Do they hold cabins back?

[jeanlyon]

Out of interest, I just tried a mock booking for our cruise next October 2016. It offered me only A deck cabins. I then tried to put in a number that I know is available, because my TA only just offered it to me when I was booking. It said it didn't exist. I'm sure it's a glitch on their system. I even typed in an A cabin that they were offering on the site and it said that didn't exist either. I'm sure they haven't overbooked this particular cruise already!

[annieuk]

In the past I have done a mock booking to see which cabins are available - I did this for our forthcoming Adonia cruise. It showed me very few balcony cabins on B deck were still vacant. However, when I rang my agent who I always book with she was able to tell me there were quite a few cabins vacant. So it would seem that only a few cabins are on the P&O site but that's not the whole story.

 

Whenever I have registered with my TA to book a cruise when they are released I have always had a specific cabin booked. At one time people who were booking through P&O were told they could only have a guarantee of a specific grade, not a specific cabin but I certainly got the cabin I wanted through my TA. Yes I am talking about Select bookings, which is what we usually do.

[Dryce]

I then tried to put in a number that I know is available, because my TA only just offered it to me when I was booking. It said it didn't exist. I'm sure it's a glitch on their system.

 

Booking systems can keep separate allocation blocks.

 

So a bit of conjecture:

 

As a cruise line you may want to restrict the number of cabins availabe via the internet to stop competitors finding means of probing your booking levels and to stop malicious attacks finding means of blocking off your booking system.

 

OTOH in house sales staff and TAs will have their own logins and can be offered greater access.

[jeanlyon]

Yes agree. MY TA said he had access to all cabins.

[davecttr]

Or restricting the number of cabins available on the site may have the psychological effect of making prospective clients actually book, thinking there are only a few cabins left.

 

i know another cruise line do this. go on their web site and it may say 'hurry, only 3 cabins left'....nonsense, they are just trying to panic you into booking.

[PurpleMoonlight]

P&O in misleading advertising/information/T&C's, surely not.

 

Now, how did that price guarantee thingy work again ....

Edited April 17, 2015 by PurpleMoonlight

[groovechick]

At the end of the day if they dont tell you what cabin you are in until 4 weeks before the cruise everybody else who has booked a "Select" fare will have had their cabins confirmed months before and you will get what is left which is exactly what the "Early Saver" and "Saver" fare is with reduced prices but you will have paid full price for the privelege. I would be on the phone straight away to P&O or my TA and ask as I have booked a "Select" fare and as advertised on there website and in the brochures want my cabin number confirmed now because by 4 weeks before the cruise you will only have cabins left that nobody wants because of poor position or noisy cabins.

 

We have tried precisely that argument majortom10, i.e. that they are not providing us with the Select features as advertised and hence my comment, supported by CAB and Trading Standards, that they are in breach of contract. They claim the guaranteed cabin is subject to availability, but this does not apply when P&O deliberately make the cabin unavailable by overbooking. When I check on the Cruise Personaliser we have a guaranteed dining choice and our OBC. They were prepared to guarantee us a specific cabin number if we were prepared to move up from the Inside cabin we wanted to an obstructed view balcony, at an extra £1000 p.p. If I'm paying another £2000 to guarantee a cabin, I want an unobstructed balcony. It is just a ploy to fill the more expensive cabins first, rather than letting them go later at Saver and Early Saver prices or upgrading people. I'm just hoping that as P&O "regulars" we might get a nice upgrade. We were over a barrel - pay despite the lack of a guaranteed cabin to get the cruise on the dates we wanted so we could make holiday arrangements (we booked in early Feb 2014), or take the risk of waiting and not be able to get what we wanted.

[groovechick]

A quick reply to a couple of points OPs have made: we have been given incorrect/conflicting info. by P&O's cruise consultants on several occasions, so we were hoping (stupidly, I'm sure you'll say) that the person who took our booking had got it wrong and if we quoted the T&Cs we would be allocated the specific cabin of our choice. When our booking had been in place 12 months I phoned up thinking surely they will be able to allocate us a cabin now, and was told the same story again.

 

Having got a quote from P&O but been told they would not give us a specific cabin no., my husband dropped everything and went to a travel agent in town to try and book through the agent and get a specific cabin. The TA was unable to do it either, she said P&O was refusing to allocate cabins in the Inside category, which was overbooked.

 

As the majority seem to feel it's our fault for accepting P&O's terms (despite the restrictions we face with regard to when we can take holiday - oh and we did look at other cruise lines (RCI, Celebrity, etc.) but none had an itinerary we liked on the right dates), I promise not to mention it any more. I just hope to be able to report in the New Year that we got a fabulous upgrade, or at least the cabin we wanted in a good position.

[wilson2579]

Or restricting the number of cabins available on the site may have the psychological effect of making prospective clients actually book, thinking there are only a few cabins left.

 

i know another cruise line do this. go on their web site and it may say 'hurry, only 3 cabins left'....nonsense, they are just trying to panic you into booking.

 

This is what I did when I booked my first P and O cruise. I thought the cabins were going to sell out. I kept saying to hubby there are only 8 inside cabins left:o:o

[Dryce]

so we were hoping (stupidly, I'm sure you'll say) that the person who took our booking had got it wrong and if we quoted the T&Cs we would be allocated the specific cabin of our choice.

 

Except that's not what the Ts and Cs actually say. Or at least not how you chose to read them. I'm guessing your interaction with CAB and TS are based on your presentation of the Ts&Cs and not P&Os actual Ts and Cs.

 

It's a hard business and you've basically got caught by the yield management system and not looking uiot for the dreaded asterisks and exclusions.

 

Ironically yield management systems in a competitive market typically reduce prices for customers because they reduce wastage - but those customers who get caught out aren't going to see this advantage.

 

My guess is that unless your cruise has been booked out by passengers of the same and higher grades and there are no cancellations then you'll actually end up technically better than where you would have started.

 

While the upgrade fairy may sometimes appear to be dispense goodwill randomly my impression is that she understands price and pecking order when it comes to allocating and reallocating what is available in the last few weeks.

Edited April 17, 2015 by Dryce

[jeanlyon]

How can you not choose your cabin on a Select Fare? It is stated that Select Fares get choice of cabin and we always have. don't understand this at all. Are you sure you are not on Early Saver?

[tartanexile81]

How can you not choose your cabin on a Select Fare? It is stated that Select Fares get choice of cabin and we always have. don't understand this at all. Are you sure you are not on Early Saver?

 

We were wait-listed for a Caribbean round-trip on Oceana last year and P&O rang me after we'd been on the list a few weeks and said they could offer us a balcony cabin, but they would not be able to say which cabin till nearer the time. At that stage the cruise was still several months away. I was shocked when they said there would be no reduction on the Select fare. Needless to say we refused this kind offer :D. The main reason we're happy to pay Select is because we're very fussy about our cabin location so this was a non-starter.

 

As regards the issue about not being able to choose your cabin online, I'm sure this is a blip. Just a week or two ago, we booked a cruise on Ventura and we made a short list of cabins we wanted then just went through them all on the P&O site till we found one that was available. We then rang our TA and told him the cabin number and he booked it for us.

[Dryce]

It is stated that Select Fares get choice of cabin and we always have. don't understand this at all.

 

No.

 

Check the Ts and Cs and the cabin number allocation is "subject to availability". This is what caught out the original poster. Moreover I would assume from the followup posts she assumed this was a mistake that would get corrected.

 

It's easy to understand the Ts and Cs though I think less easy to understand the reasoning behind it. While it's easy to point a finger at the customer and say they accepted the variation in the offer from P&O the general lore is 'select allows you to choose your cabin'. So P&O are opening themselves up to criticism - and at the end of the day a customer who genuinely feels misled isn't a good thing when it comes down to an asterisk+footnote or smallprint in the Ts and Cs.

 

P&O should split Select into 'Select' and 'Select Guarantee' to cover this scenario. Basically if you wait too long they sell out 'Select' and only allow you to buy 'Select Guarantee'.

Edited April 17, 2015 by Dryce

[PurpleMoonlight]

No.

 

Check the Ts and Cs and the cabin number allocation is "subject to availability". This is what caught out the original poster.

 

I think you would find that most people would consider that to mean you can book and 'select' if any cabins remain unsold, not that you can only book and select if P&O have allocated cabins to be sold in that way.

[the english lady]

I agree p and o are doing themselves no favours whatsoever where they muddy the waters so much.

Looking at the cruise we are on. For the grade we have booked, I have just done a dummy booking.

It comes up stating it only has guarantee left. It states exactly what is being offered..ie no cabin number, and if you wish to accept those t and c continue, if you don't then look at another grade of cabin.

It has been that way for quite a while now.

I can only suggest that before booking any cruise people acquaint themselves with what is being offered, before actually making a booking. If they want to chose a cabin then book early.

Muddy muddy muddy waters

[Presto2]

We've tried to do a dummy booking on line and at the travel agent just and the cabins we wanted 'didn't exist' on their system either. It is really frustrating - we book early because we know which cabin we want! With this stupid system we can't book the ones we want?!

 

It was particularly noticeable when we were trying to price up a cabin on Azura. We had thought about one of the larger C deck cabins, but the system would only let us book the grade cabin we wanted on the deck above which have smaller balconies. None of the C cabins exist apparently.

 

Totally stupid :confused::confused:

 

I suppose we may end up phoning to request a specific cabin and if we can't have it we won't book.

[Scriv]

Phone up and ask for a particular cabin or get your TA to do so. The cabin I have just booked doesn't exist according to the system.

 

I don't think there is any malice from P&O in all this - I think the system just makes available a certain number of cabins at a time, but you can always ring and ask for one if it doesn't figure.

[shallwe]

I've just tried a mock booking for a cruise next year online. When it got to the page for 'Choose a cabin' it gave me choices of lots of cabins on the floor below the one I was interested in. So I went for the option of putting my own choice of cabin in for the floor I wanted.

Unfortunately each time I put in a cabin number (and I chose a few) the page kept telling me that the cabin didn't exist, when it was quite clearly on the ships plans and of the appropriate grade.

I will probably go through to their phone booking system but wondered if anyone else has had this problem?

 

The plot thickens. Just out of interest, I did another mock booking online and when I got to the page where they give you a list of 'available' cabins or the 'choose you own cabin' box, I decided to put in a cabin number in the 'choose....' box that they said was available in the list underneath.

 

Guess what, it comes back with a message that that cabin doesn't exist! - Even though it is in the list below as available and you can have it.

 

I have therefore deduced that the 'Choose your own cabin' box doesn't actually work.

[Scriv]

Good deduction, shallwe!!!! It sounds as if you are right. Have you thought of reporting it to them?

[wilson2579]

The plot thickens. Just out of interest, I did another mock booking online and when I got to the page where they give you a list of 'available' cabins or the 'choose you own cabin' box, I decided to put in a cabin number in the 'choose....' box that they said was available in the list underneath.

 

Guess what, it comes back with a message that that cabin doesn't exist! - Even though it is in the list below as available and you can have it.

 

I have therefore deduced that the 'Choose your own cabin' box doesn't actually work.

 

It has worked previously for me as I normally book on line and never want the cabins they offer but when I tried it last week none of the cabins existed.