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Explore4 Special- Bad Deal


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I am not sure if anyone else ever noticed how the cruise line raise the price of a cruise, then state they will give you 4 free offers which you are actually paying for with the price increase of the cruise. It so annoys me.

 

We are presently booked on a 18 day cruise in a suite to Sydney, Australia at a cost of $6238 per person. Holland has the Explore4 with beverage package, dinner and reduced fare etc. special presently on. I called them and told them that two weeks ago we booked a cruise and would like the package they now have advertised. We were told the price of the cruise has actually gone up in our category to $7148 and if we wanted to pay the difference($900) we could get the package.

 

Really! You raised the price of the cruise and tell everyone they can get something for free:mad: If any new person books they will actually pay for the drinks etc. not get them free.

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I believe we took one of the first Explore 4 packages when it was initially offered and it was really a savings. The next time we looked into it to book a cruise, the pricing had been raised to cover the "savings" and not a good deal. Doing the math will tell the story.

 

Same here -- when the Explore4 promotion was offered several years ago -- it was great -- no price increases in cruise fares.

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Not all cruises have gone up in price w/ Explore4. I currently have 2 alaska 2018 sailings under deposit - the first the 14 day Zaandam on 7/30/18 increased a modest $85pp for a cat H w/ the promo, my second a 12 day Triple Denali Cruisetour on the Westerdam had no price increase when Explore4 came out, that was in a category H as well.

 

As with any cruise, prices do fluctuate and some will have price increases prior to a promo launching, some will stay stable and some will actually drop. It is up to us to decide if the price, at the time we book, or when a new promo becomes available, is acceptable.

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I am not sure if anyone else ever noticed how the cruise line raise the price of a cruise, then state they will give you 4 free offers which you are actually paying for with the price increase of the cruise. It so annoys me.

 

We are presently booked on a 18 day cruise in a suite to Sydney, Australia at a cost of $6238 per person. Holland has the Explore4 with beverage package, dinner and reduced fare etc. special presently on. I called them and told them that two weeks ago we booked a cruise and would like the package they now have advertised. We were told the price of the cruise has actually gone up in our category to $7148 and if we wanted to pay the difference($900) we could get the package.

 

Really! You raised the price of the cruise and tell everyone they can get something for free:mad: If any new person books they will actually pay for the drinks etc. not get them free.

 

Ask HAL to give you a price WITHOUT Explore4, as it might surprise you. I saved $1000 pp this way. It is a little discussed (except on these boards) option that your TA and/or HAL has.

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Unfortunately It isn't just the Explore4 promo that often works this way. Several other ones are similar: pricing goes up for the promo and then back down, often to where it was pre-promo, after the promo has expired.

 

You really need to know your prices to work your way through these promos.

 

Different tricks will draw in different pax and thus fill the ships.

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Thanks for the link, I see Holland has been doing this for awhile now. I think it is false advertising. There must be a law against that:confused:. But unfortunately for most people they don't number crunch and believe what is advertised. I assume other cruise lines are responsible for this too.

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Ask HAL to give you a price WITHOUT Explore4, as it might surprise you. I saved $1000 pp this way. It is a little discussed (except on these boards) option that your TA and/or HAL has.

 

 

We are already booked without Explore4 at $6238 per person. When I asked for Explore4 they wanted to charge me extra $900. When you crunch the numbers, if I were to walk on the ship and buy the beverage package and dinner it would come out pretty close to the amount of $900. Thus not a special at all, just plain false advertising.

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Thanks for the link, I see Holland has been doing this for awhile now. I think it is false advertising. There must be a law against that:confused:.
It's just a promotion. They never say explicitly that the benefits are "free" add ons to existing offers.
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What I noticed about this version of Explore 4 was the total exclusion of the Fall-Winter 2017-18 Caribbean season. In past years we've picked up Exp 4 in August for our upcoming Caribbean cruises at very fair prices. Business must be good as the first Exp 4 eligible Caribbean sailing is October, 2018.

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I really wish Holland America would be more honest in giving the customer an EASY choice between advantage prices without promo and the so-called "free" perks of the promotion.

I try to find out for myself what the difference is for the cruises we are considering and it is not easy to find out at all. A few days ago I saw, for example, that the price for the Australia/New Zealand cruise we are thinking of has a price difference of about 1000- 1200 $ which means that the Explore4 beverage package would cost us 30-35 $ each per day. As we mostly drink coffee and not more than one glass of wine in the evenings it's simply not worth it. If I had more than 4-5 drinks each day I would be even at least but I won't.

I wish HAL would offer the same choices as Celebrity does: on the travel agency's website I use I can compare the basic price without perks with one that includes the drinks package ( at the moment, for example it really is included in the basic price as a summer promo), another that covers for example drinks and gratuities and/ or Onboard and internet credit. Sometimes it's a good deal, sometimes not. But you can easily see it for yourself and decide at once.

Unfortunately ( for us) and happily ( for the cruise line) HAL still offers much better itineraries so we still cruise with them instead of Celebrity...

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I really wish Holland America would be more honest in giving the customer an EASY choice between advantage prices without promo and the so-called "free" perks of the promotion.

I try to find out for myself what the difference is for the cruises we are considering and it is not easy to find out at all. A few days ago I saw, for example, that the price for the Australia/New Zealand cruise we are thinking of has a price difference of about 1000- 1200 $ which means that the Explore4 beverage package would cost us 30-35 $ each per day. As we mostly drink coffee and not more than one glass of wine in the evenings it's simply not worth it. If I had more than 4-5 drinks each day I would be even at least but I won't.

I wish HAL would offer the same choices as Celebrity does: on the travel agency's website I use I can compare the basic price without perks with one that includes the drinks package ( at the moment, for example it really is included in the basic price as a summer promo), another that covers for example drinks and gratuities and/ or Onboard and internet credit. Sometimes it's a good deal, sometimes not. But you can easily see it for yourself and decide at once.

Unfortunately ( for us) and happily ( for the cruise line) HAL still offers much better itineraries so we still cruise with them instead of Celebrity...

 

Try using some of the other TA websites to see the "with" promo prices and the "without" promo prices. The big box club we often use for travel booking will show you this in fairly easy to interpret terms.

 

Personally I wish HAL would follow Celebrity's example and offer the beverage packages per person and not require the entire cabin to purchase if only one wants it.

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Seriously - Why do you think you should get something for nothing. How many restaurants do you go to that say you can buy the top steak- a bottle of wine - and desert for only $5 extra - This is a dead thread as far as I'm concerned.

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But I have to wonder how many people track cruise prices. I certainly do now, and it has been an eye opener for me. But the first 5 cruises we went on, after we decided to go and found the prices acceptable, we booked. We never checked the prices again and it certainly wasn't because we were rich.

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It's just a promotion. They never say explicitly that the benefits are "free" add ons to existing offers.

 

Exactly. The SBP, dinners, gratuities,etc are included in the price. As others have said you can choose to book without the perks for a lower price. We eat only in PG, have bought the SBP on board, and of course pay the HSC.

 

Our September 12 night cruise has dropped by $900 pp, Our higher price included SBP, dinners, HSC, and OBC (all of which we would pay for on board).

 

If you don't want any of these you can pay the lower price. We have a great PCC that knows our likes and on board preferences and lets us know when packages we'd like come out.

 

Some lines include gratuities and beverages in their regular pricing. I'm confident that they factor in the costs in the cruise price. Pretty simple economics- pay more, get more.

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We are already booked without Explore4 at $6238 per person. When I asked for Explore4 they wanted to charge me extra $900. When you crunch the numbers, if I were to walk on the ship and buy the beverage package and dinner it would come out pretty close to the amount of $900. Thus not a special at all, just plain false advertising.

 

When a new promotion comes out, HAL usually adjusts prices, so I would still ask them for the current non-promotional price for your cruise. You have nothing to lose and just might get lucky. I have done this in the past before, but not always of course.

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I really wish Holland America would be more honest in giving the customer an EASY choice between advantage prices without promo and the so-called "free" perks of the promotion.

It really can be easy, if you want it to be. Simply tell your TA what cruise(s) you are interested in, at what cabin category, and ask for prices both with and without any promotions. Takes three minutes and one e-mail.

 

I did that very thing a few days ago. Since the price with Explore4 was about $2300 more than the price without, it was an easy decision, made easier because my TA presented the info.

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There is no hard and fast answer to this, each cruise must be looked at and the pricing options compared individually.

Sometimes Explore4 can be added at little to no cost, sometimes the fare will increase but based on your anticipated consumption levels you will still come out ahead to some extent, and in other cases the increase to get the promo will be far greater than its value.

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