Anchor Fares

Just got a shiny brochure in from Fred highlighting all the Anchor Fares for the next few months. It also shows the original Freedom Fare prices and some of the discounts are massive! The benefits of a Freedom Fare don't justify the huge price differential of the Anchor Fare.

If I was going on one of these cruises and had booked a Freedom Fare I would not be a happy bunny at all. I have cruised for a long time and know this is just the way it is (so I try to avoid looking at prices after I book) however to get it neatly laid out in black and white and through your front door is just adding salt to the wounds.

Do Fred ever offer early bookers the chance to (pay for) an upgrade before they sell off cabins at these bargain basement prices?

Does the (complimentary) upgrade fairy ever visit?

Yes, it has only happened once to us but it was a complementary double upgrade from a Superior Balcony to a Superior Suite.

Just got a shiny brochure in from Fred highlighting all the Anchor Fares for the next few months. It also shows the original Freedom Fare prices and some of the discounts are massive! The benefits of a Freedom Fare don't justify the huge price differential of the Anchor Fare.

 

If I was going on one of these cruises and had booked a Freedom Fare I would not be a happy bunny at all. I have cruised for a long time and know this is just the way it is (so I try to avoid looking at prices after I book) however to get it neatly laid out in black and white and through your front door is just adding salt to the wounds.

 

Do Fred ever offer early bookers the chance to (pay for) an upgrade before they sell off cabins at these bargain basement prices?

 

Does the (complimentary) upgrade fairy ever visit?

Yes - after booking early quite often but it's luck of the draw. On other occasions we've been offered a discounted upgrade which sometimes has been accepted and sometimes not.:)

At the end of the day, you just have to be happy with the price you pay in the first place. You wouldn't book the cruise in the first place unless you were! That being said, it's always frustrating when the cruise gets reduced but it's the same with anything. Fred Olsen are quite good for offering early bookers the chance to upgrade at a greatly reduced fare, or, given complementary upgrades.

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We have never been offered a complementary upgrade, but we have been put in higher grade cabins than we booked on a couple of anchor fare bookings. They now seem to say in emails that you can ring to ask if there are any offers on upgrades after you pay the final balance and we have done that a couple of times - you could always ring when it gets near to the sail date, especially if a cruise is not selling well. Price difference has been about half what we would have paid if booking the higher grade cabin originally, but you can still choose the cabin number, which is a big advantage as you run the risk of being put in noisy, or otherwise bad locations on upgrades.

We were talking to the future cruise lady on Braemar a year or so ago and she said the criteria for upgrades being offered was how early you have booked, what you have paid, and if you are Gold Oceans. I think it also depends on what cabin you have booked and if it is popular grade, e.g. the cheaper grade, as they like to have some of those available to give a low 'prices from' on adverts. I have heard of people in the higher grades being upgraded to the top couple of levels as well - not sure many people actually pay full price for those :)

We did get a really good deal to stay on for the next cruise in Dec 2015 when we were on board - less than the going anchor price and we could choose cabin number and dining.

I think the lower upgrade prices come after any anchor fares are realeased.