Does your TA really get lower prices seen on-line??

[ekerr19]

gizmo-

 

No problem here either. I just wanted to pass along our problem with Suite vs. Balcony...

 

I used to get upset, thinking I was not getting a good deal, til I found out otherwise (school of hard knocks!).

 

It's all good - when I'm on board a ship, I'm happiest!

 

Noordam 1984

Veendam 1999

Amsterdam 2000

Noordam 2001

Statendam 2001

Noordam 2002

Zuiderdam 2003

Maasdam 2004.

Noordam 2004

[camachinist]

Great discussion, especially since I've been away for awhile.

 

On the same subject, I've been following (for the last week) the Cat S and SS suites on a Zuiderdam West Carib sail on July 10, thinking of surprising my SIL and her family, who booked this a year ago. I've seen S prices under 1Kpp, spiking up to over 2.3Kpp (on the same TA during the same day), with SS's appearing and disappearing hourly, at different prices, as cabins are held and then released. Seeing this inventory in real time is really interesting. I noticed some especially strange gyrations last night as HAL went down for scheduled maintenance. The last few minutes before shutdown presented a couple of opportunities which I should have taken, but I didn't have the award flights lined up at the moment. Our UAL contact was working DSM flights (car club meet and race) but maybe I'll ask her to switch to FLL this week. Decisions, decisions....

 

Vacationing on the cheap sure requires work!

 

Pat

[sailorbill]

One of the problems that TA's have in recognizing the difference between balcony staterooms and suites is that the HAL brochure lists the balcony staterooms for the 8 Statendam sister ships as Veranda Suites. The S category staterooms are the Deluxe Veranda Suites. So when you ask your TA to book a suite, you need to be specific as to which kind you want. It is an unnecessary aggravation brought on by HAL's effort to make the A and B categories seem more grand and desirable by calling them suites. This difficulty does not extend to the vista class ships because on those ships the A and B categories are listed as Deluxe Veranda Outside. HAL has no ordinary outside veranda staterooms. (I'm not sure what a veranda inside stateroom would be like, but it sure would not be deluxe!!)

 

Bill

[torpeedo]

Re the Prinsendam sailing 11/9, check out icruise also for rates. They are less than those listed on this thread and list quite a few suites available. Wish we could go!

 

Carnival Legend 12/05/04

Caribbean Princess 09/17/05

Veendam 11/26/05

[superstein61]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Peggy Sue:

I've read a few posts recently that if you see a lower price on-line inform your travel agent and they can get you the lower fare from HAL.

 

 

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

 

Yes and No.

 

I shop around a lot when buying a cruise. Sometimes an online agency is best, sometimes a TA.

 

This time, I found a TA who had the best price by far on the Zuiderdam in July (inside cat J). Now however, given everything is paid for, I see an online agency with great pricing on the S and SS suites for my cruise (about $650 to $700 more than I paid for the 3 of us in a J category). So I asked my TA to see what it would cost to upgrade. Well, HAL came back and said they would only offer her an upgrade for us to BC level for $300/pp times 3 or $900 total (even though a well known online agency has this deal for a S or SS for much less). I politely told her to tell HAL to forget it. So in this case, our TA can't even come close to the pricing from an online agency.

 

bottom line - it just depends