OMG - What have I done?

[Selbourne]

I don’t usually make rash decisions, but an opportunity came up today that I have seized with both hands. It’s a bit of a story, so you might want to grab a cuppa (or something stronger) before reading on and then telling me that I’ve been a fool 😂 

 

By way of background, my wife and I have been debating future cruises, and the prospect of going to the Caribbean in the U.K.  winter has cropped up a few times, but we’ve always hesitated for several reasons. We can’t fly and we aren’t massive fans of sea days. We loved our 24 night USA and Canada cruise on Aurora, but the 6 sea days in a row each way was a killer. Also, we were worried about committing to a long cruise so far out (we always book Select and previously at launch) when we don’t know how my wife’s condition will be in a few years time (she has Secondary Progressive MS and is a full time wheelchair user). 
 

Anyway, we had looked at all the long cruises and the prices were a bit rich for us, especially as we have now limited our P&O spend to a maximum of £100 pppn (although we would go over that for the right cruise, if it was a great itinerary and on an adult only ship). Looking at all the round trip Caribbean cruises between now and Spring 2026, the itinerary that appealed to us most was Aurora’s America & Caribbean Discovery which is Jan to Mar next year. At 65 nights it’s one of the cruises that they label as a Grand Tour. When we were on holiday the other week, I’d had an email offer about that cruise and called our agent on the off chance, but all accessible balcony cabins were sold out (in fact, I think all balcony cabins full stop might have been sold out). This wasn’t a massive issue as it was still £17,600, so well above our target price. 
 

Fast forward to today and we went through the same exercise looking at future cruises with the new releases also in the mix, and we still ended up with the same cruise being the one that we preferred. Having managed to get a booking for an accessible cabin on Britannia in July just after balance due date (at a great price) having tried unsuccessfully twice before to book the cruise, I thought it was worth another try with this one to see if history would repeat itself. Also, the price had dropped to £16,400, although this was for a Saver. The Select price is £20,000 but only includes £1,200 OBC so I thought we’d chance a Saver as we could live without our first choice dining if it meant a saving of £2,400. The Select price wasn’t including parking, and as there are only 8 accessible balcony cabins (all identical and in the same location across 2 decks) this felt like a no brainer. Still well over our target price, but a great itinerary and a ship we love. 
 

So I called our fantastic agent who looked and said that since balance due date there had been a cancellation on one of the 8 accessible balcony cabins. I asked if we could book it on a Saver and she said that there was a ‘Late Saver’ price for the lowest grade balcony cabin at an amazing price of well under £12,000 but that the cabin we were after was a higher grade so P&O probably wouldn’t honour it. She would call us back. Expectations fully managed (when do P&O ever do us a favour?) I put the kettle on, only to get a call back to say “yes” they would honour it, we could book at the Early Saver price and we would be automatically guaranteed the one remaining accessible balcony cabin. “What’s the catch?” I asked, as this seemed too good to be true. It was explained that we’d have to pay in full today (no problem), we couldn’t transfer or cancel the booking (no problem - if we can’t go it will be an insurance claim), we wouldn’t get free shuttles (at that saving I’ll happily pay where we need them) and our dining allocation would be notified to us on board. At that price we will be very happy with either second sitting Club or Freedom dining and if we get allocated first sitting Club I will just have to hope that my powers of persuasion get a result. We may end up having to share a table but, again, at that saving we’d frankly eat in the staff canteen 😂 

 

Being a bit cheeky I then haggled an additional discount off the TA and eventually ended up at £87 pppn. The booking is already ‘live’ on the Cruise Personaliser and our cabin number already shows and is the one we were told we would have (which we have stayed in before and was fine). To further soften the blow, and reduce the outlay still further, we have got them to transfer our March Ventura booking into this cruise, so the deposit we had already paid on that came off the balance for this booking and we now won’t have to pay the balance for that cruise. We don’t mind ditching that cruise as we wouldn’t want a 2 weeks cruise one week after getting back from a 65 nighter and, by chance, we’d subsequently booked a 14 night cruise on Cunard next year that is a virtually identical itinerary, so the Ventura one was really superfluous. 
 

So, we are off on a 65 night adventure in less than 3 months time, and an adventure I’m sure it will be. I appreciate that it’s an extreme measure to cut down on the heating bills during the coldest two months at home, but we never know what the future will hold and at that price we can live with it not being perfect. This is now the queue for the wise owls on this forum to bring me back down to Earth and tell me why I have been a complete fool by booking a Late Saver and that I have overlooked something critical. Depending on what you tell me, I may or may not tell my wife 😂 

[Eglesbrech]

@Selbourne life is for the living and sometimes we have to grab the opportunities it offers as you have today.

 

Sounds like an amazing adventure.

[Tilly20]

Sounds fabulous to me! Take every day as a gift and do what you can with it. 
 

My personal experience has shown me that old age is not a guarantee and it’s best to make memories and enjoy life when you can. 
 

Hope you have a fabulous time and going without expectations is a sure fire way of having an amazing time.

[Son of Anarchy]

Sounds like you've done well there.  Especially as you need an accessible cabin. 

 

Have a fantastic adventure!!

 

[FangedRose]

When the universe speaks you'd be a fool to ignore it.

[grapau27]

23 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

I don’t usually make rash decisions, but an opportunity came up today that I have seized with both hands. It’s a bit of a story, so you might want to grab a cuppa (or something stronger) before reading on and then telling me that I’ve been a fool 😂 

 

By way of background, my wife and I have been debating future cruises, and the prospect of going to the Caribbean in the U.K.  winter has cropped up a few times, but we’ve always hesitated for several reasons. We can’t fly and we aren’t massive fans of sea days. We loved our 24 night USA and Canada cruise on Aurora, but the 6 sea days in a row each way was a killer. Also, we were worried about committing to a long cruise so far out (we always book Select and previously at launch) when we don’t know how my wife’s condition will be in a few years time (she has Secondary Progressive MS and is a full time wheelchair user). 
 

Anyway, we had looked at all the long cruises and the prices were a bit rich for us, especially as we have now limited our P&O spend to a maximum of £100 pppn (although we would go over that for the right cruise, if it was a great itinerary and on an adult only ship). Looking at all the round trip Caribbean cruises between now and Spring 2026, the itinerary that appealed to us most was Aurora’s America & Caribbean Discovery which is Jan to Mar next year. At 65 nights it’s one of the cruises that they label as a Grand Tour. When we were on holiday the other week, I’d had an email offer about that cruise and called our agent on the off chance, but all accessible balcony cabins were sold out (in fact, I think all balcony cabins full stop might have been sold out). This wasn’t a massive issue as it was still £17,600, so well above our target price. 
 

Fast forward to today and we went through the same exercise looking at future cruises with the new releases also in the mix, and we still ended up with the same cruise being the one that we preferred. Having managed to get a booking for an accessible cabin on Britannia in July just after balance due date (at a great price) having tried unsuccessfully twice before to book the cruise, I thought it was worth another try with this one to see if history would repeat itself. Also, the price had dropped to £16,400, although this was for a Saver. The Select price is £20,000 but only includes £1,200 OBC so I thought we’d chance a Saver as we could live without our first choice dining if it meant a saving of £2,400. The Select price wasn’t including parking, and as there are only 8 accessible balcony cabins (all identical and in the same location across 2 decks) this felt like a no brainer. Still well over our target price, but a great itinerary and a ship we love. 
 

So I called our fantastic agent who looked and said that since balance due date there had been a cancellation on one of the 8 accessible balcony cabins. I asked if we could book it on a Saver and she said that there was a ‘Late Saver’ price for the lowest grade balcony cabin at an amazing price of well under £12,000 but that the cabin we were after was a higher grade so P&O probably wouldn’t honour it. She would call us back. Expectations fully managed (when do P&O ever do us a favour?) I put the kettle on, only to get a call back to say “yes” they would honour it, we could book at the Early Saver price and we would be automatically guaranteed the one remaining accessible balcony cabin. “What’s the catch?” I asked, as this seemed too good to be true. It was explained that we’d have to pay in full today (no problem), we couldn’t transfer or cancel the booking (no problem - if we can’t go it will be an insurance claim), we wouldn’t get free shuttles (at that saving I’ll happily pay where we need them) and our dining allocation would be notified to us on board. At that price we will be very happy with either second sitting Club or Freedom dining and if we get allocated first sitting Club I will just have to hope that my powers of persuasion get a result. We may end up having to share a table but, again, at that saving we’d frankly eat in the staff canteen 😂 

 

Being a bit cheeky I then haggled an additional discount off the TA and eventually ended up at £87 pppn. The booking is already ‘live’ on the Cruise Personaliser and our cabin number already shows and is the one we were told we would have (which we have stayed in before and was fine). To further soften the blow, and reduce the outlay still further, we have got them to transfer our March Ventura booking into this cruise, so the deposit we had already paid on that came off the balance for this booking and we now won’t have to pay the balance for that cruise. We don’t mind ditching that cruise as we wouldn’t want a 2 weeks cruise one week after getting back from a 65 nighter and, by chance, we’d subsequently booked a 14 night cruise on Cunard next year that is a virtually identical itinerary, so the Ventura one was really superfluous. 
 

So, we are off on a 65 night adventure in less than 3 months time, and an adventure I’m sure it will be. I appreciate that it’s an extreme measure to cut down on the heating bills during the coldest two months at home, but we never know what the future will hold and at that price we can live with it not being perfect. This is now the queue for the wise owls on this forum to bring me back down to Earth and tell me why I have been a complete fool by booking a Late Saver and that I have overlooked something critical. Depending on what you tell me, I may or may not tell my wife 😂 

Great news Selbourne.

I would happily book it just to get away from our neighbour.😇😂

 

 

[Interestedcruisefan]

27 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

I don’t usually make rash decisions, but an opportunity came up today that I have seized with both hands. It’s a bit of a story, so you might want to grab a cuppa (or something stronger) before reading on and then telling me that I’ve been a fool 😂 

 

By way of background, my wife and I have been debating future cruises, and the prospect of going to the Caribbean in the U.K.  winter has cropped up a few times, but we’ve always hesitated for several reasons. We can’t fly and we aren’t massive fans of sea days. We loved our 24 night USA and Canada cruise on Aurora, but the 6 sea days in a row each way was a killer. Also, we were worried about committing to a long cruise so far out (we always book Select and previously at launch) when we don’t know how my wife’s condition will be in a few years time (she has Secondary Progressive MS and is a full time wheelchair user). 
 

Anyway, we had looked at all the long cruises and the prices were a bit rich for us, especially as we have now limited our P&O spend to a maximum of £100 pppn (although we would go over that for the right cruise, if it was a great itinerary and on an adult only ship). Looking at all the round trip Caribbean cruises between now and Spring 2026, the itinerary that appealed to us most was Aurora’s America & Caribbean Discovery which is Jan to Mar next year. At 65 nights it’s one of the cruises that they label as a Grand Tour. When we were on holiday the other week, I’d had an email offer about that cruise and called our agent on the off chance, but all accessible balcony cabins were sold out (in fact, I think all balcony cabins full stop might have been sold out). This wasn’t a massive issue as it was still £17,600, so well above our target price. 
 

Fast forward to today and we went through the same exercise looking at future cruises with the new releases also in the mix, and we still ended up with the same cruise being the one that we preferred. Having managed to get a booking for an accessible cabin on Britannia in July just after balance due date (at a great price) having tried unsuccessfully twice before to book the cruise, I thought it was worth another try with this one to see if history would repeat itself. Also, the price had dropped to £16,400, although this was for a Saver. The Select price is £20,000 but only includes £1,200 OBC so I thought we’d chance a Saver as we could live without our first choice dining if it meant a saving of £2,400. The Select price wasn’t including parking, and as there are only 8 accessible balcony cabins (all identical and in the same location across 2 decks) this felt like a no brainer. Still well over our target price, but a great itinerary and a ship we love. 
 

So I called our fantastic agent who looked and said that since balance due date there had been a cancellation on one of the 8 accessible balcony cabins. I asked if we could book it on a Saver and she said that there was a ‘Late Saver’ price for the lowest grade balcony cabin at an amazing price of well under £12,000 but that the cabin we were after was a higher grade so P&O probably wouldn’t honour it. She would call us back. Expectations fully managed (when do P&O ever do us a favour?) I put the kettle on, only to get a call back to say “yes” they would honour it, we could book at the Early Saver price and we would be automatically guaranteed the one remaining accessible balcony cabin. “What’s the catch?” I asked, as this seemed too good to be true. It was explained that we’d have to pay in full today (no problem), we couldn’t transfer or cancel the booking (no problem - if we can’t go it will be an insurance claim), we wouldn’t get free shuttles (at that saving I’ll happily pay where we need them) and our dining allocation would be notified to us on board. At that price we will be very happy with either second sitting Club or Freedom dining and if we get allocated first sitting Club I will just have to hope that my powers of persuasion get a result. We may end up having to share a table but, again, at that saving we’d frankly eat in the staff canteen 😂 

 

Being a bit cheeky I then haggled an additional discount off the TA and eventually ended up at £87 pppn. The booking is already ‘live’ on the Cruise Personaliser and our cabin number already shows and is the one we were told we would have (which we have stayed in before and was fine). To further soften the blow, and reduce the outlay still further, we have got them to transfer our March Ventura booking into this cruise, so the deposit we had already paid on that came off the balance for this booking and we now won’t have to pay the balance for that cruise. We don’t mind ditching that cruise as we wouldn’t want a 2 weeks cruise one week after getting back from a 65 nighter and, by chance, we’d subsequently booked a 14 night cruise on Cunard next year that is a virtually identical itinerary, so the Ventura one was really superfluous. 
 

So, we are off on a 65 night adventure in less than 3 months time, and an adventure I’m sure it will be. I appreciate that it’s an extreme measure to cut down on the heating bills during the coldest two months at home, but we never know what the future will hold and at that price we can live with it not being perfect. This is now the queue for the wise owls on this forum to bring me back down to Earth and tell me why I have been a complete fool by booking a Late Saver and that I have overlooked something critical. Depending on what you tell me, I may or may not tell my wife 😂 

Why not?

 

Great decision live life to the full whilst we all can

 

But thats going to mean one very big live report!!

 

Will be like "War and Peace"

 

(I think 20 pounds tip for your cabin steward after 65 nights should suffice)

 

I'm looking at Iona 35 nights Jan 2024. That will be our longest cruise to date. And the wife seems interested! 

[Selbourne]

5 minutes ago, Interestedcruisefan said:

Why not?

 

Great decision live life to the full whilst we all can

 

But thats going to mean one very big live report!!

 

Will be like "War and Peace"

 

(I think 20 pounds tip for your cabin steward after 65 nights should suffice)

 

I'm looking at Iona 35 nights Jan 2024. That will be our longest cruise to date. And the wife seems interested! 

Now I hadn’t considered the ‘Live From’ 🤣. I might spare you all from that one, although I do get very bored on sea days and there’s plenty of them 🤔😂

[Eglesbrech]

2 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

Now I hadn’t considered the ‘Live From’ 🤣. I might spare you all from that one, although I do get very bored on sea days and there’s plenty of them 🤔😂

Your public awaits and you can’t disappoint. Don’t get bored, get writing 😀

[Eddie99]

Fabulous!

Diems well and truly Carpe-d

You will love it

[Presto2]

57 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

I don’t usually make rash decisions, but an opportunity came up today that I have seized with both hands. It’s a bit of a story, so you might want to grab a cuppa (or something stronger) before reading on and then telling me that I’ve been a fool 😂 

 

By way of background, my wife and I have been debating future cruises, and the prospect of going to the Caribbean in the U.K.  winter has cropped up a few times, but we’ve always hesitated for several reasons. We can’t fly and we aren’t massive fans of sea days. We loved our 24 night USA and Canada cruise on Aurora, but the 6 sea days in a row each way was a killer. Also, we were worried about committing to a long cruise so far out (we always book Select and previously at launch) when we don’t know how my wife’s condition will be in a few years time (she has Secondary Progressive MS and is a full time wheelchair user). 
 

Anyway, we had looked at all the long cruises and the prices were a bit rich for us, especially as we have now limited our P&O spend to a maximum of £100 pppn (although we would go over that for the right cruise, if it was a great itinerary and on an adult only ship). Looking at all the round trip Caribbean cruises between now and Spring 2026, the itinerary that appealed to us most was Aurora’s America & Caribbean Discovery which is Jan to Mar next year. At 65 nights it’s one of the cruises that they label as a Grand Tour. When we were on holiday the other week, I’d had an email offer about that cruise and called our agent on the off chance, but all accessible balcony cabins were sold out (in fact, I think all balcony cabins full stop might have been sold out). This wasn’t a massive issue as it was still £17,600, so well above our target price. 
 

Fast forward to today and we went through the same exercise looking at future cruises with the new releases also in the mix, and we still ended up with the same cruise being the one that we preferred. Having managed to get a booking for an accessible cabin on Britannia in July just after balance due date (at a great price) having tried unsuccessfully twice before to book the cruise, I thought it was worth another try with this one to see if history would repeat itself. Also, the price had dropped to £16,400, although this was for a Saver. The Select price is £20,000 but only includes £1,200 OBC so I thought we’d chance a Saver as we could live without our first choice dining if it meant a saving of £2,400. The Select price wasn’t including parking, and as there are only 8 accessible balcony cabins (all identical and in the same location across 2 decks) this felt like a no brainer. Still well over our target price, but a great itinerary and a ship we love. 
 

So I called our fantastic agent who looked and said that since balance due date there had been a cancellation on one of the 8 accessible balcony cabins. I asked if we could book it on a Saver and she said that there was a ‘Late Saver’ price for the lowest grade balcony cabin at an amazing price of well under £12,000 but that the cabin we were after was a higher grade so P&O probably wouldn’t honour it. She would call us back. Expectations fully managed (when do P&O ever do us a favour?) I put the kettle on, only to get a call back to say “yes” they would honour it, we could book at the Early Saver price and we would be automatically guaranteed the one remaining accessible balcony cabin. “What’s the catch?” I asked, as this seemed too good to be true. It was explained that we’d have to pay in full today (no problem), we couldn’t transfer or cancel the booking (no problem - if we can’t go it will be an insurance claim), we wouldn’t get free shuttles (at that saving I’ll happily pay where we need them) and our dining allocation would be notified to us on board. At that price we will be very happy with either second sitting Club or Freedom dining and if we get allocated first sitting Club I will just have to hope that my powers of persuasion get a result. We may end up having to share a table but, again, at that saving we’d frankly eat in the staff canteen 😂 

 

Being a bit cheeky I then haggled an additional discount off the TA and eventually ended up at £87 pppn. The booking is already ‘live’ on the Cruise Personaliser and our cabin number already shows and is the one we were told we would have (which we have stayed in before and was fine). To further soften the blow, and reduce the outlay still further, we have got them to transfer our March Ventura booking into this cruise, so the deposit we had already paid on that came off the balance for this booking and we now won’t have to pay the balance for that cruise. We don’t mind ditching that cruise as we wouldn’t want a 2 weeks cruise one week after getting back from a 65 nighter and, by chance, we’d subsequently booked a 14 night cruise on Cunard next year that is a virtually identical itinerary, so the Ventura one was really superfluous. 
 

So, we are off on a 65 night adventure in less than 3 months time, and an adventure I’m sure it will be. I appreciate that it’s an extreme measure to cut down on the heating bills during the coldest two months at home, but we never know what the future will hold and at that price we can live with it not being perfect. This is now the queue for the wise owls on this forum to bring me back down to Earth and tell me why I have been a complete fool by booking a Late Saver and that I have overlooked something critical. Depending on what you tell me, I may or may not tell my wife 😂 

It sounds amazing. Am.a great believer that sometimes things happen for the right reason and we look back.wonderong how it happened! Life is too short ... look forward to the review or live review !!

Tell your wife and tell her it's an early Christmas present ..

[terrierjohn]

1 hour ago, Selbourne said:

I don’t usually make rash decisions, but an opportunity came up today that I have seized with both hands. It’s a bit of a story, so you might want to grab a cuppa (or something stronger) before reading on and then telling me that I’ve been a fool 😂 

 

By way of background, my wife and I have been debating future cruises, and the prospect of going to the Caribbean in the U.K.  winter has cropped up a few times, but we’ve always hesitated for several reasons. We can’t fly and we aren’t massive fans of sea days. We loved our 24 night USA and Canada cruise on Aurora, but the 6 sea days in a row each way was a killer. Also, we were worried about committing to a long cruise so far out (we always book Select and previously at launch) when we don’t know how my wife’s condition will be in a few years time (she has Secondary Progressive MS and is a full time wheelchair user). 
 

Anyway, we had looked at all the long cruises and the prices were a bit rich for us, especially as we have now limited our P&O spend to a maximum of £100 pppn (although we would go over that for the right cruise, if it was a great itinerary and on an adult only ship). Looking at all the round trip Caribbean cruises between now and Spring 2026, the itinerary that appealed to us most was Aurora’s America & Caribbean Discovery which is Jan to Mar next year. At 65 nights it’s one of the cruises that they label as a Grand Tour. When we were on holiday the other week, I’d had an email offer about that cruise and called our agent on the off chance, but all accessible balcony cabins were sold out (in fact, I think all balcony cabins full stop might have been sold out). This wasn’t a massive issue as it was still £17,600, so well above our target price. 
 

Fast forward to today and we went through the same exercise looking at future cruises with the new releases also in the mix, and we still ended up with the same cruise being the one that we preferred. Having managed to get a booking for an accessible cabin on Britannia in July just after balance due date (at a great price) having tried unsuccessfully twice before to book the cruise, I thought it was worth another try with this one to see if history would repeat itself. Also, the price had dropped to £16,400, although this was for a Saver. The Select price is £20,000 but only includes £1,200 OBC so I thought we’d chance a Saver as we could live without our first choice dining if it meant a saving of £2,400. The Select price wasn’t including parking, and as there are only 8 accessible balcony cabins (all identical and in the same location across 2 decks) this felt like a no brainer. Still well over our target price, but a great itinerary and a ship we love. 
 

So I called our fantastic agent who looked and said that since balance due date there had been a cancellation on one of the 8 accessible balcony cabins. I asked if we could book it on a Saver and she said that there was a ‘Late Saver’ price for the lowest grade balcony cabin at an amazing price of well under £12,000 but that the cabin we were after was a higher grade so P&O probably wouldn’t honour it. She would call us back. Expectations fully managed (when do P&O ever do us a favour?) I put the kettle on, only to get a call back to say “yes” they would honour it, we could book at the Early Saver price and we would be automatically guaranteed the one remaining accessible balcony cabin. “What’s the catch?” I asked, as this seemed too good to be true. It was explained that we’d have to pay in full today (no problem), we couldn’t transfer or cancel the booking (no problem - if we can’t go it will be an insurance claim), we wouldn’t get free shuttles (at that saving I’ll happily pay where we need them) and our dining allocation would be notified to us on board. At that price we will be very happy with either second sitting Club or Freedom dining and if we get allocated first sitting Club I will just have to hope that my powers of persuasion get a result. We may end up having to share a table but, again, at that saving we’d frankly eat in the staff canteen 😂 

 

Being a bit cheeky I then haggled an additional discount off the TA and eventually ended up at £87 pppn. The booking is already ‘live’ on the Cruise Personaliser and our cabin number already shows and is the one we were told we would have (which we have stayed in before and was fine). To further soften the blow, and reduce the outlay still further, we have got them to transfer our March Ventura booking into this cruise, so the deposit we had already paid on that came off the balance for this booking and we now won’t have to pay the balance for that cruise. We don’t mind ditching that cruise as we wouldn’t want a 2 weeks cruise one week after getting back from a 65 nighter and, by chance, we’d subsequently booked a 14 night cruise on Cunard next year that is a virtually identical itinerary, so the Ventura one was really superfluous. 
 

So, we are off on a 65 night adventure in less than 3 months time, and an adventure I’m sure it will be. I appreciate that it’s an extreme measure to cut down on the heating bills during the coldest two months at home, but we never know what the future will hold and at that price we can live with it not being perfect. This is now the queue for the wise owls on this forum to bring me back down to Earth and tell me why I have been a complete fool by booking a Late Saver and that I have overlooked something critical. Depending on what you tell me, I may or may not tell my wife 😂 

That all sounds eminently sensible, in fact we are thinking of using a saver fare for our next booking.  Ours will be on Iona where the adapted cabins in a specific grade are all on the same deck, so that limits the risk of finding yourself in an unsuitable location.

 

[lancashire_cruisers]

Life is for living and I’m sure you will both have a wonderful time. Can’t wait to follow the live from!

[Megabear2]

Fabulous news.  I'm sure it will be fabulous.  Don't forget to extend your insurance for 65 days if you haven't already done so.

[Angel57]

Everything aligning like that is a sure sign that you have made the right decision.

I too look forward to the blog…..🤣

[TigerB]

Let me get this right, young man!

 

You've booked a saver rate on a cruise that ticks almost all the boxes. You got an accessible cabin that you previously considered paying £270 p/n for, but are now paying £174 for. You got a wad of cash transferred from another cruise. And your energy bills throughout will be tuppence ha'penny.

Is that about the gist of it?

 

Around these parts we would have this to say about folk like you:

That fella would fall in dock and come out dry! 😯😂

 

Well done!👍

I would have done exactly the same if we didn't have a kitty that would turn her back on us as soon as we got home.

Edited October 13, 2023 by TigerB

[Selbourne]

31 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

That all sounds eminently sensible, in fact we are thinking of using a saver fare for our next booking.  Ours will be on Iona where the adapted cabins in a specific grade are all on the same deck, so that limits the risk of finding yourself in an unsuitable location.

 

Thanks John. Same rationale with us. Zero risk on cabin location and two of the three possible dining options would be OK for us. The only one we wouldn’t like is first sitting Club, but I should think that would be the least likely outcome anyway, as I believe that it’s always the most popular. 
 

We’ve only booked a Saver once before and that was on Ventura when we went for a Penthouse Suite. As there’s only two, either was fine 😂 Today’s booking was a Late Saver though. Never come across those before. It was 30% less than the Saver price and doesn’t even appear on the P&O website, which is still showing the cheapest fare as a Saver priced at £5,000 more than we have just paid? The agent had to call me back a few times as there was some to and fro with P&O to get it all sorted and mentioned in the last call (after I’d booked) that they’d just had notification that the price on this cruise is going up tomorrow, so I think we just struck lucky.

 

This might be useful for you to know John (as it was for us), but the agent thinks that the reason that P&O made an exception for us (allowing a Late Saver fare for a lower grade to be applied to a higher grade cabin and instantly confirming that specific cabin on our booking) was because we needed an accessible cabin. 

[Caullkhead]

Sometimes it’s just meant to be, have an amazing time! 

[Megabear2]

14 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

Thanks John. Same rationale with us. Zero risk on cabin location and two of the three possible dining options would be OK for us. The only one we wouldn’t like is first sitting Club, but I should think that would be the least likely outcome anyway, as I believe that it’s always the most popular. 
 

We’ve only booked a Saver once before and that was on Ventura when we went for a Penthouse Suite. As there’s only two, either was fine 😂 Today’s booking was a Late Saver though. Never come across those before. It was 30% less than the Saver price and doesn’t even appear on the P&O website, which is still showing the cheapest fare as a Saver priced at £5,000 more than we have just paid? The agent had to call me back a few times as there was some to and fro with P&O to get it all sorted and mentioned in the last call (after I’d booked) that they’d just had notification that the price on this cruise is going up tomorrow, so I think we just struck lucky.

 

This might be useful for you to know John (as it was for us), but the agent thinks that the reason that P&O made an exception for us (allowing a Late Saver fare for a lower grade to be applied to a higher grade cabin and instantly confirming that specific cabin on our booking) was because we needed an accessible cabin. 

Late savers come into effect immediately after final payment date on 99% of cruises.  There have always been three different options people just tend to refer to "Saver".  

[happy v]

Just go and enjoy yourselves. Life's too short for "ifs and buts".

[Selbourne]

42 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

Fabulous news.  I'm sure it will be fabulous.  Don't forget to extend your insurance for 65 days if you haven't already done so.

Yes it crossed my mind that I’d need to do something about insurance. Might even take the opportunity to take out a new policy with missed port cover, as with 28 ports there’s a fair chance that we might not make it to some of them!

[Selbourne]

6 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

Late savers come into effect immediately after final payment date on 99% of cruises.  There have always been three different options people just tend to refer to "Saver".  

Odd that the late saver price doesn’t show on the website though, just the normal saver at £5k more and Select at £8.3k more. Had the agent not mentioned it we would have had no idea. Is that normal?

 

I know that you are very knowledgeable about these things, but are there any pitfalls with a Late Saver that I’ve not mentioned? It just seems too good to be true and, as they say, when something seems too good to be true it usually is 😂 

[Selbourne]

33 minutes ago, TigerB said:

Let me get this right, young man!

 

You've booked a saver rate on a cruise that ticks almost all the boxes. You got an accessible cabin that you previously considered paying £270 p/n for, but are now paying £174 for. You got a wad of cash transferred from another cruise. And your energy bills throughout will be tuppence ha'penny.

Is that about the gist of it?

 

Around these parts we would have this to say about folk like you:

That fella would fall in dock and come out dry! 😯😂

 

Well done!👍

I would have done exactly the same if we didn't have a kitty that would turn her back on us as soon as we got home.

Yep. That’s the sum of it. And the £174 a night (for the two of us) is before the further reduction of the deposit for the other cruise moving across (albeit that was money we’d already spent). The balance for that cruise was due in December and we obviously won’t have to pay that now. I’m still thinking that there must be a catch, but nobody has flagged anything yet and the booking is ‘Live’ already on the cruise Personaliser with our cabin number confirmed. 👍 

[terrierjohn]

30 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

Yes it crossed my mind that I’d need to do something about insurance. Might even take the opportunity to take out a new policy with missed port cover, as with 28 ports there’s a fair chance that we might not make it to some of them!

I just opened a Nationwide flex plus account and the worldwide annual insurance is only 10% of what Free Spirit quoted, while Staysure would not cover us. It really is remarkably cheap for full worldwide cover including USA and Caribbean, and cruise cover with missed ports.

PS and I cannot imagine our medical conditions will be much different to yours.

Edited October 13, 2023 by terrierjohn

[TigerB]

I've just had a look at the itinerary; it looks fantastic and, from what I could ascertain, not a tender port amongst them! 👍