Extra OBC issued 4 months before cruise

[wiltsw]

Hi All, 

 

We had a random email from P&O yesterday, adding an extra £100 of on board credit (£50pp)

We are ~4 months away from our sail date, so it seems a little random that they are just giving money away. 

 

Any ideas why this is? Is it to avoid cancellations? (As the credit is not transferrable) 

Is this a regular occurrence?

 

I am certainly not complaining, but I am always intrigued when a company like P&O give money away..

[Al_W]

Yep we had this on our cruise on Azura to the Canaries in January sent just before we had to settle the balance, I think its to try and avoid people using their transfer options if they have them.

 

We have another in May so hopefully in the new year we might get something similar… that’s if they haven’t cancelled it as its to the Baltic and is one of the few left they haven’t yet cancelled… but that’s another story and topic!! 

[zap99]

39 minutes ago, Al_W said:

Yep we had this on our cruise on Azura to the Canaries in January sent just before we had to settle the balance, I think its to try and avoid people using their transfer options if they have them.

 

We have another in May so hopefully in the new year we might get something similar… that’s if they haven’t cancelled it as its to the Baltic and is one of the few left they haven’t yet cancelled… but that’s another story and topic!! 

We got £350 for our Azura February cruise 7 nights .As we have paid in full I doubt we will get any more. I was having a look at P&O summer cruises this morning. All the big OBC offer seem to have finished. As has our new booking till some comes back.

[carlanthony24]

They aren’t really giving it away since it still goes back to them.

[amajaa]

We had an email giving us £150 for April a few days ago. Think it is to stop people cancelling and then rebooking etc. 

Edited December 7, 2022 by amajaa
Typo

[davecttr]

I just has an email informing me I will be getting extra onboard credit for my Arvia cruise in April. The amount is not specified and I will find out when I board. This cruise is already paid for.

[Happy afloat]

2 hours ago, wiltsw said:

Hi All, 

 

We had a random email from P&O yesterday, adding an extra £100 of on board credit (£50pp)

We are ~4 months away from our sail date, so it seems a little random that they are just giving money away. 

 

Any ideas why this is? Is it to avoid cancellations? (As the credit is not transferrable) 

Is this a regular occurrence?

 

I am certainly not complaining, but I am always intrigued when a company like P&O give money away..

Hi,

What ship are you on?

[jaydee6969]

I know of a few passengers on Azura's April cruises have just received emails with additional OBC.  For some doing B2B2B this is mounting up.

[itf]

We got £150 (£75 for first two passengers) yesterday for arvia in April (suite) which felt odd as I’d already paid full balance so they didn’t have to!

[TigerB]

We received an extra £200 back in September for our Arvia TA to Barbados in January; the consensus at the time was that P&O were trying to deter folk from cancelling before the final balance was due. We had paid the balance several months before whereas my sister and brother-in-law, who had not settled, got the same amount.

[carlanthony24]

3 minutes ago, TigerB said:

We received an extra £200 back in September for our Arvia TA to Barbados in January; the consensus at the time was that P&O were trying to deter folk from cancelling before the final balance was due. We had paid the balance several months before whereas my sister and brother-in-law, who had not settled, got the same amount.

We had received few months back extra £150 for our cruise in March and balance wasn’t fully paid.

[ElmaLee]

In September we got £150 extra OBC for our Feb 23 cruise on Arvia.  However new customers were getting £650 OBC and same cruise was cheaper.

We cancelled, re-booked and saved £1000

[rumbalizw]

I've received nothing for March on the Azura . Fellow cruisers have , Select and Savers. Oh well . 

[Pine Man]

16 hours ago, carlanthony24 said:

They aren’t really giving it away since it still goes back to them.

Yes it does BUT the goods/services you bought with it stay with you.

[majortom10]

16 hours ago, carlanthony24 said:

They aren’t really giving it away since it still goes back to them.

Also it actually costs P&O very little because of the high mark up of what you spend the OBC on.

[terrierjohn]

2 minutes ago, majortom10 said:

Also it actually costs P&O very little because of the high mark up of what you spend the OBC on.

But since you know this when you book, and are prepared to pay these higher prices out of your own pocket, then any extra OBC you receive saves you spending your own money.

[bobstheboy]

Some appear to be ridiculing P&O for giving OBC. I'm happy to accept it, saves my cash.

[majortom10]

20 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

But since you know this when you book, and are prepared to pay these higher prices out of your own pocket, then any extra OBC you receive saves you spending your own money.

Think some might buy more drinks than they perhaps would have done if it was there own money instead of extra OBC.

 

[Pine Man]

13 minutes ago, bobstheboy said:

Some appear to be ridiculing P&O for giving OBC

Their 'glass' is half empty.

[TigerB]

1 hour ago, bobstheboy said:

Some appear to be ridiculing P&O for giving OBC. I'm happy to accept it, saves my cash.

Same here 👍

[TigerB]

1 hour ago, majortom10 said:

Think some might buy more drinks than they perhaps would have done if it was there own money instead of extra OBC.

 

That's what the majority of ours would go on, bar expenses and speciality dining.

[zap99]

21 minutes ago, TigerB said:

Same here 👍

We have £350 for our 7 night Azura cruise. It will go on restaurants and bars. Money we would have spent anyway. So it will save us £350. Don't care what it costs P&O. We save £350 of our money and get some practice in for October on Iona, when we have £630.😉

[amajaa]

2 hours ago, majortom10 said:

Also it actually costs P&O very little because of the high mark up of what you spend the OBC on.

 

We bought a phone on our last cruise with the OBC , it was slightly less than we could get in the UK, although for some reason we didn't get it tax free. 

[jeanlyon]

3 hours ago, majortom10 said:

Also it actually costs P&O very little because of the high mark up of what you spend the OBC on.

Was just about to say the same.  It costs them very little, but just might keep people from cancelling or transferring.

[TigerB]

58 minutes ago, zap99 said:

 We save £350 of our money and get some practice in for October on Iona, when we have £630.😉

With £630 to spend I wouldn't begrudge paying just shy of £5 for a bottle of Guinness. I may even treat our lass to a couple more cocktails!😉