Do cruises no longer do free (or very cheap) 3rd and 4th passenger?

[amurray88]

I remember a few years ago a 3rd or 4th passenger would either be free or maybe £49 or £99 each on most cruiselines. There seems to be very little sight of this now - is it a thing of the past?

[Gettingwarmer]

6 minutes ago, amurray88 said:

I remember a few years ago a 3rd or 4th passenger would either be free or maybe £49 or £99 each on most cruiselines. There seems to be very little sight of this now - is it a thing of the past?

https://www.pocruises.com/deals/more-kids-places

[FamilyCruiserUK]

I have seen it on other cruise lines. We went on MSC world Europa in April and our daughter was just port taxes, so i think about £100 and ou Royal cruise on Allure in October 2025 dau is £99. 

 

Not really looked on P&O as its usually outside of school Holidays so no good for us. 

[amurray88]

7 minutes ago, FamilyCruiserUK said:

I have seen it on other cruise lines. We went on MSC world Europa in April and our daughter was just port taxes, so i think about £100 and ou Royal cruise on Allure in October 2025 dau is £99. 

 

Not really looked on P&O as its usually outside of school Holidays so no good for us. 

Im looking for next summer and seems to be so expensive for a 2yr old.

 

We've been lucky, done Azura in Jan and didnt pay for him, and doing MSC this summer and not paying for him. It's just a bit of a sickener when all of a sudden you the have to pay £900 or something for him 🤣

[Gettingwarmer]

1 hour ago, amurray88 said:

Im looking for next summer and seems to be so expensive for a 2yr old.

 

We've been lucky, done Azura in Jan and didnt pay for him, and doing MSC this summer and not paying for him. It's just a bit of a sickener when all of a sudden you the have to pay £900 or something for him 🤣

On the link I put above it says kids places from £199 a little way down in 2024. 
 

MORE kids’ places from £199

Edited May 6 by Gettingwarmer

[lindyloo22]

I have seen some where 3rd and 4th passengers are free I think they are for 25/26.

[Thejuggler]

We are looking for later this year and there are 3rd and 4th person offers, maybe not on P&O.

 

Remember however a 2 year old isn't an adult so you will be quoted child prices, not 3rd person discount.

 

You can test this by changing the booking to three adults and see the effect on price.

 

I've had it where a 2 adults and child (at age 16 and 17) booking isn't possible, but three adults is.

 

[pete14]

One reason we book suites is because the third person goes free, so son or brother in law comes with us. Per head it is not far off the price of two in a balcony cabin but with the, admittedly limited, advantages a suite provides. Maybe it is just outside school holidays (not good for families with school aged children) and obviously just in cabins that can take a third (or fourth) person. 

Edited May 7 by pete14

[Cathygh]

There was an offer for 2026 on launch the other week, I don't know if it was on offer for all of the new cruises

[molecrochip]

Cruise lines have sold so much of their inventory early on that they dont need to push such offers.

[Clodia]

Ambassador are still charging passenger 1 with the second going free. I've  never tried them. Attracted by traditional smaller ships and a great range of UK ports from which to sail. (strongly coloured by journey to Southampton being affected by train strike this week)

 But are they any good.

I had a bad P and O cruise in 2017, the only bad one I've  ever had since 1999, and went to the other extreme trying Silversea. They were wonderful until the pandemic, but the prices! 

Since 2021 their quality especially in food has deteriorated but prices have jumped even further. Their main restaurant fare used to be exquisite but actually the Epicurean is as good or better.

[crimson moon]

10 minutes ago, Clodia said:

Ambassador are still charging passenger 1 with the second going free. I've  never tried them. Attracted by traditional smaller ships and a great range of UK ports from which to sail. (strongly coloured by journey to Southampton being affected by train strike this week)

 But are they any good.

I had a bad P and O cruise in 2017, the only bad one I've  ever had since 1999, and went to the other extreme trying Silversea. They were wonderful until the pandemic, but the prices! 

Since 2021 their quality especially in food has deteriorated but prices have jumped even further. Their main restaurant fare used to be exquisite but actually the Epicurean is as good or better.

What many people wouldn't have noticed with the Ambassador offer is that if you compared the cruises with the same/similar ones this year/last year you would find the offer price has about doubled so the overall coast for two pax is the same.

[John Bull]

16 hours ago, Clodia said:

Ambassador are still charging passenger 1 with the second going free. I've  never tried them. Attracted by traditional smaller ships and a great range of UK ports from which to sail. (strongly coloured by journey to Southampton being affected by train strike this week)

 But are they any good.

I had a bad P and O cruise in 2017, the only bad one I've  ever had since 1999, and went to the other extreme trying Silversea. They were wonderful until the pandemic, but the prices! 

Since 2021 their quality especially in food has deteriorated but prices have jumped even further. Their main restaurant fare used to be exquisite but actually the Epicurean is as good or better.

 

 

In many ways - including some of the management - Ambassador is the phoenix of Cruise & Maritime.

Two-for-one but at higher prices was a sales ploy of Cruise & Maritime. 

C & M was a budget line using very old ships, good value if you accepted their limitations,

Ambassador's net prices are higher than even the mainstream lines but their ships altho not new are much better than C&M and altho we've not sailed with them apparently the standards are much higher and match the higher prices.

For couples the mental arithmetic of two-for-one is very easy

 

JB 🙂  

[john watson]

3rd and 4th passengers are generally priced at a base rate, irrespective of cabin grade.  This makes it attractive to book higher grades.  Most groups divide by four or three amongst themselves to achieve a pro-rata price unless it is a family group.  Fly cruises tend to have a different structure due to flat rate airfares for all passengers.

 

Regards John