Pricing changes prior to final payment

Sorry but that's not true. Most lines, including HAL, will honor reduced pricing if before the final payment.

Unfortunately, I have not found that to always be the case. It was done on one TA cruise for us. On the last one, our TA was (supposedly) told by HAL that we already had a good price, and they weren't going to change it. On another cruise, after final payment, they gave us more OBC's. The fact is, no cruise has to change the price of a booked cruise.

A cruise line changes their prices all the time. I am surprised that OP, as a 5* mariner, has not experienced this before.

I have not read this thread completely so I do not know if this question has been asked, but our final payment notice does not include a statement regarding our "Special Services" statement that has been on all previous agreed on statements sent to us before. My question is, will this that mean we do not now have that special service anymore if it not now stated on this notice? I just got the notice via e-mail and have sent a request back to Hal and of course they are not available at this hour, but I was wondering if this has happened to anyone else.

Unfortunately, I have not found that to always be the case. It was done on one TA cruise for us. On the last one, our TA was (supposedly) told by HAL that we already had a good price, and they weren't going to change it. On another cruise, after final payment, they gave us more OBC's. The fact is, no cruise has to change the price of a booked cruise.

 

A cruise line changes their prices all the time. I am surprised that OP, as a 5* mariner, has not experienced this before.

Are you aware that this thread is from Sept 2016 (last year)?:D

Unfortunately, I have not found that to always be the case. It was done on one TA cruise for us. On the last one, our TA was (supposedly) told by HAL that we already had a good price, and they weren't going to change it. On another cruise, after final payment, they gave us more OBC's. The fact is, no cruise has to change the price of a booked cruise.

 

A cruise line changes their prices all the time. I am surprised that OP, as a 5* mariner, has not experienced this before.

Granted once in awhile a cruise line will drop the price of a cruise before final payment but put in a caveat that the reduced fare is for new bookings only. The other complication is that your original booking may have included some incentive like an OBC, prepaid gratuities, free Internet, etc., and the new fare doesn't. You're then in that analytical mode to determine whether or not the reduced fare is worth it. I still say that on the whole the passenger has a bit of an upper hand if the cruise line reduces a fare, incentives notwithstanding, as the passenger can always cancel their booking. Actually I've personally had a cruise drop before final payment and in that case, once I pressed the issue with my TA's help, they offered an OBC equal to the reduction in the fare. That said it seems to me that cruise lines have become smarter about reducing fares prior to final payment and often now wait until after final payment to make the rebooking less available and attractive.

If you have any friends that are cruising on HAL,they can purchase the FCD'sfor you as well - just need your Mariner number(s) and name(s) as registered with HAL and, of course, you have to pay for it ;).

I realize this thread is more than six months old, and probably everyone knows by now, but FCDs can now only be purchased for yourselves on board. We tried to get some for our daughter on our last cruise, and the Future Cruise Consultant on board the Zaandam said the rules had changed and we couldn't do it. We were very disappointed, and I even emailed our PCC in Seattle to ask, and she confirmed the change. I complained about that on our survey after the cruise and again to our PCC. Fortunately, it turned out our daughter had a few that she had purchased previously.

Are you aware that this thread is from Sept 2016 (last year)?:D

Now that you mention it . . .

I don't understand booking a cruise so far in advance anyway. I am in awe of people who think they know what they're schedules are and how their health will be up to 1.5 years ahead of time.

 

Even now that we are both retired, I can't possibly envision seeing that far into the future. We usually book 3 - 6 months out and have been happy with all our cruises.

It depends if you like a certain type cabin.

I realize this thread is more than six months old, and probably everyone knows by now, but FCDs can now only be purchased for yourselves on board. We tried to get some for our daughter on our last cruise, and the Future Cruise Consultant on board the Zaandam said the rules had changed and we couldn't do it. We were very disappointed, and I even emailed our PCC in Seattle to ask, and she confirmed the change. I complained about that on our survey after the cruise and again to our PCC. Fortunately, it turned out our daughter had a few that she had purchased previously.

That is new indeed!!! Thanks for letting us know.