Large Deposit

[sandydownunder]

Is $3,500 for two pax the norm for a deposit now? About a month ago we booked on the Veendam for Sept 2006. It is quite a lot of money for HAL to have for 15 months.

[Dutchman]

We are booked on the Veendam for June 11,2006 and our depost is $350 per person!

[jhannah]

The normal deposit for us has always been $600 per person.

[localady]

How long and where is the cruise too??? :eek:

Possibly that is the size of a World Cruise deposit, but I don't think the Veendam is doing the World Cruise.:cool:

[dakrewser]

Is $3,500 for two pax the norm for a deposit now? About a month ago we booked on the Veendam for Sept 2006. It is quite a lot of money for HAL to have for 15 months.

 

Sounds like a mis-placed decimal point. My TA is showing $350 deposit/PP for Sept. '06 cruises on the Veendam

[ekerr19]

Well, we are paying $600 per person on HAL... none to happy about it either.

[vicocala]

I had to pay $350 per person for a seven day on the zuiderdam plus a very small fee to my internet TA.

[ekerr19]

Our $600 pp deposit is for a 10-day cruise, my understanding is that 7-day cruises are $350 pp on HAL

[shipcafe]

Is $3,500 for two pax the norm for a deposit now? About a month ago we booked on the Veendam for Sept 2006. It is quite a lot of money for HAL to have for 15 months.

 

If you are referring to the September 24th, 25th, or 28th Panama Canal & Amazon sailing of the Veendam, then it is highly credible.

[sandydownunder]

I was referring to the 34 day Panama & Amazon River sailing. Sorry I didn't make that clear. We have been on a 34 day Sth American repositioning cruise before and only paid $600 each deposit. We have booked with a US travel agent.

[Bodger]

We paid a deposit CDN$720 (~US$575) in May for a 10 night Volendam cruise for March 2006. The credit card statement shows it went to the tour company, not the travel agent. Who did your deposit get credited to, the agent or the tour operator/cruise line?

 

Bodger

[Krazy Kruizers]

HAL has upped the amount of deposits required for cruises.

 

$3500 - i.e., $1700 per person - that's reasonable for a 34 day cruise.

[Randyk47]

I did some checking with a couple of on line agencies I've used in the past and the deposit seems in line with the deposits they want. Some deposits were even higher depending on the category of cabin. We paid $600 per person for our upcoming Volendam cruise which is a 10-day cruise but paid only $350 per for our 7-day Oosterdam cruise the year before. Obviously the deposit is related to the cost of the cruise, its length and possibly the category of cabin on the longer cruises.

[Esme]

That definitely is not unreasonable for a 34 day cruise for 2 persons.

 

Check out HAL's web site and you will see what the deposit amount is for the South American cruises of 20+ days. The price you are paying for 34 days is in line. 28 days on the Prinsendam in April 2006 is $3500. per couple.

[KAJOKG]

Looks like the deposit depends on the cabin and length of the cruise...or, in other words, the total amount of the cruise. We are on an October, '05 cruise on the Volendam...10 days, Verandah Suite...our deposit was $500 each.

[Stevesan]

Just ran a "what if" thru HAL's web site for your cruise with interesting results. The deposit is the same, $3500, for all categories. That means a suite pax pays an 11.4% deposit and an inside MM pax 33%. That's one heck of a disparity!

 

I've never previously paid particular attention so I checked a typical seven day cruise; again the deposit remains the same regardless of category.

[abroad at sea]

We are on the 30 day Veendam this September, Los Angeles to Tampa and the deposit was $1500 pp. and we booked almost a year ago. I guess when you put that kind of money out, you really must want to go!!

 

Betty

[Esme]

Looks like the deposit depends on the cabin and length of the cruise...or, in other words, the total amount of the cruise. We are on an October, '05 cruise on the Volendam...10 days, Verandah Suite...our deposit was $500 each.

 

Cabin category has nothing to do with the amount of the deposit. Check out the pricing on HAL's web site for any cruise and you will see that the deposit is the same for veryone on that particular cruise no matter what cabin you book.

[shipcafe]

Be sure to read your invoice as well. Final payment date for voyages such as these are now at 120 days out vs. 76.

[Oceanwench]

We paid a deposit CDN$720 (~US$575) in May for a 10 night Volendam cruise for March 2006. The credit card statement shows it went to the tour company, not the travel agent. Who did your deposit get credited to, the agent or the tour operator/cruise line?

 

Bodger

 

Which March sailing are you on?

 

We've always paid $350 pp deposit for our 7-day cruises on HAL.

We've just booked a 10-day on the Volendam for 2006 and paid $600 pp.

And you have to pre-pay insurance too, which adds to the bill! ;)

[sandydownunder]

From what I've been reading from your replies it seems the amount is not excessive given the length of the cruise. We only have a DD (partly obscured view) guarantee.

The person who asked has the deposit gone to HAL or the TA, I hope it has gone to HAL. I've tried getting into their website several ways eg trying to fill out the immigration form etc to check. Get a message that it is being upgraded,come back at the end of July. Anyone else having this trouble?

[Randyk47]

I just opened another window this minute and got directly to HAL with no problem. Also tried the immigration form and it loaded without any problem and I was able to see my info for our Volendam cruise. Suggest you try again and if it still doesn't work then maybe you need to clean out your cache as you may be loading an old page.

[serendipity1499]

From what I've been reading from your replies it seems the amount is not excessive given the length of the cruise. We only have a DD (partly obscured view) guarantee.

The person who asked has the deposit gone to HAL or the TA, I hope it has gone to HAL. I've tried getting into their website several ways eg trying to fill out the immigration form etc to check. Get a message that it is being upgraded,come back at the end of July. Anyone else having this trouble?

 

We also gave a $3500 deposit for an outside cabin on our 25 day Prinsendam cruise to the Amazon next April..We paid HAL directly but if a travel agent takes the deposit I believe they would immediately give that amount to HAL to hold your cabin..

 

Called HAL & was given the new alpha/numeric booking Number & was told that all the bookings should be in by end of July or beginning of August..:)

Quote Be sure to read your invoice as well. Final payment date for voyages such as these are now at 120 days out vs. 76.Unquote

Shipcafe our invoice from HAL states final payment is due Jan 26 (90 days) for our April 26 cruise..Is it possible that agents are giving 120 days & HAL 90 days?

[arzz]

Paid $1500pp deposit for 20 day South America, Antarctica for December,2006. Much more than I pay for 7 or 10 day cruises.

 

Long cruise, makes sense to me to discourage frivolous bookings. On a dollar and sense view, if a 7 day cruise leaves that is not full, the loss to the company is only for 7 days of revenue. If a 20 day cruise leaves not full due to frivolous bookings, the loss to the company is much greater. They just do not want you to book unless you are sure that you actually intend to do the cruise. This helps them to fill the ship.

 

I imagine that it is also much harder to get last minute (last 60 days or so) bookings for a 20 day cruise than a 7 day cruise as the passenger time committment is so much greater. A vacation of that length usually must be carefully planned well in advance.

[torpeedo]

Opinion, we booked the Volendam 10 day for 12/3/06 in March and deposit was $350pp. Just emailed our onlineTA for the new booking number since it's past the 4/14/06 date and was assigned a new number with the new system. She gave us our new booking number but also said that while she was checking this with HAL it was brought to her attention that our deposit should be $700pp and wanted to know if she could charge our card! Should we go ahead and authorize an additonal $700 or is a deal a deal?:confused: