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£1 deposit?


cinnamon
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I’ve seen an agent’s site for a cruise in 2021 that briefly mentions a £1 pp deposit. Can anyone tell me how this works?  Does the usual deposit have to be paid very soon after booking?  

We would be looking to take with us our granddaughter but her parents wouldn’t be able to confirm the dates 17 months or so in advance. 

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36 minutes ago, cinnamon said:

I’ve seen an agent’s site for a cruise in 2021 that briefly mentions a £1 pp deposit. Can anyone tell me how this works?  Does the usual deposit have to be paid very soon after booking?  

We would be looking to take with us our granddaughter but her parents wouldn’t be able to confirm the dates 17 months or so in advance. 


Surely the best course of action you should take is to contact the agent and ask them for more information including t’s & c’s related to the promotion.  It is possible that it is their own offer and nothing to do with P&O.

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Quite often a specific travel agent might do a special offer on reduced deposits to encourage impulse booking coming their way.  Usually this type of thing works like this and I am using fictitious figures as a rough guide.  A cruise fare is £2000.00 and normal deposit is 10% or £200.00 but a travel agent accept bookings at £1.00.  If you went elsewhere and paid £200.00 deposit your final payment will be £1800.00 however on the £1.00 deposit offer your final payment will be £1999.00.  So it is all about cash flow for you.  However if you cancel the cruise you do not lose just £1.00 normally they have a small print clause that says if you cancel early you are liable for the whole 10% deposit and then have to pay the extra £199.00 to make up the shortfall on the lower deposit offer.  Usually it is levied per passenger so £1.00 each and all liabilities are double for a couple booking.

 

Regards John

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8 hours ago, john watson said:

Quite often a specific travel agent might do a special offer on reduced deposits to encourage impulse booking coming their way.  Usually this type of thing works like this and I am using fictitious figures as a rough guide.  A cruise fare is £2000.00 and normal deposit is 10% or £200.00 but a travel agent accept bookings at £1.00.  If you went elsewhere and paid £200.00 deposit your final payment will be £1800.00 however on the £1.00 deposit offer your final payment will be £1999.00.  So it is all about cash flow for you.  However if you cancel the cruise you do not lose just £1.00 normally they have a small print clause that says if you cancel early you are liable for the whole 10% deposit and then have to pay the extra £199.00 to make up the shortfall on the lower deposit offer.  Usually it is levied per passenger so £1.00 each and all liabilities are double for a couple booking.

 

Regards John

Many thanks, this is very helpful. 

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19 minutes ago, janny444 said:

Easiest way is to contact the TA who is advertising this offer as to what their T&Cs are

I would agree, certainly my TA recently confirmed that the P&O reduced deposit of 5% would be all that was lost if we cancelled, but whether the £1 would be the only loss would need careful confirmation.

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2 hours ago, terrierjohn said:

I would agree, certainly my TA recently confirmed that the P&O reduced deposit of 5% would be all that was lost if we cancelled, but whether the £1 would be the only loss would need careful confirmation.

We have cancelled a couple of 5% deposit cruises and rebooked others as it was cheaper than paying the transfer fee and have not had to pay the difference. 

Again, not sure if the same would apply to this offer. 

Andy 

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2 hours ago, AndyMichelle said:

We have cancelled a couple of 5% deposit cruises and rebooked others as it was cheaper than paying the transfer fee and have not had to pay the difference. 

Again, not sure if the same would apply to this offer. 

Andy 

We have changed a few of our original bookings over the phone and have paid P&O for the privilege. On our last cruise we went to the future cruise desk and changed one booking to another, more expensive, cruise and were not charged the fee for this. I am not sure if this was someone taking a friendly approach with us of if they routinely do not charge if done aboard. (We always have booked direct)

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Just now, Hampshire Steve said:

We have changed a few of our original bookings over the phone and have paid P&O for the privilege. On our last cruise we went to the future cruise desk and changed one booking to another, more expensive, cruise and were not charged the fee for this. I am not sure if this was someone taking a friendly approach with us of if they routinely do not charge if done aboard. (We always have booked direct)

We have done it direct and through an agent, and didn't have to pay, just lose the 5% we have paid. 

Both of these are fairly recent, so maybe it is a newish policy. 

Andy 

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20 minutes ago, davemorton said:

Pah, unfair, I had to pay a couple of months ago to change mine. 

Just checked with Michelle, we have just cancelled a cruise on Iona for next November and rebooked a different one on Aurora. 

It was cheaper to lose the 5% deposit, about £70, than pay the £100 transfer fee. 

The previous one was earlier in the year with the same result. One direct and one through a ta. 

 

Andy 

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30 minutes ago, AndyMichelle said:

Just checked with Michelle, we have just cancelled a cruise on Iona for next November and rebooked a different one on Aurora. 

It was cheaper to lose the 5% deposit, about £70, than pay the £100 transfer fee. 

The previous one was earlier in the year with the same result. One direct and one through a ta. 

 

Andy 

Hi....there is no transfer fee to pay now....as long as the  cruise you are going to book costs more than the cruise you are cancelling

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Not too sure but I think it is quite a recent change....I enquired with P&O just before Xmas about changing and that is what I was told....no £100 transfer charge applicable just that the cruise I was booking had to cost more

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Hmm, I have to call them next week or so because my next cruise does not have my loyalty level recorded next to it, and when I sign into P&O, it has my next cruise listed as the one after, so just want that sorted, so might just mention about the £100 paid, see what they say. 

Edited by davemorton
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1 hour ago, janny444 said:

Not too sure but I think it is quite a recent change....I enquired with P&O just before Xmas about changing and that is what I was told....no £100 transfer charge applicable just that the cruise I was booking had to cost more

It was only just before Christmas that they told us we would have to pay £100 transfer fee or lose our deposit, even though our new cruise was more expensive?? 

Misinformation again from P&O... 

Andy 

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5 minutes ago, rosebuds said:

I've read that with Select fares the fees may be waived, if transferring to a more expensive cruise.

I have a vague memory of being told that the £100 cancellation fee can be waived once on a booking but any more than once, the fee was payable. The replacement cruise must be of equal or greater price

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2 hours ago, AndyMichelle said:

It was only just before Christmas that they told us we would have to pay £100 transfer fee or lose our deposit, even though our new cruise was more expensive?? 

Misinformation again from P&O... 

Andy 

Hi....it was about the 30th November that I was told that there is now no transfer fee on a more expensive cruise....will be interesting to see what davemorton is told . It was two different P&O advisers that gave me the information

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3 hours ago, pete14 said:

I have a vague memory of being told that the £100 cancellation fee can be waived once on a booking but any more than once, the fee was payable. The replacement cruise must be of equal or greater price

Good memory 🙂.  Currently on P&O website:-

Q. Can I transfer my booking?

On occasion, it may be possible for you to transfer your booking to another cruise with Carnival UK (P&O Cruises and Cunard Line). There are however, some stipulations that you must adhere to.

Late Saver and other promotional fares (excluding Nett rates) cannot be transferred as per the terms and conditions of the booking.

Should you wish to transfer your booking, please take note of the below requirements.  If you have booked with a Travel Agent you must contact them to discuss your options.  If you have booked direct, please contact our Customer Contact Centre, please visit our website for contact details.

Requirements to transfer your booking:

  • We will only allow a booking to be transferred once
  • The new booking must be of a higher value (before fuel surcharges)
  • Bookings must be outside of balance due period - 90 days prior to departure.
  • The new booking must sail within - 6 months of the original sailing date for full world cruises including liners and sectors, 12 months of the original departure date for all other cruises.
  • Any discount or promotion applicable to the original booking may not apply to the new booking, in which case the passenger shall be required to pay any difference in price.
  • Bookings after the balance due date: Transfers are not permitted and the booking will be cancelled at the appropriate cancellation charges as per section 38 of our booking conditions.
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13 hours ago, janny444 said:

Hi....it was about the 30th November that I was told that there is now no transfer fee on a more expensive cruise....will be interesting to see what davemorton is told . It was two different P&O advisers that gave me the information

Not disputing what you was told was right, I expect we were misinformed. 

They really seemed to try hard to stop us cancelling the Iona cruise, even though we were booking a more expensive one for a week later on Aurora? 

Andy 

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1 hour ago, AndyMichelle said:

Not disputing what you was told was right, I expect we were misinformed. 

They really seemed to try hard to stop us cancelling the Iona cruise, even though we were booking a more expensive one for a week later on Aurora? 

Andy 

Do you think this could be because they’re struggling to fill Iona? I don’t know either way, just wondering.

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41 minutes ago, Les_ldh said:

Do you think this could be because they’re struggling to fill Iona? I don’t know either way, just wondering.

I did wonder the same Les. 

They were really pushing Iona on Ventura, even the captain effectively made a sales pitch for it on one of his very few announcements... 

There is a lot of spaces to fill, but at the prices being offered, I'm sure they will be ok. 

Andy 

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20 hours ago, janny444 said:

Hi....it was about the 30th November that I was told that there is now no transfer fee on a more expensive cruise....will be interesting to see what davemorton is told . It was two different P&O advisers that gave me the information

Just been on the phone to them, it was "about 3 months ago".  She could not find out the exact date, but since I changed the beginning of September, I was rightfully charged, if only I had waited a month.  (Did ask for a bit on-board credit as a sweetener, but was told no 😞   (Shy bairns get no ket 😉 )

Edited by davemorton
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