Private fares = I wish. Do all cruise lines do this?

So frustrated because I was excited due to the "private fare sale" brochure I got from HAL last night. And what seemed too good to be true, was indeed just a come on as those fares don't exist. Do all cruise lines do this? It certainly doesn't generate goodwill with this customer.

Phoned the toll free line per the brochure - and was told that the starting fare was 50 percent above what was listed as "original" fare in the brochure - and that the available cabins were three times more than the sale fare quoted. So instead of sailing South America & Antarctica for 2299 US, I could do so for over 6000 dollars.

I phoned within 12 hrs of getting the brochure - so I was hopeful but do understand they could all sell out. What I do NOT get is the explanation from the phone rep. That the column of "original" fares was not possibly right. None of the fares sounded right to her and was I really reading the correct sail date for the price? Yes - I do a lot of reading as an attorney and assured her I was reading THE DATE as advertised.

She had to place me on hold and consult with an I T specialist to find why the fares I claimed to be reading were ever printed. Came back to say well they must have been in existence at the time it was mailed. How does that do the customer any good? By the time it reaches you in the mail - even the phone reps can't see that the fares ever existed? This just seems so wrong headed to me that I wonder if all the cruise lines do this. If so - why do I even bother reading their materials. Pretty pictures yes - but the fares are non-existent?

She did offer to sell me an inside cabin for more than what a suite was listed in my "private" brochure. Nice. Not. :mad:

Seriously - what experience have you had with such fares and is just HAL, or do they all do this nonsense?

Since we don't get any brochures from HAL -- private sale or anything else -- I can't answer your question about fares.

Two factors always come into play. READ THE FINE PRINT and find the PROMO CODE which will be three alpha characters in caps....eg. ZPM for instance.

It may be that the lowest sale price being advertised pertains to a specific sailing date and not all sailings.

So frustrated because I was excited due to the "private fare sale" brochure I got from HAL last night. And what seemed too good to be true, was indeed just a come on as those fares don't exist. Do all cruise lines do this? It certainly doesn't generate goodwill with this customer.

 

Phoned the toll free line per the brochure - and was told that the starting fare was 50 percent above what was listed as "original" fare in the brochure - and that the available cabins were three times more than the sale fare quoted. So instead of sailing South America & Antarctica for 2299 US, I could do so for over 6000 dollars.

 

I phoned within 12 hrs of getting the brochure - so I was hopeful but do understand they could all sell out. What I do NOT get is the explanation from the phone rep. That the column of "original" fares was not possibly right. None of the fares sounded right to her and was I really reading the correct sail date for the price? Yes - I do a lot of reading as an attorney and assured her I was reading THE DATE as advertised.

 

She had to place me on hold and consult with an I T specialist to find why the fares I claimed to be reading were ever printed. Came back to say well they must have been in existence at the time it was mailed. How does that do the customer any good? By the time it reaches you in the mail - even the phone reps can't see that the fares ever existed? This just seems so wrong headed to me that I wonder if all the cruise lines do this. If so - why do I even bother reading their materials. Pretty pictures yes - but the fares are non-existent?

 

She did offer to sell me an inside cabin for more than what a suite was listed in my "private" brochure. Nice. Not. :mad:

 

Seriously - what experience have you had with such fares and is just HAL, or do they all do this nonsense?

It may not apply to your specific situation, but with mailers a couple things that tend to be the case sometimes:

1) The rate you see may be based on a specific date but the brochure many times will list ALL dates a cruise takes place. In these instances the fare advertised may only have ever existed on that one particular sailing. It is not an across the board special price

2) It may be a capacity controlled promotion with only so many spots and/or a VERY specific category. Say maybe HH category only. Once they are sold out it's gone. That's it. Gone. They aren't required to upgrade you and honor a special price but many times it will be just these "entry categories"

3) Not everyone gets mail on the exact same day. You called within 12 hours of getting it. Awesome! What if Mariners in numerous states because of mail service got in a couple/few days before you? It could be gone simply because mail to your area or that far away from the point of origin took longer. No fault of your own of course, just the way it is.

Again, those may not apply to you and this case specifically. But it is a few things to keep in mind.

I, too, received the mail for the private sale. It was specifically for one date per itinerary - and provided a specific promotion code. If you were looking for a different date and did not mention the code that could be the problem.

You have to read the offers very carefully. It's an easy trap to see a list of dates for a specific ship/itinerary. All that means is those are the dates that cruise is available but not necessarily at the low sale price. Read every word and you will find HAL has advertised accurately but it takes careful reading.

Every time I get a mailed brochure, as opposed to an emailed one, the fares are so out of date it is laughable.

Sorry this happened to you. A waste of your time and a disappointment in the end. Not good public relations on HAL's part.

I, too, received the mail for the private sale. It was specifically for one date per itinerary - and provided a specific promotion code. If you were looking for a different date and did not mention the code that could be the problem.

Was the fare really under $3,000 for a South America-Antarctica sailing.. What ship & what date & did it include the over $1,000 in Taxes, Fees & Port charges? I understand the OP's ire!.. How could HAL sell any cabin for that price but have no idea what the itinerary is? Something is not right..

I have a brochure mailed out several weeks ago.. In our brochure even the Dec 20 Zaandam sailing of 21 days is over $3499 with an additional $494 in taxes & fees for the Dec. 20 sailing is listed in an HH cabin. & that begins in Santiago & goes around to BA..Of course air fare is so much more..

Now the Prinsendam is much higher..In it is a 36 day Ft. Lauderdale to Buenos Aires around South Amer., including Antarctica fare on Jan 4 & that is over $8,400 which does not include the taxes, fees & port charges of $1266 on the Prinsendam for the lowest interior cabin..The 67 day is over $13,700 not including port charges & taxes which are additional $2217 for the lowest interior on Jan 4..

Imagine the Zaandam & even the Prinsendam would all be sold out the first day, as those fares are/were still well below what we paid two years ago for an outside..

After getting several of these "special" or "private" offers and finding out the limitations, most of which weren't cabin categories, itineraries, destinations, or dates we'd be interested in I gave up even looking at them. I do better with my TAs than any offer I've ever received from HAL or any other cruise line for that matter.

To answer your question, I do think all cruise lines do that. I have gotten snail mail offers from Princess and have taken advantage of them, but you do have to be careful of all the small print. As an attorney, I imagine you're familiar with small print. My suggestion would be to ask for a supervisor if you're not getting a good enough explanation. You could copy the mailing and fax/email it to them so they can see what you're looking at.

Was the fare really under $3,000 for a South America-Antarctica sailing.. What ship & what date & did it include the over $1,000 in Taxes, Fees & Port charges?

 

I have a brochure mailed out several weeks ago.. In our brochure even the Dec 20 Zaandam sailing of 21 days is over $3499 with an additional $494 in taxes & fees for the Dec. 20 sailing is listed in an HH cabin. & that begins in Santiago & goes around to BA..Of course air fare is so much more..

There's one out there, beginning with Interiors. I did notice some of HAL's promos for "South America and Antarctica" didn't actually include Antarctica; I think they may have fixed that:confused: . . . however try logging in to HAL's site and you may see the Dec 20 sailing that does include Antarctica now less than your brochure stated.

Also received it yesterday. I've been wondering how long it would take for this to hit the boards.

What is being discussed is in fact the 21 night December 20, 2015 Zaandam sailing. We fully intend to go on this cruise (it's even in my signature - and I have private tours already booked) but we have not actually booked the cruise. I have the price history for last year and we are *waiting.* There seems to be plenty of space on the ship, but not enough to sell the cruise at $52/day!:eek:

The fare in the brochure is obviously a mistake as the "Original fare" is at least 250% what is shown. This is what the brochure shows:

Interior Original $2199 - Savings Fare $1099

Ocean-view original $2399 - Savings Fare $1199

Suites original $4599 - Savings Fare $2299

I have an older flyer with original fares of $5249, 6199, & 11049 respectively.

The odd thing is the Taxes.... line is correct at $494.21.

Right next to this sailing is the 12/6 Zaandam 14 night sailing and I believe that has correct offer pricing of $1199 for insides or outsides. That sailing is typically the lowest of the season as it gets closer to the holidays than non-holiday travelers really want to be away and the "Return home" airfare may be holiday-priced.

I would like to add that this is the first time I have noticed an obviously incorrect price in a printed HAL brochure. And we have successfully booked "Private sale" fares in the past, and even had them extended to traveling friends.

I hope this helps!

I have the mailing in my hand. The sailing is for December 20, 2015 and the price of the suite is $2,299.00. It is a 21 day cruise. If that is the date you want then I would try another PCC. As someone else said they list several dates but they always tell you the date for the price listed.

I received the same mailing and scanned it for "deals" as usual on "exotic" cruises as it was labeled. Since I was already familiar with the south American cruises being offered, the one deal that stood out was indeed the Zandam 21 day cruise Dec 20 which included Antarctica for $1199 oceanview, $2299 Vista suite!!! I was sure it was an error as the original prices were also too low. To satisfy my curiosity, I had to call, and was told it was indeed an error. The representative apologized nicely and asked for my understanding which I extended.

Yes, somebody didn't proof the ad copy correctly, but many years ago I had the responsibility to do exactly that for a major retailer and more than once it happened between my ad copy and the actual printed ad. The company that made the error would offer to print a retraction, but that often didn't make the customer happy. I think Holland America would have honored the price, but in this case it was over $4000 on the ocean view in error.

We've booked twice as a result of these mailings, but only after reading the (very) fine print and knowing exactly what was being offered. We were lucky, I suppose, that the cruises offered were ones in which we were interested and at times when we were free.

St. Pete cruiser,

I was wondering if it was a "typo" and what they would do. I also noticed another sailing in the same brochure that was very low for a 14 day cruise. We probably live only a few miles from each other. We are north of St. Pete. Small World!!

Happy sailing!

To the op: Yes, other cruise lines don't always have real sales. Go over to the Royal Caribbean board and read the threads complaining about their various "sales". It's sad.

I have the mailing in my hand. The sailing is for December 20, 2015 and the price of the suite is $2,299.00. It is a 21 day cruise. If that is the date you want then I would try another PCC. As someone else said they list several dates but they always tell you the date for the price listed.

Which category Suite? A Neptune Suite or lower category?

Since we don't get any brochures from HAL -- private sale or anything else -- I can't answer your question about fares.

Darn!

Sail 7 Seas:

It says: Interior - $1,099.00/Ocean View (Obstructed)- $1,199.00/Suites - $2,299.00. It left out the balcony. As I look at the 14 days South America Dec. 6 cruise it also has these never heard of prices. Excuse me, I made a mistake. The 21 day cruise starts on Dec. 20. That is the cruise the OP, I presume, wanted to go on.

At those prices (if they honored it) we could go back to SA which I would love to do but hubby says we have been there once and can't go back.:( Too many other things to do while we are still able!

I have never understood why we get all these mailings and others don't but I am not complaining.

Which category Suite? A Neptune Suite or lower category?

Considering the only cruise I see with that date and that length is a 21-day South America and Antartica cruise on the Zaandam. The brochure price for a Neptune Suite is $13,499 per person. A sale for that cabin at $2,299 per person would be beyond fantastic, quickly approaching unbelievable. Heck I'd even jump at that price and you know where I'm at with HAL right now. Even an interior is $3,199 per person at the brochure price. At least an interior at $2,299 makes more sense but I'd hardly call that a suite. Printing error??????

hi

fine print gives proma code Z3/ZT

Mary

I got twp mailings from Hal yesterday. two diffent ones

hi

The offer is for only those people it was mailed to.

mary

Considering the only cruise I see with that date and that length is a 21-day South America and Antartica cruise on the Zaandam. The brochure price for a Neptune Suite is $13,499 per person. A sale for that cabin at $2,299 per person would be beyond fantastic, quickly approaching unbelievable. Heck I'd even jump at that price and you know where I'm at with HAL right now. Even an interior is $3,199 per person at the brochure price. At least an interior at $2,299 makes more sense but I'd hardly call that a suite. Printing error??????

I'm starting to think the whole darn thing was a mistake. :)