Price Drops

Hi

This is quite an interesting discussion for me as I like to grab a bargain. I have noted though that suites often sell out quickly, therefore it is unlikely the price will drop. And if they do drop, it seems to be when there is late availability they are offered for a fee to those in balcony cabins. I have personal experience of this. In August I was booked into a balcony on Aurora to go to the fjords. 2 weeks before sailing there were at least 10 suites and mini suites left - I was watching out of curiosity to see what would happen. Then we were offered an upgrade to a suite for £250 which we took. The holiday cost us £1050 each. Yet the suites were still being advertised at over £2500 each. My conclusion is that if you really want a suite book early as you cannot guarantee getting one the way we did. Monitoring suite prices is in my view pretty pointless, but other grades, especially on larger ships such as Azura can often fall late on. I do dummy bookings to see how many cabins are left if I am looking for a late deal - lots of cabins generally means the price will drop. Currently I am looking at a Caribbean cruise in January. If the price drops in the next few weeks I will book it, if not I'll be on holiday somewhere else. And yes I do book a saver fare and so far I have never had a problem with the cabin allocated

BTW I booked very early on for one of the Middle East Cruises in 2019. So far the price has gone up, but hopefully it will not come down below what I paid. We shall see.

Cathy

Look at both Azura and Britannia for early December, prices have dropped thru the floor.

It is cheaper than a Virgin flight to Barbados and you get the 14 day cruise for FREE

Look at both Azura and Britannia for early December, prices have dropped thru the floor.

It is cheaper than a Virgin flight to Barbados and you get the 14 day cruise for FREE

Nov and early Dec in the Caribbean has always been the bargain price period, and if you are flexible about dates, UK airport and cabin location, then you can obtain some good bargains. If we still did fly cruises we would never consider booking early for this period.

Apologies for not reading the whole thread. On our cruise in October to the Canaries on Britannia there were price drops. Also in November deals can sometimes be had. Generally price drops are less obvious and ships are filled via upgrades.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Nov and early Dec in the Caribbean has always been the bargain price period, and if you are flexible about dates, UK airport and cabin location, then you can obtain some good bargains. If we still did fly cruises we would never consider booking early for this period.

However the Cruises from Southampton in late November and early December are quite cheap also. But there is little price drop as the prices are low to start with. Clearly not a time of year when people want to cruise.

Sent from my iPad using Forums

Look at both Azura and Britannia for early December, prices have dropped thru the floor.

It is cheaper than a Virgin flight to Barbados and you get the 14 day cruise for FREE

I think the prices have dropped more than usual this year as quite a lot of people have cancelled due to the devastation in the Caribbean.

However the Cruises from Southampton in late November and early December are quite cheap also. But there is little price drop as the prices are low to start with. Clearly not a time of year when people want to cruise.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

Not only 'cheap' but when we booked we got obc that amounted to almost 20% of the fare.

Not only 'cheap' but when we booked we got obc that amounted to almost 20% of the fare.

When I first looked at a cruise in Dec. 18, you could get a suite for £55.00 less per night than the bottom price I have seen before with OBC as well. Certainly less than a balcony on some cruises. The price is now back up to what I would expect to pay.

But this time of year tends to be busy with ‘do’s’ for various groups we belong to. So it was always a non starter for us.

Sent from my iPad using Forums

Canary Islands 12nts on Ventura at £599 is very good value.

Canary Islands 12nts on Ventura at £599 is very good value.

It is. There are a couple of £699 Select Prices too for 12 night cruises on offer - inside, of course. I somehow doubt the opening day price was lower than this. Looks like P&O bookings aren't living up to expectations. Economic problems?

It is. There are a couple of £699 Select Prices too for 12 night cruises on offer - inside, of course. I somehow doubt the opening day price was lower than this. Looks like P&O bookings aren't living up to expectations. Economic problems?

If it is Ventura there were a couple of very low priced cruises when they came out one was the one I mentioned above.

Sent from my iPad using Forums

It is. There are a couple of £699 Select Prices too for 12 night cruises on offer - inside, of course. I somehow doubt the opening day price was lower than this. Looks like P&O bookings aren't living up to expectations. Economic problems?

12th Dec on Ventura started at £699 for an inside

Taken from the brochure.

Looked further and found in Dec 19, three 12 night Cruises on Oceana, Oriana and Ventura. Two are from £699 and one is from £649. These are all start prices taken from a brochure.

As I said this is possibly the cheapest time to cruise. Possibly because people have other things to do.

So the prices you are seeing now are little different from the start prices.

Sent from my iPad using Forums

Tried the P&O website. It wont let me search for Nov and Dec 2019. How do you find cruises for the end of 2019?

Many thanks.

Tried the P&O website. It wont let me search for Nov and Dec 2019. How do you find cruises for the end of 2019?

 

Many thanks.

They are not available yet as they will not be released until March/April 18.

Sent from my iPad using Forums

My wife booked our May 2018 during the first week of release and the prices have gone up £500 each at this time. We looked at a cruise for 2019 when the brochure came out , selected one but didn't book and that has already gone up by £200 per person. We were hoping the prices would go down in 2018 but I think we may have made a mistake in our thinking here!

The cruise I have booked( Booked on day of release) has just gone up and up and up....Depends on the cruise...and the ship :)

So the cruises mentioned above for Dec19 are for Dec 18? Is that correct?

Yes.

I booked early this year for Feb 18.

The inside cabin I booked is now offered for £400 less.

Balcony cabins were £600 more than inside and are now offered for £100 more than I paid for an inside.

 

 

The final payment is not due for another 2 weeks.

 

I would cancel and rebook but we are travelling with friends and may not end up on the same flight.

Just a thought. We had a similar problem. In our case, I wanted to downgrade from a superior balcony to a balcony on the stern in our favourite cabin, which had unexpectedly become available at the last minute. We had booked direct with P&O so I called them and the lovely young lady held the flights, whilst cancelling and re-booking the same cruise. It took a while as she had to keep the Flight Department on hold simultaneously but it worked a treat. I sent an email to her boss to highlight her excellent suggestion and service. It's worth a try. Good luck.

We have recently booked Arcadia's 47 night 2019 world cruise sector from Southampton to Brisbane...our 3rd cruise on her:D ....at the price we paid we will not be expecting any price drop for us EVER ....checked out the current price yesterday and it is now twice and a little bit more than the offer we booked on .....win win :)

We have recently booked Arcadia's 47 night 2019 world cruise sector from Southampton to Brisbane...our 3rd cruise on her:D ....at the price we paid we will not be expecting any price drop for us EVER ....checked out the current price yesterday and it is now twice and a little bit more than the offer we booked on .....win win :)

Well done! Booked on the first day it went on sale?

Well done! Booked on the first day it went on sale?

Not the first day but pretty close I think ;) not believing the price i was seeing I checked with our Scottish booking agency they couldn't come close. We can't book online with PO UK so I rang the call centre number given and yes the price was correct and included £150pp obc.....couldn't book quick enough :')...... I believe this particular sectors bargain pricing was only open for Australian bookings, now that makes a change :cool:

I checked one of the Black Friday special offers that were being offered by P&O, the extra special low price for the 4 day Ventura cruise sailing just before our 35 night Caribbean cruise in February was identical in price to the first edition brochure, and of course early bookers would have received their 5% discount as well.

Thanks - that's incredibly interesting and useful. I've been looking for a site like that for a while.

 

The price history they give is fascinating. A806, for example, shows the best suite price was available on 1 August 2017 (£1969) with earlier prices varying up to £2999.

 

A very useful tool for checking whether those first day prices really are the lowest prices - that one certainly wasn't!

If you were a Peninsular Club member (minimum 15 nights previous P&O experience) then the price of a suite for A806 at launch was £1996. That’s before any TA or other discount (we get an additional 5% even though we book direct with P&O). And, there was double on board credit at launch - and you had the pick of the best suites.

We're on Britannia in October to the Canary Islands and the price has dropped by over £2000!!! Arrgghh. I just wanted a moan, I know I shouldn't have looked.

We're on Britannia in October to the Canary Islands and the price has dropped by over £2000!!! Arrgghh. I just wanted a moan, I know I shouldn't have looked.

That's infuriating - doesn't make sense to cancel and rebook, I suppose?