your thoughts on upgrade

[Freckles83]

originally i purchased a vf guarantee on the eurodam (thanksgiving sailing, 14days) for $1350 USD a person not including tax or insurance. as of recently the price has dropped from that to a mere $890 Canadian dollars per person:eek:, not including tax/insurance.. i obviously almost threw up when i saw this. unfortunately theres nothing i can do about the lost money on my part. i booked through a TA and have already spoken to them. i was just given my room assignment VB6126 which is an upgrade. anyways my question / reason for the thread was to get some feedback. has anyone stayed in this room? im wondering if i should call my ta and ask to see if we can be further upgraded or should i just keep my mouth shut and be happy with what ive been given? im still sick to my stomach about how much money i could have saved if i had waited to the last minute. ive never been a last minute person and i guess i learned my lesson the hard way this time. anyways just wondering if anyone has any advice/feedback/soothing words to help me keep my dinner down over the loss of over $1000... :( thanks in advance for your responses. and if you wanna give me some tough love i'll take that too. :D

[CowPrincess]

If you are flying to your embarkation port you likely would have lost any "last minute cruise" savings when you booked your "last minute flight". If you could have even GOTTEN flights. For us it just doesn't make sense to aim for a last-minute cruise, due to cost of flights.

 

Sorry this happened. I am well and truly OVER looking at prices once final payment date passes. My thinking is now "I was happy with the price when I booked" so I no longer worry about how much LESS I might potentially have paid.

 

One time, I even considering booking the flights and NOT booking the cruise until after final payment. Good thing I didn't, because prices went up and up, and we'd locked in a good cruise price and decent flight costs.

 

So there's a little "tough love". You got a price you were okay with, I presume you got a decent price on flights, and you were happy with it when you committed to it.

[cruz chic]

My last cruise dropped by $1200 after final.hal made me pick a room at the VD level. I think you've done ok. Enjoy the Eurodam. I had a great cruise in oct. The crew was great.

[grantwilma]

Go back to your TA and tell them that there is no sense in booking in advance and that you are totally disgusted with this. HAL has to protect customer loyalty. Business is tough, but their actions generate problems with loyalty.

Point out to your TA that you may have problems recommending people book with you on your recommendation. HAL action in this regard destroy customers from recommendations.

[fm6175]

My cruise in Jan has gone up since I booked 10 months ago . I have the cabin I want which I'm sure would not be available " last minute " . Really don't care what the price is at this point . You are going on a great ship on a vacation you decided you could afford when you booked . Relax , get excited and enjoy !

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

[Vict0riann]

Tough love, ha:D - you are paying under $100 a day for a wonderful cruise. Keep telling yourself that you did really well, and you're going to have a great time! We booked a last minute cruise this spring, and ended up paying more for the airfare than the cruise itself (23 days)! It was also on the Eurodam, and we loved the ship. You'll love it.

[Thebes]

originally i purchased a vf guarantee on the eurodam (thanksgiving sailing, 14days) for $1350 USD a person not including tax or insurance. as of recently the price has dropped from that to a mere $890 Canadian dollars per person:eek:, not including tax/insurance.. i obviously almost threw up when i saw this. unfortunately theres nothing i can do about the lost money on my part. i booked through a TA and have already spoken to them. i was just given my room assignment VB6126 which is an upgrade. anyways my question / reason for the thread was to get some feedback. has anyone stayed in this room? im wondering if i should call my ta and ask to see if we can be further upgraded or should i just keep my mouth shut and be happy with what ive been given? im still sick to my stomach about how much money i could have saved if i had waited to the last minute. ive never been a last minute person and i guess i learned my lesson the hard way this time. anyways just wondering if anyone has any advice/feedback/soothing words to help me keep my dinner down over the loss of over $1000... :( thanks in advance for your responses. and if you wanna give me some tough love i'll take that too. :D

 

To the OP,

It would help if your TA is a wheeler and dealer. If so, you may qualify for some OBC's that u can use at the silk den for some mojitos Or martinis so you start forgetting about the price drop and your financial loss. Just kidding :) But seriously, call your TA and ask him/ her to do some wheeling and dealing. Yelling at HAL as was recommended by another OP won't help IMO. Good luck and i agree with other posters about being at peace with yourself regardless of $$ at this point in the game.

Edited November 13, 2013 by Thebes

[tuolumne couple]

we paid 1499pp for vc on the N Amsterdam at the same time frame you paid less and got a higher cat. good upgrade for free have a good time.

[KAKcruiser]

You have nothing to lose and everything to gain by asking your TA to call HAL and request either an upgrade or shipboard credit.

[tangerinebunny]

If you didn't understand that this is the way HAL prices cruises, then it's too bad that your TA didn't know and explain the situation to you. And your disappointment is understandable.

 

For many of us, airline pricing is a complicating factor that stops us from late bookings. HAL is, of course, well aware of that.

 

Let your TA know that some of the responsibility rests with her and ask her to call HAL again and ask for a further upgrade or OBC.

 

Frankly, then perhaps you should just take a deep breath and let this go. Enjoy your cruise as best you can.

[kazu]

There can be last minute deals as you have seen and ships can also be sold out. If one waited for a last minute deal on our cruise in May, they wouldn't have been going as the ship was sold out before final payment. So, you just never know.

 

You can't worry about what others might be paying and remember that those sales are for lower categories.

 

There will be people on the cruise that paid more than you for that category you got and there will be people that may have paid less. No point in worrying about what you can't control.

 

Air fare for us is complicated too and unless we book at the right time, we can end up paying a lot more IF we can get seats.

 

Smile - you're going on a cruise:D

[HamOp]

If you didn't understand that this is the way HAL prices cruises, then it's too bad that your TA didn't know and explain the situation to you. And your disappointment is understandable.

 

For many of us, airline pricing is a complicating factor that stops us from late bookings. HAL is, of course, well aware of that.

 

Let your TA know that some of the responsibility rests with her and ask her to call HAL again and ask for a further upgrade or OBC.

 

Frankly, then perhaps you should just take a deep breath and let this go. Enjoy your cruise as best you can.

 

I don't see how you can place some of the blame on the TA.

 

The OP got the cabin he wanted at the price point that was acceptable to him at the time. Had the TA known about a price drop before final payment an not advised him, then she would be to blame. Anything she can do for him now is just icing on the cake.

[DaveOKC]

You have nothing to lose and everything to gain by asking your TA to call HAL and request either an upgrade or shipboard credit.

 

Great advice - do it today!

 

DaveOKC

[Linda&Vern]

originally i purchased a vf guarantee on the eurodam (thanksgiving sailing, 14days) for $1350 USD a person not including tax or insurance. as of recently the price has dropped from that to a mere $890 Canadian dollars per person:eek:, not including tax/insurance.. i obviously almost threw up when i saw this. unfortunately theres nothing i can do about the lost money on my part. i booked through a TA and have already spoken to them. i was just given my room assignment VB6126 which is an upgrade. anyways my question / reason for the thread was to get some feedback. has anyone stayed in this room? im wondering if i should call my ta and ask to see if we can be further upgraded or should i just keep my mouth shut and be happy with what ive been given? im still sick to my stomach about how much money i could have saved if i had waited to the last minute. ive never been a last minute person and i guess i learned my lesson the hard way this time. anyways just wondering if anyone has any advice/feedback/soothing words to help me keep my dinner down over the loss of over $1000... :( thanks in advance for your responses. and if you wanna give me some tough love i'll take that too. :D

I just realized you are sailing in probably two weeks or so. If this cruise was not sold out at this time then of course HAL is going to have a "prices slashed" sale. Think of it as controlling the inventory. I assure you, no one knew when you booked that at the last minute the prices would go lower. Did you really want a VF cabin? I think the VB looks to be in a great location. As others have suggested, perhaps your TA could call HAL and try to work out some OBC. Beyond that, I think you should get over the "my life is over" feeling and smile because YOU are going on a cruise.

[OlsSalt]

originally i purchased a vf guarantee on the eurodam (thanksgiving sailing, 14days) for $1350 USD a person not including tax or insurance. as of recently the price has dropped from that to a mere $890 Canadian dollars per person:eek:, not including tax/insurance.. i obviously almost threw up when i saw this. unfortunately theres nothing i can do about the lost money on my part. i booked through a TA and have already spoken to them. i was just given my room assignment VB6126 which is an upgrade. anyways my question / reason for the thread was to get some feedback. has anyone stayed in this room? im wondering if i should call my ta and ask to see if we can be further upgraded or should i just keep my mouth shut and be happy with what ive been given? im still sick to my stomach about how much money i could have saved if i had waited to the last minute. ive never been a last minute person and i guess i learned my lesson the hard way this time. anyways just wondering if anyone has any advice/feedback/soothing words to help me keep my dinner down over the loss of over $1000... :( thanks in advance for your responses. and if you wanna give me some tough love i'll take that too. :D

 

How do you know what cabins were really available at that price - HAL ships have a few clunker loss-leader cabins so you never know what you might have ended up with. If you were happy with the original price as a fair vacation value, best to put this to rest. You didn't really lose anything. Honest.

[GeorgesGal]

And when you think of it, whether you're staying in a hotel, flying on a plane or travelling on Amtrak, chances are that very few pax paid the same amount!

[Freckles83]

well thank you all so much for the nice responses. i definitely am happy with what i got and am so grateful to be able to take a two week caribbean vacation. that in itself is really special. i guess i just wanted to get an idea how other people would have felt in my situation. i think i will call up my ta and see if theres any obcs to be had because why not ask, right? i looked at the room and the deck plans and it seems like a nice location so i think i will just stay put after having thought about it. but thank you again to everyone who gave me their input, it is truly appreciated. :)