NewYorkOrBust

Thanks to all of you who took time to reply what a lovely community you all are on here!

Armed with the nugget of information I.E. the phrase "Official Deviation of Itinerary" thanks to david,Mississauga the first to suggest it I asked the wifey to call and ask nicely again and this time we got it approved. We have put the deposit down and we are off to New York getting off the boat on 1st of July!

We are totally over the moon as we will get to spend 6 days there! We cannot wait! Already looking into doing a coach trip to Washington DC

Here's my detailed responses to some of you!

John Watson

Interesting Point about using two cruise lines, one to go and one to come back. The only thing is me and the Mrs aren't enjoying our retirement years just yet and have to work for a living and the maximum length of time i can get off work would be 24 days straight so two cruise lines would have to be going in and out of new york around 6-9 days apart maximum when taxing into account the crossing times there and back I presume that's a rarirty?

As regards to "Bell Boy" & "Peppern I really don't understand why anyone would bounce around what could be a realy rough crossing just for a few hours in New York. I know the Queen Mary is great looked at various videos about it definetly want to expereince it at least once but can you really be entertaied for 6 or 7 days straight on it? The thing is I don't want to use it like some Heritage railway the destination is more important to me than the journey! Plus at least on a railway you see something interesting through the window!

So Queen Mary 2 will keep us entertained then for practically a week then eh?

Best Regards

New York Or Bust

Hi,

Both my wife and I who have never visited the US and hate flying (Mid to late 30s each only gone on 2 cruises before) would love to visit New York and not fly there or back. For the past 3 years off and on I've looked on Cunard's website and always seen ridiculous round trips where 6 days on boat, 1 day in New York and 6 days back! Can someone explain who would do this silly itinerary?

Why is there never cruise 6 days to New York stay 6 days and cruise back? So my interest was peaked when I noticed:-

M823B leaving Southampton for 19 nights to {New York 1st then St Johns, Boston for 2 days back New York x1 day} and back Southampton (£1,889)

I want to arrive in New York disembark let the ship go on its merry way to St Johns and Boston while we stay in New York for 6 days and pick the boat back up when it returns back to New York before it goes back to Southampton again.

I phoned Cunard up expecting that I could do this by maybe telling the porter / bursar (insert correct ship term) that we were popping off for 6 days and air B and B it in New York and pop back on when it comes back to New York but oh no can't do! Instead they want me to buy:-

M823 leaving Southampton for 7 nights to New York (£1,407)

Then this one to in effect complete the 2nd leg back:-

M825 leaving New York for 7 nights back to Southampton (£1,549)

I'm now -Minus the middle segment!! But ++ The money:-

So the £1,899 trip is now £1,407+ £1,549 = £2,956 an increase of £1,057

Then I discovered they were selling just the bit I didn’t want to do on its own to people:-

M824 leaving New York for 5 nights {New York 1st then St Johns, Boston for 2 days back New York x1 day}£1,409

So I pay a £1,057 more and they can sell our empty cabin and make £1,409 again! So you can understand my predicament! So just wondering if I book the round trip as they want and say to the staff @ New York you won't see us until 6 days again when you’re back in New York will the ships staff let me do that? Clearly the salesman on the Cunard line aren’t saying yes!

Best Regards

New York Or Bust

Hi,

Thanks again for all your advice.

I know that an algorithm may be at play as regards pricing but I really don't think its at play with total cabin numbers after all I can trust the website when it says the higher grades are "SOLD OUT" I see no reason I should untrust the website when it appears to give me a choice of cabins and cabin numbers and asks me which one to book.

So I don't quiet believe that there is some hidden fluid number of cabins on the Select Price I am being offered to choose real cabins that are still available which surely will fold into saver cabins if unsold. Thanks for the steer I have looked at the travel agents and see that there is a 300 saving still to be had via them.

So I still have some hope that we might get onboard.

Thanks everyone.

Hi BrianI,

To see what Cabins are available I've been going half way through the booking process everyday and I know there are 8 inside cabins on C Deck and 4 inside cabins on E and B decks. And the same 12 cabins numbers have been comming up all the time. I have to go in using Select Price rather than Saver but it shows me what's there and it hasn't changed in 3 months.

aurora2009 I don't care about Cabin really we'll only be sleeping in it. Quiet happy to be in steerage.

So based on the info I'm telling you which i know to be correct and your guys expereince of how things usually work have i got a hope in hell of getting on this boat at around the same price? As i truly cannot afford it at now £800 more combined.

Do they negotiate when cabins still empty a week before it sails? Can anyone throw me a bone here. After talking this up to the Wifey she''s kind of had her heart set on it but we needed to save and needed one more month to afford it.

Best Regards

Gareth

Yes BrianI prices do seem crazy at times. These are all the price movements I've seen for mine since autumn last year looking only at inside cabins grades:-

£2899 Starting Price

£2499 Could have had minor drops but wasnt looking until this one

£2399

£2199 Up to August 1st

£2299 After August 1st

£2399

£2599 Latest Price

I know they havent shifted any of the Inside cabins in 3 months!! They clearly sold the majority of the cabins early that had portholes now all thats left is the inside center cabins so bee-ess the cabins are not selling. The majority did sell and then whats left has been non movers for quiet some time.

I've been checking every other day! I accept this is a popular cruise due to being able to visit america with no flights and its a popular time of year but still I don't get if the cabins arent selling they'd up the price?

Is this maybe just protocol this is what they usually do and usually works for them on most ocassions so they'd do it on this one too?

But if come the last week they still have them to sell would they offer me it back at £2199 if I asked?

I always thought If the price dropped of a grade of cabin they'd drop for all the pevious people who paid a higher price they'd refund them back? Is that not the case then?

Regards

Gareth

Thanks for all the quick responses but I've been monitoring this one for about 4 months and they haven't shifted a single inside cabin since April even when it was £2199 for 2 or 3 months. I kept going through the booking system again and again to see what cabins it gave me.

Do people other than the retired have the ability at the drop of a hat to have 24 days off? And most retirees arent spur of the moment people. I'm new to late minute cruise booking but do working couples really book a cruise like a spur of the moment flight or train booking? Isn't this a well planned in advance kind of a thing for most people? I could understand if it was for a 1 week cruise but for 3 and a half weeks?

But I really need to come to a decision on this as I have to have a Plan B holiday in place and cannot keep waiting to see if it drops.

Hi,

I hope you can help us understand what is happening with the prices on this cruise:-

http://www.pocruises.com/j614/?search=true&leadmeta=i

Me and my good lady both in our late 30s who have only cruised twice before on Fred Olsen had our hearts set last summer on a P & O 12 port 24 night cruise to New york, Boston, Quebec etc due to depart September the 11th this year.

We booked our days off work and tried to start saving ages ago in autumn 2015 but we had just moved into our first house and what with bills and an expensive christmas we had nothing saved and thought look this just isnt going to happen this year and promply decided to forget about it being an option in early January. Come late April time I cursorily looked on the P&O website to find the cruise had dropped to £2499 saving us a combined £800 and there was still 12 inside cabins available. I figured that if we both put £500 away from May to September we'd be able to pay in early september just before it sailed (we'd left the same dates in play with both our employers).

The wifey thought this was a crazy idea as the remaining cabins would probably slowly sell if we left it as late as 2 weeks before it sailed to pay but we knew we needed to save for a holiday if not this so started putting the money away and then saw it drop two more times down to £2199 with £325 onboard spend. Also none of the inside cabins have gone either since May. We were so elated as the months ticked by as the prices dropped a bit then stayed at £2199 for 2 months and the cabins remained available.

So we budgeted assuming it was going to come in at £2199 or maybe less. But Since the last book by offer on 1st of August past the price has gone up to £2299 for a day then next day £2399 and now its at £2599.

Everything I've read says that the price shouldnt be going up at this stage so what gives? Is this a fluke caused by Brexit? or something else? Do you think it will go down again? We could only just afford it when it stayed at £2199 and we are both a bit fed up now as we really canot affod it now at this price.

Best Regards

Gareth