Dining requests - Early Saver Fare

[Marmaduke]

I believe that when booking an Early Saver Fare you can request your dining preference, although this is not guaranteed.  When I asked my TA to check that she had put me down for Freedom Dining she said that it has been years since they were able to request dining preferences.  P & O say they will e-mail me nearer departure time, is this correct and how near to departure do they email ?  I would be interested  in other peoples experiences  of booking the Early Saver fare.

[FangedRose]

7 hours ago, Marmaduke said:

I believe that when booking an Early Saver Fare you can request your dining preference, although this is not guaranteed.  When I asked my TA to check that she had put me down for Freedom Dining she said that it has been years since they were able to request dining preferences.  P & O say they will e-mail me nearer departure time, is this correct and how near to departure do they email ?  I would be interested  in other peoples experiences  of booking the Early Saver fare.

Choosing your dining preferences is one of the perks of paying select fare. Even then it is still not guaranteed. (Though select fare preferences come top of the list).There would be a lot of upset select fare passengers if they didn't get their dining preference when someone on a saver fare did.

 

In the past everyone paid 'select' fare, everyone could choose dining and cabin. Saver fares were introduced (at a lower price) to fill empty (unpopular) cabins and fill empty dining slots.

 

If you want choice you need to pay select fare.

[NavyPanda]

I had a similar question a couple of days ago which I put on the food and dining sticky thread which I guess has hidden it from any answering it!

 

It is interesting that the booking confirmation for Early Savers does make reference to being able to choose dining but I can't see any option in order to make that choice. The website also says something which may infer having a choice vs (Late) Saver.

 

I'll copy and paste most of what I wrote previously below.

 

(From my P&O Booking Confirmation)

 

"Thank you for choosing to book your holiday with P&O Cruises. Your booking has been made on P&O Cruises Early Saver. Your cabin grade has been secured. We will assign your cabin number either in the grade secured or in a higher grade before departure. As you have booked under our Early Saver price you will receive second priority for dining. We will capture your dining preference nearer to sailing and we'll do our best to accommodate it, subject to availability. You will receive notification of your allocated dining once on board. Please note that shuttle buses will be chargeable on board, except in ports where they are compulsory for health and safety reasons"

 

The P&O website on the link below says the following for Early Saver

 

"Flexibility required for your desired dining style, dining time and table size in the main restaurant"

 

Our Prices Explained | P&O Cruises (pocruises.com)

 

Whereas the description for Saver (as expected) is

 

Dining allocated upon boarding

 

Is this another case where P&O Booking documents say one thing but the reality is quite different?

Has anyone with an Early Saver booking actually being contacted or been able to record their dining preference? 

[Marmaduke]

The exact wording from my P & O Booking Confirmation :-

"As you have booked under our Early Saver price you will receive second priority for dining. We will capture your dining preference nearer to sailing and we'll do our best ot accommodate it. subject to availability. You will receive notification of your allocated dining once on board."

 

The reason I don't book the select fare is that I don't need the onboard credit and therefore it is very expensive for the privilege of being able to choose a cabin and dining. If they got rid of the OBC and charged small fee , eg.£50 like Marella Cruises do  I would be prepared to pay for choosing  a cabin and dining.

[FangedRose]

51 minutes ago, Marmaduke said:

The exact wording from my P & O Booking Confirmation :-

"As you have booked under our Early Saver price you will receive second priority for dining. We will capture your dining preference nearer to sailing and we'll do our best ot accommodate it. subject to availability. You will receive notification of your allocated dining once on board."

 

The reason I don't book the select fare is that I don't need the onboard credit and therefore it is very expensive for the privilege of being able to choose a cabin and dining. If they got rid of the OBC and charged small fee , eg.£50 like Marella Cruises do  I would be prepared to pay for choosing  a cabin and dining.

It's a choice you have to make. You have decided that you don't want to pay the cost of being able to choose. Fair enough. But, then you seem to be complaining about not being able to choose. Am I missing something?

[Presto2]

We've paid 1k to be able to select our cabin and dining. Sorry but we don't get much else for the charge so if cruisers don't pay it they shouldn't complain if they don't get it. Looking at the cost I do resent paying so much for few perks but want to be able to pick my cabin

[Leomins]

Unless there has been a change recently, you can document your dining preference in my.pocruises.com for an Early Saver booking.

This becomes available nearer to the cruise date, I can’t remember when exactly, possibly about three months before. It is not guaranteed, merely a preference. It used to be that Select fares had first choice, followed by Early Savers, followed lastly by the Late Savers which I think are just called Saver bookings.

I would keep checking as I don’t remember P&O emailing me to let me know when to do it.

It’s been a while since I’ve booked an Early Saver on a ship where a dining preference is required, so sorry I can’t give you recent confirmation.

[terrierjohn]

3 hours ago, FangedRose said:

It's a choice you have to make. You have decided that you don't want to pay the cost of being able to choose. Fair enough. But, then you seem to be complaining about not being able to choose. Am I missing something?

Not complaining, just expressing the view that the cost does not provide good value, which I tend to agree with, especially now on the new ships which are all freedom dining.