P and O Portunus discounts reduced

[cortoute]

Was very annoyed to find that P and O have now decided not to apply Portunus discount until after all the on board credit has been used - this affects the Gold tier more than the rest, since they will lose effectively 10% on all purchases up until on board credit has been used - a really nice way to treat your most loyal Cruisers and a really great own goal by the powers that be.

On our last cruise there was considerable anger over this,with many "senior" portunus club members seriously reducing their on board spend.There also seemed to be a problem between transferring unused on board credit between passengers travelling together on one booking -maybe this was a local issue? Anyone having trouble doing this?

Sad that standards seem to be dropping, and penny pinching seems to be the order of the day.

Listen very carefully P and O, continue doing this and people will vote with their feet, go elsewhere, go nowhere,or reduce on board spend dramatically - and without good onboard spend by passengers you really will be in trouble.

[Scottie Girl]

I think we should be grateful for the discount we receive from Portunis Club as most cruise companies do not offer any loyalty discount on you final bill. We have just returned from 18 days on Oriana, both of us had £100 on board credit and it did state on my bill if any of my obc remained it would be transferred to my husbands account as both accounts were charged to his credit card. Needless to say we had both spent our obc long before the end of the cruise. Vey grateful for our 7.5% discount as Sapphire members and have no problem with it being taken off at the end of the bill.

[cruisebore]

Could not agree more, rank bad management by P&O particularly in the present economic climate. Anything that even gives you client the perception he/she is being screwed is very bad for business.

It will be we older (more mature) regular cruisers who P&O desperately need to keep them afloat (sic) during these difficult economic times.

Alienating us with a stunt like this beggars belief.

Now as far as the loyalty scheme in general, £75 or so off my account pales into insignificance when compared with Princess benefits. We get a free mini bar £30, complimentary laundry £60, complimentary Internet £40, Shop 10% shop discount £20. Other benefits include wine tasting event, priority tendering and embarkation, canapes in cabin etc etc.Regards

Cb

[stopgo]

Was very annoyed to find that P and O have now decided not to apply Portunus discount until after all the on board credit has been used - this affects the Gold tier more than the rest, since they will lose effectively 10% on all purchases up until on board credit has been used - a really nice way to treat your most loyal Cruisers and a really great own goal by the powers that be.

On our last cruise there was considerable anger over this,with many "senior" portunus club members seriously reducing their on board spend.There also seemed to be a problem between transferring unused on board credit between passengers travelling together on one booking -maybe this was a local issue? Anyone having trouble doing this?

Sad that standards seem to be dropping, and penny pinching seems to be the order of the day.

Listen very carefully P and O, continue doing this and people will vote with their feet, go elsewhere, go nowhere,or reduce on board spend dramatically - and without good onboard spend by passengers you really will be in trouble.

 

We are in a reccession your going to have to get use to cut backs, like it or lump it.

[BrianI]

The rules were changed in April 2008 so this is not something new. Most of our spend goes on my card but any credit from my wife is transferred across so it should not matter which card you use, and I have never had a problem. However if you have requested separate bills then this will not happen.

Brian

[Janey]

Oh come on, if you are a gold member and spend say on average £1000 minus £200 obc, then you will still get 10% off the £800 outstanding, 10% missing off the other £200 is £20 and if you cannot afford that after spending all that money on a cruise then there is something wrong! I still think the P&O deal is great considering what you get (fridge, tea and coffee making and biccies in cabin) which no other cruise line offers.

[jeanlyon]

Goodness me - what a fuss! I would have thought anybody would be pleased with getting a good cruise deal, free parking, on board credit as well, and then you moan about not getting 10% discount? I am only a Ruby member and I shall be well pleased with my 5% discount after I've spent my onboard credit.

[tom_uk]

I hear the same comments across all the boards - Loyalty bonuses reduced. I don't think it's surprising, and I don't think it's the cruise companies being mean-spirited.

 

The real problem is that as the years go by, and as cruising has become so popular, so the numbers of passengers on the highest levels of the various loyalty schemes has increased. It was easy for the lines to give good benefits to passengers on the top level of the schemes 5 years ago or more - there were very few such passengers. Now there are a lot, and covering the costs must be very expensive. That has to be covered somehow, either in general 'across-the-board' price increases, or by increased on-board revenue (hence the increasing sales pitches we encounter).

 

I look at the cost of the cruise and decide it it's worth-while on that basis. If I get extra discount, so well and good, but I don't cruise specifically to get, or because of, loyalty discount.

[Britboys]

I'm afraid that I can't get very excited about this. Your Portunus bonus is that you get the appropriate discount off of anything you spend on board. If you have on board credit 'you' are not spending - rather, using up credit.

 

Very few cruise lines give a loyalty discount on all on-board spends, so I think it is quite a good scheme personally.