Booked select fare but can't select cabin ' P&O Cruise for June 2023

[Rashmi7]

Hi Friends, 

I  booked select fare by paying extra 300 GBP for balcony on P&O, but can't select a cabin. I booked it online with P&O direct last week. I did call the P&O customer care, which took literally 1.5 hours to talk to an agent and the customer care replied that they can't give me a choice of cabin option as cruise is fully booked and  its last minute, so all the cabins are taken,  the cruise would select a cabin for me in the grade I selected( feel a bit cheated here as I paid extra to choose,if they would give me, then why pay extra). I paid in full for the cruise already, which is starting on the 3rd of June 2023 from the UK. Can I cancel my booking now and go with an agent. Basically, even with the agent it was the same cost( no much difference), hence chose the online option as it gave me choice to park. The T&C  says, basically, if I cancel my cruise within 45 days then I have to bear 90% of cancellation charges. I feel a bit trapped here. Any suggestions please. Thank you. 

[Megabear2]

No, you'll have to run with what you have or lose your money.  I just cancelled that cruise in a saver balcony, maybe you have my old cabin.

 

Joking apart I made the same mistake on my current cruise, never to be repeated.  I assume you did get the OBC though which is P&O's way of rewarding you for taking the select fare. If not ask them why not.

 

I'd go with what you have rather than lose your money.

 

Fingers crossed for you to get a nice cabin.

[Yorkypete]

1 hour ago, Megabear2 said:

No, you'll have to run with what you have or lose your money.  I just cancelled that cruise in a saver balcony, maybe you have my old cabin.

 

Joking apart I made the same mistake on my current cruise, never to be repeated.  I assume you did get the OBC though which is P&O's way of rewarding you for taking the select fare. If not ask them why not.

 

I'd go with what you have rather than lose your money.

 

Fingers crossed for you to get a nice cabin.

How can the OP get a nice cabin when the ship is full? I cannot understand his position as he has booked a select cabin but cannot choose as the ship is fully booked. How will he get a cabin allocated then if none  are available, and why charge select when you cannot select? He should at least get the difference refunded or take further action.

[Megabear2]

6 hours ago, Yorkypete said:

How can the OP get a nice cabin when the ship is full? I cannot understand his position as he has booked a select cabin but cannot choose as the ship is fully booked. How will he get a cabin allocated then if none  are available, and why charge select when you cannot select? He should at least get the difference refunded or take further action.

The OP took a guarantee fare of a certain grade, ie a balcony fwd or balcony aft.  Towards the end of sales when a ship is almost full nearly every cruise line will offer this option.  The benefit of taking it is that you retain the select fare perks (where there are any) which often include OBC, free transfer buses etc. 

 

It does not mean that you will get the worst cabins, just that it is the luck of the draw.  Not on P&O but their suster line Princess I met a couple who booked under those terms 10 days before sailing and were given a mini suite after accepting the lowest grade insude.  The best cabins (most expensive rather than situation) may not have sold but the line wants them filled for passenger expenditure on-board.

 

There's another current thread running by someone who's disgruntled their booking has resulted in them being given the family suite on Iona.  Select or Saver guarantee would have been moved into that person's original cabin.  Nine times out of ten it all comes out okay.  

 

My problems on Arvia have occurred not due to the system but because there appear to be so many cabins which may be affected by noise.  The cabin I vacated was very good apart from that.  Another person may.not have had a problem with it or been a night owl and not cared.  It is luck of the draw.

 

I would agree that P&O should make it known which cabins may be affected by noise in the same way that restricted view is.  That's a little underhand and needs looking into mainly due to the number involved.

 

Apart from that, there's absolutely no reason why the OP doesn't get a nice cabin.  He hasn't been swindled,  the booking terms are very clear on the website, I accepted them, so has he.  Unfortunately he did not perhaps understand what he was signing up to but I can assure you (As the starr date of this thread shows) these types of booking have been around a long time).

 

Personally I think the OP will be fine and certainly shouldn't throw away his money.

 

 

Edited May 19, 2023 by Megabear2

[kalos]

8 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

The OP took a guarantee fare of a certain grade, ie a balcony fwd or balcony aft.  Towards the end of sales when a ship is almost full nearly every cruise line will offer this option. 

That's how I see it Megar. I was checking out a few cruises and found they were offering 

the choice of select a forward cabin or an aft but they choose your actual location.

You get things like OBC and shuttle buses .

The fares were cheap and that's possibly why ,I didn't opt to buy as it wasn't value to me .

 

So there was no way that you could say I was being robbed as it was my choice to take it or leave it. I note other cruise lines do the same . The worst culprit used to be Thomson cruises ,back then 

you would select inside /outside cabins and after you paid a hefty deposit ,only then could you see what was on offer but too late as you were booked by then .

 

 

[Megabear2]

1 minute ago, kalos said:

That's how I see it Megar. I was checking out a few cruises and found they were offering 

the choice of select a forward cabin or an aft but they choose your actual location.

You get things like OBC and shuttle buses .

The fares were cheap and that's possibly why ,I didn't opt to buy as it wasn't value to me .

 

So there was no way that you could say I was being robbed as it was my choice to take it or leave it. I note other cruise lines do the same . The worst culprit used to be Thomson cruises ,back then 

you would select inside /outside cabins and after you paid a hefty deposit ,only then could you see what was on offer but too late as you were booked by then .

 

 

MSC do it as well.  I've.noticed certain travel agents also.now have an option of we will select your cabin or you can choose for more money to pick.

 

Interestingly when you select a Princess cabin those two options also come up on their website. Rarely, but definitely a couple of times, I've seen a small price differential between we pick and you pick.

 

It's like it's almost a third fare option when making a later booking.

[Aulanis]

If this is the Norway cruise  there are higher grade cabins available so I guess there is always

the chance of an upgrade for the OP. 

[Rashmi7]

Hi Aulanis, Yes, its the Norway cruise. Thanks for the positive perspective.  🙂 

[Rashmi7]

Hi @Megabear2,

I paid more for the select fare (£300) than the OBC(£150) that I actually got and the option to not select cabin which means, I would have been better off with the saver price. Could have saved myself £300.

[Chrisdriving]

Why did you finalise the booking and pay when you realised you could not choose your cabin number as this is clearly done earlier in the booking process?

Edited May 19, 2023 by Chrisdriving

[Rashmi7]

First time here @Chrisdriving So, I wasn't aware that I can actually pay later, I just followed the same process as we book with airlines. The only reason I chose select fare was for the option to chose my cabin, and the website would only allow that only after I booked, in the sense to choose my cabin after booking completed. 

Also, I didn't see any other option on the  P&O website as 'reserve now book later option' either 

[Megabear2]

2 hours ago, Rashmi7 said:

Hi @Megabear2,

I paid more for the select fare (£300) than the OBC(£150) that I actually got and the option to not select cabin which means, I would have been better off with the saver price. Could have saved myself £300.

I appreciate what you are saying, but if you used the P&O website you would have seen a message saying this is a guarantee fare.  You may not have read the terms and just clicked through but that message clearly states you are guaranteed a cabin of the grade selected or above.  It was for you to decide at that point if it was worth £300 more.

 

I'm sorry if you didn't understand that.  Have they given you a cabin number yet, if so which grade/floor do you have?

[Rashmi7]

Hi @Megabear2  - I tried to follow the P&O website just now to see if they mentioned anywhere about a guarantee fare, it doesn't mention any such thing as guarantee fare, it says standard room( snippet pasted below)

. After selecting the balcony cabin, the following page is what is have copy pasted here below. This is where it says, for choice of cabin location and number option, choose select fare. So I paid extra £300 for select fare and booked it, because I thought It allows me to choose a cabin number in the grade i.e. balcony grade that I selected and completed my booking and then I realise, cabin numbers will be assigned by the officials and I don't get to choose. What I am unhappy about is, why mention choice of cabin option in the select fare option when they(whoever it is)  are going to assign before the cruise , I could have saved £300 by just selecting saver fare when I for sure know, its going to be assigned by the officials at cruise line anyway.  Isn't this misleading info ? Now that I have paid as there is no reserve option on their website, I don't have a choice to cancel it.  They take extra money saying we have the freedom to select cabin numbers  and only to realise, its same as saver fare.

[Megabear2]

On your second picture if you click the red select button another screen should appear with two buttons? Try it.

[Rashmi7]

I tried and it directly takes me to the 2nd pic I attached in my previous message. 

Anyhow, Its all booked now and I will have to check later next week, if the website allows me to choose a cabin. Thanks for your reponses. Really appreciate it.

[Rashmi7]

All, Just an update and hope you can give me some suggestions please.

I logged into P&O after the chat messages here, to see if there has been any update on the cabin selection, but what I have found instead is, I have been allotted a cabin 5632 on Deck 5 by the system. I am even more unhappy now because, the guarantee grade on my ticket is GF and this cabin 5632 is a GC as per the IONA deck plan. We are 3 adults travelling and that was the whole point on paying extra for select fare, so we get an extra bed  for the 3rd person. Now, the cabin allocated doesn't have a sofa bed but just twin bed.  I have called the P&O  the customer care (08000523840) and still not been able to connect to a customer care person even after 1 hour waiting on the call.

Could I request your inputs here on any other way to get in touch with  P&O customer care to get this issue fixed.

Thanks.

 

[kalos]

1 hour ago, Megabear2 said:

On your second picture if you click the red select button another screen should appear with two buttons? Try it.

 

Think I sussed this (on dummy booking )

1/CLICK LETS BEGIN YOUR BOOKING 

 

2/  Click see prices Standard Balcony

 

3/ Click    recommended + 300 OBC   .. CLICK BOOK NOW

 

4/ At this page you now have options to edit  how many people ?

  Do you want car parking    and EDIT CABIN !!!

 

The option to edit cabin should have been used taking you to Choose my own .

 

@Rashmi7 has clicked on through to payment .

 

Looking I can see there are a few balcony cabins left on deck 5 aft .

 

I would look at these and phone P&O stating you clicked complete by error and give them 

the cabin number you would like .

 

If your not getting through ..Phone them as a new booking as I bet that gets answered ..Tell them you have just booked but made a mistake and hope they let you choose 

 

Edited May 19, 2023 by kalos

[Rashmi7]

Hi @kalos thanks, Yes, I can see all of them are on Deck 5, I guess you are saying the same thing as I see in the below snippet, isn't it?  The cabin allocated is 5632 by the system also on Deck 5, but if you look at the deck plan of Iona and the colour legend, these are for Grade GC ( Pink color)  but the gaurantee grade on my booking system is GF - purple colour as in the legend snippet. 

So basically, I have been downgraded and looks like trhe customer care are not ready to help me at this point. 

 

[Rashmi7]

I contacted the customer care and they are really useless and hopeless. Honesty has gone with the wind in this world of cruiselines! 

She(Customer care rep.)  says, she can't give me a cabin grade of GF as is in my booking confirmation. GC is the only grade they can give on Deck 5 as its upgrade from GF itseems. Does anyone agree that GC is an upgrade of GF ? because the balcony in GC is cove, not an open and they won't give a full refund nor a cabin grade of GF or the £300 select fare. 

their argument is upgrade means GC, then why select fare or gaurantee cabin grade ?

Any suggestions on how I can still get some justice here. 

Thanks.

[happy v]

I think she is telling the truth. 'A' is always the highest grade. 

[Rashmi7]

Thanks @happy v but the cabin allocated says only twin bed available with no sofa bed as 3rd bed and we are 3 people and that's another point I raised and basically the cruise line are saying - this is what you get, deal with it or you can cancel the cruise and not get a penny back ! 

[happy v]

The little square means two additional beds. Sofa and pull down 

[binman2]

Hi Rashmi 7 just a little input if you had pressed the edit button on cabin edit to select you cabin you would find the price would go up again for selecting your own cabin no .if you try a dummy booking click on a cabin different to what they want to give you the price goes up £140 above the allocated select cabin price if you selected parking there is £160 obc as well  that is for 3 adults in a cabin £2057 select or if you pick your cabin no goes up to £2197  on select hope that helps

[Megabear2]

2 hours ago, Rashmi7 said:

I contacted the customer care and they are really useless and hopeless. Honesty has gone with the wind in this world of cruiselines! 

She(Customer care rep.)  says, she can't give me a cabin grade of GF as is in my booking confirmation. GC is the only grade they can give on Deck 5 as its upgrade from GF itseems. Does anyone agree that GC is an upgrade of GF ? because the balcony in GC is cove, not an open and they won't give a full refund nor a cabin grade of GF or the £300 select fare. 

their argument is upgrade means GC, then why select fare or gaurantee cabin grade ?

Any suggestions on how I can still get some justice here. 

Thanks.

GC is an upgrade , it's it's position on the ship makes it higher.  You'll have a drop down bed and single sofa.  I saw one the other day and they are actually quite big.

 

Unless you have high seas the balcony is nicely sheltered.  

 

If only deck 5 is available that will be all they can give you. I'm afraid it was a rookie error but not P&O's fault on this occasion. Check what's above you before deciding to move.

[Rashmi7]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts @Megabear2 above th cabin  I can see gala deck as deck and Aqua restaurant above the set of 56* cabins. Placement is Aft. Mid I reckon.Well, I agree it's a definitely a mistake from my side for booking online last minute. But I still like to disagree on the fact that when I booked online, I had no option of selecting my cabin on their website after paying for select fare, but some how it appears to work on their site  today.I will try booking with an agent next. Any recommendations on having good reliable  experiences  with travel agents welcome. 🙂