Fare Drop

[smj777]

We have just found out that the exact same fare for the cruise we have in May has fallen by over £200. Is there anything we can do?

 

[Britboys]

8 minutes ago, smj777 said:

We have just found out that the exact same fare for the cruise we have in May has fallen by over £200. Is there anything we can do?

 

In short, no. P&O operate fluid pricing and no guarantee that prices won't be reduced. Very few British lines will compensate in such circumstances. Disappointing I know but many have had to live with it in the past and sadly will do in the future. Always best not to look at prices after you have booked.

[Harry Peterson]

10 minutes ago, smj777 said:

We have just found out that the exact same fare for the cruise we have in May has fallen by over £200. Is there anything we can do?

 

Sadly not. It’s a dynamic pricing policy that’s operated, and prices frequently move up and down. You could ask, but it’s unlikely you’ll get anywhere.

[yorkshirephil]

15 minutes ago, smj777 said:

We have just found out that the exact same fare for the cruise we have in May has fallen by over £200. Is there anything we can do?

 

The price could go up next week, especially if people book at the lower price. Or alternately people could cancel or move the cruise thus causing the price to fall more. 

[wowzz]

Also OBC moves as well, so it is a real mine field. 

Unfortunately P&O are not as flexible as Princess. On our last Princess cruise, and also on our forthcoming one, we have cancelled and rebooked, to get a better cabin at a lower price.

[david63]

Would you be asking if you could pay more if the price had gone up?

[indiana123]

Good point David63.   Its all swings and roundabouts plus a bit of good fortune.  It we checked   prices  every day   we would go nuts.

 

Best not to look after selecting cruise as it can be upsetting..   Best to just look, select,  pay.. then just get excited with all the planning and excitement... then cruise and enjoy.

[Megabear2]

There in lies the problem with these ridiculous select fare prices.  More and more people will get disgruntled.  At present I receive an email a day from P&O advertising Caribbean cruises for next season.  It is inevitable I will eventually see a massive price drop on my extremely over inflated booked cruise.  Passengers who have booked at the outset or with FCC are naturally going to be furious. I can’t help thinking that P&O may get bitten on the proverbial in the long run!

[Eglesbrech]

10 hours ago, david63 said:

Would you be asking if you could pay more if the price had gone up?

No, however I would absolutely be forced to pay more if fuel prices go up. So why one way traffic?
 

They can charge more if their costs go up but customers can’t complain if the prices drop by a silly amount.

[zap99]

On 3/13/2022 at 6:13 PM, yorkshirephil said:

The price could go up next week, especially if people book at the lower price. Or alternately people could cancel or move the cruise thus causing the price to fall more. 

We booked our Iona cruise for October about a year ago. I look occasionally at the prices to see if it's worth cancelling and rebooking. It one stage the cost was +1,200 for the 2 of us. It's now +900 but with a couple of hundred extra OBC. We booked our Celebrity Fjords cruise quite early as well. That is now about £50 more. It seems P&O's fluid pricing has got fluid to flow uphill. Best not to look. I'll stop doing that now. Off to Lanzarote in 2 weeks. No PLF when we come home.

[yorkshirephil]

5 minutes ago, zap99 said:

We booked our Iona cruise for October about a year ago. I look occasionally at the prices to see if it's worth cancelling and rebooking. It one stage the cost was +1,200 for the 2 of us. It's now +900 but with a couple of hundred extra OBC. We booked our Celebrity Fjords cruise quite early as well. That is now about £50 more. It seems P&O's fluid pricing has got fluid to flow uphill. Best not to look. I'll stop doing that now. Off to Lanzarote in 2 weeks. No PLF when we come home.

Our next 3 cruises are currently more than when we booked, 2 of those were at release. I also keep tabs on the price in case cancelling and re-booking is worthwhile. If the price goes down so be it you win some you lose some. Covid will determine cruise prices for the near future, the current situation on Aurora won't help but if numbers start falling there must be a pent up demand and still a lot of money in FCC's stuck in the system. Our next booked sea cruise is on Arcadia in Nov for 40 nights, we have booked an inside cabin so don't want to be in the situation some of Aurora's passengers are in now, saying that a lot could happen before then so we will sit tight for now. I hope you get the same good weather we got and enjoy Lanzarote as much as we did.

[Waju]

39 minutes ago, Eglesbrech said:

No, however I would absolutely be forced to pay more if fuel prices go up. So why one way traffic?
 

They can charge more if their costs go up but customers can’t complain if the prices drop by a silly amount.

How very true - I never thought of it that way! 

 

We've just moved a cruise that included SPB and I struggled to find something else I fancied at a price I thought was reasonable.  I fully expect the prices quoted for 2023 to come down as similar cruises this year are much less in my opinion.

[zap99]

3 minutes ago, yorkshirephil said:

Our next 3 cruises are currently more than when we booked, 2 of those were at release. I also keep tabs on the price in case cancelling and re-booking is worthwhile. If the price goes down so be it you win some you lose some. Covid will determine cruise prices for the near future, the current situation on Aurora won't help but if numbers start falling there must be a pent up demand and still a lot of money in FCC's stuck in the system. Our next booked sea cruise is on Arcadia in Nov for 40 nights, we have booked an inside cabin so don't want to be in the situation some of Aurora's passengers are in now, saying that a lot could happen before then so we will sit tight for now. I hope you get the same good weather we got and enjoy Lanzarote as much as we did.

Thanks Phil. Lanzarote is a place we have visited a number of times, so know what to expect.All booked, carpark sorted, sunscreen purchased. No UK PLF required. All ready to go. Where did I put the passports?.🤔

[CaroleC]

On 3/13/2022 at 6:08 PM, Britboys said:

Always best not to look at prices after you have booked.

Sound advice! 

[wowzz]

On 3/13/2022 at 6:08 PM, Britboys said:

Always best not to look at prices after you have booked.

Admittedly not with P&O,  but by looking at prices after we have booked,  we have secured better cabins and got money back. 

[Britboys]

25 minutes ago, wowzz said:

Admittedly not with P&O,  but by looking at prices after we have booked,  we have secured better cabins and got money back. 

Yes, I was only talking about P&O. They tend to be particularly inflexible most of the time.

[terrierjohn]

5 minutes ago, Britboys said:

Yes, I was only talking about P&O. They tend to be particularly inflexible most of the time.

P&0 do seem to be one of the few cruise lines that have multiple pricing options, Princess, Thomson (Marella), RCI and Celebrity, which are lines we have also cruised with, just seem to have one pricing model, their add ons seem to be drink packages or AI offers.

[wowzz]

1 minute ago, terrierjohn said:

P&0 do seem to be one of the few cruise lines that have multiple pricing options, Princess, Thomson (Marella), RCI and Celebrity, which are lines we have also cruised with, just seem to have one pricing model, their add ons seem to be drink packages or AI offers.

Indeed. I can only talk about Princess, but they have been extremely accommodating about rebooking when prices have dropped. 

However,  once (if) covid recedes, I wonder if the flexibility will diminish. 

[terrierjohn]

51 minutes ago, wowzz said:

Indeed. I can only talk about Princess, but they have been extremely accommodating about rebooking when prices have dropped. 

However,  once (if) covid recedes, I wonder if the flexibility will diminish. 

I saved several thousand pounds on a Princess family cruise back in 2015, the child prices dropped dramatically and I was able to persuade them to reduce our fares. Didn't need to cancel and rebook, they just changed our reservations, not once but twice, I think the second time was a general price reduction. Anyway the total bill dropped from just over £10,000 to a little over £6000.