All paid and now the price drops.....

[diann744]

 

Greetings Cruise Gods,

 

As a wise man once said (or at least Alan Rickman playing a wise man) “In the matter of bread I consult a baker, in the matter of boots, a boot-maker, a house, a builder; for special knowledge I apply a specialist.”

 

It is with that in mind that I turn to you HALophiles in hopes that you can satisfy my curiosity, and possibly save me some money at the same time.

 

Earlier in the month I booked the Holiday Circle Hawaii cruise directly with HAL. A check of the website today showed that the price has dropped $636 for my Sis and BIL’s cabin and $468 for mine. What is HAL’s policy for this sort of thing? Is it purely policy-driven or can sweet-talking the reservations agent help you get a shipboard credit for the difference?

 

If it were a matter of a few dollars I wouldn’t concern myself but $1100 just might cover our bar bill!

 

Thanks for any and all insight.

 

Diann

[kakalina]

There are several threads on this board dealing with this exact problem.

 

Have you made final payment yet? If you have then chances are you are SOL.

 

Whatever happens, enjoy your cruise. I am sure that you thought you paid a fair price when you booked it, so why worry too much about it now?

[lougee1043]

you dont say when your cruise sails --- if you havent made the final payment then you should call them and get your price lowered--- if its for new bookings only and you havent made the final payment you should cancel and rebook --- if you have made the final payment you are s o l

[sail7seas]

Chances are not very good you will get a credit or refund.

 

Usually the small print on these priced reductions states: New bookings only. It is common for final payment date to pass and then there are price reductions if the ship is not sold out.

 

Nothing to lose by calling and trying but don't count on any refund.

 

[AAAAmerican]

If you have not fully paid then maybe a Cancel/ReBill is in order..

 

Tourism may be effected by the recent Earthquake there in the SANDWICH ILANDS (Hawaii).

 

The cruise lines want full ships so profits are easier to attain.

 

 

:cool:

 

You will have to Shop now and Ask.

 

 

Greetings Cruise Gods,

 

As a wise man once said (or at least Alan Rickman playing a wise man) “In the matter of bread I consult a baker, in the matter of boots, a boot-maker, a house, a builder; for special knowledge I apply a specialist.”

 

It is with that in mind that I turn to you HALophiles in hopes that you can satisfy my curiosity, and possibly save me some money at the same time.

 

Earlier in the month I booked the Holiday Circle Hawaii cruise directly with HAL. A check of the website today showed that the price has dropped $636 for my Sis and BIL’s cabin and $468 for mine. What is HAL’s policy for this sort of thing? Is it purely policy-driven or can sweet-talking the reservations agent help you get a shipboard credit for the difference?

 

If it were a matter of a few dollars I wouldn’t concern myself but $1100 just might cover our bar bill!

 

Thanks for any and all insight.

 

Diann

[diann744]

Unfortunately, I have paid in full. Just hoping I won’t be penalized for booking early.

[hammybee]

 

Tourism may be effected by the recent Earthquake there in the SANDWICH ILANDS (Hawaii).The cruise lines want full ships so profits are easier to attain.

 

 

 

I suspect some passengers may have changed their minds about cruising in Hawaii because of the recent earthquake. Once final payment dates comes and goes, it is not uncommon for there to be some sales.Conversely, if one waits, the cruise could be sold out. Check out the other thread where HAL is offering up to 50% reduction in fare on a future cruise to entice passengers to change their plans on an oversold cruise.

 

As it relates to your situation, do the math and see if the net savings are worth paying a cancellation fee to HAL. If the numbers work, you have some leverage for negotiation. Maybe an Onboard Credit for the net difference might be a reasonable goal. If you don't ask, you don't get. Best of luck to you and let us know how it turns out.

[hammybee]

Unfortunately, I have paid in full. Just hoping I won’t be penalized for booking early.

 

P.S. When you say you paid in full, does this mean you did so voluntarily or has final payment date come and gone. I suspect the latter, given it's a holiday sail. But just in case, if you have not yet reached final payment date, you have more options.

[Sunshine91]

Agree w/Hammy. (Usually do, she just beats me to the keyboard :) ). Paid in full & final payment due date (about 75 days prior to sailing) are 2 different things. Several of us on our Jan 6 Noordam sailing were lucky enough to get price reductions back in September. Final payment due date was last week.

If you haven't hit that magic due date yet, call HAL & ask for a refund. Why let HAL hold onto your $$$ even longer? Just my personal opinion, but I'd want my $$$ back now, not an OBC.

Good luck. Have a wonderful cruise. :)

[BumperII]

We have our cruise docs in hand!!! Like diann744, we saw the price drop nearly $700.00 after we made our final payment for an MM Guarentee on the December 20 roundtrip San Diego to Hawaii.

We didn't ask for a refund or for compensation, but, we are pleased to see that our cabin assignment was upgraded from MM to DD, outside cabin with window and bathtub. Acutally, I haven't taken a bath in thirty years. :D ( We are denizens of the shower!)

The point is that we still feel pretty good about the booking. Even though the prices dropped, we wound up with a very nice cabin that markets for several hundred dollars more that what we originally paid. It is still very good value for the vacation dollar. And we hope that others have the same experince.

diann744:

We are still hoping to meet you folks aboard the Zaandam. If you get a chance to stop by the roll call and leave a post, why, we are now checking daily.

Keep on cruising!!!

[LAFFNVEGAS]

Diann, I am pretty sure they will not refund you any money but what I would recommend is to have you TA call HAL to see if they can up grade you. Our very first HAL cruise on the Zuirderdam we were still Cruise Newbies and had not been bitten by the S Suite Bug. We booked an regular outside cabin, we made final payment then the prices dropped drastically. So much so that we were able to move up to a Verandah cabin with no extra money out of our pocket, this was done just a few weeks before the cruise. With a little help from the TA and a little help from the Up Grade Fairy who knows are far up you can move:D

[Navy_Chief]

I booked through HAL direct on our Noordam cruise next week. I got a big price reduction as well back in July. Now final payment was due by the end of September and there have been no further reductions since. The cruise is also Sold Out as well. My suggestion, seeing you booked with HAL, is to call and ask. Get a supervisor's take on it, they will weigh in on it if you insist. The worst that can happen is they say no. Obviously, it would be nice to pick up the extra reduction but I have to assume that you thought the price was within your threshold of spending for a vacation. If they do say no, nothing ventured, nothing gained, and have a great cruise vacation just the same. I have found the HAL folks pleasent to work with and didn't mind the $50 or so dollars more than what the TA was going to charge well worth it just to deal with them directly this time.