Select or Saver Fares?

[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?

[wolfie]

For at least 10 years we always booked on the first day that cruises were on sale and booked a specific cabin and dining.(Now we much prefer Freedom Dining.)

A few years ago we were unable to book ahead due to health reasons so bookednearer departure,often a saver fare but on ships that we had sailed on before so that we knew what cabin we might be getting, (research here is imperative).Had some great cabins allocated, even an aft cabin on Arcadia.

Last year, we booked two long cruises for this year, one whilst on board, ( and another soon after we got back from our 23 night Caribbean cruise), both on the £50pp deposit and both select fares. Within weeks both cruises had been heavily discounted with huge amounts of OBC added.

We cancelled both cruises, forfeited the small deposit of £200, and rebooked the same cabins for both cruises with a huge amount of additional OBC. We saved well over £3000 by doing this.

A few months ago, our next cruise had been reduced, yet again, by a considerable amount, I am not talking 2 figures or even 3 figures, but 4 figures and even more OBC. I contacted our cruise agent and they had received numerous complaints; many of their customers had cancelled and rebooked, because, even forfeiting their full deposit and rebooking made such a huge difference to the cost. However, I decided to take a different route on the advice of my cruise agent and am glad to say that, with me on a mission to disprove that booking early secures the best prices for loyal passengers, and refusing any more OBC, ( have more than we could possibly spend, even if we spent all day in a bar!!)wereceived a cash refund which covers cost of a private transfer to Southampton for this cruse and a few more cruises. A resounding result!

So, saver V select? No contest in future, even on a cruise that has many new ports of call and that,years ago, one would expect to be oversubscribed and fully booked the first day that bookings opened, we won't book ahead any more. This was such a cruise, a new and innovative itinerary.

When I say that our initial cost pp was just under £5000 and, despite cancelling, rebooking,and further efforts to reduce this, the cost was still around £4000: recently guarantee/saver cabins were on sale for half this cost,admittedly without the large OBC, we won't book so far in advance any more.

[gravy1955]

We have booked both select and saver fares in the past depending upon the factors in play at the time we booked the cruise. If the cruise is one we especially want to go on because of the itinerary, destination,special occasion etc then we will book the select fare. ( we did this when we went on Oceana to the East.Med and for our upcoming cruise on the Oriana to the Caribbean.This is for our 30th anniversary and have never been to that destination before,but as it is for 50 days ,my wife had to negotiate holiday time off from work.Therefore we took a gamble and booked the select fare ,almost as soon as the cruise came out, to enable my wife to give plenty of advance notice to her employers and if unsuccessful would only lose the deposit if we had to cancel ( luckily she did manage to wangle the time off) However, if dates/ destination aren't a factor we would look for saver fares as the "benefits" of booking the select fare such as choosing your cabin, choice of sittings, shuttle buses etc do not IMO outweigh the huge financial benefit you receive in booking the cheaper saver fare.