Pre-registering directly with P&O

[Tally 390]

I saw a post on P&O’s Facebook page yesterday by someone who said NEVER register an interest in a cruise directly with P&O. His reason was that TA’s get first choice of cabins. Surely that can’t be right?  He also said that with P&O you have to pay the deposit when you register. Now that is correct. Does that mean you don’t have to pay the deposit when you register an interest with a TA? I’ve always booked directly and registered an interest directly with P&O and not a TA. I wonder now have I been very foolish? 

[*Dancing Queen* 394]

A travel agent will take your credit card details when you register but will not take a deposit until the booking is actually made.

[Davybe 529]

It was a while ago we registered and interest in a cruise with P&O ,they did offer us a choice of cabins ,one we requested was taken,and they took a deposit when we booked not when we registered. We were unable to make the cruise and P&O offered us the option of booking another cruise to the same value ,Agents just tend to cancel the booking....Davybe   

[Furby 441]

my parents register with bolsover, they did not take card details this year, previous years they have though so think this is a recent change. they called them on the day it went on sale to let them know what they had got and to put the deposit through. comparing them to p&o prices they were also cheaper which is normal anyway as they are always cheaper than p&o

[eyes12 82]

My Parents also register with Bolsover cruise club Furby and they are so efficient and wont take the card until it is booked. they always get the cabin my parents want and they have always been cheaper than p&o.

[kellyohara 30]

Travel agents tend to offer reduced rates and dont take payment until on the day. I have registered with Bolsover Cruise Club many times and they have always got my first choice.

[Jaczs 701]

A few years ago we pre-registered direct with P&O for Britannia's first Christmas/New Year and paid our deposit for an in-obstructed balcony this was the first day of pre-registering . On the day of sale I waited for a phone call giving me my cabin number and when I had heard nothing by mid-day I started to get concerned but could not get through on the phone as lines were busy as expected.   Finally at gone 4pm I received my call telling me my room number which was on A deck right under the bridge so in the shade so as far as I am concerned that is obstructed cabin and not what I had asked for. I asked for a different cabin only to be told there was only one left which I could have which was the same cabin on the starboard side.  I had friends going on this cruise who had all pre-registered with Bolsover and they had all been asked for the cabin numbers they wanted and all of them got their first choice expect one who got their second choice and their deposits were not taken until the day the cruises went on sale where as mine had been taken months before. I was furious and complained to P&O who simply did not care and I ended up paying yet more money for a cabin which was not obstructed I swore then I would never pre-register direct with P&O and I have now started using Bolsover and guess what I got my first choice of cabin and paid my deposit much later and received great service. So yes Tally it is true those passengers who book direct with P&O get the cabins that are left over even though they have paid their deposits months in advance.

 

[jinky 96]

That`s shocking. I`d seen it was generally more expensive but assumed you paid for the extra choices of cabin available.

[Tally 390]

Well thank you all for your replies.  I had a Personal cruise specialist and he had never requested a deposit when I pre-registered. Unfortunately when I pre-registered in 2014 for our Oceana cruise in 2016 he wasn't in the office. The person I spoke to told me I had to pay a deposit which I did. I then went off on a cruise and when I returned home I found I had not been given what I wanted. I did get my deposit back. When I checked a lot later the suite I wanted had become available so I booked it but had to pay £4000 more than the original price. I have a different PCS now and she requires a deposit when I pre-register. I may have to rethink how I book from now on.   

[MG16 149]

I'm not sure about P&O or other travel agents but Bolsover come in at 8am on the day it goes on sale, elsewhere might not come in until 9am or later, whatever their normal work hours and so Bolsover have already snapped up the best cabins

[Jaczs 701]

5 minutes ago, MG16 said:

I'm not sure about P&O or other travel agents but Bolsover come in at 8am on the day it goes on sale, elsewhere might not come in until 9am or later, whatever their normal work hours and so Bolsover have already snapped up the best cabins

Yes you are right MG16 Bolsover certainly get their customers what they have asked for and put the hours in to achieve it however my annoyance with P&O was that they had taken my deposit (15%) not a small amount which they had sat on until the cruise went on sale and then I was put to the very back of the line after all the travel agents had been dealt with and customers who rang on the day. I ended up with Hobsons choice and P&O didn't even care, I didn't expect to be first on the list but I did expect a phone call in the morning to ask my preference of cabin after all they had already taken my deposit. 

[MG16 149]

Did P&O not take a list of your preferred cabins when you pre-registered? Bolsover has always asked me for as many cabins that I would be happy with and a couple of years ago there was none that I had chosen available, they called me very early and asked if I would be happy with any of the cabins which were left. Not great service at all from P&O

[sammy sun 1084]

It's not just the taking of cabin preferences and deposit that I like with Bolsover. I've only done the pre-registration thing once and it was excellent all-round. My favourite thing about Bolsover is the ability to speak to the same person every time, no matter what the issue. If they need to pass you to someone in admin they will but it's rare. You develop a rapport with the person over time and they come to know what you like and what you don't. This is brilliant for me as I hate it when you speak to different people and have to start all over again everytime. It's so frustrating. At least with Bolsover, if for some reason you can't speak to the person you've been dealing with, the matter has already been left with someone else who is already up to speed.

There's nothing worse than having to explain yourself to a different person everytime. I once booked with an agent who had their sales office in London and their after-sales in Wales. Ok you'd think it would b fine due to computer systems these days but it wasn't. It was a nightmare to get anything sorted so I value Bolsover heavily for that.

[Jaczs 701]

2 hours ago, MG16 said:

Did P&O not take a list of your preferred cabins when you pre-registered? Bolsover has always asked me for as many cabins that I would be happy with and a couple of years ago there was none that I had chosen available, they called me very early and asked if I would be happy with any of the cabins which were left. Not great service at all from P&O

No MG16 they will only ask you to give a grade of cabin but not the option to pick any numbers, I had asked at the time of booking what the obstructed cabins were like and told them I did not wish to have an obstruction so paid to go 6 grades higher to an un-obstructed yet even so I ended up with a cabin under the bridge when I queried  this they told me it was not an obstruction even though the brochure states it is shaded as I said I ended up having to spend an additional £300 for a cabin of my choice. The only good thing to come out of it was I changed to Bolsover and have a lovely lady (Poppy) who I now deal with who as Sammy has said gets to know what you like and what you don't and is always on hand to answer any questions silly or not I might have.

[towny44 229]

Because we need an accessible cabin we always book on launch and pre register with Bolsover, never used P&O or any other TA so cannot make comparisons.

We nearly always get our first choice cabin but this year someone in Caribou top tier had already booked it, but we did get our 2nd choice; won't be too long before we are up there with the rest of the posh reindeers.

[Davybe 529]

Yesterday I looked at booking a repo cruise on Azura for next March ,and fancied a cabin on C deck the ones with the bigger balconies ,and could not get a Stbd cabin on that deck allegedly all sold out??

All other Decks had plenty of spare capacity  ,will see what they can do on our next cruise ...Davybe

[MG16 149]

14 minutes ago, Davybe said:

Yesterday I looked at booking a repo cruise on Azura for next March ,and fancied a cabin on C deck the ones with the bigger balconies ,and could not get a Stbd cabin on that deck allegedly all sold out??

All other Decks had plenty of spare capacity  ,will see what they can do on our next cruise ...Davybe

Did you try looking at the other date? On the Caribbean cruises there is a Friday and a Saturday departure, P&O hold some cabins back for each cruise. I've always found if my cabin isn't available on one date, it is on the other. On the repositioning cruises it might make more of a difference than normal Caribbean cruises because you will either have a day extra or a day less.