Native Floridian 26

When we tried to make a reservation, they would not allow it for after 5 or 5:30.  Is that your experience?

1 hour ago, albingirl said:

Rather demeaning don't you think?

You're responding to a very old post.  They changed shortly after they were made aware of the inconsistencies.

It's been a year and we're getting ready for our next TA on the Nieuw Statendam in April.  Are they still having Happy Hours and what about the Historic Happy they had for the 150th anniversary?  If they had it a year ago, I wonder how long they celebrated it or will celebrate it.

3 hours ago, cruisegeek1974 said:

We received the early booking discount and one $50 OBC as my wife has silver status from Voyager matching.  We had thought the $50 OBC was for everyone in the cabin, but I think it's for every person that is silver status I assume.

Yes, I was wondering at what point we would see that.  IIRC, it took a few days for the booking to reflect it, but I am not sure if they send a new confirm doc or do I have to request it.  We are both Gold, so should get them for each person.

Is the Voyager Exclusive early booking onboard credit given on all bookings?  Looking at an inside guarantee.  Other than under the Voyager Club heading, it doesn't mention the $50 PP OBC while I'm booking a cruise over 9 months out.

1 hour ago, FlaMariner said:

 

My experience is no.

 

I've taken a couple of cruise quotes (from big internet TA) to the cruise lady onboard over the years (most recently 2023) and the price was always more onboard. 

 

As with many things, YMMV. 

 

We do love the future cruise deposits...And always buy those onboard....sometimes several......For $100 we can use it to book a cruise later and it comes with OBC.  That's a no brainer for us. 

3 hours ago, glorialagos said:

Is there an advantage to booking onboard vs booking on your own at home?

We booked this year's Transatlantic on the NS while on its crossing last year.   We liked the $100 deposit, and most of all the $250 onboard credit given for booking onboard.  We requested the guarantee rate which made the deposit non-refundable, but that didn't bother us.  They actually had a $1 deposit sale while we were onboard which they would honor onboard, but with the port time and their office hours that day, we didn't catch the $1 deposit sale. We booked the next day.

2 minutes ago, kazu said:

 

That’s my understanding on the pricing.

 

I couldn’t find the new rate either on the website until the link was kindly provided.  The Facts in Know Before You Go are still the old rate.

 

Interestingly enough I went to check my Volendam cruise earlier to see if showed there and the prepaid  crew appreciation is completely gone as an option.  I had prepaid ours due to the favourable exchange rate (no crystal ball) a few weeks ago.  I’ll find out what happens on board, I guess.  

 

 

I also looked at my current booking to see the prepaid gratuities rate, but I couldn't find it either.

10 minutes ago, BermudaBound2014 said:

I'm still seeing the old rates on HAL

 

. @Native Floridian 26 can you please link to where you see the increased rates on HAL?

 

@FlaMarinerwhat do you mean by "Our two april cruises are now at the new tips of $16/day"??? Isn't $16 a day the old rate? I'm totally confused.

 

https://www.hollandamerica.com/en/us/plan-a-cruise/get-ready-for-your-cruise/faq

 

https://www.hollandamerica.com/en/us/crew-incentive

The updated amounts are now on the HAL site.  It doesn't give effective date, so presumably immediately.

HAL website still doesn't reflect this increase and my major cruise TA doesn't have any info on it yet.

18 minutes ago, Dutchman48 said:

Unless something changed recently it should be. Six months ago, I checked out prices for an upcoming cruise.

I logged in to my account and under upcoming cruise selected manage flights and trave option., The n selected flights. I was able to see what flights were available and their cost. just don't click the finale step to book till after you do your research.

I will say that for international travel Flite Eaze has come up the winner. Local travel I have had mixed results.

They haven't booked yet so this wouldn't be available.

To the OP, you can call the Flightease number and they can quote some for you.

3 minutes ago, klfrodo said:

Just a thought.

Is the price increase possibly due to you may have crossed an age threshold? 

Good idea, but our ages haven't changed for several months while I've been quoting.  Interesting now I don't even get a quote from Nationwide on SM, while I still get the elevated rate on IMT.

9 hours ago, iamtrustworthy said:

Hi Native Floridian 26,

 

I haven't seen any travel insurance price increases for almost 18 months. One of our companies lowered its prices four months ago by up to 45%.

 

Steve Dasseos

It is probably just the policy I'm going to buy, the Nationwide Essentials. They always were priced well below others, now they aren't. For my trip, it's been about $95 for several years, now it's $115.

I just made my final payment for my April Transatlantic, and while I'd been getting quotes for my trip, I didn't have much nonrefundable expense to warrant buying the insurance until now.  Anyone notice prices up about 20% since a few days ago?  For months the prices didn't change. 

Wow it sounds like it can happen at times other than the end of the year.  Fingers crossed for a letter soon!  Love OBC!

Just now, CruiserBruce said:

I think the cruise business is in a different financial situation today, as opposed to last year.

Yes, that's true.

Just now, Mary229 said:

I did not receive an email but in early November people on my roll call did get an email to pay a few days early and get $100 OBC.  I was a bit miffed as I had just paid mine off early.  My TA got HAL to apply the offer. 

Interesting that they did it in November.  Nice you got them to honor the offer.  We're hoping for same offer this year for the April TA that is due Jan 7.

Last year during the week of December 7th, we received an email from HAL indicating that if we paid our final payment by Dec 31 (slightly earlier than required), then they would give us additional OBC.  For us it was only a week or so early, so we jumped on it.  We figured they needed to increase their cash position by year end for accounting purposes.  Has anyone gotten such request recently?  

Can't log in this morning. Site just spins once I put in login credentials.  Also, I hate that you can't log in from the home page.  You have to hit Manage My Cruise to get the login box to appear.

Some will be used up by daily service charges.

8 hours ago, HappyInVan said:

 

5 days at $200/day single occupany inside cabin.

I don't recall her sharing how much she paid.

5 hours ago, HappyInVan said:

You collect a $1k in FCC.

Where do you get this?  They used to divide your cruise base fare by number of days, then give you a prorated amount back as FCC based on how many days you were isolated.  Sounds like protocols have changed.  Maybe they don't even do that anymore.

28 minutes ago, terrydtx said:

I was also able to finally get into FE a few minutes ago.

Same here! Thanks!

Still getting 400 Error today. This is crazy.

4 hours ago, XLVIII said:

Wasn't able to access FlightEase yesterday morning, but was able to bring it up in the afternoon. 

Haven't been able to access it at all today.

Frustrating because yesterday Delta changed our flights and I'm not able to get to them. 😒

Unlike yesterday, it's still down tonight.