How can this HAL cruise be so inexpensive????

[dadroy]

You think that is cheap??? How about this great deal.

 

30 day Incan Empires, inside guarantee, for 2 star mariners, $1,999. Wish the wife could get the time off!!!!!! $2,199 ocean view. It costs me more to eat at home!!:D

 

This is also the first time I have ever seen a discount for Mariner status.

 

San Diego to Lima, round trip.

[bahrain_not_dubai!]

Prices are governed by demand, and obviously the demand for these berths is very, very low. I recently got an offer for a Med cruise on Rotterdam for £299 per person ($490!). Had I not already booked my flights home for Christmas, I would have certainly made use of that offer.

 

The cruise lines run on the principle that having somebody in the cabin is better than nobody at all, and thats why prices fluctuate to such a great degree. Case in point is that the cruise after the $490 one is the Christmas and New Year voyage, with the same cabins going for $2,289- albeit that is a longer cruise. If I do a per berth per day calculation, then it is $44 per day vs. $134 on back to back cruises.

 

Transatlantic cruises are such a great value. Especially if you have enough miles for a redemption ticket on the way back.

Edited December 5, 2013 by bahrain_not_dubai!

[mancunian]

We are just experiencing this ourselves. We set off on Wednesday for a repositioning cruise from Rome back to Harwich. The fare was excellent in the first place for a 10 night cruise and as I am recovering from neurosurgery 12 weeks' ago and still am not good with walking - though at least this time we are travelling minus my wheelchair - we thought it would be a good rest for me and only a three hour flight from home.

 

It was an EE guarantee - we usually do guarantees even when, as is our practice, we book over a year out - but in this case as a late booking you could only do guarantee for most grades. We received our cabin two weeks' ago and it was as booked an EE. Fair enough in any case as we were a latish booking and we got what we paid for. This however was followed by an upsell offer to lanai or veranda. We chose lanai as only £49 per person and thought access would be better for me - as indeed it is as we have been assigned a lanai two doors round the corner from the centre elevators. The assigned EE cabin would have involved longer walks. Yesterday we were offered a second upsell, this time either veranda or suite. We might have gone for the veranda but felt the CA was so well positioned - particularly for the boatdrill we would not bother. In any case the weather may preclude us sitting out much though I am hoping that well wrapped up we will be able to.

 

Now the thing that interests me is how many people are there on this ship - not many I estimate if they are giving these offers to late bookers. Rotterdam has been sailing round the Med for the last weeks on different cruises and I guess the Americans and Canadians are getting off in Rome to spend time there before flying home. Rotterdam is on its way back to Rotterdam for a Canaries cruise and then is off to Indonesia. This is very much a repositioning cruise and in winter too. We do stop at five ports including two days in Lisbon so only three days at sea.

[MadManOfBethesda]

It's only a good price if that includes your airfare home. You can pay as much or more for a one-way flight.

 

My wife & I love TAs and have never needed to book a high-cost OW flight. Our solution is to book TAs in pairs; either one in spring and one in fall, or one in fall and the second one the following spring. We then book a R/T airfare and use one leg for each TA.

[chrispb]

My wife & I love TAs and have never needed to book a high-cost OW flight. Our solution is to book TAs in pairs; either one in spring and one in fall, or one in fall and the second one the following spring. We then book a R/T airfare and use one leg for each TA.

 

Yes, that's the best way for it to be cost effective. I had family members who had a property in Florida where they wintered and that's exactly what they did;)

[iancal]

There have been an abundance of very, very attractive prices on some great ships and itineraries over the past two-three years. Especially in the Med.

 

Mark it down to the economy and to an oversupply of ships. We have been taking advantage of it because in a few years the advantage may be with the suppliers instead of the customers. Now that our currency is weakening vis a vis the US we will probably be looking more closely at other leisure travel options.

[OlsSalt]

The international passenger market is just starting to take off where there is more discretionary money to spend and cruising appears to be popular way to spend it as we observe in the passenger mix every year.

 

Maybe some of these loss leader fares are intended to get the new international passenger hooked on cruising too, as much as selling to the original North American passenger base. Like 32 cent a gallon gas with a set of glasses got us all hooked on driving way back when. :cool:

[iancal]

Dunno. I doubt that the cruises we were on were loss leaders....though they probably were not very profitable. We were able to select our own cabins and easily selected two large extended balcony cabins on two of the three early Oct trips at what I consider to be bargain prices.

 

Caribbean (Christmas 2012 and 2013) were gty balcony cabins and the ship/itinerary selection was good. Same with Alaska last summer. There were some fabulous deal-we live within driving distance of the ports. I suspect too many seats and not enough bums.

 

Not so with the Northern Europe or Asia cruises that we have been watching. We are waiting for our price to 'hit' and will combine them with land trips. It is great to have a very flexible schedule.

Edited December 5, 2013 by iancal

[jkgourmet]

Don't forget to switch to the Nieuw Amsterdam instead of the Noordam.

 

Sorry, I don't understand what you mean????

 

And thanks EVERYONE for the reassuring answers.

[jkgourmet]

Don't forget to switch to the Nieuw Amsterdam instead of the Noordam.

 

Sorry, I don't understand what you mean????

 

And thanks EVERYONE for the reassuring answers.

 

Like 32 cent a gallon gas with a set of glasses got us all hooked on driving way back when. :cool:

 

THAT'S the kind of thing that makes everyone worry that HAL is for old people who go to sleep at 7:30pm! :)

[obriendan]

Airfare need not be a problem. We are booked on the 27 Collector's Voyage on the Ryndam, FLL to Dover on April 6, 2014. We got a good price on a one way fare DFW to FLL on Delta. There are good one way fares because Delta competes with AA on this route. For the return flight we are using AA frequent flyer miles from Paris CDG to DFW. AA frequent one way flyer flights are just half the FF round trip fare.

 

Dan

[LuckyLoon]

Hi Dan,

 

Thought for a minute you might be on the Noordam TA on March21. We got a great price on a Lufthansa return flight from Barcelona to Boston through HAL @ $507 each.

[fuzzywuzzy]

We booked one way direct from Toronto to Rome and paid $320.00 each!! Including tax.

 

 

And I forgot to say that the plane wasn't even full! This was such an excellent price we jumped on it and it was five days prior to the cruise sailing out of Civitivecchia on Oct. 31st. This worked out perfectly for us to enjoy Rome for five days prior to the cruise.

[doctork]

Sometimes the cost of a round-trip air ticket is much less than the cost of a one way fare. Buy the round trip, don't use the second half of your ticket. Although technically this may be "against the rules," if it is a rare occurrence, you will not likely run into difficulty with the airline.

 

Whatever the air arrangements, TA's can be a bargain if you like sea days.

[chrispb]

Sometimes the cost of a round-trip air ticket is much less than the cost of a one way fare. Buy the round trip, don't use the second half of your ticket. Although technically this may be "against the rules," if it is a rare occurrence, you will not likely run into difficulty with the airline.

 

Whatever the air arrangements, TA's can be a bargain if you like sea days.

 

Yes, people have done this BUT if you don't use the first half of your ticket then the second half is cancelled - so take care:cool:

[iancal]

When we fly out of Toronto we always check Transat. Last time we went to Porto, Portugal for $250. one way. The one way flights two days earlier and one day later were double that. We used our saving to have a wonderful week in the Douro Valley. Then flew to Rome for $100. on TAP. We will probably be doing the same next fall.

[Stelladoro]

We also check Air Transat flights and prices when flying to/from Europe. Last October, we flew direct (oneway) on AT from Toronto to Rome for $375 CDN PP, which incl. taxes and fees. We learned not to overpack, including the carry ons, as Air Transat weighs all your luggage.

[richarduk]

It's only a good price if that includes your airfare home. You can pay as much or more for a one-way flight.

 

If the airfare is an issue, shop around and book the cheapest return you can find, just don't use the return. One way's CAN be very costly, but I'm not going to assume that in itself is a deal breaker.

[OlsSalt]

Love the idea of scheduling TWO TA's going different directions and one RT to coincide with each TA cruise's one-flight needs. Grand idea! :cool: However, is there a required limited interval between the two legs of the RT flight? No more than 6 months or so, which could work with the TAs between the Mediterranean/Baltic Fall TA's timing and the Caribbean Spring TA timing.

Edited December 6, 2013 by OlsSalt