Select or Saver fares ?

[Cruisemeister2002]

I have recently questioned myself as to whether it is worth paying the extra for a Select fare against a Saver. Whereas when you used to book a Select Fare you had a choice of cabin it now says a cabin is allocated prior to your cruise. With the likes of Arvia and Iona dispensing with Club dining which we prefer again although I believe a person booking Select get's priority for Freedom dining with the numbers of passengers onboard many ships running at around 60% would we have difficulty in dining at 8.30 if we just turned up ? The OBC or Free Parking or Coach to Southampton would at the most ( Coach to Southampton) be worth say £240. Then you have the cost of a shuttle bus which can I understand cost between £3 or £4 up to possibly £10 per person each way. But shuttles aren't provided at every destination. So then you get down to the fare, Saver versus Select and the difference can be £700 to £800 or higher. 

[Harry Peterson]

That shocks me, actually. Without the ability to book a particular cabin (for us there are only a very small number that fit the bill with P&O) I wouldn’t book at all - let alone Select!

 

Or is that just direct bookings during the launch period perhaps?

[Gettingwarmer]

Yes you can still choose  your own cabin on Select fares. Sometimes if it is a popular cruise and you are later booking then you are unable to choose at the time. But you can pick a cabin later before Saver fares are allocated. This happened to us once on Adonia. 

Edited March 29, 2022 by Gettingwarmer

[Jennizor]

I had an email from my TA earlier which shows the 2024 cruises and you are offered numbered cabins to choose from. I might ring them tomorrow to confirm that. There is obviously something wrong with the email however as it shows the cruise cost as £140,000!

[terrierjohn]

1 minute ago, Gettingwarmer said:

Yes you can still choose  your own cabin on Select fares. 

The problem is the website is so clunky, that by the time you find the page that enables you to select your cabin, and then deciding where it should be,  and then knowing if the website is showing you all the available cabins, or just the rubbish ones P&O would prefer you to chose,; you have probably lost the desire to cruise.

Which is why you should ensure you have a brochure with the latest deck plans , then ring a good online TA and tell them the cabins that suit you, and leave it up to them to make the booking, ......simples!

[Megabear2]

No Harry, I've just paid a huge premium to book select on Arvia. I wanted to avoid the deck 8 conundrum and it was confirmed to me by the agent is where most of the Saver balcony fares are ending up. As it's a cruise for Christmas I wanted a cabin elsewhere 

I hopefully uhave a nice one on deck 12. Saver fare balcony £5758 start price, Select £6978.

 

My Britannia Christmas cruise December 2022: Saver £5698 start price  Select £6518.

 

My actual cabin reserved at transfer on launch day £7218 balcony with sofa mid forward.   I had paid for originally the top grade Deluxe balcony but refused to pay £8,800 when rebooking.

 

The select fares are astronomical on most cruises. 

[yorkshirephil]

10 minutes ago, Jennizor said:

 however as it shows the cruise cost as £140,000!

That's select fare, saver is considerably less🤣

[ElmaLee]

50 minutes ago, Jennizor said:

I had an email from my TA earlier which shows the 2024 cruises and you are offered numbered cabins to choose from. I might ring them tomorrow to confirm that. There is obviously something wrong with the email however as it shows the cruise cost as £140,000!

Cancel and ask for FCC 🙂

[Son of Anarchy]

Booked an aft balcony today for 14 nights on Ventura in 2024.  Difference between Select and ES after taking the OBC instead of parking was £101pp.  Happily paid the extra to get one of these cabins.  Only a couple of ports have shuttles, all about cabin location for us this time.   Hopefully the quarantine area reason for moving peoples' cabins will have fizzled out by then.

[Megabear2]

Just to add I received £500OBC on my Arvia cabin at £7100 and £480 on Britannia at £7218.  Still a huge mark up even allowing for this.

[Barbadossunshine]

We normally book the select and pick our cabin. We have booked the saver instead as the prices being asked for the select were just too much imo. Select would have given us OBC of £400.00, select room was roughly another £700.00. The extra cost of £1,100 was not worth it imo this money will go towards the drink bill and the excursions that we will do.

 

We are due to go on the Arvia on the 11th November 2023. Total cost flying from Manchester is £4,458.00. Grade - GZ Balcony Cabin. I have no issue what rooms we will be allocated as per the deck plan. 
 

Really looking forward to going back to the Caribbean for two weeks in the sun to chill.

[majortom10]

Have always booked Select but booked an Early Saver for B2 suite on Britannia for October 2024 all B2 suites are in a good position on B Deck and would be happy with any of them. There is only one port in Lanzarote where we will need a shuttle bus so will just pay for it. Not bothered about dining but TA advised when we get onboard if we are allocated Club Dining have a word with the Butler about Freedom dining and he will enquire and there shouldnt be a problem. The saving on price far outweighs OBC so at the last minute we booked it having never been in a suite before on P&O.

[devonuk]

On 3/29/2022 at 8:38 PM, majortom10 said:

Have always booked Select but booked an Early Saver for B2 suite on Britannia for October 2024 all B2 suites are in a good position on B Deck and would be happy with any of them. There is only one port in Lanzarote where we will need a shuttle bus so will just pay for it. Not bothered about dining but TA advised when we get onboard if we are allocated Club Dining have a word with the Butler about Freedom dining and he will enquire and there shouldnt be a problem. The saving on price far outweighs OBC so at the last minute we booked it having never been in a suite before on P&O.

The Lanzarote shuttle bus is a complete rip off. By the time you’ve buckled up for the journey you’ll be getting off again 🙄 It takes you a few hundred yards to the port entrance and is laughable. If you can’t walk to the entrance then you won’t make it into town. 

[davecttr]

If the ship berths at the 'new' cruise berth near the marina it is a level 1500 yards walk into the town or half that into the marina itself. If the ship berths at the old mole and it might do as the new berth only has room for one ship it is a looong way to town and you will need the shuttle.

[P&O SUE]

I’ve always booked select so I can choose my cabin and we don’t want club dining. The free parking with CPS is a bonus too.

However on the big ships the likelihood of getting freedom dining is very high especially the big two as that’s all they have!

 

My next cruise is a 3 night on Britannia, I paid select because it’s what I always do. However I’m wondering if it was worth it for this cruise as it was a guarantee balcony for the G deck cabins - the ‘obstructed’ ones. They always seem to do this on Britannia just with that deck. 
As it’s only 3 nights I chose G deck.

However I don’t get free parking as it’s under 7 nights, I won’t use the shuttle bus at Zeebrugge as I’ve booked an excursion to Ghent now! 
I intend to go to the Glasshouse one night and I’ve booked the Limelight another so that only leaves one night for the MDR!

 

I’m wondering why I booked select now! Although our G deck obstructed has been allocated and I’ve been upgraded to ‘normal’ balcony on C deck so im happy with that! Did I get upgraded because I’d booked select? We’ll never know!

 

If I ever book Iona I’d have to book select though to avoid the dreaded 8 deck 😆

 

In future though I will look at early saver depending on the cruise length,time of year etc.

[paulatsea]

Going on a short break 3 nights next month  and have selected saver fare and hope for the best - it’s on Arcadia so should be ok - (very big price difference in percentage terms on this 3 night one).

 

Any longer I would always choose select - we spend a lot of time in the cabin and on the balcony so it’s very important to be away from lifts/not above venues etc.

car parking/on board spend/shuttles etc are good to have - and also it’s easier to change cruise if needed.

[lancashirelad70]

We are on Ventura leaving on 23rd April 2022 and this is the first time we have used the saver fare. Just checked in. Whilst we apprecaite that the cabin may not be allocated yet the computer says that the cabin will be allocated when we board which begs the question of what information we put on the luggage labels ( assuming that we can print them off as last time neither we not the TA could) Also arrival time is given at 15.45 when the final boarding time is 16.45. Is this because we are saver and thus the lowest of the low.

[paulatsea]

17 minutes ago, lancashirelad70 said:

We are on Ventura leaving on 23rd April 2022 and this is the first time we have used the saver fare. Just checked in. Whilst we apprecaite that the cabin may not be allocated yet the computer says that the cabin will be allocated when we board which begs the question of what information we put on the luggage labels ( assuming that we can print them off as last time neither we not the TA could) Also arrival time is given at 15.45 when the final boarding time is 16.45. Is this because we are saver and thus the lowest of the low.

Yes - what goes on the luggage label ? Surely it  must be allocated when boarding the passes are issued ?

[majortom10]

11 hours ago, devonuk said:

The Lanzarote shuttle bus is a complete rip off. By the time you’ve buckled up for the journey you’ll be getting off again 🙄 It takes you a few hundred yards to the port entrance and is laughable. If you can’t walk to the entrance then you won’t make it into town. 

I think it depends where your ship is docked. When we were on QE in November we seemed a lot further out than a Celebrity ship was docked and the shuttle bus drove some distance along main roads. Dont know if it was the long way round but once in Arrecife we couldnt see the ship but we could see the Celebrity so do not know if there are different berths. It was our first time staying in Arrecife as in the past we have always gone on an excursion.