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Future Cruise Deposit scheme to end, and changed to on-board booking


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Have just read this in the weekly email mailing received from P&O today:

 

"On*‐board booking perks will continue, with extra on-*‐board spending money now available on all Select Price cruises of four nights or more.

Additionally, you told us you loved our low deposit scheme and this is set to stay. Just £50pp can secure a future adventure with us. And for extra peace of mind? While we will no longer be selling future cruise down payments from 2 July, the introduction of a two-week grace period on your return home when you book your holiday on board means you can now transfer your booking to a different cruise (of equal or higher value) completely free of charge."

 

It won't affect me greatly but I'm sure some regular cruisers will be upset.

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Yes we miss out on this perk. We usually buy 10 future cruise deposits per year to use on brochure launch.

The minimum OBC this would give us was £500 and because we tend to do longer cruises in the winter we potentially could lose out by £800 to £1000 per annum.

 

Thanks P & O

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Yes we miss out on this perk. We usually buy 10 future cruise deposits per year to use on brochure launch.

 

The minimum OBC this would give us was £500 and because we tend to do longer cruises in the winter we potentially could lose out by £800 to £1000 per annum.

 

 

 

Thanks P & O

 

 

 

I've noticed that when you cruise they now seem to allocate £25 OBS per person on your next cruise which doesn't seem to expire, I might be wrong but a few times I've had more OBC than I thought I should get and they always say it's from a ship visit.

 

A small consolation maybe, and you never know Sue when they finally announce the loyalty changes you may benefit from that.

 

 

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Yes we miss out on this perk. We usually buy 10 future cruise deposits per year to use on brochure launch.

The minimum OBC this would give us was £500 and because we tend to do longer cruises in the winter we potentially could lose out by £800 to £1000 per annum.

 

Thanks P & O

 

So P&O wised up to the fact that these were being bought by people who were going to cruise with them anyway, so as a company they were throwing away money.

 

Perhaps should be more promiscuous with their choice of cruise line, so P&O need to do something to retain their custom.

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P&O are getting more and more cavalier with their attitude to their regular customers. Perhaps they assume that we will not move to another line and give up our Peninsular Club Benefits.

 

Of course, MSC with their "Status Match" programme will match loyalty levels from other cruise lines. I realise that MSC are not to everyone's taste - but for those of us who like a less formal and more European atmosphere, the option is there.

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I won't miss out on loads of money because my average cruise is normally 7 nights. It's disappointing though as I'm going with my friend next year for the first time. I encouraged her to go on a ship visit and buy a FCD and I was going to buy mine when I cruise with my husband in a couple of weeks - now she'll get more than me!!

Also I can't book on launch or necessarily while I'm on a cruise because of how difficult it is to get holiday at work. Annoying as there's often a queue at the future cruise desk and who wants to spend a lot of time on holday in a queue! So the one time we could have booked on board we just got the FCD.

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I had to smile to myself at the headline P&O use :- More reasons than ever to book on board.

 

Also the way they have listened to our feed back again, just like when we all told them we

do not want to board unless our cabin was ready.

Now we find out that we have told them in our feedback that we dislike Future Cruise Credit !

We would much rather book on-board at a mere £50 each but to make things better, should you have a change of heart ..

you can swap or book another cruise that's equal or costs you more:confused:

 

P&O seem to have decided that any changes they desire can be put forward by simply stating

it's good ,it's better and it's your idea ;p http://www.pocruises.com/explore/articles/news/more-reasons-than-ever-to-book-on-board/

 

Memo to self ... Must stop sending feedback I do not remember to P&O :rolleyes:

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Would someone be kind enough to explain what the future cruise deposit scheme is / was? I received the email and have read it again at the start of this thread, but it assumes a knowledge that I don't have and doesn't really make sense to me. I have never booked a cruise on board, partly because I have never been convinced (probably incorrectly) that they offer anything that you can't get yourself back home and secondly because the desks are never open long enough and always have queues of people waiting and I just can't be bothered to sit and wait for ages whilst I am already paying for the experience of being on holiday! What have I been missing? Is anything that is left post revisions worth having, such as the £50 deposit which, again, I've never really investigated. Thanks in anticipation.

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Would someone be kind enough to explain what the future cruise deposit scheme is / was? I received the email and have read it again at the start of this thread, but it assumes a knowledge that I don't have and doesn't really make sense to me. I have never booked a cruise on board, partly because I have never been convinced (probably incorrectly) that they offer anything that you can't get yourself back home and secondly because the desks are never open long enough and always have queues of people waiting and I just can't be bothered to sit and wait for ages whilst I am already paying for the experience of being on holiday! What have I been missing? Is anything that is left post revisions worth having, such as the £50 deposit which, again, I've never really investigated. Thanks in anticipation.

 

 

 

FCD - Basically you pay £50, and the next time you book you get that £50 taken off the deposit, but in addition you get/got OBC the value of which was dependent on the length of the cruise.

 

 

 

 

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FCD - Basically you pay £50, and the next time you book you get that £50 taken off the deposit, but in addition you get/got OBC the value of which was dependent on the length of the cruise.

 

 

 

 

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I'm obviously thicker than I thought as that still doesn't really make sense to me. Is the value of the OBC genuinely more than you get booking from home under, say, a double OBC offer? Also, pay £50 to get £50 off doesn't make sense to me either. Does it mean you can actually book a specific cabin for a specific cruise for just £50, so if you subsequently cancel all you have lost is £50? If not, I can't see what the point of it is. Clearly I am missing something.

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I'm obviously thicker than I thought as that still doesn't really make sense to me. Is the value of the OBC genuinely more than you get booking from home under, say, a double OBC offer? Also, pay £50 to get £50 off doesn't make sense to me either. Does it mean you can actually book a specific cabin for a specific cruise for just £50, so if you subsequently cancel all you have lost is £50? If not, I can't see what the point of it is. Clearly I am missing something.

 

 

 

The £50 is just to get you to part with a deposit without at that point booking a specific cruise - but you are likely to book another once you have paid the £50, once booked you technically get your £50 back as it comes off the cost of your cruise. When you book, the type of cabin etc. depends on normal booking conditions.

The OBC is in addition to all other offers, we've often had £100 each OBC for two £50 FCDs which didn't actually cost anything as we got the £50 back. It's just a method of getting you to rebook with them.

I'm not sure I'm explaining it very well [emoji38]

 

 

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The £50 is just to get you to part with a deposit without at that point booking a specific cruise - but you are likely to book another once you have paid the £50, once booked you technically get your £50 back as it comes off the cost of your cruise. When you book, the type of cabin etc. depends on normal booking conditions.

The OBC is in addition to all other offers, we've often had £100 each OBC for two £50 FCDs which didn't actually cost anything as we got the £50 back. It's just a method of getting you to rebook with them.

I'm not sure I'm explaining it very well [emoji38]

 

 

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Thanks for trying! That does make more sense. So with that now clear, I've re read the recent communication and can't see what's changed. They still refer to additional OBC and £50 deposit. Perhaps I need to go to bed. It's been a long day :')

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Unless I am reading this wrong (easy for me:)), it does not say FCD will no longer be available on Cruise Ship Visits....it is just talking about booking while on a Cruise...hopefully someone can enlighten me, at my age I do tend to miss things.;):)

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Let me try to give an example. I pay £50 FCD they give me a receipt. I go home, it's valid for a year. Six months later I want to book a cruise, I phone up the deposit is £500 but as I paid a FCD I only pay £450. As a bonus they give me OBC which is in addition to the OBC that was on offer at time of booking.

It should be noted that there were some late savers you weren't allowed to use FCD on.

 

The book on board is similar, but you have to book a specific cruise for the £50 deposit. You used to get the additional OBC - I think you still do.

 

The reason it's not so good for people like Sue is that she may not know exactly which cruises she wants to book - so she has lost the flexibility of putting down a deposit without specifying which cruise she will use it on. Without the FCD she loses the extra OBC you get.

 

 

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Unless I am reading this wrong (easy for me:)), it does not say FCD will no longer be available on Cruise Ship Visits....it is just talking about booking while on a Cruise...hopefully someone can enlighten me, at my age I do tend to miss things.;):)

 

Glad it's not just me then :D It does all rather assume a level of knowledge that I am clearly not alone in not having! I have come to the conclusion that the marketing team at P&O are as poor as their IT department - and their customer services department for that matter. Thank God that their on board staff are generally excellent!

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Unless I am reading this wrong (easy for me:)), it does not say FCD will no longer be available on Cruise Ship Visits....it is just talking about booking while on a Cruise...hopefully someone can enlighten me, at my age I do tend to miss things.;):)

Re-reading the quote in the initial post it clearly states "And for extra peace of mind? While we will no longer be selling future cruise down payments from 2 July, the introduction of a two-week grace period on your return home when you book your holiday on board means you can now transfer your booking to a different cruise (of equal or higher value) completely free of charge."

The 2 weeks grace is no where near enough for those of us who would want to use the FCD at brochure launch, and very few people from the midlands north would be likely to arrange a ship visit, especially when you have to pay for one anyway, even if they might still be available.

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Well if they want people to book on board they need to get more staff at the future cruise sales desk or make opening hours more suitable. My experience, and the reason I just filled a form in for a future cruise certificate, was that for most of the day the sales desk wasn't open, or there were so few staff that there were long lines of people waiting. I wasn't prepared to wait around for ages during my sailing.

 

How about having an appointment system, or open all day?

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So far a number of issues have been raised as to why these new arrangements are to the disadvantage to customers as compared with the T&Cs of the previous scheme; there are problems surrounding the uncertainty of annual holidays from work, of not wanting to commit to a booking so far ahead for all manner of reasons (a fortnight after returning home really doesn't cut it) or being able to use the fcd on brochure launch.

 

Whilst I doubt anyone is naive enough to choose a holiday based on some additional obc I certainly like to buy a fcd. To a small extent I confess this is to take advantage of a perk (it's not a deal breaker but is a canny incentive tapping into folks' desire to get something extra) but mainly it's almost a psychological 'tie' to thinking about and planning our next holiday - a little consolation when coming to the end of a lovely cruise.

 

I suspect this might back-fire somewhat for reasons already aired as most people who previously paid a fcd had, to a large extent, therefore committed to another P&O cruise. Of course you can forfeit the fcd but I think most would be looking closely at P&O's itineraries with a view to 'cashing in' on their little bonus. But psychologically that connection has gone and I really do believe that will lead to customers being more receptive to considering other deals from other cruise lines. Of course some will not desert P&O but I suspect a proportion like me, without a fcd to consider, may well be less 'attached' to P&O whilst searching for our next cruise.

 

(And I find it laughable for P&O to infer this is what customers want - how does it benefit anyone over the previous arrangements? To infer that it is anything other than a hard-nosed business decision which, of course is their prerogative, is insulting to the customer's intelligence.)

Edited by kruzseeka
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It's interesting to compare P&O with Princess too. Purchasing a FCD on a Princess cruise is fully refundable if not used within 2 years and costs £75. With Princess the amount of shipboard credit varies for doing so, depending on length of cruise and type of stateroom. What's more with Princess the £75 paid is also the full amount needed to pay the cruise deposit.

 

Another interesting difference between P&O and Princess is that Princess recognizes ALL my P&O past cruise history, unlike P&O. So because I cruised as a child with P&O I will be top tier Elite status when I next sail with them. In comparison, I'm bottom tier with P&O

 

Yes Princess tend to be higher prices than P&O, but they do offer much more generous child discounts which has meant much better value for us. To the extent last Summer we were able to cruise around Japan, including flights and stay, for significantly less than a fortnight in the Med on P&O.

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So far a number of issues have been raised as to why these new arrangements are to the disadvantage to customers as compared with the T&Cs of the previous scheme; there are problems surrounding the uncertainty of annual holidays from work, of not wanting to commit to a booking so far ahead for all manner of reasons (a fortnight after returning home really doesn't cut it) or being able to use the fcd on brochure launch.

 

Whilst I doubt anyone is naive enough to choose a holiday based on some additional obc I certainly like to buy a fcd. To a small extent I confess this is to take advantage of a perk (it's not a deal breaker but is a canny incentive tapping into folks' desire to get something extra) but mainly it's almost a psychological 'tie' to thinking about and planning our next holiday - a little consolation when coming to the end of a lovely cruise.

 

I suspect this might back-fire somewhat for reasons already aired as most people who previously paid a fcd had, to a large extent, therefore committed to another P&O cruise. Of course you can forfeit the fcd but I think most would be looking closely at P&O's itineraries with a view to 'cashing in' on their little bonus. But psychologically that connection has gone and I really do believe that will lead to customers being more receptive to considering other deals from other cruise lines. Of course some will not desert P&O but I suspect a proportion like me, without a fcd to consider, may well be less 'attached' to P&O whilst searching for our next cruise.

 

(And I find it laughable for P&O to infer this is what customers want - how does it benefit anyone over the previous arrangements? To infer that it is anything other than a hard-nosed business decision which, of course is their prerogative, is insulting to the customer's intelligence.)

 

 

 

Very well articulated - that sums it all up very nicely.

 

 

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Maybe it wasn't being utilised enough because people didn't understand the benefit. If they've had more takers for the BOB £50 deposit scheme (aka it's what our customers want) perhaps they use the administrative saving of closing the FCD scheme to open the desk for longer. I suppose there aren't many people who book multiple cruises a year and other cruisers may be more likely to BOB in the moment and on sea days when there isn't much to do. I suppose the die-hard P&O cruisers who come here are a tiny majority of those who sail, my guess is P&O view us as old school moaners who spend much of their time repeatedly squabbling about tips, dress codes and boarding times - perhaps not surprising they don't seem to care what we think or whether they get our repeat custom. These days they are far more likely to be courting opinion from those who run high profile FB groups, and move their offerings towards solutions that attract the biggest return.

 

 

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