Upgrade Pricing

[Sheila127]

Looking at upgrade prices on a soon to be cruise they seem ridiculously high and cannot imagine many taking up the offer! If this is the case what is the point? Surely P and O are just wasting their time! Am I missing something here?

[david63]

What is it that you are looking at?

 

Are you looking at a direct upgrade of your current booking? If so then no matter what the price currently is you will pay the difference between your current cabin and the new cabin that prevailed at the time of your booking.

 

If, on the other hand, you are looking at the offer to bid for an upgrade then there is a sliding scale that you can use to make a bid and it is entirely up to you how much you want to bid, if you want to bis at all.

 

If it is neither of these then please explain what it is that you are looking at.

[Sheila127]

It is a booked cruise in an inside cabin. The upgrade minimum offers are:

Inside to Larger inside - £840

Inside to Seaview - £860

Inside to Larger Seaview - £1760

Inside to Balcony - £2760

Inside  to Balcony de Luxe - £3660

 

These are the minimum you can offer!

[david63]

You don't say which ship or length of cruise as both could have a bearing on those prices but on the face of it those bids would appear to be somewhat on the high side if they are per person.

 

Also it could be affected if the cruise is fully, or nearly fully, booked.

 

With the upgrades you need to do your sums by comparing what you paid against what the price of the upgraded cabin is and decide whether it is worth it - and bear in mind that the "upgraded" cabin may not be in as good position on the ship as your current cabin.

[Sheila127]

The prices are based on two people.  It is a 24 day cruise on Aurora.  I did wonder whether being a solo traveller made any difference but looking at comments on Facebook group of the  couples, all of them are saying the same thing! Not willing to pay them!  Just thought if nobody is willing to pay these upgrade prices what is the point! Will continue wondering🤫🤫

 

 

[Sheila127]

9 minutes ago, david63 said:

You don't say which ship or length of cruise as both could have a bearing on those prices but on the face of it those bids would appear to be somewhat on the high side if they are per person.

 

Also it could be affected if the cruise is fully, or nearly fully, booked.

 

With the upgrades you need to do your sums by comparing what you paid against what the price of the upgraded cabin is and decide whether it is worth it - and bear in mind that the "upgraded" cabin may not be in as good position on the ship as your current cabin.

Thank you for your comments, much appreciated!

[david63]

20 minutes ago, Sheila127 said:

The prices are based on two people.  It is a 24 day cruise on Aurora.

In that case the upgrade prices seem quite reasonable at £18 pppd for an seaview.

22 minutes ago, Sheila127 said:

all of them are saying the same thing! Not willing to pay them! 

That is only one small group of the passengers that will be on the cruise. There will be some willing to pay for any number of reasons.

[Winifred 22]

11 hours ago, Sheila127 said:

The prices are based on two people.  It is a 24 day cruise on Aurora.  I did wonder whether being a solo traveller made any difference but looking at comments on Facebook group of the  couples, all of them are saying the same thing! Not willing to pay them!  Just thought if nobody is willing to pay these upgrade prices what is the point! Will continue wondering🤫🤫

 

 

Solos pay the cost of two people for the upgrade. As a solo I never bid as I don’t think it’s right to pay double. They price them at what they think and experience tells them people will pay. 

[Sheila127]

5 minutes ago, Winifred 22 said:

Solos pay the cost of two people for the upgrade. As a solo I never bid as I don’t think it’s right to pay double. They price them at what they think and experience tells them people will pay. 

I have considered upgrading to seaview but it would be £430 x 2 and this is the minimum which wouldn't necessarily be accepted! I am just shocked that the minimum to upgrade to a balcony is £2760.  I have now been allocated my cabin and am reasonably happy with the position so will stay put! Thank you for your comments!

[Megabear2]

It can sometimes work.  We travel on Aurora on Monday for 16 nights.  At the time of booking I was quoted nearly £6,500 (two people) for a balcony cabin which I said no to.  We booked an outside cabin at £3,780 which we were relatively pleased with.  After a minor free upgrade from P&O I paid our balance and the upgrade offer came in - minimum £520pp for a balcony.  After considering it I bid £540pp. A long wait and then as I thought it was going to be refused it came through.  So £4860 total for our Deck A balcony a big saving on the original price. That was also £200 below the on sale cabin price at its lowest point which was two days after my bid. Within 5 days of my bid being accepted the entire cruise showed sold out so I'm guessing a lot of bids were accepted to free up lower grade cabins.  My BIL who has a Lido deck inside had his offers refused.

[NauticalMiss]

Morning, does anyone have any advice on the suites on Britannia. We are considering upgrading, but haven't had a suite before and were wondering if we should treat ourselves for 2 weeks in the Caribbean. It's currently showing £1,100 pp on a suite in mid/mid-aft. Don't know if it's worth it. 

Thanks 

[david63]

The aft corner suites on Britannia are some of the best suites on any P&O ship in my opinion.

 

Whilst there aren't too many perks with having a suite one big one is being able to have a civilised breakfast in Epicurean and the ability to have MDR meals in your suite/balcony - we would normally have lunch on the balcony in good weather.

[Camberley]

1 hour ago, NauticalMiss said:

Morning, does anyone have any advice on the suites on Britannia. We are considering upgrading, but haven't had a suite before and were wondering if we should treat ourselves for 2 weeks in the Caribbean. It's currently showing £1,100 pp on a suite in mid/mid-aft. Don't know if it's worth it. 

Thanks 

£1100 pp for 2 weeks is good value for a suite and the space inside is good on those mid/mid-aft suites. And it’s space etc that's the key perk of a suite for us: P&O’s other suite perks are pretty naff (apart from the Epicurean breakfast).

 

We did this location on Britannia for a mini cruise a few years ago BUT the balconies were a huge disappointment compared to the corner afts we had before. While the balconies are longer, they are very narrow and we could just sit down comfortably in a chair facing the sea without our knees touching the edge…..trying to dine on the balcony is a cramped nightmare to say the least. It was still good overall, and if we’d only done a non-suite cabin before we would have been even more impressed. But your price is good value for that duration.

[Bin man]

Had another email offering upgrade on Ventura for suites etc but looking at the site only inside and outside cabins are available everything else is showing sold out. We are in a balcony so how can this be? Not interested to upgrade as we always reject offer to upgrade when booking 

[Selbourne]

On 8/20/2024 at 10:04 AM, Sheila127 said:

Looking at upgrade prices on a soon to be cruise they seem ridiculously high and cannot imagine many taking up the offer! If this is the case what is the point? Surely P and O are just wasting their time! Am I missing something here?

It’s a clever marketing tactic to encourage upselling, but I remain unconvinced that it generally offers good value, especially as you cannot select the cabin location so there is a big element of risk involved. 
 

Whilst I’m pleased that it worked for @Megabear2 the total price that she is paying for a balcony cabin (which hopefully has ended up being in a good location) is still working out at £304 per night, which is pretty much bang on what a balcony cabin on Aurora usually costs when booked on a Select basis, where you can choose your specific cabin number from day 1 and eliminate all risks. Yes, prices can be higher if you book at the wrong time, but I monitor a large number of P&O cruises every few months from launch to sail date and £300 per balcony cabin per night Select fare is a very common price point for Aurora. 
 

Funnily enough, I was talking to an agent at a very large cruise specialist the other day (one that many of us on here use) and this subject came up. She said to me that she encourages her customers to call her before committing to any upgrade bids, as they often find that due to P&Os policy that normal upgrade prices are based upon the prices that applied on the day that the customer originally booked, they can get the customer a guaranteed upgrade, with a choice of cabin, for less than the minimum upgrade price with the ‘bid to upgrade’ system!

 

So, in summary, it very much depends on when you originally booked, how much you want the better cabin and how much value you place on choosing a specific cabin rather than taking pot luck with what you are allocated. If you booked at an expensive time as @Megabear2 did (I would also have refused to pay over £400 a night, and never have paid anywhere near that in 9 cruises on Aurora, 8 of which were Select bookings) then clearly it can work. However, if you book at a time when prices are more reasonable, you may be better off booking the higher grade cabin in the first place and choose a great location and relax in the knowledge that you are sorted!