Fred Olsen cruise rip off or just one of those things?

kathy_b_2

Hi all
My parents booked a Fred Olsen Cruise a while ago for about £1300 each. They booked direct with Fred Olsen and booked early (they were encouraged to so, so they could get a a "great deal" for booking early). The same cruise is now being advertised by Fred Olsen for £729 per person. The departure isn't until October so it isn't exactly a last minute deal they're now offering.
My question is should my Mum and Dad kick up a fuss or even cancel and re-book losing their deposit but still saving a bit of money?
They booked the cheapest cabin and economy seats on their return journey. Do you think they would have any more luck trying to get an upgrade?
Mum did phone them to complain but got nowhere with the rep.
Has anyone else had this problem and had a satisfactory outcome?
Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

pboae

If they can lose their deposit, rebook, and still make a saving, then they have nothing to lose by threatening to cancel. They could try and argue they have been massively over charged, something like it obviously isn't the good quality holiday they thought they were booking, and it's not worth what they've paid. If the company call their bluff, they can cancel, rebook and still make a saving.

stephb34

Best thing to do is get a definite price from a travel agents for the same trip as are you sure its £729 per person and not from £729, did their price have any free on board credit, free parking etc. Why not get a travel agents advice as im under the impression that with cruise holidays if you booked direct you can have the booking taken over by a T A, then they can advise you whether to cancel and rebook o rkeep the booking.

apt

This sort of pricing is fairly standard with cruises. One of the drawbacks of waiting for a better price is that you have less choice of cabin.

Froggitt

Some cruiselines dont allow a rebooking on a cruise that has previously been cancelled.

Some cruiselines have a guarantee (sometimes for US customers only) that if the price falls, they will honour it upto 3 months before the cruise when the final payment is due.

Presumably if the price had gone up, they would have prepared to pay the additional amount to the cruiseline?

mrcow

I'd call them and ask the question about cancelling and rebooking - I'd even be cheeky and ask if the deposit could be transferred to the new booking - but that's just me - you don't ask, you don't get.

MrSmartprice

Cruise pricing seems to be very fluid and one of the dinner conversations is usually about how much people have paid for their cruise. You can get some bargains by booking late, but as someone has said, there is often less choice of cabins.

You should always try to haggle with tour operators when booking, at least getting them to beat internet prices and provide some on-board credit. It also pays to monitor prices on the internet over a few weeks to see which way they are moving. Bear in mind that no-one ever pays the price in the brochure.

daveyjp

My main comment is your parents were obviously happy paying what they did.

Cruises are no different to other holidays - as the time gets closer the prices drop, cruises especially as they don't like empty cabins.

We looking on Saturday for later this year. For a start the brochure price is a joke as this is always double what they actually sell for.

We were quoted an excellent price for a cabin for three with a balcony, but there were only three left, so that's a potential problem with booking late. The first quote was a price which included 'free' parking at the port.

The travel agent then put the cruise company on hold while we discussed it. We said it was too much. She went back and they dropped the 'free' parking and the cruise dropped by £400 and matched what we were looking at paying - basically balcony for similar price to an inside cabin.

They also offered some on board credit to the tune of £150.

So shop around and haggle hard.

wannaberichbtch

With all holidays some will have paid more than others, cruises are the most likely to slash prices if bookings are down and you take a gamble whenever you book. Your parents woudnt be contacting the agent to pay extra if the holiday cost had doubled, so why should the agent refund, unless contracted to do so. At the end of the day they are still getting the holiday they wanted at a price they were happy to pay.

sallysaver

Hi,
First of all I sympathise with what has happened. At a difference of almost £600 pp this is a lot of money. If I was you, I would go online and do a 'dummy' booking for exactly the same cruise as your parents are taking. See what it comes out at and if indeed you can get it for £729pp and assuming they have paid 10% deposit (£260) I would telephone again and ask for a supervisor. If there is nothing forthcoming, then I would cancel and rebook. I know some people have said this is not possible, but I have done it with RCI and NCL but not Fred Olsen of course! To reduce a cruise by this much, it seems that there is quite a lot of availability hence the reduction. Like Mrcow says, if you don't ask, you don't get and I would go for all I could get. Good Luck - Sally