New OBC Promotion

[jeanlyon]

I have also emailed and will come back with the result. We are sailing October 2014 and booked last September.

[Sanjam cruisers]

Having read all comments on this thread I thought to myself Nothing ventured nothing gained,and I e-mailed P&O regarding my February 2015 cruise which I had booked in 2013.I have now recieved a very satisfactory answer from P&O customer services to my advantage.I am more than happy with their customer service and the prompt manner in which they have dealt with my enquiry .

[tom_uk]

Well, I've just checked all the figures for our June cruise on Azura and to my surprise I find that we're better off as we were.... The price (Select fare) for a GA Balcony (High Deck Mid) is currently £280 per person higher than when we booked last July (Vantage Fare), so £560 extra altogether. The OBC being offered seems to be just a measly £150 per person, and we've already got £100 pp, so overall we're about £460 better off with our original booking than if we booked now.

 

I'm quite surprised - Select fares going up!

[daiB]

Well, I've just checked all the figures for our June cruise on Azura and to my surprise I find that we're better off as we were.... The price (Select fare) for a GA Balcony (High Deck Mid) is currently £280 per person higher than when we booked last July (Vantage Fare), so £560 extra altogether. The OBC being offered seems to be just a measly £150 per person, and we've already got £100 pp, so overall we're about £460 better off with our original booking than if we booked now.

 

 

 

I'm quite surprised - Select fares going up!

 

 

Yes tom of the 4 we had booked we only got some extra on one of the cruises. The other 3 were more expensive than when we booked last April. So much for late deals.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

[jeanlyon]

I too have received very good email from P&O and my travel agent has contacted them. Net result is - our cruise had gone up by £20 pp, but we will get £200 extra OBC, plus the free parking and OBC already granted. So net we are £160 better off! The P&O girl I spoke to said they had done a lot of these!

[Scriv]

That's great news, jeanlyon! Fantastic.

[jeanlyon]

Yes, we are very pleased :-)

[Essex Racer]

Having accepted we would not be receiving any additional OBC on our booking, I had one last phone call to try again, and guess what - very helpful gentleman who did everything required swiftly their end, new booking created with exactly the same cabin etc and £150 better off - thank you P&O

Edited February 17, 2014 by Essex Racer

[jeanlyon]

Well done Essex - another result! I rather got the impression they were doing this many times per day.

[Essex Racer]

:-)

Edited February 18, 2014 by Essex Racer

[Scriv]

Great news! Did you have any excursions to re book? I had quite a shock when mine came through cancelled and refunded, but it didn't take long for them to be re-booked.

Edited February 18, 2014 by Scriv

[jeanlyon]

All my ports are very easy to DIY - I don't do excursions if I can help it. I did have to let CPS know the change of booking reference for the free parking though.

Edited February 18, 2014 by jeanlyon

[Scriv]

One of mine was for St Petersburg, which I really wanted - but there was absolutely no problem. The whole process of cancelling, refunding and re-booking went through amazingly fast and without hicccup.

We were also linked for dining with another couple, which was also transferred without a problem at the time.

As you say, they are probably very practised at this by now.

[jeanlyon]

Yes we have a friend on board on a linked booking, but all was well. Bet their Customer Service department could kill whoever decided on extra OBC for those who booked before February 28th!

[ronay2006]

Thank you soooo much for hi-lighting this extra OBC given now.

We booked for a 24 night cruise, (Vantage Fair!!!)18 months ago, on Arcadia with £220 OBC per couple.

 

NOW the same cruise is up by less than £350 per couple BUT now has £1,020 OBC!

I called my TA & within 5 minutes had the same cabin, same freedom dining + the £1020 OBC that the newbys are getting.

We did pay the extra £174.70PP for the cruise as we were getting an extra £800 OBC. Simples!

Not perfect but a whole lot better than what we had previously booked.

So much for the famous "Vantage Fair" EH?

WHY do we have to find these offers our self before the cruise line will give us anything more than a "token gesture" ie £100 pp!

 

Just call before next Friday as that's when the offer "supposedly" ends.

(Bet there's another on its way though)

[wilson2579]

Thank you soooo much for hi-lighting this extra OBC given now.

We booked for a 24 night cruise, (Vantage Fair!!!)18 months ago, on Arcadia with £220 OBC per couple.

 

NOW the same cruise is up by less than £350 per couple BUT now has £1,020 OBC!

I called my TA & within 5 minutes had the same cabin, same freedom dining + the £1020 OBC that the newbys are getting.

We did pay the extra £174.70PP for the cruise as we were getting an extra £800 OBC. Simples!

Not perfect but a whole lot better than what we had previously booked.

So much for the famous "Vantage Fair" EH?

WHY do we have to find these offers our self before the cruise line will give us anything more than a "token gesture" ie £100 pp!

 

Just call before next Friday as that's when the offer "supposedly" ends.

(Bet there's another on its way though)

 

Well done Ronay from another Fifer, lol.

[jeanlyon]

We would have a major problem spending that much OBC, unless it was given without a rise in fare. Our single friend who is with us on the cruise, declined the offer to pay a bit more for the cruise as it would have given her £370 OBC! We don't do excursions and i always find the stuff to buy on board a bit naff, so there is no way she would spend it.

[wilson2579]

We managed to spend £600 on a 12 night cruise last year and Ronay is doing 24 nights so I am sure he will manage to spend it.:cool:

[daiB]

We would have a major problem spending that much OBC, unless it was given without a rise in fare. Our single friend who is with us on the cruise, declined the offer to pay a bit more for the cruise as it would have given her £370 OBC! We don't do excursions and i always find the stuff to buy on board a bit naff, so there is no way she would spend it.

 

Now if you havering problems spending all your OBC then let us know what cruise you are on and I am sure we could help.

 

What are friends for.:rolleyes:

 

Gan Canny

 

 

Dai

[jeanlyon]

Ha ha Dai! We've just done a 23 nighter on fred O and our bill was £602, including £59 for the doctor, although to be fair we paid for our excursion to Petra before we went.

[gadabout60]

Gosh, I have no problems spending OBC

 

One bill for 16 nights was about £1,400. That included 4 trips to the speciality restaurants, a moderate amount of alcohol (3 or 4 drinks each per day), one visit to the hairdresser, a 40th birthday present for a relative and 3 handbags in the sale for me (I am still only on the first of them 8 months later - the 3 bags will last me at least 5 years!) And of course automatic tipping.

I agree a lot of the stuff in the shops is naff but there are some things that aren't.

if I had extra OBC I think I would just have more nights in the speciality restaurants

[ronay2006]

We will have absolutely NO problem spending our OBC on a 24 nighter.

We normally spend £1,000+ in total (OBC + C.C) for a 14 - 17 night cruise. With tips, speciality restaurants, wine, cocktails, excursions (maybe just 1) & I have never bought anything from the shops - bar a postcard.

We Fifers must just go for it - eh Trish?

 

R

[jeanlyon]

We like our wine and drinks before dinner, but don't do excursions if we can help it. We like to DIY and we don't bother with specialty restaurants if we have a nice table in the MDR.

[grannygristle]

Thank you all for the information above - I'm really hoping for a positive outcome too :)

 

However...

 

Sent 1st email (via the contact thing on their webpage) on 10th Feb and waited...

 

Resent email on 22nd (via return method) decided not to wait too long.

 

Sent further email to customerservices@ on 24th, received standard acknowledgement on 26th.

 

Phoned them tonight and was lied (?) to. Was told that P & O had increased the fare (and that there would be people booking now wouldn't really be any better off in the long run). I told her that I hadn't noticed that, she said it happened yesterday. As soon as I got off the phone I checked and they are still the same!

 

She also said it takes up to 28 days for customer service to reply to emails:confused:. I said I'd wait!

 

So far I'm rather unhappy and feel no 'vantage' at all!

[Sanjam cruisers]

Hi Grannygristle

You have gave no details of your cruise date booked,date of sailing etc. we booked our cruise for February 2015 in April 2013 At the old Vantage fare with £70 pp on board credit. On 4th November 2013 we received an e-mail from P&O informing us that as price of our grade of cabin had fallen under their new select fare we had be allocated a further inboard credit of £80, this made our total inboard spend of £220.00 in total. After seeing the new OBC offer for cruises booked prior to 28/02/14 and having read the contributions to this thread I contacted P&O customer services laying out my case.My enquiry was dealt with quickly and efficiently the outcome being that my original booking was cancelled and then rebooked under the new offer costing me an extra £120.00 in total but with an increase in on board credit giving us a total onboard credit of £220.00 pp instead of £110.00pp.

I would therefore keep in touch with P&O customer services but it may depend on your booking,perhaps there is not enough of a difference for them to change your booking.Best of luck.