1st time booking with HAL... Do they do price drops ???

[kar1996]

Hi Everyone, As mentioned 1st time on HAL not til  Summer 2023.... Have sailed many others over the past 28 years. Been years since we booked a year in advance.

Question ... Does HAL do price drops before final payment and you get to keep your perks and such booked from Canada in CDN funds??? Or do you need to cancel and start again. NOT wanting to lose our well picked cabin  but any savings would be great. Thanks 

[DaveOKC]

Normally (depends on your exact fare type as some are non-refundable) before final payment you can do a refare, which keeps your cabin.  The fare and perks you will get are based on the current deal at that time.  You do not get to keep the perks and take the lower fare in most cases - its one or the other, so no picking and choosing.

 

[kar1996]

Thank you for clarifying   @DaveOKC

[Suzanne123]

 Can I drop a person from the reservation ( now going solo ) and keep the cabin and perks from the original booking with the new price?

[rgoldstein86]

@kar1996 I booked a November '22 cruise and a few days after final payment I noticed the price had dropped. After a quick call to HAL they refunded the balance as onboard credit - I kept my stateroom and everything else already arranged. I would rather a full refund to my credit card for the difference in price but onboard credit will do just fine.

[AFNavigator]

1 hour ago, kar1996 said:

Hi Everyone, As mentioned 1st time on HAL not til  Summer 2023.... Have sailed many others over the past 28 years. Been years since we booked a year in advance.

Question ... Does HAL do price drops before final payment and you get to keep your perks and such booked from Canada in CDN funds??? Or do you need to cancel and start again. NOT wanting to lose our well picked cabin  but any savings would be great. Thanks 

If you haven't reached final payment and see a price drop, you should be able to contact HAL (or your travel agent if that's how you booked) and get a fare adjustment and keep all the perks and cabin you reserved.  If the adjustment would lower the fare below what you have already paid, you should be able to get a refund of the difference.

 

If you have already paid in full, even if before the official final payment date has occurred, you are probably not going to get a refund.  HAL likely will offer you some onboard credit although it may be less than the price drop difference.  Once you pay in full, or if you have a non-refundable deposit, the leverage is in the cruise line's hands as to what, if any, compensation they may choose to give you.   If you haven't paid in full, and have a refundable deposit, the leverage is in your hands because the cruise line knows you may cancel.

 

But yes, HAL is willing to work with you if there is a price drop before final payment.  I just did that a couple weeks ago for our Dec 2022 cruise.  I did a dummy booking and saw a $135 drop from our booked price.  I called HAL and the agent said the price drop wasn't $135...he said it was $482!  He applied that fare reduction immediately.  Pressing my luck, I mentioned a promo going on at the time offered free gratuities for 2.  He said he would apply that as well.  In the end, our balance due dropped $482 and we now have included "crew appreciation" for 2 (a $217 savings) for a total benefit of $699.

[myeung88]

I booked a last minute cruise 4 weeks from sailing date and I had to make a full payment upon booking. 3 days later the price dropped and HAL still gave me OBC for the price difference 🙂

[KroozNut]

1 hour ago, AFNavigator said:

If you haven't reached final payment and see a price drop, you should be able to contact HAL (or your travel agent if that's how you booked) and get a fare adjustment and keep all the perks and cabin you reserved.  If the adjustment would lower the fare below what you have already paid, you should be able to get a refund of the difference.

 

If you have already paid in full, even if before the official final payment date has occurred, you are probably not going to get a refund.  HAL likely will offer you some onboard credit although it may be less than the price drop difference.  Once you pay in full, or if you have a non-refundable deposit, the leverage is in the cruise line's hands as to what, if any, compensation they may choose to give you.   If you haven't paid in full, and have a refundable deposit, the leverage is in your hands because the cruise line knows you may cancel.

 

But yes, HAL is willing to work with you if there is a price drop before final payment.  I just did that a couple weeks ago for our Dec 2022 cruise.  I did a dummy booking and saw a $135 drop from our booked price.  I called HAL and the agent said the price drop wasn't $135...he said it was $482!  He applied that fare reduction immediately.  Pressing my luck, I mentioned a promo going on at the time offered free gratuities for 2.  He said he would apply that as well.  In the end, our balance due dropped $482 and we now have included "crew appreciation" for 2 (a $217 savings) for a total benefit of $699.

 

Thanks for the information and encouragement. Did the dummy booking, and saw a price drop for our March 2023 sailing on NA. Just got off the phone with HAL, and they matched that fare and I was able to keep all of our original perks (HIA and OBC)! 🙂

[cruzercruiser]

Just had a call to HAL about this and was told that even though the price has dropped for our itinerary and final payment is still a week away, we cannot participate in the lower fare. The reasoning was that we had booked (without noticing) a fare with a non refundable deposit.  The price match would only apply to a new fare which was similarly non refundable.  The new lower fare had a refundable deposit and so we did not qualify.  I was disappointed but I am a firm believer in read and understand the terms of your reservation and I didn't do that in this case so it's on me and a not very expensive lesson for next time we cruise with HAL.  With Norwegian, the line we have cruised with previously, we have always tracked the prices as they have dropped and always ended up paying the lowest fare at the time of the final payment.  After final payment, and I assume this is true with HAL too, you cannot expect to get a price match, although it never hurts to ask.

[AFNavigator]

23 minutes ago, cruzercruiser said:

Just had a call to HAL about this and was told that even though the price has dropped for our itinerary and final payment is still a week away, we cannot participate in the lower fare. The reasoning was that we had booked (without noticing) a fare with a non refundable deposit.  The price match would only apply to a new fare which was similarly non refundable.  The new lower fare had a refundable deposit and so we did not qualify.  I was disappointed but I am a firm believer in read and understand the terms of your reservation and I didn't do that in this case so it's on me and a not very expensive lesson for next time we cruise with HAL.  With Norwegian, the line we have cruised with previously, we have always tracked the prices as they have dropped and always ended up paying the lowest fare at the time of the final payment.  After final payment, and I assume this is true with HAL too, you cannot expect to get a price match, although it never hurts to ask.

It doesn't seem logical that the lowest fare would be one with a refundable deposit.  Lowest fares are often those with non-refundable deposits.

 

You may want to try calling again and see if you get the same answer.  It has been posted many times on here lately that HAL agents are providing inconsistent information.  Also, you could always ask to be elevated to a supervisor to see if they would be willing to grant an exception.

[Florida_gal_50]

Hal gave me a hard time about getting a lower price even though I had a fully refundable cruise fare telling me I already had one price drop.  I don't think so.  I could cancel the whole thing.  They count on people not being well versed so if you hear something that doesn't make sense it needs to be questioned.

[doone]

4 minutes ago, Florida_gal_50 said:

Hal gave me a hard time about getting a lower price even though I had a fully refundable cruise fare telling me I already had one price drop.  I don't think so.  I could cancel the whole thing.  They count on people not being well versed so if you hear something that doesn't make sense it needs to be questioned.

Very true, in the past I didn't like the answer I got so I waited 2 hours and called back, bingo got the lower price and added perks............

[KroozNut]

1 hour ago, AFNavigator said:

Also, you could always ask to be elevated to a supervisor to see if they would be willing to grant an exception.

 

My recent (successful) price drop experience described in post (#8) above had to be elevated to a supervisor who was able to make it happen, which of course made me happy 🙂

[AFNavigator]

2 hours ago, Florida_gal_50 said:

Hal gave me a hard time about getting a lower price even though I had a fully refundable cruise fare telling me I already had one price drop.  I don't think so.  I could cancel the whole thing.  They count on people not being well versed so if you hear something that doesn't make sense it needs to be questioned.

On our upcoming cruise, I had them re-fare me in Jan to add Club Orange (came in $60 lower than original cabin choice, including $350 Club Orange cost), then 3 months later asked them to re-fare me to include $150 onboard credit in a promotion (no fare change but got the OBC) and 2 weeks ago called to re-fare due to another promotion.  That last one lowered the fare $480 plus they agreed to include the free "crew appreciation" (tips) for 2.  Between the fare reductions, OBC, and tips, this saved us over $950 value on a ~$3,000 booking.

I never received any pushback on any of those transactions with HAL.

[KroozNut]

To return to OP's original question:

 

"Question ... Does HAL do price drops before final payment and you get to keep your perks"

 

The answer is yes, but varies according to your particular booking situation. Best to call HAL and find out if it applies to you.

[Florida_gal_50]

1 hour ago, AFNavigator said:

On our upcoming cruise, I had them re-fare me in Jan to add Club Orange (came in $60 lower than original cabin choice, including $350 Club Orange cost), then 3 months later asked them to re-fare me to include $150 onboard credit in a promotion (no fare change but got the OBC) and 2 weeks ago called to re-fare due to another promotion.  That last one lowered the fare $480 plus they agreed to include the free "crew appreciation" (tips) for 2.  Between the fare reductions, OBC, and tips, this saved us over $950 value on a ~$3,000 booking.

I never received any pushback on any of those transactions with HAL.

And this is what is shocking to me.  Of course I heard this all through my ta which I have no reason to doubt.  That however is the problem with using a ta.  I suspect they got some cranky pants at hal.  They blamed it on the fact I had club orange and flights through them.  Apparently my mistake was giving them too much power and money.

[KroozNut]

13 minutes ago, Florida_gal_50 said:

And this is what is shocking to me.  Of course I heard this all through my ta which I have no reason to doubt.  That however is the problem with using a ta.  I suspect they got some cranky pants at hal.  They blamed it on the fact I had club orange and flights through them.  Apparently my mistake was giving them too much power and money.

I'm thinking that your 'problem' IS using a TA. I have found that booking and dealing directly with HAL usually yields better results in these types (and most) situations... YMMV 🙂

[walnut99]

5 hours ago, cruzercruiser said:

Just had a call to HAL about this and was told that even though the price has dropped for our itinerary and final payment is still a week away, we cannot participate in the lower fare. The reasoning was that we had booked (without noticing) a fare with a non refundable deposit.  The price match would only apply to a new fare which was similarly non refundable.  The new lower fare had a refundable deposit and so we did not qualify.  I was disappointed but I am a firm believer in read and understand the terms of your reservation and I didn't do that in this case so it's on me and a not very expensive lesson for next time we cruise with HAL.  With Norwegian, the line we have cruised with previously, we have always tracked the prices as they have dropped and always ended up paying the lowest fare at the time of the final payment.  After final payment, and I assume this is true with HAL too, you cannot expect to get a price match, although it never hurts to ask.

I have a few cruises book and one of them is non-refundable.  I have no idea how I ended up with a non-refundable fare either.  It is not something that I would normally miss.  

[Florida_gal_50]

10 minutes ago, KroozNut said:

I'm thinking that your 'problem' IS using a TA. I have found that booking and dealing directly with HAL usually yields better results in these types (and most) situations... YMMV 🙂

I agree.  I typed up a long response and it disappeared.  Suffice to say I had a ton of issues including a canceled flight on my last cruise.  My pcc told me she couldn’t help and I was on my own.

[KroozNut]

7 minutes ago, walnut99 said:

I have a few cruises book and one of them is non-refundable.  I have no idea how I ended up with a non-refundable fare either.  It is not something that I would normally miss.  

 

It is readily made apparent in the course of every booking. Apparently you were not paying attention is all I can say.

[KroozNut]

6 minutes ago, Florida_gal_50 said:

I agree.  I typed up a long response and it disappeared.  Suffice to say I had a ton of issues including a canceled flight on my last cruise.  My pcc told me she couldn’t help and I was on my own.

 

Lesson(s) learned..

[walnut99]

1 minute ago, KroozNut said:

 

It is readily made apparent in the course of every booking. Apparently you were not paying attention is all I can say.

Apparently I missed it.  I did not mean to imply otherwise.  I only meant to indicate that it can be missed.  I guess you do not have that issue but thanks for pointing out my failure.

[Florida_gal_50]

1 minute ago, KroozNut said:

 

Lesson(s) learned..

Not really.  I’d much rather deal with a pcc but not with that attitude.  

[Florida_gal_50]

1 minute ago, walnut99 said:

Apparently I missed it.  I did not mean to imply otherwise.  I only meant to indicate that it can be missed.  I guess you do not have that issue but thanks for pointing out my failure.

Yeah, that’s typical.  Don’t take it to heart.  
 

I feel that it should be made crystal clear at the time of booking that you have a non refundable fare.  I’ve heard way to many stories otherwise to believe that’s happening.  I think there are bad ta’s and pcc’s that don’t know what they are doing and the consumer pays for it.  

[walnut99]

6 minutes ago, Florida_gal_50 said:

Yeah, that’s typical.  Don’t take it to heart.  
 

I feel that it should be made crystal clear at the time of booking that you have a non refundable fare.  I’ve heard way to many stories otherwise to believe that’s happening.  I think there are bad ta’s and pcc’s that don’t know what they are doing and the consumer pays for it.  

This one was my fault, I booked online directly with HAL and only realized it when I transferred it to the big box and their representative pointed it out.  

Edited September 2, 2022 by walnut99
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