Select or Saver Fares?

[ITWA Travel Writer]

Can I expand on "oldpoer's" post by asking about early saver fares in general?

There is such a huge difference between select fares and saver fares that it must be worth considering. I also notice that many of the regular posters have in the past booked early saver fares.

Can I therefor please ask if those experienced and who have used both fare structures, if you could state the pros and cons of saver fares against select fares? I am sure that there are many members who would find this very valuable.

[GillD46]

The cabins we choose very, very rarely become Saver fares, so we have only on the very odd occasion been able to book as such.

The only advantage I can see of booking a Saver fare, is that it's cheaper. Select fares have far more flexibility.

[ITWA Travel Writer]

Thanks Gill for your response.

However, before all the usual pundits start replying, may I say that I am looking for your personal views and experiences and not just a restatement of Pando's brochure list of what's provided or not. It is your experiences that we seek.

And Stephen!! not that type of experience!!There are Ladies and Gentlemen online!!

[GillD46]

Interestingly a couple of years ago we wanted to book the first leg of QE World Cruise and it was available as a Full fare or as a Getaway fare ( today's Saver fare) the full fare came with a shedload of OBC, the Getaway fare had a very small amount. I got my calculator out and crunched the numbers - the difference was £3 in favour of the Select fare.

When I rang to book, the girl couldn't believe I wanted to book the full fare, " but Mrs D you could save £xxxx by booking the Select fare" when I explained the numbers to her PLUS the fact I would only need to pay the deposit up front, she saw my point!

[cruisingtoski]

As a single traveller the select fare often works out the cheaper option. For example a couple of years ago I did a leg of a world cruise (from Sydney to San Francisco ) and like Gill when I phoned to book the girl initially suggested that I was not selecting the best option and was amazed when she checked the prices. This was the old full fare against the getaway fare and it worked out cheaper even without the OBC but the same generally applies now with select and saver

[Manoverboard]

As an ' experienced traveller ' we have been to the vast majority of Ports that P&O sail to.

We are quite happy to return to some of them now and again but NOT at any price, we therefore cherry pick and book at the lowest possible price in the knowledge that the significant savings made will negate any minor inconveniences like lack of a shuttle bus or a preferred dining time etc. This is offset by booking excursions and opting for select dining as often as we wish ... and yet still save hundreds of pounds.

We will occasionally book early for unusual itineraries or World Cruise segments.

[barney]

It all depends on the deal on offer at the time

Sometimes better, sometimes not.

As you well know with the 'fluid pricing' it can all be about the timing

[Silver_Shiney]

For us, the key is getting time off work so we need to book as early as possible. If that means we get free parking, OBC, whatever, then thanks very much, all contributions gratefully etc etc. If it means that you come along later and get the same cruise for a lot less, then I am genuinely delighted for you. Once we're retired, and able to go away at the drop of a hat, then we'll start looking more closely at fare structures.

[allatc]

We booked a last minute saver fare on Oceana in January. Balcony cabin, aft mid-ship. We were allocated club dining first sitting which worked out OK although we usually book Freedom these days; so no complaints especially considering the price of the deal.

And I see I've been "promoted" to Third Officer !

[Suekersh]

We book both types of fares. Our must do cruises are booked as soon as the brochure comes out, we choose our cabin and dining and tick no upgrade. We generally cruise at Xmas and after a couple of years seeing the price of our cruise slash in the weeks before departure we decided to hold off and see what happened. We didn't need to wait long as on last years Xmas cruise the early saver fares were released for Xmas 2015. We spoke to the future person and not only had the select fare been slashed by £600 each for the mid balcony grade of cabin they also offered us £300 each OBC for booking on board and let us use a future cruise deposit which gave us another £100 each OBC. The downside is we would have booked a cabin overlooking the aft and although we have booked that grade of cabin we may well be upgraded as you cannot specify no upgrade on an early saver fare. We cannot be downgraded though. We would prefer Freedom dining and have requested this but again no guarantee. However saving a total of £1,200 plus getting £800 OBC means that as long as we have a balcony and get fed we will be very happy. The price now has increased dramatically for both select and early saver fares but payment is due in 2 weeks and no doubt after that the late savers will be announced.

[Orpheus]

Last year was our 10th cruise with P&O and our 1st saver fair. And let me say firstly that we saved £2000 got a great balcony cabin and a great table for 8 on first sitting and although we would have gone for a table for 6 on first sitting I could hardly call this a disappointment, alright so we had to pay for the odd shuttle ( I think we paid £10 in total for these ) big money. So to round up we had a fantastic cruise R407 on Aurora to the Ffords & Arctic Circle at an incredible bargain price.

So we have done the same this year on Azura in October.

[barney]

This thread tempted me to take at look at our cruise in nine weeks ( I know I shouldn't)

Saver fare is fifty quid less than we paid
Select fare is two hundred and fifty quid more than we paid but with a bit of OBC

So, for now, I'm still smiling because we have actually got exactly what we wanted.

Seriously, though, it's not something that bothers me
We've been winners and losers in the P&O price lottery

[Ranchi]

When we were at work we always booked as soon as the brochure came out( to get a 4 berth cabin in the school holidays). Since retiring we tried a Saver (25 nights to the Caribbean on Oriana). We were given our cabin when we booked & specified no upgrade (it was very close to departure). The price was very good. The cabin was great. We we're allocated 2nd sitting club dining on an oblong table for 6. I think this is the poorest table arrangement as the couples on the ends find it very difficult to converse. We were unable to change this option. The food was the poorest we have encountered on P&O. Soups were cold, greasy & tasteless. A fish course as an alternative to a starter was, according to our waiter, 'not available any more'. Meat was generally poor & sweets were repetitive (the banana split, 1 scoop of ice cream & 4 round bits of banana was so bad it caused some hilarity!). We were quite worried when we later in that year booked a Strictly cruise on Aurora. We booked this Select (as mentioned by others this was only a few £s pp. more than Saver, when the free parking & OBC was taken into account). We need not have worried. The food was excellent & we got the dining arrangements we asked for 1st sitting club on an elliptical table for 6)
The disappointing service on our Saver cruise would certainly make us think twice about using that type of booking again. ( but ££££s saving may make us change our minds.) I think we value the flexibility of Select quite highly.

[Mervyn and Trish]

Whatever the pros and cons of Select or Saver Ranchi I can't see you got worse food and service on the first cruise because you booked a Saver fare. The menu, quality of food and service is the same for everyone.

As an aside when booking first opened we booked a 28 day Caribbean cruise for 2017 on Select. Of course it is still far too early for Saver fares to come in for that cruise but checking yesterday our cabin would now cost more than £1000 for the two of us than we paid, and we got heaps of OBC.

[Quizzical Bob]

I have just booked the last leg of the world cruise next year on Aurora with imaginecruising.co.uk for the price of £1999 each including flights and a balcony. I asked what type of fare this was and was told that it was a special deal with P&O so it was neither select nor saver. The best P&O are offering is £2649 each plus extra for the flights. We get all the loyalty benefits and we even had choice of dining

[Mervyn and Trish]

That does sound a good deal. Did you get choice of cabin? That would be vital for us.

[Quizzical Bob]

That does sound a good deal. Did you get choice of cabin? That would be vital for us.

For a modest extra charge we could have had some choice of cabin. I can't remember how much it was. We have a guaranteed GF grade, or better. These are up forward on A and L decks and we have had these before when we've had a choice. If you're interested it might be worth a call.

[Mervyn and Trish]

Thanks. Not in the market for now but worth noting for the future.

[Quizzical Bob]

Thanks. Not in the market for now but worth noting for the future.

Yes indeed, apparently they specialise in world segments but are happy to quote for others. I booked with them by phone yesterday evening and received the P&O confirmation email this morning.

[Manoverboard]

Just checked the site that QB advised and the prices are nothing like ... £1899 gets an inside and the balcony price is showing at £2,799

Imagine Cruising's www dot

[Quizzical Bob]

Just checked the site that QB advised and the prices are nothing like ... £1899 gets an inside and the balcony price is showing at £2,799

Imagine Cruising's www dot

Still on sale, which ends tonight:

http://www.imaginecruising.co.uk/po-cru ... ts/c152232

08008405884 and ask for Sabrina (direct line)

[Manoverboard]

Just checked the site that QB advised and the prices are nothing like ... £1899 gets an inside and the balcony price is showing at £2,799

Imagine Cruising's www dot

Still on sale, which ends tonight:

http://www.imaginecruising.co.uk/po-cru ... ts/c152232

08008405884 and ask for Sabrina (direct line)

Thanks QB ... I didn't find any reference to that by searching the site but have just located it in ' Tailor Made '

Out of interest I looked for Hong Kong to Cape Town but that one was split into two separate cruises within those destinations thus making it considerably more expensive than P&O. Hong Kong to Southampton, on the other hand, is a steal at £3,399 for an outside cabin for 51 nights.

[Quizzical Bob]

Just checked the site that QB advised and the prices are nothing like ... £1899 gets an inside and the balcony price is showing at £2,799

Imagine Cruising's www dot

Still on sale, which ends tonight:

http://www.imaginecruising.co.uk/po-cru ... ts/c152232

08008405884 and ask for Sabrina (direct line)

Thanks QB ... I didn't find any reference to that by searching the site but have just located it in ' Tailor Made '

Out of interest I looked for Hong Kong to Cape Town but that one was split into two separate cruises within those destinations thus making it considerably more expensive than P&O. Hong Kong to Southampton, on the other hand, is a steal at £3,399 for an outside cabin for 51 nights.

If you're seriously interested in Hong Kong to Southampton then I suggest a quick call to see what they can offer.

[Manoverboard]

It's deffo tempting but 51 days is a step too far for us and indeed our Insurance Company I fancy.

I have however added their link to my ' Favorites ' for future reference

[melsea]

Even before these deals were on offer we would ring around to all the travel agents to find out who were doing the best deals for us. This was in the days when the TA were selected by the cruise companies who would be allowed to give the biggest discount. Of course today the cruise companies now do this as part of the 'customers choice'.
We have 99% of the time gone for guarantee fare basis even when we have done a select fare which is rare for us , we do this on world cruises and I think they called it an early bird but it was really a select. On all our recent world cruise we had selected guarantee on the select fare and received a cabin one grade up.
For us, price is key as to whether we book.
1. We don't mind where we are on the ship.
2. We don't really mind where we go.
3. For us the benefits of some of the select fares don't always measure up
a. parking or obc, we can do our own parking (often cheaper than the difference), obc we can get from share benefits & the amount you get is less than the extra you pay extra for in select. i.e you may get £200 obc but pay £400 each for it.
b. complimentary shuttle buses. if we can, we walk and in fact one cruise we went on there wasn't a single need for shuttles as there were none. Even if there were the amount you pay still falls short of the extra you pay for your cruise.
I do believe though that there has been a very rare occasion when a select fare was of a good price and there was OBC, think we had that last year not realising it was a select fare. They are out there but its a very competitive market out there and P&O are reducing quite early and giving reductions to different TA's to reduce more to pass onto customers for a short period of time before it goes up again.
The upshot is we like the saver fare as it suits us.
Did I answer the question?