Is it possible to book Auckland to Singapore on Arcadia, Feb 2025?

[Ukulele girl]

I'm interested in booking from Auckland to Singapore on Arcadia in February/March 2025 as I will be in NZ for some time before this. I can find Sydney to Singapore but that would mean flying to Sydney from Auckland which does seem daft when the ship is sailing from one to the other. Has anyone booked this segment and if I want to do this is it best to get a cruise agent to help?

[Bill Y]

5 hours ago, Ukulele girl said:

I'm interested in booking from Auckland to Singapore on Arcadia in February/March 2025 as I will be in NZ for some time before this. I can find Sydney to Singapore but that would mean flying to Sydney from Auckland which does seem daft when the ship is sailing from one to the other. Has anyone booked this segment and if I want to do this is it best to get a cruise agent to help?

Suggest that you contact P&O or a Cruise TA. As sometimes all options are not always advertised.

 

In 2015 we were interested in New Zealand for 2017 and asked future cruises on board for a quote. They started quoting for Sydney to San Francisco, I asked about other Australian embarkations and were given quotes for Melbourne, Adelaide and Freemantle. We settled for Singapore as it was only a single hop flight. So best of luck.

[UKCruiser999]

Only sectors still available for sale disembarking in Singapore would embark in either Sydney or Brisbane for 2025 world cruise. All sector still on sale are here

[Ukulele girl]

Thank you for your help both. I have tried today but P&O wouldn't help here. I have booked Sydney to Singapore instead and we will fly into Sydney a couple of days early so we can make the most of the city. We have visited before but there were lots of things we didn't get done. Lots still to plan but the first piece of the puzzle is now in place and we are already looking forward to losing some of the dark days and miserable weather in Britain in Jan/Feb/March.

[terrierjohn]

9 hours ago, Ukulele girl said:

I'm interested in booking from Auckland to Singapore on Arcadia in February/March 2025 as I will be in NZ for some time before this. I can find Sydney to Singapore but that would mean flying to Sydney from Auckland which does seem daft when the ship is sailing from one to the other. Has anyone booked this segment and if I want to do this is it best to get a cruise agent to help?

You could contact P&A or your TA to check if you could book the Sydnet to Singapore segment, but join the cruise in Auckland. I can't see any reason why they would object, since guest entertainers and crew join at various ports of call during a cruise.

[Bill Y]

15 hours ago, Ukulele girl said:

Thank you for your help both. I have tried today but P&O wouldn't help here. I have booked Sydney to Singapore instead and we will fly into Sydney a couple of days early so we can make the most of the city. We have visited before but there were lots of things we didn't get done. Lots still to plan but the first piece of the puzzle is now in place and we are already looking forward to losing some of the dark days and miserable weather in Britain in Jan/Feb/March.

So I assume that you now are booked on the Sydney – Singapore segment, as @terrierjohn suggests you could contact who you booked with to try and pay to embark at Auckland. 

 

I got the feeling that obviously P&O would like to fill the ship with world cruisers but that will not happen so the next best thing is to split it into segments and sell one or multiple ones. The danger of small segments is if a lot of cabins are sold then that may preclude longer more lucrative bookings. In the past different segments have been released later on presumably after seeing how the bookings are going. Until recently they were selling cruises with people disembarking in Auckland and are still selling embarkation in Auckland if you sail to Southampton. They might be susceptible to extending your cruise if not now in the future. It’s often said that there are offers after payment of balance, but unfortunately I don’t think many fail to pay the balance on segments as the deposits are so high. I could be cynical and think the P&O call centre operator may be of mind that now they have got your booking so why bother, whereas at good cruise TA may have contacts but if you have booked direct then you are at the mercy of the call centre. Maybe contact po.guestsupport@carnivalukgroup.com but they take time to respond, others may have other ideas.

 

The experience I quoted was nine years ago so things may have changed several times since then. But sub sections were offered in a face to face sale. What surprised me on that cruise was that short cruises were sold at presumably a late stage to Australians for Freemantle to Adelaide or Melbourne and more getting on in Adelaide/Melbourne for Sydney, obviously they had cabins going empty. Maybe they will be offering Auckland – Sydney etc to Australians later.

 

I presume that you were not charged for the UK – Sydney fight that is now included in the headline price?

 

It will be interesting to hear if you manage to obtain your wishes.

[Ukulele girl]

Thanks for your thoughts. The TA spoke to P&O but they wouldn't allow a booking from Auckland. If you don't use their flights the cost is not reduced so we will be paying for our own flights. The TA gave us a good discount compared with P&O price. We want to fly business anyway so I am happy to sort my own flights. This will be an extended holiday in NZ so our flights wouldn't be the same days as P&O would offer. I feel lots of people would be likely to do what we are doing and have been disappointed by the P&O response. 

 

When I plan a big holiday like this I do like to have everything booked so I don't feel I can wait to see if we can get from Auckland instead of Sydney. Flights are only around £100 each so not too bad.

[Bill Y]

On 10/1/2024 at 7:57 PM, Ukulele girl said:

If you don't use their flights the cost is not reduced so we will be paying for our own flights. The TA gave us a good discount compared with P&O price. We want to fly business anyway so I am happy to sort my own flights.

Interesting, things have changed then. I am aware that fly cruises (Caribbean, Med & Canaries) have always been sold as no reduction if you did not take the flights, but world cruise segments used to have a cruise only option. Indeed these segments used to be advertised as a headline price that was cruise only and flights could be added as an extra and if you chose the flight option an upgrade could be arranged and dates changed POA. Before the pandemic the segments included flights but a cruise only price was available, but by then the reduction for cruise only was not published. One assumes that cruise only segments are still sold to travel agents/tour operators who the then add a pre or post land extension as part of their own package.

 

When did P&O stop giving a reduction for cruise only world cruise segments?