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Disturbing News from FCC


AZNative2000
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Attending the "future cruise" presentation aboard our Westerdam cruise last week, among all the things the FCC told the audience one stood out. She said that once you book, if the price goes up, you need not worry and if the price goes down ... well ... "Holland America will work with you".

 

When I, later, sat with her to book our next cruise, I brought this up and was told that HAL no longer automatically lowers the price when your cabin price drops. She said we could cancel and re-book (provided it is not beyond final payment) but, that if there was a wait list in our category, we could lose our cabin and have to start over.

 

I would think this a further detriment to booking early and if you want a specific cabin, you could end up paying much more than you have in the past.

 

Is there anyone else out there who has heard about this change in policy? I hope she was mistaken but I have not been able to reach my personal cruise consultant at HAL since my return. I will call again today.

 

Cheers!

Edited by AZNative2000
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Attending the "future cruise" presentation aboard our Westerdam cruise last week, among all the things the FCC told the audience one stood out. She said that once you book, if the price goes up, you need not worry and if the price goes down ... well ... "Holland America will work with you".

 

When I, later, sat with her to book our next cruise, I brought this up and was told that HAL no longer automatically lowers the price when your cabin price drops. She said we could cancel and re-book (provided it is not beyond final payment) but, that if there was a wait list in our category, we could lose our cabin and have to start over.

 

I would think this a further detriment to booking early and if you want a specific cabin, you could end up paying much more than you have in the past.

 

Is there anyone else out there who has heard about this change in policy? I hope she was mistaken but I have not been able to reach my personal cruise consultant at HAL since my return. I will call again today.

 

Cheers!

 

After a price drop, we were able to get a substantial price reduction applied on our cruise for January, but yes, Holland America did not initiate this, we had to take pro-active action ourselves (through our TA)!

 

We did not have to rebook, just got our price adjusted downward.

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Looking at this from a "glass is half full" standpoint, the take away should be, as she told you, if the price goes up (as it often does) you don't have to worry.

 

However, the wise cruiser will check for a price drops and contact HAL for a possible adjustment.

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<snip> was told that HAL no longer automatically lowers the price when your cabin price drops. <snip>

 

I have never heard of HAL automatically lowering the price when a cabin price drops. A good TA may look out for their client and get HAL to lower pricing (before final payment) ... but I've never had or heard of HAL automatically lowering a cruise fare without a request from the cruiser.

Edited by Linda&Vern
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This is nothing new. HAL must have felt the need to reiterate it, because of people making a fuss. If HAL has a waiting list for a category, why should they lower someone's price?

 

HAL needs to make money. I know everyone likes to pay the least and save money, including myself. But, if HAL let everyone get the price drop (including those who book early) they would lose a lot of money. I don't understand why people don't get that.

 

If a cruise isn't selling, they may give you the price drop without rebooking, but they don't have to. When I inquired about the price of another cruise I had previously booked while onboard, the rep said I would have to cancel and rebook.

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Sorry, I've got to do a better job of selecting words.:(

 

In the past, (from my experience) if there was a price drop, I called my PCC and she lowered the price (before final payment) if there were still cabins available as happened to Alphen. (I did not mean to say it was done automatically.) And yes, Sail, I understand there has never been a guarantee.

 

But, according to the Future Cruise Consultant on the Westerdam, HAL's policy changed in July of this year. And, as I understand it, now, there could be no price adjustment at all unless a cancel-re-booking is made (running the risk of losing your selected cabin). We did not discuss OBC.

 

I hope that she was incorrect and the opportunities still exist for savings for those who book far in advance! (Without the risks of re-booking.)

 

Still unable to reach my PCC.

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From my experience in dealing with a few of them (which I do not do anymore ... ), I have found that the ship's Future Cruise Consultants know about as much as the random people who answer the phone in Seattle. :rolleyes: They have given us more wrong answers than good ones. We now simply fill in the form, drop it off and wait for the confirmation to show up in our room.

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Your future cruise consultant unfortunately is not correct. Holland America will honor the lower rate if informed, of course so long as it's prior to final payment.

 

My parents had their cruise lowered this Monday, actually.

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Looking at this from a "glass is half full" standpoint, the take away should be, as she told you, if the price goes up (as it often does) you don't have to worry.

 

However, the wise cruiser will check for a price drops and contact HAL for a possible adjustment.

 

 

Yes, that is always the way it has always been. Simple and too the point, thank you Ham Op!

 

I think the FCC was totally uninformed or ignorant of the way it works.

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Your future cruise consultant unfortunately is not correct. Holland America will honor the lower rate if informed, of course so long as it's prior to final payment.

 

My parents had their cruise lowered this Monday, actually.

 

Total agreement. When DH sees a price drop on one of our cruises (as recently as a few weeks ago) he contacts our PCC and she happily and promptly lowers our price.

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You have selected a cabin. The price goes down for your category. In order to lower the price they would have to cancel your booking and rebook. You give up your cabin and somebody else who is waiting for that cabin gets it. If the cabin is still available you rebook it. If not you can choose another cabin if one is available. If no cabins are available you are left out.

 

I can see this happening in a totally computerized system. You give the cabin up by canceling the booking, the next person up gets it.

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Sorry, I've got to do a better job of selecting words.:(

 

In the past, (from my experience) if there was a price drop, I called my PCC and she lowered the price (before final payment) if there were still cabins available as happened to Alphen. (I did not mean to say it was done automatically.) And yes, Sail, I understand there has never been a guarantee.

 

But, according to the Future Cruise Consultant on the Westerdam, HAL's policy changed in July of this year. And, as I understand it, now, there could be no price adjustment at all unless a cancel-re-booking is made (running the risk of losing your selected cabin). We did not discuss OBC.

 

I hope that she was incorrect and the opportunities still exist for savings for those who book far in advance! (Without the risks of re-booking.)

 

Still unable to reach my PCC.

 

We had a $200 PP price reduction a couple of months ago (after July), and our TA got the lower fare and re-fared our discounted price. We didn't have to cancel and have the same booking number.

 

I've been told some things by FCCs on HAL ships that turned out to not be the case. Once I was told we could not transfer our booking to our TA where we always get a sizeable discount. That is why we just buy the FCDs.

Edited by kjw869
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I've had FCC's on the ships get really angry with me for only wanting to buy FCD's and not book directly through them. They'd certainly rather get the suite booking for a b-to-b than to sell me a FCD. :eek: I 'get it' but that isn't what I want to do. I don't want to spend my time working with them during my vacation. I'd much rather make my bookings at my leisure at home when I feel like it. Some have been perfectly gracious but others have been less than delighted with me. :shrug: Oh well.....

 

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I've had FCC's on the ships get really angry with me for only wanting to buy FCD's and not book directly through them. They'd certainly rather get the suite booking for a b-to-b than to sell me a FCD. :eek: I 'get it' but that isn't what I want to do. I don't want to spend my time working with them during my vacation. I'd much rather make my bookings at my leisure at home when I feel like it. Some have been perfectly gracious but others have been less than delighted with me. :shrug: Oh well.....

 

 

That's terrible. We feel the same way, we always get a FCD but book later when at home after looking and deciding. I wonder if the fact that we always book through a PCC is the reason we've never been "hassled" by a FCC? Maybe he/she doesn't want to step on toes within the company?

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That's terrible. We feel the same way, we always get a FCD but book later when at home after looking and deciding. I wonder if the fact that we always book through a PCC is the reason we've never been "hassled" by a FCC? Maybe he/she doesn't want to step on toes within the company?

 

I always book with a PCC as well. I've discussed it with my PCC in the past.

 

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We always book our cruises well in advance to get the cabin we want. I have on several occasions noticed a reduction in the fare and have been able to get the reduction every time without losing my cabin selection. Even as late as the week before final payment. Some have been booked directly with HAL and others through a TA. I've never had an issue getting the lower fare.

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The FCC on the Veendam last June is one of the reasons why I won't step foot on another HAL ship. She gave me loads of misinformation, and implied that I could not afford a lanai cabin on the ship with a rather condescending tone. She then sent my booking off to my TA without advising me first that this was being done. Needless to say, I paid $300 to cancel 3 HAL cruises I had booked (including that one which was sent to my TA without my authority) after that and my experience on the Statendam.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

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More punishment for early bookers.

 

Depends on what is most important. Do you HAVE to have a certain room and/or dining time? Or do you HAVE to have the lowest possible price because god forbid someone else in your room category waited til last second and paid a little less but maybe got a less than preferred dining time and booked the room as a guarantee?

 

Everyone has their own preferences.

Edited by InTheWASide
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Interesting reading about some of the negative comments on the FCCs on HAL ships. Personally, I have encountered some very good ones and some very bad ones. I sure wish that HAL would do a better job in sceening these people before they let them represent them to the public.

 

DaveOKC

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