Holland 🇳🇱 America 🇺🇸 Has Largest Booking Day In Their History!

[JeffElizabeth]

Good for them! People are booking their 2025 cruises already. Think they will sell out most good cruises? Or were people just taking advantage of the new marketing promotions? 

[cruisemom42]

$1 deposits ringing a bell?

[PACD_JG]

5 minutes ago, cruisemom42 said:

$1 deposits ringing a bell?

Stop making sense.

[3rdGenCunarder]

7 minutes ago, cruisemom42 said:

$1 deposits ringing a bell?

 

ding ding ding!

 

It makes for good press, but I wonder how many of those bookings will be kept. 

[BermudaBound2014]

Market manipulation. 

 

The bigger question here is why does ccl need this headline? Why now? Why Hal? 

Edited July 14, 2023 by BermudaBound2014

[Guest ldtr]

15 minutes ago, BermudaBound2014 said:

Market manipulation. 

 

The bigger question here is why does ccl need this headline? Why now? Why Hal? 

Need it not really. Who would it influence anyway other than potential customers. Certainly not analysts following the industry.

 

More a matter that when you start pushing more bookings as non refundable, either by price difference between refundable and nonrefundable or by making it more difficult to book refundable dares it will channel more people to take advantage of the low deposit specials. I expect these to become a normal part of the sales toolbox on a quarterly or semi annual level.

 

Certainly some will get canceled, but I also expect a lot of them are from knowledgeable passengers locking in nonrefundable prices for cruises they plan to take, at minimal risk.

Edited July 14, 2023 by ldtr

[CineGraphic]

30 minutes ago, BermudaBound2014 said:

The bigger question here is why does ccl need this headline? Why now? Why Hal? 

 

People tend to react to "news" differently than advertising.

[Mary229]

6 hours ago, BermudaBound2014 said:

Market manipulation. 

 

The bigger question here is why does ccl need this headline? Why now? Why Hal? 

It is called jumping on the bandwagon.   If this is the headline wall street seeks marketing delivers 

 

For those who think analysts are clever - FTX is only the most recent scheme to expose wall street’s stupidity front and center 

Edited July 14, 2023 by Mary229

[caribsun]

A super low deposit does not motivate me to book just give me a real sale. 

[Florida_gal_50]

8 hours ago, ldtr said:

Need it not really. Who would it influence anyway other than potential customers. Certainly not analysts following the industry.

 

More a matter that when you start pushing more bookings as non refundable, either by price difference between refundable and nonrefundable or by making it more difficult to book refundable dares it will channel more people to take advantage of the low deposit specials. I expect these to become a normal part of the sales toolbox on a quarterly or semi annual level.

 

Certainly some will get canceled, but I also expect a lot of them are from knowledgeable passengers locking in nonrefundable prices for cruises they plan to take, at minimal risk.

You have more faith than I do.  It would be interesting to see how many cruises are actually kept.  They could potentially block out people that are actually serious.

[POA1]

On our sailing for 2024, the HIA+ - I'm sure there's an actual term for it, but it's premium WiFi, Elite Beverage Package, and gratuities - came to $40/pp/day over cost of the Advantage fare. (Also has the shorex & specialty dining credit.) That increased the value of the HIA by $17/pp/day for Suite tips & $12/pp/day for the Beverage Package. So, we got $29 more value daily for $10 less.

 

And no, the Advantage fare didn't go up. I've been watching it like a hawk. Granted, I had to subtract two fares and divide by the number of days, but we got a genuine deal. I don't know how it impacted other cruises, but it was great for us.

 

Also, we're fresh out of FDCs since the pandemic. If we had pooh-poohed the sale as a "dollar gimmick," we might not have gotten as good a deal.

[POA1]

13 minutes ago, Florida_gal_50 said:

You have more faith than I do.  It would be interesting to see how many cruises are actually kept.  They could potentially block out people that are actually serious.

I know of one of one for sure. 😉 Unless one of us can't get vacation at the right time.

[doone]

I had been eyeing the 9-day Rotterdam itinerary for next March, I wanted to book it, but just never got around to doing it and was still kind of on the fence.  The $1 deposit came out, so I booked it, bought my airfare yesterday so I guess I am going and couldn't be happier....

[Hlitner]

9 hours ago, cruisemom42 said:

$1 deposits ringing a bell?

Many cruise lines (we could say better cruise lines but some here would object) have abandoned the idea of small deposits.  The reason is simply that many folks will book a low refundable deposit with little intention of ever taking the cruise.  Lines like Oceania, Viking, etc, have actually moved to bigger deposits that are non-refundable a long time prior to the cruise.  O, for example, requires final payment 6 months in advance (which is also the start of the penalty period).  Viking requires full payment within a month of booking!  And these lines sell out most of their cruises.

 

So, history tells us with these low deposit fire sales, many will cancel near their final payment due date.  The good news is that for those of us who are able (and enjoy) doing last minute bookings, the bargains will return,

 

Hank

[Destiny0315]

9 hours ago, BermudaBound2014 said:

Market manipulation. 

 

The bigger question here is why does ccl need this headline? Why now? Why Hal? 

Exactly!! CCL's stock has been on the downturn dropping nearly 6% in the last week after peaking in the $19 range. What better thing than to promote this as news while also tying in HAL's legendary history. That history is what keeps HAL safely in the parent company's back pocket at least for now imho. Oh and btw, where else can you really spend just a $1 (initially) especially for something as big as a cruise today? Even one of the companies that promotes that buying concept, Dollar Tree, has the majority of their items priced at $1.25 or more now! Oh and their stock is at $144 a share, go figure...

Edited July 14, 2023 by Destiny0315

[ExpatBride]

9 hours ago, CineGraphic said:

 

People tend to react to "news" differently than advertising.

Hence why PR is such a thriving industry.

[HappyInVan]

The $1 deposit is a double edge sword. That's why the latest promotion is only for a day.

 

The primary purpose is to firm up the bookings so that the remaining vacancies can be sold at a higher price. However, should there be a lot of cancellations just before FP, HAL has a big problem.

 

In my case, I booked 3 $1 deposits during the first promotion. I'm likely to sail on only one because of the reasonably price. And, I've cancelled at least 6 months before sailing.

 

I've ignored the recent promotion. For me, it has been more effective to wait for a last minute deal on those itineraries where there have been a lot of last minute cancellations. Last week, I signed up for a cruisetour departing August 16 to Alaska. The price of a Vista was cheaper than the hotels on the itinerary.

 

Thank You, HAL. The purpose of these marketing gimmicks has been to stampede those with impulse control issues.

[BermudaBound2014]

4 hours ago, Mary229 said:

It is called jumping on the bandwagon.   If this is the headline wall street seeks marketing delivers 

 

For those who think analysts are clever - FTX is only the most recent scheme to expose wall street’s stupidity front and center 

 

I couldn't agree more. My questions were redundant, but remain ~ Why HAL? Why not Carnival? Why not Seabourn? Cunard? Costa?  CCL has nine lines in the fleet but picked HAL to run the $1 deposit. 

 

I'll share my answer ~ because HAL has softer bookings. You don't run a $1 deposit special when cruises are selling out.

 

I'll wait for the 'not really' reply 😉 

 

 

 

[Mary229]

50 minutes ago, BermudaBound2014 said:

 

I couldn't agree more. My questions were redundant, but remain ~ Why HAL? Why not Carnival? Why not Seabourn? Cunard? Costa?  CCL has nine lines in the fleet but picked HAL to run the $1 deposit. 

 

I'll share my answer ~ because HAL has softer bookings. You don't run a $1 deposit special when cruises are selling out.

 

I'll wait for the 'not really' reply 😉 

 

 

 

I subscribe to  Princess and they do this regularly as a matter of fact I went into the pandemic with 2 $1 deposits on Princess which they turned into a $100 FCC.  I am pretty sure Carnival does also.  I don’t subscribe to Cunard or Seabourn so I couldn’t comment.  I do know NCL has offered them in the past, again I no longer subscribe. 
 

@BermudaBound adding, I find those who require massive deposits very early more suspicious than any others. 

Edited July 14, 2023 by Mary229

[BermudaBound2014]

3 minutes ago, Mary229 said:

I subscribe to  Princess and they do this regularly as a matter of fact I went into the pandemic with 2 $1 deposits on Princess which they turned into a $100 FCC.  I am pretty sure Carnival does also.  I don’t subscribe to Cunard or Seabourn so I couldn’t comment.  I do know NCL has offered them in the past, again I no longer subscribe. 
 

@BermudaBound adding, I find those who require massive deposits very early more suspicious than any others. 

 

I respect the way you think and agree that massive deposits are huge NO NO in my world. Viking requires big deposits early on, yet still needed to sell 720 million in junk bonds last month.

 

I do know that Princess has offered $1 deposits but unless I have counted wrong (which is possible) there have been three $1 deposit HAL sales to Princess's one in the last year.

 

I follow both NCL and Carnival too. Neither have offered $1 deposits recently, although I suppose I could have missed it. A quick google search did not turn up $1 deposit sales for Cunard or Seabourn, or any of the the remaining CCL fleet.

 

If we look just at the CCL fleet of nine cruise lines, I believe HAL offers the most frequent $1 deposits. And one needs to only glance at social media to note that it appears a majority will not actually turn into a sailing. LOTS of people reserving 2-3 cruises so they can secure the best room and decide later. One lady booked 11 HAL cruises with this deposit, and they were some of the longer more exotic sailings. I'm sure HAL knows how many of these bookings will actually turn into sailings, but I'm thinking it's around 50/50.

[Guest ldtr]

46 minutes ago, BermudaBound2014 said:

 

I couldn't agree more. My questions were redundant, but remain ~ Why HAL? Why not Carnival? Why not Seabourn? Cunard? Costa?  CCL has nine lines in the fleet but picked HAL to run the $1 deposit. 

 

I'll share my answer ~ because HAL has softer bookings. You don't run a $1 deposit special when cruises are selling out.

 

I'll wait for the 'not really' reply 😉 

 

 

 

Too funny.

 

Not unusual for different brands of CCL to run different sales with different terms at different times. Though in this case Princess did a dollar deposit sale June 30 to July 5.  

 

You do if you have gone to tighter booking terms and want passengers to take advantage of a short window to lock in non refundable fares at low risk.  Princess followed HAL in having non refundable fares as an option with a noticeable price difference between non refundable and refundable. They have also made the lowest category in each meta categorynon refundable only. As a result one can save quite a bit by booking a nonrefundable fare during the sale, and still have very low risk of loss.

 

Like many other sales it is designed to appeal to a specific group of customers.

 

As far as the other brands unlikely to see it in a luxury brand (totally different customer market dynamics). Same with non North America focused brands. Their customer marketing is based upon norms in those markets. As for Carnival do not know if they have also gone the refundable non refundable fare approach of HAL and Princess. If they have then they will also have their sale at time they select. If their fares are all refundable then probably not.

[Mary229]

5 minutes ago, BermudaBound2014 said:

And one needs to only glance at social media to note that it appears a majority will not actually turn into a sailing. LOTS of people reserving 2-3 cruises so they can secure the best room and decide later.

I agree many will never sail and after completing DH’s over priced bucket list cruises I will be sailing on last minute bargains.  I am stashing a lot of points aside to make it doable. 

[Guest ldtr]

2 minutes ago, BermudaBound2014 said:

 

I respect the way you think and agree that massive deposits are huge NO NO in my world. Viking requires big deposits early on, yet still needed to sell 720 million in junk bonds last month.

 

I do know that Princess has offered $1 deposits but unless I have counted wrong (which is possible) there have been three $1 deposit HAL sales to Princess's one in the last year.

 

I follow both NCL and Carnival too. Neither have offered $1 deposits recently, although I suppose I could have missed it. A quick google search did not turn up $1 deposit sales for Cunard or Seabourn, or any of the the remaining CCL fleet.

 

If we look just at the CCL fleet of nine cruise lines, I believe HAL offers the most frequent $1 deposits. And one needs to only glance at social media to note that it appears a majority will not actually turn into a sailing. LOTS of people reserving 2-3 cruises so they can secure the best room and decide later. One lady booked 11 HAL cruises with this deposit, and they were some of the longer more exotic sailings. I'm sure HAL knows how many of these bookings will actually turn into sailings, but I'm thinking it's around 50/50.

Princess is new to the non refundable fare game. They were totally refundable before the restart. They dramatically changed their booking system in the last few months making some rooms only non refundable. Prior to this change not much need for a dollar deposit sale. Though they have run them in the past every so often. I expect with the new refund policy you will see them from Princess a few times a year as well.

[BermudaBound2014]

13 minutes ago, ldtr said:

Too funny.

 

Not unusual for different brands of CCL to run different sales with different terms at different times. Though in this case Princess did a dollar deposit sale June 30 to July 5.  

 

You do if you have gone to tighter booking terms and want passengers to take advantage of a short window to lock in non refundable fares at low risk.  Princess followed HAL in having non refundable fares as an option with a noticeable price difference between non refundable and refundable. They have also made the lowest category in each meta categorynon refundable only. As a result one can save quite a bit by booking a nonrefundable fare during the sale, and still have very low risk of loss.

 

Like many other sales it is designed to appeal to a specific group of customers.

 

As far as the other brands unlikely to see it in a luxury brand (totally different customer market dynamics). Same with non North America focused brands. Their customer marketing is based upon norms in those markets. As for Carnival do not know if they have also gone the refundable non refundable fare approach of HAL and Princess. If they have then they will also have their sale at time they select. If their fares are all refundable then probably not.

 

Yawn.

 

Let's keep it simple. Do you believe that HAL would run a $1 deposit sale when bookings are strong? 

 

 

[cruisemom42]

18 minutes ago, Mary229 said:

I am stashing a lot of points aside to make it doable. 

 

Same.