Early saver general question...

[Scorpio41]

We normally book select but for this cruise we have gone for an early saver. What differences will we find?

[kersh]

Not a lot depending on where you are visiting. Shuttle buses are payable if P & O provide them. If the port provides them then they are not chargeable.

 

Your dining allocation will be in your cabin when you arrive. There will probably be a chance to change this if not suitable but that is not guaranteed.

 

Your cabin will be allocated approx 4 weeks before you cruise but it could be less than that. Keep checking your cruise personaliser.

 

I think that they are the only differences.

 

Sue

[mygo1999]

Not a lot depending on where you are visiting. Shuttle buses are payable if P & O provide them. If the port provides them then they are not chargeable.

 

Your dining allocation will be in your cabin when you arrive. There will probably be a chance to change this if not suitable but that is not guaranteed.

 

Your cabin will be allocated approx 4 weeks before you cruise but it could be less than that. Keep checking your cruise personaliser.

 

I think that they are the only differences.

 

Sue

Only one other thing there is no on board spend.

 

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[Scorpio41]

Only one other thing there is no on board spend.

 

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We our shareholder and military and future cruise deposit obc. :D

 

..but I understand what you meant.

[mygo1999]

We our shareholder and military and future cruise deposit obc. :D

 

..but I understand what you meant.

I have had military obc on Princess I didn't know P&O did it as well. I will have to look into it.

 

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[Scorpio41]

Fjords so not expecting shuttle bus charges.

We could request our dining time but not guaranteed but it could give us a chance to try freedom dining something we've never done before.

Any tips on freedom dining?

 

We normally have certain cabins in mind but as none of these were available we decided to leave everything to chance for a change. To be honest I'm looking forward to the surprises.

 

Will the embarkation time be influenced by the saver fare?

[Scorpio41]

I have had military obc on Princess I didn't know P&O did it as well. I will have to look into it.

 

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I believe it's available across all the cruise lines under the Carnival umbrella. Certainly worth asking when you book.

Edited February 17, 2016 by Scorpio41
Poor spelling

[mygo1999]

I believe it's available across all the cruise lines under the Carnival umberella. Certainly worth asking when you book.

Thanks for that. I just checked I need to call them tomorrow and I should get it for our cruise.

 

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[daiB]

I do believe you have to give a hand rowing. On some ships you have to help wind up the elastic band. :) :) :)

[mygo1999]

Fjords so not expecting shuttle bus charges.

We could request our dining time but not guaranteed but it could give us a chance to try freedom dining something we've never done before.

Any tips on freedom dining?

 

We normally have certain cabins in mind but as none of these were available we decided to leave everything to chance for a change. To be honest I'm looking forward to the surprises.

 

Will the embarkation time be influenced by the saver fare?

We have used freedom dining, we don't tend to eat early so normally went around 8pm, but we were quite willing to dine on a large table so we never had to wait. If you want to eat on a table for two you may have to wait.

We kind of like meeting different people at dinner, although sometimes it can be funny when you get.... how shall I say.....interesting people.

 

I forgot there is no difference when boarding.

 

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Edited February 17, 2016 by mygo1999

[mygo1999]

I believe it's available across all the cruise lines under the Carnival umbrella. Certainly worth asking when you book.

I must really thank you for the mention. I rang and got it... :-)

 

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[mygo1999]

I do believe you have to give a hand rowing. On some ships you have to help wind up the elastic band. :) :) :)

I forgot the washing up....

 

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[Scorpio41]

I must really thank you for the mention. I rang and got it... :-)

 

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Your very welcome. Enjoy a pint on us.

 

(Retired RM )

[mygo1999]

Your very welcome. Enjoy a pint on us.

 

(Retired RM )

I'm ex RN.

 

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[Scorpio41]

I do believe you have to give a hand rowing. On some ships you have to help wind up the elastic band. :) :) :)

 

I'm up for that. :D

 

...As long as they don't stick me on laundry duty. :eek:

[Pink-belle]

We booked a saver fare last year, it worked out fine.

 

It was an extra holiday for us so decided to go with an open mind. The saving was quite considerable about £300pp on a 7 night Iberia cruise. We had decided that we would pack ear plugs, if the cabin allocation was in an undesirable location, and eat in the speciality restaurants if our allocated dining was late traditional.

 

We were sailing on Azura, balcony was on R deck, I never chose these rooms as they are shaded by the overhang, but we were happy at the price we paid.

 

Once on board we had been allocated late traditional, the only dining option we do not get on with. We did attempt to change it but it was not possible. It was a shame as many in the queue were trying to get in to late traditional. We said we understood, but to please go ahead and reallocate our places as we would not be using them. It was all quite dismissive, and I would like to think they did, but who knows. This was fine for us as we knew it was a possibility when we booked and had our back up plan.

 

All in all we had a good experience, but it was an extra getaway trip, if it was our main holiday for the year I would have chosen select as a C deck or aft balcony is important to me on a longer cruise.

[kersh]

Totally agree with you Pink-belle. We have booked a late save previously as an extra cruise and it worked well for us. We got a B deck balcony whereas booking select we would choose C deck. We did get freedom which is our preferred dining option. We had booked with friends also on a late server and linked our bookings. They had also got freedom dining.

 

We generally book 4 cruises from the brochure in April but if we can slot others in we book saver fares.

 

Sue

[Pink-belle]

Oh how I long for my DH to have more annual leave and the ability to have 4 cruises to look forward to, maybe one day:)

[Bacardi..]

I must say recently booking early has paid dividends for us recently. With the obc and car parking the price would not have been far off saver price, but we got the extra benefits.

 

I have been on saver the dinning arrangements leave a lot to be desired. There's so many people trying to change no wonder they say they can't do anything

 

 

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[Scorpio41]

We've never tried freedom dining and normally sit with the same table companions every night.

We like sharing with new people at lunch time and breakfast but have just never tried this in the evening. No real reason why.

 

Pink-belle, I wonder if you could have swapped with some-one who wanted to change their dining time. (Going to the head waiter together?)

 

Do you have a card or something you have to show to enter the freedom dining restaurant?

[kruzseeka]

We've never tried freedom dining and normally sit with the same table companions every night.

We like sharing with new people at lunch time and breakfast but have just never tried this in the evening. No real reason why.

 

Pink-belle, I wonder if you could have swapped with some-one who wanted to change their dining time. (Going to the head waiter together?)

 

Do you have a card or something you have to show to enter the freedom dining restaurant?

 

That should work - at least you'd think so. It would seem very unhelpful if they were to deny passengers who had paired up to do a direct swap. How can that be seen as anything other than being really poor customer relations? I think your dining allocation is entered on their computer system though as they always ask as you enter the freedom dining room for your cabin number and pull up your details so perhaps they would have to log the change on the computer but it does seem mean if they won't comply.

Edited February 19, 2016 by kruzseeka

[Pink-belle]

Not really Poor customer service though is it. I knew it was not changeable when I booked. Yes, the people in front of us in the queue asked for late sitting when they were told No, I did interject and said we had two places we didn't want, but we were told it was not possible. There may have been people already on the wait list for all we knew.

 

We had queued for quite a while, very frustrating for staff if the majority of people in the queue were also on saver fares.

 

I felt sorry that we had been allocated a table of six, what if others on the table had chosen that as their select choice and turned up each night with a half empty table. Hopefully that wasn't the case.

[kruzseeka]

Not really Poor customer service though is it. I knew it was not changeable when I booked. Yes, the people in front of us in the queue asked for late sitting when they were told No, I did interject and said we had two places we didn't want, but we were told it was not possible. There may have been people already on the wait list for all we knew.

 

I take your point - I hadn't thought about a wait list which is of course a good reason for a swap not to be done in that situation. Still, if they were saying 'No' on principle it does seem a shame that there are people wanting a swap when from a numbers point of view it could be done. I do understand though that depending on the fare paid there is a pecking order and have no issue with that but how disappointing knowing throughout your cruise that you prefer someone else's sitting and they yours and you can't exchange them. And disappointment without a good reason could translate into a feeling of not such good PR.

[the english lady]

I take your point - I hadn't thought about a wait list which is of course a good reason for a swap not to be done in that situation. Still, if they were saying 'No' on principle it does seem a shame that there are people wanting a swap when from a numbers point of view it could be done. I do understand though that depending on the fare paid there is a pecking order and have no issue with that but how disappointing knowing throughout your cruise that you prefer someone else's sitting and they yours and you can't exchange them. And disappointment without a good reason could translate into a feeling of not such good PR.

I think it does come down to a waitlist when they try and swap dining around.

It is based on when you booked and what fare you paid.

So the people who couldn't swap probably booked late and he already had early saver and saver people ,who had booked earlier that he was in the process of bookmarking.

When you book a saver fare you know you have to accept the dining given If they can change it on board they will. However if it is not possible ,it should not be complained about.

It is not bad customer service.

You had people in a queue who discovered they were in a position where they would like to change. However if there was an early saver payer who was bookmarked for that /sitting table ,what do you say. sorry we gave your place to some one who booked 2 months later than you at a lot less money, but it kept them happy.

[kruzseeka]

That I do appreciate and have no problem with at all as I already said. If it is just blocked for the sake of it though, that would seem to be unnecessary. You are probably right, so perhaps rather than a blunt 'No' a refusal could be prefaced by just saying 'we have a wait list for swaps' then folk would understand.

Edited February 20, 2016 by kruzseeka