Does HAL automatically refund difference in price when they change itinerary?

[tpwolfe]

HAL changed my cruise itinerary from southern Caribbean to Eastern Caribbean and I  booked the lowest category veranda for the southern Caribbean and upgraded with club orange.  I did a mock booking using the same category that I first booked and the new itinerary is $960 less then what I originally booked.  Does HAL automatically refund the difference or do I need to call them.  

[MikeD4134]

Good Luck with that.

[Mary229]

No, they don’t but if you are not past final payment you can re-fare the cruise.  In your case I would definitely call even if past final payment to see if they will somehow accommodate you

[tpwolfe]

10 minutes ago, Mary229 said:

No, they don’t but if you are not past final payment you can re-fare the cruise.  In your case I would definitely call even if past final payment to see if they will somehow accommodate you

The cruise isn’t till November 2024

[Mary229]

6 minutes ago, tpwolfe said:

The cruise isn’t till November 2024

Did you use a TA? If so call them.  Is your deposit refundable?  If it is the simplest method may be to cancel and rebook if not then call and have it refared.  I sometimes re-fare a cruise 2 or 3 times before final payment to capture all the perks I can, (well - if those perks are significant. )

[POA1]

Hopefully you booked a refundable deposit because your cruise is far out. If that's the case, cancel and rebook. You can move your deposit to the new booking. Now is a good time to book while the Black Friday sale is going on.

[tpwolfe]

2 minutes ago, POA1 said:

Hopefully you booked a refundable deposit because your cruise is far out. If that's the case, cancel and rebook. You can move your deposit to the new booking. Now is a good time to book while the Black Friday sale is going on.

It is fare is refundable but is Club Orange refundable?

[albingirl]

Most likely. Good for you for watching things carefully. Paying attention is the name of the game. Bravo!!! Half the fun of cruising with Holland America is catching them in all these sneaky surprises like price drops. To be fair, they don't tell you when the fare has gone up and you are a winner on that end. If you watch things carefully, you will always be ok. 

[tpwolfe]

37 minutes ago, albingirl said:

Most likely. Good for you for watching things carefully. Paying attention is the name of the game. Bravo!!! Half the fun of cruising with Holland America is catching them in all these sneaky surprises like price drops. To be fair, they don't tell you when the fare has gone up and you are a winner on that end. If you watch things carefully, you will always be ok. 

Thank you

[horseymike]

3 hours ago, tpwolfe said:

HAL changed my cruise itinerary from southern Caribbean to Eastern Caribbean and I  booked the lowest category veranda for the southern Caribbean and upgraded with club orange.  I did a mock booking using the same category that I first booked and the new itinerary is $960 less then what I originally booked.  Does HAL automatically refund the difference or do I need to call them.  

I would definitely call them asap. That whole situation stinks. 

[POA1]

1 hour ago, tpwolfe said:

It is fare is refundable but is Club Orange refundable?

Not usually. If you have a PCC, ask them to run your booking past a pricing specialist. They handle complicated refaring situations like yours will be. If you did not use Club Orange for an upgrade, it's probably a simpler refaring. You don't speak to the pricing specialist. Your PCC does. If you used a TA, they can handle it for you

[Mary229]

1 hour ago, tpwolfe said:

It is fare is refundable but is Club Orange refundable?

Work with them to have that transferred also.  If you have a refundable deposit simply re-fare keeping your original booking number.  Everything you have pre-purchased should transfer also. 

[retird]

So if I book a specific itinerary say western carib and partial panama canal, can they just change i5 to an Eastern Caribbean with no recourse for me.  I should be able to cancel if the itinerary is (significantly) changed. 

[zgscl]

So club orange completes things a lot. You will absolutely not get an automatic refare or credit other than any port taxes and fees that changed. If you have a TA or PCC they can work on this for you. If you booked direct a lot of holding on the phone is in your future. I have definitely heard of HAL refusing to refare club orange bookings or only doing it after significant pressure. 
 

You mentioned you are in the lowest category balcony. Are you happy with your cabin? Club orange should entitle you to an upgrade within the meta category if you want it. 

[zgscl]

1 hour ago, retird said:

So if I book a specific itinerary say western carib and partial panama canal, can they just change i5 to an Eastern Caribbean with no recourse for me.  I should be able to cancel if the itinerary is (significantly) changed. 

Other than any difference in port taxes and fees you are not entitled to anything. Under the contract of carriage they have the right to change the itinerary as they see fit and you have the right to basically nothing. 
 

A recent example Is Oceania with the situation in the Middle East. A number of their holy land cruises have been replaced with Italy & Greece. If you are outside of final payment they are waiving the cancellation fee (roughly $135/person on all bookings outside of final payment). Inside of final payment you are SOL. 

[Mary229]

6 hours ago, retird said:

So if I book a specific itinerary say western carib and partial panama canal, can they just change i5 to an Eastern Caribbean with no recourse for me.  I should be able to cancel if the itinerary is (significantly) changed. 

The recourse is the OP is not in the final payment period.  HAL actually has a new best price guarantee that should allow him to refare.  I also think he has a good position to demand club orange be moved with him. To fully cancel with a full refund he would have to have a refundable deposit.  HAL is probably one of the most lenient cruise lines when it comes to changing and refaring.  They also offer a variety of refundable or very low cost deposit  options.  No one should be booking with a nonrefundable deposit 

[doone]

I would definately call your TA or HAL and have them re-fare you with the lower price.  I do this all the time and am able to easily, but I always ask what perks I would lose if I do this and then decide if its worth it to me..............Club Orange, not sure if that would move with you or not, but definately ask the question...let us know how you make out.

 

I also agree, I never book a nonrefundable deposit.

[Real NHDOC]

As others have said you need to call to see what they will do but I would expect that they will match the new price without issue even if you booked a "nonrefundable deposit" because of the change in itinerary.  They will probably do that out of goodwill. 

 

They have been known, in the past, to allow cancellations of "nonrefundable" deposits and allowed them to be used as FCC too as goodwill so I would think they will do a reprice without any issues.  I would point out that the travel industry defines nonrefundable two ways.  One is "forfeited if cancelled" and one is simply they won't refund the money but will allow you to keep it as credit for future use.  HAL has recently become more strict about their interpretation but they also have been known to make exceptions in exceptional cases.

 

I have found that with HAL (and all of the lines) you never get what you don't ask for and often are surprised by what you do get when you do ask.  But it is all very random and not predictable at all. 

Edited November 24, 2023 by Real NHDOC

[Overhead Fred]

If you cancel and rebook you should get CO refunded. 

 

If you refare, you can get your CO to transfer. But it might depend on whether CO is sold out for you cruise. Since it is a year away, you should be fine. 

 

I recently refared our April TA cruise and was able to get CO transferred without any problem. Our PCC maybe had to go through a "pricing specialist" (or whatever the proper title is) to get it done, but I don't know the details. I then looked into refaring again when the Black Friday sale came out, but this time she said she couldn't guarantee being able to keep CO since it was sold out for our cruise. It sounded like she had to ask for a special exception the first time around and wasn't confident she could pull it off a second time. We decided to forgo refaring rather than risking our CO cabin upgrade to an aft veranda. I don't know how HAL would handle things if we "lost" our CO in the refare process, but I certainly would have squawked if a refund wasn't offered! 

 

This will be our first Club Orange experience and the cabin upgrade does seem like a good deal. But it can definitely complicate refaring to take advantage of price drops....

[POA1]

I'm pretty sure that the OP is not changing sailings, but that the itinerary changed. If they have Club Orange, they don't have to lose it in the refare. It's just complicated if there was a CO upgrade to the cabin.