Is booking direct with P & O the most economical option?

I hope this question is allowed but I am hoping to book a cruise for October this year and I have noticed the price fluctuating a lot over the last few weeks.

Is there a better way to book than directly with P & O that works out cheaper?

As Mr Tesco says 'Every little helps'. :D

Discussion relating to Travel Agents is not allowed according to the rules. I think you need to figure this out on your own.

Regards John

Discussion relating to Travel Agents is not allowed according to the rules. I think you need to figure this out on your own.

 

Regards John

Thank you I hadn't seen any talk about this so I did wonder.

No need for anyone else to post!! :)

I don't think people can name agents, but it seems that many get 5% discount elsewhere. I tend to book direct with P&O as 5% isn't enough for me to engage a middle man. The price fluctuations are almost constant, usually price up, on board credit up, or price down, on board credit down. The cheapest prices seem to be at the time of release (if, like us, you would only ever book Select fares as you want to chose your cabin). Any discount from a travel agent applies to whatever price P&O states on their website at the time.

Seeing as you mention Tesco, the cheapest way is to use Tesco Boost vouchers, which give you 3 times the value. Worth doing, if you have enough, especially now that all other offers now apply when you use them (a change which was introduced when they lowered the maximum value you could redeem).

I use a TA and get a 6% discount which for me is worth having. As you now know I cannot tell you any more than that. This site is run by a TA

I use a travel agent but not just for the discount and other perks we occasionally get. He advises on other cruise lines and sorts out flights and hotels. He has got to know us and is really helpful - in fact he just made a courtesy call tonight to check all went well on our cruise last week

I agree with Selbourne, yet again! 😊

5% discount is not enough for us to book with anyone other than P&O.

Years ago it was as the discount you could get could be quite high, but not anymore.

Sent from my Sony Z1 Compact.

I book direct also but use a cashback site (e.g. Quidco) to purchase so get 3-4% back a few months later

We've never booked through p&o, The agent we use can normally save us a couple of hundred quid for me and my wife on your average cruise and also give us £100 future cruise voucher which we always use.

You can get a 5% discount and still book direct with P&O.

You can get a 5% discount and still book direct with P&O.

Are you referring to things like the 5% past passenger discounts or 5% Peninsular discounts on certain cruises? If not, can you clarify how 5% discounts off normal fares can be achieved booking direct? Thanks.

You can get a 5% discount and still book direct with P&O.

How do you get the discount I'm booking tomorrow :)

It has always proved significantly cheaper to book with one of the leading online only specialist cruise travel agents than booking direct with P&O for me.

There is no material advantage to booking direct so I don't see the need to pay more.

I booked direct with p.o. did try my local TA but couldn't get any discount or extras so went through quidco and got £140 back w,within a week of paying off balance.

I agree with Selbourne, yet again! 😊

5% discount is not enough for us to book with anyone other than P&O.

Years ago it was as the discount you could get could be quite high, but not anymore.

 

Sent from my Sony Z1 Compact.

You must have far too much money Cruise Puss if you can afford to reject 5% off your cruise fare. Personally I would use my TA even if there were no difference in price, the reason being that she gets me my first choice cabin on launch, and does all the running around that may be needed far faster than I could, and she does this for all cruise lines, not just P&O.

We also use a specialist Cruise Travel Agent - over the phone not online. We have an agent who has got t know us and what we like. We always get the P&O discount as past passengers and we also get another around 5% from our agents as well. If there are any questions or problems our agent sorts these out for us. They will also print stuff if we want them too. Occasionally our agent will call us saying had we seen such and such offer and are we interested. For us we will stick to our Cruise Travel Agent - I believe it's worth having a specialist cruise agent rather than a high street TA. When we first started cruising with P&O we booked direct until someone on our table on a cruise told us about their specialist cruise agent. Next cruise I telephoned them for a quote and got more discount than P&O were offering - even got a discount for being new customers.

We get the TA discount but don t know about the P and O discount for being a past customer.We get extra OBC for loyalty but do you have to be a certain tier to get additional discount/(We are Mediterranean)

We live about 8 miles away!! :) :)

Then you know where to go!

Then you know where to go!

We sometimes go locally but also find Southampton is a good place as it is so close to the port!

We get the TA discount but don t know about the P and O discount for being a past customer.We get extra OBC for loyalty but do you have to be a certain tier to get additional discount/(We are Mediterranean)

We were told by p&o that you only get the loyalty discount when the new sailings are first announced (eg we booked a cruise that had been advertised for months, so we didn't get the loyalty discount).

I don't know if that's true, I'm not sure how reliable the info you get on the phone line is but that's what we were told at least.

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We were told by p&o that you only get the loyalty discount when the new sailings are first announced (eg we booked a cruise that had been advertised for months, so we didn't get the loyalty discount).

 

I don't know if that's true, I'm not sure how reliable the info you get on the phone line is but that's what we were told at least.

 

 

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Now you have stated that I remember that is the case as well as some cruises giving a peninsular discount.

For a short period after launch p&o offer 5% discount, any Peninsular designated cruise will always be at a discount, normally 5%. Prices after this period are fluid dependant on demand. TA's discount is on top of any p&o price.

Thanks all I will shop around.

I was going to book today (with P & O) and would you believe it the price has gone up since this morning.:o

I know prices fluctuate so I will keep searching.

Thanks again I didn't want to break any rules as I find this site very useful (if sometimes a little controversial ;p )

You can get a 5% discount and still book direct with P&O.

Are you referring to things like the 5% past passenger discounts or 5% Peninsular discounts on certain cruises? If not, can you clarify how 5% discounts off normal fares can be achieved booking direct? Thanks.

No I am not referring to the 5% past passenger discounts or 5% Peninsular discounts on certain cruises.

If you are a member of certain organisations or have an account with certain banks then you can get 5% off any P&O cruise and it applies to Select and Saver fares (both early and late).

You can either book by phoning P&O and quoting the code the organisation gives you or use a special website they give you (which I guess is run by Carnival Corp).

If you are not a member of those organisations or banks there is free to join organisation where you get exactly the same 5% discount on P&O (and also 5% on Cunard and Princess). If you don't know who they are just Google 'p&o 5% discount', they are on the top half of the first page.

No I am not referring to the 5% past passenger discounts or 5% Peninsular discounts on certain cruises.

 

If you are a member of certain organisations or have an account with certain banks then you can get 5% off any P&O cruise and it applies to Select and Saver fares (both early and late).

 

You can either book by phoning P&O and quoting the code the organisation gives you or use a special website they give you (which I guess is run by Carnival Corp).

 

If you are not a member of those organisations or banks there is free to join organisation where you get exactly the same 5% discount on P&O (and also 5% on Cunard and Princess). If you don't know who they are just Google 'p&o 5% discount', they are on the top half of the first page.

Thanks insanemagnet. I think I found it. Does it help that I am over 50? ;)