Clayton Sales

[Sparky74]

Lately it seems that cruiseline sales and special deals are little more than gimmicks. 

Take P&O's current "Splash our Cash Sale" for example. They offer OBC but only on the more expensive Value and Value Plus fares. 
DW is keen on cruising to Norfolk Island next year so I priced V446 Bounty Adventure ex Sydney in October 2024. 

For an Oceanview cabin, the difference between the Go fare (guarantee cabin) and the Value fare (specify which cabin) is $338/person. The Value fare gets you $150/person OBC, and reduced deposit under the current promotion. 
We really don’t mind where on the ship our cabin is, so why would we spend an extra $676 for $300 OBC?

 

Princess"s "Landmark Sale" is similar in that it doesn't apply to the base lead-in fare for guarantee cabins and the price difference to the next fare is more than the OBC offered. 

 

 

Edited October 12, 2023 by Sparky74
Formatting

[SinbadThePorter]

It's ye old marketing trick. This is the idea behind creating different price levels with various conditions attached to each level.

 

It's designed to catch the unwary. Hopefully there are few such on CC! 😉

[OzKiwiJJ]

But there are still some decent sales around. Recently my Princess Planner contacted me about a price drop on a 2015 cruise we have booked. We saved over $2000 and it's only a 12 night cruise. 

 

And a few months ago I also scored another sale fare on our upcoming Japan cruise only this time we chose to upgrade our cabin since the initial cabin we'd booked wasn't in a location I liked. We got a mid-aft minisuite for not much more than the price for the forward balcony we'd originally booked. 

[Sparky74]

10 minutes ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

…Recently my Princess Planner contacted me about a price drop on a 2015 cruise we have booked…

Don’t you just love those time travel cruises. 🤣🤣🤣

[buchhalm]

Yeah the old "onboard credit".

Spend thousands on a cruise and get $300 OBC. Per CABIN, mind you. 

Pfffff!

[mr walker]

54 minutes ago, Sparky74 said:

DW is keen on cruising to Norfolk Island next year so I priced V446 Bounty Adventure ex Sydney in October 2024. 

For an Oceanview cabin, the difference between the Go fare (guarantee cabin) and the Value fare (specify which cabin) is $338/person. The Value fare gets you $150/person OBC, and reduced deposit under the current promotion. 
We really don’t mind where on the ship our cabin is, so why would we spend an extra $676 for $300 OBC?

To me, P&O are giving options, & you can choose what best suits your needs. Based on your numbers for the extra fare less the OBC (Go vs Value), I would be happy to pay an extra $12.50 pp pn to choose our cabin & have flexible cancellation options.

 

We depart on this year's version of Bounty Adventure next Fri (20th) - we booked a year ago on a special promotion, which was only available on Value & Value Plus fares, which was a 'free' upgrade to balcony. Our deposits were $49pp - total fare $2674pp (Value) - zero OBC.

 

8 days to go!!! 

[lyndarra]

32 minutes ago, Sparky74 said:

Don’t you just love those time travel cruises. 🤣🤣🤣

Especially on Delorean Princess.

[arxcards]

There is more to it than that. 

 

The GO fares are usually geared to last minute pack and go - note the punitive bit about non-refundable deposits and cancellation charges. When the cruise gets inside final payment, those GO fares will drop in accordance with available cabins. At other times, these fares are usually a bit cheaper than their other fares too - you are locked in to losing your deposit if you ever choose to reprice a better deal later.

 

You have 3 options, and paying the extra for option 2 and getting the OBC is much better than option 1 - up until final payment date.

 

But yes, spin/smoke & mirrors/hype is always a sales tactic.

[OzKiwiJJ]

2 hours ago, Sparky74 said:

Don’t you just love those time travel cruises. 🤣🤣🤣

Fat finger syndrome strikes again! 🤣🤣🤣

[Jean C]

14 hours ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

Recently my Princess Planner contacted me about a price drop on a 2015 cruise we have booked. We saved over $2000 and it's only a 12 night cruise. 

I wish our Princess Planner was proactive enough to contact us when prices go down - we have to stay aware and contact him, grrrr!

[ceeceeDee]

Value plus tends to be our 'go to' as we like to choose our cabin and we always get a drinks package, wifi, etc so to us the OBC is a bit of a bonus but not what sways us. A few months back we booked our next cruise on the $1pp deposit which attracted $400 OBC. I always keep an eye on fares and noticed a significant price drop. Immediately contacted P&O, cancelled the original booking and immediately re-booked the same cabin under the reduced price structure. OBC was reduced to $200 on that offer and we lost our original $2 deposit (whoopee), but the price difference of $1080 is a considerable reduction. (We were also required to pay the full deposit, but hardly a drama).

[OzKiwiJJ]

2 hours ago, Jean C said:

I wish our Princess Planner was proactive enough to contact us when prices go down - we have to stay aware and contact him, grrrr!

This is the first Planner we've had that has done that. She's new, and I didn't even know our Planner had been changed. It was a nice surprise. 

[arxcards]

11 minutes ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

This is the first Planner we've had that has done that. She's new, and I didn't even know our Planner had been changed. It was a nice surprise. 

My initial thoughts is they work for Princess, so they aren't going to be likely to give much away. Being new, she has achieved one other thing. The cruise that was showing as one of your previous planner's sales is now showing on her books as her sale.

[colourbird]

Not long after we booked P&O for a cruise last year, they advertised a sale offering $200 obc. When I checked our cabin category, the price had gone up by $200 over what we paid a couple of weeks before. So it wasn't much of a sale.

 

On the other hand, we have saved thousands taking up sale offers on Celebrity, RCI & Norwegian cruises when they were advertised after we booked.

 

You just have to keep an eye on the prices over the couple of years the cruises are available to purchase.

 

[SinbadThePorter]

I knew exactly what the title of this thread meant as soon as I first read it, but I suddenly just wondered if anyone under 40 would.

[arxcards]

1 hour ago, SinbadThePorter said:

I knew exactly what the title of this thread meant as soon as I first read it, but I suddenly just wondered if anyone under 40 would.

For the rare breed of under 40's that frequent this place 

 

[arxcards]

The out take is better, and probably truer than the official slogan.

 

[SinbadThePorter]

1 hour ago, arxcards said:

The out take is better, and probably truer than the official slogan.

 

All I can say is, that's grouse. 😉

[lyndarra]

3 hours ago, SinbadThePorter said:

I knew exactly what the title of this thread meant as soon as I first read it, but I suddenly just wondered if anyone under 40 would.

Back in the 70's I worked with a woman who had a son and named him Clayton.

It always made think he was the kid she had when she wasn't having a kid.😁

[aussielozzie18]

I don’t think anyone under 40 reads CC…I mentioned TripAdvisor to my DD recently and got an eye roll…

[arxcards]

41 minutes ago, aussielozzie18 said:

I don’t think anyone under 40 reads CC…I mentioned TripAdvisor to my DD recently and got an eye roll…

I guess if I was 10 years younger, I would be taking fish lip selfies in front of cruise ships to share on InstaFace 

[SinbadThePorter]

35 minutes ago, arxcards said:

I guess if I was 10 years younger, I would be taking fish lip selfies in front of cruise ships to share on InstaFace 

 

Covid couldn't kill the cruise business, but that could. 😜

[arxcards]

1 hour ago, SinbadThePorter said:

 

Covid couldn't kill the cruise business, but that could. 😜

Nah, the fish lip crowd saved cruising and brought all the pretty ships back - just ask them 🤣