Should P&O take Celebrity's lead?

[Presto2]

Celebrity has just released its itinerary for 2016. Some of the cruises look great - at a price - with some perks. It is tempting for people like us who are restricted to school holidays and can't just follow the perks / discounts re a cruise.

 

Am just wondering if you think that P&O should release their itinerary as soon as possible and if it would entice you to book ASAP.

[west2000]

Celebrity has just released its itinerary for 2016. Some of the cruises look great - at a price - with some perks. It is tempting for people like us who are restricted to school holidays and can't just follow the perks / discounts re a cruise.

 

Am just wondering if you think that P&O should release their itinerary as soon as possible and if it would entice you to book ASAP.

 

Like you we are restricted to school holidays and we always book early to secure dates and cabin we want but not impressed with Celebrity this time. For 2015 we have a concierge cabin booked for the ffjords last week in August same cruise would cost more just for an oceanview. Seriously hoping P&O don't follow this trend.

[terrierjohn]

Yes I think they should follow Celebrity's lead regarding the launch date. They should also follow Celebrity and only charge £150pp deposit, and final payment 8 weeks from cruise, and no charge on credit card payments for deposit and balance, but I guess they won't.

 

West200, we have just booked a Baltic cruise, almost identical to one we did in 2013 and the price increase, after factoring in all the offers, is only 4.6% higher, which we did not think unreasonable; I bet P&O's price increase will be higher.

Edited November 11, 2014 by terrierjohn

[cruisefan2012]

Thank you to Celebrity Cruises for releasing cruise itineraries early !!

 

Managed to (almost) get the cruise itinerary I`ve always wanted to do

[Presto2]

Though we have noted that Celebrity is not perfect we do like their price promise and in the past have had up to £500 back from a cruise if we've booked early and the price goes down. Worryingly, I guess we would not be able to keep any perks we got with the original booking if we did this.

 

To be honest, though we always book early we think that we will wait to see what other cruise lines offer and what other perks turn up closer to the cruise date. In recent years those of us who have booked early have missed out on the promotions which have cancelled out any gain by booking early.

 

I don't think it would harm P&O to release cruises / dates earlier now though.

 

:)

[Thejuggler]

It depends on P&O timetabling. Celebrity plan cruises 3 years from date of the trip, confirm at 2 and release the info, route planning starts 1 year out. Some companies don't plan as far ahead.