Questions & Answers from Carol Marlow..

[melsea]

..on Facebook using the blog,

Here is I am putting the first one that is asked and answered by CM, here is the link if you want to read the rest of the Q&A's. Http://bit.ly/YCsuNT

What you do say girls & boys....


"Getaway prices so unfair to those who book early!"

Getaway Fares are our lowest fare, however they don’t include the range of benefits and all the advantages that a VantageFare offers – a new type of fare which we introduced last summer. With Vantage Fares you can chose the exact cabin you prefer, subject to availability, plus you have the flexibility to make amendments to, or even change, the choice of cruise or cabin up to 90 days before your departure. You even get one of the following included in the price; on board spending money, car parking or return coach travel to Southampton. And we also offer Price Promise Protection, which ensures that should the price of a cruise reduce after you've booked, the difference will be awarded in on board spending or a cabin upgrade. If, however, the price of a cruise should rise after the booking has been made, you are assured to have received excellent value by booking early.

Getaway Fares have limited availability; are not backed by our Price Promise, do not come with any of the Vantage Fare benefits, and come with restrictive terms and conditions. They must be paid for 100% in full at the time of booking, carry 100% cancellation fees and when booking, only the cabin grade can be selected, not the specific cabin. Therefore we think that the best way for our passengers to book a P&O Cruises holiday is to take advantage of the Vantage Fares.

[melsea]

Here's one that will touch a cord with many of you, someone called Brian asked this question

Brian
"I have done 8 cruises and cannot see any loyalty in those years. Could you please let me know what you give back for being a loyal customer?"

At P&O Cruises we greatly value customer loyalty and have built our Peninsular Club to ensure loyalty is rewarded. For each night you spend on board a P&O Cruises ship, you'll be awarded 10 loyalty points applied at the end of your cruise. Once you have earned a minimum of 150 points you will automatically become a member of the P&O Cruises Peninsular Club.

The club consists of six different levels, known as tiers. Entry into each tier requires a minimum number of nights to have been spent on board a P&O Cruises ship, plus at the highest levels, a degree of recency and frequency of cruising. As the number of nights you spend on board increases, so too does your tier status.

We are honoured to welcome so many loyal passengers back on board time and again and so we are delighted to be able to reward this loyalty through our new P&O Cruises Peninsular Club. I do hope you can take full advantage of the benefits offered by your tier of the club.

[Meg 50]

amazing kind of 'fob offs' - all of them

[JenniC]

Standard scripts from one of Carole's lackys methinks.....

[Mrs Pugwash]

I thought it was all very wishy washy!

[Romig1]

I "loved" the put-down of the fella that didn't enjoy the food.... basically you are wrong!

[Sealion]

Very predictable answers. I could have written them myself. Typical PR speak.

[arrbee]

Sounds like she was using the same script-writer they use onboard if you ever complain about any aspect of the cruise to Reception.

[melsea]

My thoughts also. Although I could have sworn a politician was answering them as no question was actually answered.

[towny44]

Pray tell me Carol what advantage do I get from your Vantage fares compared to the old brochure fares, with these I got both OBC and either free parking or coach travel, and the OBC was much higher. Neither fare gave me a genuine price promise to match any future reduction, since in both cases you managed to cloak any lower price in a special offer clause that was excluded.
So please Carol tell me why you bothered with Vantage fares, and what sales advantage you expected to accrue.

[Suekersh]

I read these last night and wondered why she bothered. She didn't actually answer any of the questions just quoted phrases from the brochures we had alread read regarding vantage fares, peninsular club etc. The only question she appeared to have any input into was the one about the food where she came across as poo pooing him, then went on to quote the brochure. What a waste of time and effort that was.

[Meg 50]

it's interesting that no one can be bothered to reply to her on the blog! They obviously know (like everyone who has posted here) that it'd be a waste of time

[mrsbsw]

As someone who always books early for our main cruise holiday I actually agree with Carol Marlowe that Getaway Deals can be unfair to those who do need to book early, for whatever reason. This was certainly evidenced by the numbers of regular cruisers vowing never to sail with P&O again over this very issue on the forum last year.
I think however that the Getaway Deal itself is not the problem it is the scale of the discount that causes the anger.
We have certainly noticed an increasing number of amazing price reductions on the cruises we were on over the last 3 years, mainly due to people bragging about their super deal,and it did leave me with a feeling of annoyance at times.
However it did not spoil our enjoyment of the cruises themselves!.

I am not above taking advantage of a good deal myself but I don't go around the ship bragging about it as some of our fellow cruisers seem compelled to do, and it is my observation that Getaway Deals this year are not as generous as in previous years.
Maybe P&O are trying to claw things back to the situation as it was when we started to cruise. In those days the earlier you booked the less you paid and Getaway Deals were not an issue. That is not to say they didn't exist, just that they were not as obvious as now.
Ann

[johnjames]

Having just read some of the replies given by Carol Marlow to the question and answer blog. I find it very hard to beleave that an M.D of a company can be so out of touch with her loyal passengers, come on, please have respect for your very loyal passengers as without them you would have a lot off empty cabins in the quieter times. To prove this just see how many passengers you have at the Club Lunches.


Happy Cruising

[Suekersh]

We have been very loyal to P & O. We have booked when the brochure came out and have taken advantage of being Gold members now Baltic to book early. We will still do this for our Must do Cruises but the extras we will wait to see what deals are available.

Sue

[Cardinal3]

My take on this is that Vantage fares are great if you don't mind the prices falling and you get the benefit through OBC or upgrade. Personally I would simply prefer the price to drop. I am about to pay up for a July cruise and we have had additional OBC of around £700. Now if that came off the price I would feel better! I can see the logic from P+Os point of view that they have our contracts and the money will come in. From a passenger perspective I have to spend it on board or I lose it.

Money is generally tight and I see some large reductions to fill cabins. I am not intending to deal with next year's holiday when the brochure comes out this April unless there is something special about a particular trip.