Paying the balance

[Vampiress88]

So my balance is due on 5 jan for our easter holiday cruise on ventura. 
 

went to pay it the whole £2501 that I know is remaining and it said £55 remaining balance. 
 

thought awesome a glitch for more or less a free holiday. 
 

obviously 🙄 I went back in to check as you know it’s too good to be true and it’s was. Gave me the £2456 left. Thought bugger it’s now decided to update correctly. 
 

anyhow I’m kinda annoyed it did that. I knew it must have been an error but these stupid computers sometimes will have people thinking that’s all was left! 

 

 

[mercury7289]

31 minutes ago, Vampiress88 said:

So my balance is due on 5 jan for our easter holiday cruise on ventura. 
 

went to pay it the whole £2501 that I know is remaining and it said £55 remaining balance. 
 

thought awesome a glitch for more or less a free holiday. 
 

obviously 🙄 I went back in to check as you know it’s too good to be true and it’s was. Gave me the £2456 left. Thought bugger it’s now decided to update correctly. 
 

anyhow I’m kinda annoyed it did that. I knew it must have been an error but these stupid computers sometimes will have people thinking that’s all was left! 

 

 

Why are you annoyed? Was it because you thought you could get away with it? 

[Vampiress88]

6 minutes ago, mercury7289 said:

Why are you annoyed? Was it because you thought you could get away with it? 

no. I would have called them Tomorrow anyway If it had still not shown the correct amount as I’d never want to risk my holiday and all that I’ve already paid on a glitch on a pc. Even though it’d be great for as a free holiday. 
 

its annoys me that it is a glitch and that the only reason I checked it is cos I suspected it to be so. Had I not have had that thought or not kept track of what I owe I would have assumed the website was correct. As that’s what my husband thought as he was doing it for me and I had to say it wasn’t correct but it didn’t give any other options but only to pay the £55. So I said well pay that and then see if it updates after or not. 
good job I was there as he has no clue as to what the balance is left. 
 

then I would have been in trouble come 6th January when I forfeit my deposits,credits and well I don’t know if my holiday would just get cancelled too. 

[jeanlyon]

Are you sure you weren't looking at your On Board Credit?  Sounds like it.  £55.

[terrierjohn]

My TA never gets the outstanding balance wrong, and I much prefer making payment via a human rather than a computer, especially one programmed by P&O.🤔

[Vampiress88]

Definitely not on board credit as I’ve had to make the balance in two payments. Of £55 and £2446. 
 

we don’t us ta wouldn’t know who do even go to any more. 

[terrierjohn]

25 minutes ago, Vampiress88 said:

Definitely not on board credit as I’ve had to make the balance in two payments. Of £55 and £2446. 
 

we don’t us ta wouldn’t know who do even go to any more. 

Most of the cruise specialist TAs are much better than using P&O direct, IMO.

[majortom10]

Would never book direct with P&O and not just because it is usually if not all the time cheaper with a TA but for the reason half the time the left hand doesnt know what the right hand is doing.

[Harry Peterson]

Prices are pretty much the same wherever and however you book, with P&O or through an agent.

 

Some agents will give you a small discount on top, though, though this does have to be negotiated.  Even a 5% discount makes quite a difference on something costing a few thousand pounds.

[AndyMichelle]

2 hours ago, Harry Peterson said:

Prices are pretty much the same wherever and however you book, with P&O or through an agent.

 

Some agents will give you a small discount on top, though, though this does have to be negotiated.  Even a 5% discount makes quite a difference on something costing a few thousand pounds.

We now use an agent recommended to us after always booking direct. 

I don't find the prices much cheaper, but the service and ease of use is superb. 

They can seem to bypass P&Os scripted call centre and get answers to any queries quickly. 

I think the more you are spending, the bigger the discount available, but we are constantly looking for bargains so we can have more cruises, so only save an extra few quid per cruise, but would choose the agent every time now, just for their helpfulness. 

Andy 

 

[jeanlyon]

I never have to negotiate a discount with my TA.  He does it automatically even when I book on board and it goes through to him.  Like others I would never book through the P&O website.  Maybe they didn't take the correct deposit and there was £55 outstanding.  Who knows.

[majortom10]

Always get at least 3% discount and sometimes 5% depending on price of cruise and I am sorry but do not think an average amount of £50 is a small amount to be ignored it is better in my pocket than P&Os and also get excellent service from my TA and on reading about P&O and their customer service on many forums dont think they would be as good.

[jeanlyon]

Absolutely agree.

[Jennizor]

We have used the same TA for the last 15 years. I never have to ask for a discount they just automatically tell me how much they can give me.  They even match what I would get going through TopCashback. I also find the booking process better than booking direct with P & O. Just try one Vampiress, I’m sure you won’t regret it.

[Eglesbrech]

On 12/27/2019 at 7:55 AM, AndyMichelle said:

We now use an agent recommended to us after always booking direct. 

I don't find the prices much cheaper, but the service and ease of use is superb. 

They can seem to bypass P&Os scripted call centre and get answers to any queries quickly. 

I think the more you are spending, the bigger the discount available, but we are constantly looking for bargains so we can have more cruises, so only save an extra few quid per cruise, but would choose the agent every time now, just for their helpfulness. 

Andy 

 

In terms of bargains Andy  we always book direct with P&O when we book a saver fare.
 

I have no proof for this at all but we always seem to get a good cabin (generally upgraded by a few levels) allocation and dining that way. Anything going via a TA has a lag time to get from P&O to them then TA to customer while ours can be at the very last minute as it is a direct email.
 

P&O also make more off direct bookers as no TA fee so perhaps that’s why we are accommodated well as on appear we have paid more to P&O by that 5% discount.

 

As I say no proof for this, just my own experience of direct booking having a benefit to me.

[AndyMichelle]

30 minutes ago, Eglesbrech said:

In terms of bargains Andy  we always book direct with P&O when we book a saver fare.
 

I have no proof for this at all but we always seem to get a good cabin (generally upgraded by a few levels) allocation and dining that way. Anything going via a TA has a lag time to get from P&O to them then TA to customer while ours can be at the very last minute as it is a direct email.
 

P&O also make more off direct bookers as no TA fee so perhaps that’s why we are accommodated well as on appear we have paid more to P&O by that 5% discount.

 

As I say no proof for this, just my own experience of direct booking having a benefit to me.

That all sounds logical, but we still seem to get the benefits. 

We have tried both options, but the real clincher for us is the far better service we seem to get from our agent rather than trying to talk to P&O direct with conflicting answers from different staff. 

We all have to do what suits us. 

Andy 

[Eglesbrech]

21 minutes ago, AndyMichelle said:

That all sounds logical, but we still seem to get the benefits. 

We have tried both options, but the real clincher for us is the far better service we seem to get from our agent rather than trying to talk to P&O direct with conflicting answers from different staff. 

We all have to do what suits us. 

Andy 

Exactly so Andy, do what suits you.

 

I have never felt the need to speak to them, I simply book, pay, print off the paperwork and turn up at the ship

[majortom10]

Like I have previously said we always book with a regular TA and have not had many problems in all the cruises we have done but have more confidence in TA than P&O if there is a problem. So at the end of the day it comes down to price and my TA is always cheaper than P&O or any other cruise line because they give back some of their commission to attract bookings.

[jeanlyon]

It's a no-brainer.  Why pay more than you have to.

[AndyMichelle]

1 hour ago, Eglesbrech said:

Exactly so Andy, do what suits you.

 

I have never felt the need to speak to them, I simply book, pay, print off the paperwork and turn up at the ship

We had a couple of questions after booking direct, P&O had made an error that should have been easily rectified. 

We got passed from pillar to post before being asked to email. We then had a response saying it would be dealt with in ex amount of days... It was finally dealt with in seconds. 

We had a similar query after booking through our ta, this was dealt with immediately. 

So to me, no brainer, but until then, we were happy booking direct, so fully understand why you do. 

Andy 

 

 

[terrierjohn]

2 minutes ago, AndyMichelle said:

We had a couple of questions after booking direct, P&O had made an error that should have been easily rectified. 

We got passed from pillar to post before being asked to email. We then had a response saying it would be dealt with in ex amount of days... It was finally dealt with in seconds. 

We had a similar query after booking through our ta, this was dealt with immediately. 

So to me, no brainer, but until then, we were happy booking direct, so fully understand why you do. 

Andy 

 

 

I have to agree with Andy, our TA always gets an immediate response from P&O to any slight problem we might have, and their access to P&Os own, in house, booking system ensures you get 100% accurate info on available cabins, although we now always book on launch, but again our TA has never failed to get us our first choice cabin.

Plus of course the extra discount.

[jeanlyon]

On our last cruise, we pre-registered on board for 2 cruises in 2021 with the bookings being put through to our TA.  We particularly asked for D deck on Aurora and were advised that this had been incorporated into the pre-reg.

 

On returning home, we had been given A deck which I had particularly told them we did not want.  Our lovely TA was on the ball straight away and we were moved to D deck immediately for both cruises.