Winter 2025/26 on-sale dates

[molecrochip]

Confirmed today

 

Tuesday 10 October, 8:30am: Itineraries released and pre-registration opens.

Tuesday 17 October, 9am: Caribbean, Baltic and Ligurian pre-sale

Wednesday 18 October, 9am: General on-sale for September to December 2025

Thursday 19 October, 9am: General on-sale for January to March 2026

[Megabear2]

Thank you, I received my email today as well.

[Cathygh]

Fingers crossed there will be some tempting itineraries at tempting prices

[Selbourne]

30 minutes ago, Cathygh said:

Fingers crossed there will be some tempting itineraries at tempting prices

Doubtless there will be plenty of tempting prices, especially on Iona and Arvia. There may also be one or two cruises with tempting itineraries, but these will almost certainly be on Aurora or Arcadia at top dollar prices. I guess we can all live in hope that a surprise might spring up where there’s an unusual itinerary at a low price, but I shall manage my expectations 😂 

[zap99]

1 hour ago, Selbourne said:

Doubtless there will be plenty of tempting prices, especially on Iona and Arvia. There may also be one or two cruises with tempting itineraries, but these will almost certainly be on Aurora or Arcadia at top dollar prices. I guess we can all live in hope that a surprise might spring up where there’s an unusual itinerary at a low price, but I shall manage my expectations 😂 

We won't be booking anything with P&O until nearer the time. Their recent track record doesn't fill me with confidence that the best prices will be early. I would predict the Itineraries on the 3 biggest ships will be same old.

[yorkshirephil]

Just now, zap99 said:

We won't be booking anything with P&O until nearer the time. Their recent track record doesn't fill me with confidence that the best prices will be early. I would predict the Itineraries on the 3 biggest ships will be same old.

That is how I see it, we will be on Aurora when the new cruises go on sale but unless there are new itineraries or we can book £50 deposit for longer cruises then we will wait.

[Selbourne]

25 minutes ago, zap99 said:

We won't be booking anything with P&O until nearer the time. Their recent track record doesn't fill me with confidence that the best prices will be early. I would predict the Itineraries on the 3 biggest ships will be same old.

I think that’s spot on. Although we have the added challenge of needing an accessible cabin, we shall only book at launch if the price is within our new target range. We nabbed an accessible balcony cabin on Britannia at a very good price after balance due date this year, but tried again yesterday for another Britannia cruise going in a couple of weeks time and it’s wait listed. I agree though that the days of the cheapest prices always being at launch seem to have gone. 

[jambalian]

I'm hoping for a price of around £2000 for the 35-day round trip from Southampton to the Caribbean in January 2026. The 2024 price was £2899 (Ventura) last time I checked, but the 2025 version (Iona) is £1999. If I can get something close to the 2025 price, I'll take it.

[zap99]

9 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

I think that’s spot on. Although we have the added challenge of needing an accessible cabin, we shall only book at launch if the price is within our new target range. We nabbed an accessible balcony cabin on Britannia at a very good price after balance due date this year, but tried again yesterday for another Britannia cruise going in a couple of weeks time and it’s wait listed. I agree though that the days of the cheapest prices always being at launch seem to have gone. 

When folk have specific requirements,like you and Mrs Selbourne, not much option than to book early. Similar to us. No PE, no cruise. We have booked arvia for April at, what we believe is a fair price with good OBC. I looked today and it's gone up £200. So far so good. Awaiting deals with RC/NCL. We fly to Menorca next week with TUI and booked that last week. I guess you have a feel for what is a fair price. I am quite happy with the P&O offering, but their Customer service is nowhere near good.

[yorkshirephil]

3 minutes ago, jambalian said:

I'm hoping for a price of around £2000 for the 35-day round trip from Southampton to the Caribbean in January 2026. The 2024 price was £2899 (Ventura) last time I checked, but the 2025 version (Iona) is £1999. If I can get something close to the 2025 price, I'll take it.

We booked the 2025 Iona cruise while onboard, the basic inside was £2550 with select version £2700 but with £230 OBC pp making it a bit of a no brainer for us. The select price for the nearest cabin to the one we have booked is £2749 with less OBC. The main reason we booked onboard was the £50 deposit which is not available on long cruises anymore. We are currently watching the price as we may end up rebooking if the price is considerably less.

 

The current basic P&O price is extremely good, we have been doing the 35 nighters since 2017 and apart from the Oceana cruise which was a one off we have paid between £2200 and £2600 for 35 nights. It is slightly cheaper with several TA's

[Cathygh]

24 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

I think that’s spot on. Although we have the added challenge of needing an accessible cabin, we shall only book at launch if the price is within our new target range. We nabbed an accessible balcony cabin on Britannia at a very good price after balance due date this year, but tried again yesterday for another Britannia cruise going in a couple of weeks time and it’s wait listed. I agree though that the days of the cheapest prices always being at launch seem to have gone. 

I am hoping that Azura will make a detour to Istanbul and maybe Haifa or Aqabba when she is in the med. I would be reluctant to go on Arcadia again but I would look at Aurora.

[Selbourne]

24 minutes ago, Cathygh said:

I am hoping that Azura will make a detour to Istanbul and maybe Haifa or Aqabba when she is in the med. I would be reluctant to go on Arcadia again but I would look at Aurora.

We went to Istanbul on our very first cruise - on Oriana. Loved it. We’ve only been on Arcadia once and whilst we had a nice suite (which we no longer book) there were a number of things that we didn’t like about the ship. However, as we have had 7 enjoyable cruises on Aurora, and my wife isn’t prepared to go on Iona again or Arvia (time will hopefully be a healer 😂) I am wondering if we might try her again. The only problem is that the two adult only ships are always priced above our new self imposed price cap for P&O. However, if a cracking itinerary comes along……

[paulatsea]

Just had the email as well.

I’m looking for Aurora or Arcadia 2026 - jan/feb-

something special for my 66 birthday and I’ll be an OAP!

Fancy Asia or S. America  - prepared to spend more than usual and hoping that I (and Aurora and Arcadia) will still be alive - but if not it won’t matter.

Will book early if anything looks good and I can select my cabin.

 

[yorkshirephil]

5 minutes ago, paulatsea said:

Just had the email as well.

I’m looking for Aurora or Arcadia 2026 - jan/feb-

something special for my 66 birthday and I’ll be an OAP!

Fancy Asia or S. America  - prepared to spend more than usual and hoping that I (and Aurora and Arcadia) will still be alive - but if not it won’t matter.

Will book early if anything looks good and I can select my cabin.

 

I would imagine Arcadia will be doing the worldie and Aurora a 65 night Caribbean and central America/Amazon. If Aurora was to revert to the old 65 night South America cruise I could be tempted at the right price, however I don't see it due to the issues with Argentina.

[paulatsea]

30 minutes ago, yorkshirephil said:

I would imagine Arcadia will be doing the worldie and Aurora a 65 night Caribbean and central America/Amazon. If Aurora was to revert to the old 65 night South America cruise I could be tempted at the right price, however I don't see it due to the issues with Argentina.

Worldie segment I think - maybe ! Fantasising  a bit ! 

[paulatsea]

Just now, paulatsea said:

Worldie segment I think - maybe ! Fantasising  a bit ! 

But - Carpe Diem !

[yorkshirephil]

5 minutes ago, paulatsea said:

Worldie segment I think - maybe ! Fantasising  a bit ! 

Nothing wrong with that, we did our first 35 nighter when I retired and never looked back. 

[daiB]

4 hours ago, Selbourne said:

I think that’s spot on. Although we have the added challenge of needing an accessible cabin, we shall only book at launch if the price is within our new target range. We nabbed an accessible balcony cabin on Britannia at a very good price after balance due date this year, but tried again yesterday for another Britannia cruise going in a couple of weeks time and it’s wait listed. I agree though that the days of the cheapest prices always being at launch seem to have gone. 

Well I am still of a mind that day one bookings are the cheapest, even though we need the accessible cabin. I have checked our next 4 cruises and I have found this to be the case. However I have seen the odd price very cheap within 3/4 weeks of sailing. I suspect that some of these are cabins the company have been paid for and people have dropped out. Therefore they are being sold off cheaply. I had not thought that people would drop out in large numbers but on a recent cruise there were around 10 people. That was from a smallish group of 70/80. But as I say I dont have a choice.

[Selbourne]

7 hours ago, daiB said:

Well I am still of a mind that day one bookings are the cheapest, even though we need the accessible cabin. I have checked our next 4 cruises and I have found this to be the case. However I have seen the odd price very cheap within 3/4 weeks of sailing. I suspect that some of these are cabins the company have been paid for and people have dropped out. Therefore they are being sold off cheaply. I had not thought that people would drop out in large numbers but on a recent cruise there were around 10 people. That was from a smallish group of 70/80. But as I say I dont have a choice.

Previously we have always booked at launch, partly because the launch prices have never been beaten and also because, like you, we need an accessible cabin and these are rarely available at short notice. 
 

The Britannia cruise in July that we were both on was interesting though. We didn’t book at launch, but I’d tried a couple of times to book in the intervening period and there were no accessible balcony cabins available. Just after balance due date I noticed that the price had dropped quite a bit. I was on the phone to our TA about another booking and mentioned it. They said “let’s have a look anyway” and, much to my surprise, there was a choice of two accessible balcony cabins so we booked. Now, in all honesty, I hadn’t kept a note of the launch price, but we paid well under £100 pppn for a balcony cabin on a Select basis, which we were happy with. 
 

From now on I’m going to retain a note of launch prices of any cruise that is of potential interest to us and monitor them, particularly when they get beyond balance due date (only Select prices - we wouldn’t risk a Saver). That being said, if there is a cruise that we really like the look of, we may book at launch, but only if it’s under £100 pppn a night for a balcony cabin. We won’t be booking Iona or Arvia though, even though I know that the majority of their cruises will be within this price cap. We’d possibly go up to £150 pppn on the adult only ships as they rarely have bargain fares. At those prices, even if they drop it won’t be by much and we will at least have secured the accessible cabins. 

[bobstheboy]

Will looking at Iona 35 nights to Caribbean. Paid £4150 pp 25 cruise for select balcony which we chose on launch. Similar grade and location  now £4350 so happy.

 .

[yorkshirephil]

13 minutes ago, bobstheboy said:

Will looking at Iona 35 nights to Caribbean. Paid £4150 pp 25 cruise for select balcony which we chose on launch. Similar grade and location  now £4350 so happy.

 .

The only cabins currently cheaper than launch are insides, same all story sell lead in price cheap and some people think they are getting a good deal for all grades. I know when we booked this cruise there were not many cabins available for us to select. We will keep an eye on the price as we could actually save £1000 if we took the early saver inside with no guarantee.

[daiB]

3 hours ago, Selbourne said:

Previously we have always booked at launch, partly because the launch prices have never been beaten and also because, like you, we need an accessible cabin and these are rarely available at short notice. 
 

The Britannia cruise in July that we were both on was interesting though. We didn’t book at launch, but I’d tried a couple of times to book in the intervening period and there were no accessible balcony cabins available. Just after balance due date I noticed that the price had dropped quite a bit. I was on the phone to our TA about another booking and mentioned it. They said “let’s have a look anyway” and, much to my surprise, there was a choice of two accessible balcony cabins so we booked. Now, in all honesty, I hadn’t kept a note of the launch price, but we paid well under £100 pppn for a balcony cabin on a Select basis, which we were happy with. 
 

From now on I’m going to retain a note of launch prices of any cruise that is of potential interest to us and monitor them, particularly when they get beyond balance due date (only Select prices - we wouldn’t risk a Saver). That being said, if there is a cruise that we really like the look of, we may book at launch, but only if it’s under £100 pppn a night for a balcony cabin. We won’t be booking Iona or Arvia though, even though I know that the majority of their cruises will be within this price cap. We’d possibly go up to £150 pppn on the adult only ships as they rarely have bargain fares. At those prices, even if they drop it won’t be by much and we will at least have secured the accessible cabins. 

Just checked our next Iona jaunt we paid £1777 on day one now it is £2666 - 10% = £2400. So well happy with that. As the ships fill up in the next few years the prices at launch will all go back to being the lowest.

Edited September 22, 2023 by daiB

[Selbourne]

1 hour ago, yorkshirephil said:

The only cabins currently cheaper than launch are insides, same all story sell lead in price cheap and some people think they are getting a good deal for all grades. I know when we booked this cruise there were not many cabins available for us to select. We will keep an eye on the price as we could actually save £1000 if we took the early saver inside with no guarantee.

Ours was a balcony cabin, booked within 12 weeks of sailing on a Select basis, so there are definitely bargains to be had beyond inside cabins. Very cheap prices for next month too (also balcony) but unfortunately we couldn’t get an accessible one. Both Britannia. We’ve also booked a very cheap Ventura cruise for March quite recently. Again, well below £100 pppn on a Select basis. I guess there’s a chance they could have been even cheaper at launch, but I doubt by much, and I’ve never liked having to book more than 2 years in advance. 

[yorkshirephil]

42 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

Ours was a balcony cabin, booked within 12 weeks of sailing on a Select basis, so there are definitely bargains to be had beyond inside cabins. Very cheap prices for next month too (also balcony) but unfortunately we couldn’t get an accessible one. Both Britannia. We’ve also booked a very cheap Ventura cruise for March quite recently. Again, well below £100 pppn on a Select basis. I guess there’s a chance they could have been even cheaper at launch, but I doubt by much, and I’ve never liked having to book more than 2 years in advance. 

I don't mind booking 2 years ahead when the deposit is only £50 as the risk is small and even then you can at least transfer if booked select. Whereas removing the low deposit for longer cruises means we are much less likely to book far in advance.

[Selbourne]

26 minutes ago, yorkshirephil said:

I don't mind booking 2 years ahead when the deposit is only £50 as the risk is small and even then you can at least transfer if booked select. Whereas removing the low deposit for longer cruises means we are much less likely to book far in advance.

Yes I agree. £50 deposit is a no brainier. Easy to cancel and re-book if prices do fall. Also, a lot can happen in two years!