Phoning HAL for upgrade offer

[tartanmom]

In general, when is the best time to phone HAL to see if there is an upgrade offer available? Last year we had booked a holiday cruise and I phoned a few days before departure and was able to pay (what I thought) was an very reasonable price to upgrade to a Vista suite on the Zaandam. When I phoned there was only 1 suite left and the agent said something along the lines of "you've left it late. There is only 1 suite left". We have the same cruise booked for this December and I would be interested in upgrading again. I assume the price to upgrade would be better closer to the departure date when the suites are still unsold but I also don't want to potentially miss out by leaving it too late. 

Edited July 2, 2023 by tartanmom

[jthek]

I do it 2 to 3 weeks out to see if they have any offers

Sometimes they do and sometimes they don't

but you can get a sense of the deal

[FlaMariner]

I concur with the 2 to 3 week timeline......Our last cruise (March 2023), the upgrade offers were available 17 days before embarkation.  

[majmaj4]

If I booked through a TA; does the upgrade request/offer have to go through the TA also?

 

Thanks,

 

[jthek]

16 minutes ago, majmaj4 said:

If I booked through a TA; does the upgrade request/offer have to go through the TA also?

 

Thanks,

 

No, there is a department at HALin Seattle

888 628 8107

[Destiny0315]

29 minutes ago, jthek said:

No, there is a department at HALin Seattle

888 628 8107

Also that line is open only from 8am-5pm pst Monday-Friday

[jthek]

Haha, only

That is 9 hours a day

[jthek]

I got a super deal this week for 3 B2B in Alaska on the Kdam last Thursday

 

[DaveOKC]

I use the HAL email system (where they email you with upsell offers) and they generally start about 2 weeks prior, but I have received them 4 weeks out.  Depends alot on how well the ship is booking.

What I have found is that 1) when I call to inquire about an upsell offer, the price they want is very high (about the normal price).  When they send out the email offer it is much cheaper, but this can vary depending on how far out it is.  And 2) the really good offers go quickly, so if you get and email, jump on it if you are happy with the price (do your homework ahead of time and know your price point and cabin area you want).  When you call in to inquire about upsells you are likely to not get the best locations and could also miss out (happens alot) since others have received the email offers and jumped on them.

Now that the HAL ships are sailing fairly full, I expect that the upsell offers will be harder to get.

 

[Ferry_Watcher]

1 hour ago, DaveOKC said:

I use the HAL email system (where they email you with upsell offers)

 

Do you sign up for there offers?  And, if so how does one go about it?

[jthek]

I have had good luck calling in

Sometimes more than once and they agreed to lower the price

Last time it was 48 hours before the cruise left

I usually book B2B and I use that to have them

work a deal

 

Either way works

[DaveOKC]

2 hours ago, Ferry_Watcher said:

 

Do you sign up for there offers?  And, if so how does one go about it?

No, HAL just emails me.  I respond by calling the number they provide. Quick and easy, if you have done your homework ahead of time.

 

[DaveOKC]

1 hour ago, jthek said:

I have had good luck calling in

Sometimes more than once and they agreed to lower the price

Last time it was 48 hours before the cruise left

I usually book B2B and I use that to have them

work a deal

 

Either way works

How much of a discount do you normally get.  I usually wait for a 67% discount from the published fares.  I take the current fare from my category and subtract it from the fare for the new category and look to book if this discount is about 67% from this difference.

 

[syesmar]

On 7/2/2023 at 7:31 PM, majmaj4 said:

If I booked through a TA; does the upgrade request/offer have to go through the TA also?

For years, we booked through a TA and were assured they would pass along any e-mailed Upgrade Offers, but we never received any. We just assumed none were offered to us by HAL, but after reading Threads here realized our TA was not taking the time to pass them along (likely because of how quickly they go, and the hassle involved on their part).

 

So on our last cruise, we booked directly through HAL and regularly received the e-mail offers once they started. We would also call in without an e-mail to check, and it was on one of those calls the representative made us an offer that we took.

[DaveOKC]

1 hour ago, syesmar said:

For years, we booked through a TA and were assured they would pass along any e-mailed Upgrade Offers, but we never received any. We just assumed none were offered to us by HAL, but after reading Threads here realized our TA was not taking the time to pass them along (likely because of how quickly they go, and the hassle involved on their part).

 

So on our last cruise, we booked directly through HAL and regularly received the e-mail offers once they started. We would also call in without an e-mail to check, and it was on one of those calls the representative made us an offer that we took.

I have accepted upsell HAL email offers on most of my cruises and thus would not use a TA who does not pass these on.  I think that the issue is that SOME TAs consider it too time consuming to bother with (multiple calls to customer and HAL to work it all out).  

[Haljo1935]

4 minutes ago, DaveOKC said:

I have accepted upsell HAL email offers on most of my cruises and thus would not use a TA who does not pass these on.  I think that the issue is that SOME TAs consider it too time consuming to bother with (multiple calls to customer and HAL to work it all out).  

Agree although that is their job and by way of accepting the commission they're agreeing to do the work. But we all know not everyone does what they should.

It's hard to know what you're missing if you don't receive it. That is, you wouldn't know upsell offers were available if you didn't get the emails.

[FlaMariner]

We use a very big internet TA....great prices...and we have a specific agent and she is fantastic.

 

At first, we did not get upsells....and I did not even know such a thing existed until getting educated on here!

 

When I inquired as to "how can I get upsell offers timely?" she had no problem making sure we got them pronto.....and she forwards the emails on.....Because she makes commission on the upsell (I'm assuming) and she knows that we will buy them on occasion, it is worth her effort. 

 

My suggestion:  If you are not getting upsells, ask if you can.  

 

[jthek]

22 hours ago, DaveOKC said:

How much of a discount do you normally get.  I usually wait for a 67% discount from the published fares.  I take the current fare from my category and subtract it from the fare for the new category and look to book if this discount is about 67% from this difference.

 

I don't have a set formula

It depends on the timing

For the cruises that I am taking this week in Alaska

I got $39 to move from an inside to a single Oceanview 

[syesmar]

3 hours ago, DaveOKC said:

I have accepted upsell HAL email offers on most of my cruises and thus would not use a TA who does not pass these on.  I think that the issue is that SOME TAs consider it too time consuming to bother with (multiple calls to customer and HAL to work it all out).  

Agree, and we’ve decided not to use them again. I now know HAL had previously sent offers to them (for years), but not a single time were they passed on, even though we specifically had our booking marked to receive them. We had used the TA for a long time, they were through a big box who gave nice rebates through a membership we had, but most of the time I had done most of the work on the front end, even initially booking with HAL and transferring it over to the TA to get the rebate. Sometimes that was the only interaction we had for the entire transaction, was me calling to say, “I’ve got a booking on hold and am transferring it over to you.” After hearing about the service other TAs or even PCCs were giving (complimentary dinners, anniversary or sailaway gifts, etc.), we decided to book directly (and keep it) with HAL and not-to-our surprise, started receiving Upsells.

 

Edited July 5, 2023 by syesmar

[Haljo1935]

29 minutes ago, jthek said:

...For the cruises that I am taking this week in Alaska

I got $39 to move from an inside to a single Oceanview 

Congrats!!

Safe travels  - enjoy your cruise!

[jthek]

Bon Voyage!!!

[AKJonesy]

On 7/4/2023 at 10:43 AM, DaveOKC said:

How much of a discount do you normally get.  I usually wait for a 67% discount from the published fares.  I take the current fare from my category and subtract it from the fare for the new category and look to book if this discount is about 67% from this difference.

 

A couple of questions regarding upgrades:

 

1.  You mentioned emails that you get from HAL.  I don't book through HAL but through my Mariner status I do get promotions in the mail.  For these upgrade offers, do you get some kind of special email?  If so, how do I sign up?  I was going to try and do a paid upgrade once, but it happened right when covid started so I never got to execute on that and I don't remember how I was going about it.

 

2.  Let's say I have an OV and I want to upgrade to a Balcony, or I have a balcony and I want to upgrade to a suite, are you saying your target price for the paid upgrade is about a 67% of the established fare.  

 

I'd like to do this at least once as a surprise to my husband but I'm not sure how and when to go for it.  Thanks.  

[Ellencruise]

I received my first upgrade offer yesterday, HAL sent through my TA. We are 14 days out. I did not take it because I like the VE balcony I picked on booking and would rather spend that money elsewhere.

[DaveOKC]

46 minutes ago, AKJonesy said:

A couple of questions regarding upgrades:

 

1.  You mentioned emails that you get from HAL.  I don't book through HAL but through my Mariner status I do get promotions in the mail.  For these upgrade offers, do you get some kind of special email?  If so, how do I sign up?  I was going to try and do a paid upgrade once, but it happened right when covid started so I never got to execute on that and I don't remember how I was going about it.

 

2.  Let's say I have an OV and I want to upgrade to a Balcony, or I have a balcony and I want to upgrade to a suite, are you saying your target price for the paid upgrade is about a 67% of the established fare.  

 

I'd like to do this at least once as a surprise to my husband but I'm not sure how and when to go for it.  Thanks.  

To clarify my comment from previous post, I meant that I look for an UPSELL offer from HAL that usually comes 2-4 weeks prior to sailing (they send these out in a mass email to most cruisers on your sailing on a first come first served basis, and you do not have to sign up to get them).  My target price to pay for this upgrade is a 67% discount from the current difference in fares.  For example, lets say that I am in a Signature Suite and want to move up to a Neptune.  The current fare for the Signature is $1200 pp and the fare for a Neptune is $2200.  Thus I would be looking to get a discount of about $670 from this $1000 difference in fare, so I should see a cost of $330 for the upgrade.  To me this is a fair deal for both parties and of course I might vary my target price a bit depending on how bad I want the upgrade.  One note - this example works if you book through HAL or one of its PCCs.  SOME travel agents do not pass these upsell offers on to their customers (not worth the trouble for them I suspect) so check with yours.  The big box retailer is known for not passing these on, so I never book with them.

 

Again, this is based on HAL contacting me by email to purchase this upgrade.  If I contact HAL to upgrade my cabin, I would expect to pay alot more, depending on how far out the cruise is and how well it is selling.  Very often in the above example they would quote me the $1000 difference.  One time when I contacted them they wanted the full $1000 (example) and I countered with $500 and they turned me down.  Two days later I received a mass email from them offering the deal for $300!

 

These upsell offers from HAL can be a great deal, but you have to move quickly on them as they go fast.  Know the price you are willing to pay so that you can react quickly if it meets your targeted price.  Further, know which cabin(s) you would like (or at least a general area of the ship) as when you call and accept you can request it.

 

 

 

[Florida_gal_50]

1 hour ago, AKJonesy said:

A couple of questions regarding upgrades:

 

1.  You mentioned emails that you get from HAL.  I don't book through HAL but through my Mariner status I do get promotions in the mail.  For these upgrade offers, do you get some kind of special email?  If so, how do I sign up?  I was going to try and do a paid upgrade once, but it happened right when covid started so I never got to execute on that and I don't remember how I was going about it.

 

2.  Let's say I have an OV and I want to upgrade to a Balcony, or I have a balcony and I want to upgrade to a suite, are you saying your target price for the paid upgrade is about a 67% of the established fare.  

 

I'd like to do this at least once as a surprise to my husband but I'm not sure how and when to go for it.  Thanks.  

You can't sign up for them.  If you use a ta it will go to them first.  If they don't pass them on you will never see it.  People have had luck phoning.  I've had zero luck doing that. I phoned quite often for my last cruise.  3 days before I finally saw an upsell and I only saw one of the 2 emails they say they sent.  I book directly through a pcc.

Edited July 15, 2023 by Florida_gal_50