Veendam ex-Cuba Pricing and Itinerary

[Shmoo here]

2 hours ago, Crazy For Cats said:

They only added $50 pp OBC

My TA was told that the new booking will only show the original OBC that was on the the original reservation.  The OBC being given for the Cuba port changes must be manually added later.  Our new reservation only shows the $50 OBC that was on the original reservation, but will show the additional as soon as they can get it added on the computer.

[Crazy For Cats]

5 minutes ago, Shmoo here said:

My TA was told that the new booking will only show the original OBC that was on the the original reservation.  The OBC being given for the Cuba port changes must be manually added later.  Our new reservation only shows the $50 OBC that was on the original reservation, but will show the additional as soon as they can get it added on the computer.

DH had 150 and I had 250 OBC before they updated pricing.  Now we each have 200.

[madera1]

14 hours ago, Crazy For Cats said:

DH had 150 and I had 250 OBC before they updated pricing.  Now we each have 200.

How were you notified of new pricing? We still have not received any update for our Dec 11th sailing and that cruise isn't even found now on the Holland website?

[Crazy For Cats]

39 minutes ago, madera1 said:

How were you notified of new pricing? We still have not received any update for our Dec 11th sailing and that cruise isn't even found now on the Holland website?

I have been checking in on my booking.  I just got the updated booking confirmation and the OBC issue is corrected.  The pricing I saw held.  It has the highest per diem rate of any ship sailing over Christmas in the Caribbean.  We are in a vista suite.

[2inSETexas]

We looked online at out April 2020 booking and have seen the new itinerary, but nothing on pricing yet. I’m guessing that pricing would only come from the TA or an email from HAL.

[DaveOKC]

15 hours ago, Crazy For Cats said:

DH had 150 and I had 250 OBC before they updated pricing.  Now we each have 200.

I would reapply for the stockholder credit directly with HAL - I bet you get it back ($100 I think). 

 

 

[Crazy For Cats]

19 minutes ago, DaveOKC said:

I would reapply for the stockholder credit directly with HAL - I bet you get it back ($100 I think). 

 

 

My PCC made sure it was corrected before I got the new booking confirmation.  Apparently others on the 12/18 are complaining about the new pricing.

[Crazy For Cats]

Everyone please remember to check the perks that you had before the changes were made.  They removed the pre paid gratuity.  I sent my PCC an email a previous booking confirmation.  She should be able to get it corrected.

[Shmoo here]

33 minutes ago, Crazy For Cats said:

Everyone please remember to check the perks that you had before the changes were made.  They removed the pre paid gratuity.  I sent my PCC an email a previous booking confirmation.  She should be able to get it corrected.

We had the pre-paid grats on our reservation.  But we've opted to change cruises, and our TA was told that pre-paid grats are not an option on the new cruise.

[Crazy For Cats]

43 minutes ago, Shmoo here said:

We had the pre-paid grats on our reservation.  But we've opted to change cruises, and our TA was told that pre-paid grats are not an option on the new cruise.

The current promotion isn’t too bad.  I added it to my November cruise since it was a bit better than what we had before.

[Shmoo here]

18 minutes ago, Crazy For Cats said:

The current promotion isn’t too bad.  I added it to my November cruise since it was a bit better than what we had before.

No, but I'd rather have the pre-paid grats.  Funny, since all the new perks, if combined, would be more than equal that in cash value.  

[Crazy For Cats]

Earlier today I inquired about the missing pre paid benefits perk. This is the response I received from my PCC:

Here is what I confirmed and reconfirmed on yours and several other bookings, and I did check with higher authority.

 

The lower price and additional shipboard credit adjustments have been added  to  offset the itinerary change and the original higher cost and benefits.

(The Explore 4 or the prepaid Hotel Service Charge benefit that may have been on some bookings are replaced by this lower price and shipboard credit).

 

This response leaves much to be desired.

 

[Deep68]

Yesterday I received notification/a letter from HAL via my TA that my revised pricing and finalized itinerary for the December 18th 2019 cruise would not be sent to me until early July. I find that strange as others already are advising their have  pricing.

[Shmoo here]

1 hour ago, Deep68 said:

Yesterday I received notification/a letter from HAL via my TA that my revised pricing and finalized itinerary for the December 18th 2019 cruise would not be sent to me until early July. I find that strange as others already are advising their have  pricing.

That's odd.  We were on the April 8, 2020 cruise and our TA already got the information regarding our cruise.

 

Maybe things around Christmas are a bit more complicated.

[cowmilker]

My TA says he's heard nothing from HAL about my Dec 18 booking.  I'm to the point of looking at alternatives pretty seriously at this point.

[Deep68]

29 minutes ago, cowmilker said:

My TA says he's heard nothing from HAL about my Dec 18 booking.  I'm to the point of looking at alternatives pretty seriously at this point.

it is odd that for the same cruise people are being informed at different times 

[Kelownabccan]

• We are on Feb 5th sailing and got the new pricing and itinerary ........and a credit of $100 each......price seems reasonable but I expect it to go lower within the 90 period......probably offset the ship credit and more......itinerary is not one that we like so prob will cancel this one and perhaps pick another that does not go to places we have been to before..Eurodam one looks semi interesting.. or Oosterdam to West coast...we were really looking forward to seeing some of Cuba by cruise ship  but as Canadians we can still fly there using one of the Winter flights on Sunwing right from our city and do a 7 day all inclusive any time we want....oh well.....have to be flexible these days....Princess has some nice ones that go to Antigua...lol.........

[Crazy For Cats]

8 hours ago, Deep68 said:

Yesterday I received notification/a letter from HAL via my TA that my revised pricing and finalized itinerary for the December 18th 2019 cruise would not be sent to me until early July. I find that strange as others already are advising their have  pricing.

I’m on this cruise and got my revised booking confirmation yesterday.  Not happy with pricing and loss of perks.

[DaveOKC]

3 hours ago, Crazy For Cats said:

I’m on this cruise and got my revised booking confirmation yesterday.  Not happy with pricing and loss of perks.

If one reviews today's earnings news release you might find the reason for this - CCL is hurting due to the Cuba situation and they likely are trying to minimize the damage to the P&L (not our problem of course).

 

They also may be offering a low ball deal to everyone and then addressing the "squeaky wheel" people individually.  Very common approach in business I am sorry to say.

 

[madera1]

1 hour ago, DaveOKC said:

If one reviews today's earnings news release you might find the reason for this - CCL is hurting due to the Cuba situation and they likely are trying to minimize the damage to the P&L (not our problem of course).

 

They also may be offering a low ball deal to everyone and then addressing the "squeaky wheel" people individually.  Very common approach in business I am sorry to say.

 

We didn't go directly through HAL but big box company. Initially we received an email from HAL and a second letter directly from the Big box store. We have still not heard from either since then. I wonder if the Big Box will have some clout in advocating on behalf of all their members to get fair treatment.

[midohio]

Heard from my HA cruise consultant yesterday regarding my 10/30 sailing.  Not super excited about the itinerary as they have basically made this into a Eastern Carribean cruise (Turks, San Juan, St Thomas & Half Moon Cay).  None of the non-Cuban original ports were retained!  As for pricing, I'm in an inside cabin and got a $80 pp reduction, but was already on a very inexpensive casino rate.  Probably going to cancel this and move on to something else.

[madera1]

Still waiting to hear from Holland and TA as to details for the Dec 11-18 cruise.

[Crazy For Cats]

10 hours ago, madera1 said:

Still waiting to hear from Holland and TA as to details for the Dec 11-18 cruise.

I’m surprised that you haven’t heard something yet.  I did notice that the 14 day itinerary that includes your 7 day has been made public.  I’m waiting for the 12/18 to be published hoping that the fares come into line with other itineraries.

[PROCRUISE]

Interesting; The four of us were scheduled on the Veendam Cuba itinerary 3/4 - 3/11/2020. Prior to the itinerary change and lowered price announcement yesterday, our TA was assured that the two perks we received with the original booking would be retained. Today, however, HAL says NO perks just the $100 OBC and lower cruise price, however we are welcome to add the two perks, therefore basically wiping out the lower price savings.

Our solution is simple - cancel with HAL and rebook similar cruise with X at a similar price plus two perks and OBC from our TA.I suspect this particular cruise will have plenty of cabins available, including our two!

[Crazy For Cats]

13 minutes ago, PROCRUISE said:

Interesting; The four of us were scheduled on the Veendam Cuba itinerary 3/4 - 3/11/2020. Prior to the itinerary change and lowered price announcement yesterday, our TA was assured that the two perks we received with the original booking would be retained. Today, however, HAL says NO perks just the $100 OBC and lower cruise price, however we are welcome to add the two perks, therefore basically wiping out the lower price savings.

Our solution is simple - cancel with HAL and rebook similar cruise with X at a similar price plus two perks and OBC from our TA.I suspect this particular cruise will have plenty of cabins available, including our two!

This is my experience with our 12/18 cruise.  I’m waiting to see published pricing, our per diem is very high, before deciding to cancel or keep the new itinerary.