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Price drop after final payment


kentuckycruiser
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I am curious anyone's experience with HAL with a price drop after final payment. We booked a few weeks ago for a May cruise so I just paid all at once. We got a really good price (Casino discount, credit for air fare) but no on board credit. Anyway, now about a month later the prices have gone down even more. I called some special number that the HAL rep gave me and that person said that the price of our cruise had gone down $600 (even though on line it was showing as about $350 less). She first offered us two $50 beverage card and two $100 future cruise credit. I said uh no. She finally agreed to give us $300 room credit and an upgrade to a VA in place of our VB. Luckily I knew that the one VA available for a party of 4 had a smaller balcony and not a good location. So I turned that down and stuck with the $300 room credit. She said they can only givepeople 50% of the difference in the price if it is after final payment.

I did not know if others have heard this explanation?.  I wasn't sure if I should try again or just let it be. I also certainly realize that flights have doubled in price the last month so we are much better off booking a month ago rather than now.

Oh, and she also offered us a NS for $1,000 more (or $500 per person). I said no to that.

 

thanks!

 

Edited by kentuckycruiser
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2 hours ago, kentuckycruiser said:

Of course, after I posted this I went back and found a thread that as a general rule there is no change in fare after final payment is made. Sounds like I should be happy with HAL giving us some room credit.

I agree.  Whatever HAL gives you is "over and above" what you are due IMO, so you are lucky in that regard.  Its just like HAL, they do try hard to please IME.

 

 

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We noticed that the prices for our upcoming Alaskan cruise in May had dropped significantly. Lots of cabins still available 4 weeks out.  While my wife and I are booked in a Neptune suite my mother in law is travelling with us and just went with an inside cabin for her to sleep in.  I convinced her to call and ask HAL if there was anything they could offer her at this point in time. Convinced her the worst they could say was No. She just called me back super excited... they upgraded her from her inside cabin to a verandah for no charge.

 

Never hurts to call in and politely ask!

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We are on B2B cruises starting the end of this month.  We noticed after final payment that the price on our NS for the 7 night Alaska leg had dropped by $1000 per person.  I booked about a year ahead to be able to book a specific cabin and not move at the turnaround day so was not surprised by the big price drop and really didn't expect anything.

 

Mentioned it to our PCC in a conversation about other stuff and she said that she would check into it. She called back a bit later and said that they were giving us a FCC and OBC that added up to the price difference minus the E4 benefits we had. She said that the OBC needed to be for specific items and not open OBC.  We sent her an email with our desires on the OBC.

 

Next day she called back and told me that "they" had changed their minds, pulled the offer and we going to give us $200 FCC. That was it.

 

I'm not angry that they didn't do anything for the price drop- I expected that. I'm very disappointed in the way they handled the whole thing.  If they had said "sorry- it is after final payment" in the beginning I would have been fine.

 

I made an offer to someone at work in the past that was way too generous.  My company honored what I said but I guarantee it didn't happen again as I caught hell for it.

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We booked via United Cruises over a year ago for our Alaska cruise in May. The price dropped enough that the Signature Suite was now less than what we paid for the verandah. I called United and asked how much they would charge to switch to the suite. The agent looked and said the cost for it was now less than what we paid. She said HAL might not honor it since it was a flash fare, and asked me to hold while she called them. She came back and said they had upgraded me to a Signature Suite (SS category) at no cost. It's still going to cost us more because of the gratuity bump, but I'm happy.

 

She also confirmed that we'd get the double night credits since there was a published rate lower than what we paid. Not sure if I care about that - we're big travelers, but this is our first cruise. I care a lot about my hotel elite status, so maybe we'll start mixing cruises in with our big trips, and this will matter one day.

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  • 1 year later...

What if you pay a non refundable non transferable deposit and then your Cruise fare drops ?

are you entitled to a price drop before final payment date or would you have to cancel and rebook, resulting in a loss of the deposit?

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25 minutes ago, drsel said:

What if you pay a non refundable non transferable deposit and then your Cruise fare drops ?

are you entitled to a price drop before final payment date or would you have to cancel and rebook, resulting in a loss of the deposit?

I am pretty certain you would have to cancel and rebook. losing the deposit.  If not, why would the cruiseline even bother with offering this deal?  Having said that, sometimes the cruiseline will offer you something (like a minor upgrade) just to make you happy, but they certainly do not have to.

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3 minutes ago, DaveOKC said:

I am pretty certain you would have to cancel and rebook. losing the deposit.  If not, why would the cruiseline even bother with offering this deal?  Having said that, sometimes the cruiseline will offer you something (like a minor upgrade) just to make you happy, but they certainly do not have to.

thanks, as I suspected a non refundable deposit is a very risky proposition, if you cannot get a price drop benefit even well before final payment.

Is final payment 90 days before departure in HAL?

 

I read here that after the final payment date, some HAL Cruise fares have dropped even $1,000 per person!!!

That's incredible!  I think it will be better to wait for a last minute price drop after final payment date

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46 minutes ago, drsel said:

thanks, as I suspected a non refundable deposit is a very risky proposition, if you cannot get a price drop benefit even well before final payment.

Is final payment 90 days before departure in HAL?

 

I read here that after the final payment date, some HAL Cruise fares have dropped even $1,000 per person!!!

That's incredible!  I think it will be better to wait for a last minute price drop after final payment date

I think that a $1000 price drop would be rare, unless it was on a long cruise and/or in a suite category.

 

 

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57 minutes ago, deliver42 said:

You roll the dice after final payment. The cat you want could be sold out, as well as the cabin.

 

Glad someone said it.

the available cabins can be misleading.  No one knows how many guarantees there are.

 

I remember our 2013 Prinsendam cruise - we had a very active roll call (5,000 posts + CC locked it after as it was “too may posts”).  There were at least 100 cabins showing available (there aren’t many cabins on that ship) and meanwhile my TA was saying the cruise was selling well.

 

Well it turned out my TA was right.  they just needed one more cabin and the sailing was sold out long before final payment.  No deals (other than possible upsells).  so yes, if the itinerary is special, it may not be worth waiting for “deals”.  If it’s a standard Caribbean or other itinerary and you are flexible - no big deal.  JMHO and JME

 

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5 hours ago, drsel said:

What if you pay a non refundable non transferable deposit and then your Cruise fare drops ?

are you entitled to a price drop before final payment date or would you have to cancel and rebook, resulting in a loss of the deposit?

Prior to this COVID mess the deal was that if you booked with a non-refundable deposit you generally got a slightly lower price on the cruise but you were not allowed to reprice (at a lower price) or get an upgrade or upsell.   But I would not want to speculate on what policies will exist post COVID.

 

Hank

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2 hours ago, deliver42 said:

You roll the dice after final payment. The cat you want could be sold out, as well as the cabin.

Once final payment is made, I stop paying attention to the price. The bill is paid, I'm ready to sail. 

 

I'm really surprised at the outrage some people post when they see that the sailing is now going cheaper than they paid for it. If they want the reduction after final payment, then they should be just as willing to pay more after final payment if the prices go up. You make your deal with the line and pay the agreed price. Now with that said there is nothing against trying to beat that price down as low as possible before final payment. Anytime there is a new sale/deal, I always have my TA call HAL and see if I can reduce my overall cost. I say overall because you have to figure in the actual rate for the cruise, plus any perks (OBC, gratuities, beverage packages, etc.). Sometimes the total price is better, sometimes not. 

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On 4/19/2019 at 9:05 AM, kentuckycruiser said:

Of course, after I posted this I went back and found a thread that as a general rule there is no change in fare after final payment is made. Sounds like I should be happy with HAL giving us some room credit.

I watch prices even after final payment and rarely see any significant drops. If the cruise is in high demand (such as Viking passage) the price will gradually rise and then stop, presumably because they are fully booked and have a waiting list.

 

I did get a good deal one time. On Maasdam Montreal to Boston in July, they had a major price drop about ten days after final payment. I called in and for $500 I upgraded from Interior to a Lanai room. I loved the Lanai, almost like a veranda, but you get to talk to people as they stroll past on the promenade.

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After the final payment date they need to fill up the last few cabins, because onboard sales account for nearly 40% of total revenue.

Also the tipping staff need a full ship, in order to get their full salary from gratuities.

 

So a last minute price drop of $300 to 500 can be expected. You just need to be flexible with itinerary, departure dates, departure port and type of cabin.

$1,000 would be an extreme price drop for a cancelled or unsold suite.

Edited by drsel
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Last minute bookings can yield amazing savings.  While we generally book our cruises far in advance we also have done more then a dozen last minute bookings (inside the final payment period) with one long cruise booked only 10 days prior to embarkation (from Copenhagen).   The real secret to last minute bookings is being flexible in terms of cruise line, ship, dates, and itineraries.  One must be willing (and able) to quickly make a decision (sometimes within minutes) on a booking that will be non-refundable.  Since our last minute bookings have been on exotic itineraries (mostly embarking from places outside our own country) I will often have one computer looking at the cruise booking info (ready to finish the transaction) while another computer is searching for decent airfares and possible land-travel extensions.   The last minute HAL booking we did from Copenhagen was actually a fun few minutes when I stumbled on a great deal for the 28 day HAL cruise.  DW was upstairs making dinner and I yelled to her "do you want to take a cruise next week" to which she responded "sure" without ever asking where.  A few minutes later when we sat down to dinner I told her we were flying to Copenhagen "next week,"  spending a couple of days in town, and then taking a 4 week cruise.  She did not even ask about the itinerary until much later :).   So much fun :).

 

So given the current COVID situation my thinking is that we will now be doing quite a few last minute land trips as travel restrictions change.  With much of the world locked down or afraid to travel, we see the strong possibility of some amazing future opportunities.  For example, once Europe starts to reopen I can imagine us jumping on a flight (within a few days) and flying to Europe where we rent/lease a car and then drive off to wherever the situation dictates.  That being said I am becoming very pessimistic on our ability to cruise (anywhere) in the next couple of years.

 

Hank

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We got an amazing last minute deal on Celebrity, around 45 days prior to sailing.

A 9 Nights Cruise on Celebrity Constellation for just $902 for 2 adults in an Ocean view cabin with the unlimited alcoholic beverage package (or $300 OBC) included free!

Edited by drsel
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This is how we currently book most of our cruises.  Sweet spot for us pre covid was either 45 days out or  10 days or less.  
 

We do the same with land trips.  A great air fare, one way or multiple, to an interesting place will get our immediate attention.  
 

We currently have three on our list for late Sept thru early December and two in our list for next winter...covid permitting.  Nothing booked but we will be ready and desperate to go for the first available good offer.

 

 

 

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