Booking on board

[lindyloo22]

I have never booked while I have been on board are there any benefits to doing this ie lower deposit, on board spend etc any information appreciated.

[yorkshirephil]

10 minutes ago, lindyloo22 said:

I have never booked while I have been on board are there any benefits to doing this ie lower deposit, on board spend etc any information appreciated.

There can be various offers, lower deposit, extra OBC and discounts. If there are cruises you are considering make a note of prices as some offers are no better than what a TA at home can give or the general P&O sites. 

[Selbourne]

27 minutes ago, lindyloo22 said:

I have never booked while I have been on board are there any benefits to doing this ie lower deposit, on board spend etc any information appreciated.

As Phil says, there are usually offers but fluid pricing can often trump them. On our recent 65 night Grand Tour, lots of people booked next years Grand Tour whilst on board. There were some perceived very good deals like triple OBC. However, during the last week of our cruise, the price of that cruise dropped by about £2k, which suddenly made all those bookings extremely poor value!

[lindyloo22]

Thanks Yorkshirephil & Selbourne.

[jeanlyon]

Booked on board last October, booking was put through to TA where I got more discount.  I got 
£500 OBC and free parking, so a good deal for an inside cabin.  Some you win, some you lose.

[Fionboard]

15 hours ago, jeanlyon said:

Booked on board last October, booking was put through to TA where I got more discount.  I got 
£500 OBC and free parking, so a good deal for an inside cabin.  Some you win, some you lose.

Agree. I have occasionally booked on board. Some times worthwhile, others not so much. Tend to wait for late deals now as I am more interested in the cruise price, not the amount of OBC. 

[Selbourne]

4 minutes ago, Fionboard said:

I am more interested in the cruise price, not the amount of OBC. 

I meant to add that exact point in my response. OBC is a marketing ploy to make people feel that they are getting a bargain when, in reality, they might not be. Periods of high OBC are usually accompanied by higher cruise prices. Clearly an on board offer of double or treble OBC makes it a better deal than booking at the same time ashore but, as evidenced by the recent example given in my post, it may well still end up being a poor move. People on board our recent cruise were chuffed at getting £1,200 OBC (treble OBC offer) on next years Grand Voyage, only to find that the cruise price dropped £2,000 afterwards, so that ‘offer’ cost them £800!
 

Like you, in order to see through these marketing tactics, I simply work on a price cap, in my case £100 pppn for a balcony cabin. I calculate the cruise price as the quoted price minus OBC. So a 2 week cruise in a balcony cabin at £2,700 for the two of us, with no OBC, would get my interest. However, an on board offer of £500 OBC at a time when the cruise price was £3,400 wouldn’t!
 

Then, of course, there’s the further complication that you don’t get loyalty discount off on-board spend when you have OBC, and on our 65 nighter people were ‘using up’ large sums of OBC on daft things just to get rid of it. Our total on board spend for the whole cruise was less than half the amount of OBC that some people had, we got 10% loyalty discount and, above all, we’d paid less than half the price for the cruise that those who’d got the ‘free’ OBC had paid 🤔

[yorkshirephil]

47 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

I meant to add that exact point in my response. OBC is a marketing ploy to make people feel that they are getting a bargain when, in reality, they might not be. Periods of high OBC are usually accompanied by higher cruise prices. Clearly an on board offer of double or treble OBC makes it a better deal than booking at the same time ashore but, as evidenced by the recent example given in my post, it may well still end up being a poor move. People on board our recent cruise were chuffed at getting £1,200 OBC (treble OBC offer) on next years Grand Voyage, only to find that the cruise price dropped £2,000 afterwards, so that ‘offer’ cost them £800!
 

 

It also depends how you look at it; anyone who had booked the same cruise while at home at the same time would have still been £2000 down and without the extra OBC. Swings and roundabouts. For me having OBC to the value of what we usually spend onboard makes it all inclusive, albeit I would prefer to have the lower cruise price without OBC. We have a fairly simple policy, bucket list cruises we book at launch and try to do it while onboard, anything else we wait and take our chances. We also check for offers for repricing booked cruises while onboard.

[david63]

Surely standard rules apply. If you are happy with the price at the time of booking then go ahead and don't look at prices again, otherwise leave it and hope that the price changes (which it almost certainly will - but in which direction?)

 

Other factors come into play such as cabin type, cabin location etc. and these may override getting the best price.

[yorkshirephil]

7 minutes ago, david63 said:

Surely standard rules apply. If you are happy with the price at the time of booking then go ahead and don't look at prices again, otherwise leave it and hope that the price changes (which it almost certainly will - but in which direction?)

 

Other factors come into play such as cabin type, cabin location etc. and these may override getting the best price.

No such thing as standard rules as we all see things differently and have different opinions. I book and then watch the price, this has helped me form my policy going forward and try and gauge the best time to book to suit our needs. Sometimes it works sometimes it doesn't and I accept that. 

[Selbourne]

16 minutes ago, david63 said:

Other factors come into play such as cabin type, cabin location etc. and these may override getting the best price.

Pre-Covid we always used to book at launch because we have to have an accessible balcony cabin. It was a double win, because we secured one of these cabins and the launch prices were never bettered. 
 

Last year we booked cruises on both Britannia and Aurora after balance due date, paid less than the launch prices and still secure accessible balcony cabins. That experience has made us completely re-think our approach, especially as I’ve never been entirely comfortable having to book over 2 years in advance.

[terrierjohn]

58 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

Pre-Covid we always used to book at launch because we have to have an accessible balcony cabin. It was a double win, because we secured one of these cabins and the launch prices were never bettered. 
 

Last year we booked cruises on both Britannia and Aurora after balance due date, paid less than the launch prices and still secure accessible balcony cabins. That experience has made us completely re-think our approach, especially as I’ve never been entirely comfortable having to book over 2 years in advance.

Now that we know we can book a saver fare and still get the cabin of our choice, then booking at launch may still be the best option. However like you we are no longer certain that my wife will be fit enough to cruise in 2 years time, so we are not looking to book anything at  this launch, especially with having to pay 10% deposit.

Edited April 20 by terrierjohn

[Megabear2]

4 hours ago, Selbourne said:

So a 2 week cruise in a balcony cabin at £2,700 for the two of us, with no OBC, would get my interest. However, an on board offer of £500 OBC at a time when the cruise price was £3,400 wouldn’t!

Apart from some Arvia/Iona cruises which are in very late sale there aren't many if any at this price now though, at least from Southampton.  Our 16 night Aurora in an outside cabin is costing £3,600 with £340 obc, I appreciate it's late August but even savers on the fringes are way over that amount in a balcony from what I can see at present.

 

My only recent "bargain" has been on Cunard although I'm looking at a Princess at present which is looking decent.

[Selbourne]

2 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

Apart from some Arvia/Iona cruises which are in very late sale there aren't many if any at this price now though, at least from Southampton.  Our 16 night Aurora in an outside cabin is costing £3,600 with £340 obc, I appreciate it's late August but even savers on the fringes are way over that amount in a balcony from what I can see at present.

 

My only recent "bargain" has been on Cunard although I'm looking at a Princess at present which is looking decent.

I didn’t even look at Arvia and Iona as we aren’t interested in them. It’s possible to get within that price on Britannia and Ventura, and I found a few but, as mentioned we aren’t interested in booking that far out. I strongly suspect that more will become available within our target price if we book after balance due date, as we managed successfully with 2 cruises last year. As mentioned, launch prices aren’t always the cheapest nowadays. 

[Fionboard]

8 hours ago, Selbourne said:

I meant to add that exact point in my response. OBC is a marketing ploy to make people feel that they are getting a bargain when, in reality, they might not be. Periods of high OBC are usually accompanied by higher cruise prices. Clearly an on board offer of double or treble OBC makes it a better deal than booking at the same time ashore but, as evidenced by the recent example given in my post, it may well still end up being a poor move. People on board our recent cruise were chuffed at getting £1,200 OBC (treble OBC offer) on next years Grand Voyage, only to find that the cruise price dropped £2,000 afterwards, so that ‘offer’ cost them £800!
 

Like you, in order to see through these marketing tactics, I simply work on a price cap, in my case £100 pppn for a balcony cabin. I calculate the cruise price as the quoted price minus OBC. So a 2 week cruise in a balcony cabin at £2,700 for the two of us, with no OBC, would get my interest. However, an on board offer of £500 OBC at a time when the cruise price was £3,400 wouldn’t!
 

Then, of course, there’s the further complication that you don’t get loyalty discount off on-board spend when you have OBC, and on our 65 nighter people were ‘using up’ large sums of OBC on daft things just to get rid of it. Our total on board spend for the whole cruise was less than half the amount of OBC that some people had, we got 10% loyalty discount and, above all, we’d paid less than half the price for the cruise that those who’d got the ‘free’ OBC had paid 🤔

When you have 10% off all on board spend, OBC is not so important. 

[Palaceman]

12 minutes ago, Fionboard said:

When you have 10% off all on board spend, OBC is not so important. 

If I am happy with the price I have paid for the cruise, I'd rather have OBC, which gives me 100% discount, than just 10% Peninsula Club discount.

[david63]

54 minutes ago, Palaceman said:

If I am happy with the price I have paid for the cruise, I'd rather have OBC, which gives me 100% discount, than just 10% Peninsula Club discount.

That is not true and that is what P&O rely on.

 

If the cruise was £1100 with £100 OBC then you pay £1100. If no OBC then cruise is £1000 and your £100 spend becomes £90 - total £1090

[Palaceman]

47 minutes ago, david63 said:

That is not true and that is what P&O rely on.

 

If the cruise was £1100 with £100 OBC then you pay £1100. If no OBC then cruise is £1000 and your £100 spend becomes £90 - total £1090

I have to disagree. I said, if I am happy with the cost of the cruise, i.e  £1100, then that is fine. If that £1100 cruise comes with £100 OBC then  the first £100 I spend on board equates to a £100 discount. 

[Bazrat]

We mostly book onboard, last year we got £680 which I don't care what anyone say's we thought was good, this year we get £500 but the holiday is slightly cheaper because they was running a special offer, the flights are now more expensive for premium. 

[terrierjohn]

3 hours ago, david63 said:

That is not true and that is what P&O rely on.

 

If the cruise was £1100 with £100 OBC then you pay £1100. If no OBC then cruise is £1000 and your £100 spend becomes £90 - total £1090

You're assuming that any OBC also equates to an equal amount of extra pricing, which even it were true it would be difficult to know, unless they kept a meticulous spreadsheet of all the cruises in which they were interested, which few passengers do.

So in most cases people look at the quoted price, and if it comes with OBC then they are happy that they have got something extra, although I do agree that a lower price would be my preferred option.

[Gettingwarmer]

9 hours ago, terrierjohn said:

You're assuming that any OBC also equates to an equal amount of extra pricing,

This always seems to happen a few weeks after the cruises come on sale. A year or two later not sure. 

[Ilovemygarden]

Does anyone on board now know what the perks are at the moment?

[daiB]

23 hours ago, Selbourne said:

I didn’t even look at Arvia and Iona as we aren’t interested in them. It’s possible to get within that price on Britannia and Ventura, and I found a few but, as mentioned we aren’t interested in booking that far out. I strongly suspect that more will become available within our target price if we book after balance due date, as we managed successfully with 2 cruises last year. As mentioned, launch prices aren’t always the cheapest nowadays. 

As we have discussed before that is not my experience. I have still not found a cruise cheaper than I got it for on day one. Possibly you were lucky with yours because of the cost of living crisis and people dropping out late in the day. I am very happy with the prices I have  got for our summer 26 cruises.

[Bazrat]

18 minutes ago, daiB said:

As we have discussed before that is not my experience. I have still not found a cruise cheaper than I got it for on day one. Possibly you were lucky with yours because of the cost of living crisis and people dropping out late in the day. I am very happy with the prices I have  got for our summer 26 cruises.

Totally agree with your comments, we book in advance because we want to be on a specific deck cabin and location, if you wait till after balance due it is a lottery what you get but each there own.

[Selbourne]

5 minutes ago, daiB said:

As we have discussed before that is not my experience. I have still not found a cruise cheaper than I got it for on day one. Possibly you were lucky with yours because of the cost of living crisis and people dropping out late in the day. I am very happy with the prices I have  got for our summer 26 cruises.

We were definitely lucky Dai. On both cruises where this happened, I had enquired on a couple of previous occasions for each, and there was no availability of accessible balcony cabins, yet on the third time of asking (after balance due date) we managed to get one (in fact we had a choice of 2 on Britannia).
 

As we know, a lot can happen in the two years between launch and balance due date that may affect people’s desire to go on the cruise. Obviously I have no idea why those 3 bookings were cancelled, but logic would suggest that those requiring accessible cabins may be more likely to have to pull out due to health related issues?

 

Naturally I have no way of knowing if this will happen again as it’s supply and demand. This is now the second launch in a row where we haven’t been wowed enough by any itineraries to book so far out, and the few that have slightly appealed have been more than we’d be prepared to pay. However, I’ve kept a note of the launch prices and will monitor up to sail date. If the price becomes more attractive I might enquire, but I’m fully aware that luck would need to be on our side.