did not balance the reward of getting away.  Reading posts from those who found themselves in isolation during the two weeks we would have been onboard it was made all the worse by some couples having to split up.