Planning for Booking Feb 2024 on Koningsdam

[DAF7065]

I have some questions about a cruise I am thinking of booking

 

I found a HAL cruise in Feb 2024 on the Koningsdam, 35 days.   The deposit is 20% which is substantial.  On other topics I have read about HAL being sold.   Debt in parent company and other craziness.   My question is two fold: 

Is this a real concern?   

How do I protect my deposit from now till boarding?

 

Have it All program is about $55 / Day / Person.  Is it worth it?  I am thinking maybe I have 3 glasses a wine, maybe a drink or two, my wife half.   But with 35 days I think some days I need to rest.   Wi Fi...Why not use and I pad and I load both emails to the unit?   Just one Wi Fi.    I know there has to be cruisers with opinions on this one way or the other. 

 

Last question is HAL says the gratuities are added to the total.  I look all over the web site for that info and have not seen?

 

What I like about this cruise is that it starts / stops in San Diego and hits a lot of nice places we want to visit.  So do not need for 10 hr flight to Tahiti or 15 hour to Sydney with all the time zones.    Just have to fly across from Florida, so not too bad.

 

Thanks for helping out

 

Dave

[Heartgrove]

Call HAL and enquire what the Advantage fare would be. The deposit is refundable. The only caution is that the Cancellation Fee is at 120 days versus the Final Payment date of 75 or 90 days..

[MustBCruzn]

2 hours ago, DAF7065 said:

 

What I like about this cruise is that it starts / stops in San Diego and hits a lot of nice places we want to visit.  So do not need for 10 hr flight to Tahiti or 15 hour to Sydney with all the time zones.    Just have to fly across from Florida, so not too bad.

I just booked this cruise yesterday, and yes, the deposit was a bit of a shock, but we'll have to pay up eventually. The included gratuities were clearly listed on the confirmation document . We too were really happy with both the itinerary and the round trip from San Diego--so convenient. Hope to see you onboard. And there's already a very active roll call.

[shadesofblonde]

I’m sure many can, but no way hub and I can drink our moneys worth EVERY day on a long cruise. Besides, there are so many places to have a drink on the islands where I’d rather be enjoying a cocktail or two instead of feeling I should be drinking on the ship.

 

Wifi will work on any number of devices you bring, but only one at a time, so you need to log on and off.

 

Gratuities (now called crew appreciation) will be added daily to your onboard account. Some people prefer to prepay these...but why?

 

And yes, I understand your concerns regarding the company staying afloat. Not to dissuade you..... but unless I had some pretty specific cabin requirements I wouldn’t put money down just yet.... chances are there will be space available at a later date. In light of some recent stock bottoming out speculations I’m concerned enough about having paid in full for our 51 day cruise this fall

[crystalspin]

On 7/5/2022 at 4:51 AM, DAF7065 said:

 

Thanks for helping out

 

Dave

Hey Dave!

Current bookings have the regular Have-It-All PLUS Crew Appreciation (over $1K for the 35-days for a couple) and $300 additional OBC AND half-price deposit ($1750 instead of $3500). Time to make the jump!

[zgscl]

To give you my two cents

On 7/5/2022 at 3:51 AM, DAF7065 said:

I found a HAL cruise in Feb 2024 on the Koningsdam, 35 days.   The deposit is 20% which is substantial.  On other topics I have read about HAL being sold.   Debt in parent company and other craziness.   My question is two fold: 

Is this a real concern?   

How do I protect my deposit from now till boarding?

I am not concerned for a few reasons. Carnival is massive and has a number of levers they can pull before they would be forced to do a bankruptcy including the sale of one or more brands (more on that in a minute) or ships. If they do have to go the bankruptcy route it would almost certainly be a chapter 11 and not a liquidation. As we have seen in the airline chapter 11s over the years they typically will honor bookings/deposits. That being said it is important to always have travel insurance and an advantage of third party insurance is that it will cover bankruptcy/ceasing operations whereas the HAL CPP will not. You also want to do this shortly after making the first deposit so that it will cover pre-existing conditions (most policies are within 10-14 days, but check the terms closely). Also you would obviously have to purchase before a bankruptcy was declared. 

 

In the event of a sale the new company should take over the booking with the same terms that it was booked under. The biggest risk in this case is that they make changes to the brand between now and then that make you no longer want to sail. As long as you have a refundable deposit this should be no issue. 

 

On 7/5/2022 at 3:51 AM, DAF7065 said:

Have it All program is about $55 / Day / Person.  Is it worth it?  I am thinking maybe I have 3 glasses a wine, maybe a drink or two, my wife half.   But with 35 days I think some days I need to rest.   Wi Fi...Why not use and I pad and I load both emails to the unit?   Just one Wi Fi.    I know there has to be cruisers with opinions on this one way or the other. 

 

So this is very subjective. I have found it worth while even though we do not drink. As others have mentioned, there are three fares. 

Best Price - non refundable deposit, no perks

Advantage - refundable deposit, no perks, penalty kicks in at 120 days which is before final payment (and you have to call or have your TA look it up)

Have it All - refundable deposit, HIA perks

 

As I am never comfortable booking a non-refundable deposit I do not even consider the best price. I usually find the Advantage fare to be in the 20-30/person/day increase over the best price with have it all at 55. Because of this I only compare the extra cost for HIA over the Advantage Fare which is usually around $25-35/person/day more. While we are not big drinkers, we only have to drink 4 or 5 sodas and a drink here and there plus use the sore excursion credit and internet and it is a no brainer. Also both guests get wifi so that gives you 2 devices instead of just 1 if you buy a package onboard. 

 

If they are including gratuities in the promo, then HIA is even worth it in my opinion. With such a long cruise this is a huge value. One quick note if you book now, be careful of re-faring if there is prices drop. Any re fare will update you to the new promo which may lose gratuities. At over $500/person you need a significant price drop to make it worthwhile. 

 

[crystalspin]

On 7/5/2022 at 4:51 AM, DAF7065 said:

I found a HAL cruise in Feb 2024 on the Koningsdam, 35 days.   The deposit is 20% which is substantial. 

 

Have it All program is about $55 / Day / Person.  Is it worth it?  I am thinking maybe I have 3 glasses a wine, maybe a drink or two, my wife half.   But with 35 days I think some days I need to rest.   Wi Fi...Why not use and I pad and I load both emails to the unit?   Just one Wi Fi.    I know there has to be cruisers with opinions on this one way or the other. 

 

Last question is HAL says the gratuities are added to the total.  I look all over the web site for that info and have not seen?

Hey Dave! Run do not walk and try your booking now, and you will see deposit is 50% ($1750 instead of $3500 for the room), and Crew Appreciation (new name for Hotel Service Fee or Room Gratuities) is included -- worth over $1000 in a non-suite room! Also $300/room in OBC. Man they are PAYING us to take this cruise.

 

Just heard from my PCC and we now have the Crew Appreciation and OBC added to our booking for exactly the same total fare. The full deposit is non-revocable for us, but that is OK, it is less to pay later. 

 

The Have It All is worth the price for us. Those inclusions mentioned above are part of it. Plus $300pp in Shore Excursions, three specialty dinners, wifi for each of us.

 

When HAL says gratuities are added, that just means pre-paid. If you, for example, buy the Signature Beverage Plan for $XX, you will be charged $XX plus the current tip percentage (?18%?).

 

With Have-It-All you are paying it all in your fare.

 

Finally, all of the included perks of the Have-It-All package are credited to your account at the full price of the item. In other words, $11x15/day/pp for the Signature plan, etc. So your Mariner points will probably advance by an additional "day" for each day you spend on board, with no additional attempt to spend $300/day.

[Cruise Junky]

If you’re still interested this cruise is on the $1 deposit list special.