Price changes?

[TriGirl]

I apologize if this has already been discussed (I did a quick search and found some old threads but I'm curious of any new HAL experiences). If you book a cruise well in advance and the price drops, before final payment, does HAL offer any type of onboard credit for the difference?

 

Hubby and I are looking at October on the Eurodam. I keep getting sale emails from HAL but they are for dates in March & April. That makes me think that if the ship isn't sold out as the date gets closer they start offering discounts. I understand the desire to fill the ship, but it seems like they'd be punishing passengers who planned in advance if they don't offer any type of price adjustment.

 

Anyway, if we book I'd like to know ahead of time what to expect.

[mllewis48]

If the price goes down b4 final your rate goes down but you have to contact your TA or PCC. If it goes up you keep the rate you booked. After final it's a toss up?

 

 

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[SLOTheta]

We booked a cruise on the Eurodam in December for July. The price has dropped once and we were able to snag the lower price. This week, there was a View and Veranda promotion, the price didn't drop for us, but there was a $300 on board credit option. We were able to have that added. Every time a price dropped or promotion was added, I called our travel agent and she was able to get it done. The only time she wasn't able to was when a private online company had a travelzoo deal that wasn't being offered through HAL. I stuck with my TA and the direct HAL group.

 

 

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[Crew News]

I apologize if this has already been discussed (I did a quick search and found some old threads but I'm curious of any new HAL experiences). If you book a cruise well in advance and the price drops, before final payment, does HAL offer any type of onboard credit for the difference?

 

Hubby and I are looking at October on the Eurodam. I keep getting sale emails from HAL but they are for dates in March & April. That makes me think that if the ship isn't sold out as the date gets closer they start offering discounts. I understand the desire to fill the ship, but it seems like they'd be punishing passengers who planned in advance if they don't offer any type of price adjustment.

 

Anyway, if we book I'd like to know ahead of time what to expect.

 

If the price drops before final payment, even though we have paid in full, our HAL PCC gives us the latest price. Note that this might cause us to lose any promotional OBC in the original price but we weigh that into our choice to ask for the new price. After final payment date, our PCC is limited to upt to $400 OBC.

[TriGirl]

Thank you for the replies. It's good to know that we may be able to get a price adjustment if the price drops. I have a feeling the cruise we're looking at will fill up since it's the only HAL Caribbean cruise in October.

[Lizzie68]

We always book our cruises well in advance, and have gotten every price drop. These are usually for longer cruises so the price seldom drops again after final payment date. However, for one shorter one on which it dropped after that time, we did get OBC. So go ahead and book with confidence.:)

[RMLincoln]

We booked our eastern Med cruise of September exactly 6 months in advance.

 

The price dropped before final payment and I requested our PCC make the adjustment, no problem.

 

After final payment the price dropped again... we tried for OBC but our PCC said that HAL is not offering that anymore, but we were offered a variety of upgrades/upsells. The PCC suggested we wait another couple of weeks and sure enough we when I called again the PCC was able to get a few upsell offers that were much better offers this time around.

 

Our final booking was for a balcony room cheaper than our original large inside. We really wanted OBC to offset the many and expensive shore excursions in that region but we were happy with our balcony room.

 

You will have to do some work to improve your deal, check the prices, make calls to request adjustments, etc. Hope you can get a deal you like. m--

[Tom O.]

I believe your best bet is to book through a travel agent. They are very good at getting price reductions. Plus they usually can get a lower price in the first place. It is good to have someone working on your behalf.

[dvg1027]

Hi,

 

My husband and I booked our Panama Canal Cruise on the Zuiderdam for next month over a year ago. About 6 weeks ago, my parents asked if we minded if they went, which of course we didn't mind at all. When the TA priced out the cruise for my parents it was $2,000 cheaper than our quote. Of course she rebooked us at the cheaper rate. The original quote included a few extras such as the beverage package but even if we pay for that on our own we are still way ahead of the game.

[Alwaysmoet]

Thanks for the great feed back on 'Price Changes'. My question is to ask you, where and how do you find the price changes/reductions that HAL offer?

Thanks Lynda

[RMLincoln]

I first check a large well-known vacation cruise website - easiest database I have found to check for prices. If I see that prices are changing I then go into the HAL website and set up to do a booking for the cruise we've booked and similar room type but stop the process when I get prices.

 

Others may have better methods or may be savvy to how stored "cookies" may affect this method, and I too would like to learn. m--

[DaveOKC]

Hi,

 

My husband and I booked our Panama Canal Cruise on the Zuiderdam for next month over a year ago. About 6 weeks ago, my parents asked if we minded if they went, which of course we didn't mind at all. When the TA priced out the cruise for my parents it was $2,000 cheaper than our quote. Of course she rebooked us at the cheaper rate. The original quote included a few extras such as the beverage package but even if we pay for that on our own we are still way ahead of the game.

 

I have found that you have to monitor HAL's prices AND promotions constantly to get the best deal. We have saved alot of money this way. Normally HAL will work with you on getting the new price/promotion if before final payment. Remember though, if you want to add a new promotion to your sailing, you most likely will have to pay the fare offered at that time (some people expect to get both, but this rarely happens). Also, if the fare drops, you may well lose a promotion you have.

 

Further, be aware that sometimes HAL can book you at a lower fare if you do not take the current promotion. A good example of this is the Explore4 promotions which offers basically free drinks. We do not drink enough to fully use this promotion, so we asked about pricing the cruise without it and were pleasantly surprised how much cheaper it was. For us, it was worth the lower fare - for others it may not have been. Just an option to remember.........