Can, would you haggle?

[mjkacmom]

10 hours ago, MacMadame said:

I let my real estate agent do it.

 

Also, where I live, people don't pay the asking price. They pay *over* the asking price. Or they do if they want to get the house. 😉 

I’m in NJ, same, I get solicitations all if the time asking if I want to sell, there’s no inventory. A twin house a block away sold for $200,000+ over asking last month. It’s very rare for a home to sell under asking here.

[lenquixote66]

16 hours ago, Mum2Mercury said:

Nah, doesn't seem like something that'd happen in a big company.  

I've heard that the cruise ticket is what it actually costs for you to sail, and the company makes money through three big things:  Shore excursions, gambling and drinks.  

I don't see how that can be true though because the price of the same room is quite different in summer vs. fall.  

Oh, I'm really good at haggling -- I'm really good at buying a car. 

But it's a process that pretty much has to be done in person.  

I have only bought two cars and there was no need to haggle.

[lenquixote66]

16 hours ago, ontheweb said:

When we did an escorted land trip to Peru (2019), one day the group went to a huge flea market. We were told we were expected to haggle. We got a lot of good bargains .And I am pretty sure the merchants were also happy at the end of the day,

My youngest daughter and her husband were on an escorted land trip to Peru in 2019.It was a group of school teachers.They too were told they were expected to haggle.

[WVU_Neal]

23 hours ago, gerryuk said:

Would you ring the cruise line up and tell them that you are prepared to pay them $3000 for the cabin but not a dollar more?

I often politely ask the question "can you do any better on the price?" after being quoted. It either works or it doesn't and no one gets offended by the question or the answer. I've never had to try it on a cruise, although it does come up when I'm talking with my favorite big box cruise agency.

Neal

Edited March 18 by WVU_Neal

[lenquixote66]

13 hours ago, navybankerteacher said:

Did you ever buy a house or an apartment — and did you immediately agree to the original asking price?  
 

Did you ever interview for a job - and not accept an offer because you knew you could do better elsewhere?  Did you ever leave one job for another because you got better pay - or better hours, or better conditions or prospects, or a shorter commute?
 

Did you ever make a concession to a spouse or partner - in return for a concession made to you - perhaps as simple a transaction as agreeing to see their choice of movie because next time they would see yours?
 

”never” is a very long word.

After completing my education I worked non profit all my life and salary was never a factor.In 57 years of marriage my wife and I never haggled .We only bought two houses and lived in 2 apartments and accepted the prices because we believed they were affordable.

[mnocket]

3 hours ago, gerryuk said:

But obviously they are not selling them, if there are empty cabins on departure. If the cabin is $4000 and you offer them $3000, then $3000 is better than zero. Now you could spend more on the ship or spend nothing, but $3000 is still better than zero. 

You seem pretty firm in your belief that cruise line call centers will negotiate prices.  Why don't you give it a try and report back.  I'm with those who think it's a lost cause, but I'm always willing to be proven wrong. 

[Fishboy1947]

I would like to hear from someone who tried, not speculation.

i am not one to usually haggle. Many years ago I decided I would like to spend a month on a very high scale island in FL, I usually stayed a week. When I saw the prices it looked like I’d have to stay off island. I got the idea to send emails to 25 units that looked like places I’d like to stay, I told them what I could pay off island but I’d really like to stay on island. I made them an offer of 10% more than off island and about 25% less than on island prices. 15 responses were very negative, I didn’t hear from 5 but the other 5 said that that were interested. I made a deal with one and stayed there each year for the next 20 years.

You don’t know until you try

[ontheweb]

2 hours ago, lenquixote66 said:

My youngest daughter and her husband were on an escorted land trip to Peru in 2019.It was a group of school teachers.They too were told they were expected to haggle.

2019 turned out to be a very good time to visit Peru as they were especially hard hit the next year by the dreaded Covid virus.

 

I hope your daughter and son in law got to explore Machu Picchu, what a wonderous place.

[MacMadame]

1 hour ago, WVU_Neal said:

I often politely ask the question "can you do any better on the price?" after being quoted. It either works or it doesn't and no one gets offended by the question or the answer. I've never had to try it on a cruise, although it does come up when I'm talking with my favorite big box cruise agency.

The question here is who you would ask. We know that most cruise lines have call centers where the employees have little power to do more than give you some OBC if you are complaining about something and often will give you the wrong answer to your question.

 

Princess has their CVPs (aka PVPs) who are kind of like TAs but not really. I consider them a slightly higher level of customer service than the call center. They have more power and more knowledge. I assume at least some of the other cruise lines have the same thing.

 

Do they have the power to give you a different price on a cruise than what is advertised? People have tried to get them to honor deals that they aren't eligible for (such as one that is only for new bookings applied to an existing booking) and, so far, I have never heard of anyone being successful at getting the CVPs to do that. If they aren't going to bend the rules to give you a lower advertised price, what makes the OP think they will give someone a completely made-up deal?

 

22 minutes ago, Fishboy1947 said:

Many years ago I decided I would like to spend a month on a very high scale island in FL, I usually stayed a week. When I saw the prices it looked like I’d have to stay off island. I got the idea to send emails to 25 units that looked like places I’d like to stay, I told them what I could pay off island but I’d really like to stay on island. I made them an offer of 10% more than off island and about 25% less than on island prices. 15 responses were very negative, I didn’t hear from 5 but the other 5 said that that were interested. I made a deal with one and stayed there each year for the next 20 years.

You don’t know until you try

Right but in this case you had someone you could haggle with. You weren't dealing with a corporation but an individual and you knew who to contact. Who are you going to ask in this case? Some poor soul in an off-shore call center who can't even give you the correct information? Their supervisor who also often gives wrong information? A possible in-house TA equivalent who only has the power to give you the deals on their computer? Their supervisor who may have slightly more power?

 

I do think if you get a CVP supervisor, they might be able to fudge a deal that you aren't eligible for or give you some OBC but I haven't seen them do the former and the latter is pretty rare.

 

This is the essential problem with your suggestion of haggling. There isn't anyone authorized to haggle. You'd have better luck going to a 3rd party TA and seeing what their best deal is because they have room to maneuver since they get deals not shown to the public, blocks of rooms at a reduced price, and have a commission they can play with. Even there, I don't think you can say "I'll give you $3000" because they have limited parameters to work with. 

[lenquixote66]

41 minutes ago, ontheweb said:

2019 turned out to be a very good time to visit Peru as they were especially hard hit the next year by the dreaded Covid virus.

 

I hope your daughter and son in law got to explore Machu Picchu, what a wonderous place.

Yes,they did.

[lenquixote66]

1 hour ago, Fishboy1947 said:

I would like to hear from someone who tried, not speculation.

i am not one to usually haggle. Many years ago I decided I would like to spend a month on a very high scale island in FL, I usually stayed a week. When I saw the prices it looked like I’d have to stay off island. I got the idea to send emails to 25 units that looked like places I’d like to stay, I told them what I could pay off island but I’d really like to stay on island. I made them an offer of 10% more than off island and about 25% less than on island prices. 15 responses were very negative, I didn’t hear from 5 but the other 5 said that that were interested. I made a deal with one and stayed there each year for the next 20 years.

You don’t know until you try

I try my best to live a stressfree life.I am in my 80’s and it has worked so far,

[Toofarfromthesea]

On 3/17/2024 at 9:06 AM, gerryuk said:

Hypothetically speaking....

You live next to a cruise port and notice that a cruise ship is leaving tomorrow and you like the itinerary. When you do a mock booking online, you notice that there a loads of unsold balcony cabins. The price of the cabin is $2000 per person, based on double occupancy. 

Would you ring the cruise line up and tell them that you are prepared to pay them $3000 for the cabin but not a dollar more? What would the cruise lines response be?

Most people are happy to haggle with vendors, taxi drivers and the like. Would you try to haggle with the cruise line, or is that sort of behaviour beneath you?

Just to point out, i don't live next to a cruise port so this would be of no use to me.

 

 

 

Try it and report back.

[Kristelle]

9 hours ago, gerryuk said:

But obviously they are not selling them, if there are empty cabins on departure. If the cabin is $4000 and you offer them $3000, then $3000 is better than zero. Now you could spend more on the ship or spend nothing, but $3000 is still better than zero. 

 

not quite. That cabin empty costs them nothing too.

 

With passengers it needs housekeeping, the passengers get food etc

 

It also sets a precedent which I  dont think they would want - if passengers know price is negotiable other will want to knock it down in future too - which lowers the base price they will get from there on.

 

 

[ontheweb]

3 minutes ago, Kristelle said:

 

not quite. That cabin empty costs them nothing too.

 

With passengers it needs housekeeping, the passengers get food etc

 

It also sets a precedent which I  dont think they would want - if passengers know price is negotiable other will want to knock it down in future too - which lowers the base price they will get from there on.

 

 

Your last paragraph mentioning setting a precedent I think is the important stumbling block for anyone being able to haggle. Maybe it would work if there was no social media, but there is. They could not keep it a secret, and the results would be too many demanding the same types of deals.

[Hlitner]

I think the OP has no clue how it works at cruise lines.  "Ring up" the cruise line and you simply get a reservations clerk, in their little cubicle, that has zero power to do anything but follow the various scripts that are on their terminal.  

 

In Florida, it used to be possible to work deals through local TAs that had connections at the cruise line.  These days I doubt if that is even possible.

 

There are ways to get some pretty decent "last minute" special (unadvertised) deals.  But this will usually happen through various high volume cruise agencies (that are part of very high volume consortiums) that are permitted (by the cruise line) to sell some special deals.  These are usually limited to their customers (folks on their e-mail list) and have nothing to do with living near the port.  The so-called "last minute" deals are generally available just inside the final payment period.

 

Hank

[2BACRUISER]

AS the OP is in the UK i think he harks back to the days you could get a late deal via teletext, all holidays were sold cheap as the departure date drew nearer, I remember getting a week in Cyprus for £111 four days before it flew out of the UK. These days it doesnt seem to happen especially on cruises if anything prices seem to go up and you are best off watching for offers like extra OBC for booking by a certain date or a limited offer price valid for a short sale time. Whilst i might haggle over a price for building work, or a car or appliance purchase (eg what can they do for pound notes?) I know that the price of a holiday is the price. The only way you might get a deal is to go into a high street travel agent and see if they can do anything but the way high street are going these days they are few and far between. 

[gerryuk]

This is the closest i could find....

 

How Do I Negotiate a Deal on a Cruise? | Getaway USA (azcentral.com)

 

 

 

[ldubs]

On 3/18/2024 at 5:42 AM, navybankerteacher said:

They are reluctant to let their customer base get the notion that, if they wait, they will get a cheaper cruise.  Yes, sailing with a few empty $3,000 cabins seems like a waste, but it is a necessary tactic to avoid the uncertainty of a last minute sale on every itinerary.

 

I don't want to imagine cruise pricing becoming an expected negotiation like a car purchase.   I think that would be the end of cruising for me.  

 

Getting back to the OP's question.  I suppose it would be interesting for someone to share the result of actually trying the make an offer approach.

 

 

[navybankerteacher]

Given the virtual certainty that we are in an inflationary cycle - it may be wise to assume a 5 to 7% annual increase in cruise fares. So perhaps “first minute” cruise fares might be the thing to consider.  Book now, with a very low deposit, and protect yourself from likely increases as sailing date nears.

[Joebucks]

Hey boss, we have a customer who has a good case as to why they need a discount. They know our model better than we do!

 

Incredible! Give em what they want!

[ilikeanswers]

If it doesn't cost anything to try you may as well give it a go. The worst thing that can happen is they say no. My first cruise I really wanted a balcony cabin but this particular company allocated a certain amount of cabins to sell for different regions and for my country of residence balcony cabins were sold out. However I decided to email the company to find out if there was any way to get a balcony cabin. They emailed back saying they would release one that was allocated to another region and hold it for me till I could contact the travel agent to book it for me. Even the travel agent was quite surprised as apparently it hadn't happened before😆. Just ask, you never know you could get lucky😉. 

[6rugrats]

No, I have never heard of this.  There are many rates, such as interline rates, not available to the public and there are some amazing deals.  What you see as a $3000 price may be $600 to them and cabins are sold last minute that way.  Get a job with an airline or hotel, for example, and you will pay much less. 

I don't think haggling in a market, or purchasing a car or house has anything to do with this question.

[Hlitner]

There is one situation where we actually tried to haggle  This can happen on some lines (primarily luxury lines) if one is already on a cruise and wants to extend their time on the ship.  But even this is not always successful.  Back in the summer of 2021. when many were still afraid to travel, DW and I were on a Seabourn cruise where the ship was only about 1/2 of capacity, Towards the end of our 2-week voyage, we had a chat with the onboard future cruise guy (who we knew from prior cruises) and suggested that we could stay aboard for another 2 weeks if the company (Seabourn) would give us a decent price.  The future cruise guy sent an e-mail (and also had a chat) with his home office folks who came up with an offer that actually cost more, per person/day then the cruise we were taking at the time.  We all had a laugh and, of course, we rejected the offer.  For whatever reason, Seabourn had decided they would prefer to sail a half empty ship rather than discount a price.  By any measure it would have been a win-win, but the "suits" do not always think in those terms.

 

However, we do know of some folks who have gotten some good deals (with Seabourn and Princess) by extending a voyage (during their cruise).  I also recall one cruise (might have been on Seabourn) where an announcement was made that if anyone wanted to extend their voyage there were some good deals.

 

Hank

[Miss Ellsworth]

On 3/18/2024 at 8:13 AM, gerryuk said:

But obviously they are not selling them, if there are empty cabins on departure. If the cabin is $4000 and you offer them $3000, then $3000 is better than zero. Now you could spend more on the ship or spend nothing, but $3000 is still better than zero. 

This bottom is currently the subject of discussion in the air travel industry, particularly among flight crew and gate agents. Passengers want to lobby the employees close to boarding-door-closing time to give them first-class upgrades for a song. They suggest, in that moment, that the airlines should be economically literate enough to know that their low-ball offer should be accepted because of "sunk costs".

 

Nope. The employees then go online and laugh. Sometimes it is indeed more profitable, long-term, to let a first-class seat (or cruise cabin) go unoccupied than it is to let someone sit in it for a ridiculously low price. They have to preserve the sense among customers that these spaces have enhanced value, and giving them away just to get "more than zero" will ultimately lead to changed perceptions of value and even expectations that they will be cheap or free (as with airlines no longer giving away most of the FC cabin for free via upgrades, even if it means empty seats.)

 

And honestly, if pricing is still in the thousands the night before sailing, it's very possible that the ship is at high capacity. I think the ships are pretty good at pricing at the best price they think they can get and will continue to adjust that *subject to a floor price*, up until sailing

[AKJonesy]

Go to one of the highly rated discount cruise companies.  I have found some cruises highly discounted in last days.  Those are usually when kids are in school.  I sat in LAX Delta Club once flying to Australia and made a booking not only for a NZ cruise but also for a Latam flight between Auckland and Sydney, booked car and hotel all in about 5 hours with everything confirmed.  Obviously, not everyone is going to do that, but I already knew the ship had a lot of open cabins.  It works sometimes; it doesn't others.  No.  You can't call the cruiseline directly and haggle; they don't have the authority.  Go to a discount cruiser IMHO.