What am I missing?

[CruiseMark]

I’m comparing Hurtigruten and Havila Norwegian Coastal cruises and there is such a huge price difference between the two lines on virtually identical itineraries. Sometimes Hurtigruten is nearly double the price of Havila for equivalent cabins. 

What am I missing?  Is it simply because Havila is new and trying to drum up business or is it something else?

 

Thanks,

 

Mark

[oakridger]

@CruiseMark As you mention, I think it's probably because Havila is new and trying to drum up business!  As time goes by, I expect the pricing to level out between the two.

 

I would happily travel on Hurtigruten again, but Havila was a lot less expensive for the booking I made so I am going on Havila! 

 

Have a great trip!

 

~Nancy

Edited March 25, 2023 by oakridger

[hallasm]

Yes, Havila generally has better prices - the purpose of dividing the coastal route among several operators was precisely to get competition on prices and service.  Havila has had difficult problems getting their four ships into operation.  Havila service is comparable to Hurtigruten.  But in addition to the price difference between Hurtigruten and Havila, there can also be very large differences in Hurtigruten's prices on the various web pages.  Prices on the Norwegian .no site can be up to 30% lower than on the international sites.

[vtgumby]

6 hours ago, hallasm said:

  Prices on the Norwegian .no site can be up to 30% lower than on the international sites.

I feel like I may be stalking Hallasm but I’m posting this because we tried to book on the NO site this week and found they would not allow non-Norwegians to do so despite in the past having done just that. I have asked them to meet the NO site pricing and I await their answer and will post when I find out but the NO site was a third less than the US or global site so it looks like we may be doing Havila also.

[hallasm]

20 minutes ago, vtgumby said:

I feel like I may be stalking Hallasm but I’m posting this because we tried to book on the NO site this week and found they would not allow non-Norwegians to do so despite in the past having done just that. I have asked them to meet the NO site pricing and I await their answer and will post when I find out but the NO site was a third less than the US or global site so it looks like we may be doing Havila also.

No reason to feel like you are stalking - at first sight it is not legal to restrict access to order on the .no site according to EU legislation - however, I do not know if it is possible to restrict orders outside the EU.  I think you should challenge the office in the USA on any price differences - also in relation to Havila. Anyway, Havila is a good option. The crews on Havila ships are coming from Hurtigruten.

 

I tried to initiate a booking at the .no site and could enter a US address as well as US phone number.

 

Edited March 25, 2023 by hallasm

[vtgumby]

6 minutes ago, hallasm said:

No reason to feel like you are stalking - at first sight it is not legal to restrict access to order on the .no site according to EU legislation - however, I do not know if it is possible to restrict orders outside the EU.  I think you should challenge the office in the USA on any price differences - also in relation to Havila. Anyway, Havila is a good option. The crews on Havila ships are coming from Hurtigruten.

The challenge is on Hallasm! It’s such a great difference in pricing that it just needs a better answer to satisfy me! 😉

Thanks for all your Hurt advice in the past too, I found the different sites because of your posts years ago!

[hallasm]

2 minutes ago, vtgumby said:

The challenge is on Hallasm! It’s such a great difference in pricing that it just needs a better answer to satisfy me!

Did you try to make the booking at the .no site? - as said I can choose  USA  as country as well as enter an US address and US phone number into their booking system.

[vtgumby]

1 hour ago, hallasm said:

Did you try to make the booking at the .no site? - as said I can choose  USA  as country as well as enter an US address and US phone number into their booking system.

Multiple times over a few days and up came an error message. I finally contacted NO customer service and they said it was because I wasn’t Norwegian. If my travel companion was then we’d get that pricing but we’re both from the USA. 
Disappointing.

[hallasm]

32 minutes ago, vtgumby said:

Disappointing

If I couldn't get the Hurtigruten for the price on the .no site, I would definitely book with Havila. 

[ColdCruise]

2 hours ago, vtgumby said:

Multiple times over a few days and up came an error message. I finally contacted NO customer service and they said it was because I wasn’t Norwegian. If my travel companion was then we’d get that pricing but we’re both from the USA. 
Disappointing.

@vtgumby

Are you using a vpn with a European point of presence and a secure browser ?

I  tried using a vpn in Frankfurt AND the duckduckgo browser for a booking on a 12 day, 30 oct trip w northern lights guarantees in a polar outside guarantee cabin. I got all the way to the part where I had to enter my credit card for the deposit.

btw price was (or 2) 43,028 nok (~$4,110)

Edited March 25, 2023 by ColdCruise

[vtgumby]

5 minutes ago, ColdCruise said:

@vtgumby

Are you using a vpn with a European point of presence and a secure browser ?

I  tried using a vpn in Frankfurt AND the duckduckgo browser for a booking on a 12 day, 30 oct trip w northern lights guarantees in a polar outside guarantee cabin. I got all the way to the part where I had to enter my credit card for the deposit.

btw price was (or 2) 43,028 nok (~$4,110)

No I didn’t, my husband suggested it but it froze up with our nationalities…so I just tried with the VPN and it seems to error with the nationalities. Sigh. 
Thanks for the suggestion however!

[Flyinby]

22 minutes ago, ColdCruise said:

@vtgumby

Are you using a vpn with a European point of presence and a secure browser ?

I  tried using a vpn in Frankfurt AND the duckduckgo browser for a booking on a 12 day, 30 oct trip w northern lights guarantees in a polar outside guarantee cabin. I got all the way to the part where I had to enter my credit card for the deposit.

btw price was (or 2) 43,028 nok (~$4,110)

Next question though, is "what happens then"?  If the price is for Norwegians only, when address for the credit card and passport information is entered, it will become obvious.  Would they cancel it when they found out?  Or require the proper US price?  Would you be worried about your planned trip maybe getting cancelled later?  If so, would it be worth it?

 

I think I remember from our shipboard "history" lessons, the Norwegian government having a lot to do with the establishment of this route, so perhaps there were subsidies etc., which might make it seem more logical to offer better prices to Norwegians, since their taxes would have helped with the subsidies, and to encourage them to use the service.  Just some guesses, I don't know.

 

But it's not that unusual to offer different prices for residents of certain areas...I know we get offers from Princess for discounted fares for Californians (for the local coast area cruises), Disneyland has lower entry offers for SoCal residents, etc.

[ColdCruise]

I guess my level of acceptable risk would be in proportion to the price difference but, if significant , I’d take the chance and buy insurance (do that anyway due to possibility of unknown changes - we usually travel enuf that annual plan makes sense)

[Flyinby]

16 hours ago, CruiseMark said:

I’m comparing Hurtigruten and Havila Norwegian Coastal cruises and there is such a huge price difference between the two lines on virtually identical itineraries. Sometimes Hurtigruten is nearly double the price of Havila for equivalent cabins. 

What am I missing?  Is it simply because Havila is new and trying to drum up business or is it something else?

I think it's exactly what you said.  There's a lot of brand loyalty among many who cruise, as you can find out on most any of the other lines' forums here.  Hurtigruten is well-liked (even the former Hurtigruten employees on our Havila trip thought well of it), and people often feel more secure with an "old standby" than a newcomer.

 

Then there was the fiasco after the Ukraine invasion, with the Capella being out of commission and the Castor still in limbo.  Though it was due to some ties their finance companies had and the sanctions, I remember a post on one of these forums (or possibly at Tripadvisor) saying that maybe the oligarchs were getting a cut on their fare if they sailed on Havila.  With all that, people were reluctant to book, and understandably so.  I had already made a booking last February, and decided I was sticking with it, and am thrilled I did.  And Hurtigruten has branched out in many other areas, and may not be that concerned about the basic coastal route (?).

 

Their prices probably will go up when they are able to overcome the above...but in the meantime, I'll be happy to "help them out" 8^)  At their prices and given the quality of the trip and the ships, I'll hope to be back a few times before the prices equalize.

Edited March 25, 2023 by Flyinby

[vtgumby]

1 hour ago, Flyinby said:

Next question though, is "what happens then"?  If the price is for Norwegians only, when address for the credit card and passport information is entered, it will become obvious.  Would they cancel it when they found out?  Or require the proper US price?  Would you be worried about your planned trip maybe getting cancelled later?  If so, would it be worth it?

 

I think I remember from our shipboard "history" lessons, the Norwegian government having a lot to do with the establishment of this route, so perhaps there were subsidies etc., which might make it seem more logical to offer better prices to Norwegians, since their taxes would have helped with the subsidies, and to encourage them to use the service.  Just some guesses, I don't know.

 

But it's not that unusual to offer different prices for residents of certain areas...I know we get offers from Princess for discounted fares for Californians (for the local coast area cruises), Disneyland has lower entry offers for SoCal residents, etc.

I think a 35% difference makes other lines more desirable, we were returning loyalty member types, but yay for Norwegians, that’s a substantial discount and for us it makes it too pricey, esp knowing of the great price difference for the same trip. This is new btw, we booked in kroners our original trip which was covid cancelled and then rebooked on the global site because the price was about equal. Now for this trip it’s 6k per person difference between US and NO so it’s not hard to say no takk to a 12k price difference.