Thejuggler

Celebrity charge £109 for bus and DIY trip. I can't imagine P&O will be much cheaper.

You can get a mobile signal for a good few miles offshore so the poster may well have been in range.

Some residents of the south coast have to ensure they don't connect to French mobile networks and incur data roaming charges.

That rules that out then. I predict soooo much wastage with leftovers not sold. On Celebrity cakes at the coffee shop are all free, no coffee purchase required.

 

 

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Leftovers will end up in the buffet.

I recorded the BBC South news and have just watched it. Who the heck is the reporter? Miserable so and so of the year winner by a mile and its only March!

The Queen did do a tour of the ship.

With a space ratio figure of just 33.2 tonnes per passenger I will be keen to read what it is like on a sea day in the Med in July.

Shouldn't P&O be paying passengers to see a load of no marks and has beens?

We prefer cabins at the bow or stern as you get far fewer passenger passing your door.

The only potential downside is you are closer to the bow/stern thrusters and the areas where chains and ropes are deployed when arriving at port, so you may get noise earlier in the morning than you may like.

Dont want to nit-pick but your post is confusing me. Why are you quoting OBC in dollars? and prices haven't dropped (yet), nor has OBC, I know this to my cost.

You sure you are talking about p and o??

If I have got the wrong end of the stick, I apologise.

The figures relate to cruises I am tracking and provide examples of how cruise companies present their offers. It demonstrates to the OP why tracking is the only way to see how prices fluctuate as they asked what will happen to prices once the offers end. Unfortunately you don't know until they do end!

One I'm tracking is a Princess Cruise hence the $ OBC. Being part of the same company Princess and P&O run very similar offers at the same times of year. Both lines offered enhanced offers immediately after Christmas, both are offering them now.

To date I have found the basic cruise price is increased to more than cover the cost of the OBC.

But the double obs does not end until this coming Saturday, so how can you say when they ended the prices dropped:confused::confused::confused:

There were post Christmas offers which ended the first Monday in February. As soon as this ended the OBC fell from $280 to $150, but the quoted cruise price dropped £1400.

Only by tracking the price will you know the answer. As soon as the Feb offers ended the prices on cruises I am tracking dropped more than the freebies they were offering.

Another vote for Sealy and their customer service. We wanted a replacement for an old Sealy mattress which was expensive when we bought it. Contacted Sealy and the designs had changed but they gave me an alternative, Gold Millionaire.

Cost about £500 a few years ago from BHS. I see it is now over £700, but worth every penny.

Celebrity have just released a GTY fare for a cruise I am tracking. You get all the benefits of the fare from four weeks ago (dining times etc), except no cabin number.

The Celebrity GTY fare is about 25% lower than the 'choose your cabin' fare. Still too high for me, but we are getting there.

The 4 year old probably won't care where they are, the 11 year old should be inspired. Our 8 year old has been to the Fjords twice (and Oslo) and enjoyed it, even a couple of years ago when it poured it down.

You will always find something to do, even in quieter ports.

Thankyou for responding.

On P and O there are 2 tiers...select (choose actual cabin, choose dining options, many pennies!)

saver...( no choice dining, choose cabin category, not so many pennies!)

I have paid select......I have chosen my dining option, but I cannot choose my actual cabin, I have been "guaranteed" a cabin of the grade I have paid for. And still with 7 months to go so this is not a "last minute deal, pay less money, take what is left" option.

Your case demonstrates there aren't just 2 tiers of booking. If you have paid a select fare you should benefit from everything this offers.

What you have now is a halfway house. If P&O are offering a third way the price should reflect it, but its down to you whether to press for a reduction in fare.

If you have a GTY booking you should be paying a GTY fare. I would not be happy paying full whack and not getting a choice of cabin.

Our Celebrity GTY fare was about 50% of launch fare, but we booekd about 6 weeks before departure. Cabin was confirmed as soon as we booked.

The definitive answers is in the booking conditions.

It is generally the case that in the event of a cancellation before full payment is due the whole of the deposit has to be paid.

Of course cancellation should be covered by insurance, so you will only lose your insurance excess.

Far more than I would pay, also 2 plus 1 child.

If you are choosing this cruise because of the ship you need to either decide this is an acceptable price to pay as children's places are limited, or track it and be prepared to be disappointed if it doesn't fall or cabins sell out.

If you just want to go to the Med look at other lines.

I am tracking some Baltics trips in August, Princess and Celebrity.

A month ago both were 5k+ for a balcony. Last week one had fallen to £3,500, the other is still £5k. The cheaper is Princess, but the poor layout of the grand class ship and lack of crows nest bar means the price is still too high.

Our last trip was to Iceland and Norway on Eclipse and it fell from almost £6,000 to £2,800 for a guaranteed balcony cabin about 8 weeks before departure.

Plenty of independent options in Gerainger and it may be worth waiting until you arrive.

If the weather is bad, as it was for us, a P&O trip could be an expensive way of seeing low cloud and heavy rain!

We took a local minibus trip to the two main viewpoints and it was about £20 each.

Stavanger and Bergen are easy to DIY.

Shore excusrions are done by the same companies regardless of cruise operator. Look at the Celebrity site for an idea of what may be offered. They have all their excursions on line all the time, very handy if you are planning a cruise.

I am yet to find a sofa bed which is excellent at either of the jobs it is trying to do!

Once the sofa bed is out it is very close to the balcony door, so whoever is on this side has to climb over the other person or is in for a very tight squeeze as the bottom of the bed is close to the wall and the occasional table has to go somewhere i.e bottom of the bed in front of the balcony door!

Our superior deluxe on Ventura also had a pullman berth, so this could be an option.

When closed the pools are covered by a net. Once they are removed (which is well before 7am) the pools are open.

Before the dreaded 50mph limits on the M1 I had no problem doing Leeds - Southampton in 4 hours. It is dual/motorway almost all the way for us. It will probably take nearer 5 at the moment.

We have travelled down on the morning, but prefer to stay over up to an hour from the port. There are plenty of Premierinns and Travelodges around Oxford which are much cheaper than those closer to the port.

We have visited Guernsey once, a day trip to St Peter Port from Weymouth and agree it was expensive.

Prices have gone up to cover the post Christmas "freebies", Celebrity have done the same. There are always suckers who think free things don't have to be paid for.

Post Christmas deals ended on Monday. A cruise I am price tracking has dropped by 25% today as the $300 OBC has gone.

Never done it but always fancied it, but would just add it is probably impossible to do this *and* Bruges, Ypres is about an hour away from Bruges.

I did it myself and it is a long day, but well worth it. Off ship for 8am, its about an hour from Zeebruge to Ypres, but useful as the guide gave the background to the events leading to WW1.

Morning was the trip to Tyne Cot and Paschendale Museum, Ypres for a wander round, DIY lunch if you wanted, Menin Gate, the large museum in Ypres was closed for refurbishment. Then the coach to Bruges where we had about an hour with a guide for the walk in to Bruges and a walk round, then about 90 minutes before meeting for the walk back to the bus for about 4.30. Ship left at 5.30. It was a long day, but well worth it. Half a day in Bruges was long enough for me, there's only so many chocolate shops you can visit.

The walk from the drop off point is interesting. Plenty to see.

I'm sure I could fill a day, but when in Bruges it is well worth doing the Tyne Cot and Paschendale tour including Ypres to get some understanding of the horrors of WW1.