Price drop on Britannia Caribbean cruise

[seapals2]

While it will be good news to many that the price has come down for a two week Caribbean cruise for those of caught in this price drop after paying the full balance it leaves a very sour taste in the mouth.  Our cruise in January has dropped £1340 pounds .. a saver fare on a superior delux cabin for two. We have contacted out TA who has tried to negotiate with P&O to no avail.  We have sent a personal email and awaiting a response but guess its going to come back … tough!  
Whilst we wouldn’t necessarily expect a refund a gesture of good will would have been welcomed.  Some OBC or wifi minutes or a voucher to use against an excursion .. all would have been acceptable offers.  We have got Caribbean tier loyalty so have spent many thousands of pounds with P&O and many more thousands with the Carnival group as a whole.  This will stick in our memory for a long time and certainly make us late bookers.   
We didn’t use FCC … this was a new booking.  

[Megabear2]

Looking at the number of people moving cruises or cancelling due to the insurance and offloading situation it was inevitable there would have to be price drops, particularly for the Caribbean where charter planes need to br filled.  It's a case of some you win, some you lose I'm afraid.

 

For instance I moved a booking from December last year, to December this year and now on to late December 2022, the price has gone up by a huge amount through its three transitions. I fully expect that by the time I sail others will be benefiting from much cheaper fares than me, it happens every year.  My experience is fares start to be cut around 8 weeks from the sail date with 6 weeks being peak cheap price time.  Once that point is reached most people pile in and availability reduces and fares stabilise.  Certainly I've taken the opportunity of late booking myself when I'm not too fussy about type of cabin or position because as a single traveller I can save a great deal of money on the rejects!

[jeanlyon]

Yes agree.  Nothing you can do about it.  I noticed the 40 nights Caribbean cruise is £2530.  Ridiculously cheap, but then I can't think that many would want to do it. 

 

My TA is up to his neck with people transferring cruises, so I guess P&O are trying to attract some people to go with low prices.

[wowzz]

6 hours ago, seapals2 said:

While it will be good news to many that the price has come down for a two week Caribbean cruise for those of caught in this price drop after paying the full balance it leaves a very sour taste in the mouth.  Our cruise in January has dropped £1340 pounds .. a saver fare on a superior delux cabin for two. We have contacted out TA who has tried to negotiate with P&O to no avail.  We have sent a personal email and awaiting a response but guess its going to come back … tough!  
Whilst we wouldn’t necessarily expect a refund a gesture of good will would have been welcomed.  Some OBC or wifi minutes or a voucher to use against an excursion .. all would have been acceptable offers.  We have got Caribbean tier loyalty so have spent many thousands of pounds with P&O and many more thousands with the Carnival group as a whole.  This will stick in our memory for a long time and certainly make us late bookers.   
We didn’t use FCC … this was a new booking.  

If the price had gone up £1340, would you have paid P&O the extra ?

[zap99]

1 hour ago, wowzz said:

If the price had gone up £1340, would you have paid P&O the extra ?

Our Iona cruise for next October has gone up nearly £900 each from what we paid. but OBC is £120 more. Some you win...........🤔

Edited November 18, 2021 by zap99

[Valfan]

2 hours ago, Megabear2 said:

 

 Certainly I've taken the opportunity of late booking myself when I'm not too fussy about type of cabin or position because as a single traveller I can save a great deal of money on the rejects!

Me too. I've had several late bookings over the years with 0% Single supplement, including a 17-nighter. And twice I had a balcony cabin for a few pounds more than my usual inside cabin etc. Other times I've paid a fortune at launch and other solos have piled on near the sail date for 0% supplement. It's all swings and roundabouts. Well, it was, before Covid came along and spoiled the game!

[seapals2]

Ok .. I’m not feeling much sympathy.. I get it but it’s one thing seeing a jumper marked down in M&S to seeing a whopping £1340 knocked off.  
Obviously they waited for the balance to be paid so we were unable just to transfer the cruise and get full FCC and even transfer back to a select fare if we had wanted all at no cost.  Let’s just hope the cabin we get reflects the price paid.  
Hopefully the ball will be in our court next time round.  With so many locked into FCC right now once they have committed to future cruises and cruise lines are out to attract new bookings normality and price should return.  

[terrierjohn]

18 minutes ago, seapals2 said:

Ok .. I’m not feeling much sympathy.. I get it but it’s one thing seeing a jumper marked down in M&S to seeing a whopping £1340 knocked off.  
Obviously they waited for the balance to be paid so we were unable just to transfer the cruise and get full FCC and even transfer back to a select fare if we had wanted all at no cost.  Let’s just hope the cabin we get reflects the price paid.  
Hopefully the ball will be in our court next time round.  With so many locked into FCC right now once they have committed to future cruises and cruise lines are out to attract new bookings normality and price should return.  

I sympathise with you but any business needs to maximise revenue, which clearly would not be the case if they had reduced prices before the final balance date. It's not really sneaky, just plain good business practise, and the level of the reduction was probably influenced by the number of people who opted to move their cruise and not pay the balance.

[Megabear2]

46 minutes ago, seapals2 said:

Ok .. I’m not feeling much sympathy.. I get it but it’s one thing seeing a jumper marked down in M&S to seeing a whopping £1340 knocked off.  
Obviously they waited for the balance to be paid so we were unable just to transfer the cruise and get full FCC and even transfer back to a select fare if we had wanted all at no cost.  Let’s just hope the cabin we get reflects the price paid.  
Hopefully the ball will be in our court next time round.  With so many locked into FCC right now once they have committed to future cruises and cruise lines are out to attract new bookings normality and price should return.  

Enjoy your cruise anyway. I always think of holiday prices like salaries, best not discussed!

[wowzz]

48 minutes ago, seapals2 said:

Ok .. I’m not feeling much sympathy.. I get it but it’s one thing seeing a jumper marked down in M&S to seeing a whopping £1340 knocked off.  
Obviously they waited for the balance to be paid so we were unable just to transfer the cruise and get full FCC and even transfer back to a select fare if we had wanted all at no cost.  Let’s just hope the cabin we get reflects the price paid.  
Hopefully the ball will be in our court next time round.  With so many locked into FCC right now once they have committed to future cruises and cruise lines are out to attract new bookings normality and price should return.  

If you dont mind me asking, what percentage was £1340 of the original fare?

[gumshoe958]

As others have said, some you win some you lose.

 

But it’s galling when other lines like Royal will reimburse you in the event of a price drop. And only this week I got Virgin to reprice two cruises as they allow one change after booking.

[Harry Peterson]

1 hour ago, seapals2 said:

Ok .. I’m not feeling much sympathy.. I get it but it’s one thing seeing a jumper marked down in M&S to seeing a whopping £1340 knocked off.  
Obviously they waited for the balance to be paid so we were unable just to transfer the cruise and get full FCC and even transfer back to a select fare if we had wanted all at no cost.  Let’s just hope the cabin we get reflects the price paid.  
Hopefully the ball will be in our court next time round.  With so many locked into FCC right now once they have committed to future cruises and cruise lines are out to attract new bookings normality and price should return.  

I’m with you on this. And with Saga, which now offers a very superior product to P&O, you’d have had your price reduced. That’s the way to keep customers happy, and, equally importantly, coming back.

 

It used to be the case that booking early with P&O, at launch, was the only way to get the best price and the best availability - maybe that’s now changed.

 

By the way, if this appears at all, using an iPad, it’s only because I’m bypassing the built in browser. Every other post I’ve made with an iPad has failed to appear.

 

 

[bee-ess]

I notice that the price of the Caribbean cruise on Jan 1st on Britannia that we have moved has dropped considerably as well. I think that people are having 2nd thoughts about the Caribbean and have moved their cruises and they are left with planes to fill.

[yorkshirephil]

11 minutes ago, bee-ess said:

I notice that the price of the Caribbean cruise on Jan 1st on Britannia that we have moved has dropped considerably as well. I think that people are having 2nd thoughts about the Caribbean and have moved their cruises and they are left with planes to fill.

There are some cracking deals this winter to the Caribbean if you are willing to risk it, we are lucky on this site as we know whats going off and how P&O are handling things but there will be thousands who are not fully aware of the pitfalls who see an opportunity for what they consider a cheap winter cruise. I hope it works out, they say fortune favours the brave.

[wowzz]

2 hours ago, Harry Peterson said:

I’m with you on this. And with Saga, which now offers a very superior product to P&O, you’d have had your price reduced

Not necessarily Harry - you might get a better cabin, or obc, but not your money back.

We will pass on the value of the saving in the form of a higher-grade cabin, or other added value benefit.

 

[Baggy178]

Galling as it may seem the OP should remember they were happy with the original price they paid so why torture yourself over what might have been ?

Supply quite obviously exceeds demand at the moment so I fully expect big price drops in the months ahead particularly with infection numbers in Europe soaring.

It's all about timing ...

 

[Harry Peterson]

18 minutes ago, wowzz said:

Not necessarily Harry - you might get a better cabin, or obc, but not your money back.

We will pass on the value of the saving in the form of a higher-grade cabin, or other added value benefit.

 

You're absolutely right, wowzz.  My mistake.  

 

They've watered down the old policy to something almost meaningless in real terms!  

[wowzz]

39 minutes ago, Harry Peterson said:

You're absolutely right, wowzz.  My mistake.  

 

They've watered down the old policy to something almost meaningless in real terms!  

Having said that, if you book early, when fares are discounted by 35%,  you can be fairly sure that your price will never be beaten.

[seapals2]

4 hours ago, wowzz said:

If you dont mind me asking, what percentage was £1340 of the original fare?

About 20%   …. and just to rub a bit of salt in the wounds on the mat today post … save a further 10% and extra OBC (we got none)..  We try to stop thinking about it and then get another poke in the eye.  😄😄.   
if you did want a good deal .. now is the time.  Perhaps they will make us an offer we can’t refuse to stay on a further 2 weeks.  🙄.  

[Harry Peterson]

2 hours ago, Baggy178 said:

Galling as it may seem the OP should remember they were happy with the original price they paid so why torture yourself over what might have been ?

Supply quite obviously exceeds demand at the moment so I fully expect big price drops in the months ahead particularly with infection numbers in Europe soaring.

It's all about timing ...

 

It’s not just in mainland Europe that rates are soaring. It’s happening here too, but we haven’t woken up to it - yet.

[zap99]

5 hours ago, gumshoe958 said:

As others have said, some you win some you lose.

 

But it’s galling when other lines like Royal will reimburse you in the event of a price drop. And only this week I got Virgin to reprice two cruises as they allow one change after booking.

On Celebrity I had to cancel and rebook to get the reduction. It was worth it and the young Lady in the UK call centre did it for me and kept the original cabin.

Edited November 19, 2021 by zap99

[wowzz]

1 hour ago, seapals2 said:

About 20%   …. and just to rub a bit of salt in the wounds on the mat today post … save a further 10% and extra OBC (we got none)..  We try to stop thinking about it and then get another poke in the eye.  😄😄.   
if you did want a good deal .. now is the time.  Perhaps they will make us an offer we can’t refuse to stay on a further 2 weeks.  🙄.  

Thanks for the reply. 

I suppose that as fares can increase by considerably more than 20% after launch,  it is also possible that they can also drop by the same amount.

We all love to tell everyone about how much the price of our cruise has increased, and how much money we have saved by booking early. Perhaps, as already mentioned,  the best thing would be not to compare prices,  in case of  disappointment!  

[beryl patricia]

I’m afraid we too got nervous with the Caribbean and yesterday cancelled our February Azura - final payment is due Sunday. There were too many port restrictions some ports having to take organised excursions (don’t mind that) but wasn’t prepared to have antigen test, chance a positive (even though I’m double and almost booster) and be removed from the ship, from reading other posts people are of a similar view and happy to stay on the ship which results in more days of hunting an available sun bed (not a single one available on a recent princess canaries ) and my idea of a Caribbean cruise is beautiful beaches and seas.  
We originally booked this cruise 6 weeks ago and the price has fallen £225pp also checked available cabins - this close there wouldn’t be any available on deck 10 but there are plenty.  We didn’t loose our deposit but they did allow us to transfer it as another deposit to another cruise - Arvia in April 23.

 

Gill

[Son of Anarchy]

Friends of our were considering booking for Azura for February, partly due to the current low prices.

 

When I told them of the current situation re restrictions regarding going ashore and the fluidity of it, they decided it wasn't for them.  Don't blame them.

[margo2011]

On 11/19/2021 at 4:03 PM, wowzz said:

Thanks for the reply. 

I suppose that as fares can increase by considerably more than 20% after launch,  it is also possible that they can also drop by the same amount.

We all love to tell everyone about how much the price of our cruise has increased, and how much money we have saved by booking early. Perhaps, as already mentioned,  the best thing would be not to compare prices,  in case of  disappointment!  

Hi my brother in law booked this cruise and paid £2399 pp a family member just booked same cabin type for £1299  this is more like 50% reduction .He appreciates he cannot be refunded the £200O difference but come on P and O show some kind of gesture to loyal customers.He has tried contacting them but they say as he booked with a TA they can’t help .I personally think since Covid customer service has gone out of the window .Does anyone have a name or contact at P and O he could raise this with .I have read previous posts on RCL where people turning up at the port are getting free cabin upgrades why can’t P and O offer him one of the empty cabins and great some goodwill .