Question about booking & paying from the USA

[wdwendyd]

Hi everyone!

I am new here but have learned so much already from reading lots of your informative posts!

I am planning my first cruise with P&O. I am just about decided on the 14 day Baltic tour on the Orianna next Sept. I am hoping someone here can suggest the best way to book and pay for the cruise since I live in the US and my funds are in US$. Should I use a US cruise specialist, a UK cruise specialist, or book through P&O? And I want the best deal, too! ;)

Any other advice would be great.

Thank you so much for your help!

Wendy in Portland, Oregon

[hammers]

Hi Wendy, welcome to the P&O forums, I believe you would need a UK address to book wiith a UK travel agent. I understand it would be similar situation if someone in the UK tried to book direct with a US based agent. My advice would be to contact P&O direct and ask for their advice, but based upon my experience, you will not get the best deal booking direct with P&O.

 

Good luck and best wishes,

Terry from London, England.

[Aquaphobic]

When we booked our first P&O cruise last year we were told that P&O only deal with one particular TA for American bookings (not sure if I'm allowed to mention them by name but P&O will tell you who they are) and that we were required to book through them. We weren't allowed to book directly with the cruise line.

 

Luckily, we didn't have any real problems dealing with them and we thoroughly enjoyed the cruise, so much so that we're going again next month.:)

[Aquaphobic]

Try poamericasdotcom.

[southwinds]

Cant you book on line for the various web site here in the uk then?

 

There are often people from abroad on P&O cruises but I never thought to ask how they booked. There must be US cruise specilists..

[Host Sharon]

Welcome to Cruise Critic Wendy. As others have suggested, I would try P&O direct. Since they cut the amount of commission to travel agents they are trying to attract more direct sales, so the price shouldn't be too different anyway.

[wdwendyd]

Thank you everyone for your help! I will let you know what I find out.

Wendy in Portland, OR

[vannerhawk]

*************dotcom advertise p&o cruises

Sorry, won't let me give TA name but it starts with vac

[Scrapnana]

Hi, Wendy!

 

Nice to see another American interested in P&O. I'm very interested in the replies you get.

 

If you have not done a Baltic cruise before you will love it. I did one in 2005 on a Celebrity ship and it was amazing.

 

Kathi

[southwinds]

When we did a segment of the world cruise..lots of Australians got on in Sydney so it must be possable.

[wdwendyd]

I finally found the website with everyone's help!

Try poamericasdotcom.

This is the P&O "Official site for the Americas" and links you to the one that vannerhawk gave the clue of it starting "vac". The TA wrote to me that,"To answer your questions, V T G (I abbreviated it) is the only agency authorized by P&O to sell P&O cruises in North America. The pricing may or may not be different from P&O's pricing in England. Residents of North America will be directed by P&O to our agency for booking."

Anyway, I contacted them and they gave me a price that is more than 20% higher then if I could book through P&O's website. So, I thought maybe they are not passing the Early Booking Spectacular 20% off to me. I asked if that is what the problem is but they have not gotten back to me yet. He said I still need travel insurance even though I had read somewhere that Americans aren't required to get it. He is probably right but I will double check on that, too.

I think if he cannot pass that 20% off on to me, I will contact P&O directly and see if they will help me.

I'm glad this thread might help others and will keep posting as I get more info.

[Host Sharon]

I finally found the website with everyone's help!

 

This is the P&O "Official site for the Americas" and links you to the one that vannerhawk gave the clue of it starting "vac". The TA wrote to me that,"To answer your questions, V T G (I abbreviated it) is the only agency authorized by P&O to sell P&O cruises in North America. The pricing may or may not be different from P&O's pricing in England. Residents of North America will be directed by P&O to our agency for booking."

Anyway, I contacted them and they gave me a price that is more than 20% higher then if I could book through P&O's website. So, I thought maybe they are not passing the Early Booking Spectacular 20% off to me. I asked if that is what the problem is but they have not gotten back to me yet. He said I still need travel insurance even though I had read somewhere that Americans aren't required to get it. He is probably right but I will double check on that, too.

I think if he cannot pass that 20% off on to me, I will contact P&O directly and see if they will help me.

I'm glad this thread might help others and will keep posting as I get more info.

 

I'm glad you got some answers.

 

You will definately need travel insurance as all medical services on board ship are private and have to be paid for. Also, in the hopefully very unlikely, event you might need to medevaced or offloaded into a hospital ashore etc - all these events need to be covered.