Pricing Experiment

[seaair100]

I went to local TA, and booked a VF on Oct. 20th Noordam.Was told price was same Mariner or not.Got about 100.00 off from what HA website was showing.

Who knows,it got me to book a Verandah when I usually book a inside. Dee

[fcorey]

Lol its Friday and I'm board Grumpy. The Chief's Club doesn't open until 3PM on the Subase, what can I say:D By the way, fair winds and following seas on your cruise shipmate! wish I was going again. I know HAL gives certificates out for crossing the equator, do theygive out "Blue Nose" certificates for the artic/antatric circle?

 

thanks for doing the research for the rest of us Chief. Over the last few weeks I did some research on our Alaska trip with some of the agents that sponsor Cruisecritic. I did find that they were all pretty close, and in general lower than those that do not advertise here. I was surprised that the Mariner number made no difference but in many cases some cruises are so heavily discounted already so we shouldnt complain too much :)

[Randyk47]

The salient point of this thread to me is that we have to do our "homework". Research, research, and more research. Oh yes....and caution. Read the fine print, even with HAL.

 

One PS. In the 8+ years I've been using the Internet I don't recall ever getting a different on-line price from HAL whether I used my Mariner number or not. Maybe if you call you might get another number but not on-line.

[jhannah]

You really have to know what you're signing up for on some of these sites.

That's the key! And as Randy says, that takes some homework before "clicking" on the dotted line.

[Navy_Chief]

In all fairness to the survey, both Jim and Randy make real excellent points. I'll see about some follow up questions I can call and find out. In the mean time, I contacted HAL and the price I listed is what I was quoted on the phone as well. The only thing that Mariner number is good for is to retrieve your information from the HAL 9000 in the back room :D so you don't have to feel like your visiting the Department of Redundancy department:D . More to come......

[Host Walt]

I'm sorry but our guidelines do not permit posting TA contact information or pricing information. Three posts that contained such info were removed. (BTW, Navy Chief's approach is in conformity with our guidelines.)

 

Keep in mind that pricing can vary among customers because of the customers' residence location, age and/or other factors...and that all pricing can change without any notice at all.

[Navy_Chief]

Ok here are the numbers from the first local "Brick and Morter" agent (and yes these agents that I looked at advertize in the local Yellow Pages and state they are cruise specialists; they both advertize they are CLIA agents). The same criteria was used as with the on-line agents

 

HAL Agent: $1279.00

 

Agent 1: $1475.00 per person (taxes and fees included):eek:

 

Agent 2 told me he will call me tomorrow with the information.

[zdude]

That's the key! And as Randy says, that takes some homework before "clicking" on the dotted line.

 

Why? What am I missing here? The first time I cruised, I just boinked on a few buttons and BAM!! One cruise for four. ;)

 

I am tempted to do it again, what could go wrong?

 

My experience is that HAL is more expensive than MOST others. The cheaper rates are from those agencies that purchase a block of rooms. Ones that are not cheaper should be identical to HAL. If not its likely service charges or insurance charges that make the difference.

[Navy_Chief]

Why? What am I missing here? The first time I cruised, I just boinked on a few buttons and BAM!! One cruise for four. ;)

 

I am tempted to do it again, what could go wrong?

 

My experience is that HAL is more expensive than MOST others. The cheaper rates are from those agencies that purchase a block of rooms. Ones that are not cheaper should be identical to HAL. If not its likely service charges or insurance charges that make the difference.

 

The point of this is to help educate fellow HAL cruisers with possable "Pit Falls" involved with booking a cruise. It is strictly an educational excersize where I do all the work and my fellow CCrs reap the benifits. It is absolutly my pleasure to do it to further better cruising for all CC members. At the end, I will do a full analisys of the facts to merge it all together.

[Grumpy1]

By the way, fair winds and following seas on your cruise shipmate! wish I was going again. I know HAL gives certificates out for crossing the equator, do theygive out "Blue Nose" certificates for the artic/antatric circle?

I wish I was going on my cruise, too, Bob. The Prinsendam left without us today... A little matter of a heart attack a week ago, two stents put in over the weekend and two more going in on the 16th. The only way I could go was to take the doc, his staff and equipment with me. I have my Equator and International Date Line certificates, but don't know about the "bluenose" certificates. I didn't see any mention of it in the 2006 world cruise thread that I recall.

[Randyk47]

Hey Grump....at least you're with us and that really beats the alternative. :) I'd been more than happy to cruise with you as your doctor but I don't think you need a shrink. You're around to cruise another day and for that I say THANK GOODNESS. :D

[whogo]

I know HAL gives certificates out for crossing the equator, do theygive out "Blue Nose" certificates for the artic/antatric circle?

Circling Iceland we received a certificate, suitable for framing, that said, "Holland America Line, This is to Certify that Whogo has crossed the Arctic Circle at 66° 30' N on board the Rotterdam 1999, Jacob W. Dijk, Captain".

[whogo]

I see my posts were deleted. The closest rule infraction I find is "There shall be no third-party recommendation of travel agencies on any forums within Cruise Critic. General discussions regarding the TYPE of AGENCY to be used to purchase a cruise will be allowed, as long as no recommendations for any source of purchase are posted." I wasn't recommending, just listing price quotes. Here's the reformatted original:

 

I have too much time on my hands, too. I tried the same thing with a different sailing. I did not come up with onboard credits or other special offers that Navy Chief did. I said I lived in Florida, if asked, and did not ask for a past cruiser's discount. Veendam, Sunday, March 11, 2007, Caribbean-Western, 7 days, category M inside cabin:

Agent A $1319.68

Agent B $1333.40

HAL website $1461.68

Agent C $1,324.02

Agent D $1,306.20

Agent E $1389.68

Agent F $1364.68

Agent G $1,352.16

Agent H $1,389.68

Agent I $1,333.40

Agent J $1,286.50

Agent K $1,389.68

 

HAL's highest price is $175.18, or about 12% higher than the lowest quote. The websites give the impression that these are total prices for the cabin, but I obviously did not book and find out about any hidden fees. I could not get quotes from a number of other sites. We were happy with Agent C for our December Volendam cruise.

[zdude]

The point of this is to help educate fellow HAL cruisers with possable "Pit Falls" involved with booking a cruise. It is strictly an educational excersize where I do all the work and my fellow CCrs reap the benifits. It is absolutly my pleasure to do it to further better cruising for all CC members. At the end, I will do a full analisys of the facts to merge it all together.

 

I still do not really understand the pitfalls, really. Maybe jhannah and tricia724 just mean that you have to be able to read the fine print of what you are purchasing. If so , I get it.

 

In general what I have found is that the price of the cruise itself varies slightly. Either you have the HAL price or the price of the travel agency that has negotiated a group buy from HAL. The bigger the group the better the price. If you know the bigger group, you're in good shape. If you have to find that you and you really care to invest 20 hrs of your time to find this group to save money--- more power to 'ya. :D

 

Everything else that is added on to the price other than the room is buyer beware. I.e. what service fees and what insurance coverage, etc, etc.

[whogo]

Ok..your all hired!!

If you have all this time on your hands, how about checking the Veendam for April 1 ,2007 Transatlantic...cat nn guarentee but wait till after final payment is due on 1/16 or 1/17...LOL

 

Agent A $2416

Agent B $2,451.58

HAL website $2556.46

Agent C $$2,434.10 (said to phone for a price too low to advertise)

Agent D $$2,343.38

 

I am getting good at this. Took 7 minutes to find these prices. The highest is $213.08 more than the lowest, or 8% more

[Navy_Chief]

I heard back from the second local agent today. He quoted the price on the HAL site for the VF GTY but went on to say he could offer a VH GTY for $976.26 pp including the taxes and fees. After speaking to this agent a bit I was impressed with him. He says he sails HAL a great deal and sets up group cruises. He states that he will get the price reductions and does not charge cancellation fees prior to the final payment due date. He also delivers the docs personnally to his local clients. I believe I'll be checking this agent again.

[hammybee]

bump to see next post

[Roz]

I just checked out the prices for the 2008 Caribbean cruises (first 4 months) on the HAL website. Wow! Big increases over what I paid in Nov., 2006.

 

I always start with the HAL website and go from there. The website gives me a general idea of which time periods, ships, itineraries, etc. are more expensive/less expensive relative to one another.

 

Roz

[2boyzmom]

I started with HAL for 2/08 family of four 11 day carribean. I did my research with a local TA and my usual online TA and lo and behold her total was $750.00 less for the four of us. Maybe for 2 people it wouldn't be much different, but for four, it sure adds up!

[Roz]

I usually book solo, and there's a wide variation in fares. I think part of it is that the TA still gets more commission with 2 passengers, even though a single pays a supplement.

 

There are probably a lot of agents who just don't want to mess with a solo cruiser, unless it's a line that automatically charges singles the double fare.

 

Lately I've been having better luck with online and/or out-of-state TAs as opposed to local bricks and mortar offices.

 

Roz

[Navy_Chief]

What got me was the wild variation between the two local TAs. Agent 1 was $200 MORE than HAL. Agent 2 was the same as HAL but offered the VH GTY for $300 less than the VF GTY. It seems really off to have such a wild difference. The rest of the on-line stuff is very close; the best there was agent 5 who offered to cut the price if HAL has a price reduction (of course, thats not likely to happen this close to sailing; thats why I picked a sail date so close). In this case, I would have had to go with Local Agent #2

[Grumpy1]

Bottom line... it definitely pays to shop around and ask questions. It's a pretty sure bet that there will always be a price out there somewhere that will be better than the HAL direct price, but then I would not expect HAL to undercut the T/A's. If absolute lowest price is the major factor, it will usually, but not always be an online T/A. If you want someone that will hold your hand when needed and go to bat for you if needed, it will probably be your local Brick and Mortar agency. If you feel that you really want to be able to talk directly to HAL yourself, or have some other reason for booking direct, the percentage difference in price is usually not enough to break the bank.

 

The comparisons have been interesting. Thanks for doing this.

[zdude]

Hey grumpy! Every case has an exception.

 

I had stated earlier that the reason that TA and Online might have better prices than that posted by HAL was because of quanty buys. I may have even heard this from HAL.

 

But, keep in mind that these TA also may have a certain amount invested in the reservation as a result their prices may stay exactly the same until the are attempting to recoup their investment. As a result contacting HAL might result in a lower price than the TA or even what is posted on the HAL website.

 

Ask me how I know. :D

[serendipity1499]

One thing to keep in mind is the length & type of cruise..Many of your quotes are anywhere from 9 to 12 % less..In our case we go on longer cruises, so the $$$ we save is substantial..

 

On our Prinsendam 25 day Amazon cruise last April, we saved almost $1,000 for an outside cabin, an approx 9% saving...Hal never discounted this cruise & permitted us to release the original HAL booking to the On-line Agent..We also got an upgraded cabin one deck up..Had to book a year in advance as the Nov. 2005 cruise which we originally wanted, was fully booked 9 months before..

 

On our Ryndam 14 day cruise this past Nov. to the Southern Carib. we booked three months ahead, saved $420 per cabin over the HAL Price which was an 11.5% saving..In addition the On line Travel Agent had a group on this cruise..He included us in with his group, with the group rate as well as three bottles of wine, dinner at the Pinnacle & 2 Massages per cabin..

 

So between the two we had extra $$$ to spend elsewhere! Every little bit helps..:)

[xpcdoojk]

Agent 4 looks like a great deal!

Looks to me like Agent 5 is the best deal. Take $100 off agent four and it is 30+ dollars more.

 

jc