My thoughts - The quoted cost of cruising

In general cruising is very complex when it comes to the price you pay, if there is one piece of advice I have to give is do not reply on the price you see listed – prices double and half where listings are not clear that are based on full cabin occupancy and the lead time at which you buy.

When I looked through the brochure the listed prices were from £14,049 to £60,499 depending on the standard of cabin you chose. The cruise ship 'Artemis' is the smallest of the P&O fleet so can be used to travel on inland waterways; because of this there are no inside cabins - all cabins have a window albeit obscured in some cases. How wonderful it is to be guaranteed that you can wake up in the morning and have some daylight even if the only thing you can see is the bottom of an orange coloured life boat! I recall an overnight voyage from Sheerness to Flushing (Vlissingen) in my early twenties, and can still remember the dull and dreary room which slept four that we shared - it was fortunate that the voyage was only overnight as the grey formica walls and the metal beds were more reminiscent of a prison than the prelude to a holiday. It is with this old but very fresh memory in mind that I decided not to opt for the cheapest room which has a completely obscured view - arbitrarily I selected a room standard that was between £9,000 and £10,000. While these prices are somewhat prohibitive the cruise companies offer discounts (of up to 45% off in P&O's case for early bookers.) So by looking well ahead of time the listed price is reduced from £7,726 to £33,274 (again depending on the standard of cabin you chose.)

I tried to book the cruise online as a further 5% discount could be achieved by doing so and was astounded that the price quoted was wildly different to the price that I had seen in the brochure. The website was quoting prices from £16,366 to £51,808! (It would have been over £60,000 but the top six room standards were already fully booked.) As you can imagine while I was struggling to finance the trip at the cheapest rate I knew I stood NO chance at the revised range I saw on the internet. There was no option but to take the phone in hand and speak to an operator direct. Interestingly enough unlike hotel rooms I have booked in the past the figures quoted were not for the room but per person. To achieve the low rate I had identified in the brochure I would have to agree to share a cabin with a complete stranger.

In closing of this very factual and emotionless entry I have to admit I will be returning to the thorny subject of costs as there is more to it than that which I mention here. Oddly enough though, the loss of privacy through room sharing is in my mind a cost worth paying. Sure the person may snore, dislike the TV shows I like, want the room at a different temperature, be in the bath when I am cross legged for the toilet but for the holiday with the wow factor it has to be worth it. Doesn't it?