Booking future cruise onboard

[Kittyonions]

We are considering a cruise in June 2025, and are on board Iona in 3 weeks time. Do we wait to book once onboard, or book now with our trusted travel agent. We will need 1x balcony cabin, and 1 x single/single occupancy cabin. Have never booked on board before, so would appreciate any suggestions. Thank you.

[kalos]

2 minutes ago, Kittyonions said:

We are considering a cruise in June 2025, and are on board Iona in 3 weeks time. Do we wait to book once onboard, or book now with our trusted travel agent. We will need 1x balcony cabin, and 1 x single/single occupancy cabin. Have never booked on board before, so would appreciate any suggestions. Thank you.

We booked one once and it was selling out fast ,popular cruise and as I was booking

direct I had a copy of a travel agents price ,so asked for the P&O price match,only to 

be told they do not price match onboard like the do on Southampton land based call centre.

So I would get a quote from your TA before you go ,chances are they can get you a good

price without the risk of losing out on your desired cabin should you wait .

Good luck with your choices .

[yorkshirephil]

21 minutes ago, Kittyonions said:

We are considering a cruise in June 2025, and are on board Iona in 3 weeks time. Do we wait to book once onboard, or book now with our trusted travel agent. We will need 1x balcony cabin, and 1 x single/single occupancy cabin. Have never booked on board before, so would appreciate any suggestions. Thank you.

We have had some good deals when booking onboard, it depends what offers are available at the time. Sometimes you get a bit of extra OBC plus lower deposit than when booking via P&O/TA, we have also had 10% discount but that doesn't seem to happen so much but great if you can get it.

As kalos says you need to check what is available with your TA before you go or when you are on the cruise. You can have a cruise booked onboard transferred to you TA, or that will happen automatically if the cruise you are on is with your TA, you can then ask your TA for a discount if you wish.

[purplesea]

We booked a cruise when we were onboard in January and were asked if we wanted to transfer the booking to our TA. When they received the booking they amended the price by applying a discount. By booking onboard we were given extra OBC and the deposit was lower.

[Presto2]

We got a really good deal last year for a Caribbean cruise - good discount, extra onboard spend and a low deposit. We.dont tend to use a TA as we've had some bad experiences with ours in the past bit we were happy with the outcome. May have to cancel it sadly but at least the deposit was very low it we do .......

[majortom10]

Problems with contacting P&O and customer service and their inability to answer the phone means I would never book direct. If booked onboard would always transfer to my TA who I have used for many cruises over the years and never had any issues at all.

[Presto2]

1 hour ago, majortom10 said:

Problems with contacting P&O and customer service and their inability to answer the phone means I would never book direct. If booked onboard would always transfer to my TA who I have used for many cruises over the years and never had any issues at all.

OK it you have a good TA. It's the opposite for us so we prefer to book direct for PO and Celebrity 

[majortom10]

1 hour ago, Presto2 said:

OK it you have a good TA. It's the opposite for us so we prefer to book direct for PO and Celebrity 

Well for example I tried to phone Cunard to change a cruise last week and gave up after the number of hours and days I tried. Even had occasions when message said we are busy and auto hung up. P&O is just as bad as all are Carnival UK employers now. It is the only cruise for years I have booked onboard with Cunard and not transferred to my TA. The TA I use are award winning and possibly P&Os best TA for business so I won't be booking direct again with P&O or Cunard.

[Presto2]

40 minutes ago, majortom10 said:

Well for example I tried to phone Cunard to change a cruise last week and gave up after the number of hours and days I tried. Even had occasions when message said we are busy and auto hung up. P&O is just as bad as all are Carnival UK employers now. It is the only cruise for years I have booked onboard with Cunard and not transferred to my TA. The TA I use are award winning and possibly P&Os best TA for business so I won't be booking direct again with P&O or Cunard.

You are fortunate. The ones we have tried seem to know less than us when it comes to booking or are half soaked....

[mrsgoggins]

11 hours ago, Presto2 said:

OK it you have a good TA. It's the opposite for us so we prefer to book direct for PO and Celebrity 

 

Interesting, because I too always book direct with Celebrity, but not with P&O.  At Celebrity we have a named agent we have used for many years and he will price match, returns calls quickly and gets us good deals. Having said that, I always aim to book when on board but the booking shows the name of the said agent. As you probably know, if you book on board with Celebrity you can change that booking as often as you like, penalty free, in addition to extra OBC. A big plus for on board booking with them.

 

At P&O I use an agent that many on here use, who seem to have a close relationship with P&O.  They are efficient, give discounts and most importantly, follow up queries immediately and get back to you when they say they will.  As has been said, even if you book on board, the booking goes to the agent, who then adds more OBC (in my experience).

 

You have obviously been unlucky with your choice of TA.  I suggest you ask around when on board and get recommendations, which obviously we cannot give on here.

 

 

Edited September 14 by mrsgoggins

[Kittyonions]

Thanks for all the comments and suggestions. Have decided to go ahead and book with our usual TA because it appears to be a popular cruise. Although not until June 2025, the car parking has already been removed as one of the select fare options. Does anyone know if parking4cruises is still a reliable option?

[Kittyonions]

Has anyone been onboard Britannia recently, and is able to advise where the smoking areas are? Not that we need them, but are looking at booking a balcony cabin on G deck and think that one of the small areas on the aft of deck 7 was being used last time we were onboard. Think the smoking areas may have changed after the recent refit.

any help would be appreciated.

[terrierjohn]

2 hours ago, Kittyonions said:

Thanks for all the comments and suggestions. Have decided to go ahead and book with our usual TA because it appears to be a popular cruise. Although not until June 2025, the car parking has already been removed as one of the select fare options. Does anyone know if parking4cruises is still a reliable option?

P4C is still a good option, very reliable and usually quite a bit cheaper than CPS.

[Plugtheleak]

We used P4C on our recent 2 week Arvia cruise and they were £100 cheaper than CPS. Service was very good can’t fault them.

[Kittyonions]

Thanks for the advice, and it is £100 cheaper for us too!

[Bin man]

Booked 2026 September iona .Was hovering between inside and balcony, after balcony went up £200 whilst onboard ,went for the inside so sorted .3 next year and 2 for 2026  .Don't know when it will be our last cruise but keep going while we can . £100x 2 dep plus extra £100 obc above the £90 total £190 inside cabin