Hikonyan

Japanese people are very helpful but most are afraid to try English so you wont find many who speak it. However most have taken English in school just like us for French or Spanish. If you print in English what you want to find or to eat or to buy on a piece of paper they can probably figure out what you want and will find a way to help. This worked well for me many times on all of the 4 main islands. Do not offer money as that is insulting to them. Another thing to be aware of is when they give the hand motions that to us means shoo or go away, in Japan that means come here.

Thanks Sherilyn

Hi Cruz chic,

Have you been getting upgrades by booking a guarantee? We have only ever got one free upgrade unexpectedly by Royal Caribbean from an ocean view to a balcony.

Thanks

Any promotional packages at the time you booked. When I first booked it was the Explore4 offer (drink package plus a free dinner at PG) and when I re fared they were offering the above and beyond package which had a $75 per person on board credit. I gave up the first package for a $1000 reduction and gained a $150 obc.

 

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

Hi Sherilyn,

Do you mind if I ask, had you paid in full by the time you were offered the trade? I assume that the $1000 reduction is in On Board Credit.

I have read that if you have paid HAL fully the chance of getting any credit or options is gone. That is certainly my experience. My TA does a lot of business with HAL so should have had some pull.

Thanks

We get an email about price drops from ***************.

On the 24 day Eurodam cruise the prices have dropped $1000 pp on the ocean views and about $1200-1300 pp on the verandas. I think the drop on the inside is about 900-1000 pp as well. When we inquired about OBC or upgrade & OBC they might as well have told us to take a flying leap. We got nothing. I know HAL will give us a quality cruise but knowing people in a cabin several categories better have paid less than us really speaks to a lack of value.

I think I have learned a lesson to wait until 3-4 weeks before sail date to book.

On a recent Princess cruise we booked just a few weeks before and got incredible value.