Midsomer Madness

The commission to TA has not been increased so can't see them selling of cheap. the early saver fares are quite good from what I've seen 7 night fly cruise including flights in April £599 only deposit needed to be paid...

Confirmation received from p&o by email, our cruise has dropped in price. We will get the difference of £300 in OBC..quite happy with that!

The vantage price you booked at compared to the new select fare showing today for the same category of cabin.

I've just received an email from p&o about our 2 nighter on Oriana saying price has not changed so everything remains the same. If the select fare should drop they will contact me,blah blah blah, that's exactly the same as they said when vantage fares came in..so I remain to be convinced..I've not received anything about our Caribbean one yet, but suspect they are sending emails out depending on the date of sailing...

Check the price again today..new fare structure has come in..you may well get some additional OBC if your cruise is now cheaper than when you booked...

This has been posted with Vicki's permission..for her Facebook post

Just spoken to someone at Bolsover, they are flooded with calls about the fare changes. Any vantage that are booked will get any diffrerence between that and the new Select fares as OBC on top of any benifits they already have, e.g. coach, parking OBC etc.... emails will be coming out but as 1000's will take a while, early saver to replace getaway but no where like the old getaway, will not be the late deals at half price any more, said thats the end of the nightmare as P&O have never ever had so many complaints as they have since getaways, some people have paid 1000's more on a old vantage fare than fellow passengers on a getaway and P&O have had a customer relations nightmare apparently !! Hopefully this will get things back to how they were, book early get more benifits but also a good price just a little over the saver fare with no benifits and the saver fare to stay a very similar price or possibly even go up nearere to sail time. Select fares with the benifits will not go up and if come down will get the extra benifits which never seemed to happen with vantage so will see.

And

just to add, he said so many people had been waiting for the getaways, apparently they will get a shock in future if they wait...........things will be changing for definate apparently, they cant risk this ever happening again its cost them a lot

3 minutes ago · Like

I'm still waiting to hear from my TA but expect they are rather busy today!

I will certainly post when I hear..someone over on Facebook says she has already rang p&o and been advised the difference will be given in OBC, but is will wait until I hear from my TA...again if anybody else hears please post.

The cruise we have booked for the Caribbean in 2015 has reduced in price by a couple of hundred pounds pp, so Need to wait and see what our TA has to say, will we get any extra OBC? I'd be very happy if we did lol

I agree that the US lines drinks are more expensive, but if anything like Cunard the short measures are almost double and include the mixer so don't work out that much more expensive, but of course there is the 15% added on top.

Drinks packages are a good idea, you purchase them if you want to, if you don't drink a lot then you have no need to. P&o and Cunard are going to have to keep up with the other cruise lines on things like this, I just wish they would hurry up!

My husband said he wondered about the TA commission .. I will ask mine when she rings me once she is allowed to!

It comes into force on Monday 4th November, but you can still book getaway fares I believe for cruises up to the end of March 2014, it's a bit confusing to say the least, but this is carnival group we are dealing with so we shouldn't be surprised!

Some people may wait until nearer the time, but I am sure there will still be a few of us who book early to get what WE want-not what they want to give us.

If the likes of upgrades are kept for those who book vantage/select then that will be better.

I am still waiting come after next April when people come on here and say I HAVE to have first sitting and they have stuck me on 2nd..,or there is a group of 6 of us, our cabins are opposite ends of the ship on different decks, and we are on different sittings....they will appear on here.......

Indeed, people will be having a go at the restaurant staff because they want to change sitting despite booking the cheaper fares. I do hope p&o stick to their guns and say no..people really can't expect to have it all!

They are still left with the problem of too many cruise ships chasing too little business.

 

What will be really interesting is how low prices drop in the month before sailing. If they currently need to drop fares by 40-50% to fill ships, that'll still be the case.

 

We're looking at October 2014, so we'll be able to see what happens to early summer fares just before sailing before we have to decide whether to book the "Early" booker discounted fares 90 days in advance.

 

I suspect an overall levelling out of fares a bit; premium rates down a bit, and discount rates up a bit. Only time will tell. But only a fool would book next Monday!

 

Stuart

I presumed that the early saver fares will be on sale at the same time as the select fares, else why would they be called early savers? I thought it would be that they have to be booked at least 90 days in advance, so anything after then will probably be last minute deals or special offers..I guess we won't know until Monday!

:D:D:D:D

We are paying £28 pp per day i think with Thomsons, but it still works out loads cheaper than our normal bar bill which is always way over 4 figures for 2 weeks! and I know that if I order a cocktail and don't like it, i can just order a different one :p

60 dollars = £37 using my maths. I don't know how you get to £2500. That's the most expensive package, there are cheaper ones that still include world alcoholic drinks. For that you can have as much water, as many freshly squeezed juices, as many soft drinks, as many speciality coffees, as much top quality world wines/beers, as many cocktails that you want. You can start the package at any time during a cruise.

 

How is that dearer than P&O? P&O are lagging here, it can only be a matter of when they introduce drinks packages, not if.

Personally I wish they'd hurry up and do it! Would save us a fortune! :D:rolleyes:

The last sentence says that vantage/getaway fares will continue to be available until the end of the season...so you may well be ok!

This is from Travel weekly...says basically the same but does admit some lead fares will be cheaper than current Vantage fares..also says those with vantage fares already booked will be protected by the price promise...so should we read that to mean if the prices are cheaper we will get something back/additional OBC or upgrade? Time will tell I guess!

P&O Cruises and Cunard have scrapped Vantage and Getaway fares in place of a new fare structure.

The new structure comes into place from Monday and will apply to bookings from spring 2014 onwards. More than 300 agents have been briefed about the plans during a webinar with cruise line representatives.

Speaking to Travel Weekly, Chris Truscott, sales and distribution support director for P&O and Cunard, said the fares were being introduced as a direct response to agent feedback gathered through the Agent Matters initiative.

The new premium P&O Cruises Select Price and the Cunard Fare are being introduced in place of Vantage fares, fully flexible deals that were designed to encourage early bookings.

The cruise lines said the new fares also offered flexible booking conditions but some had a lower price point than Vantage.

Customers will be able to specify their cabin number and have priority choice of dining times and table size. The fare is also inclusive of shuttle buses and a choice of one of the following: onboard credit, car parking or coach transfers to Southampton. The two new fares will be available on all cruises all the time.

An Early Saver fare is also being introduced on selected cruises with further price reductions, limited added value options and less flexible conditions.

On Monday, 90,000 cabins will be made available on the Early Saver fares across 178 cruises, while a further 100,000 cabins will be available on the premium fares across 200 cruises.

Truscott said the news had been welcomed by agents, but added that it was just one aspect of what the cruise lines were doing to assist the trade.

Agents recently said Cunard and P&O had a long way to go to build bridges with the trade, but Truscott said the lines were “coming back to the table with opportunities for agents”.

“Clearly we have cruises between now and spring and we will have Vantage and Getaway fares on them,” he said. “Past that we will dispense with them in place of the new structure.

“What we are trying to do is change the new culture of late bookings; this new structure encourages early bookings and it will drive demand in early bookings. Our approach to getting more early bookings with these fares is by offering more variables and more value for agents to be able to use in their favour.

“The response from agents has been really positive. We have had a webinar with 300 agents and we have talked to a number of agents to inform them of what’s changing. It is very positive.

“We have listened – and we continue to listen – to feedback from the trade on what we can do to stimulate early bookings.”

The Vantage and Getaway fares have drawn criticism from the trade in the past after customers bought early booking fares only for a cheaper alternative to be released later in the year but still some months out from departure.

Asked whether he expected the new fares to be less confusing than their predecessors, Truscott said: “I think the new fares give the ability for customers to clearly understand the benefits and value that come with them. It allows them to make an informed decision on what to book.”

Gerard Tempest (pictured), Carnival UK chief commercial officer, said: “We listened to our travel agents as part of our Agent Matters programme and have developed a fare structure that will allow them more opportunities to convert customers at all booking lead times.

“Importantly, this initiative will help agents to replace lower-priced late bookings with more profitable earlier-booking business.”

The current Vantage and Getaway fares will continue to be available for all cruises departing up to the start of the spring 2014 programme. For those customers already booked on a Vantage or Getaway Fare, the booking terms and conditions will remain the same and Vantage fares will continue to be protected by the price promise.

Reading the link on Cruise Critic I am confused - does this mean that Getaway fares for Feb/March 2014 will not be available after Nov 4th which is only next week. Does this mean if I want a Getaway for next March that I have to book it before Nov 4th.

That is a very valid question and I have no idea of the answer!

Yes, we have a vantage fare booked, had to book it because it was transferred from another cruise...i fully expect the new prices on select fares to be lower,and also fully expect that I won't benefit from any price drop because they will say its not a vantage fare....I already have my TA on the case, but she says she is not allowed to tell me anything until Monday :mad:

It also looks like the early saver does not have to be paid in full at the time of booking, well there is no mention of that and I guess its name means you will be able to book those fares at anytime provided its before 90 days of sailing...I guess the 90 days of sailing will be when they bring the really low fares in.

We won't know about really late booking until some of cruises are near to departure then we will see what sort of prices they are selling them for.

I have a feeling it will all be another vantage/getaway failure!

All this talk of the Caribbean has me thinking of a cruise there for winter 14/15, especially with those dutch islands.

 

choice - Dream or P&O Ventura, must make a price comparison.

Don't forget Azura! She is a fabulous ship, we have had 3 Caribbean cruises on her and will be back for 2015, after doing the Dream for the Caribbean next year, due to changing from a Thomson land based holiday!

I would happily have paid for a can of mixer....on the Dream in November the mixer was flat all the time and they drowned the spirits....at least if you have the can to yourself you can add as little or as much as you like...When I asked for a gin with a can on the side I was told it was not allowed :rolleyes: we found the drinks service and quality poor on Dream..I hope its improved if we decide to go again!

Can I ask where you heard that? I have not been notified of this.

 

We have a long trip up to London from Cornwall and always stay over night now at a hotel within the airport which we choose to do by train. We have found that this works well for us in that we are 'onsite' with no worries of getting to airport on the day of flight, we have worked out the added costs of transport from hotels to airport on the day of flight and in many cases has made it more expensive than paying for an airport hotel in the first place, but the best thing has been that for the last 3 years we have been able to check our luggage in the night before :D so I am hoping this will be the case in January. Our flight is at 9.30am so if we can check our bags in the night before we will go through passport control and onto the new Jamie Oliver eatery, looking forward to it already!:D

We received our flight notification via email the other week, I think if you look on your cruise personaliser it may well tell you on there too :)

We are obviously on the same flight and have said the same thing! We have now booked a hotel nearby so we don't have to get up quite so early! I would imagine if you prebook your seats 12 weeks before you go, you may not have to get there quite so early, but security etc takes so long these days, its probably better to be safe than sorry! See you on board!