Planning a cruise

[stockport1965]

Originally Posted by Melbatb

I would post this on the Cruise section - there are some very knowledgeable members on there! It is the next forum down on the list!

How was the Far East trip?

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Far East was amazing, Hong Kong was my favourite and not a bit of Disney in sight for me 😀

[stockport1965]

Originally Posted by catherinesian

5th - Fjords on P&O Ventura - 7 nights.

I booked all of mine through iglu.com. I find their prices the best.

Looking forward to trying P&O and we got such a good deal we couldn't not book - £600pp for a balcony cabin 7 nights

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That's a really good price from what I have seen!

[catherinesian]

Originally Posted by stockport1965

That's a really good price from what I have seen!

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It's a definite bargain - hence why we quickly paid a deposit when we saw the price We booked it in Jan 18 for May 19. They say there's a rush to book holidays in Jan but I'm sure it's meant to be for that year not the year after

Although saying that my mum managed to get a weeks Fjords cruise on a Royal C ship for £350 each or something, but that was an inside and she was a bit disappointed as felt with all the scenery at least a window is needed. Also apparently they shut off all of the buffet in between meals so nobody could just sit inside and look through the huge windows? We will be sat on our balcony with coats on

Fjords cruises tend to be more expensive than other Southampton based ones as the port prices in Norway are more expensive than the med / Canaries. We had been wanting to go on one for years.

[Omega1]

The best deals are to had by being flexible and holding your nerve, especially if you can wait until around 90 days out, being final payment date. Many Americans and Canadians keep multiple deposits on different cruises and don't decide until the last minute. This means they can cancel and get their deposits returned which releases lots of cabins. The cruise lines then start to give significant discounts. As an example, we were watching the price of a Princess cruise - 14 days Norway to the North Cape in June, inside cabin. My brother booked when it was £1699pp, just after final payment it was £899. This has happened for 2 of the last 3 years. We are going to jump in 2019 if there is a similar price drop. Similarly, 3 years ago we did a Fjords cruise, 8 nights for £499 (inside cabin). Being retired makes being flexible easier and we aim to pay around £65 or less pppn for an inside cabin.
We are paying £65pppn for our Caribbean cruise next week, again on Princess but we booked this last April and got flights for £200pp through the cruise line (Virgin out, BA back). We don't have any extras such as drinks packages - we don't drink enough to warrant the extra cost. We try to maximise our 'free' on board credit such having a future cruise deposit which gives $75pp obc and several years ago we bought shares in Carnival Corporation which gives us $250 obc per cruise on any of their cruise lines - so a total of $400obc this time - which pays the bar bill and some of the gratuities. Being on the highest loyalty level brings additional perks such as (on Princess) free bar set up in cabin, free internet, free laundry, etc. They also offer $250 military (or ex military) obc but my service in the Scouts doesn't count unfortunately.
I'm often amazed at how much is paid for cruises, by keeping to the above 'rules', we sail cheap and sail often (41 and counting)!

[JudyC]

The £1000 pp for 7 nights to Norway and fjjords is expensive then? The problem we can't be flexible on dates as we both have to book leave from work way in advance.
I'll have a look later on when final payment would be due for a cruise leaving 8th June. If I paid the £25 pp deposit now then if it comes down in price perhaps I could cancel and rebook if it was worth forfeiting £50.

[catherinesian]

Originally Posted by JudyC

The £1000 pp for 7 nights to Norway and fjjords is expensive then? The problem we can't be flexible on dates as we both have to book leave from work way in advance.
I'll have a look later on when final payment would be due for a cruise leaving 8th June. If I paid the £25 pp deposit now then if it comes down in price perhaps I could cancel and rebook if it was worth forfeiting £50.

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What cabin is it? If inside, yes, if balcony, then it's reasonable. You can get it cheaper but not often.

[Omega1]

Originally Posted by JudyC

The £1000 pp for 7 nights to Norway and fjjords is expensive then? The problem we can't be flexible on dates as we both have to book leave from work way in advance.
I'll have a look later on when final payment would be due for a cruise leaving 8th June. If I paid the £25 pp deposit now then if it comes down in price perhaps I could cancel and rebook if it was worth forfeiting £50.

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If you can secure the cruise you want on a low deposit then that makes sense. We have done that before and ‘refared’ but still kept our original cabin. We have two cruises booked for Oct 19, reserved for £1 deposit each and locking in our preferred cabin. One cruise has already dropped £300pp but is still more than we want to pay. When/if it drops to a level we’re happy with we will cancel and immediately rebook using a future cruise deposit to get the $75 obc. If it doesn’t drop enough by final payment date we will cancel (losing our £2) and wait to see if falls later. The downside is that flights could be dearer the longer we leave it - but it’s a risk we take.
It’s hard to say if £1000pp for a 7 night cruise (£143pppn) is expensive because it depends on the cruise line, grade of cabin (suite, balcony, inside, etc), any drinks package, are gratuities included, etc.
ETA just reread your post and you have a balcony cabin on P&O - does it have any extras?

[Cloverlady]

Originally Posted by Omega1

The best deals are to had by being flexible and holding your nerve, especially if you can wait until around 90 days out, being final payment date. Many Americans and Canadians keep multiple deposits on different cruises and don't decide until the last minute. This means they can cancel and get their deposits returned which releases lots of cabins. The cruise lines then start to give significant discounts. As an example, we were watching the price of a Princess cruise - 14 days Norway to the North Cape in June, inside cabin. My brother booked when it was £1699pp, just after final payment it was £899. This has happened for 2 of the last 3 years. We are going to jump in 2019 if there is a similar price drop. Similarly, 3 years ago we did a Fjords cruise, 8 nights for £499 (inside cabin). Being retired makes being flexible easier and we aim to pay around £65 or less pppn for an inside cabin.
We are paying £65pppn for our Caribbean cruise next week, again on Princess but we booked this last April and got flights for £200pp through the cruise line (Virgin out, BA back). We don't have any extras such as drinks packages - we don't drink enough to warrant the extra cost. We try to maximise our 'free' on board credit such having a future cruise deposit which gives $75pp obc and several years ago we bought shares in Carnival Corporation which gives us $250 obc per cruise on any of their cruise lines - so a total of $400obc this time - which pays the bar bill and some of the gratuities. Being on the highest loyalty level brings additional perks such as (on Princess) free bar set up in cabin, free internet, free laundry, etc. They also offer $250 military (or ex military) obc but my service in the Scouts doesn't count unfortunately.
I'm often amazed at how much is paid for cruises, by keeping to the above 'rules', we sail cheap and sail often (41 and counting)!

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Very good post
I always think you post good cruise advice Omega!

I wonder, can you clarify, please, what is classed as a reasonable PPPN?
I think I read sub £100, but that obviously excludes flights, yes?
Always confused about this

We have started to do a fair bit of cruising since our first last Easter, and are always on the look out for good deals for the future subject to itineraries we are interested in.
We've tended to book direct with the cruiselines as opposed to via TA. Would you say it's better to do that generally?
Or to use a TA who puts together the whole package?
And can you get deposits back on cruises then? Or are some companies different?

Thanks for any valuable insight!

[katiec68]

Originally Posted by JudyC

The £1000 pp for 7 nights to Norway and fjjords is expensive then? The problem we can't be flexible on dates as we both have to book leave from work way in advance.
I'll have a look later on when final payment would be due for a cruise leaving 8th June. If I paid the £25 pp deposit now then if it comes down in price perhaps I could cancel and rebook if it was worth forfeiting £50.

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We paid just under £1000 each for our fjords cruise with P&O. Balcony cabin on Arcadia.
We got about £250 obc.

I'm a nightmare and always like to have something specific booked. Even if it could be cheaper later. I don't like the stress of it all. And we can really holiday when we want too 🙄🙄🙄🙄.

We figured£1000 for an AI in a 4/5 star hotel would be around the same

Xxd

[Omega1]

Originally Posted by Cloverlady

Very good post
I always think you post good cruise advice Omega!

I wonder, can you clarify, please, what is classed as a reasonable PPPN?
I think I read sub £100, but that obviously excludes flights, yes?
Always confused about this

We have started to do a fair bit of cruising since our first last Easter, and are always on the look out for good deals for the future subject to itineraries we are interested in.
We've tended to book direct with the cruiselines as opposed to via TA. Would you say it's better to do that generally?
Or to use a TA who puts together the whole package?
And can you get deposits back on cruises then? Or are some companies different?

Thanks for any valuable insight!

See more...

Thanks
I can only pass on what I have learned over the years and in retirement we have to make our pension pounds go as far as they can!
As I said, we aim for £65pppn or less in an inside cabin, out of school holidays, no extras (beverage package etc), flights not included. That said, some itineraries have limited availability so prices tend not to drop much, if at all.
We prefer to book direct with the cruise line as we stay in control of the booking - our experience of UK TAs is not good, it seems that once they have our money they aren’t interested in resolving issues. On the very few occasions we have used a US agent it has been a very different experience- they seem to be genuinely working on your behalf.
Of course, there are exceptions to all this where heavily discounted cabins are released to select TAs and are not available on the cruise line website. These are then packaged with flights, hotels etc to give some great deals. As an example there is a wonderful itinerary on MSC (Genoa to Durban) next October, the cheapest fare on the cruise line website is £2400 (cruise only), some TAs have a package of cruise, flights and 3 nights in a Durban hotel for £1900. So sometimes it’s hard to compare apples with apples.
Generally, any deposits paid in the UK are non-refundable. US deposits are generally refundable.
Hope this helps.