Cabin Availability - Britannia Fjords 2024

[wowzz]

We have cancelled our Baltic cruise, (switched to Princess)and consequently have to transfer our deposit to another cruise.

Although we are not keen on 7 day cruises,  too much faff and driving, we thought we might try 7 days in the Fjords on Britannia in 2024.

Did a few dummy bookings, but cabin availability was terrible. Virtually every balcony cabin, on multiple dates, was unavailable. I cannot believe that P&O have sold out virtually all balcony cabins this far out. 

I'll chat to our well known TA in due course, but in the interim,   does anyone have any insights as to this strange state of affairs ?

[carlanthony24]

Might be releasing them in blocks or have reserved blocks for TA. 

Edited January 2, 2023 by carlanthony24

[showingdiva]

Did a couple of random cabin searches for a Britannia fjords at the beginning of June 2024.   Seem to be HB balconies without sofas and GB balconies with sofas available.

I've found the P&O cabin selector often has gremlins saying that cabins do not exist (when they do).  let alone on hold for another passenger.

[jaydee6969]

I just looked at B413, which is the one we are booked on, and seems to be plenty of balcony cabins available all over.  And the superior deluxe cabins around us are still available.

 

Try a different browser or device?

 

add: And incidentally, would have been a better deal to have booked now than at launch.

Edited January 2, 2023 by jaydee6969
note added

[wowzz]

57 minutes ago, jaydee6969 said:

I just looked at B413, which is the one we are booked on, and seems to be plenty of balcony cabins available all over.  And the superior deluxe cabins around us are still available.

 

Try a different browser or device?

 

add: And incidentally, would have been a better deal to have booked now than at launch.

Thanks. Had a look at superior deluxe availability on that cruise. A handful available midships and mid forward,  but no availability at all mid aft or aft, whuch is our preferred location.   

[jaydee6969]

6 minutes ago, wowzz said:

Thanks. Had a look at superior deluxe availability on that cruise. A handful available midships and mid forward,  but no availability at all mid aft or aft, whuch is our preferred location.   

 

That was the same when I searched, we liked the itinerary of this cruise, stopping at Bergen.

[SarahHben]

On 1/2/2023 at 8:34 AM, wowzz said:

Thanks. Had a look at superior deluxe availability on that cruise. A handful available midships and mid forward,  but no availability at all mid aft or aft, whuch is our preferred location.   

I booked a superior deluxe on this cruise at the end of May '22 and there were no aft or mid aft cabins of that category available back then, so went for mid forward. Prices have increased slightly since we booked, £59 pp.

[molecrochip]

Some cruises are really well booked up. P&O looking like having a bumper 2023 - and thats irrespective of any reductions in price to Iona/Arvia to fill them.

[tring]

4 hours ago, molecrochip said:

Some cruises are really well booked up. P&O looking like having a bumper 2023 - and thats irrespective of any reductions in price to Iona/Arvia to fill them.

 

I wonder if that may tell P&O something about how popular the relatively smaller shops are compared to the two biggest ones.  I know you will be thinking, even if not commenting, that those new ships do not need to be full to turn over a decent profit, but just seems sad that the biggest profit rules rather than providing a better range of choice to encourage customers who have differing preferences.

 

I do accept that making profit is what any company is there to do and P&O have made their choice on how that will best be done, but sorry I just could not help replying to that information.

 

As ever though, I still want to thank you for sharing what information you can.

 

[Ardennais]

I am actually hoping that our Iona cruise isn’t full to be honest. I’m not that bothered about a full house aboard, but fewer people onshore in the small destinations would be good. 

[wowzz]

2 hours ago, tring said:

I know you will be thinking, even if not commenting, that those new ships do not need to be full to turn over a decent profit, but just seems sad that the biggest profit rules rather than providing a better range of choice to encourage customers who have differing preferences.

Unfortunately P&O/Celebrity is a business, with shareholders and a massive debt mountain. 

Those institutions who pumped $30bn into keeping Carnival from going bust, want their money back, and providing a better range  of choice is not really relevant, unless it generates more profit.

If I was P&O CEO, I would be tempted to increase the fares on Arcadia and Aurora by, say 30%,, and see if those customers who love these ships would pay that sort of premium to keep them in the fleet.

[showingdiva]

18 minutes ago, wowzz said:

If I was P&O CEO, I would be tempted to increase the fares on Arcadia and Aurora by, say 30%,, and see if those customers who love these ships would pay that sort of premium to keep them in the fleet.

 

I suspect a lot would be prepared to pay a premium.   But .. at that ball park figure, given the age of Arcadia and, in particular, Aurora, both would need a serious period of dry docking, major refurb and general ongoing investment in order for them to compete with the ever-expanding Viking fleet, Seabourn, Saga, Regent etc.

[tring]

27 minutes ago, wowzz said:

Unfortunately P&O/Celebrity is a business, with shareholders and a massive debt mountain. 

Those institutions who pumped $30bn into keeping Carnival from going bust, want their money back, and providing a better range  of choice is not really relevant, unless it generates more profit.

If I was P&O CEO, I would be tempted to increase the fares on Arcadia and Aurora by, say 30%,, and see if those customers who love these ships would pay that sort of premium to keep them in the fleet.

 

Those ships are sold at quite a premium over all the newer ones as it stands, but to sell the newer ones, they obviously will need to reduce prices as per molecrochip's post.  There are loads of cruises out there on big ships for sale, which is the competition for Iona and Arvia.  People who travel on the smaller ships are more likely to be comparing cruises with similar ships on other cruise lines, hence the discrepancy on sales figures for the respective ships in the P&O fleet.

 

If the prices are hiked more for Aurora/Arcadia they may not fill them enough to make a profit.  That is also a point which will already be kept a close eye on by Carnival on an ongoing basis.

 

 

 

Edited January 7, 2023 by tring

[wowzz]

8 minutes ago, tring said:

If the prices are hiked more for Aurora/Arcadia they may not fill them enough to make a profit.  That is also a point which will already be kept a close eye on by Carnival on an ongoing basis.

 

I agree. But those two ships have only a maximum of five years life in them. So, sweat the assets, and increase the prices as much as possible. 

Many posters on here have said that they will  no longer cruise with P&O when these ships go, so, to be brutal, get as much profit as you can, by increasing prices as high as possible. If you increase revenue by 30%, and lose 10% of your clientele,  you are still making more profit. 

[tring]

1 hour ago, wowzz said:

I agree. But those two ships have only a maximum of five years life in them. So, sweat the assets, and increase the prices as much as possible. 

Many posters on here have said that they will  no longer cruise with P&O when these ships go, so, to be brutal, get as much profit as you can, by increasing prices as high as possible. If you increase revenue by 30%, and lose 10% of your clientele,  you are still making more profit. 

 

Not if you do not fill the ships. Have a look at those cruises, especially for this year.  The prices are higher, yet are not oversubscribed as there is still availability.  No point pricing the ships out of the profit making position as they can obviously make some cash from them as yet or they would have already gone.  The fluid pricing system knows what it is doing.

 

Edited January 8, 2023 by tring