It pays to keep checking your fares!

[dchip]

You are so right! Even if you are past final payment with a non refundable/no changes ever contract. We agreed to a non refundable situation when the price went down $1,000 earlier this year. 

 

Our June cruise had a considerable price drop after final payment.  Our TA called yesterday and was told, “nope, no and have the passenger read their contract”. She called again today and guess what...we now have a cabin upgrade, OBC and FCC. 

 

I worked customer assistance for 13 years for a major corporation. I used to hear reps tell customers “sorry we don’t do that” all the time. But yes they can do that, you just need to find the right rep. No quite fair but persistence pays off. 

 

To be totally clear, we were fine with our original agreement but heck we are even happier now. 🤗

 

Cheers, Denise 

 

 

[iancal]

We almost missed a great price on a Princess South American cruise.  At the last minute we decided to book and lock in the price that evening with our TA.   Checked the pricing the following day.  Prices had gone back up by 25 percent.

 

In my experience, as a customer and as a senior exec in a customer service organization...if you have an issue and get a no, keep asking for a more senior manager or executive until you either get a yes or are satisfied. 

If you do not get either then  do not deal with that company or organization any longer.

Edited April 16, 2019 by iancal

[Vict0riann]

4 hours ago, Day_late said:

My wife and I are new cruisers (one trip to Alaska last year). We've booked a cruise from Boston to Montreal in October and the final payment date is in July. How can I check for fare reductions? If this has been discussed ad nauseum, just a link to the discussion would be great.

 

I'm afraid I am a very low-tech person - and I've never even figured out how to do a "pretend booking".  What I do is take a screen shot of the prices on the HAL site for the cruise we are booking, or planning to book.  Then I check fairly regularly, and I can compare all the "general" prices listed, inside, ocean view, verandah, etc., and if I see that they have gone down in comparison with the prices when I booked, I call our PCC to see if she can do anything for us.  Usually works out, sometimes she has already done it and just sends me a new invoice.

[penaddict]

So if a non-refundable deposit is made and the final payment isn't due until more than three months from now, and the price drops, can a TA (not through HAL) match the discount or possibly provide an upgrade?  The final payment is due about three months before the cruise.

Thanks.

[terrydtx]

On ‎4‎/‎15‎/‎2019 at 7:54 PM, retafcruiser said:

I have already booked air through HAL as part of my reservation. If I re-fare, will the air have to be rebooked?

We rebooked our Noordam Alaska cruise last week with flight ease. We have a SS we booked last September with the Explore 4 promo. The fare dropped by $785pp so we rebooked, we did lose the X4 with the SBP and one free PG. Saving $1570 was worth much more than the X4 we gave up, we will not drink that much and we are not a fan of the PG.  We did get prepaid gratuities so we saved another $210. which covers the $200 OBC we also lost by rebooking. This had no effect on our flights or already booked shore excursions. Our final payment date is next week on the 28th so we are very pleased with our decision.

[jmc27]

Hi guys - this is all really interesting to me but I have a question - does this apply in the UK or is it mainly US/Canadian customers who are able to cancel and rebook?

[Caribbean Chris]

10 hours ago, penaddict said:

So if a non-refundable deposit is made and the final payment isn't due until more than three months from now, and the price drops, can a TA (not through HAL) match the discount or possibly provide an upgrade?  The final payment is due about three months before the cruise.

Thanks.

 

If you made your booking through a travel agent, absolutely, yes - they should be able to re-fare it for you to the current, lower price. (Or, if you booked directly with HAL, call them.)

 

Since you may lose some included perks (or gain others), it’s important to do the math on your current booking vs the potential revised booking. If you know the precise dollar value of a “free” perk like gratuities that you might lose or gain, you’ll know your true net cost.

 

As terrydx points out on a previous post, you may come out much better by opting out of a promo with the signature beverage package included. We do, because we know how much we will spend on drinks, wine & specialty coffees per day, based on past cruises.

 

[DaveOKC]

55 minutes ago, jmc27 said:

Hi guys - this is all really interesting to me but I have a question - does this apply in the UK or is it mainly US/Canadian customers who are able to cancel and rebook?

You really need to check with your TA, but I think UK has different rules.

 

[iancal]

We have met a number of people who have booked cruises outside of their own country.  Sometimes the currency adjusted price differences can be substantial.   We have done this once.  We did a late booking with RCI Australia.  The price 30 less than the price our US on line TA quoted and on the RCI North American website.  We also do a quick check.  In most cases we have found our North American pricing to be the same, within a few percentage points, or better.  So we typically take a few minutes and do a quick check.

Edited April 17, 2019 by iancal

[penaddict]

23 hours ago, Caribbean Chris said:

 

If you made your booking through a travel agent, absolutely, yes - they should be able to re-fare it for you to the current, lower price. (Or, if you booked directly with HAL, call them.)

 

Since you may lose some included perks (or gain others), it’s important to do the math on your current booking vs the potential revised booking. If you know the precise dollar value of a “free” perk like gratuities that you might lose or gain, you’ll know your true net cost.

 

As terrydx points out on a previous post, you may come out much better by opting out of a promo with the signature beverage package included. We do, because we know how much we will spend on drinks, wine & specialty coffees per day, based on past cruises.

 

Thank you.  We only received ONC for $50 so wouldn't lose much of anything.  😉  I'll keep an eye out on the cruise prices through different sites.  Thanks!

Edited April 18, 2019 by penaddict

[iancal]

The few times that we have booked outside the final payment window we also monitored the pricing on a few competing ships that we doing the exact same itinerary.  On a Med cruise we really could not care if we are on a HAL, Princess, or Celebrity ship.  The itinerary is port intensive and depending of the ship, we do no find much difference.  We have no problem 'jumping ship' if the fare difference becomes significant.

Edited April 18, 2019 by iancal

[swin26]

My final payment day is next week and we had a further reduction from the one a week and a half ago.  We gave up our prepaid gratuities and our deposit (only $100 each) is now non refundable, but the savings was significant.  From the time we booked - about 18 months ago, our price has gone down over $2800 total. I am very happy.   It does pay to check.  

[Btimmer]

Generally I book non-refundable fares for us; and twice in the past year, the fare has dropped enough to more than offset the loss of the relatively small deposits plus in one case we added prepaid gratuities for a further savings.  Since we really don't care which cabin we're in, we think that we'll shift our purchasing to after the final payment is due.  That's unless it's a cruise that we really want to take.

[Himself]

On ‎4‎/‎15‎/‎2019 at 5:49 PM, DaveOKC said:

Three weeks ago I rechecked my fare for our Sept, 2019,  2 week cruise in a Vista cabin.  The price declined by $500 pp so I immediately called my HAL PCC and she did a refaring for me.  We did lose $25 pp in beverage cards, but kept the free gratuities promotion.  So, saved $950 for the two of us!

 

Today I rechecked again and noticed another price drop, this time of $100 pp.  Called the PCC and in minutes saved another $200, so $1150 total!  With 5 months to go until we sail, I am hoping to see more of this and will check every week or so.

 

So, it does pay to recheck your fares, even if you just experienced a price drop recently.  If you see a drop, call your TA or PCC immediately, as the fares can go back up ove

Good point

[wyobean]

Our cruise is past the final payment date. I saw the other day that it was about half of what we paid. I called my TA to inquire if anything could be done. They called HAL and said that we could get a balcony (we were booked inside)and not lose our OBC and prepaid gratuities. We were totally pleased with that. Would have been ok if the answer would have been no, but it pays to at least ask.

[westcoastcruiser]

Tried again today...our class cabin is sold out but other categories similar to ours have dropped in price.  The big box TA person I spoke to called HAL and was told it is after final payment and since our category cabin is sold out, there is no adjustment to be made anyway.  We have two more long cruises  booked with HAL after this one and it is disappointing nothing  was even tossed our way.  Oh well.  We do like  our category cabin and, obviously, are ok with the price we paid but some token of loyalty would have been nice.

[CM1984]

And here's our tale of woe:  We booked with TA in January for 11/16/19 Nieuw Amsterdam cruise, cost $2,600 and included 2 Pinnacle Grill dinners, 2 Canaletto dinners and $100 Bev Cards (TA promo).   45 days later booked flights through Flight Ease RT for $415 total, excellent price based on comparisons.

So yesterday, checked prices on HAL website, current deal was prepaid gratuities, so price is now approx $2,100.  Are you with me so far? 😉

Called TA and asked her to check (and said we were fine without dinners and $100 beverage cards, feeling new price was a much better deal).  She called me back and said, yes it could be rebooked, but we would lose $400 in Flight Ease price.  What?

So this was a bust and I find it very strange.....😔

[Tampa Girl]

17 minutes ago, CM1984 said:

And here's our tale of woe:  We booked with TA in January for 11/16/19 Nieuw Amsterdam cruise, cost $2,600 and included 2 Pinnacle Grill dinners, 2 Canaletto dinners and $100 Bev Cards (TA promo).   45 days later booked flights through Flight Ease RT for $415 total, excellent price based on comparisons.

So yesterday, checked prices on HAL website, current deal was prepaid gratuities, so price is now approx $2,100.  Are you with me so far? 😉

Called TA and asked her to check (and said we were fine without dinners and $100 beverage cards, feeling new price was a much better deal).  She called me back and said, yes it could be rebooked, but we would lose $400 in Flight Ease price.  What?

So this was a bust and I find it very strange.....😔

 

What does Flight Ease have to do with your cabin price?  It isn't even the same office.  If you were to change one of your flights, i.e. return flight, both segments would be cancelled and you would have to rebook the entire schedule.  But that has nothing to do with cabin prices.  Perhaps you had better speak to someone else at HAL.  

[terrydtx]

33 minutes ago, CM1984 said:

She called me back and said, yes it could be rebooked, but we would lose $400 in Flight Ease price.  What?

So this was a bust and I find it very strange.

Was the Flight ease $400 part of a special offer when you originally booked or was a flight credit given? When you rebook at a lower cruise fare you lose any Promo that was on the original booking. When we rebooked we gave up the Explore 4 Promo SBP and $200 OBC, but with what we saved we are way ahead. We did book with flight Ease on the original booking but there was no promo or flight credits involved so when we rebooked our flights stayed the same. 

[DaveOKC]

1 hour ago, CM1984 said:

And here's our tale of woe:  We booked with TA in January for 11/16/19 Nieuw Amsterdam cruise, cost $2,600 and included 2 Pinnacle Grill dinners, 2 Canaletto dinners and $100 Bev Cards (TA promo).   45 days later booked flights through Flight Ease RT for $415 total, excellent price based on comparisons.

So yesterday, checked prices on HAL website, current deal was prepaid gratuities, so price is now approx $2,100.  Are you with me so far? 😉

Called TA and asked her to check (and said we were fine without dinners and $100 beverage cards, feeling new price was a much better deal).  She called me back and said, yes it could be rebooked, but we would lose $400 in Flight Ease price.  What?

So this was a bust and I find it very strange.....😔

I think the issue is that the Flight Ease deal was part of a special promotion that HAL run a few months ago (thats why the $415 fare you mentioned was such a good deal).  Thus, when you  "refare" you get all the current "perks", but you have to give up the ones you got when you booked.  Of course, some "perks", such as stockholder and FCD deposit onboard credits) will remain with your booking, as they are not part of the special promotion you booked under.

 

You have to remember that when HAL runs a promotion they generally increase fares to pay for at least part of it.  When a promotion ends, you often see fares drop accordingly.  If you want to see this in action, next time you book, ask for a fare with and without the current promotion - you will be quite surprised I bet.

[yerdua]

So right about always asking when there is a significant price drop. We are 1 month out from our cruise and the fare is almost 1/2 of what we booked at with a non refundable fare. We did have HALs CAR insurance. The difference was enough to make it worthwhile to cancel and rebook if necessary. Called our Big Box TA who worked with HAL to get us the net difference if we were to cancel and take all the hits, in the form of a future cruise credit and 2 $100  beverage cards for this cruise. Always ask. And  if its a significant enough $$ make sure you convey (nicely) that your alternative is to cancel and rebook. Can't say enough good things about these agents. 

[dfish]

I took advantage of this today and saved $1400 on my upcoming cruise.  It is now a non refundable deposit, but final payment is next month, so I think it was a safe move.  I can have a lot of fun for $1400.

[CM1984]

Back to HAL saying if we rebooked, we would lose $400.00 in Flight Ease, so TA let me know, and we left Booking as it stood.  But it just didn't seem right to me, so I contacted another TA someone told me about on our last cruise.

 

Final decision, cancelled flights, we will drive, it was an adventure last time, it will be this time.  Plus having a very large and comfy SUV, driving 95 is like driving your living room down the road.  Anyway, we booked with diff TA, no hard feelings from other.  Cruise cost was $2,699, now it is $1,760.  

Thanks for advice, thoughts of others.