Last minute deals

[terrierjohn]

12 minutes ago, Cathygh said:

Sorry for not being clear, and the typos.

P&O are now emailing passengers after final payment offering the chance to bid on an upgrade. If your bid is succesful then you are allocated a new cabin in the category you bid for, with no choice of location. 

Why would anyone with even half a brain  take a risk like that, and pay for the privilege as well?

[Cathygh]

7 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

Why would anyone with even half a brain  take a risk like that, and pay for the privilege as well?

It seems it is very successful on other lines so P&O must think enough of us have half a brain to do it. I might consider bidding if I thought I was getting a bargain but bargains don't seem to be available. 

 

[Son of Bare]

This may be of interest.

In November '21 whilst on board Iona, the latest cruise programme was released and I booked R318, a 30 night cruise to US and Canada in Sept of '23.

I selected the lowest grade of balcony cabin on a select fare, cost £11068 with £450 obs included. I chose a select fare because it was marginally cheaper than the early saver balcony price. I paid a deposit of £100 for 2 px.

I assumed at that point that the cruise price would not go lower than this launch price.

Move forwards to early Jan of this year and an email from PO hits my inbox detailing a special offer of an additional 10% discount against online prices for privilege customers, I don't know how, I'm only Med tier, but I'm now considered a privilege customer.

R318 was amongst the cruises with that offer. 

When I checked the latest balcony prices, a balcony could be had for £7,500 on a saver fare, but with my additional 10% discount that bought the price down to £6750.

Becuase I had chosen the lowest grade of balcony cabin at launch, a saver fare was guaranteed to get me at least that grade, and possibly higher.

So it was a no brained, I cancelled my original booking, losing my £100 deposit, and rebooked a saver fare for £6750, saving a little under 4k!

I paid the balance on the cruise yesterday.

 

 

 

[J_and_C]

On 6/3/2023 at 6:10 PM, Poppy6879 said:

I am thinking of booking a short 4 night break in December on P and O Arcadia.

Current price is £339.

I think we should book the cruise now, but my partner wants to wait, saying we will get a better deal nearer the time.

Anybody have any thoughts on this?

The cruise is to Amsterdam.

I just looked up your cruise on my favourite TA website & it is available for £310.

We did a 4 night P&O Ventura cruise to Amsterdam 2 weeks ago, & only paid £288 each for a balcony room, although it did go down to £268 in the final couple of weeks before departure.

We waited a few weeks before making a booking, hoping that the price would drop substantially.... and it did.

[LA30]

On 6/6/2023 at 6:13 PM, Son of Bare said:

This may be of interest.

In November '21 whilst on board Iona, the latest cruise programme was released and I booked R318, a 30 night cruise to US and Canada in Sept of '23.

I selected the lowest grade of balcony cabin on a select fare, cost £11068 with £450 obs included. I chose a select fare because it was marginally cheaper than the early saver balcony price. I paid a deposit of £100 for 2 px.

I assumed at that point that the cruise price would not go lower than this launch price.

Move forwards to early Jan of this year and an email from PO hits my inbox detailing a special offer of an additional 10% discount against online prices for privilege customers, I don't know how, I'm only Med tier, but I'm now considered a privilege customer.

R318 was amongst the cruises with that offer. 

When I checked the latest balcony prices, a balcony could be had for £7,500 on a saver fare, but with my additional 10% discount that bought the price down to £6750.

Becuase I had chosen the lowest grade of balcony cabin at launch, a saver fare was guaranteed to get me at least that grade, and possibly higher.

So it was a no brained, I cancelled my original booking, losing my £100 deposit, and rebooked a saver fare for £6750, saving a little under 4k!

I paid the balance on the cruise yesterday.

 

 

 

Interesting!  Whilst on board Arcadia in November 2022 we were quoted £3949pp for this cruise (R318) at Saver fare and £4699pp for Select price with £530 obs.  We hesitated (thankfully) and have since booked a saver fare at £3495pp.  I assume the fares you quote are for two people?

[Cloudyrain]

On 6/4/2023 at 8:35 PM, terrierjohn said:

Why would anyone with even half a brain  take a risk like that, and pay for the privilege as well?

Well last time I checked I have more than half a brain…

 

For me it’s an easy gamble: I would be happy with any superior deluxe balcony in any location on the Ventura so I am happy to take the risk: at the right price. In that respect the “worst” location would be below Havana, but considering we aren’t usually in bed before midnight anyway it wouldn’t matter to us. I don’t really care where I am in relation to lifts, forward/aft etc.

 

However, I wouldn’t take the same risk with a balcony room on the Iona for example as I wouldn’t want a deck 8 room.

 

Many many people really don’t care where there are, and generally I don’t mind either (with a few exceptions) - plus I use ear plugs anyway thanks to a husband who sounds like a space craft launching when he’s sleeping, so even location noise doesn’t really matter 😂

[Son of Bare]

9 hours ago, LA30 said:

Interesting!  Whilst on board Arcadia in November 2022 we were quoted £3949pp for this cruise (R318) at Saver fare and £4699pp for Select price with £530 obs.  We hesitated (thankfully) and have since booked a saver fare at £3495pp.  I assume the fares you quote are for two people?

For two people, yes.

Sounds like you also have a very good deal.

[smilesonfaces]

On 6/4/2023 at 7:35 PM, terrierjohn said:

Why would anyone with even half a brain  take a risk like that, and pay for the privilege as well?

Ha ha, me with my half a brain has now received my upgraded cabin which I am very happy with. Booked an inside PF saver cabin, bid for a balcony. Very happy at a balcony for a week for £1200, probably less than a lot of passengers are paying for an inside 😂 

 

[Megabear2]

3 hours ago, smilesonfaces said:

Ha ha, me with my half a brain has now received my upgraded cabin which I am very happy with. Booked an inside PF saver cabin, bid for a balcony. Very happy at a balcony for a week for £1200, probably less than a lot of passengers are paying for an inside 😂 

 

Congratulations.  Which ship are you sailing on and when? Did you get a cabin number at the acceptance or do you find out later?  Is that £1,200 for 2 or per person?  Thanks, sorry for asking so many questions but trying to understand the mechanics.

[FamilyCruiserUK]

We got constant emails from MSC to upgrade via their bid program. As it was a very cheap and cheerful MSC taster cruise we ignored them. However a week before the cruise when i went to check in they had given us a free upgrade from an inside to a balcony. Happy days.

 

I know its big on American cruise lines RCL and its a gamble as you dont know where your going to go. One of the good things with royal is you can choose your room at time of booking and not have to pay silly amounts extra like P&O saver/select fares. 

 

As for deals last minute, if i could i would. But work and a 9 year old stops me cruising last minute lol. 

[smilesonfaces]

7 hours ago, Megabear2 said:

Congratulations.  Which ship are you sailing on and when? Did you get a cabin number at the acceptance or do you find out later?  Is that £1,200 for 2 or per person?  Thanks, sorry for asking so many questions but trying to understand the mechanics.

It is for both of us on Iona Norwegian Fjords in July. 
We booked a saver cabin direct with P & O because I had heard of the bidding process. To bid you have to have booked direct. You can bid once you are 80 days to the cruise. You are sent a guide with a minimum and maximum bid. I bid the minimum plus £10 each for a balcony cabin. We are now 3 weeks out and were allocated an inside cabin on Tuesday this week but on Thursday received another email with a balcony cabin number. The extra cost needs to be paid within 72 hours of the bid being accepted. 
 

I think the bidding system is great if you book a saver fare and are not fussy about where your cabin is. We have saved about £800 by doing it this way. To me that isn’t far off the cost of another cruise. I took a chance booking a PF saver inside but I knew I would still be happy if that was the cabin we were in. I probably wouldn’t do it with a select fare but I don’t tend to book these anyway. I never really understand paying for example an extra £500 to get £100 “free” OBC particularly when the location of the cabin isn’t really that important to me. 

Edited June 9, 2023 by smilesonfaces