Holland America to Introduce a New Promotion Called Explore4

EXPLORE YOUR WORLD WITH FOUR EXTRAORDINARY OFFERS

Make your next voyage an incredible value our new Explore4 offers. When you book select 2014 sailings (and December 2013 Holiday cruises) you will receive all four offers below:

1. FREE Signature Beverage Package or a Beverage Card (depending on cruise selected)**

Signature Beverage Package:

• A value of $100 per day, per stateroom ($50 per person)
  
• Includes wine, beer, spirits, cocktails (including non-alcoholic), sodas and coffee (a daily limit applies)
  
• Applies to beverages priced up to $7 (menu price)
  
• Beverage service charge covered by Holland America Line
  
• Excludes Caribbean and Mexico sailings, and the land portion of Alaska Land+Sea Journeys (other exclusions apply)
  

Beverage Card:

• Guests sailing on select Caribbean and Mexico sailings will receive a Beverage Card
  
• A value of $100 per stateroom ($50 Beverage Card per person)
  
• The Beverage Card applies to alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages
  

2. FREE specialty restaurant dinner**

Pinnacle Grill

Guests booking an Ocean-view Stateroom or above will receive one free dinner (per person**) in the elegant and sophisticated Pinnacle Grill.

Canaletto

Guests booking an Interior Stateroom will receive one free dinner (per person**) at Canaletto restaurant, home to classic Italian fare.

3. FREE or reduced cruise fares for 3rd/4th guests**

Special FREE or reduced pricing for 3rd and 4th guests make it easier to share your cruise with the entire family.

4. 50% reduced deposit**

Your cruise deposit (the first payment due) will be reduced by 50%, giving you more flexibility and more time before paying the full amount for your cruise.

Check back for a list of applicable sailings

Looks like HAL is trying to keep up with Celebrity ;)

Hi LaffenVegas! Thanks for the information. I feel a little sad because this new offer doesnt seem to be availaible for my next nov. Cruise in 2013...

Holacanada from Quebec city.

Next cruise on Noordam for the 21 days Collector Cruise / Turkey's At Sea...

Sounds good.

Thanks for sharing with us.

Thanks Lisa......:)

Interesting.

Hi LaffenVegas! Thanks for the information. I feel a little sad because this new offer doesnt seem to be availaible for my next nov. Cruise in 2013...

 

 

Holacanada from Quebec city.

Next cruise on Noordam for the 21 days Collector Cruise / Turkey's At Sea...

Check back on July 29th, I probably was a bit premature in posting :o This is not Officially Lauching till July 29th. Just wanted to give everyone a heads up ;)

I wonder how many of these "selected" cruises there will be. Also, will the rates be higher than normal for these cruises. It sounds so good there must be some catch(es)???

I wonder how many of these "selected" cruises there will be. Also, will the rates be higher than normal for these cruises. It sounds so good there must be some catch(es)???

Yeah, maybe the will add the value into the price of the cruise:D. I won't be booking anything else in the short term until my health issue is under control.

This makes sense - it is better for HAL to give away "value" than lowering prices. Its an old marketing approach - give away something the customer places a high value on but that does not cost much to provide.

DaveOKC

This sounds very interesting. I'll have to explore the itineraries when it is announced. Trying to make plans or next year.

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

I'm guessing this will be for new bookings only - so those that have booked for 2014 will not get it? just a guess.

Interesting promotion, Lisa. Thanks for sharing.

Yeah, maybe the will add the value into the price of the cruise:D. I won't be booking anything else in the short term until my health issue is under control.

I haven't posted a lot lately. Been busy planning our move. I hope whatever your health problem is, it gets resolved quickly.

When Celebrity does their 1 2 3 Go promotion it is on what they call their Five Star pricing and is not valid on Senior or Resident Rates, my guess this will be available on what HAL calls their Advantage Fares. Unless they do it on what they call their Signature Fares but those are basically Rack Rates and Celebrity does give it on the tiny bit lower rates.

... and I thought exactly what Lisa said. It looks like it's a promo to compete with Celebrity's 1 2 3 Go promotion. As with Celebrity's promo, there are only certain cruises that it applies to.

DH and I sailed on Celebrity in May, and many passengers had gotten the 1 2 3 promo. We booked relatively late so we were not eligible to get the promo. However, the price that we paid for our room was substantially lower than the price that others had paid for the same category stateroom - it was actually around the cost of the beverage package. Those pax paid for the promo whether they knew it or not. However, it is a very attractive and powerful marketing tool. It does catch your attention, and that's precisely what the cruiselines want.

Lisa, thanks for the pre-launch info for the new program.

Sure looks like HAL wants to make their product more attractive.

Wonder how many of us will be able to enjoy those offers?

I'm guessing this will be for new bookings only - so those that have booked for 2014 will not get it? just a guess.

I'll bet. And that's not fair - it seems that those of us who book early get shafted quite often.

I haven't posted a lot lately. Been busy planning our move. I hope whatever your health problem is, it gets resolved quickly.

Still dealing with my stupid knee. I'm ready to cut it off at this point. I wasn't prepared for what a pain it was going to be. Some days I doubt it will be better but deep down I know it will. Thanks for the good wishes. I appreciate it.

I hope your move goes well.

I'm guessing this will be for new bookings only - so those that have booked for 2014 will not get it? just a guess.

Jacqui, I do not think it will be, as long as it is before final they have to add this. The onlyt hing could be that when adding this you must take the current pricing but for 2014 sailings I doubt there will be any change. Celebrity phones were slammed with extremely long wait times when they did the 1 2 3 Go Pomotion because they also added it on to the existing reservations as long as they were originally prices in what they call 5 Star Pricing. I think for the most part most will be able to get this added if that cruise this is being offered.

Why not sail Crystal where every thing is included?

Lisa:

Do you think this promotion will be open to everyone? My niece (a 1-star Mariner) got a booklet in the mail and it says "ID number must be presented at time of booking to receive these fares and are available to the recipient(s) of this mailing only."

Since I never receive mailings from HAL (but do get e-mail promos), I would guess my Mariner # would not qualify.

Lisa:

 

Do you think this promotion will be open to everyone? My niece (a 1-star Mariner) got a booklet in the mail and it says "ID number must be presented at time of booking to receive these fares and are available to the recipient(s) of this mailing only."

 

Since I never receive mailings from HAL (but do get e-mail promos), I would guess my Mariner # would not qualify.

To my understanding Mariner status will not matter this will be for everyone but it will be on selected sailings. Ao the itinerary and Rate Code will determine if they qualify.

This does look a lot like Celebrity's offer but they had the option to get tips covered or stateroom credit instead of the beverage package ( I think - I probably am not remembering it exactly). As we are not drinkers I much prefer having the options. Like others have said, the cost of this will likely end up in the price you pay anyway.

Hi Lisa - interesting stuff, but my TA tells me this was given out to TAs on the 23rd and is not supposed to go public until the 29th. Oops:(

If one is able to get this promotion added to an existing 2014 sailing at current pricing, is it likely that one can still take advantage of any price drops that may occur before sailing?