Booking onboard

[Megabear2]

Well all my bags are packed and although the taxi's not yet blowing his horn we are off to Gatwick bright and early tomorrow morning to fly to Britannia on Friday.

 

Now that the health questionnaire matter is out of the way I am thinking of booking the Iona cruise in March that I've been tracking for some time.  Not having booked onboard for some time would there be benefits in me doing this? I have a FCC of around £1,000 left in my account and the select single occupancy balcony aft at the moment is coming in around £1400 with £60 OBC.  I assume I would pay the remaining £400 onboard via my credit card - assumedly it wouldn't interfere with my onboard account and would be a separate transaction?  I'm not really sure if booking onboard has any major benefits for a trip like this just in case of any extra discounts or OBC offers sprout in the New Year.  I cannot recall if there are ever offers after Christmas either!

 

The other question is are the very low deposits still offered onboard? I've deliberately not booked Christmas Caribbean for 2024 as there was a rumour Queen Victoria may be going to the Caribbean in 2024 winter.  However my OH is badgering me to put a deposit on Britannia or Arvia just in case it isn't going to happen or be around Christmas.  Currently I'm looking at a deposit of about £400 for what we would book, not a great deal in the scheme of things but still not something I'd really want to throw away if QV does come up as an option.  I seem to recall September time someone saying there was a £50 deposit option if booked onboard or did I imagine it?

 

Any help or opinions greatly received. 

 

[tring]

We were on Aurora for four weeks until.ladt Friday.  Yes booking onboard only needs a £50pp deposit until final.paymemt date, - paid with cc at time of booking, so take the card along to the desk.  There is extra obs for all cruises as well, depending on the length of cruise.  Maybe only about £100, I cannot remember the rates,  but worth having. They were focusing on certain cruises with an extra, £100 reduction for Arvia and double the obs for Arcadia cruises, but all extra offers excluded the new cruises for winter 24/25, though the low deposit and basic obs for booking onboard applied to all cruises.

 

[terrierjohn]

I assume you could even avoid the low £50pp deposit if you used your FCC as the deposit, although for a March cruise you will probably have to pay in full already.

[molecrochip]

For March it will be pay in full.

 

Enjoy your Christmas cruise.

[Kittyonions]

Have a wonderful cruise Megabear2, and look forward to hearing your thoughts on Britannia.

Hope you are able to make a decision on your future cruises. With a low deposit for Christmas 2024, seems to be too good an opportunity to miss!

[Manx buoy]

1 hour ago, Megabear2 said:

Well all my bags are packed and although the taxi's not yet blowing his horn we are off to Gatwick bright and early tomorrow morning to fly to Britannia on Friday.

 

Now that the health questionnaire matter is out of the way I am thinking of booking the Iona cruise in March that I've been tracking for some time.  Not having booked onboard for some time would there be benefits in me doing this? I have a FCC of around £1,000 left in my account and the select single occupancy balcony aft at the moment is coming in around £1400 with £60 OBC.  I assume I would pay the remaining £400 onboard via my credit card - assumedly it wouldn't interfere with my onboard account and would be a separate transaction?  I'm not really sure if booking onboard has any major benefits for a trip like this just in case of any extra discounts or OBC offers sprout in the New Year.  I cannot recall if there are ever offers after Christmas either!

 

The other question is are the very low deposits still offered onboard? I've deliberately not booked Christmas Caribbean for 2024 as there was a rumour Queen Victoria may be going to the Caribbean in 2024 winter.  However my OH is badgering me to put a deposit on Britannia or Arvia just in case it isn't going to happen or be around Christmas.  Currently I'm looking at a deposit of about £400 for what we would book, not a great deal in the scheme of things but still not something I'd really want to throw away if QV does come up as an option.  I seem to recall September time someone saying there was a £50 deposit option if booked onboard or did I imagine it?

 

Any help or opinions greatly received. 

 

We were on Azura last month when the new ones went on sale the price we got from our TA beat the onboard offer even with the sweeteners on there. 

[Astrajet]

 

2 hours ago, Megabear2 said:

Well all my bags are packed and although the taxi's not yet blowing his horn we are off to Gatwick bright and early tomorrow morning to fly to Britannia on Friday.

Hope you have a super Christmas cruise on Britannia.

[tring]

39 minutes ago, Manx buoy said:

We were on Azura last month when the new ones went on sale the price we got from our TA beat the onboard offer even with the sweeteners on there. 

 

If the cruise you are on is booked via an agent, you can have a new booking (made onboard) transferred to that agent, so you will get all those perks.  We booked the Ventura 35 nighter to US and Caribbean for Jan 2025 and got the onboard deposit and extra obs.  Once it was transferred to our agent they took another £285 discount off the balance to be paid.  It is then classed as an agent booking, so again, if we wish to book anything onboard that cruise, we could again transfer it to that agent for another reduction.  If you have booked the cruise you are on direct with P&O, then you have to leave any future cruises booked onboard as direct bookings.

 

We had another cruise booking which we needed to transfer, but we had a small launch deposit on that.  Luckily we had booked that cruise direct with P&O, so we could transfer the booking onboard, which would have only needed £50pp deposit, so we did not have to pay a bigger deposit.  If we had booked that original cruise with an agent, we would have to have transferred via the agent, so would have had to pay the full deposit for the cruise we transferred to.

 

It was just by chance our respective cruises were booked with the agent and directly with P&O. 

 

Edited December 14, 2022 by tring

[happy v]

Have a great time Mb

[yorkshirephil]

Currently £50 deposit with extra OBC on Arcadia, some cruises have double OBC for select

[yorkshirephil]

Currently £50 deposit with extra OBC on Arcadia, some cruises have double OBC for select

[happy v]

Megabear I thought I'd let you know the coincidence which occurred this afternoon. I started the car and, Leaving on a jet plane, was playing. I haven't heard it for years. I immediately thought of you. I think I now will every time I hear this.... for ever! 🙂

 

[Megabear2]

1 hour ago, happy v said:

Megabear I thought I'd let you know the coincidence which occurred this afternoon. I started the car and, Leaving on a jet plane, was playing. I haven't heard it for years. I immediately thought of you. I think I now will every time I hear this.... for ever! 🙂

 

I just love that song and it always gets me excited before a flight. Sorry to haunt you ... however how about that big ole 707 set to go ... another all time favourite?  After several G&Ts over our early airport lunch its always time to name that tune!  Do you recognise that one too? Hope TUI have upgraded to something more modern though the 707 had much more legroom.

[grapau27]

On 12/14/2022 at 2:42 PM, Megabear2 said:

Well all my bags are packed and although the taxi's not yet blowing his horn we are off to Gatwick bright and early tomorrow morning to fly to Britannia on Friday.

 

Now that the health questionnaire matter is out of the way I am thinking of booking the Iona cruise in March that I've been tracking for some time.  Not having booked onboard for some time would there be benefits in me doing this? I have a FCC of around £1,000 left in my account and the select single occupancy balcony aft at the moment is coming in around £1400 with £60 OBC.  I assume I would pay the remaining £400 onboard via my credit card - assumedly it wouldn't interfere with my onboard account and would be a separate transaction?  I'm not really sure if booking onboard has any major benefits for a trip like this just in case of any extra discounts or OBC offers sprout in the New Year.  I cannot recall if there are ever offers after Christmas either!

 

The other question is are the very low deposits still offered onboard? I've deliberately not booked Christmas Caribbean for 2024 as there was a rumour Queen Victoria may be going to the Caribbean in 2024 winter.  However my OH is badgering me to put a deposit on Britannia or Arvia just in case it isn't going to happen or be around Christmas.  Currently I'm looking at a deposit of about £400 for what we would book, not a great deal in the scheme of things but still not something I'd really want to throw away if QV does come up as an option.  I seem to recall September time someone saying there was a £50 deposit option if booked onboard or did I imagine it?

 

Any help or opinions greatly received. 

 

I hope you have an amazing cruise.

I made an enquiry on board Azura and there was extra OBC and low deposit available.

[happy v]

1 hour ago, Megabear2 said:

I just love that song and it always gets me excited before a flight. Sorry to haunt you ... however how about that big ole 707 set to go ... another all time favourite?  After several G&Ts over our early airport lunch its always time to name that tune!  Do you recognise that one too? Hope TUI have upgraded to something more modern though the 707 had much more legroom.

Had to Google that. I still don't recognise Gordon Lightfoot. You do seem to be getting into holiday mode though. Enjoy every minute 

[CRUISENSNOOZE]

10 hours ago, yorkshirephil said:

Currently £50 deposit with extra OBC on Arcadia, some cruises have double OBC for select

The £50 deposit is only on certain cruises. We just booked select fare while on board for R501 - 65 day Amazon and Caribbean cruise. The deposit we had to pay was about £1100. We also booked another cruise on Britannia for next year and the deposit for that was £50.

[terrierjohn]

2 minutes ago, CRUISENSNOOZE said:

The £50 deposit is only on certain cruises. We just booked select fare while on board for R501 - 65 day Amazon and Caribbean cruise. The deposit we had to pay was about £1100. We also booked another cruise on Britannia for next year and the deposit for that was £50.

Wow, we managed to get G501, which is 35 days for £50, but that was during the winter 24/5 brochure launch.

[CRUISENSNOOZE]

35 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

Wow, we managed to get G501, which is 35 days for £50, but that was during the winter 24/5 brochure launch.

So was ours!. She took our booking on board 2 days before the launch. We then went back on the day at 9am to sort out our cabin. 

[tring]

58 minutes ago, CRUISENSNOOZE said:

The £50 deposit is only on certain cruises. We just booked select fare while on board for R501 - 65 day Amazon and Caribbean cruise. The deposit we had to pay was about £1100. We also booked another cruise on Britannia for next year and the deposit for that was £50.

 

54 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

Wow, we managed to get G501, which is 35 days for £50, but that was during the winter 24/5 brochure launch.

 

Yes, the £50 does not apply to world cruises and other very long journeys .  The standard cruises listed in the brochures though, including the 35 nighters, are all under the £50 deposit offer and that is not dependent upon when the booking is made.

 

Sorry, yes I did know that, but it does not affect us, nor the cruises which Megabear was interested in booking, so I was not thinking about that when answering her question earlier in this thread.  TBH it did not seem unreasonable to me that such cruises are not under that offer.

.

Edited December 15, 2022 by tring