Explore4 and price drops

We do not do the explorer 4 since I would be under a table if I drank that much. We are on a B2B NA in March and we do a 250.00 Bev card so I can call my preference on liquor. Called HALour price for our suite went down 500.00.
The following day I looked at our trip, and again it dropped an additional 300.00!!!! So again I called HAL and total drop 800.00 per person! Our trip last year on Nieuw Amsterdam did the same thing with the drop in fares when the explore 4 stopped. So a win win for us!

This is a disappointment for us.......Our kids have given us another Panama Canal cruise, it will be our fourth one....we love the ports etc and so they figured it would be nice to give us a break from the Midwestern winter weather...we recently were told about this Christmas gift but of course no details about payment etc...anyway...yesterday I noticed there was a price drop in cruises...found out ours was over $2000 less than they paid but they made the final payment the day before I saw the sale and called.......hence.....I was a day late and over $2000 short !!!! We are a few credits short of 4 Star, so we have a lot of cruises with HAL, sadly tho, this could well be our last...it's not as tho, either, that they haven't made a lot of money from us ...... It would seem that they should have more concern about going the extra mile for repeat, faithful customers but guess its not so.....guess we will start checking other Cruiselines....

[quote name='jankn']This is a disappointment for us.......Our kids have given us another Panama Canal cruise, it will be our fourth one....we love the ports etc and so they figured it would be nice to give us a break from the Midwestern winter weather...we recently were told about this Christmas gift but of course no details about payment etc...anyway...yesterday I noticed there was a price drop in cruises...found out ours was over $2000 less than they paid but they made the final payment the day before I saw the sale and called.......hence.....I was a day late and over $2000 short !!!! We are a few credits short of 4 Star, so we have a lot of cruises with HAL, sadly tho, this could well be our last...it's not as tho, either, that they haven't made a lot of money from us ...... It would seem that they should have more concern about going the extra mile for repeat, faithful customers but guess its not so.....guess we will start checking other Cruiselines....[/QUOTE]

Please look at post #100, DaveOKC gave you some good advice. :)

[quote name='jankn']This is a disappointment for us.......Our kids have given us another Panama Canal cruise, it will be our fourth one....we love the ports etc and so they figured it would be nice to give us a break from the Midwestern winter weather...we recently were told about this Christmas gift but of course no details about payment etc...anyway...yesterday I noticed there was a price drop in cruises...found out ours was over $2000 less than they paid but they made the final payment the day before I saw the sale and called.......hence.....I was a day late and over $2000 short !!!! We are a few credits short of 4 Star, so we have a lot of cruises with HAL, sadly tho, this could well be our last...it's not as tho, either, that they haven't made a lot of money from us ...... It would seem that they should have more concern about going the extra mile for repeat, faithful customers but guess its not so.....guess we will start checking other Cruiselines....[/QUOTE]

The longer you wait to call HAL back the harder it will be to get any adjustment. They gave me mine since it was just a couple of days AFTER final payment.

I see that the beveage packet is back and I noticed the prices have gone back up after they dropped after the E4 promotion ended.

[quote name='Charlie911']I see that the beveage packet is back and I noticed the prices have gone back up after they dropped after the E4 promotion ended.[/QUOTE]

That makes sense.

[quote name='Charlie911']I see that the beveage packet is back and I noticed the prices have gone back up after they dropped after the E4 promotion ended.[/QUOTE]

I did not see any price increases on my 2 upcoming cruises after the beverage package was added to both.

DaveOKC

[quote name='DaveOKC']I did not see any price increases on my 2 upcoming cruises after the beverage package was added to both.

DaveOKC[/QUOTE]

My did go up it's the 14 New Zealand Discovery cruise in 2016. The price had dropped $800 now it's back up to the original price when I booked it.

[quote name='Tbog12']Thanks! I will check this out![/QUOTE]

Hey Dave! Talked to our TA this morning and we were able to add the beverage package back on for a cost of $200 total for the both of us. Originally it was going to cost $600 extra. We figured it won't be hard to spend $200 on drinks! $600 would have been a stretch! I think the price would have been even lower but we didn't want to give up our category VE verandah room! The special shows it for a category VF I think. All this was done almost one week after we made our final payment! :)

Thanks for your help DaveOKC!

[quote name='Tbog12']Hey Dave! Talked to our TA this morning and we were able to add the beverage package back on for a cost of $200 total for the both of us. Originally it was going to cost $600 extra. We figured it won't be hard to spend $200 on drinks! $600 would have been a stretch! I think the price would have been even lower but we didn't want to give up our category VE verandah room! The special shows it for a category VF I think. All this was done almost one week after we made our final payment! :)

Thanks for your help DaveOKC![/QUOTE]

Thats exactly what happened to us - had to give up $200 in OBC but added the drink package for 7 days. Good trade IMO.

Glad I could help out.

DaveOKC

[quote name='DaveOKC']Thats exactly what happened to us - had to give up $200 in OBC but added the drink package for 7 days. Good trade IMO.

Glad I could help out.

DaveOKC[/QUOTE]

:):):):):)

Our cruise price dropped $1,000 from our original booking! With adding on the beverage package for $200 we are still are saving $800! It pays to do your home work!

We booked to go around the med next summer (2015) in an inside cabin. At the time we booked the explore 4 promotion offer was to pay for an outside and get a balcony but as this cost was £1000 more than an inside we chose to stick with an inside cabin. The Americans were being offered a signature beverage package but despite asking were denied this offer as we were in the uk.

Yesterday we discovered that the cost of our cruise has just dropped by just over £1000. After speaking to our TA who has spoken to HAL all that we have been offered is a future cruise credit!

Does anyone else think this is a bit unfair, or is it just tough luck on my oart? It is not really an option for us to cancel and re book so any other advise would be greatly received. It is still 8 months till we travel!


I love cruisin!

[quote name='davedex']We booked to go around the med next summer (2015) in an inside cabin. At the time we booked the explore 4 promotion offer was to pay for an outside and get a balcony but as this cost was £1000 more than an inside we chose to stick with an inside cabin. The Americans were being offered a signature beverage package but despite asking were denied this offer as we were in the uk.

Yesterday we discovered that the cost of our cruise has just dropped by just over £1000. After speaking to our TA who has spoken to HAL all that we have been offered is a future cruise credit!

Does anyone else think this is a bit unfair, or is it just tough luck on my oart? It is not really an option for us to cancel and re book so any other advise would be greatly received. It is still 8 months till we travel!
[/QUOTE]

It does sound unfair to me. Why can't you cancel and rebook? That far out you should be able to normally. My PCC from HAL does it easily for me and I keep the same cabin.

DaveOKC

[quote name='DaveOKC']It does sound unfair to me. Why can't you cancel and rebook? That far out you should be able to normally. My PCC from HAL does it easily for me and I keep the same cabin.

DaveOKC[/quote]

Dave, I think it is because the UK has different cancellation policies. They may lose some (or a lot of) money by cancelling and rebooking, unlike people in North America who can cancel and rebook without penalty prior to final payment.

Davedex - what about an upgrade? Could you try that, or is that what your TA did try? The other Dave is correct in that it doesn't seem fair. A future cruise credit only ensures HAL of a future sale sometime down the road. Edited November 26, 2014 by Alberta Quilter

[quote name='davedex']Does anyone else think this is a bit unfair ...[/QUOTE]Compared to what's on offer to the US market, it is unfair. But this is a HAL policy: divide and conquer. They don't have to do it like this, but they do.

Hi, I'm in the UK and next year will be our second HAL cruise. Last year we had an inside booked and the price dropped by £1200. I rang HAL direct and they gave us the new price but we had to give up the Signature Package. This year we booked another inside cabin with no Explore 4. The price dropped £800 and I rang customer services and they honoured it. I have to admit I am impressed with HAL, as on previous cruises with another company they would never give us any price drops. It might be worth calling customer services direct.

Quick update, our TA called us back today and whilst I can't give the full details I can say that HAL are a honourable company and could teach p&o and other U.K. companies a thing or two about customer care!


I love cruisin!

[quote name='davedex']Quick update, our TA called us back today and whilst I can't give the full details I can say that HAL are a honourable company and could teach p&o and other U.K. companies a thing or two about customer care!


I love cruisin![/QUOTE]

That's great to hear! Thank you for coming back and telling us.

It is certainly encouraging to hear that HAL UK is in practice being more flexible on price drops!

[FONT="Book Antiqua"][SIZE="3"]I don't think there is a "standard" policy about prices going up or down after or before Explore 4. (And I'm not saying anyone indicated it did.)

We can't predict from one cruise to another if a group books, weather changes, or some other event affects bookings. The cruise line monitors and has algorithms that tells them when to raise or lower prices, offer incentives, etc.

Also, we once received a "beverage plan" on an Explore 4 that was not the same as what is being described here... when I calculated, it was worth less than $100 for a 12 day cruise. So from my experience, I don't think all plans are created equal.

Guess it just proves the point some of us are making, is that we have to be our own experts, study and monitor things, because they are not in the business of giving away their advantage.
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