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

[arzz]

We stopped trying to book Princess several years ago (pre Internet) as they would send us brochures and offers with fares that we were NEVER able to actually book. Sometimes we would wait list. We never cleared the list. It was just too frustrating. We decided it was bait and switch. I do not know what Princess does these days so I am not accusing them of anything.

 

It's probably all for the better as we eventually settled on HAL as a good fit. If we had been successful with Princess we might never have found HAL - I sincerely hope this was true error on the part of HAL.

 

We do not receive either hard copy or email offers from HAL. No idea why as I could paper my walls with brochures from Oceania, Seabourn and Regent.

[Randyk47]

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

 

 

While the reader has a certain amount of responsibility to read carefully and thoroughly I can't help but hold the companies responsible for some, if not a lot, of the confusion. Maybe a slight exaggeration but somebody gets a mailer or email or whatever that starts something like "Book your favorite suite at a fantastic savings! Cabins start at $2,199!" Of course they mix suites and cabins in the same lead lines giving the impression suites start a $2,199 but they really mean inside cabins not suites. You have to read on to find out suites are actually five times that amount. Of course they also go on to say things like "Book your favorite cruise and itinerary now!" only to find out the really low rates are actually the worse possible dates in say the Caribbean in the middle of hurricane season. :rolleyes::eek:

[cruz chic]

While the reader has a certain amount of responsibility to read carefully and thoroughly I can't help but hold the companies responsible for some, if not a lot, of the confusion. Maybe a slight exaggeration but somebody gets a mailer or email or whatever that starts something like "Book your favorite suite at a fantastic savings! Cabins start at $2,199!" Of course they mix suites and cabins in the same lead lines giving the impression suites start a $2,199 but they really mean inside cabins not suites. You have to read on to find out suites are actually five times that amount. Of course they also go on to say things like "Book your favorite cruise and itinerary now!" only to find out the really low rates are actually the worse possible dates in say the Caribbean in the middle of hurricane season. :rolleyes::eek:

 

It seems that everyone uses this marketing ploy from cruise lines to stores. I think that you have to be quite gulible to think you are going to get the best suite on the ship for nothing. It's like people that win a cruise at bingo to be surprised that it's an inside. Perhaps I'm jaded living in a big city where you are constantly being bombarded with things like this.

[USN59-79]

While the reader has a certain amount of responsibility to read carefully and thoroughly I can't help but hold the companies responsible for some, if not a lot, of the confusion. Maybe a slight exaggeration but somebody gets a mailer or email or whatever that starts something like "Book your favorite suite at a fantastic savings! Cabins start at $2,199!" Of course they mix suites and cabins in the same lead lines giving the impression suites start a $2,199 but they really mean inside cabins not suites. You have to read on to find out suites are actually five times that amount. Of course they also go on to say things like "Book your favorite cruise and itinerary now!" only to find out the really low rates are actually the worse possible dates in say the Caribbean in the middle of hurricane season. :rolleyes::eek:

While your statements may be true for some advertisements, they do not pertain to this one. I received it yesterday. The cover says Exotic Voyages Incredible destinations at remarkable savings. On page 21 it advertises a 21-Day cruise from Valparaiso to Buenos Aires on the Zaandam and states the fares are for the 12/20/15 sailing. Interior $1099., Ocean View Obstructed $1199., and Suites $2299. It adds that taxes, fees and port charges are an additional $494.21. On the bottom of the page it says "Book by September 15, 2015 and For these fares, please present your ID Number at time of booking. On Page 31 it states that the fares are based on Promo(s) RH/PC and reiterates that ID Number must be presented at time of booking. I don't see how they could be more concise. And this is not the hurricane season; actually this is the best time to take a cruise to Antarctica.

[Randyk47]

It seems that everyone uses this marketing ploy from cruise lines to stores. I think that you have to be quite gulible to think you are going to get the best suite on the ship for nothing. It's like people that win a cruise at bingo to be surprised that it's an inside. Perhaps I'm jaded living in a big city where you are constantly being bombarded with things like this.

 

For sure. I don't know if I'd call it jaded, maybe skeptical in an educated way. I'd think many if not most of us have experienced bait and switch, lost cost leaders, the old "sorry we sold all of those yesterday", and a myriad of other advertising tricks. You'd like to think or at least hope that companies like HAL with basically good or outstanding reputations would be above such verbal slights of hand and on the whole they are but there are moments....... :o

[Fouremco]

It seems that everyone uses this marketing ploy from cruise lines to stores. I think that you have to be quite gulible to think you are going to get the best suite on the ship for nothing. It's like people that win a cruise at bingo to be surprised that it's an inside. Perhaps I'm jaded living in a big city where you are constantly being bombarded with things like this.

I'm with you. This is consistent across all forms of advertising with "Prices starting at..." or "Prices from..." or "Cabins start at...". Why would anyone think that "Cabins start at..." would be for anything other than the lowest priced inside cabin? If a car dealer's big sale ad said "Cars starting at $15K...", no one in their right mind would think it's for their top-of-the-line, fully loaded model.

[Randyk47]

While your statements may be true for some advertisements, they do not pertain to this one. I received it yesterday. The cover says Exotic Voyages Incredible destinations at remarkable savings. On page 21 it advertises a 21-Day cruise from Valparaiso to Buenos Aires on the Zaandam and states the fares are for the 12/20/15 sailing. Interior $1099., Ocean View Obstructed $1199., and Suites $2299. It adds that taxes, fees and port charges are an additional $494.21. On the bottom of the page it says "Book by September 15, 2015 and For these fares, please present your ID Number at time of booking. On Page 31 it states that the fares are based on Promo(s) RH/PC and reiterates that ID Number must be presented at time of booking. I don't see how they could be more concise. And this is not the hurricane season; actually this is the best time to take a cruise to Antarctica.

 

I was talking in general and not about this specific offer. Have to say on the surface that does sound like a good if not great sale offer. Thanks for posting the specific offer.

[syesmar]

I, like others, contacted HAL via Chat and they confirmed it was a printing error. As others have said, it plainly lists the date and sale price.

 

I checked my mailings and the previous “Exotic Voyages” Sale, set to expire on August 15, has the following for the 21-Day South America & Antarctica Explorer, departing 12/20/15:

 

Fares From* Original/ Savings Fare

Interior Stateroom $5,999/ $2,999

Ocean-view $6,799/ $3,399

Suites $12,999/ $6,499

 

These are also the Fares I see when I log in to HAL’s website (I also see $11,999 for Neptune Suite for the Original $13,499).

 

The Fares in the new Mailer, expiring Sept 15, have the wrong Original Price for the 12/20 Sailing and are very close, as someone else mentioned, to the Dec 6 14-Day Sailing’s Original Prices (which also varied a little between the 2 Mailings). Fares now for 12/6 14-Day Sailing: Interior: $1,199 Ocean-View Obstructed: $1,199 Suites: $2,199. These are also the prices I see when I log in, as well as $4,499 for Neptune Suites).

 

Happy Travels!

Edited August 14, 2015 by syesmar

[iancal]

This is exactly the reason why this type of junk mail goes, or used to go prior to our moving, directly from the mail box to the recycle bin without 'passing go'.

 

Prior to moving (sorry for the people who bought our house) we got them from a number of cruise lines.

 

Never, not once, were any of these so called special, private, presidents or whatever deals any more special that what we could get from our TA. They were truly junk mail.

 

And on at least one occasion, the price was 'special' for the cruise line because it was actually higher than the list price on the their web site and from our TA. We were lucky. It was not our first rodeo so we did not succumb to the sucker deal.

Edited August 14, 2015 by iancal