OBC drop across multiple cruises

[doog442]

Just for interest and please don't shoot the messenger but I noticed this happened yesterday. I've had my eye on numerous dates / ships this year and early next (7 nights &14 nights). In nearly every case OBC was cut by half (and much more) yesterday however the select price and overall prices haven't budged. This appears to have coincided with the Cunard triple spend offer ending at the same time, again no real movement on select prices (I can confirm as I have one booked).

 

I appreciate prices are dynamic etc however future prices seem to be on average 20% higher than last year and now OBC has been cut to the bone for the time being at least. I notice the 20% off the drinks package is now 10% 

 

I assume this is 'a correction', either that or they really are selling cabins (I know the Arvia has really kicked off the Caribbean - our recent cruise is now 20% more with £450 less OBC for next Jan) but I don't think they are in all cases. For example Britannia at the end of Aug has loads of availability but prices remain stubbornly high and OBC slashed from £300 to £120 yesterday.

 

Food for thought I guess, some will say perfectly normal but I thought perhaps it could have been a bit more 'subtle'. 

 

Incidentally what this did was immediately make me look elsewhere ! 

[Selbourne]

Just now, doog442 said:

Incidentally what this did was immediately make me look elsewhere ! 

As would many of us, hence the fact that prices never stay as they are for long. I’m sure that they will drop again in the future. 
 

Now that launch prices are no longer certain to be the cheapest, we have a target net price per night (cruise fare less OBC) and monitor these prices for any cruises that we might be interested in. If we can get the cruise for less than our target price we will book it, whether that’s at launch, after balance due date, or any time between. As our target price is quite low, if the price drops after we book we know it won’t be by much at all. 
 

Whilst I fully understand supply and demand, cruise companies don’t do themselves any favours with these huge fluctuations in fares. The 65 nighter we are currently on (and indeed next years) are classic examples. Admittedly this is down to saver versus select fares, but there are people on the ship who paid £10k-£12k more than us for the same cabin type in return for £1k OBC (or £2k if booked on board under an ‘offer’). Some of these folk are buying things for the sake of it to use up OBC, as we would be if we’d had that much, and would obviously have been far better off with a lower base fare.
 

Over the last few weeks, quite a few people on this cruise have booked next years 65 nighter whilst on board, again to get high levels of OBC that they may struggle to spend, yet only yesterday I received an email from our TA stating ‘just announced’ price cuts of several thousand pounds for that cruise. This sort of thing must infuriate people when you think you have got a good deal, only to find out the next day that it was actually a bad deal. 

[Megabear2]

It's pretty standard, however I'm not so sure this year we will get the bargains. Generally far more cabins are currently reserved on most cruises I look at - not just P&O but across brands.  Celebrity for instance seem to have sold well with the Apex at high prices.  Princess seem at present to be the ones with the better deals.

 

I booked Britannia for Christmas last week and struggled to get a balcony with sofa in a position suitable for me.  I've ended up mid aft certainly not my usual go to but it was difficult to find anything on my preferred decks mid forward.  The OBC was quite reasonable at £340 plus my "welcome back" £100 and the cruise is overall £1500 less than I paid for my one just past - remember the new one is over Christmas so should be dearer.  

 

It is the same across the board. The Cunard deal ending coincided with the new launch and obviously was an attempt to sell the current onsales.  It seems to have pushed up the base level inside fares by around £200-300 as it ended.

 

Apart from our 35 night Caribbean on QM2 we have nothing booked for 2025 so I will continue to look for "bargains" as all my personal funds are now committed to my Queen Mary 2 world cruise in 2026.

[mrsgoggins]

I booked another cruise just 2 days ago, and so based on your post I checked. When booked the OBC was £180 per cabin with parking (and a further £100 'Welcome back'). Today the basic cruise is the same price but if I choose parking, there is no OBC at all.

 

The discount on the drinks package has changed from 20% to 10%, but that is of no interest to me personally. The deposit has also risen from 10% to 15%, which I think is pretty standard and just signified the end of the '10% deposit' offer.

 

I know that none of this is unusual and that fluid pricing is the name of the game throughout the travel industry these days. 

[Eddie99]

I’ve just booked Cunard 2026 on launch

No OBC but 10% off the standard price which kicks in ?May/June?15% deposit

It’s probably best to just do what you think fits you best, and - as a wise cruiser often said - if you get a deal you like, book it and don’t look at prices again!

 

[purplesea]

I had been looking at a cruise for March 2026 and booked it while we were on board Azura in January and there were very few cabins available of the grade we were looking at.

 

The price onboard was the same as before we left home, but by booking on board we have got an additional £300 OBC making our total OBC £780, and a lower deposit. On checking the price yesterday it has gone up by £50 pp, but the OBC has dropped to £150. On my return home, our TA had added a discount too, so am more than happy.

[doog442]

2 hours ago, Megabear2 said:

It's pretty standard, however I'm not so sure this year we will get the bargains.

 

This is what I can't really get my head around. By all means adjust OBC , prices etc for individual cruises based on demand but they literally cut OBC by more than half across most of the fleet on the same day. There wasn't a particular sales drive happening in that respect unlike the Cunard triple offer which had an end date, the same day they culled OBC on P&O. Are they trying to keep price disparity between both, I've no idea it just seems odd.  

Edited March 6 by doog442

[Selbourne]

Just now, doog442 said:

 

This is what I can't really get my head around. By all means adjust OBC , prices etc for individual cruises based on demand but they literally cut OBC by more than half across most of the fleet on the same day. There wasn't a particular sales drive happening in that respect unlike the Cunard triple offer which had an end date, the same day they culled OBC on P&O. Are they trying to keep price parity between both, I've no idea it just seems odd.  

I suspect it’s nothing more than having to ‘rest’ a promotion for a while in order to trumpet a ‘new’ offer in the future, a bit like the 28 day rule with ‘Sale’ prices. Standard marketing ploys. 
 

Call me a cynic, but I also strongly suspect that certain grades are temporarily placed ‘off sale’ in order to show as sold out or with limited availability (to encourage bookings), only to magically reappear at a later date. I’ve seen that happen with cruises that I’ve monitored. I suspect that the marketing team at Carnival more than pay for themselves - unlike their IT team 😂

[doog442]

4 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

I suspect it’s nothing more than having to ‘rest’ a promotion for a while in order to trumpet a ‘new’ offer in the future, a bit like the 28 day rule with ‘Sale’ prices. Standard marketing ploys. 
 

Call me a cynic, but I also strongly suspect that certain grades are temporarily placed ‘off sale’ in order to show as sold out or with limited availability (to encourage bookings), only to magically reappear at a later date. I’ve seen that happen with cruises that I’ve monitored. I suspect that the marketing team at Carnival more than pay for themselves - unlike their IT team 😂

 

Haha. I guess I'm just thinking out loud. As you said earlier its frustrating, we had a window of opportunity I'd kind of decided on cabin etc, they they pulled the rug and the Yorkshire in me appeared. It's no so much the loss of the OBC but as you state what might around the corner. To be fair it now makes our Cunard cruise next year look excellent value - until of course they change things. 

 

Enjoy your final black tie night, it seems an eternity since I posted that pic of Aurora from the Arvia in Barbados ! I put on 9 pounds in two weeks and I don't think I was really overdoing it yet you're still at sea, marvelous.  🤣

[Megabear2]

24 minutes ago, doog442 said:

 

This is what I can't really get my head around. By all means adjust OBC , prices etc for individual cruises based on demand but they literally cut OBC by more than half across most of the fleet on the same day. There wasn't a particular sales drive happening in that respect unlike the Cunard triple offer which had an end date, the same day they culled OBC on P&O. Are they trying to keep price disparity between both, I've no idea it just seems odd.  

The offer on drinks package had an end date of 4 March.  That was P&O's big drive until then. Interestingly I repriced my cruise booked last week after reading your post.  It is actually £100 cheaper now although the OBC is less.  Even adding the new drinks package at 10% off instead of 20% it remains so.

[doog442]

oops delete that - brain stutter

Edited March 6 by doog442

[Somerset Cruiser]

1 hour ago, Selbourne said:

Call me a cynic, but I also strongly suspect that certain grades are temporarily placed ‘off sale’ in order to show as sold out or with limited availability (to encourage bookings), only to magically reappear at a later date. I’ve seen that happen with cruises that I’ve monitored. I suspect that the marketing team at Carnival more than pay for themselves - unlike their IT team 😂

I've seen it happen, we went B2B on Iona, Christmas and NY, it took an age to get the same cabin for both legs as cabins in the area we wanted weren't available on 1 leg, then when they became available they we simultaneously unavailable for the other leg. I only managed to get what we wanted by emailing Corporate and appealing for common sense to prevail, which eventually it did.

[jeanlyon]

19 hours ago, purplesea said:

I had been looking at a cruise for March 2026 and booked it while we were on board Azura in January and there were very few cabins available of the grade we were looking at.

 

The price onboard was the same as before we left home, but by booking on board we have got an additional £300 OBC making our total OBC £780, and a lower deposit. On checking the price yesterday it has gone up by £50 pp, but the OBC has dropped to £150. On my return home, our TA had added a discount too, so am more than happy.

Interesting because we booked on board last October for October 2024.  The price was pretty good and there was £600 OBC just for an inside cabin.  Or £500 OBC and free parking.  I went for the latter.  Pretty good deal.

[Fionboard]

Bit annoying when you pay solo for a double cabin, almost same price as a couple, but only half the obc. 

[doog442]

Heads up. OBC has now returned to previous levels as of 4/3 at least across the half dozen cruises on my radar and prices are the same. The OBC isn't a patch on what some of us were getting last year mind.

 

Coincidentally I just received an e mail promoting 'offers incoming' which for one of my cruises is exactly the same as before they slashed OBC to the bone a few days ago. You couldn't make it up🤣...well I guess you could. 

Edited March 7 by doog442

[Sawdan]

Hoping to get away at short notice in June on Arvia. Prices seem quite high still?

   Would anyone expect prices to drop or stay the same? 

   I think if they are to drop at all it will be in the next week or so approx 90 days before sailing

[Selbourne]

1 hour ago, Sawdan said:

Hoping to get away at short notice in June on Arvia. Prices seem quite high still?

   Would anyone expect prices to drop or stay the same? 

   I think if they are to drop at all it will be in the next week or so approx 90 days before sailing

As Arvia is a vast capacity family ship and June isn’t school holidays, I doubt that the ship will sail full. That should mean some late bargains if you are happy to book a Saver and take a chance on where your cabin is located (the usual dining choice benefit of a Select fare doesn’t apply on Arvia as it’s 100% freedom dining). 
 

As for timing, apparently P&O give a week or so grace on the 90 day balance due date and it’s not until that date passes that cheap ‘Late Savers’ appear (although they are not named as such - they are still called saver). 

[terrierjohn]

1 hour ago, Sawdan said:

Hoping to get away at short notice in June on Arvia. Prices seem quite high still?

   Would anyone expect prices to drop or stay the same? 

   I think if they are to drop at all it will be in the next week or so approx 90 days before sailing

Arvias pricing does seem quite a bit higher than even Ionas, we recently booked a Sept Iona Canaries cruise, mainly because it was significantly lower than an Arvia one, which interested us because we have not been on her yet. However the Arvia one was only 6 ports and they were identical to a Britannia one we did in 2022, and apart from la Coruna and Cadiz not really very interesting,  whilst Iona was 7, and although we have done many Canaries cruises, we do quite like all the ports.

[jaydee6969]

On 3/6/2024 at 11:36 AM, doog442 said:

Just for interest and please don't shoot the messenger but I noticed this happened yesterday. I've had my eye on numerous dates / ships this year and early next (7 nights &14 nights). In nearly every case OBC was cut by half (and much more) yesterday however the select price and overall prices haven't budged. This appears to have coincided with the Cunard triple spend offer ending at the same time, again no real movement on select prices (I can confirm as I have one booked).

 

I appreciate prices are dynamic etc however future prices seem to be on average 20% higher than last year and now OBC has been cut to the bone for the time being at least. I notice the 20% off the drinks package is now 10% 

 

I assume this is 'a correction', either that or they really are selling cabins (I know the Arvia has really kicked off the Caribbean - our recent cruise is now 20% more with £450 less OBC for next Jan) but I don't think they are in all cases. For example Britannia at the end of Aug has loads of availability but prices remain stubbornly high and OBC slashed from £300 to £120 yesterday.

 

Food for thought I guess, some will say perfectly normal but I thought perhaps it could have been a bit more 'subtle'. 

 

Incidentally what this did was immediately make me look elsewhere ! 

 

I see you have posted that they have increased the OBC again. 

 

But just for information, I checked the OBC levels shortly after you posted for my 4 booked cruises, and the OBC had reduced back down to the same level as when we booked the cruises at launch.

 

 

[Megabear2]

12 hours ago, Sawdan said:

Hoping to get away at short notice in June on Arvia. Prices seem quite high still?

   Would anyone expect prices to drop or stay the same? 

   I think if they are to drop at all it will be in the next week or so approx 90 days before 

 On fringe season cruises, those sailing before beginning of June, the lead price on an inside saver has dropped to between £849 and £999. These prices are in line with last year's with a small increase from the lowest baseline of £799 achieved on the Spring cruises in 2023. 

 

The 31/3 (Easter) sailing has a handful of outside cabins with insides and balconies sold out.  

 

The next sailing has around 60 inside cabins, 6 outside and a handful of deck 8 front balconies.  Lead price is £899 and has risen in the past week.  

 

This indicates pretty good sales, particularly when the lowered price kicks in.  The 26 May sailing is currently at £999 lead price with a fair number of all cabin grades available. This is another bank holiday cruise and based on last year it should drop again in the next week or two, probably to the £899 price fairly soon and then if it still doesnt sell as they want down to the "bargain basement" price of £799 or £849.

 

Looking at the pattern, the two June cruises should go down (subject to sales level) once the 31 March cruise sells out - probably very soon - and as the "bargain" sailings immediately after start to fill with bargain hunters.

Edited March 8 by Megabear2

[Sawdan]

Thank you all for the replies. Lots of good useful info there.

   Wouldn't it be nice if the price was set 2yrs in advance and didn't change. Everyone would know the price wasn't going to change and those early bookers would get the best deal and longer to pay.

   Like a few have said nothing more annoying than booking and then soon after seeing your cruise with big discounts or extra OBC.

   We like to book early normally and be organised but due to the Mrs having Long Covid it's been difficult to plan in advance.

  We have the 9th June in mind as it's a steady itinerary that we've done a few times before so quite easy to get around. 

 I think we will wait maybe a couple of weeks but with regular checks in between.

  Thank you all

  

[daiB]

6 hours ago, Sawdan said:

Thank you all for the replies. Lots of good useful info there.

   Wouldn't it be nice if the price was set 2yrs in advance and didn't change. Everyone would know the price wasn't going to change and those early bookers would get the best deal and longer to pay.

   Like a few have said nothing more annoying than booking and then soon after seeing your cruise with big discounts or extra OBC.

   We like to book early normally and be organised but due to the Mrs having Long Covid it's been difficult to plan in advance.

  We have the 9th June in mind as it's a steady itinerary that we've done a few times before so quite easy to get around. 

 I think we will wait maybe a couple of weeks but with regular checks in between.

  Thank you all

  

I always book on day one and only on rare occasions has the price I paid been beaten. As things settle down I think this will be more and more the case. So many people book 18 month out and claim that they booked early. In fact they booked at the worse time. Booking early is booking on day one.

[daiB]

13 minutes ago, daiB said:

I always book on day one and only on rare occasions has the price I paid been beaten. As things settle down I think this will be more and more the case. So many people book 18 month out and claim that they booked early. In fact they booked at the worse time. Booking early is booking on day one.

Example in Sep/Oct 25 we have 2 cruises both 14 nights. The first one to the Baltic £500.00 more now than when we booked and the second to the Canaries is £1000.00 more.

[Malcolm142]

In Oct 2022 while on Iona a new brochure had just come out and we booked a round trip 

Caribbean for Oct 2024 at the price of £6972 (deluxe balcony)

Today the price is £12300 and with slightly less OBC

[Mad4WDW]

On 3/6/2024 at 12:34 PM, Selbourne said:

 

Now that launch prices are no longer certain to be the cheapest, we have a target net price per night (cruise fare less OBC) and monitor these prices for any cruises that we might be interested in. If we can get the cruise for less than our target price we will book it, whether that’s at launch, after balance due date, or any time between. As our target price is quite low, if the price drops after we book we know it won’t be by much at all. 
 

 

 

Hi Selbourne,

What net price per night do you aim at?