Saver Fare Iona or pick cabin? Plus excursion costs?

[Youstolemyname]

Hi

 

we are looking at booking our first cruise on Iona to visit the Fjords. I wanted to ask a couple of questions if I may? We are set on two balcony cabins.

 

£500 per cabin seems a huge hike to select our cabin. What is the likelihood of being placed on deck 8 or a really terrible cabin and what would be my options if this occurred? Would I be able to change after allocation if unhappy.

 

We are also keen to understand what the cost of the excursions are- the glacier trip for example and any of the fjord rib/kayaking trips.

 

thanks for any help you can provide this cruise newbie!

[grapau27]

39 minutes ago, Youstolemyname said:

Hi

 

we are looking at booking our first cruise on Iona to visit the Fjords. I wanted to ask a couple of questions if I may? We are set on two balcony cabins.

 

£500 per cabin seems a huge hike to select our cabin. What is the likelihood of being placed on deck 8 or a really terrible cabin and what would be my options if this occurred? Would I be able to change after allocation if unhappy.

 

We are also keen to understand what the cost of the excursions are- the glacier trip for example and any of the fjord rib/kayaking trips.

 

thanks for any help you can provide this cruise newbie!

We have been on Iona twice and have another booked on her.

How much On Board Credit have you been offered?

We have £500 on our next and £480 on our last Iona cruise although some are only £120 on board credit.

The deck 8 balconies are terrible(pictured) for privacy and it would be a very good chance you would end up in one with little chance of changing cabin once it is allocated to you.

P&O excursions will be offered to you closer to the cruise date.

Our first cruise was on deck 10 balcony and second deck 14 balcony and were fantastic.

Graham 

[Youstolemyname]

6 hours ago, grapau27 said:

We have been on Iona twice and have another booked on her.

How much On Board Credit have you been offered?

We have £500 on our next and £480 on our last Iona cruise although some are only £120 on board credit.

The deck 8 balconies are terrible(pictured) for privacy and it would be a very good chance you would end up in one with little chance of changing cabin once it is allocated to you.

P&O excursions will be offered to you closer to the cruise date.

Our first cruise was on deck 10 balcony and second deck 14 balcony and were fantastic.

Graham 

We’ve been offered a choice of £40 credit, free parking or free coach transfer plus the priority dining booking stuff so nothing special at all for £500 on top of selecting my room.

 

 

[Just 47]

8 hours ago, Youstolemyname said:

Hi

 

we are looking at booking our first cruise on Iona to visit the Fjords. I wanted to ask a couple of questions if I may? We are set on two balcony cabins.

 

£500 per cabin seems a huge hike to select our cabin. What is the likelihood of being placed on deck 8 or a really terrible cabin and what would be my options if this occurred? Would I be able to change after allocation if unhappy.

 

We are also keen to understand what the cost of the excursions are- the glacier trip for example and any of the fjord rib/kayaking trips.

 

thanks for any help you can provide this cruise newbie!

Rib rides and kayaking etc range from about £90_£120 

[janny444]

Graham has shown you what you could end up with...if you can live with that then may be worth considering saver fare...only you can decide if it would be a problem. I think once you have been allocated a saver fare cabin you can't change it

[weskiers]

If you go for a saver fare you should be able to choose which grade you pay for. If you go for GB there aren't any on deck 8.

 

[Vampiress88]

9 minutes ago, weskiers said:

If you go for a saver fare you should be able to choose which grade you pay for. If you go for GB there aren't any on deck 8.

 

this is what I was told when I called p&o up. Was looking at arvia at Xmas and they have the same dodgy deck 8 cabins (no clue why they thought it was a good idea to repeat on the new ship) 

they said pay about £200 more for a different grade. Was better than the extra £1000 to have select price. 
we’ve not ended up booking but p&o would have gotten a shock putting me in a deck 8 as I am usually topless/nude in my cabin and i wouldn’t have stopped the way I am. People would have just gotten an eye full

[grapau27]

2 hours ago, Youstolemyname said:

We’ve been offered a choice of £40 credit, free parking or free coach transfer plus the priority dining booking stuff so nothing special at all for £500 on top of selecting my room.

 

 

Wow that is not much for a select booking with a £500 difference between a guarantee balcony.

Is there an alternative date you could cruise with a better price?

I was offered a similar deal yesterday with a £500 price difference between guarantee balcony and select on Iona for a 14 night new year cruise on Iona with £120 on board credit but declined.

Edited June 24, 2022 by grapau27

[davecttr]

3 hours ago, Youstolemyname said:

We’ve been offered a choice of £40 credit, free parking or free coach transfer plus the priority dining booking stuff so nothing special at all for £500 on top of selecting my room.

 

 

That does not apply to Iona as there is only Freedom dining so no priority on which sitting and no booking of time and table. Some passengers have reported having unofficial arrangements for time and table but his could be a dangerous practice for the staff if moneys start changing hands, or passengers are told there is no availability when there are obviously tables available.

[cruise saint]

For a Fjords cruise I would definitely want to pick my cabin. 

[majortom10]

You could not only end up in one of the dreaded  deck 8 cabins but you could end up in a very poor position on the ship due to movement or noise and then you could ruin your cruise completely for the sake of £500. If it was me and if you are driving to Southampton I would book Select and choose my cabin and have free parking. 

[Youstolemyname]

14 hours ago, weskiers said:

If you go for a saver fare you should be able to choose which grade you pay for. If you go for GB there aren't any on deck 8.

 

Sorry for being thick but how do I do this when booking? I can’t seem to find a way to pick cabin grade 

[davecttr]

I just tried a dummy booking and could not find a way of choosing a grade of balcony cabin with an early saver booking

[wowzz]

38 minutes ago, davecttr said:

I just tried a dummy booking and could not find a way of choosing a grade of balcony cabin with an early saver booking

I think this is where a good TA comes into play. I wish I could say more! 

[davecttr]

8 hours ago, wowzz said:

I think this is where a good TA comes into play. I wish I could say more! 

So you are implying that P&O will offer to confirm a minimum cabin grade for certain TA's whilst other TA's and direct purchasers have to take pot luck. I would need a lot of evidence to believe that!

 

Is it that TA's can abort the booking process after the cabin has been assigned which is not available to those booking direct

Edited June 25, 2022 by davecttr

[wowzz]

17 minutes ago, davecttr said:

So you are implying that P&O will offer to confirm a minimum cabin grade for certain TA's whilst other TA's and direct purchasers have to take pot luck. I would need a lot of evidence to believe that!

 

Is it that TA's can abort the booking process after the cabin has been assigned which is not available to those booking direct

Previously I have always booked select fares, so as to be able to choose the exact cabin I want.

However,  the price difference between saver snd select fares is so great that when/if I book another P&O cruise I will likely go down the saver route.

My issue is that selecting a cabin grade that ensures I get a cabin in an acceptable location is not easy, and that going through the process with a good TA is simpler than trying to do it myself online..

I was not implying anything else.

[Selbourne]

On 6/24/2022 at 7:00 AM, weskiers said:

If you go for a saver fare you should be able to choose which grade you pay for. If you go for GB there aren't any on deck 8.

 

The problem is that with a Saver booking, P&O may ‘upgrade’ you to a different cabin type (which may be in a very poor position) and you can’t do anything about it. There are Conservatory Mini Suites on the promenade deck that have no privacy (similar to Grahams photos) and someone booking a balcony cabin on a Saver basis could be ‘upgraded’ to one. We have booked Deluxe Balcony cabins on the ‘rump’ of the ship on a Select basis and have said ‘No Upgrade’ so that this won’t happen to us. We have a separate problem though, in that we have since discovered that the cabins we have booked are in a quarantine zone, so if that policy persists we shall be cancelling before the balance due date! 
 

As Davecttr has pointed out, the other main benefit of booking Select is that you can choose your dining preference, but this is irrelevant on Iona / Arvia as they are 100% Freedom (anytime) dining. 
 

It maybe because we tend to book at launch, but when you factor in the extra OBC that you get with a Select booking, the price premium over Saver fares isn’t much and is certainly worth paying to guarantee a cabin in a good position. However, given the current problems with quarantine zones, this is all up in the air at present. My advice would be to only book a Select fare if you know that the cabin you have selected is not in a quarantine zone. If money is tight and / or you don’t mind the risk of being above or below an area that may be a source of noise disturbance, or a balcony that fronts the promenade deck rather than having a view, book a Saver.  

[bobstheboy]

P&O will lose long term customers with some of their Saver and Select pricing. A difference of £500 to choose your cabin and get £120 OBC is crazy, £760 for a couple. 

 

When I read that Specialty Restaurants are being closed on some ships and together with no turn down service and other changes, they need to get there act together quickly.

[Selbourne]

17 minutes ago, bobstheboy said:

When I read that Specialty Restaurants are being closed on some ships and together with no turn down service and other changes, they need to get there act together quickly.

Whilst the lack of a turn down service wouldn’t particularly bother us, finding speciality restaurants closed would be a major issue for us. We use them a lot, especially Epicurean, and they form a major part of our cruise experience. Hopefully all of these issues will be sorted out quickly, but going on a P&O cruise and finding them closed could well be a ‘nail in the coffin’ issue for us. We have two cruises booked for next year and don’t feel inclined to book any more until we have been on them and established whether the current P&O offering is still to our liking. 

[grapau27]

14 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

Whilst the lack of a turn down service wouldn’t particularly bother us, finding speciality restaurants closed would be a major issue for us. We use them a lot, especially Epicurean, and they form a major part of our cruise experience. Hopefully all of these issues will be sorted out quickly, but going on a P&O cruise and finding them closed could well be a ‘nail in the coffin’ issue for us. We have two cruises booked for next year and don’t feel inclined to book any more until we have been on them and established whether the current P&O offering is still to our liking. 

I agree Selbourne.

Epicurean is our main night time dining venue on P&O.

With Covid restrictions on our last 5 cruises since August 2021 we have only allowed our cabin steward in our cabin 1-2 times during the cruise to change bedding.

I have collected clean towels and put used towels in a basket left in the corridor for this reason.

We use all our own toiletries and the cabin stewards have given me packs of toilet rolls when I have asked.

Previously we always felt hurried to get out of our cabin to let the cabin steward in but now it is so more relaxing.

Graham.

[davecttr]

2 hours ago, wowzz said:

Previously I have always booked select fares, so as to be able to choose the exact cabin I want.

However,  the price difference between saver snd select fares is so great that when/if I book another P&O cruise I will likely go down the saver route.

My issue is that selecting a cabin grade that ensures I get a cabin in an acceptable location is not easy, and that going through the process with a good TA is simpler than trying to do it myself online..

I was not implying anything else.

Fair enough 🙂

[gsmt47471015]

19 minutes ago, davecttr said:

Fair enough 🙂

We have never used a saver fare and always tick no upgrades on our  select price , one man’s upgrade isn’t another man’s so we pick where we want to be and if we can’t get it we will try to get as near as possible . Tried the Epicurean once and would not miss it at all if it were not available , but like the beach house and the glasshouse 

[Son of Anarchy]

3 hours ago, bobstheboy said:

P&O will lose long term customers with some of their Saver and Select pricing. A difference of £500 to choose your cabin and get £120 OBC is crazy, £760 for a couple. 

 

When I read that Specialty Restaurants are being closed on some ships and together with no turn down service and other changes, they need to get there act together quickly.

There appears to be some variation between cruises.

 

Last month we booked a balcony on Iona for November.  Early Saver was £999, Select £1126.  The OBC was £180 per person, effectively cheaper to book Select than ES as long as you spend the OBC.  This is a Peninsular Club cruise so the Select fare attracts a 5% discount. We didn't take the free parking as it was cheaper to take the extra OBC and use P4C.  Full price would have been £1186, so even for non Peninsular Club members, only £7 more to book Select.  Maybe we were just lucky and there was an deal on at the time regarding OBC.

 

Then take into account the BLC OBC, brings the overall cost even lower, or how much we have to spend on board depending on which way you look at it.

 

Our Azura cruise next year is somewhat different though.  Early Saver fare, inside cabin. 

[lujaha]

Iona next January.  Select fare plus £1080.  £120 obc or free parking.  Beggars belief!

[bobstheboy]

No consistency with Saver and Select pricing.  My MSC Virtuosa cruise next Saturday gave me the option to pay an additional £150pp to go from a standard balcony to a de luxe balcony, choice of cabin midships on a higher deck, choice of dinner times and better experience with free delivered breakfast. I considered it to be a good price and paid it.