Price drop agony

Did you ask to talk to the pricing specialist? When I called the first number they gave me a different number when they saw the prices had dropped. I booked directly with HA and I thought I had a promotion for some tips taken care of but I don't see that on my reservation page.

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Did you ask to talk to the pricing specialist? When I called the first number they gave me a different number when they saw the prices had dropped. I booked directly with HA and I thought I had a promotion for some tips taken care of but I don't see that on my reservation page.

 

 

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They must have taken away the grats. What about any obc?

Did they change your booking number?

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I dont know. They didn't say anything about losing any promotions. I did get another booking number. If you would save that much money you'd still be ahead without the promotions

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Also my gut tells me this balcony cabin was front of the ship, which I hate. My ov partial view is mid ship. For some reason HAL was resisting telling me the cabin number.

 

The main reason I wanted the balcony was the size of it. We are three adults Me, dh and ds the later two are 6'4". Big guys

 

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sounds like you booked a guarantee cabin, which won't be assigned until maybe 10 days before sailing. otherwise you would've selected a specific room and would have the room number. if you've booked a guarantee, HAL is not "resisting" telling you the room number; you haven't been assigned one yet! Certainly you should be able to find out the cabin category you booked though. And if you're working with a TA, which I thought you said you were, I don't think HAL is supposed to talk to you at all; you need to speak with your TA about your reservation.

i also got the impression, maybe from your original post, maybe from the math examples regarding perks, that there were only two of you, but here you're saying you want the balcony cabin because there's more room for three people. now call me crazy, but if they're quoting you $2600 for three people in a balcony cabin for an 11 day cruise, that seems like a decent deal. I'm on the exact same cruise one year later, and we're paying $3800 for a mere OV for two of us (and that's not including the taxes). (Note to self: keep watching this cruise for price reductions! ;)) the HAL website is showing the cheapest verandah on your sailing currently going for $1299 per person and it is indeed in the front section of the ship, just forward of the elevator bank and stairwell. So that's $2600, but that's for two people, not three.

If you want to keep the perks you have, then I would stick with your current booking (I am assuming of course that you originally booked for 3, not 2). HAL does sometimes offer upsells (i.e. you pay some additional fee per person) to a higher category as you get (much) closer to sail date, so maybe you get lucky and a good deal comes your way. But of course there's no guarantee that that will happen, nor that an upgrade (meaning they assign you to a higher category of cabin than you paid for) will happen either. If you want the better price, you need to cancel the existing reservation and rebook under the CURRENT terms. That sailing does not appear to be eligible for the current Explore4 promotion, so that's just fare, no perks. And if you originally booked for 2 and are looking to add a 3rd person, then you don't really get a choice in the matter, that's going to change your original reservation. not sure I'd be worried about a non-refundable deposit at this point either. won't final payment be in a month or so?

It sounds like either your TA told you incorrect information about HAL's price adjustment policy or you made an incorrect assumption yourself based upon HAL being owned by Carnival (but as someone pointed out already, it's owned by Carnival Corp., an umbrella corporation, not Carnival Cruise Line, a separate entity with its own terms and policies). If the TA gave you bad info, I would get them to throw you some OBC for this cruise as penance, and then find a new TA.

HAL seems to be fine letting people cancel and rebook (assuming you have a refundable deposit) if a better deal comes up before final payment. I don't understand why a price reduction wouldn't be enough to satisfy when someone is happy enough to book at a higher price. It kindof boggles my mind if I'm understanding what's going on correctly that you wouldn't take the balcony cabin at the price lower than what you're currently in for for what you view as an inferior cabin. The perks you say you'd be losing are pre-paid grats and some OBC. There's nothing stopping you from prepaying your own gratuities and OBC really is just prepaid spending money. (there's another thread going on right now about Explore4 with the general theme of those perks aren't free, they're included in the cruise fare.) You can't be getting much OBC if you have prepaid grats for three people and the value of your current perks is $500 (but again, i swear you said that was based on two people). Am I missing something?

sounds like you booked a guarantee cabin, which won't be assigned until maybe 10 days before sailing. otherwise you would've selected a specific room and would have the room number. if you've booked a guarantee, HAL is not "resisting" telling you the room number; you haven't been assigned one yet! Certainly you should be able to find out the cabin category you booked though. And if you're working with a TA, which I thought you said you were, I don't think HAL is supposed to talk to you at all; you need to speak with your TA about your reservation.

 

 

 

i also got the impression, maybe from your original post, maybe from the math examples regarding perks, that there were only two of you, but here you're saying you want the balcony cabin because there's more room for three people. now call me crazy, but if they're quoting you $2600 for three people in a balcony cabin for an 11 day cruise, that seems like a decent deal. I'm on the exact same cruise one year later, and we're paying $3800 for a mere OV for two of us (and that's not including the taxes). (Note to self: keep watching this cruise for price reductions! ;)) the HAL website is showing the cheapest verandah on your sailing currently going for $1299 per person and it is indeed in the front section of the ship, just forward of the elevator bank and stairwell. So that's $2600, but that's for two people, not three.

 

 

 

If you want to keep the perks you have, then I would stick with your current booking (I am assuming of course that you originally booked for 3, not 2). HAL does sometimes offer upsells (i.e. you pay some additional fee per person) to a higher category as you get (much) closer to sail date, so maybe you get lucky and a good deal comes your way. But of course there's no guarantee that that will happen, nor that an upgrade (meaning they assign you to a higher category of cabin than you paid for) will happen either. If you want the better price, you need to cancel the existing reservation and rebook under the CURRENT terms. That sailing does not appear to be eligible for the current Explore4 promotion, so that's just fare, no perks. And if you originally booked for 2 and are looking to add a 3rd person, then you don't really get a choice in the matter, that's going to change your original reservation. not sure I'd be worried about a non-refundable deposit at this point either. won't final payment be in a month or so?

 

 

 

It sounds like either your TA told you incorrect information about HAL's price adjustment policy or you made an incorrect assumption yourself based upon HAL being owned by Carnival (but as someone pointed out already, it's owned by Carnival Corp., an umbrella corporation, not Carnival Cruise Line, a separate entity with its own terms and policies). If the TA gave you bad info, I would get them to throw you some OBC for this cruise as penance, and then find a new TA.

 

 

 

HAL seems to be fine letting people cancel and rebook (assuming you have a refundable deposit) if a better deal comes up before final payment. I don't understand why a price reduction wouldn't be enough to satisfy when someone is happy enough to book at a higher price. It kindof boggles my mind if I'm understanding what's going on correctly that you wouldn't take the balcony cabin at the price lower than what you're currently in for for what you view as an inferior cabin. The perks you say you'd be losing are pre-paid grats and some OBC. There's nothing stopping you from prepaying your own gratuities and OBC really is just prepaid spending money. (there's another thread going on right now about Explore4 with the general theme of those perks aren't free, they're included in the cruise fare.) You can't be getting much OBC if you have prepaid grats for three people and the value of your current perks is $500 (but again, i swear you said that was based on two people). Am I missing something?

I booked a specific room. Please reread the beginning of the thread. There is only 1 of these cabins available for 3. I did NOT get grats for 3 only 2 and obc for only two. Once again originsl fare for three is $3200 plus taxes $1185 for three less $300 grats for 2 and 100 obc from Hal other obc from ta

Fare now $2600 for 3 for bslcony front of ship, hal is resisting guving me this cabin number i have the original one,

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I have used ES rate and retained all my perks with 3 sailing. One sailing I got 3 price drops. Never had to rebook.

 

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Because the perks stayed the same. They included the perks with the current offer. Just because it hasn't happened to YOU doesn't mean it doesn't happen.

Also you can't go down a category with Carnival on Early Saver.. and if you upgrade most likely it's to a guarantee.

Sounds like HAL wants to put you in a guarantee.. personally I would not do that. I choose my cabin carefully.

So basically Carnival and HAL have similar programs.. rates with non refundable deposits, upgrades to guarantees ( if the current rate is for a guarantee) and losing of any perks if the current one doesn't include it.

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A few years ago while trying to book Noordam for a Med cruise we had a bit of an issue with HAL. Or at least our TA did on our behalf.

After some back and forth for two days we resolved the issue to our satisfaction. We took the hint, walked away from the discussion between HAL and our TA, and took our business elsewhere.

We booked the same itinerary on a Celebrity ship.