Newby Questions on Booking Through The P&O Website

[lx200gps]

Canadians here, very interest in a spring 2024 sailing out of Southampton up to Norway. I've been pining for the Fjords ;o) for a while and P&O have some very interesting itineraries.

 

My usual ritual for investigating sailings is to log on to a cruise line's website, and proceed all the way through the booking process, selecting the specific cabin from a map of available cabins, then I am presented with the final all-in price.  This has never been an issue with Princess, X, HAL, NCL or RCCL, but when I attempt to view the deck plans and choose the specific cabin we are interested on P&O, no such option exists and I can only see a large red button instructing me to call 877-828-4728.  I have a registered P&O account now, and I tried VPNing in via a UK server to no avail.  While we do have an excellent TA, I usually prefer to do all the research myself then provide her with our chosen cabin selection, but that doesn't seem possible here. Am I missing something obvious, or is that how P&O work? Is there no way to see the available cabins on any given P&O sailing and obtain a final pricing as with other lines, or do we have do it through a TA or directly with P&O.  Thank you in advance.

[Gettingwarmer]

This thread might help

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2883994-booking-po-cruise/#comment-64112813

 

 

[jeanlyon]

go through a good cruise Travel Agent.  Much easier.  They have access to all the cabins and they also usually give an extra discount.

[terrierjohn]

Our Canadian relatives booked via our online TA when they joined us on a Ventura cruise back in 2018, and if you have done your research, they will find you the best cabin in the location you prefer.

Edited November 23, 2022 by terrierjohn

[lx200gps]

58 minutes ago, jeanlyon said:

go through a good cruise Travel Agent.  Much easier.  They have access to all the cabins and they also usually give an extra discount.

 

53 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

Our Canadian relatives booked via our online TA when they joined us on a Ventura cruise back in 2018, and if you have done your research, they will find you the best cabin in the location you prefer.

Therein lies the problem, as we don't find using our TA to do the research for us to be a good way to book cruises.  I spend many hours researching the ship, and the exact cabin in great detail.  If P&O won't let me see the available cabins with their pricing  when I try to research  as all the other lines do, then the booking process becomes far more tedious and inefficient.  As we currently book, generally with Princess, our TA has very little to do, as I simply tell her the exact cabin we want and the price and she books it in seconds, adding her agency's and the cruise line perqs. It sounds like we can't do that with P&O, it has to be done with human intervention. Our TA is great, I was just trying to save her some work.

[Windsurfboy]

I have the same issue, even though i live in UK,  when I try to book when im out of country it wont let you get direct to phone. Amazed the VPN doesn't work.

[arlowood]

There's a link in the thread mentioned by Gettingwarmer above (#2) which might be of some help.

 

https://www.poamericas.com/

 

This takes you to a page where you can select specific destination areas, dates, no of nights, ships etc. Norway is listed separately so you should be able to narrow down the fjord itineraries that are on offer.

I don't know if you can drill down any further.

 

I too am puzzled that you were unsuccessful when you switched to a VPN search - but I'm no IT whizz kid so maybe someone else could offer a suggestion.

[lx200gps]

1 hour ago, Windsurfboy said:

I have the same issue, even though i live in UK,  when I try to book when im out of country it wont let you get direct to phone. Amazed the VPN doesn't work.

30 minutes ago, arlowood said:

There's a link in the thread mentioned by Gettingwarmer above (#2) which might be of some help.

 

https://www.poamericas.com/

 

This takes you to a page where you can select specific destination areas, dates, no of nights, ships etc. Norway is listed separately so you should be able to narrow down the fjord itineraries that are on offer.

I don't know if you can drill down any further.

 

I too am puzzled that you were unsuccessful when you switched to a VPN search - but I'm no IT whizz kid so maybe someone else could offer a suggestion.

This is what I see when I log on to the UK P&O site, whether from here in Canada or via my VPN through a UK server. I can't get beyond selecting the cabin type and it won't let me see the individual available cabins. When you are at home in Blighty do you see a different presentation than this?

 

Re the poamericas.com web site, it seems to be allied with a travel agency (who must remain nameless per CC rules) and I will want to work with our existing TA

 

[Gettingwarmer]

3 minutes ago, lx200gps said:

Re the poamericas.com web site, it seems to be allied with a travel agency (who must remain nameless per CC rules) and I will want to work with our existing TA

You can only work with this Travel agent if booking from North America/ Canada. 

[terrierjohn]

On P&O you can only choose your cabin on a select booking, the saver or early saver are both guarantee, where you can choose your location but not the actual cabin.

On a select booking when choosing your cabin type, scroll down till you see choose your cabin, it will then allow you to choose your location and then it will show any different prices for each deck, choose the deck then it will select a cabin for you, if you then press the down button against that selection it should take you to the available cabins in that area.

It is far more slow and clunky process than Princess but unless you are seeing only a cut down version, then I hope the above helps you.

[Gettingwarmer]

16 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

On P&O you can only choose your cabin on a select booking, the saver or early saver are both guarantee, where you can choose your location but not the actual cabin.

On a select booking when choosing your cabin type, scroll down till you see choose your cabin, it will then allow you to choose your location and then it will show any different prices for each deck, choose the deck then it will select a cabin for you, if you then press the down button against that selection it should take you to the available cabins in that area.

It is far more slow and clunky process than Princess but unless you are seeing only a cut down version, then I hope the above helps you.

This does not happen on the ops page as he is from Canada. 

[terrierjohn]

6 minutes ago, Gettingwarmer said:

This does not happen on the ops page as he is from Canada. 

You may be right, but knowing how inept the P&O IT dept are, I just wonder if they even know what a VPN is, and how to prevent a Canadian from accessing their feeble system.😁😇

[lx200gps]

Thanks to a tip from a fellow Canadian on another sub-forum here on CC, I was able to use another UK-based cruise TA's site to obtain the information I needed. Despite some issues with browsers, firewalls and VPNs, I can use their site to select sailings, review and choose cabins, chose perqs etc, exactly what I can't seem to do on P&O's site. Apparently this TA allows Canadians to book through their website if I can't book directly with P&O over the phone.