P&O reduce prices/refunds

[zap99]

37 minutes ago, Presto2 said:

Same here. Ours is still about £700 more but we don't want to change incase we lose the premium flights or cabin. We booked 2 weeks before it all dropped.

I think PO dropping prices in line with lrice changes sets a strange presidence for them .. very odd. 

The loss of PE seats was our only consideration. On balance we took the chance. Plenty of other alternatives.

[Valfan]

5 hours ago, Cathygh said:

P&O don't have to offer refunds when prices drop but they must think that by doing so they are looking after their customers. 

 

I wish P&O had looked after me.  My Arcadia cruise in April/May this year (booked at launch in Nov 2021) was completely ruined for me by a price drop of more than £800 after I'd paid full balance. And that was just for the cheapest inside cabin. 

I know it's all swings and roundabouts. I've had some brilliant solo bargains over the years, and been stung a few times.  But it was such a big price drop.  (All three of my Iona cruises in the preceding few months had cost me less than £800 each).  And, as I knew would happen on the Arcadia one, I kept meeting people who had paid £828 less than me, right from coffee chat the first morning.

I never really got going with that cruise. It turned into 19 nights of my life that Id rather have been anywhere else.  And I'll certainly never book in advance ever again. 

So it will be interesting to watch developments with this latest P&O policy.

[CarlaMarie]

12 hours ago, Bill Y said:

One suspects that there will shortly be a high profile announcement over their “newly released pricing” whatever that entails and P&O are trying to defuse a revolt from early bookers. It’s not just P&O who are experiencing a backlash, just returned from a river cruise where people were vowing not to book for future years just wait to see what bargains are available at short notice. I appreciate that this does not work for those that have specific requirements but this must dent the industries cash flow if a significant number hold back.

 

I have been reading very similar over on the Celebrity threads. Prices have increased, services cut and with many other changes (repeat itineraries for one) the regular loyal cruisers have held off buying their future cruise credits and booking cruises early to see if prices may drop. Many have even booked with other lines. P&O maybe seeing a similar trend, especially as Aurora and Arcadia would be the two who would normally attract the loyal P&O cruiser. 

[Presto2]

13 hours ago, zap99 said:

The loss of PE seats was our only consideration. On balance we took the chance. Plenty of other alternatives.

Hubby is very tall and the leg room is a must for such a long flight for him and we know which cabin/s we want and can't risk that.  Suppose if you are more flexible it is well worth the risk. 

[Megabear2]

21 minutes ago, Presto2 said:

Hubby is very tall and the leg room is a must for such a long flight for him and we know which cabin/s we want and can't risk that.  Suppose if you are more flexible it is well worth the risk. 

 

I just checked my booking and there are no deluxe balcony cabins available so even if I wanted to rebook I wouldn't get the same cabin type. The OBC of £660 which we have seems on an ordinary balcony to be £340 now so we will stick to what we have. 

 

Prices for 2024 seem to be slowly dropping now, I just had notification of sales from both Cunard and Princess and have just booked two of the former.  

[zap99]

25 minutes ago, Presto2 said:

Hubby is very tall and the leg room is a must for such a long flight for him and we know which cabin/s we want and can't risk that.  Suppose if you are more flexible it is well worth the risk. 

We always book PE longhaul. If we can't get PE, we don't go. We cancelled partly because P&O take folk for fools. I will bet that after final payment some other annoyance will occur. More OBC etc. We won't be booking early again.🤬

[Presto2]

2 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

 

I just checked my booking and there are no deluxe balcony cabins available so even if I wanted to rebook I wouldn't get the same cabin type. The OBC of £660 which we have seems on an ordinary balcony to be £340 now so we will stick to what we have. 

 

Prices for 2024 seem to be slowly dropping now, I just had notification of sales from both Cunard and Princess and have just booked two of the former.  

We made that decision too. We are all booked up for holidays for 2024 so will wait to see what 2025 offers ...

[sandancer]

33 minutes ago, Presto2 said:

We've looked at a number of Celebrity cruises but the prices are sky high at the moment. They've always been more expensive but at the moment they are keeping us from booking. 

Same with us. We are Elite plus with Celebrity after 25 cruises. We are at the bottom of the food chain with P&O but we will continue to book as we can almost take 2 cruises for the same cost as one with Celebrity. We know that the two lines are not comparable but we can live with that as long as we are still cruising. 

[zap99]

2 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

 

I just checked my booking and there are no deluxe balcony cabins available so even if I wanted to rebook I wouldn't get the same cabin type. The OBC of £660 which we have seems on an ordinary balcony to be £340 now so we will stick to what we have. 

 

Prices for 2024 seem to be slowly dropping now, I just had notification of sales from both Cunard and Princess and have just booked two of the former.  

I doubt we will rebook. We have booked a Spanish break and will watch what happens with cruises. RC, Celebrity and NCL are all coming up with deals for 2024. Unlike you, we haven't had problems with P&O cruises, just their habit of thinking that once they have your cash, you are trapped.

[Presto2]

6 minutes ago, zap99 said:

We always book PE longhaul. If we can't get PE, we don't go. We cancelled partly because P&O take folk for fools. I will bet that after final payment some other annoyance will occur. More OBC etc. We won't be booking early again.🤬

It is still far cheaper than Celebrity or a y of the US lines and Marella for 2 weeks so will stick with what it. Holidays drop whoever you book with .. always have a d probably always will. When we retire we will probably leave the chance to wait for the deals as we won't be stuck to school holidays and will understand the system better. We've always had to book early to get what we wanted before it all sold out.

[jeanlyon]

16 hours ago, pete14 said:

The cost of our Aurora cruise in November is still showing much more than we paid for an early booking. No refunds for us I guess. ☹️

Same for October.  Price way above what we paid.

[Megabear2]

3 hours ago, Presto2 said:

It is still far cheaper than Celebrity or a y of the US lines and Marella for 2 weeks so will stick with what it. Holidays drop whoever you book with .. always have a d probably always will. When we retire we will probably leave the chance to wait for the deals as we won't be stuck to school holidays and will understand the system better. We've always had to book early to get what we wanted before it all sold out.

Noticeably a lot of the Caribbean cruises already have limited flights and cabins.  Will be interesting to see if there are drops outs as the payment dates approach.

 

Tye Arvia ones in particular look quite restricted with several 7 night sailings apparently sold out.

[Presto2]

54 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

Noticeably a lot of the Caribbean cruises already have limited flights and cabins.  Will be interesting to see if there are drops outs as the payment dates approach.

 

Tye Arvia ones in particular look quite restricted with several 7 night sailings apparently sold out.

On our cruise the cabin next to us is now available which is a surprise as it is adt and I thought they had all gone. When we phoned PO the other day she was doing the hard sell for Arvia and Iona and stressing how amazing the freedom dining on there was and could be booked. She must have said it about 4 or 5 times until I said I didn't care as I was booked on Britannia. Hopefully our ship won't be booked out and will be quiet! Have never sailed on a quiet ship before as it'd always had to be school holidays. 😉

[Presto2]

Just been thinking ... I am sure years back on Celebrity if you saw your cruise for more than you'd paid you got a reduction if you contacted them. Am guessing this doesn't happen anymore.

Can I just clarify .. are PO doing this now or is it just for certain cruises. I'm getting confused .. which isn't unusual !

[Megabear2]

I think it must just be certain cruises.  I've not seen any noticeable reductions advertised by P&O and today's prices in general look the same as earlier in the week.

 

They did something similar last year with one or two cruises and then slashed the prices on remaining cabins to total bargain basement levels on just about everything left. I received £150 OBC by way of making it "better".  I had ended up nearly £2,000 down on my Christmas cruise so it was a pittance!

[Leomins]

I’ve been offered a 10% discount off certain cruises for 2024. The discounted price only comes up when I log in before I do a quote. Maybe you’ll all be getting 10% off your booked cruises?

[Selbourne]

23 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

I think it must just be certain cruises.  I've not seen any noticeable reductions advertised by P&O and today's prices in general look the same as earlier in the week.

 

They did something similar last year with one or two cruises and then slashed the prices on remaining cabins to total bargain basement levels on just about everything left. I received £150 OBC by way of making it "better".  I had ended up nearly £2,000 down on my Christmas cruise so it was a pittance!

I’ve not received anything from P&O yet, but have had the 10% off 2024 cruises email from Cunard.
 

I’ve just checked our two 2024 Cunard cruises (both promoting the offer) and whilst the cruise prices are cheaper than we paid (though not by as much as 10%) the OBC is less, so overall the net cost isn’t much different.
 

I don’t have as much built up knowledge of how Cunard do things as I do with P&O, but conscious that they are both part of Carnival UK I wonder if it may be similar? In which case, could there be the usual marketing kidology at play here, where prices go up and OBC goes up, then prices come down and OBC comes down. Net outlay (cruise price less OBC) = roughly the same?

 

I know it’s a mugs game watching prices after having booked, and I’ve always resigned myself to the fact that in the past launch prices were always cheapest (no longer always the case) or that even if prices had dropped we probably would no longer be able to get an accessible balcony cabin (but we did manage to with our recent Britannia cruise, even though we booked after balance due date).
 

Instead I now work to a maximum net price per night that I’m prepared to pay on a Select basis (which for P&O is far less than I used to pay) and then in the unlikely event that the price drops it’s never going to be by enough to worry about. I appreciate that not everyone can do that though and many cruises are booked for very specific / unique itineraries, so subsequent price drops can be infuriating. 

[9265359]

21 hours ago, bobstheboy said:

It would be a good sales ploy if P&O gave a price promise to customers who book on new season release, say within 45 or 60 days, and guarantee that if the price dropped for like for like cabins, a refund will be given. It would give early bookers confidence and almost certainly increase early sales. 

 

That would be a crazy move for a volume operator like P&O.

 

In the main the sort of people who book immediately when a new season is released are doing so because they want to be certain to get a specific cabin or grade of cabin, and those people will continue to do that no matter how much they moan about prices dropping closer to sailing.

 

The people they should offer such a price guarantee to would be to those who book six to nine months out from sailing, to persuade them to actually do it and not to wait for any bargains that might appear closer to sailing when P&O are getting nervous about filling the ship.

 

Such people are likely not committed cruisers and certainly not committed to P&O, but are just seeking a good deal for a holiday whatever it is, so give them a reason to book it and they likely will.

[FangedRose]

15 hours ago, Valfan said:

I wish P&O had looked after me.  My Arcadia cruise in April/May this year (booked at launch in Nov 2021) was completely ruined for me by a price drop of more than £800 after I'd paid full balance. And that was just for the cheapest inside cabin. 

I know it's all swings and roundabouts. I've had some brilliant solo bargains over the years, and been stung a few times.  But it was such a big price drop.  (All three of my Iona cruises in the preceding few months had cost me less than £800 each).  And, as I knew would happen on the Arcadia one, I kept meeting people who had paid £828 less than me, right from coffee chat the first morning.

I never really got going with that cruise. It turned into 19 nights of my life that Id rather have been anywhere else.  And I'll certainly never book in advance ever again. 

So it will be interesting to watch developments with this latest P&O policy.

That is why I never engage in any conversations about what I (or anyone) paid. If it ruined your cruise you not only lost the £800, you lost the entire price of the cruise as you didn't enjoy it.

[bobstheboy]

1 hour ago, 9265359 said:

 

That would be a crazy move for a volume operator like P&O.

 

In the main the sort of people who book immediately when a new season is released are doing so because they want to be certain to get a specific cabin or grade of cabin, and those people will continue to do that no matter how much they moan about prices dropping closer to sailing.

 

The people they should offer such a price guarantee to would be to those who book six to nine months out from sailing, to persuade them to actually do it and not to wait for any bargains that might appear closer to sailing when P&O are getting nervous about filling the ship.

 

Such people are likely not committed cruisers and certainly not committed to P&O, but are just seeking a good deal for a holiday whatever it is, so give them a reason to book it and they likely will.

You have your views I have mine.

[Winifred 22]

2 hours ago, FangedRose said:

That is why I never engage in any conversations about what I (or anyone) paid. If it ruined your cruise you not only lost the £800, you lost the entire price of the cruise as you didn't enjoy it.

No me neither I would never dream of asking what someone paid for their cruise and certainly not discuss what I paid for mine. I am afraid if I was asked I would probably give quite a terse response. 

[Megabear2]

Very difficult not to know when all around you are loudly discussing their bargain  £999 last minute booking as they were last Christmas, particularly when they assume everyone's paid the same and you've paid nearly four times that for a standard balcony cabin with sofa and suffered the indignity of your  "clear view" actually being the mechanism for the lifeboats!

[Ardennais]

4 hours ago, FangedRose said:

That is why I never engage in any conversations about what I (or anyone) paid. If it ruined your cruise you not only lost the £800, you lost the entire price of the cruise as you didn't enjoy it.

Good advice. No one has ever asked us how much we paid or mentioned how much they paid, but if they did, I would move the conversation along. 

[Ardennais]

1 hour ago, Winifred 22 said:

No me neither I would never dream of asking what someone paid for their cruise and certainly not discuss what I paid for mine. I am afraid if I was asked I would probably give quite a terse response. 

I book all our cruises and pay for them. My husband sometimes asks on the way to Southampton how much I’ve paid, and to be honest, I can never really remember. 

[Winifred 22]

38 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

Very difficult not to know when all around you are loudly discussing their bargain  £999 last minute booking as they were last Christmas, particularly when they assume everyone's paid the same and you've paid nearly four times that for a standard balcony cabin with sofa and suffered the indignity of your  "clear view" actually being the mechanism for the lifeboats!

I can honestly say I have never heard anyone discussing what they paid for their cruise. Another reason to keep myself to myself I think.