What's so special about HAL "Private Fares"?

[FlaMariner]

So we never got emails from HAL.  We are 3 stars and could not hear a peep out of HAL regarding anything unless it was specific to a cruise we booked.  I tried signing up a couple of times and still nothing.

 

Finally, I signed up with an email that is different from the one on our HAL profile and the emails are coming......but disappointing because the offers they send that are called "private fares" are always higher than what I can get from my big box TA.  

 

What's so good about "private fares"?  For those that use a PCC, do you get better deals than what I see on the website and what HAL sends me in their "private sails".

 

I need some education on why one would book directly with HAL/PCC and, from what I see, possibly pay more for the cruise? (Is there a secret I am not privy too?)

[iancal]

I have had private sale fares and 'special' cruise fares from HAL and from other cruise lines.

 

To date, the only thing special about the fares is they have been more 'special' for the cruise line than for us.  We have never found the particularly special and more often than not they have not been competitive with other similar offerings.

 

The words special, exclusive, duty free, two for one, free cruise air, and free this or that, etc.  turn us off completely. We are more likely to delete the email than to read it.

 

We are more than happy to rely on competitive public cruise fares that we are to bother with 'private' ones.

Edited October 3, 2021 by iancal

[kazu]

If there is the odd Mariner rate, (they don’t happen often) you might get a bit of a deal but I’ve never seen a big deal on the private sale offers. 

 

they only work if you don’t want to choose a cabin or take certain categories.  Not my cup of tea.

 

That’s only my experience though

[leerathje]

My father booked a solo verandah, and is travelling with us. I saw a private fare was listed for our cruise, and my father saved $2,150.00 on the fare he had booked 2 weeks ago.

 

We were very pleased with the savings.

 

L.

 

[NCTribeFan]

My Private Fares have sometimes been deeply-discounted (recently "free"), from the casino department.

 

I've made attempts to find these wonderful, special, great perk fares online (I'm never sure what people are referring to with "big box" comments but I can guess and I'm not a member so have never bothered to see if they're available to me), and have never seen anything that made we want to book through them.

 

I either do it myself, use my TA, or my PCC.

 

To each his/her own.  If you're happy with your big box bookings, that's nice. Are you really looking for "education" on the Private Sales or just wanted to let people know that you think we're suckers for using other than a big box retailer? 😄

[racephoto]

5 hours ago, NCTribeFan said:

 

To each his/her own.  If you're happy with your big box bookings, that's nice. Are you really looking for "education" on the Private Sales or just wanted to let people know that you think we're suckers for using other than a big box retailer? 😄

I didn’t take ‘big box’ to mean what you did, I thought they just referenced a very large Internet travel agency. I use several of those myself when the perks or fares warrant it. Since HAL is my favorite line right now I was interested in this thread to see if there was any info on these “private fares”, because I’ve never gotten an email with them either.

[syesmar]

@FlaMariner There are times when the Private Sales we get are cheaper than the big box prices (we have flexibility to book within a short window of sailing, so ymmv) and vice versa. We have always been able to transfer the booking to the big box if they offer extra perks. What I noticed, though, is that in all our cruises we’d never received an upsell offer from our TA. Last cruise I kept the booking with HAL and for the first time, received offers. Clearly, our travel agency wasn’t passing them on.

 

One trend for years is that, even though I am the one that handles 100% of our travel arrangements, my husband’s Mariner account will usually get better pricing from HAL than mine. We have yet to figure this out, as our HAL history is identical. So, signing into his account can have a price hundreds of dollars cheaper than signing into mine. I always recommend signing in to each traveler’s account, just to double check the pricing.

 

Happy Sailing!

[FlaMariner]

7 hours ago, NCTribeFan said:

Are you really looking for "education" on the Private Sales or just wanted to let people know that you think we're suckers for using other than a big box retailer? 😄

 

I'm the OP....Ouch.  Not judging anyone...I'd just like to understand about "private sales" now that I'm getting them because what I have seen thus far from "private sales"  has been more $$$ than what I see at the big box TA I use.....I use the term big box because I think we get into "posting jail" if we reference the TA we use but it is one of those that is huge and the building is certainly a big box.

 

 

[FlaMariner]

1 hour ago, syesmar said:

One trend for years is that, even though I am the one that handles 100% of our travel arrangements, my husband’s Mariner account will usually get better pricing from HAL than mine.

 

I like this idea....thanks for sharing....

 

I am the one that always books and sign in, etc.....I'm going to try signing in w/her majesty's account and see what that delivers.

[FlaMariner]

1 hour ago, syesmar said:

What I noticed, though, is that in all our cruises we’d never received an upsell offer from our TA.

 

That has always been my experience as well.....Never, ever got an upsell offer from the big box TA even though I asked for them and even had "upsells OK" listed on my reservation.....until now.....We got our first upsell offer from the big box TA for our cruise that sails soon.  I'm hoping that continues. 

 

 

[FlaMariner]

7 hours ago, NCTribeFan said:

My Private Fares have sometimes been deeply-discounted (recently "free"), from the casino department.

 

Do you know how much you need to "buy" in the casino to get casino deals?  Or how you would sign up for them?

[Florida_gal_50]

If you get better deals elsewhere you should go with that.

[FlaMariner]

2 minutes ago, Florida_gal_50 said:

If you get better deals elsewhere you should go with that.

 

agree.  

 

And love everyone's experiences on where/how they find them!

 

[lazey1]

27 minutes ago, FlaMariner said:

 

Do you know how much you need to "buy" in the casino to get casino deals?  Or how you would sign up for them?

I suddenly about 4 years ago started getting "casino deals". Lately I am getting a lot of "casino deals" that  are for a free cabin., the most recent was for a free veranda. I never "signed up for" for casino deals and have no idea why they started sending me emails. I do play the slots in the casino but have never spent more than $250 which was on a 30 day cruise. Usually on a 7 day cruise I will bring $100 for playing the slots so I am definitely not a big gambler. When you take those "casino deals" you can usually upgrade you cabin for a nominal amount and When doing your booking they show as "private fare". 

[iancal]

52 minutes ago, FlaMariner said:

 

That has always been my experience as well.....Never, ever got an upsell offer from the big box TA even though I asked for them and even had "upsells OK" listed on my reservation.....until now.....We got our first upsell offer from the big box TA for our cruise that sails soon.  I'm hoping that continues. 

 

 

We have never had an upsell from HAL. Or any other cruise line.   We have taken advantage of re-fares to better cabin categories prior to final payment.  Most of our cruises are booked inside the final payment window.

 

On  another cruise line our on line TA contacted us about a 'move over' offer on SA cruise.  In return for giving up our booking we were offered a full refund, up to $300. in airline change fees,  a free 14 day cruise anywhere (the same days of our original) plus an upgrade from original balcony booking  to mini suite on that cruise.

 

Our on line TA arranged a three way call with the cruise line.  The cruise line  rep restated the offer and sent it to us in writing. 

 

Took us all of 10 seconds to accept that offer.

 

We subsequently submitted an expense claim for $175 reward air change fee.  It was paid within 15 business days by the cruise line.

 

[FlaMariner]

34 minutes ago, lazey1 said:

I suddenly about 4 years ago started getting "casino deals". Lately I am getting a lot of "casino deals" that  are for a free cabin., the most recent was for a free veranda. I never "signed up for" for casino deals and have no idea why they started sending me emails. I do play the slots in the casino but have never spent more than $250 which was on a 30 day cruise. Usually on a 7 day cruise I will bring $100 for playing the slots so I am definitely not a big gambler. When you take those "casino deals" you can usually upgrade you cabin for a nominal amount and When doing your booking they show as "private fare". 

 

OK, you've just turned us into gamblers on our next cruise!

[lazey1]

10 minutes ago, FlaMariner said:

 

OK, you've just turned us into gamblers on our next cruise!

Ha ha, not exactly my intent. I really never looked at spending $100 playing the slots on a seven day cruise as gambling. To me that was my entertainment cost for 7 seven days.  No way do I want to enable or advocate a gambling addition.

[Taters]

I have to start with letting the OP know that I am a bargain hunter.  At one point I noticed that I was no longer receiving emails with special offers, so I called HAL to inquire.  I was forwarded to the Mariner's desk and asked them about it.

 

The rep that I spoke to told me that a lot of people who are already booked on a cruise do not care for receiving emails for more cruises...  I am definitely not one of those people.  I have multiple cruises booked most of the time.

 

The rep was happy to change my profile to include emails for all offers I am eligible for all the time.  Yay!  (This is something I am not able to do myself online.)  I get lots of offers from HAL now, maybe one or two per month plus offers from the casino.

 

Maybe a call to HAL will solve your problem?

 

Cheers!

Edited October 4, 2021 by Taters

[FlaMariner]

30 minutes ago, Taters said:

I have to start with letting the OP know that I am a bargain hunter.  At one point I noticed that I was no longer receiving emails with special offers, so I called HAL to inquire.  I was forwarded to the Mariner's desk and asked them about it.

 

The rep that I spoke to told me that a lot of people who are already booked on a cruise do not care for receiving emails for more cruises...  I am definitely not one of those people.  I have multiple cruises booked most of the time.

 

The rep was happy to change my profile to include emails for all offers I am eligible for all the time.  Yay!  (This is something I am not able to do myself online.)  I get lots of offers from HAL now, maybe one or two per month plus offers from the casino.

 

Maybe a call to HAL will solve your problem?

 

Cheers!

 

Taters....Thanks for the info...I am also of the "bargain hunter" type....

 

I did start getting offers recently after setting up emails to come to a different email address than what is on my profile.....I find it strange that I was not previously worthy of a bombardment of sales emails from a business....

 

Now that I get the "private sale" emails, I'm disappointed because they are showing cruises more expensive than my big box TA......

 

 

[kentuckycruiser]

6 hours ago, FlaMariner said:

 

Do you know how much you need to "buy" in the casino to get casino deals?  Or how you would sign up for them?

my husband spends maybe $100 on a cruise at the black jack table and he gets the casino offers. He swears it is because he won a tournament onboard once. But it just saved us $2,700 on an upcoming cruise so it is really worth it.

[albingirl]

I booked a cruise using the mariner fares, and quite honestly, sorry I did.  I missed out on the free drinks, gratuities and so on.  Understand that free isn't free, but I could have gotten a better deal had I waited for another promo.  I'm not impressed with these "mariner fares".

[FlaMariner]

Maybe I missed this but what is the difference between "Mariner fares" & "Private Sales fares"?

 

(I'm now getting the "Private" sale emails (which don't seem special at all) but do not get anything called "mariner" fares....and we have 3 stars on our belly...or perhaps I don't know where to look?)

[Florida_gal_50]

1 hour ago, FlaMariner said:

Maybe I missed this but what is the difference between "Mariner fares" & "Private Sales fares"?

 

(I'm now getting the "Private" sale emails (which don't seem special at all) but do not get anything called "mariner" fares....and we have 3 stars on our belly...or perhaps I don't know where to look?)

Its the same thing, the poster just used different wording.  I'm happy to get any reduction in fare and I'm a 5 star.  The fares are not going to be 1/2 off or free unless you get some kind of a casino deal, even then.  Usually I see a couple hundred if I'm lucky.  How much did you expect it to be discounted?

[FlaMariner]

24 minutes ago, Florida_gal_50 said:

Its the same thing, the poster just used different wording.  I'm happy to get any reduction in fare and I'm a 5 star.  The fares are not going to be 1/2 off or free unless you get some kind of a casino deal, even then.  Usually I see a couple hundred if I'm lucky.  How much did you expect it to be discounted?

 

Gotcha.....

 

Right now, the TA I use has better fares than what I've been seeing directly from HAL (w/the "private sale" emails) so I'm all good....Just like to pay as little as I can and don't want to miss out on where that may be.

 

Thanks for the info...may go blow some $$$ at the casino and see if that gets me in the casino fare world...or maybe not...LOL

[syesmar]

3 hours ago, FlaMariner said:

Maybe I missed this but what is the difference between "Mariner fares" & "Private Sales fares"?

The Private Sale fares are the ones from the e-mails and mailed flyers. 
Sometimes we get additional savings if we log in to the website (this is where my husband’s account has the better deals), and I’ve been told it’s tied to one’s Mariner number (again, we have identical cruising history).