An increase in marketing?

[Eglesbrech]

There seems to be a real push for booking for next year from P&O. Today alone I have had two different bits of marketing from them (“brand new Oceana holidays out now”and “time to discover more”) in the post and several emails over the last few weeks.

 

Having had a look at today’s offerings they went to the purple recycling bin which is when I realised that they joined several more from the last few weeks.

 

So is everyone seeing an increase in marketing recently and any speculation as to why it seems to have ramped up. I understand they need to fill the changed Oceana cruises but they are also pushing hard on the others. Too much capacity now perhaps?

[Josy1953]

45 minutes ago, Eglesbrech said:

There seems to be a real push for booking for next year from P&O. Today alone I have had two different bits of marketing from them (“brand new Oceana holidays out now”and “time to discover more”) in the post and several emails over the last few weeks.

 

Having had a look at today’s offerings they went to the purple recycling bin which is when I realised that they joined several more from the last few weeks.

 

So is everyone seeing an increase in marketing recently and any speculation as to why it seems to have ramped up. I understand they need to fill the changed Oceana cruises but they are also pushing hard on the others. Too much capacity now perhaps?

I am being optimistic that they are trying to sell lots of old itineraries before they release exciting new one going to lots of new ports 😂😂😂

Edited September 9, 2019 by Josy1953
I can't spell

[wowzz]

38 minutes ago, Josy1953 said:

I am being optimistic that they are trying to sell lots of old itineraries before they release exciting new one going to lots of new ports 😂😂😂

There is a difference between being optimistic and unrealistic!!

I would think that one of the reasons behind the marketing push push is that P&O now have to find an extra 5000 cruisers every week to fill Iona.

[daiB]

28 minutes ago, wowzz said:

There is a difference between being optimistic and unrealistic!!

I would think that one of the reasons behind the marketing push push is that P&O now have to find an extra 5000 cruisers every week to fill Iona.

All the evidence I have seen tells me they are filling up Iona quite nicely, thank you very much.

 

The change in the itineraries for Oceana I suspect are more of a problem.

[Eglesbrech]

4 minutes ago, daiB said:

All the evidence I have seen tells me they are filling up Iona quite nicely, thank you very much.

 

The change in the itineraries for Oceana I suspect are more of a problem.

Iona will indeed be very popular as something new but are the passengers who would book the other ships simply jumping to Iona and leaving the spare capacity on the older ships?

 

As I said above is there simply too much capacity now for the number of potential P&O cruisers. I’ve never had this amount of marketing before, it must be costing them a fortune in paper and print.

[Ataraxia]

I am certain it is to fill up Oceana after the Gulf cruises were cancelled, and a new itinerary at short notice was put together.

[Eglesbrech]

21 minutes ago, Ataraxia said:

I am certain it is to fill up Oceana after the Gulf cruises were cancelled, and a new itinerary at short notice was put together.

Yes one brochure was very specifically for that, the others were more general with everything from Caribbean to Norway and the Med next year.

[groovechick]

Yes, my daughter received something in the post every day last week. I also receive e-mails most days.  Wouldn't mind if they were genuine special offers/discounts, but there's nothing like that. It's not just that P&O has more ships to fill, so do all the lines, and even though more people are cruising than ever before, there has to be a finite number of potential passengers.

[terrierjohn]

7 minutes ago, groovechick said:

Yes, my daughter received something in the post every day last week. I also receive e-mails most days.  Wouldn't mind if they were genuine special offers/discounts, but there's nothing like that. It's not just that P&O has more ships to fill, so do all the lines, and even though more people are cruising than ever before, there has to be a finite number of potential passengers.

That would seem to be a reasonable assumption, however over our last 14 cruises since April 2015 we have sailed on sold out cruises on just about every one of them, so maybe the number of passengers is actually infinite.

[Harry Peterson]

Yes, there is an increase in marketing - and for a very good reason.  Holidays, particularly expensive holidays such as cruises, just aren't selling well because of the uncertainties in the British economy over leaving the EU.

 

Houses aren't selling well in most areas for the same reason.

 

Uncertainty worries people and spooks markets - has there ever been such a period of chaos since the last war?

[groovechick]

3 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

That would seem to be a reasonable assumption, however over our last 14 cruises since April 2015 we have sailed on sold out cruises on just about every one of them, so maybe the number of passengers is actually infinite.

But look how much capacity has been added since then. Britannia came on line in March (?) 2015, RCI has launched about 6 ships, Iona's on her way - I make that about 24,000 passenger spaces to fill. I'm no mathematician, but it would seem to me that there is a max. no. of people likely to be in the market for a cruise at any given time, and this upsurge will at some point tail off through natural attrition (age/finances/changing tastes/tried it don't like it). When numbers do level off they will be fighting tooth and nail to fill the places. Let's hope it's reflected in the prices for customers and not in cuts to services/staff pay.

[Paul1924]

they only have to sell Oceana until March then she is back on schedule its only this winter seasons sailings in the Gulf that have been affected and cancelled and new cruises added

we have had more than normal leaflets and cards for all the fleet

seems more like trying to fill capacity 

[grapau27]

7 hours ago, daiB said:

All the evidence I have seen tells me they are filling up Iona quite nicely, thank you very much.

 

The change in the itineraries for Oceana I suspect are more of a problem.

I agree.

The Dubai itineraries on Oceana were great value in a hot sunny area during winter and the replacement itineraries don't particularly excite us and probably lots of other people.

Iona being a new ship should have no problem getting filled.

[grapau27]

3 hours ago, terrierjohn said:

That would seem to be a reasonable assumption, however over our last 14 cruises since April 2015 we have sailed on sold out cruises on just about every one of them, so maybe the number of passengers is actually infinite.

That has been my observations too on both P&O and Royal Caribbean cruises we have been on.

[daiB]

5 hours ago, terrierjohn said:

That would seem to be a reasonable assumption, however over our last 14 cruises since April 2015 we have sailed on sold out cruises on just about every one of them, so maybe the number of passengers is actually infinite.

Correct and all published figures for the past 10 years or so show an increase in cruiser numbers year on year of up to 9% per annum. Both in overall figures and for ex U.K. cruises.

 

Whatever the result of the present fiasco the advantage P&O has is that they are priced in £’s. So little chance of price fluctuations as with European land holidays and cruises priced in the $.

[terrierjohn]

2 hours ago, grapau27 said:

That has been my observations too on both P&O and Royal Caribbean cruises we have been on.

And yet despite this probably happening to most other forum members, it seems some of them just can't accept that cruising is increasing in popularity.

[Harry Peterson]

7 hours ago, daiB said:

Whatever the result of the present fiasco the advantage P&O has is that they are priced in £’s. So little chance of price fluctuations as with European land holidays and cruises priced in the $.

Priced in pounds, but with costs hugely affected by the massive drop in the value of the pound since the referendum vote, and particularly the risk of no-deal over the last few weeks.

 

Meaning that either prices have to rise (some say they already have), which will hit bookings, or profits have to fall, with lower margins.

 

[dorsetlad]

It's very easy to opt out of marketing if it becomes a problem. I opted out years ago, and when I want a cruise, I look to see what's available. Simples.

[Eglesbrech]

1 hour ago, Harry Peterson said:

Priced in pounds, but with costs hugely affected by the massive drop in the value of the pound since the referendum vote, and particularly the risk of no-deal over the last few weeks.

 

Meaning that either prices have to rise (some say they already have), which will hit bookings, or profits have to fall, with lower margins.

 

I think prices are actually falling in spite of a lower valued pound. There are several cruises on sale at the moment (and not just Oceana) that are starting at really low prices for 7 days eg £449. 

 

Sailing out of the UK may make people feel safer about booking and travel than facing customs abroad in light of any current uncertainty. Onboard pricing in pounds also means no loss of value for currency fluctuations.

 

Only time will tell if there is too much capacity, perhaps the customer base will expand to fill the extra cabins. It certainly won’t be for lack of effort from P&O to fill them.

 

If there are to many cabins then we may go back to the bad old days when the prices dropped massively in the last few months and the early bookers got very annoyed. 

 

Where is the crystal ball when you need it.

 

 

 

 

[Eglesbrech]

8 minutes ago, dorsetlad said:

It's very easy to opt out of marketing if it becomes a problem. I opted out years ago, and when I want a cruise, I look to see what's available. Simples.

Yes always an option. Ive never minded getting marketing in the past, it is just the recent volume that is surprising.

[daiB]

2 hours ago, Harry Peterson said:

Priced in pounds, but with costs hugely affected by the massive drop in the value of the pound since the referendum vote, and particularly the risk of no-deal over the last few weeks.

 

Meaning that either prices have to rise (some say they already have), which will hit bookings, or profits have to fall, with lower margins.

 

As you should know pricing is controled by supply and demand. Prices find the level people are prepared to pay. At the moment the are high because of high demand.

[Harry Peterson]

23 minutes ago, daiB said:

As you should know pricing is controled by supply and demand. Prices find the level people are prepared to pay. At the moment the are high because of high demand.

Of course.  As I said, either prices rise or they stay the same (or even fall to match demand) with the inevitable impact on profits/margins.

[terrierjohn]

23 minutes ago, Harry Peterson said:

Of course.  As I said, either prices rise or they stay the same (or even fall to match demand) with the inevitable impact on profits/margins.

You really ought to be teaching economics with such an in depth knowledge of the laws of supply and demand.🤣

[jeanlyon]

1 hour ago, dorsetlad said:

It's very easy to opt out of marketing if it becomes a problem. I opted out years ago, and when I want a cruise, I look to see what's available. Simples.

 

I have opted out of "post".  Still arrives weekly though!  Especially the last 2 weeks.

[Britboys]

Oceana's new cruises aside, increased marketing can only mean one thing - they are keen to sell more berths.  I note that the TV adverts which show Britannia but verbally relate to Iona are now offering 7 nights from £699, down £50 from earlier adverts.  I'm not saying that Iona has not sold well but reducing the price must indicate that they still have a significant number of berths to fill across the whole season.

Should it get to a point where supply is significantly higher than demand then prices will drop further but - I believe - sadly so will standards/quality. It stands to reason that you can't supply the same quality if you continue to reduce prices.  Iona and her 2022 sister will be more economical to run but the older ships will continue to gradually cost more as they age.  The fact that P&O operate using the Pound Sterling is of course only part of the picture.  Non-LNG ships will be affected (one way or another) by the global economy and the price of oil. 

Who knows what the future may bring...