Ventura 17th August OVERBOOKED?

[bigpete47uk]

Hi all,

Just had an offer from P and O to downgrade from Balcony Stateroom on 'C' Deck to outside stateroom with obstructed view on 'E' Deck. Very good offer has it happens - 75% refund on original cost. They must be desperate. Trouble is we are on back-to-back and cabin change was only for first cruise so I turned it down.

What would you have done?

Pete.

[supered]

P&O seem to have been doing that a lot lately! As to what I would do. It all depends where you are cruising to and for how long. In the Baltics, Norway or in cooler climes I'd be more likely to accept than if it was the Caribbean. Not a bad offer though.

 

Enjoy your back to back!

 

Eddie

[Gerrym]

Wow, 75%, I'd have bitten there arms, legs, neck, etc. off and accepted!

 

I guess that would have been worth a few grand which would have nearly paid my bar bill.

[bigpete47uk]

Yeah Gerry I know what you mean but have been looking forward to it for so long now it wouldn't feel the same. Mind you the wife will probably kill me when I tell her.

Pete

[tom_uk]

Hmm... that would be a hard one for me to take. Especially giving up a C-deck balcony - possibly the best balconies on the ship; double-depth & partly-shaded.

[janem2]

Thats what I booked..did I make a boo boo?

 

TIA

 

J

[Gerrym]

Yeah Gerry I know what you mean but have been looking forward to it for so long now it wouldn't feel the same. Mind you the wife will probably kill me when I tell her.

Pete

 

 

LOL!

[KathyW]

Funnily enough, while we were shopping at Tesco's at 5.30 p.m. today my daughter took a call from P&O and said that they would ring back. How interesting!!

 

KathyW

[itbestuk]

Wow 75% off that is amazing. I am booked on this cruise and that would be a very tempting offer, but would I regret it when sitting on the balcony in the shade and looking at a funnel or whatever is blocking the view.

[bigpete47uk]

The downgrade was to a stateroom with no balcony and probably a lifeboat in front of the window. Not that tempting when you have been looking forward to a 'c' deck balcony for approx 13 months.

Pete

[tom_uk]

Very good offer has it happens - 75% refund on original cost.

 

Pete: just as a matter of interest, what were the terms of the refund? Was it actual cash (or credit card refund), or a 'credit against a future cruise'?

 

Or didn't you give them the chance to explain that much? :)

[MJ5]

This all seems to be getting a little worrying. We are booked on 17/8 also. Normally I do lots of research before booking but for a variety of reasons I just booked this quickly only a few weeks ago.

 

My ' research' since then has , even ignoring the normal moaners, been around Ventura problems - Freedom dining, inability to get seats in bars, sunlounger problems etc.

 

Now seems to be potential overbooking issues.

 

Me thinks this lesurely, relaxing 2 weeks from Southampton may not be as should be....?

[yorvik]

Funnily enough, while we were shopping at Tesco's at 5.30 p.m. today my daughter took a call from P&O and said that they would ring back. How interesting!!

 

KathyW

 

Hi Kathy we were contacted too,but they are ringing back,its for a customer survey though,.

[CASPALL]

The lovely big balcony on C deck has spoilt me for other cruises. I loved it! Just couldnt understand why the deck below had a big square table when we only had a little square coffee table - their balconies were so much smaller.

[LEESRE]

Please remember that D deck cabins have smaller balconies because the cabin is that much bigger than other decks. These are classed as mini suites I think.

[bigpete47uk]

Hi Tom,

Didn't ask for specifics as offer came via my TA

Pete.

[Gerrym]

I would suggest that unless you really need the larger sapce of a mini suite on D deck, thendo not pay the extra over and above a C deck balcony. The C deck balconies are fantastic.

[rob linda]

75% What a fantastic offer. I think thatI would have accepted and then booked another cruise.

 

We have booked a C deck balcony at the stern. Does anyone have any knowledge of these?

[Bruce62]

Going off on a slight tangent here - How do they manage to overbook?

 

Every cruise I have been on, especially in the last 10 years or so, when you book you are given/choose a cabin, end of story. I know how and why airlines overbook, but I can't get my head aound this one:confused:

[Marmaduke]

Going off on a slight tangent here - How do they manage to overbook?

 

Every cruise I have been on, especially in the last 10 years or so, when you book you are given/choose a cabin, end of story. I know how and why airlines overbook, but I can't get my head aound this one:confused:

 

I wondered about this also. Like you, when I book, I usually ask for a specific cabin number, but judging by the posts on the Princess forum a lot of Americans just book a grade (and probably hope for an upgrade). So maybe this is the way thing are going at P & O, particularly with newcomers to cruising who probably haven't the faintest idea which cabin to choose. I maybe wrong, but if they overbook in a grade then they can always upgrade (or downgrade as some of our members have recently been given the opiton) to the grades that haven't sold.

[lostinvegas]

I have just booked on a guarenteed grade. we have never been on Ventura before so don't have a clue which will be good and bad cabins, it saved us a lot of money not being assigned an actual cabin. The 2 cruises we have previously been on were booked last minute and we only had the choice between 2 cabins then anyway.

 

Chris

[MJ5]

Chris

 

We booked about a month ago and was assigned a 'guarnteed cabin'. Today got through cabin no. details which didn't match up with deck ie cabin no. started with a D, yet was on C deck.

 

Phoned P&O who confirmed that we were on D Deck and are sending us new luggage labels.

 

So guess you will get your cabin no before we go.

[Pontius Navigator]

My TA said that if you book a grade you are more likely to get an upgrade was people who book a specific cabin may well have a purpose in mind - noise, sea motion, location etc.

 

Why offer a change? Well my SinLaw was offered an 'upgrade' probably because a back-to-back passenger was booked but would have had to move half-way through.

 

In Pete's case the same may have applied with the other b2b asking for the same cabin. Maybe the other b2ber was paying full wack? Maybe a simple charlie uniform?

 

May be simple greed? The other person flatly refusing the E-deck cabin but offering full wack for a C-deck? That way they get 8 quarters from the new passenger and one quarter from Pete whereas not selling the E deck means they would lose 5 quarters of the fares.