2021 Price increases on P&O (UK)?

[coinbox]

Hi All, had my cruise cancelled for August on P&O (UK) - Totally understand in the current environment.

 

Thought 125% Cruise credit was a good offer.

 

So went to book same cruise for 2021. Cancelled Cruise NO24 (Canary Islands) on venture, £1748 per person. Same destination on Oceana E129, Same dates, Cabin type and location on board £2852 a rise of over 61%. Anyone else seen this? 

 

Contacted Customer services and the reply was :-

-------------------------------------------

Thank you for your recent email and for taking the time to contact us.
Whilst I can appreciate that this is frustrating, I can advise that all of our cruise holidays are sold on a fluid pricing basis and are subject to change depending on cabin availability and the general sale of each cruise. However, by using fluid pricing, as most travel companies and agencies now do, the fares and discounts can change at any time. Bearing in mind that we can never know how any given cruise will sell, it is not possible for us to confirm if prices will go up or down at a later date.

This is a policy we have used for some time now. As such, we do recommend that passengers only confirm a booking when they are completely happy with what is being booked and the fare being charged for such. In this regard, we do note in our booking terms and conditions that any special offers or discounts advertised may be changed or withdrawn without notice.

We reserve the right to vary particulars and prices shown in our brochure after the date of publication. Prices, discounts, supplements and special offers advertised in the brochure or elsewhere may be withdrawn or changed. Prices may go up or down. All Cruises are priced separately the number and type of promotions we offer are dependent on the levels of demand we receive for any particular sailing and can change at any time.

Should you wish to transfer your booking, please take note of the below requirements. If you have booked direct, please contact our Customer Contact Centre on 0345 355 5111 (Calls cost 3p per minute plus your telephone company’s network access charge).
 
Once again, thank you for contacting us.

Kind regards,
--------------------------------------------

 

 

[wowzz]

2 minutes ago, coinbox said:

Hi All, had my cruise cancelled for August on P&O (UK) - Totally understand in the current environment.

 

Thought 125% Cruise credit was a good offer.

 

So went to book same cruise for 2021. Cancelled Cruise NO24 (Canary Islands) on venture, £1748 per person. Same destination on Oceana E129, Same dates, Cabin type and location on board £2852 a rise of over 61%. Anyone else seen this? 

 

Contacted Customer services and the reply was :-

-------------------------------------------

Thank you for your recent email and for taking the time to contact us.
Whilst I can appreciate that this is frustrating, I can advise that all of our cruise holidays are sold on a fluid pricing basis and are subject to change depending on cabin availability and the general sale of each cruise. However, by using fluid pricing, as most travel companies and agencies now do, the fares and discounts can change at any time. Bearing in mind that we can never know how any given cruise will sell, it is not possible for us to confirm if prices will go up or down at a later date.

This is a policy we have used for some time now. As such, we do recommend that passengers only confirm a booking when they are completely happy with what is being booked and the fare being charged for such. In this regard, we do note in our booking terms and conditions that any special offers or discounts advertised may be changed or withdrawn without notice.

We reserve the right to vary particulars and prices shown in our brochure after the date of publication. Prices, discounts, supplements and special offers advertised in the brochure or elsewhere may be withdrawn or changed. Prices may go up or down. All Cruises are priced separately the number and type of promotions we offer are dependent on the levels of demand we receive for any particular sailing and can change at any time.

Should you wish to transfer your booking, please take note of the below requirements. If you have booked direct, please contact our Customer Contact Centre on 0345 355 5111 (Calls cost 3p per minute plus your telephone company’s network access charge).
 
Once again, thank you for contacting us.

Kind regards,
--------------------------------------------

 

 

First of all, Oceana, as a smaller ship, will always be more expensive than Ventura. You cannot compare the two.

Having said that, P&O have ramped up their fares enormously for 2021, and continue to do so. 

I would ask for a refund, and look to book a cruise (or any other holiday) in 2022, when the market may be getting back to normal.

[coinbox]

Point taken as we have been on Oceana. My thoughts are the same as you, get a refund and watch the market. Thanks for your response.

 

Regards Paul

[wowzz]

Just now, coinbox said:

Point taken as we have been on Oceana. My thoughts are the same as you, get a refund and watch the market. Thanks for your response.

 

Regards Paul

We have a deposit on a  Ventura January  21 cruise. We will move the deposit to any old cruise at the end of 21, and then move it to a 22 cruise when the new brochure comes out.

[john watson]

The problems companies have is reduced bank balances through not being able to trade but have additional costs.  All companies which survive will have a huge deficit to try and claw back to sort accrued debts out. They are also required to refund people for goods and services which they have been unable to provide.  The best way of doing this is to give people credit notes instead of money to improve cash flow.  A simple way of recovering is to refund £500 as £1000 if taken as a credit note.  The company will be worse off when it comes to provide the goods and services next year.  To alleviate the situation they simply need to add £500 to the price for next year.  In short next year it is reasonable to expect much higher fares while all businesses sort their financial problems and try to recover.

 

Regards John

[wowzz]

4 minutes ago, john watson said:

The problems companies have is reduced bank balances through not being able to trade but have additional costs.  All companies which survive will have a huge deficit to try and claw back to sort accrued debts out. They are also required to refund people for goods and services which they have been unable to provide.  The best way of doing this is to give people credit notes instead of money to improve cash flow.  A simple way of recovering is to refund £500 as £1000 if taken as a credit note.  The company will be worse off when it comes to provide the goods and services next year.  To alleviate the situation they simply need to add £500 to the price for next year.  In short next year it is reasonable to expect much higher fares while all businesses sort their financial problems and try to recover.

 

Regards John

Indeed John,  and as we know,  Carnival have borrowed just over $6bn, which will see them through until the end of this year. 

[grapau27]

10 hours ago, coinbox said:

Hi All, had my cruise cancelled for August on P&O (UK) - Totally understand in the current environment.

 

Thought 125% Cruise credit was a good offer.

 

So went to book same cruise for 2021. Cancelled Cruise NO24 (Canary Islands) on venture, £1748 per person. Same destination on Oceana E129, Same dates, Cabin type and location on board £2852 a rise of over 61%. Anyone else seen this? 

 

Contacted Customer services and the reply was :-

-------------------------------------------

Thank you for your recent email and for taking the time to contact us.
Whilst I can appreciate that this is frustrating, I can advise that all of our cruise holidays are sold on a fluid pricing basis and are subject to change depending on cabin availability and the general sale of each cruise. However, by using fluid pricing, as most travel companies and agencies now do, the fares and discounts can change at any time. Bearing in mind that we can never know how any given cruise will sell, it is not possible for us to confirm if prices will go up or down at a later date.

This is a policy we have used for some time now. As such, we do recommend that passengers only confirm a booking when they are completely happy with what is being booked and the fare being charged for such. In this regard, we do note in our booking terms and conditions that any special offers or discounts advertised may be changed or withdrawn without notice.

We reserve the right to vary particulars and prices shown in our brochure after the date of publication. Prices, discounts, supplements and special offers advertised in the brochure or elsewhere may be withdrawn or changed. Prices may go up or down. All Cruises are priced separately the number and type of promotions we offer are dependent on the levels of demand we receive for any particular sailing and can change at any time.

Should you wish to transfer your booking, please take note of the below requirements. If you have booked direct, please contact our Customer Contact Centre on 0345 355 5111 (Calls cost 3p per minute plus your telephone company’s network access charge).
 
Once again, thank you for contacting us.

Kind regards,
--------------------------------------------

 

 

Supply and demand rules.

Prices will come down if very few book so possibly best to wait and get a refund for this year.

I can see drinks prices being hiked as they are cheap on P&O compared to American lines and because on a cruise ship they have a captive market.

If you want a balcony cabin choose a ship that has lots of balconies like Ventura where the prices will be better because there are more balcony cabins available.

Graham.

 

Edited June 17, 2020 by grapau27

[pete14]

12 hours ago, coinbox said:

Hi All, had my cruise cancelled for August on P&O (UK) - Totally understand in the current environment.

 

Thought 125% Cruise credit was a good offer.

 

So went to book same cruise for 2021. Cancelled Cruise NO24 (Canary Islands) on venture, £1748 per person. Same destination on Oceana E129, Same dates, Cabin type and location on board £2852 a rise of over 61%. Anyone else seen this? 

 

Contacted Customer services and the reply was :-

-------------------------------------------

Thank you for your recent email and for taking the time to contact us.
Whilst I can appreciate that this is frustrating, I can advise that all of our cruise holidays are sold on a fluid pricing basis and are subject to change depending on cabin availability and the general sale of each cruise. However, by using fluid pricing, as most travel companies and agencies now do, the fares and discounts can change at any time. Bearing in mind that we can never know how any given cruise will sell, it is not possible for us to confirm if prices will go up or down at a later date.

This is a policy we have used for some time now. As such, we do recommend that passengers only confirm a booking when they are completely happy with what is being booked and the fare being charged for such. In this regard, we do note in our booking terms and conditions that any special offers or discounts advertised may be changed or withdrawn without notice.

We reserve the right to vary particulars and prices shown in our brochure after the date of publication. Prices, discounts, supplements and special offers advertised in the brochure or elsewhere may be withdrawn or changed. Prices may go up or down. All Cruises are priced separately the number and type of promotions we offer are dependent on the levels of demand we receive for any particular sailing and can change at any time.

Should you wish to transfer your booking, please take note of the below requirements. If you have booked direct, please contact our Customer Contact Centre on 0345 355 5111 (Calls cost 3p per minute plus your telephone company’s network access charge).
 
Once again, thank you for contacting us.

Kind regards,
--------------------------------------------

 

 

As has already been said, it is usually more expensive to sail on Oceana than Ventura because it is a smaller and more popular ship in many people’s eyes. That said, I prefer Ventura. If you compare a similar Ventura cruise, it may have risen in price by a small amount, possibly with more OBC. In appears to me that more popular ships (the smaller ones) and popular booking times (school holidays and summer) have had prices increased as they are getting booked up more quickly. This does not necessarily apply to larger ships and more out of season travel. This is nothing new.

Edited June 17, 2020 by pete14

[daiB]

We managed to rebook our “lost” Aurora cruise in Oct to a cruise on Ventura in March 22. We have been very fortunate in two ways, we have managed to book an adapted cabin and we have got it for less than we were paying on Aurora. We could have had a suite also but the price was a little eye watering.


Sent from my iPad using Forums

[ToxM]

Supply and demand. You are now competing with all the people who were on your Cruise and all the other cancelled cruises who now have 125% to rebook with as well as the other people who are now booking on an initial basis. 

 

Cabins are priced akin to seats on planes - there is only a finite number and when a certain number in each grade are booked, the price goes up - conversely if after a certain amount of time certain grades of cabin are not booked to a prescribed number, the price goes down. 

 

I rebooked as soon as I was able to - even without the extra FCC as my cruise hadn’t been cancelled as I saw an increasing number of people chasing a rapidly declining number of cabins. 

[Adawn47]

I booked our 2021 cruise in October 2020. 19 nights on Arcadia for October 9th. Having looked at this thread I've checked the price just now and it's gone up £1,000 since we booked it. Even  the November 6th 2020 cruise has gone up by £740. 

Avril 

 

[Harry Peterson]

I suspect this is just the start of it.  If Coronavirus sticks around and extra spacing remains necessary, either for legal reasons or to maintain customer confidence, the 'old' Tesco-style pile it high and sell it cheap model just won't work.

 

Might have to be much more of a Waitrose-style operation, with fewer customers paying higher prices.  Quite a change if it happens, but it'll be a simple question of what the market will bear, how much people have to spend, and how much they're prepared to pay.  

[Windsurfboy]

With more cancellations, FCC will distort prices into 2022 certainly  the first half. P&O will claw back the 25% extra by increased prices. 

 

If there's no more cancellations then second half 2022 prices may come down if ships can sail at full capacity. 2023 prices will be true test.

 

If more cancellations say until end year whether even carnival can survive is debatable.  One may see them going into administration and both those with FCC and the people who lent them the Billions losing out.

 

The ships will still be there, new owners , no debt.

[janny444]

Hi....back in March when all this " chaos" was beginning to unfold and cruising was starting to look doubtful I considered changing our April 20 cruise to exactly the same cruise....ship....itinerary....cabin grade for departure April 21 but as you say the price was an extra 60 odd percent. I did say that I would have changed the cruise if P&O would match the price ....or as near as...the price I had paid this year. They wouldn't accept that so I took the full refund....I didn't consider the 125% FCC. If they had offered to come to some sort of agreement over price then they would have kept my money instead of having to pull out of their  quickly depleting coffers.

[Windsurfboy]

15 minutes ago, janny444 said:

Hi....back in March when all this " chaos" was beginning to unfold and cruising was starting to look doubtful I considered changing our April 20 cruise to exactly the same cruise....ship....itinerary....cabin grade for departure April 21 but as you say the price was an extra 60 odd percent. I did say that I would have changed the cruise if P&O would match the price ....or as near as...the price I had paid this year. They wouldn't accept that so I took the full refund....I didn't consider the 125% FCC. If they had offered to come to some sort of agreement over price then they would have kept my money instead of having to pull out of their  quickly depleting coffers.

 

My thoughts  exactly 

[amfc_lenny]

We booked a Baltic cruise in sept 21, not long after release and our deluxe balcony we booked for 3.8k would now cost very nearly 6k. 
 

prices at the moment have gone silly, whether they will remain so? Who knows. 

[No pager thank you]

21 hours ago, coinbox said:

Hi All, had my cruise cancelled for August on P&O (UK) - Totally understand in the current environment.

 

Thought 125% Cruise credit was a good offer.

 

So went to book same cruise for 2021. Cancelled Cruise NO24 (Canary Islands) on venture, £1748 per person. Same destination on Oceana E129, Same dates, Cabin type and location on board £2852 a rise of over 61%. Anyone else seen this? 

 

Contacted Customer services and the reply was :-

-------------------------------------------

Thank you for your recent email and for taking the time to contact us.
Whilst I can appreciate that this is frustrating, I can advise that all of our cruise holidays are sold on a fluid pricing basis and are subject to change depending on cabin availability and the general sale of each cruise. However, by using fluid pricing, as most travel companies and agencies now do, the fares and discounts can change at any time. Bearing in mind that we can never know how any given cruise will sell, it is not possible for us to confirm if prices will go up or down at a later date.

This is a policy we have used for some time now. As such, we do recommend that passengers only confirm a booking when they are completely happy with what is being booked and the fare being charged for such. In this regard, we do note in our booking terms and conditions that any special offers or discounts advertised may be changed or withdrawn without notice.

We reserve the right to vary particulars and prices shown in our brochure after the date of publication. Prices, discounts, supplements and special offers advertised in the brochure or elsewhere may be withdrawn or changed. Prices may go up or down. All Cruises are priced separately the number and type of promotions we offer are dependent on the levels of demand we receive for any particular sailing and can change at any time.

Should you wish to transfer your booking, please take note of the below requirements. If you have booked direct, please contact our Customer Contact Centre on 0345 355 5111 (Calls cost 3p per minute plus your telephone company’s network access charge).
 
Once again, thank you for contacting us.

Kind regards,
--------------------------------------------

 

 

Your experience is not unique I'm afraid.

 

In the case of all my current booked cruises now the price is more than 25% inflated from what I originally paid.  That is comparing like with like, without the issue of different ships on identically timed itineraries.

 

This means that taking a FCC would be negative, contrasted with being 100% cash refunded and spending the money on any other item than a P&O Cruise, particularly when inflation is running at 1% (ish), even negative in places.

 

The allure of the FCC fades by the day.

 

The only exception may be if you are prepared to wait for the 2022 catalogue and do a similar comparison.  In theory, supply and demand will be more "reset" - but it awaits to be seen how base pricing strategy will work.

 

The odd section of the email is where they rely on most cruise companies doing the same.  True, to a point, but that excludes some sister brands within the Carnival umbrella. 

 

Not that the standard response will pay too much attention to such unfortunate details.

[wowzz]

I have posted this link on another thread, but have posted it again here as it seems relevant 

https://www.costacruises.eu/cruising-soon-again/safety-above-all.html

The key point it seems to me, is the confirmation that passenger numbers will be reduced.

It's all well and good having FCC, but if there is a likelihood of a 25%+ reduction in numbers, even if book a cruise now with your FCC, you will not be guaranteed a cruise.

[No pager thank you]

25 minutes ago, wowzz said:

I have posted this link on another thread, but have posted it again here as it seems relevant 

https://www.costacruises.eu/cruising-soon-again/safety-above-all.html

The key point it seems to me, is the confirmation that passenger numbers will be reduced.

It's all well and good having FCC, but if there is a likelihood of a 25%+ reduction in numbers, even if book a cruise now with your FCC, you will not be guaranteed a cruise.

Thank you for this article.  It confirms the views that was shared on the "How will passengers be reduced on future P&O Cruises," thread.

 

It is impossible to see at the moment whether P&O are attempting to book to 100% normal passenger occupancy for cruises departing after 16th October 2020.

 

If they are, and the reduction is replicated in their strategy, then some passengers are going to be disappointed, even if their cruises do depart without further suspensions.  Change the restart date and same applies. 

 

The question then becomes, how does the "cull" take place and with what notice (before or after final balance paid?).  I don't buy (without evidence) that enough passengers will self-defer - just look at the fluid pricing model for Winter 2020/21 cruises as a clue - mostly going up.

 

Continuing to dole out FCCs in such a scenario becomes a self defeating prophecy as you could be shoehorning excess demand in to insufficient supply.  Asking passengers to lose the extra 25% that they thought they had signed up to, plus wait however many months for a 100% cash refund from a cruise which should have gone in March would be quite unacceptable to many.  I would suggest more than the numbers who accepted the FCC first time around.

 

It would seem to be reasonable to suggest that if Costa have provision and a formula for reduced occupancy, then so do other cruise lines, although no one knows how Public Health England will advise P&O.  I have a feeling that the next announcement relating to "safety" / "suspension" from P&O will contain this, once the economic pressure to start the Winter season on time builds.

 

Based on their strategy so far, I would suggest (and of course don't know) that passengers cancelled in such a fashion to achieve reduced occupancy, might not automatically be offered any compensation - it will continue to be cited against the unforeseen pandemic, whether that is fair or not is a matter of debate.  Wait and see.

 

What I would say is that article is a very good reason to think twice about taking a FCC, particularly if you are looking to book high season cruises, or are stuck around peak demand periods - like school holidays, or have large values tied up in them. 

 

I do hope that whatever booking levels P&O are currently working towards as a planning scenario reflect the number of passengers who they intend to welcome on board their ships.  If anything changes on this score, then anger/frustration could build well beyond the levels expressed in the ongoing refund debacle.

[pete14]

1 hour ago, wowzz said:

I have posted this link on another thread, but have posted it again here as it seems relevant 

https://www.costacruises.eu/cruising-soon-again/safety-above-all.html

The key point it seems to me, is the confirmation that passenger numbers will be reduced.

It's all well and good having FCC, but if there is a likelihood of a 25%+ reduction in numbers, even if book a cruise now with your FCC, you will not be guaranteed a cruise.

I don’t disagree with the key point you have identified but was surprised to see that by the beginning of August, they say their ships will be operational and that seems to be the basis they are working on with their enhanced protections. If this happens without infections occurring, by mid October when P&O starts, maybe by then Costa will be allowing more guests to travel, something that will be copied by others in the group offering European cruises (and possibly Caribbean if their Covid infections are a thing of the past).

[terrierjohn]

10 minutes ago, No pager thank you said:

Thank you for this article.  It confirms the views that was shared on the "How will passengers be reduced on future P&O Cruises," thread.

 

It is impossible to see at the moment whether P&O are attempting to book to 100% normal passenger occupancy for cruises departing after 16th October 2020.

 

If they are, and the reduction is replicated in their strategy, then some passengers are going to be disappointed, even if their cruises do depart without further suspensions.  Change the restart date and same applies. 

 

The question then becomes, how does the "cull" take place and with what notice (before or after final balance paid?).  I don't buy (without evidence) that enough passengers will self-defer - just look at the fluid pricing model for Winter 2020/21 cruises as a clue - mostly going up.

 

Continuing to dole out FCCs in such a scenario becomes a self defeating prophecy as you could be shoehorning excess demand in to insufficient supply.  Asking passengers to lose the extra 25% that they thought they had signed up to, plus wait however many months for a 100% cash refund from a cruise which should have gone in March would be quite unacceptable to many.  I would suggest more than the numbers who accepted the FCC first time around.

 

It would seem to be reasonable to suggest that if Costa have provision and a formula for reduced occupancy, then so do other cruise lines, although no one knows how Public Health England will advise P&O.  I have a feeling that the next announcement relating to "safety" / "suspension" from P&O will contain this, once the economic pressure to start the Winter season on time builds.

 

Based on their strategy so far, I would suggest (and of course don't know) that passengers cancelled in such a fashion to achieve reduced occupancy, might not automatically be offered any compensation - it will continue to be cited against the unforeseen pandemic, whether that is fair or not is a matter of debate.  Wait and see.

 

What I would say is that article is a very good reason to think twice about taking a FCC, particularly if you are looking to book high season cruises, or are stuck around peak demand periods - like school holidays, or have large values tied up in them. 

 

I do hope that whatever booking levels P&O are currently working towards as a planning scenario reflect the number of passengers who they intend to welcome on board their ships.  If anything changes on this score, then anger/frustration could build well beyond the levels expressed in the ongoing refund debacle.

You are assuming that P&O management are totally stupid and not bothering to read Carnival restart protocols.  Costa is part of Carnival, so one has to assume that all Carnival lines will be following similar processes.  After the issues Carnival had with several Princess ships it's not surprising they would be trying to occupy the high ground as they seek a way out of the current hiatus.

[No pager thank you]

2 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

You are assuming that P&O management are totally stupid and not bothering to read Carnival restart protocols. 

To be honest, quite the opposite if I may say so.

 

What I am putting forward is the possibility (nothing more) that P&O could either have confirmed bookings, or be booking to, a higher occupancy rate than any read across from the Carnival restart protocol implies.

 

If so, they have useful temporary cashflow and more passengers willing to take FCCs but a problem to solve.  Most likely that Costa will have that too in some form.  

 

Blaming this on the fact that "they didn't know" as Public Health England didn't / couldn't advise until "X" (or changed the plans thereafter) could turn out to be an ingenious strategy - if you ignore the impact on people expecting a well earned holiday when the capacity for safe travel resumes. Time will tell.

 

In all fairness, it could also be the case that P&O genuinely believe that limited social distancing can be achieved on a cruise with 100% occupancy and that is what they think will be needed from October, for the reason outlined by Pete.  It could be the case that this is what the Carnival restart protocol is? 

 

As I say wait and see, but have a good think about FCCs!

[wowzz]

16 minutes ago, No pager thank you said:

If so, they have useful temporary cashflow and more passengers willing to take FCCs but a problem to solve. 

Wouldn't all the cash flow go into the Carnival pot? I can't see the individual brands being allowed too much financial autunomy at my present

[No pager thank you]

13 minutes ago, wowzz said:

Wouldn't all the cash flow go into the Carnival pot? I can't see the individual brands being allowed too much financial autunomy at my present

Fair point.  Following the same logic, one would assume that keeping the Carnival pot topped up through managed cashflow and reducing overheads will help to keep senior leaders at P&O (and all others for that matter) in favour at this time 😉

[glennbtn]

We were due to cruise in August but cancelled just before we were due to pay the balance and given the deposit as FCC. The cruise we wanted to go on will not go to the same destinations next year so do I stand any chance getting my deposit refunded being I can't get what I had originally booked?