Transferring cruise questions?

[nicki-k]

We are thinking of transferring our August 21 cruise from Southampton to an Azura cruise departing from Valletta during April 22 and have a couple of questions. Would we have to pay another deposit transferring an existing cruise? We have only been on cruises from Southampton before, is it straightforward doing fly cruises i.e. do P&O  organise all of your transfers from flight to ship or do you have to do this independently  and can you add a couple of days in Valletta before you sail or do P&O limit you to particular flights? Do you consider it worthwhile flying for a 7 night cruise? Thanks in advance for any information.

[yorkshirephil]

19 minutes ago, nicki-k said:

We are thinking of transferring our August 21 cruise from Southampton to an Azura cruise departing from Valletta during April 22 and have a couple of questions. Would we have to pay another deposit transferring an existing cruise? We have only been on cruises from Southampton before, is it straightforward doing fly cruises i.e. do P&O  organise all of your transfers from flight to ship or do you have to do this independently  and can you add a couple of days in Valletta before you sail or do P&O limit you to particular flights? Do you consider it worthwhile flying for a 7 night cruise? Thanks in advance for any information.

Assuming you have only paid the deposit on your August 21 cruise you should  be able to move it to another cruise, it is straightforward to fly, P&O would arrange transfers etc. Unless things have changed you won't be able to add time in Valletta if booked through P&O. You could always use the deposit for another cruise and book a cruise and stay package with a TA if that fits your needs. Normally I would say in my opinion it isn't worthwhile flying for a 7 night cruise, but after the past year I would fly for a weekend if I could. Always wise to speak to P&O and see what the current rules are.

[terrierjohn]

You may have to pay extra if the current deposit is smaller than the new one.

[wowzz]

1 hour ago, nicki-k said:

Do P&O limit you to particular flights

Yes, you have to take their charter flights, or any other flights they arrange for you.

[nicki-k]

Thank you Phil, John and Wowzz. Decisions, decisions........if only we had a crystal ball. Lot's of things are stacked against us for travelling this August but we are limited to dates next year as our daughter will be in her third year of Primary Education at university. I would prefer to go on a longer cruise but life is full of compromises and in the grand scheme of things we will be grateful to go on any cruise at the moment.

 

[terrierjohn]

1 hour ago, wowzz said:

Yes, you have to take their charter flights, or any other flights they arrange for you.

Maybe, but the way they do it is by not offering a cruise fare which is cruise only, so if you want to choose your own flight you have to pay for it yourself.

[SarahHben]

With P&O charter flights, presumably  that means you have the benefit of the cruise not leaving without you if there are flight delays?

[Eddie99]

Correct

We were 6 hours delayed arriving in Barbados

Azura was waiting for us, in the wee small hours, looked after us, made food available etc

6*Service

[P&O SUE]

I’ve never been on a fly cruise but I thought P&O did arrange a stay before or after at Valletta? Perhaps someone else can confirm.

[nicki-k]

9 minutes ago, P&O SUE said:

I’ve never been on a fly cruise but I thought P&O did arrange a stay before or after at Valletta? Perhaps someone else can confirm.

I've tried doing a dummy booking this morning and there is an option to add a hotel but you only have the choice of one 5* hotel which is £500 for two nights per room. I'm not sure the weather will be as warm as I would like along the Croatian coast in April but my husband said it would be no different to the fjords in August.

[Dinglebert]

We have moved to this cruise last week.  No change in deposit.  Cabins however are filling up very quickly as lots of others having the same idea.

[nicki-k]

30 minutes ago, Dinglebert said:

We have moved to this cruise last week.  No change in deposit.  Cabins however are filling up very quickly as lots of others having the same idea.

Thanks Dinglebert, did P&O say anything to you about the flight being the day of departure or not?

[P&O SUE]

On 1/24/2021 at 9:31 AM, nicki-k said:

I've tried doing a dummy booking this morning and there is an option to add a hotel but you only have the choice of one 5* hotel which is £500 for two nights per room. I'm not sure the weather will be as warm as I would like along the Croatian coast in April but my husband said it would be no different to the fjords in August.

Wow! They could provide a more reasonable priced choice! 
You can never tell with weather but I’m sure the weather would be much better than here!

[Dinglebert]

35 minutes ago, nicki-k said:

Thanks Dinglebert, did P&O say anything to you about the flight being the day of departure or not?

Yes it is both ways.  One thing we had was we had looked at the cruise the day before and discovered we could get exactly the same cabin as our July cruise.  Next day all those cabins had gone.  However TA was still able to book it.  The website may not be showing correct availability.

Edited January 24, 2021 by Dinglebert

[nicki-k]

14 minutes ago, Dinglebert said:

Yes it is both ways.  One thing we had was we had looked at the cruise the day before and discovered we could get exactly the same cabin as our July cruise.  Next day all those cabins had gone.  However TA was still able to book it.  The website may not be showing correct availability.

Thank you 👍

[the english lady]

Just a warning for those thinking of transferring. We have now moved our UK only July cruise this year (that was already transferred from 2020!) to 2022. (different destination)The prices are going ever upwards. Not because of Pando putting them up but dynamic pricing thinks cruises are popular, so prices rise. Between a rock and a hard place we decided to move it now, before more cruises this year are cancelled and more people are looking at 2022..which will raise the prices further. We did look at a uk only cruise for 2022 but that was way up. We toyed with the idea of doing nothing, seeing if they cancelled the July one this year, and ask for a refund...but there was always the small chance at the back of my head that as it was uk only ,they might not cancel it, but it would go ahead with masks etc.

[SarahHben]

11 minutes ago, the english lady said:

Just a warning for those thinking of transferring. We have now moved our UK only July cruise this year (that was already transferred from 2020!) to 2022. (different destination)The prices are going ever upwards. Not because of Pando putting them up but dynamic pricing thinks cruises are popular, so prices rise. Between a rock and a hard place we decided to move it now, before more cruises this year are cancelled and more people are looking at 2022..which will raise the prices further. We did look at a uk only cruise for 2022 but that was way up. We toyed with the idea of doing nothing, seeing if they cancelled the July one this year, and ask for a refund...but there was always the small chance at the back of my head that as it was uk only ,they might not cancel it, but it would go ahead with masks etc.

Yes, we booked a 2022 cruise 5 weeks ago. I checked the prices yesterday and it’s already gone up by £300 per person for a 7 day cruise.

[Dinglebert]

5 hours ago, SarahHben said:

Yes, we booked a 2022 cruise 5 weeks ago. I checked the prices yesterday and it’s already gone up by £300 per person for a 7 day cruise.

Same price increase on our July 2022 cruise booked less than 2 weeks ago.

[WECRUISEUK]

1 hour ago, Dinglebert said:

Same price increase on our July 2022 cruise booked less than 2 weeks ago.

I think what the're trying to do is scare people into booking something rather than wait.

[welshwizards]

We transferred our Sept 2021 cruise to the med to a Canaries cruise in Sept 22. No problem with transferring but cabins were selling fast

 

[wowzz]

3 hours ago, WECRUISEUK said:

I think what the're trying to do is scare people into booking something rather than wait.

No, it's just that there is so much FCC floating about that P&O can raise their prices without any problem. And when the next tranche of cancellations are announced in the next few weeks, 2022 fares will increase even more.

[ScotchBoy]

On 1/23/2021 at 10:19 PM, nicki-k said:

..... Do you consider it worthwhile flying for a 7 night cruise? Thanks in advance for any information.

Yes, we have flown to Malta a couple of times and to Mallorca for a 7-night cruise. Definitely worth it. If you'd fly for a land-based holiday, then the same applies for a cruise. Just to feel the sun on my face for an hour would be worth it right now  🌞

[Dinglebert]

7 hours ago, ScotchBoy said:

Yes, we have flown to Malta a couple of times and to Mallorca for a 7-night cruise. Definitely worth it. If you'd fly for a land-based holiday, then the same applies for a cruise. Just to feel the sun on my face for an hour would be worth it right now  🌞

Its quicker for me to drive to the airport, wait, get the plane to Malta then it is to get to Southampton.

[P&O SUE]

On 1/24/2021 at 11:43 AM, SarahHben said:

Yes, we booked a 2022 cruise 5 weeks ago. I checked the prices yesterday and it’s already gone up by £300 per person for a 7 day cruise.

Wow! 😱

[P&O SUE]

I’ve just looked my 2022 one up - it is 14 nights but is now £347 each more!