Has anyone had this happen when there is a cruise price reduction

[vinonme2]

A September Koningsdam cruise that I have booked has dropped in price almost $500. a person. According to my travel agent, in order to get this reduction, my OBC will be $100. less and I also must increase my deposit an additional $1,450.

 

I've had price reductions before (not thru this agency) and have never had to give up OBC or increase my deposit. I can't help but wonder if this is a new Hal policy or if it is being done by the agency.

 

Has anyone else very recently had a price reduction that involved Hal increasing their down payment?

 

Thanks,

Gloria

[momatibm]

A September Koningsdam cruise that I have booked has dropped in price almost $500. a person. According to my travel agent, in order to get this reduction, my OBC will be $100. less and I also must increase my deposit an additional $1,450.

 

I've had price reductions before (not thru this agency) and have never had to give up OBC or increase my deposit. I can't help but wonder if this is a new Hal policy or if it is being done by the agency.

 

Has anyone else very recently had a price reduction that involved Hal increasing their down payment?

 

Thanks,

Gloria

 

 

It depends on the conditions you originally bought the cruise -- some sales have reduced deposits and rebooking requires adding the additional m money to match the deposit required on the current offering. Same with the OBC. You have to decide if the fare reduction is worth it to you.

[Alberta Quilter]

momatibm is correct. Whenever I've wanted to refare a cruise, I always weigh the pros and cons. I have lost OBC in the past but only to gain in some other way, like the fare reduction is greater than the OBC or additional perks are worth more to me than the OBC. As for the increase in the deposit, no, that hasn't happened to me but I suspect that is because I almost always use a Future Cruise Deposit (FCD) to secure the booking. Those FCDs are always a reduced deposit.

[mame42]

The standard deposit for this cruise (and some others of similar duration) is $1750. If one booked under a reduced deposit promotion, than one pays the difference between the standard deposit and the reduced deposit when rebooking. This has happened to me in the past; in most cases the increase in deposit was more than offset by the reduced fare. After all, one's deposit comes off the final payment in the end anyway.

[vinonme2]

This is a 30 night cruise. I used a FCD for my deposit and at the time of booking (late January 2017) had to add an additional $200. for the deposit.

I am widowed and traveling solo. When I booked the cruise there was no sale or special promotion going on that I was eligible for, so I paid my agency price (which was less than Hal's price.)

To give back $100. OBC for almost $500. reduction in price is an easy decision but I just question if this is a new Hal policy to substantially increase the deposit, which in my case will bring my deposit to $1,750. If this is now a Hal requirement, so be it; but if it's an agency decision then I will keep that in mind for future cruise bookings.

Gloria

[Tampa Girl]

Since you used FCD's, I don't see where any difference in the amount of deposits from the time you booked till today has any relevance. I suspect that your TA is either not honoring HAL's FCD or is misinformed. I don't know if HAL will talk to you if you didn't use their PCC, but perhaps you could ask a general question regarding this.

[POA1]

Never had a change in the deposit amount.

[Lizzie68]

Since you used FCD's, I don't see where any difference in the amount of deposits from the time you booked till today has any relevance. I suspect that your TA is either not honoring HAL's FCD or is misinformed. I don't know if HAL will talk to you if you didn't use their PCC, but perhaps you could ask a general question regarding this.

 

 

This seems to be the route HAL is taking in recent months... did they say your deposit would become non-refundable? They have also done that one one of my bookings when I asked for the reduced rate.

[Tampa Girl]

This seems to be the route HAL is taking in recent months... did they say your deposit would become non-refundable? They have also done that one one of my bookings when I asked for the reduced rate.

 

 

I didn't get the impression that it was a HAL PCC, and an outside TA does not have the authority to make an FCD non-refundable. This, after all, is HAL's money, and unless the person cancels after final payment, the FCD should be fully refundable.

[kazu]

I didn't get the impression that it was a HAL PCC, and an outside TA does not have the authority to make an FCD non-refundable. This, after all, is HAL's money, and unless the person cancels after final payment, the FCD should be fully refundable.

 

Some of HAL's deposits for certain cruises or certain sales are now non refundable. So, if you use your FCD, they become non refundable.

 

It nearly sounds like this is what happened or the TA has forgotten that there were FCD's used?

 

As to the reduced OBC, if the OBC is paid by the TA then yes, if the price goes down so does the OBC.

 

If HAL has some kind of promo and the price goes down, most likely that promo will be lost or reduced.

[cbr663]

I am guessing that the new promo has a non refundable deposit. HAL has recently started offering promos that have a lower fare rate but a higher non refundable deposit. I am guessing that it is primarily targeted to those passengers who like to book early and do not generally cancel their cruises and/or buy cancellation insurance.

 

I was offered this promo for our upcoming cruise. I seem to recall discussing this offer and not being able to use the FCD that we had as it was insufficient for the deposit requirements. That would, of course, mean we would lose the accompanying OBC with the FCD, which sounds like the situation that the OP is in.

 

At the time, our cruise was still 7 months out and the non refundable deposit was more than 7 times the fare savings, so we passed. Too much risk for little gain, plus the lost of OBC from the FCD made that risk even higher.

 

I think that HAL has a good plan with the non refundable deposits. I just think that it needs to sweeten the pot a little.

[iancal]

The last time this happened we took it as a sign that the cruise was not selling well. We cancelled the cruise and then re-booked just inside the final payment window. It was well worth our while since there were several price reductions during the intervening period. But..it was at a time when some people were cancelling cruises to the region.

[IndyDenise]

Sounds like HAL is doing what Carnival does.

 

On some promotions the deposit is non refundable ( though you can switch to another cruise minus a $50 admin fee for Early Saver rates)

 

If you switch your rate at any time you must abide by the rules of the rate you are switching to. I ended up on my last CCL cruise with $300 OBC but had to fully deposit since my original deposit rate was discounted.

 

 

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[sevenseasnomad]

We booked a 2014 July cruise to Alaska and received promotions worth $1400. When the cruise dropped (before final payment) a substantial amount, we were told that if we received the new rate, we'd lose the promotions. Since the difference was more than $1400, we didn't hesitate to accept the new price and forget the promotions. We've never regretted that decision. Each passenger has to decide whether giving up the "goodies" makes financial sense for him/her.

 

Hope you have a great cruise.

[Rinderoo]

In the business of travel, generally any time you change your reservation you get a new price to include loss of discount or promotion.

 

Basically you reshop your trip to that days price, which may include penalties if any part of the initial offer was nonrefundable.