Last Minute Booking; Price Dropped Recently

[mhg7274]

We booked a cruise abut 5 weeks before sailing and paid in full. We got a good price, but I have noticed that the price has dropped again (we are 9 days out). Will HAL honour the price drop or is it just a matter of booking at the right time? 

[jennaja]

9 minutes ago, buzz & woody said:

We booked a cruise abut 5 weeks before sailing and paid in full. We got a good price, but I have noticed that the price has dropped again (we are 9 days out). Will HAL honour the price drop or is it just a matter of booking at the right time? 

We booked our cruise about 5 weeks out also, and the price dropped by $100 pp for our cabin category the next day.  I had our TA call HAL.  They refused to do a price adjustment because it was after final payment was due.  I asked TA to call back and ask if there was anything HAL could do, and they gave us a $50 beverage card per person.

[Loreto]

15 minutes ago, buzz & woody said:

We booked a cruise abut 5 weeks before sailing and paid in full. We got a good price, but I have noticed that the price has dropped again (we are 9 days out). Will HAL honour the price drop or is it just a matter of booking at the right time? 

We booked a 14 day Alaska cruise last June on a Flash Sale about 6 weeks before sailing, paid in full .  When the price dropped I contacted my TA and HAL offered us a stateroom upgrade or a future cruise credit but no to the price drop.  The room we booked was the one we wanted, so we took the future cruise credit.  A future booking had to be made within a year of the date we received it.

 

I did use the credit to book another Alaska cruise.  All you can do is ask and see what HAL might do for you!

Karen

 

 

Edited May 23, 2019 by Loreto
added info

[mhg7274]

Thanks for your reply. We booked directly with HAL, not with an agent. It might be worth a shot to see if out HAL cruise consultant will do anything. 

 

 

[StartrainDD]

The other option is if a higher level (and desirable to you) cabin is available for just a few more $$$ at the "New prices" you can likely upgrade for those few $$$.  We did that on a recent Prinsendam cruise about 12 days before sailing and we really enjoyed the larger cabin.

[Krazy Kruizers]

All you can do is call your HAL rep and she what, if anything, they will do for you.  It never hurts to ask.

 

Let us know what happens.

[tompeter]

39 minutes ago, StartrainDD said:

The other option is if a higher level (and desirable to you) cabin is available for just a few more $$$ at the "New prices" you can likely upgrade for those few $$$.  We did that on a recent Prinsendam cruise about 12 days before sailing and we really enjoyed the larger cabin.

This is what we did a few weeks ago with our last minute cruise....

[1ANGELCAT]

18 minutes ago, tompeter said:

This is what we did a few weeks ago with our last minute cruise....

I did the same thing for the Eurodam for June 1st

[jkrislc]

My TA was able to get us a complimentary upgrade from an interior to an ocean view because of a price drop after final payment. I was willing to pay for an upgrade, but that would have resulted in a loss of perks to go to any category higher than an ocean view.

[SilvertoGold]

So many different outcomes!  Hard to know what the common denominator is: the TA's persistence, the particular rep the TA talks to, the price you paid, the availability......?

 

Pays to ask and then ask again!

[jennaja]

On ‎5‎/‎23‎/‎2019 at 11:06 AM, Loreto said:

We booked a 14 day Alaska cruise last June on a Flash Sale about 6 weeks before sailing, paid in full .  When the price dropped I contacted my TA and HAL offered us a stateroom upgrade or a future cruise credit but no to the price drop.  The room we booked was the one we wanted, so we took the future cruise credit.  A future booking had to be made within a year of the date we received it.

 

I did use the credit to book another Alaska cruise.  All you can do is ask and see what HAL might do for you!

Karen

 

 

Everything on our sailing was already sold out except inside and outside guarantee cabins, so unfortunately an upgrade wasn't an option.

[CruiserBruce]

On 5/23/2019 at 3:17 PM, SilvertoGold said:

So many different outcomes!  Hard to know what the common denominator is: the TA's persistence, the particular rep the TA talks to, the price you paid, the availability......?

 

Pays to ask and then ask again!

I bet it depends on what is available, at what level previously booked, what price difference exists and what individual booked asks for or indicates they will accept. None of these are the same in every situation. 

[pmjnh]

After our final payment our cruise pricing went way down. Our TA called HAL and we were offered the choice of either a room upgrade or an amenities package . We chose the amenities package which included a good sized ($) beverage card and shore excursion allotment. Eliminated my plan to find a wine store before boarding.LOL

 

We were told that Hal will allow this just one time after final payment. The sad thing is I made the mistake of looking at the cost (today) and the prices have dropped even further! Note to self...never look back.

[iancal]

Our experience is that anything can happen with a price or cabin availability a week or two prior to sailing.  

 

Last time we were in Florida we booked a cruise three days prior to departure.  We booked a gty balcony and were told that there were only two unsold balcony cabins available. Both were fine, we booked.   A day later we got our assignment but did not look too closely.  Turned out that it was not one of the two remaining, but another balcony cabin, fabulous location, and higher cabin class.  Pleasant surprise. We assumed that the previous assignee was upgraded to a suite.