3rd/4th passengers price break

[oratheeexplorer]

I have read that 3rd & 4th passengers sharing a room with 2 adults can get a price break. It states something about in certain cabins. Has anyone done this and can you tell me what type of cabins this works in?

 

We have only been on Princess and I have never seen anything like this advertised by Princess.

[DiploTraveler]

The free/reduced 3rd/4th passenger fares is the primary reason we haven't sailed outside of HAL. We are adventurous types that would like to give other lines a shot, but these promotions are usually too good to pass up.

 

I believe HAL developed this promotion to get more families onboard. HAL has a reputation (whether accurate or not) of catering heavily to the retirement community and I believe this is their attempt to change that.

 

If you look at the floor plans, rooms that can accommodate 3 people will be marked with a circle. Rooms that accommodate 4 will have a square. Other markings may exist as well, so read the legend.

 

BTW, the promotion usually applies only to specific dates on a particular cruise. Unfortunately, there's no easy way to figure out which dates work. You'll just have to start the booking process for each date and see if the system shows a price for your 3rd & 4th.

[cruising cockroach]

It seems the reduced, or even free, rates for 3rd/4th pax depends on the market to which the cruise is being sold.

[aloisia]

I have read that 3rd & 4th passengers sharing a room with 2 adults can get a price break. It states something about in certain cabins. Has anyone done this and can you tell me what type of cabins this works in?

 

We have only been on Princess and I have never seen anything like this advertised by Princess.

 

Our 3rd passenger rate was N/C , just port fees + taxes. This was a January cruise on the Eurodam - Large square J cabin ( very nice inside). I seem to recall the week after ours showed a charge for the 3rd/4th. Maybe our cruise at the time, was not selling well? I've never seen this type of offer from Princess either. Too bad - we've enjoy both cruise lines.

We liked the J cabin size & location so much, we booked 2 connecting for our Alaskan cruise. :D

[OneStrangeGuy]

The information that I received from HAL seemed to indicate that this just applied to certain cruises. It didn't work for me because none of the cruises I wanted fell into this category. The cruise before the one I wanted qualified, but no could do!

[Jen&Joe]

It isn't applicable to every cruise and sometimes is just for a limited time as part of a sale. When we were looking to book our Bermuda cruise we picked the week specifically because it was the 3rd person free. The week we really wanted (2 weeks prior) did not have the 3rd person free.

 

It isn't entirely free as you still have to pay port fees and taxes.

 

You can't book all rooms on the ship either. Only those marked as a 3 or 4 person room. Sadly, our beloved VA aft cabins are for 2 only so we have not been able to book them since we had our little one.

[off2ctheworld]

We like the 3rd person reduced rate too. Usually get advertisements showing the fares in the mail. This year, I called HAL for this special. The rep looked it up, gave me the ones available for the time frame we had in mind. Just call HAL, and find out the dates. Then you could see whether to book online, HAL, or with a TA.

[oratheeexplorer]

Thank you for all the replies. Very interesting. I just thought if we ever wanted to take our sons (ages 22 and 20 right now) this could be a cheaper way to do so. Not sure they would want to cruise with mom and dad, but I would love for them to experience it once anyway.

[Typhoon1]

We'd never do it. Any more than two people in a cabin is too many.

[dakrewser]

We'd never do it. Any more than two people in a cabin is too many.

 

Sometimes two people is one too many!

 

We did share with our granddaughter in an Outside for 7 days coming back from Alaska, and that worked out. But if you've ever taken a European barge cruise with a cabin that's 6' by 10', then putting 3 in a HAL cabin is no problem at all.

[Moononthebay]

We've been doing this for several years now. We wait until HAL sends literature about wherever we want to go and then pay only taxes for the 3rd person. We just booked a Caribbean cruise in November and paid less than $70 for the 3rd person. We then split the cost evenly among the 3 of us. We will do it again for a cruise next summer to Alaska since those rates just came out.

[Salacia]

PARTIAL QUOTE

...The free/reduced 3rd/4th passenger fares is the primary reason we haven't sailed outside of HAL....

 

 

Hi gte937k. Holland America is not the only cruise line to offer free/reduced fares for 3rd/4th passengers. Sometimes it is offered as a perk for high level past passengers, and sometimes cruise lines make the offer simply to fill empty berths at reduced fares since on-board charges, auto-tip, and port charges compensates for the reduce cruise fare. I have seen similar reduced fares for 3rd and 4th passengers on select voyages made by Princess and Cunard in addition to Holland America. (I have no experience with other cruise lines, but perhaps others with more varied experinece will comment further.)

 

Just to mention that when such offers are made, the ship may be booked at maximum capacity - meaning the ratio of staff to passengers is reduced, and facilities on board may be more crowded than normal. Of course, that might not matter as much to those who paid a reduced passenger rate since they expect to get what they paid for, but it does have an effect on the level of service and life on board in general - and those that paid more might expect more? Regards, -S.

[Cruisergal1208]

Thank you for all the replies. Very interesting. I just thought if we ever wanted to take our sons (ages 22 and 20 right now) this could be a cheaper way to do so. Not sure they would want to cruise with mom and dad, but I would love for them to experience it once anyway.

 

We took our 45yr old son with us on the Zudie Panama Canal cruise a few years ago for just port fees and taxes. We were in a deluxe suite so plenty of space. The couch was made up for him each night and he said it was very comfortable.

[jaguarstyper]

It seems to me, the 3rd and 4th pax on all HAL cruises is significantly less than the first two. We almost always cruised with our daughter and I don't ever remember paying more than a few hundred dollars for her fare on any cruise in a deluxe suite. HAL does run promos where the extra pax are even cheaper, or free. On my upcoming cruise, we are only paying $99 plus port fees and taxes for the third pax. We never felt even slightly crowded in a deluxe suite. In a smaller cabin, it might be different. I'll be in a VD cabin in December for the first time, so I guess I will find out. It might be a little tight, but since we all kind of like each other, I'm sure we'll manage.

[Zyzygy]

A word of caution: 3d and 4th passenger discounts do not apply to "guarantee" cabins. If you want to receive the 3d passenger discounted fare, you must first reserve a specific cabin, at a substantial premium over the base cost of a category "guarantee".

 

As difficult as the HAL webpage is to navigate, there is a page that lists cruises on which the 3d and 4th passenger discounts apply. It is one of those "holy grail" pages that I wouldn't easily be able to find again, but it is in the "cruise discounts" area.

 

HAL insurance for 3d and 4th passengers is also a tricky issue.

 

Assume you book four people in a cabin. Three cannot sail, but one does. Because HAL does not generally offer single supplements, the single passenger will be required to pay the full cost of passenger no. 2, who cannot sail, regardless of the existence of insurance.

 

The net effect in a multiple-passenger occupancy is that the insurance pays only the discounted fare of passengers 3 and 4, even when only one passenger is able to sail, and even when all four passengers have bought insurance. (The insurance premium for the discounted passengers 3 and 4 is somewhat less than 1 and 2, but is still about two-thirds of the amount for a full-fare passenger, even though the cancellation coverage is substantially less).

 

The only way to collect the full value of HAL's trip cancellation insurance is if everyone in the cabin cancels, then the total amount that was paid will be recovered, less applicable penalties.

 

Understand that HAL's insurance covers things other than cancellation, but the value of the cancellation feature is substantially diminished in a multi-occupancy cabin if some of the occupants do sail.

[dakrewser]

A word of caution: 3d and 4th passenger discounts do not apply to "guarantee" cabins. If you want to receive the 3d passenger discounted fare, you must first reserve a specific cabin, at a substantial premium over the base cost of a category "guarantee".

 

The cost of a named cabin is rarely much different, if at all, from a guarantee in the same category.

[cyntil8ing]

Here is the link to the list:

 

http://media.hollandamerica.com/pdf/MarinerSociety_SelectSailingList.pdf

[jeda]

My DH and I took advantage of this for the first time and my Mom will come with us. Because of the 3rd passenger add on, and a sale on the cabin we were able to book the Penthouse, very exciting for all of us :D The third person was $99.00 and we split 3 ways, awesome! Mom has sailed 40 plus times with HAL and never in the Penthouse! Because of the separate bedroom everyone gets their privacy, couldn't be more perfect for us. We can't wait, sail in 3 weeks!!

 

Jess

[nana51]

The latest brochure I had showed "FREE or reduced fare for 3rd/4th passenger. When I went into HAL to book, I went using my mariner # and went all the way through but it showed only a $100.00 reduced fee. Could that really be the big reduction?