Comparison of PO fares

[emjay45]

how do you reach that conclusion?
my interpretation is Azura and Ventura are attracting more customers than the traditional or adults only ships, hence the lower discounts, so the bigger ships are more popular all year round, not just in the holidays

My interpretation has always been that the bigger ships attract more customers because they are cheaper.

[towny44]

no Towny
some people just ignore it and don't bother getting worked up about it, they saw through it ages ago and don't let it influence their choice of holiday

Yes thanks for pointing that out DK, unfortunately some of us have to book early to secure accessible cabins which of course means that we cannot take advantage of very cheap getaway deals. However I have found the solution, ignore P&O and book with Celebrity, who do offer good deals at brochure launch, and have a better product as well.
But don't tell Chesterfield john I said so as he already considers I am employed by Celebrity's sales team.

[wolfie]

Well done HP!!
Having been stung by Vantage fares I have joined many others in watching prices and how much other cruises are sailing for. I know exactly what I want and how much I am prepared to pay. If my plan does not work out I'll find something else but it is a bit galling to sit with somebody telling you they paid half of what you paid and had an upgrade into the bargain. Never again!! I don't blame anybody who is price-watching if they have flexibility of holiday dates and are not too worried which cabin they have.

As an aside every time I go onto the P&O site I am invited to take part in their competition which I sometimes do three or four times a day as I look up prices. Do I stand a chance of winning do you think?

............................thought not!!

We never mentioned to our table companions at what price we booked our last, short but sweet, cruise but,,,,,,,,,,,,,we did pay half of what the cruise cost just 5 days later. Pure chance and a great deal at the time. We had not looked at this cruise previously, just researched any cruise after looking at UK hotels for the same dates and the cruise was definitely a better option, even with having to pay for alternative restaurants because the food n the MDR was dire. We also had a very good upgrade, within 24 hours of booking, as we did last year on a Getaway fare.

[Silver_Shiney]

As has been said many times before, if your circumstances make it so that you must book well in advance, and you are happy with the price quoted, there's no point in going back to see if it's altered. What others pay is of no concern to me. If they get it cheaper, well done to them.

[Capt Black]

Interesting stuff. Think I'll hold out a bit more for our biggie later this year, as the current Getaway fare is nowhere near the potential 50% reduction.

Might not be so lucky with the shortie we may do next month, though they did knock another £50 off last week.

[Kendhni]

Interesting stats, but the most important bit is sadly missing (and probably unobtainable). What proportion of the passengers sailed on each of the fares?

I have always considered fluid pricing to be bordering on a dishonest way of doing business (although it is rife in the travel industry), and, while one fully expects there will always be last minute deals available, surely there has to be something better than the current system which appears to be alienating some customers. Marketing wise 'vantage' appears to have been a flop for P&O ... they need to rethink the fare structure especially when there are those, like towny, who do not necessarily have the ability to wait and see if prices will become lower

[Gill W]

Well done HP!!
Having been stung by Vantage fares I have joined many others in watching prices and how much other cruises are sailing for. I know exactly what I want and how much I am prepared to pay. If my plan does not work out I'll find something else but it is a bit galling to sit with somebody telling you they paid half of what you paid and had an upgrade into the bargain. Never again!! I don't blame anybody who is price-watching if they have flexibility of holiday dates and are not too worried which cabin they have.

As an aside every time I go onto the P&O site I am invited to take part in their competition which I sometimes do three or four times a day as I look up prices. Do I stand a chance of winning do you think?

............................thought not!!

We never mentioned to our table companions at what price we booked our last, short but sweet, cruise but,,,,,,,,,,,,,we did pay half of what the cruise cost just 5 days later. Pure chance and a great deal at the time. We had not looked at this cruise previously, just researched any cruise after looking at UK hotels for the same dates and the cruise was definitely a better option, even with having to pay for alternative restaurants because the food n the MDR was dire. We also had a very good upgrade, within 24 hours of booking, as we did last year on a Getaway fare.

I think it is fair enough if people can do getaways, and I don't mind people talking about prices on the forums, as this is a site for discussions.


But I do dislike the onboard mentality that makes bit want to bang on about the low price they paid. But no one has tried that conversation with me, as, if I see the conversation going down that route I stop it dead.

E.g.

'Do you want to know how much I paid for my cruise?'


'No'


It's blunt but it works!


On the subject of how much Vamtage fares are reduced. I've got a significant amount of onboard credit due to the Vantage fare reduction for my cruise in September.

However, I booked this cruise in April 2012' and it came under the Vantage umbrella in July 2012' when the price reduced.

However, once the Vantage scheme came in, I think fares were carefully designed not to be significantly reduced, until the Getaway was offered.

They are really going to have to sort this out, and I expect no one will like the solution either

[lioness]

I'm just about breaking even at the moment. We booked also in April 2012, so when Vantage came in there seemed to be a fuel payment added. So the Vantage fare is £140 more than we paid and we got OBC and free parking. The Getaway fare is now £350 less than the Vantage, but we are still just about even.

Of course it may drop more nearer September, but that won't worry me unduly.

[Dark Knight]

Towny
just like the cost of your cruise, who you work for is irrelevant to me

some people need to book early, so what? they either pay the advertised price and off they go or they go elsewhere, cheaper, why make a song and dance about it, it is no different to anything else in life, you can afford it or you can't but once you have paid, there is no point bleating about what might have been
it seems to me that some win, some lose and some just want what they missed out on, more sour grapes than a problem with the pricing system.

[Manoverboard]

The details provided by the OP are meaningless to me so could you possibly go back to the creator and request them in Itinerary sequence

Also, to be totally fair to P&O, we recently had a £200+ reduction on our 2012 Vantage booking via their automated final payment process so the £50 max figure quoted earlier seems to be inaccurate.

[towny44]

Dark Knight, I despair trying to fathom how your brain is wired and why you go off at a tangent so often.
Price and value of any commodity should be important to everyone, unless you happen to be a Russian oligarch, if you can wait to book a getaway fare then you get both a good price and good value, but I assume that even you will compare prices of other cruises before you make a final decision. I cannot wait for a getaway fare but I do just the same when I book early, to ensure I get an accessible cabin, which is why I don't book with P&O currently.
Now pick some more holes in that.

[ChesterfieldJohn]

no Towny
some people just ignore it and don't bother getting worked up about it, they saw through it ages ago and don't let it influence their choice of holiday

Yes thanks for pointing that out DK, unfortunately some of us have to book early to secure accessible cabins which of course means that we cannot take advantage of very cheap getaway deals. However I have found the solution, ignore P&O and book with Celebrity, who do offer good deals at brochure launch, and have a better product as well.
But don't tell Chesterfield john I said so as he already considers I am employed by Celebrity's sales team.

Without a doubt you are

John

[Dark Knight]

Towny
it is very simple, so you should be able to grasp the crux of the matter easily

we look at the intinerary, then the dates ,then the ship, if we are happy with the deal we pay, unlike you or some others I am not blinded by brand loyalty or trying to get a deal all the time or harping on about being ripped off etc etc
the way I see it ,you having to book early to get what you want, is no different from people with kids, single travellers or anyone who wants to secure the cruise/ship/cabin/sitting they want
so why this constant moaning about PandO and the constant praise of Celebrity? if Celebrity works for you super dooper, but stop whinging about PandO
sounds to me that you are throwing your toys around coz you can't have what you want, tough old world innit

[barney]

You're correct Darkie

It also gets on my nerves when someone drones on & on and using every thread to have a pop at P&O.

If anyone thinks Princess, Celebrity or Cunard is a better product, fine by me. Book a holiday with them. But to make constant comparisons is childish at best & malicious at worst.
I felt the need to explain this to another regular poster who loves Princess.
Just imagine that a newbie has booked their first cruise and it happens to be with P&O, they then stumble across this forum.

After reading some of the negatives, they would worry themselves sick that they have made a terrible mistake, and that would be very unfair on them.

Having cruised with other companies, I see slight differences but have personally never had any incident that would put me off booking P&O again, if it suited my needs.

I think some folk have just done too many cruises and are actually a bit 'cruised out'
That is when they start looking for negatives and problems. Maybe some of them should start looking at alternatives.

[Manoverboard]

Interesting point that Barney cos it gets on my t*ts when I read dismissive posts that seem to be afraid to accept even a hint of a critisism about their beloved P&O.

I do NOT mean you by the way

We have cruised on a number of different Lines but in all honesty if I was a newbie I would like to read about comparisons and complaints rather than just a stream of constant praise.

[Dark Knight]

everyone has a differing view on each cruise they have been on......no issue with that at all
but to constantly put down one line, sounds like sour grapes to me and to constantly praise another seems like blind loyalty.
we like most, are flexible with the companies we do holidays with and are keen to see the comparitive differences but not to have to listen to the constant propaganda and dogma for or against one particular line.

when you get to the heart of the issue, it is mostly someone feeling hard done by or feeling ripped off coz they didn't understand the terms offered, so in my opinion, tough and stop weeping and wailing like a petulant 3 year old, pick what suits you best but give it a rest with the consatnt ranting

[barney]

I think my point really MoB is that we are in danger of getting sucked in to the Tripadvisor Syndrome, where the tiniest imperfection is blown out of all proportion and people have a rant under the anonimity of a forum.

Any genuine comparison or complaint is a most welcoming read, but you know what I'm talking about.

I once bought a Vauxhall and hated it. I've never bought another one.
But I don't spend every waking moment slating Vauxhall and extolling the virtues of my Mercedes.

If someone books a holiday and it's not to their satisfaction, get over it.

What I personally find particularly strange is that a few spend all of their time slating P&O and then go and book again.

[david63]

I tend to go along with the Dark Knight school of thinking.

It is the same no matter what you are buying - be it a washing machine, tin of baked beans, car or a holiday/cruise. If you are happy to pay the price on the day that you buy it then fine - if you are not happy to pay that price then don't buy it or go somewhere else.

Having said that - it does not mean that I don't want to get the best value for my money and will, where possible, shop around to see what others are offering (perhaps not with the tin of baked beans!)

There is no right or wrong answer to this - we all have to make decisions in life, sometimes they turn out to be the right decision and other times they are the wrong decisions - as they say "that's life".

[Dark Knight]

I have yet to understand the one upmanship associated with cruising and the almost pathalogical need to have paid the least
I can happily afford the holidays I have and if I get a few added extra's for free then great...
price is not the determining factor, value for money is and the two are most definitley not the same

[david63]

Another point.

Ever since Thomas Cook was a lad and started selling holidays there has always been someone at the next table/sunbed/room/plane seat who "claims" to have paid a tenth of what you have paid.

[Dark Knight]

if you have to ask the price...you can't afford it...

I think that was the old saying applied to Rolls Royces

[emjay45]

Interesting point that Barney cos it gets on my t*ts when I read dismissive posts that seem to be afraid to accept even a hint of a critisism about their beloved P&O.

I do NOT mean you by the way

We have cruised on a number of different Lines but in all honesty if I was a newbie I would like to read about comparisons and complaints rather than just a stream of constant praise.

I couldn’t agree more MOB. I’ve only yet cruised with P&O and only on two of their ships so I want to hear the negative as well as the positive about ALL cruise lines and cruise ships as I find it useful information. I remember a member of this forum singing the praises of P&O on the old P&O forum and complaining that people shouldn’t be posting, moaning about P&O. He thought they were wonderful. However, having recently had a bad experience with P&O happily came on here, telling his tale of woe and saying he would NEVER sail with P&O again. I have always been interested in peoples bad experiences as well as the good ones and people should be allowed to voice both.

[Gill W]

I like to hear balanced opinions.

So I tend to filter out the comments by people by people I know to be anti P&O, and equally, I filter out some of the comments by those I think are very pro-P&O

So I pay more heed to the people I know who will give the good and bad in a balanced, moderate way.

TBH, I've never had much cause for complaint, on board, they get it right most of the time, and if it does go wrong, they try to put it right.

But, shoreside, I think they need to address the direction they are going in, and devise a fare structure that people perceive as being fair.

[Dark Knight]

I do wonder if the larger discounts as seen in the information via the link, are indicitive of a fall in the number of core/regular cruisers going on the smaller ships and a that the vantage/getaway fares are attracting more families and new cruisers to the bigger ships?

just a thought

[The Invigilator]

I concur with Mr night attire of the darkest hue we are in the position of having to book early because we need to do so during the school holidays we look at prices of various companies and compare what each is giving then make a decision and book. As has been stated many a time if you weren't happy with the first price or what was on offer you wouldn't have booked it. There is always someone somewhere who wants to brag about what they have got for the smallest price - frankly I don't care and ignore them and never discuss what I have paid. It's of no interest to me - I was happy at the time - booked - bosh - done.

Also adding my two penneth to the review argument - when we returned from our cruise in April I read someone's review of the exact same cruise that we had been on and it seemed that pretty much everything was wrong from staff to food to service moaning me thinks for the sake of moaning. I double checked the cruise number too because my first reaction was that they must of been on a completely different cruise to us.