Cheshire Blue

2 minutes ago, Landon90 said:

Purchased 100 shares of carnival group
Emailed proof to carnival 

Received £60 OBC for my 10 day cruise 

Purchase 12 pints with said OBC

Thanks understand.  I thought the £60 was an additional benefit (on top of the shareholder benefit) - hence my FOMO 😀.     

On 5/20/2023 at 8:42 PM, BertieRulesOK said:

I have issues specifically with standing still for periods of time, which makes me unable to queue for over 5 mins ish.  Unfortunately, my disability is completely hidden and I often have to put up with ignorant members of the public making nasty comments.  

 

I have recently obtained an access card which I have used to skip some gnarly queues at ports.  Nice to have something proving I need help without having to go into medical details.  I also have a telescopic stool which I bring out on occasion when queuing may be unavoidable. 

 

 

Lack of seats around lifts on P&O was a issue I noticed on Iona and I am disappointed to learn Britannia is likely to be worse.  Preparing myself to be told off daily for not giving precedence to those with visible disabilities....

My wife has similar issues  - whilst we won't need a wheel chair it would be helpful to get some form of fast track type assistance though the terminal and on to the ship (rather than having to queue for any time) ?   If so - who do we ask ? 

On 5/22/2023 at 12:58 PM, Landon90 said:

Just received an email confirming £60 OBC applied for my next cruise in just over two weeks. 12 free pints, cheers!

Any reason why you received this ?   Just so we can all jump on the bandwagon and claim it  !  

On a related point - the difference between the Classic Package and the Deluxe Package appears to be approx £9 or £10 per day. 

Appreciate everyone will be different but looking at the new menus - I'm not convinced the additional drinks available on the Deluxe Package are worth the extra ?   

Might be better to keep the £9 / £10 per day back and spend it on the occasional extra (PAYG) 

Anyone have any views on this ?  

It may be that I've not seen all the menus yet (and there are better drinks available somewhere which might change my view).  I had hoped to see champagne by the glass available on the Deluxe (as per the Celebrity Premium offering) but alas both packages have only the prosecco.  The additional cocktails (which I've seen) do not seem to give that much more either ?   

10 minutes ago, Cheshire Blue said:

 

 

Not sure it alters the principle - but I thought the Classic Package bought in advance was £40.45 (and on board would be £44.95) ? 

 

 

Sorry - think I now understand why the website shows an advance price of £40.45 per day for me. I think this must already include not only the advance purchase 10% discount but also my own club tier discount ? 

52 minutes ago, Gettingwarmer said:

Don’t quite understand your second calculation. What is the final -10% for. 

2 hours ago, DamianG said:

 

It will be different for everyone but for us in advance the Classic Package will be £44.95 x 2 x 14 - 10% = £1,132.74.

 

Onboard it would be £49.95 x 2 x 14 = £1398.60 - £120 OBC = £1278.60 - 10% = £1150.74.

 

Not much in it but our low OBC from an early booking makes a difference.

Not sure it alters the principle - but I thought the Classic Package bought in advance was £40.45 (and on board would be £44.95) ? 

More generally I can see from your calculation that the two "net" figures come out pretty similar (£1,132 versus £1,150).  However to get to the on board figure of £1,150 you have to "spend" £120 of your OBC.  This amount is still available to you to spend in the first calculation - so provided you are able to spend this amount on other things when on board (speciality dining / excursions / Spa etc) then the first calculation (advance purchase) is better.    

1 hour ago, terrierjohn said:

How can pre purchase ever be cheaper than paying with free OBC?

OBC is not always free.   If you have taken a Select Fare (and so paid the upgrade) you have in effect paid for the OBC 

Just now, TigerB said:

 

"loaded folk who have suites and/or are in the top tiers."

I will fail on all criteria - not loaded and will not be in a suite nor top tier 

In terms of actually buying the packages - am I correct that the Deluxe Package on board is approx £55 per person per day and the Classic Package on board is approx £45 per person per day.   

I appreciate the above prices ignore any loyalty tier discounts - but think these apply both on board and in advance - so no material difference. 

If I buy in advance - I save approx £5 per day on these prices, but cannot use my OBC for this (and so have to pay in advance by credit card).   If I do this (buy in advance) between my wife and I on an 18 night voyage, we would "save" £180 - so worthwhile doing.  However am then left with OBC to spend (which I assume is non refundable) ?   

I can use this on excursions / speciality dining - but really wanted to use it on the drinks.  Any ideas ?    

On 5/20/2023 at 9:23 PM, cruising.mark.uk said:

Our experience on Arvia in mid-April suggests that they do.  We had priority boarding (1130) and arrived pretty much exactly on time.  Boarding pass checked on arrival at terminal and went straight to check in from there.  But, they were holding others in a queue outside.  Once we had checked in, we were then sent to the 'priority boarding' waiting area, immediately adjacent to the doors into the security check area.  But, at that time, there were already perhaps a hundred people sitting on the seats opposite the check-in desk.  At a guess, they were passengers who had the first non-priority check in time (1200 perhaps?) who had turned up a little early and they were allowed in while there was space available while those with later times were held outside.

How do you qualify for "priority boarding " 

We have some (albeit limited) mobility issues - which essentially means we cannot stand in a queue (but are happy to wait if seated), so wondering if that would be enough to get the priority boarding - or at least guarantee some seating if we arrive a bit earlier than stated ?  

Seems to be a lot of confusion and conjecture about the new packages - the Ts and Cs for which are not as clear as they might be (e.g. does the 15 drinks limit mean 15 alcoholic drinks (plus any number of soft drinks / waters / coffees) as I think is the current system ?   or do we now have to count all bottles of water etc within the 15 drinks ?).  

If it does now include all drinks (alcoholic and soft), it becomes much more likely that you will exceed the 15 drink limit.  What happens then ?   

Am sure all this (and much more) will become clearer in the coming weeks once the new packages become operational.  I will look forward to hearing real life experiences from people on the ships in the coming weeks, rather than the current well intentioned guess work.

After this we can all do the maths and decide whether to buy a new package (or not).

5 hours ago, 2BACRUISER said:

Dont know about a discount code but i think i read on either the P&O board or poss Cunard that they were chocca and people were having difficulty booking, so if i were you i'd check sharpish if theres availabilty for your dates. 

Thanks for the concern but as its late in the year (October / November) should be ok 

Still hoping for a discount code ? 

Any way of getting a discount (code ?) for these - P & O cruise later this year ? 

1 minute ago, Snow Hill said:

Why not a drinks package per cabin as well, we never buy a package as we are light drinkers, mainly wine, the occasional beer, rarely spirits, so purchasing a drinks package each is totally unjustifiable in our case and probably many others. 

If you are light drinkers - the package will not work for you and you are probably best just doing a PAYG.  The drinks prices on P & O (at present anyway) are very reasonable.  

2 minutes ago, daiB said:

At the moment just after the final fare has to be paid ie under 90 days seems to be best. However as things settle down you may find that the ships get filled up and the late deals disappear. This was certainly the case for a number of years pre pandemic. However if you have children the tactics are different as child places go very quickly. And late deals are very rare. Also there are certain cruises which are very popular, generally on smaller ships with one off itineraries.

Thanks again - we don't have (young) children to consider so that's not a problem (but appreciate the "late booking" tactic can backfire if the ship is then getting full !  

1 minute ago, daiB said:

Well it matters quite a lot because you booked at an expensive time when you look at the booking window. Booking when you did is not early even though it may be a year before. Booking early to get the best price is on day one of booking. We have booked on day one for the past 18 years and for 95% of our cruises this has never been beaten. The price you pay varies as to when you book. It is controlled by an algorithm which is linked to supply and demand. They know how many cabins they need to book at any one time in the 2 year window. If sales are above the expected then th price rises if below then it falls. You may have booked the cruise at the peak time and therefore it is often inevitable that at some point the price will fall. So you either book one day one or within a few weeks of it or you book late. Book in the middle and you end up in your position.

 

Gan Canny

 

Dai

Thanks for the advice - helpful - although unlikely we would be sufficiently organised to book on day 1 

When you say book late - do you mean : after the payment date (i.e. in the 6 / 8 weeks pre cruise) or do you mean before that 

My experience is that 8 /9 months out was indeed a bad time 🙃- but 6 months out now appears rather better 🙂

I will watch to see where the prices go in the next 3 - 4 months etc 

On 5/13/2023 at 5:20 PM, TigerB said:

This is just the reason why we now favour booking onboard and not paying the balance until it is due; £50 each to lose is nothing at all. 

If you book on board and so only pay a reduced deposit (say £50) is it just that deposit (£50) that you lose if you subsequently cancel ?   or are you obliged to pay the full deposit (as sort of cancellation charge) ? 

21 hours ago, No pager thank you said:

Returning to your previous answer Zap, I suppose it depends on:

 

1) If you want to go on another P&O cruise?

2) If there is a good deal on i.e., that you can transfer the booking you don't want in to.

 

I believe I am correct in saying that you can transfer to a cruise before the one you are moving is due to depart, or up to 12 months later in most cases on select price. 

 

Therefore, say, for example, the OP poster wanted to go on a late deal in a month or two, or hadn't booked for next year and wanted to, there isn't anything stopping them from switching to either of these options. They would then get the better deal, plus the reduced price on the current one by rebooking it.  

 

I do agree with the points made that to reduce "losses," its a good idea to either wait, or if you definitely want a particular itinerary/date go for an on board booking, as the outlay is only £50pp.

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for everyone's input

Looks like best advice is to wait and see what happens between now and final payment date. 

Cancel and re book may prove the way forward then but depends what prices do.  The idea of transferring existing deposit to a future cruise may appeal (and re booking original cruise at lower price) as this ensures I do not "lose" the original deposit - although prices for 2024 / 2025 seem a bit high at present.   

22 hours ago, Cathygh said:

You are moving the deposit to another cruise and then back again, if they allow it, and then you don't lose the deposit.

 

BTW I had a call from my TA last week about a cruise I have on Arcadia. They told me the price had dropped and obc added so it worked out cheaper to cancel then re book. I also saved money because my original booking was a saver fare and I had booked EA grade, as I knew the locatioons of any of those would be fine. I rebooked a select fare, ED cabin which I could select myself and saved another load of money. The savings and obc will cover most of my spending money. Happy Days. 

I had to do it really quickly as it was the day before final payment, we had already paid but P&O refunded us in a couple of days. I wish I had remembered the move cruise and back again trick!

You have a good travel agent 

On 5/13/2023 at 9:16 PM, daiB said:

Did you book on day one or sometime later?

8 months out 

Not sure it matters 

On 5/14/2023 at 7:12 AM, Mad4WDW said:

Before people kick off about how you “need to be an alcoholic” or “you can’t possibly drink 15 alcoholic drinks a day” Pleae keep those type of options to yourself as we’ve all heard it before.

Some info for you. As per the title. The drinks packages are changing, a. New tier will be added from 28th May(On Arvia) might be a different start date on other ships.

 

There will be a deluxe package which will have a raised price cap, include all the premium mixers, include doubles of spirits and include all the premium soft drinks in bottles etc 

 

The new highest tier will be £44.99 per day with a discount offered if booked landside.

 

New menus are going out no doubt with higher prices, but more cocktails will be included within the price limit on the new menus. I’ve attached a couple of menu scans from our cruise (ended 14th May) for reference if anyone gets eyes on the new ones and can upload at some point we can compare to see how the prices have changed

Olive Grove Arvia May 2023.pdf 1.72 MB · 55 downloads Arvia Amber Bar May 2023.pdf 3.25 MB · 41 downloads

Arvia Pool Bar Drinks Menu.pdf 780.96 kB · 31 downloads

Where / when can I find details of the new package proposals ? 

Current package is much too restrictive (single measures / small glasses of wine etc) so I'd happily pay a bit more to loosen these up (come in to line with Princess / Celebrity). 

Appreciate the package is not for everyone but .............my wife and I (and our travelling companions) will generally achieve the £45 per day (most days anyway - we don't "count") so think the package is good value for us.   Note : we are not alcoholics - we drink very moderately at home but a few coffees during the morning, glass (or 2) of wine at lunch, a couple of beers in the afternoon and then pre dinner drinks / cocktails and 1/2 bottle of wine each at dinner - we are pretty much there.  Add a post dinner drink (or 2) and a couple of bottles of water / soft drinks throughout the day and think we are well there ! 

The only issue in the past has been the restrictions on cocktails / mixers - so hopefully this will now be improved. 

 md    ar 

4 minutes ago, Gettingwarmer said:

Is there any difference in OBC?

No - exactly the same deal as to to OBC / Select benefits 

7 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

To clarify - the great deal that we got after balance due date was a Select booking, not a saver, so we were able to choose our cabin. P&Os pricing policy is weird in that some times the price difference between savers and select fares can be vast, yet at other times, once you factor in the additional OBC or parking (sometimes both) the difference can be virtually nothing. 

I agree there seems to be no rhyme or reason as to the differences between some Saver and some Select prices.   The prices I quoted above are all Select Prices - hence I have chosen my rooms and can see I could now choose the same (or at least next door) for a considerable saving (on a Select price) 

19 minutes ago, TigerB said:

This is just the reason why we now favour booking onboard and not paying the balance until it is due; £50 each to lose is nothing at all. 

That may be the way forward in future !    If we had only booked £50 per person now - losing £200 and then re booking the same cruise at £1100 lower would be a good deal 🙂 

We live and learn 

1 minute ago, Fionboard said:

I am a regular cruiser and had a word when one of my cruises last year was half the price I paid by the time it sailed. No luck whatsoever. I only book late now! 

Thanks for that (and the subsequent responses from others also) which are helpful. 

I fully expect the prices to fall in the immediate run up to a cruise (if its not full) but the difference then is that you cannot choose your cabin (and you get whatever is left).   At this stage (6 months out) pretty much the same cabins / locations are available - hence annoying that the price has fallen by 12.5%  

I do appreciate however there may yet be further price falls - so maybe bide my time for now.

I assume no one has any suggestions as to how to get P & O to offer something by way of compensation (OBC etc)