Past P&O cruiser - What are my Saver Fare dining chances/choices/perks (if at all)...

[claiream3]

Hi, been on Ventura before for a fortnights cruise so I have the 'past cruiser membership number' or whatever its known as....

We have booked a 4 nighter in December on a Saver Fare on a guaranteed grade inside cabin basis and understand that dining arrangement is assigned only once on board.

What i'm more nervous about is this dining arrangement being assigned to me - not that my assigned cabin might end up being in an undesirable location (experience on the Grand Princess as per my signature below says I cannot experience motion like it again going on the location of my cabin on that cruise which is the same ship as Ventura) so can handle that [touching everything wooden in sight]) but its the time I will be told when I can eat in the MDR i'm worried about :(. We like to MDR on the formal night (and most nights) but not at 5.30pm or the early setting per se. On all our past cruises we have always gone for the later sitting if not on freedom/anytime dining.

They say once assigned it cannot be changed but how realistic is this?

Does anybody have any experience of changing a dining plan once on board having booked an Early Saver Fare?

There is an option on their site to submit a dining preference but at this time (booked about 24 hours ago) it is not letting me submit this with my booking reference - is it because there is a difference in 'early saver fare' over my 'saver fare'?

Lastly - as we are past customers of P&O what are the chances of some sort of benefit? It says with saver fare no upgrades apply so that's out (as said not too fussed anyway), so wondering if they would likely look at us being past customers and give us their perceived better dining plan (anytime dining :D)? or am I going to be needing to eat in the buffet for 4 nights at a time that I want (i.e. later than 6pm)!

Surely once on board I can pull a few strings or sad faces and get a table at a time other than 5.30pm?

I know its only 4 nights and at the time of year (13th December) I can't see the cruise being full (but I may be completely wrong) so can cope with having to alter my arrangements to suit but just wondered what others experiences were, if any.

 

Will look forward to any advice or tips.

Claire

Edited September 23, 2015 by claiream3
Missing info

[kevinyork]

I totally understand your concern and this is why we would never book a Saver fare and cruise more now with other lines that dont remove normal cruising inclusions just to make the Select fare payers happier that they are getting something for their higher fair that saver passengers are not.

 

Firstly, early sitting is the most popular club dining time. Secondly Ventura has two freedom dining restaurants versus one Club dining so odds are higher on you getting freedom dining. So most possible allocation=Freedom, then late sitting then early sitting.

 

Finally Ive read that even though they say you cannot change your allocation onboard, some on this board have done so despite being booked on saver fares.

 

Im not sure about submitting your preference online. Maybe its because its a new booking or maybe you can do it when completing the online check in?

 

If I were in your situation I would request Freedom Dining then second sitting. If you request second sitting as your first option they may think ' oh we cannot do late club dining but can do early as they may think you prefer club dining over Freedom.

 

Best of luck. Hope you get what you want.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Mysticalmother]

Claiream3 - the simple answer is that you are paying your lesser money and taking a chance. You may be lucky and get what you want which is late sitting or Freedom dining.....or you may not. You may also be able to change your allocated dining by speaking to the restaurant manager on embarkation day by queuing up with lots of others all trying to do the same....or you may not. You might stand a better chance of getting it changed if you are not fussed about your table size. There are lots of people on this forum who have said that early sitting is more popular so maybe your chances of getting late sitting are higher but I cant corroborate that view personally. Alternatively you could just eat in the speciality restaurants with the money you saved on your fare!

 

The short cruises before Christmas are popular and are likely to be full so its a bit hit and miss. More and more people are paying saver fares so more and more are taking a chance on getting what they want.

 

As far as being a past cruiser is concerned I would say that actually that counts for absolutely nowt! P & O seem to struggle with customer loyalty issues and you can bet that there will be loads of people on your cruise who have many more nights under their belts on P & O than you do.

 

So...that's the way it is. And I'm afraid that I along with others will say that if the dining time is the real deal breaker then you should be thinking about paying select.

 

Hope that is helpful - it is meant to be! And whatever the outcome , hope you enjoy your cruise.

Edited September 23, 2015 by Mysticalmother

[HellsBells88]

Check out http://www.pocruises.com/the-peninsular-club/how-the-club-works/ for information on loyalty points and how it works.

 

Basically, you reach the first level once you have 150 points or 15 nights on board so you should reach that this cruise but from what I understand you wont get any of the benefits until your next (3rd) cruise should you book one.

[Scriv]

You can only express a preference for dining on an Early Saver fare - and that is all it is, expressing a preference which you may or may not get.

 

You cannot express any preferences at all on a Saver fare - you just have to take your chance - but that is the name of the game with one of the cheap bargain fares.

 

The Early Sitting is 6 30pm by the way, not 5 30pm but is quite popular, so you might be saved lol.

[john watson]

P&O first sitting is approximately 6.30pm, it's only on Princess that an Extra Early 1st sitting is run at 5.30pm. They do that in only one of their MDR's to enable the follow on; in that venue, to be "Anytime Dining" or Freedom as P&O call it.

 

First sitting is very popular and it is less likely to be assigned to you. You are more likely to end up with Freedom or 2nd sitting.

 

This is the downside of saver fares.

 

Regards John

[groovechick]

Claiream3 - the simple answer is that you are paying your lesser money and taking a chance. You may be lucky and get what you want which is late sitting or Freedom dining.....or you may not. You may also be able to change your allocated dining by speaking to the restaurant manager on embarkation day by queuing up with lots of others all trying to do the same....or you may not. You might stand a better chance of getting it changed if you are not fussed about your table size. There are lots of people on this forum who have said that early sitting is more popular so maybe your chances of getting late sitting are higher but I cant corroborate that view personally. Alternatively you could just eat in the speciality restaurants with the money you saved on your fare!

 

The short cruises before Christmas are popular and are likely to be full so its a bit hit and miss. More and more people are paying saver fares so more and more are taking a chance on getting what they want.

 

As far as being a past cruiser is concerned I would say that actually that counts for absolutely nowt! P & O seem to struggle with customer loyalty issues and you can bet that there will be loads of people on your cruise who have many more nights under their belts on P & O than you do.

 

So...that's the way it is. And I'm afraid that I along with others will say that if the dining time is the real deal breaker then you should be thinking about paying select.

 

Hope that is helpful - it is meant to be! And whatever the outcome , hope you enjoy your cruise.

 

I'm with Mysticalmother on past cruiser status counting for nothing. We had about 17 nights with P&O under our belt already and were told that these would count to the loyalty scheme - until it came to us booking another cruise und suddenly they didn't count any more (I think they said they'd changed the scheme). No amount of reasoning made a jot of difference. We went back to zero and have only just got onto the lowest rung after two cruises.

[Florry]

On short cruises I have found second sitting and freedom to be the most popular choices as it is often younger groups on board. Good luck, hope you get a second sitting.

Edited September 23, 2015 by Florry

[Scriv]

I think you could find that this cruise is actually quite full as quite a few people do Christmas trips round about then to the markets etc. and we noticed a number of extended family special celebrations on ours early December. Just a thought. It's really impossible to predict though which sitting will be most popular. You can always request a change when on board. It is sometimes possible,people say.

Edited September 24, 2015 by Scriv

[majortom10]

Sorry but if you have that many concerns you should have paid the full price and chosen your cabin and dining arrangement. It is not fair that you think you can pull a few strings and sad faces to get the dining that you want that others have had to pay extra for. Its about time P&O stuck to the T&Cs of EarlySaver/Saver fares and refused to change cabin dining arrangements assigned by P&O at any request.

[claiream3]

Thanks so much all for your helpful feedback, it is greatly appreciated.

I am confident our dining preference will not become an issue.

On all past cruises where we have needed to we have happily waited to see the restaurant manager and had our preference changed. However on a 4 night cruise I was happy to pay the saver fare over the select saving a few pounds in the run up to an expensive time of year and save cash for shopping in ports. It would have been a different scenario if it were a longer cruise in the summer i.e. our main holiday of the year.

Happy cruising to all!

Claire

[daiB]

If you are on a saver fare you will not get a swap. However if you have the sitting or style of dining which someone else is looking for then you could easily get a swap.

[BrianI]

If you are on a saver fare you will not get a swap. However if you have the sitting or style of dining which someone else is looking for then you could easily get a swap.

You can get it changed on a saver fare. Just go and see the restaurant manager. I have done it. However, would be subject to availability. There was along queue when I went.

Brian

[the english lady]

I think the word that should be in capital letters and underlined and in red is the word GUARANTEE.

The MD onboard will try and keep every one happy. But there maybe some who are disappointed. If you want to move to a popular option and nobody wants to move the other way he would not be able to move you, no matter how big the puppy dog eyes and smile. He cannot do the impossible..

P and O have tried to make things clearer. Pay the money and you get your choices.

Choose to pay less money and you get P and O's choices. They will slot people in (cabin and dining wise) where best suits them. They do not consider saver passengers 2nd best. They are saying if you let us decide where your cabin is and what time you eat, then we can give you the same cruise experience, but cheaper.

Edited September 24, 2015 by the english lady

[wilson2579]

I have always been lucky with my savers but I do like freedom dining and this is what was allocated each time.

[the english lady]

Can't remember when I read it, but someone posted they wanted to change their dining and they were about 100+ in the list of people wanting a change..might have been on CN.....so if the list can get that long they might not be able to accommodate everyone.