HAL Pricing- I guess we will switch

[chisoxfan]

Had booked a 28 day July 2022 ( Copenhagen-Boston) in a forward balcony and were greatly anticipating this cruise. While fooling around with different cruise options on the internet, we saw a 26 day Princess (Enchanted Princess new ship) with a very similar 26 day itinerary Copenhagen-New York.  While I had differences with Princes previously,  I decided to change to this cruise. HAL drinks, wi-fi-, (400 excursions and dining) vs Princess drinks, tips, wi-fi, 100 OBC. HAL was 19,200 vs. 13,200 Princess. Will miss BB Kings but am excited about a new larger ship.

I guess the free market continues to function.

[lstrong]

I don’t blame you!  HALs pricing is not good at all right now.

[tompeter]

Quite a savings...nice work!

 

[DaveOKC]

No doubt fares are higher now than in recent past.  If you do find a deal, lock it in IMO.

[chisoxfan]

I appreciate the positive comments but still scratch my head.  I was resigned to higher short term prices with all of the previous cruise credits moved forward and sudden demand but am surprised that the difference between fares from lines within CCL could be so great.

[rodndonna]

16 minutes ago, chisoxfan said:

I appreciate the positive comments but still scratch my head.  I was resigned to higher short term prices with all of the previous cruise credits moved forward and sudden demand but am surprised that the difference between fares from lines within CCL could be so great.

 

If I am looking at the right cruises - I think the HAL cruise has more port/scenic cruising days including the always a bit pricier Greenland and Iceland so that may  account for some of the price difference. Both look great though !

[LAFFNVEGAS]

1 hour ago, chisoxfan said:

Had booked a 28 day July 2022 ( Copenhagen-Boston) in a forward balcony and were greatly anticipating this cruise. While fooling around with different cruise options on the internet, we saw a 26 day Princess (Enchanted Princess new ship) with a very similar 26 day itinerary Copenhagen-New York.  While I had differences with Princes previously,  I decided to change to this cruise. HAL drinks, wi-fi-, (400 excursions and dining) vs Princess drinks, tips, wi-fi, 100 OBC. HAL was 19,200 vs. 13,200 Princess. Will miss BB Kings but am excited about a new larger ship.

I guess the free market continues to function.

I have been a long time loyal HAL fan for years, many years ago had sailed Princess a few times and it was just OK. Jump ahead to 2017 when I did our first Japan Princess Cruise, we loved it. We have since done numerous Princess Cruises in the past few years, more than we did HAL. Our very last cruise prior to the pause was on the Royal Princess in February 2020. I am also finding pricing for Princess to be more favorable as well as their perks that include the gratuities with wifi, Beverage and Specialty Dining. Their Full Suite product I feel is superior to what Holland America offers. We are actually booked to go on the brand new ( not out yet) Discovery Princess for next April as well as returning to Japan on a third sailing of the Diamond Princess. the over all pricing has been across the board about 35% less than HAL. I think you made a good choice with your change 😊

[happy cruzer]

Sounds good.  Be sure to check the size of the cabin and seating, Princess has been known to be not as good as HAL on some of the class of ships.  Also check the details of what is offered in the drink package if that matters.  Options are great!

[cruisemom42]

I would not consider those two itineraries similar at all. I think HAL's is much more desirable. I expect those visits in Iceland and Greenland account for the difference in cost versus a lot of sea days coming across from Ireland to Portugal to US.

 

[deliver42]

As normal on any cruise, the more ports, the higher port fees and taxes. That may be the difference in price. By the way, Princess's regular cabins don't even have a chair to sit on. You have the bed and a stool by the desk.

[retafcruiser]

HAL is pricing itself out of business.

[chisoxfan]

32 minutes ago, cruisemom42 said:

I would not consider those two itineraries similar at all. I think HAL's is much more desirable. I expect those visits in Iceland and Greenland account for the difference in cost versus a lot of sea days coming across from Ireland to Portugal to US.

 

Of course nothing can be apples to apples in comparing cruises. We went into this seeking an extended northern Europe cruise that visits St. Petersburg.  The Iceland, Greenland part of the HAL cruise is interesting but was never on our radar initially. Ireland and returning to New York for us is an OK trade off.  The NStatendam looks wonderful but are perhaps a tad more excited to try a newer and larger ship.

I am sure sure both cruises will be exciting adventures but at the end of the day the 6k difference becomes the game changer- it pays for another cruise this Winter or a good portion of extended cruise in 2023.

[cruisemom42]

1 minute ago, chisoxfan said:

 

I am sure sure both cruises will be exciting adventures but at the end of the day the 6k difference becomes the game changer- it pays for another cruise this Winter or a good portion of extended cruise in 2023.

 

Can't argue with that! 

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

Same amount of ports??

[vicd1969]

The HAL premium could be worth it for those who want to visit Greenland. There are much fewer cruises that stop in Greenland. If you want to just do Baltic + some kind of Transatlantic, then the Princess cruise is the far better deal.

[iancal]

That is exactly why we would never consider being so called 'loyal' to any one cruise line.  We are loyal to our travel budget and our perception of value.

 

Besides, we see very little difference between HAL, Princess, and Celebrity other than the ships.

 

Certainly not $6K worth.  

 

But keep in mind that tomorrows pricing may be different.  We have seen competitive, excellent, and very poor pricing from Princess in the past. Same for HAL , Celebrity, etc.

[ski ww]

We booked a HAL 14 Day Aegean Sunset in Jul 2022 on the Westerdam and it has dropped in price by almost a $1000 for an Ocean View. 

[Mary229]

Time in ports, the remoteness of ports and the quantity of ports are big drivers of costs. Other things contributing to cost which may are may not be important to you are crew to passenger ratios and cabin sizes.  Otherwise I find HAL and Princess pricing in lockstep.  If I look no where else for a given itinerary I always do compare Princess and Oceania with the selected HAL voyage.  

 

  If those ports are not important then I would also take the less expensive fare all other things being equal.  

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

9 hours ago, vicd1969 said:

The HAL premium could be worth it for those who want to visit Greenland. There are much fewer cruises that stop in Greenland. If you want to just do Baltic + some kind of Transatlantic, then the Princess cruise is the far better deal.

I agree with you ..

[rodndonna]

1 hour ago, Mary229 said:

Time in ports, the remoteness of ports and the quantity of ports are big drivers of costs. Other things contributing to cost which may are may not be important to you are crew to passenger ratios and cabin sizes.  Otherwise I find HAL and Princess pricing in lockstep.  If I look no where else for a given itinerary I always do compare Princess and Oceania with the selected HAL voyage.  

 

  If those ports are not important then I would also take the less expensive fare all other things being equal.  

 

Last month we were booking a 7 day Mexican Riviera cruise which was about as close to apples to apples as you can get with Princess, Carnival, and Hal all do the same itinerary  (NCL has an extra port day) so it was an interesting cost comparison exercise. When I was booking, Princess was maybe 10% at most cheaper. but a larger ship than HAL's  (5000 vs 3700) which I think would account for the slight differential. 

 

I went with Princess because it was a newer ship and seemed and what I consider a quintessential Princess itinerary (because of the Love Boat itinerary) (-:

[SLC1954]

I cruise HAL and Princess, I will choose the itinerary first, then the price, the deciding factor is the ship. I prefer smaller ships for Alaska. I have never regretted any choice. Not every cruise is perfect, but some are better then others.  

[rucrazy]

Hal pax 2106 vs Princess pax 3,660 may have an influence on price point.. js

[Himself]

20 hours ago, chisoxfan said:

Had booked a 28 day July 2022 ( Copenhagen-Boston) in a forward balcony and were greatly anticipating this cruise. While fooling around with different cruise options on the internet, we saw a 26 day Princess (Enchanted Princess new ship) with a very similar 26 day itinerary Copenhagen-New York.  While I had differences with Princes previously,  I decided to change to this cruise. HAL drinks, wi-fi-, (400 excursions and dining) vs Princess drinks, tips, wi-fi, 100 OBC. HAL was 19,200 vs. 13,200 Princess. Will miss BB Kings but am excited about a new larger ship.

I guess the free market continues to function.

 

 

 

Have a great cruise.  I hope you have good weather.  

[iancal]

Our experience in watching pricing on typically three ships/cruise lines is that prices really do fluctuate.  It all depends on how well a ship is selling and of course on the cruise line revenue maximization logarithms.  

 

I can recall doing three Med cruises a few years ago.   It was always Celebrity at the low price..  At that time HAL and Princess were always 30 and 20 percent higher for the same balcony cabin.

 

But that was simply a point in time inside the final payment window.  We booked Celebrity because our price hit.  But  both HAL and Princess eventually lowered their prices to a competitive level.  It is based on their respective pricing and rev. max. models.  

 

On the days we booked, Celebrity was the best by far.  Had we waited another two weeks this would not have been the case.   When we book inside the final payment window we have a target price for a balcony cabin.  When it hits we book immediately.  Could just as easily be HAL, RCI, etc or any of the other one or two ships/cruise lines that we happen to have shortlisted and are following.

 

The last time we booked in advance was a SA cruise.  HAL, Princess, and X were all about the same.  Princess had a Canadian dollar at par sale for one day.  We booked.  It could have just as easily been HAL or X having that sale or just a lowering of their fare structure.

Edited June 3, 2021 by iancal

[Hlitner]

When we chat with other frequent cruisers (on any line) we get an "education" about how some folks are really into this "loyalty" thing for various reasons.  If you just read through the HAL blogs here on CC you will find many very loyal HAL cruisers (who will not consider other lines) and plenty who only use their PCC even though that means they are paying 5-10% more for every cruise (many of the pro PCC folks do not believe us when we talk about how high volume cruise agencies can save you 5-10% and more on every booking).   

 

So now we get to the pricing of future cruises and in my 45+ years as a frequent cruiser I have never seen such a complex mess (across all cruise lines) with pricing.  What has happened is that most cruise lines gave out hundreds of millions of dollars of future cruise credits (because of COVID cancelations) and are now trying to devalue a lot of those FCCs by simply increasing their prices on some popular cruises.  Folks who got FCCs equal to 125% of their previous booking are finding they are lucky if they can book a comparable cruise for 125% of their original cruise cost.

 

We have booked 4 cruises in the past month and it has been a shopping challenge to find decent deals.  The situation has actually driven us to book with higher end lines (i.e. Seabourn, Oceania, etc) because they offer a better value.  All this might change tomorrow, but that is the way it is now.  I smiled at the OP's post because we recently booked a 20 day Enchanted Princess cruise because it offered a terrific value when compared to HAL and some other lines.  There are still some reasonable deals out there in the cruise world but folks may need to expand their horizons to find the best values.

 

Hank