Extra OBC

[P&O SUE]

My cruise isn’t until Oct 2023 moved from Sept 2021, I hope I get something! We only got £70 between us (balcony!) if I’d booked it now it’s hundreds 😞

[walkingdude]

We are a party of 5, going Transatlantic on Britannia in October. We received 3 separate emails (1 for each cabin) advising us that we would be getting £200 extra OBC per cabin (so £500 in total). We then received updated booking confirmations that all show the increased OBC. 

Credit where it's due, P&O. This was a very welcome, unexpected surprise.

[PJ's]

On 8/11/2022 at 10:15 AM, bobstheboy said:

I am assuming the extra OBC is on Select fares, nothing for Early saver ?

No not on Select fare only. We booked 2 balcony cabins for a cruise in November on Ventura to the Canary Islands on an early saver fare and received the email informing us that each cabin had been given £150 OBC. We have just this last weekend paid the balance and received confirmation email detailing all paid and the OBC showing. Very pleased.

[Neecy1]

15 hours ago, PJ's said:

No not on Select fare only. We booked 2 balcony cabins for a cruise in November on Ventura to the Canary Islands on an early saver fare and received the email informing us that each cabin had been given £150 OBC. We have just this last weekend paid the balance and received confirmation email detailing all paid and the OBC showing. Very pleased.

We paid our balance for our November cruise last week but haven't received a confirmation email of this or the extra OBC although we did get the initial email informing us we were getting extra. Is it worth ringing or would you wait a bit?

[yorkshirephil]

33 minutes ago, Neecy1 said:

We paid our balance for our November cruise last week but haven't received a confirmation email of this or the extra OBC although we did get the initial email informing us we were getting extra. Is it worth ringing or would you wait a bit?

If you booked direct with P&O you ought to have had a confirmation, we paid our balance last week and confirmation came within a few days. However if you booked with a TA it will take longer.

[jaydee6969]

1 hour ago, Neecy1 said:

We paid our balance for our November cruise last week but haven't received a confirmation email of this or the extra OBC although we did get the initial email informing us we were getting extra. Is it worth ringing or would you wait a bit?

 

I also paid recently for our November cruise, booked direct with P&O, and did not receive a confirmation email.  I rang them up, system told me it would be an hour wait, answered after 50 minutes.  The very helpful P&O call team resent the confirmation and was in my inbox before we finished the call.  It confirmed we had both received and additional £75 each.

[sweep2907]

Like one or two others we booked early and had barely any OBS for deluxe balcony. I'm little miffed if we had booked now we would receive £800 for cabin. No incentive for booking earlier it seems and for loyal customers. The extra OBS email nice but leaves us well below others in the new offer. Anyone tried appealing to P&O before to see if they'd increase our OBS to at least come near to current offer.

[Neecy1]

Thanks I'll give them a ring. Maybe first thing though. Don't fancy the wait. 

[Megabear2]

I note my 16 December Britannia cruise now offers the £780 OBC on the select fare.  I have £500 on my booking.  At first glance it looks like I'm getting a bad deal however if I select a mid forward balcony cabin with sofa which is immediately on the starboard side of my port one, the quoted price rises by several hundred pounds per person and ends up only £200 less than my price.  My deposit is £357 so if I cancelled I wouldn't gain anything.  

 

Yes, the headline figures look to offer a good deal and if you're happy to take deck 15 with associated noise and lack of sun issues great.  Personally having tried that I'll pass and stick with what I've booked.  Sadly no extra OBC offered personally to me on this one so far.  

 

Incidentally anyone happy to take the saver can now save over £2,000 on my price.

[Neecy1]

DH just rang P&O. Got through in 10 mins. Spoke to a lovely lady. They are sending the OBC confirmations in cruise date order so we will be sent one in due course. Not sure why we didn't get balance paid confirmation but they are resending that.

[Dinglebert]

Anybody had this for next year cruises?  

[Megabear2]

Santa Claus just visited!  We have £150 extra OBC for our Christmas cruise.  Thank you P&O. 

[Megabear2]

24 minutes ago, Dinglebert said:

Anybody had this for next year cruises?  

The offer appears to currently be to 31.12.2022.  From my email:

 

This offer is available for cruises departing between 1 December 2022 and 31 December 2022. Offer is combinable with Select Price and Early Saver fares, special fare quotes and other campaign benefits. Offer is not combinable with Saver fares, concession, friends and family or non-revenue bookings.

Edited August 18, 2022 by Megabear2

[Dinglebert]

1 hour ago, Megabear2 said:

The offer appears to currently be to 31.12.2022.  From my email:

 

This offer is available for cruises departing between 1 December 2022 and 31 December 2022. Offer is combinable with Select Price and Early Saver fares, special fare quotes and other campaign benefits. Offer is not combinable with Saver fares, concession, friends and family or non-revenue bookings.

Thanks (I think!)

[Megabear2]

3 hours ago, Dinglebert said:

Thanks (I think!)

No doubt it's coming!!!

[No pager thank you]

We just received extra OBC for our cruise next week (apparently was full several weeks ago) and again at Christmas.

 

Was pleasantly quite surprised by the latter as wouldn't have thought that occupancy was low and there was any need for them to be generous. 

 

That said, we now have £250, which with current inflation, will be worth about the same as a coffee in the canteen by the time we set sail! 

[rumbalizw]

Myself and other passengers in my book of the face  group,sailing 6th Oct on Azura for 15 nights , have nothing as far as we know . Those joining a week later , have been advised of some OBC  . Why not us ?

[emam]

16 hours ago, rumbalizw said:

Myself and other passengers in my book of the face  group,sailing 6th Oct on Azura for 15 nights , have nothing as far as we know . Those joining a week later , have been advised of some OBC  . Why not us ?

 

Nor our Britannia one on 2nd October.

[rumbalizw]

30 minutes ago, emam said:

 

Nor our Britannia one on 2nd October.

Its a bit all over the place 

[zap99]

1 hour ago, emam said:

 

Nor our Britannia one on 2nd October.

We are on Britannia on 2nd October. Nowt. I wrote to P&O. After extensive research we can confirm you ain't getting nuffink, but have a great cruise on Iona.

[Francisdrake]

I've had nothing through for my Britannia cruise on 5th of November either.

[tring]

On 8/19/2022 at 11:13 PM, rumbalizw said:

Myself and other passengers in my book of the face  group,sailing 6th Oct on Azura for 15 nights , have nothing as far as we know . Those joining a week later , have been advised of some OBC  . Why not us ?

 

We are due on that 6th Oct cruise for 16 nights and have not had anything either.  Those slightly longer cruises had a very good price when we booked at launch and sold quickly.  I wonder if that is why we have not had the extra OBS?

 

[bobstheboy]

Just heard from my personal TA that we have £150 OBC for our Jan 23 cruise on Iona, very pleased !

[rumbalizw]

15 hours ago, tring said:

 

We are due on that 6th Oct cruise for 16 nights and have not had anything either.  Those slightly longer cruises had a very good price when we booked at launch and sold quickly.  I wonder if that is why we have not had the extra OBS?

 

I did think that , although, I've a friend who is on another ship who also booked on launch at a great price and got OBC awarded a few weeks back . So its not consistent

[No pager thank you]

Hmm...bit of a puzzle is this, I'm usually a bit wary when they are generous without needing to be!

 

1) It's clearly not linked to loyalty status, about why you get the OBC.

2) It doesn't appear to be linked to date.

3) It doesn't appear to be definitively linked to when you booked (we have had OBC based on booking either at, or close to launch).

4) It doesn't appear to be linked to the length of the sailing directly.

5) It doesn't appear to be goodwill "compensation" for reduced facilities on board.

 

So, I favour it being linked to the strength of sales for the cruise, and the company seeking to keep the "boarding" price quite similar. 

 

Also, then enticing more people on with extra OBC, but not to go so far that enough passengers look and work out that it is worth losing their (typically) 5% deposits by cancelling and rebooking, or using the "switch and upgrade" feature on their select price booking.

 

The interesting point is, for passengers now with substantial OBC, are they creating a type of "all inclusive" cruise by the back door, as you can essentially get a reduced price drinks/wine package using "their" money?  They must think that how much people will spend of their own money will either be the same or is going to increase as a result.

 

Or perhaps this is a cruise critic feature and they are wanting some better reviews 😂