P and O rip off

[oscarandmilliesmum]

Are you cruising from Southampton to the Med on Ventura on July 17th 2009 ? P and O have dramatically reduced their cabin prices as the ship is half empty. My parents booked and have fully paid for a restricted ocean view cabin. They have now discovered that balcony cabins are available at £450 cheaper than their restricted view. They have spoken to their travel agent who advised them that P and O are refusing to allow travel agents to match the discounted prices, they are even refusing to upgrade bookings or offer on board credit instead. Vote with your feet fellow cruisers and book next years trip with a competitor. To P and O - you still have the opportunity of compensating your currently booked, and fully paid up, passengers on this cruise. You know what is morally and ethically the right thing to do, or do you want more empty P and O ships sailing the seas next year ?? :mad:

[Laconia]

To P and O - you still have the opportunity of compensating your currently booked, and fully paid up, passengers on this cruise. You know what is morally and ethically the right thing to do, or do you want more empty P and O ships sailing the seas next year ?? :mad:

 

Why is it "morally and ethically the right thing to do"?

 

Your parents booked a cabin at a certain price. They had the choice of cabins, which is something that you get from booking early.

 

They formed a contract with P&O - and now wish to renege on that. Why do you think that is acceptable?

 

It is always a risk of booking or buying early. But there are benefits to the early booking too. On price, they would have been better waiting. But had it sold better, then those waiting for a price drop would have not got on.

 

In essence you have a choice between the certainty of an early booking, or the possible saving of a late booking. You can't have it both ways on a UK contract.

 

That doesn't make it a "rip-off" though.

[Beckyfaye-2008]

Laconia

Im with you on this, if you enter into a deal which you are happy with at the time fine, you have got first choice of cabin, dinner sitting etc. Others may take a gamble and book late, hoping to get a good deal, but probaly not as much choice, good luck to them.:D

[MAZANDSTEVE]

Are you cruising from Southampton to the Med on Ventura on July 17th 2009 ? P and O have dramatically reduced their cabin prices as the ship is half empty. My parents booked and have fully paid for a restricted ocean view cabin. They have now discovered that balcony cabins are available at £450 cheaper than their restricted view. They have spoken to their travel agent who advised them that P and O are refusing to allow travel agents to match the discounted prices, they are even refusing to upgrade bookings or offer on board credit instead. Vote with your feet fellow cruisers and book next years trip with a competitor. To P and O - you still have the opportunity of compensating your currently booked, and fully paid up, passengers on this cruise. You know what is morally and ethically the right thing to do, or do you want more empty P and O ships sailing the seas next year ?? :mad:

 

 

I am not surprised they are angry, I would be too, Its so annoying when you have paid the full amount then they lower the price, people will stop booking well in advance and hold out for lower prices , then that will cause them cash problems!

[balf]

Many people (including us) always book late. We are not tied to dates and not too fussed as to the ports of call etc. So we get the cheap deals, and often good choice of cabins too in the present financial climate. Of course we could miss out on a cruise, but so what, it is a buyers market now and there are always new offers in the in box next day.

 

If you need a particular ship, departure date, destination or cabin, or if you are the sort who needs to plan way ahead you pay for that choice. There is no difference basically to a shop sale.

 

The cruise lines could solve this by offering fixed prices and no late booking offers, but with the prospect of a half empty ships they are unlikely to do this.

 

 

Just a thought though, if the TA did get a reduced price for a client, he would receive a smaller agents fee. I would contact P&O direct.

 

David.

[miss-heli]

. My parents booked and have fully paid for a restricted ocean view cabin. They have now discovered that balcony cabins are available at £450 cheaper than their restricted view. They have spoken to their travel agent who advised them that P and O are refusing to allow travel agents to match the discounted prices, they are even refusing to upgrade bookings or offer on board credit instead.

 

This is very annoying and I can quite understand your parents feelings.

However as previous posters have stated by booking early you do get your choice of Cabin. dinner sitting etc.

Last year P & O July and August cruises were sold out by now and so leaving it late to book would not have paid off.

It is a gamble you have to choose to take.

Having said that I think P&O could learn from some of the American cruise lines which do allow flexibility after booking.

On NCL last year we upgraded 2 weeks before departure into a Suite which had been discounted by over 50%. We just paid the difference between our balcony cabin and the reduced Suite price.

I can not see what harm it would be to allow folks to do that.

The economic situation is such that people have been slow to book expensive holidays this year and if this continues I think P & O will have to rethink their policies, otherwise everyone will leave it late to book.

We are the original late bookers and are flexible on our options when leaving it late.

That said we have booked the Ventura(different cruise) at a much reduced rate recently.

I have the feeling that the prices may fall even further but I am happy with the booking I have made and wish bargain hunters who can leave it later and take the risk GOOD LUCK

[tom_uk]

If you need a particular ship, departure date, destination or cabin, or if you are the sort who needs to plan way ahead you pay for that choice. There is no difference basically to a shop sale.

 

That pretty much describes the position my wife & I are in at the moment: we are both still working and have to give a lot of advance notice of significant holiday periods. We're both approaching retirement, however, and are looking forward to the time when we can take late bookings.

[scrozuk]

Are you cruising from Southampton to the Med on Ventura on July 17th 2009 ? P and O have dramatically reduced their cabin prices as the ship is half empty. My parents booked and have fully paid for a restricted ocean view cabin. They have now discovered that balcony cabins are available at £450 cheaper than their restricted view. They have spoken to their travel agent who advised them that P and O are refusing to allow travel agents to match the discounted prices, they are even refusing to upgrade bookings or offer on board credit instead. Vote with your feet fellow cruisers and book next years trip with a competitor. To P and O - you still have the opportunity of compensating your currently booked, and fully paid up, passengers on this cruise. You know what is morally and ethically the right thing to do, or do you want more empty P and O ships sailing the seas next year ?? :mad:

 

Yes it's annoying, but this sort of thing goes on all the time. It happens on the airlines. Imagine sitting on a flight knowing you paid £250, when the person next to you paid £350.

 

In the cruise liners case, you pay for the choice of cabin etc, but since P&O have not been able to fill the spaces, they offer discounts to entice more passengers, as they'd rather fill the ship for less than go half empty.

 

Scrozuk

[Marmaduke]

There is a great deal of discussion about this topic on other cruise forums. Ventura is not the only ship affected I believe Arcadia's J909 and J910 have been heavily discounted as well. For those that were quick enough it was worth their while canceling their original booking, and then rebooking a better cabin. Even after loosing their deposit, free car parking and OBC they were still several hundred pounds better off.

 

It is such a pity that P & O don't recognise the loyalty of their customers and reward the early bookers with an upgrade when the ship is obviously heavily undersold. Especially when they state in their brochure, 2010 Preview edition, page 95, 3rd column, first paragraph,

"Since our Early Bird Savings are likely to reduce and since fares may rise, it really does pay to book early"

[Noblemount]

P&O did the same just after Christmas.I am sorry to say that the reduced price does not always attract the Regular P&O Clientle.If your Parents cannot get your Agent to do something try P&O direct or even try for an upgrade when you board

[oscarandmilliesmum]

Thank you to those of you who have responded. P and O were also manipulative and cunning in terms of the date they released the "new" prices. By some coincidence they announced the reductions 56 days prior to the ship sailing. This meant that my parents would have lost 45% of their monies paid if they had cancelled. However, if P and O had announced the reductions 1 day earlier, day 57, my mum and dad could have cancelled, lost their £300 deposit, booked a balcony cabin, but still saved over £100. As some of you have already pointed out P and O want you to book early and encourage you to do so but they will shoot themselves in the foot by treating loyal passengers in this manner. My parents are currently planning their 2010 cruise, there is no chance it will be with Pand O.

[oscarandmilliesmum]

Also, (sorry I am ranting now) P and O should take a leaf out of Canadian Affairs book. My hubby and I booked a Rockies Landtour/Alaskan cruise last September with Princess. We have arranged our own flights with Canadian Affair from Manchester to Calgary and paid in full (we leave June 7th). 4 weeks ago we noticed Canadian affair had reduced the flight price by almost £200. We contacted them and politely asked them to consider refunding us the difference as we had booked early to get the best price and seats. They were very obliging, refunded us the difference immediately, apologised for us having to contact them and explained that they did not want to put us off using them in future and more importantly disuade us from booking early. This is what I would describe as good customer relations. Princess have also recently refunded us to the tune of £80 due to fuel surcharges being reduced. We didn`t even have to ask. P and O have a lot to learn !

[tom_uk]

Thank you to those of you who have responded. P and O were also manipulative and cunning in terms of the date they released the "new" prices. By some coincidence they announced the reductions 56 days prior to the ship sailing. This meant that my parents would have lost 45% of their monies paid if they had cancelled. However, if P and O had announced the reductions 1 day earlier, day 57, my mum and dad could have cancelled, lost their £300 deposit, booked a balcony cabin, but still saved over £100. As some of you have already pointed out P and O want you to book early and encourage you to do so but they will shoot themselves in the foot by treating loyal passengers in this manner. My parents are currently planning their 2010 cruise, there is no chance it will be with Pand O.

 

I'm sorry you feel so disappointed by P&O's actions. I'm afraid however I disagree with you - and I speak as someone who has already booked for spring 2010. I did so knowing that it's possible, maybe likely, that there will be cheaper prices available next spring, but I also recognise that by booking early I have had the choice of cabins & dinner sittings, and got some OBC, and free parking.

 

There are a couple of specific points you make that I'd like to reply to:-

 

a) you comment on the fact that P&O announced the lower prices after early bookers had to pay the balance of their cruise fares. Yes, that's true, but it's not necessarily the result of deviousness. I think it's likely (especially in this recession year) that a considerable number of people who made reservations have been unable or unwilling to take them up. Thus the true scale of the booking shortfall only became apparent after the payment deadline had passed.

 

b) I also believe this is true for all the lines, not just P&O. I've seen an enormous number of really good offers for late bookings from all the lines this year: P&O, Cunard, RCI, Fred Olsen, NCL, OV, Thomson... So I strongly suspect that the same thing would have happened whichever line your parents booked with.

[jeanlyon]

Yes I'm afraid I agree. Any company is free to raise or drop prices whenever they wish. You pay at whatever time you book. The same thing happens with airfares and also with ferries. I have just got a good deal with a ferry which was £40 more when I first looked at it. I booked at £207 and now it has gone back up to £237. So I was lucky. I might not be next year.

[Morgans]

I believe the American booking/refund/cancellation regulations are very different to those in the UK - here we lose our deposits if we cancel.

 

It's certainly NOT just P & O reducing their prices - there has been some excellent late deal offers for many of the ships this summer and anyone who has waited late this year should have a very good choice of cruise from which to pick. Friends have paid £5400 for a balcony cabin on Aurora - we've had an email offering a similar one for £3200 - quite a considerable saving. They are new cruisers who booked as soon as the brochure came out last year and I don't know if I should tell them of the offer and risk spoiling their holiday regarding what they could have saved . But if you can wait as long as possible and don't mind waiting to see what offers come up then it is certainly worth your while.

 

I don't blame P & O for doing it (as do other companies/lines) as they have to make profits in these tough times, after all we don't want them to fold (or sink pardon the pun!) do we? They have always offered late deals but there are certainly more this year. Hopefully there'll be some next year too!

[soletread]

I agree with the points listed above completely

 

I have a number of friends how have booked holidays in the past not being sure if they will have the money for the final payment but risking losing there deposit on the off chance than they will be able to pay it

 

In the current climate many people who are seeing property prices fall the credit debt mounting and things getting general tight will choice to lose a few hundred pounds deposit rather than pay out a few thousand for holiday they could do with out if they are finding things tough.

 

I book early becuase I need to plan ahead to fit holidays into my busy life I like to know my Cabin my dinner sitting and try to get tables for two people only

 

My own view is you decide on a holiday and know if its in your budget when you book

 

I would advice not checking out the current prices to stop tormenting youself

 

Cruise lines are businesses and need to make money with all the new ships coming along competition is getting greater and greater and within a few years time prices are going to fall and all will benifit as long as standards don't fall too

[jeanlyon]

So far my cruise on Artemis is still £400 more per person than we paid. It is a 26 nighter to Egypt and just like last year when we did the Black Sea, it remained a lot more than we paid. It depends on the cruise. If you are choosing Canaries, Caribbean or Western Med, then I think as there are so many of those that they reduce the prices. If you are going on a longer one and there is only one cruise of that type, then it will not be on offer.

[Janey]

Can somebody please point me in the direction of these great offers? The cruise mentioned above on Ventura on 17 July is (according the P&O website) nearly sold out, only a few inside cabins remaining and they are the same price as the current brochure which I have had for a year so no special offers there. If someone can tell me how to get a balcony cabin for £450 less than an inside then I will be booking that cruise. We have 1 cruise booked on Oriana for Oct and one for Azura next year and they are both showing up at more than we paid and we always book when the preview brochure is published.

[kdee69]

The ship is not sailing half full at all - where on earth do you get that fact from?

[Norfolk Brit]

Can somebody please point me in the direction of these great offers? The cruise mentioned above on Ventura on 17 July is (according the P&O website) nearly sold out, only a few inside cabins remaining and they are the same price as the current brochure which I have had for a year so no special offers there. If someone can tell me how to get a balcony cabin for £450 less than an inside then I will be booking that cruise. We have 1 cruise booked on Oriana for Oct and one for Azura next year and they are both showing up at more than we paid and we always book when the preview brochure is published.

 

We are not permitted to mention travel agents by name on this site. However, if you register online with several cruise specialist agents, you will receive their offers by email, including details of the 17 July discounts.

 

Mary

[Janey]

But the point I am making is that the OP says these offers are not available through travel agents, only through P&O directly which is what I am finding hard to grasp!

[tom_uk]

Can somebody please point me in the direction of these great offers? The cruise mentioned above on Ventura on 17 July is (according the P&O website) nearly sold out, only a few inside cabins remaining and they are the same price as the current brochure which I have had for a year so no special offers there. If someone can tell me how to get a balcony cabin for £450 less than an inside then I will be booking that cruise. We have 1 cruise booked on Oriana for Oct and one for Azura next year and they are both showing up at more than we paid and we always book when the preview brochure is published.

 

I have just, this morning, had an email from "C***e[the opposite of Queens]" which is quoting balcony cabins on that 17 July Ventura sailing at £1199. Outside cabins £1099 & inside cabins £999. (All prices "from £nnnn", of course.) So it's the internet TAs you need to be looking at.

[Norfolk Brit]

But the point I am making is that the OP says these offers are not available through travel agents, only through P&O directly which is what I am finding hard to grasp!

 

I think the OP means that his/her travel agent has contacted P&O to see if they will match the savings, and been refused. It is unclear whether the OP has seen these discounts on P&O's site, or via travel agents' offer emails.

 

As TomUK stated, this offer for 17 July is rolling in from cruise specialist agents; like him, I had an email this morning, and one yesterday from another agent.

 

Mary

[daiB]

I would think that there will be a number of posts like this, well hard lines, you book early and get some advantages. You book late and get others.

 

Some people just book at the wrong time, ie in the middle and pay more than the early or late people.

 

They cannot expect to get there money back.:mad:

 

Easy Jet do not give you money when someone pays far less for a ticket!!!! and is sat next to you.

 

It is just tough.

 

 

 

:)Happy Cruising:)

 

 

 

 

:cool:

 

 

Dai

[miss-heli]

I would think that there will be a number of posts like this, well hard lines, you book early and get some advantages. You book late and get others.

 

Some people just book at the wrong time, ie in the middle and pay more than the early or late people.

 

They cannot expect to get there money back.:mad:

 

Easy Jet do not give you money when someone pays far less for a ticket!!!! and is sat next to you.

 

It is just tough.

 

 

 

:)Happy Cruising:)

 

 

 

 

:cool:

 

 

Dai

 

 

I agree and although there may seem to be a lot of cabins left for 17th July sailing I think allowing for the overall number of cabins on the Ventura there is probably less than 10% left to shift (allowing for Guarantee cabin bookers).

This cruise is just on the borders of SCHOOL HOLIDAY 'Prime Time' and is calling at the 'old favorite ports' used by the majority ships leaving from Southampton.

I think people have come to expect last minute reductions on Package holidays,Flights etc but until this recession Prime Time cruising has not been effected and last year you would not have got such bargains(if you even manged to secure a cabin)if you were a last minute booker.

Maybe P & O will learn from this years booking trends........but I for one will not be booking months in advance having managed to get a cracking deal by leaving it late again