Free Inside Stateroom promotion

[Florida_gal_50]

10 hours ago, LAFFNVEGAS said:

I think the reason they are talking about the Casino offer and comparing it is that this offer is very similar and works very much the same. Both a Casino offer requires a $200.00 non refundable deposit that with the Casino offering the $200.00 cash back to you as Casino play money, with this offer it comes back to you as ship board credit. The details and rules are both very similar. As well as the cost for upgrading is also the same. These offers are more alike than they are different.

 

In conclusion just my personal opinion HAL is getting desperate. They need to fill cabins, they have quotas to meet and prove to CCL Corp that they are selling berths. It is an old proven fact that if they can get them on the ship many will spend more on board,especially if they did not spend much for the cruise to begin with. HAL is trying to generate as much possible Future revenue as they can.

 

But it brings up the question of why they are not opening up more itineraries for later 2023???

I have serious doubts this is going to bring much money into the coffers.  This is my concern.  Gamblers are one thing.  I can see some upside there.  When people get a free cruise then commit that they still have to pay crew incentive and port tax and wanting have it all for the entire cruise for a hundred bucks I’m not confident it’s going to be a money maker for them.  It just seems to me that people are mistaking this for a casino offer which it’s not.  It’s concerning for sure that they are not releasing next year’s itineraries.

[mcrcruiser]

We get Casino offers from Celebrity  & they are really juicy deals  .now I need to focus on getting HAL casino offers  on  our Dec B2B cruises   .This can be achieved  by  making friends with the Casino host or hostess   .We can bring a lot of business into the casino  .I personally onlp play craps & Texas holdem   .Those slots are real bandits  ;but ,every so often the bandits pay off .got to know when yo play the bandits 

[LAFFNVEGAS]

5 hours ago, Florida_gal_50 said:

I have serious doubts this is going to bring much money into the coffers.  This is my concern.  Gamblers are one thing.  I can see some upside there.  When people get a free cruise then commit that they still have to pay crew incentive and port tax and wanting have it all for the entire cruise for a hundred bucks I’m not confident it’s going to be a money maker for them.  It just seems to me that people are mistaking this for a casino offer which it’s not.  It’s concerning for sure that they are not releasing next year’s itineraries.

I agree it will not accomplish what they want it to but with that being said I personally think they are going about it totally wrong to bring back cruisers. I think HAL has kind of lost their way and are running in the wrong direction. I think they need to step back and look what made them so successful in the late 1990's into the early to mid 2000's On Board Profit wise HAL was doing their best in 2004 to 2010.

Other cruise lines are doing much better right now, that is not to say they are all in the black (which none of them are) but other cruise lines are seeing a glimmer of a light in that long tunnel ahead. I think HAL is NOT even close to this point.

[kmcmom2021]

Hello, I got this offer and I am 2 points shy of 3 star.  I  completed New England Cruise in Sept, and have Europe booked for May. I did spend money in spa and at casino, not a lot (200.00).  I did accept offer for inside room for nine days cost was 200.00 PP processing and 140 taxes.  On my account I had 250.00 future cruise credit since I just completed my NE cruise, so bottom line it came to a total of 15.00 per person since I get 200.00 pp OBC.  To answer the question YES this is a great deal.  I am a little worried about inside room for 9 days, I hope I get am upgrade offer prior to sailing.  

[Banditswife]

We sail Carnival more than HAL.  We get offers from Carnival, but not nearly as good as the offers from HAL  It seems like all lines are operating in the red right now, just trying to gain interest again.  It will take all cruise lines years to recoup what they lost in 2020.  I just hope they can get back to operating in the black again.  Our stock value has dropped dramatically.  

[Andi Land]

My 2 cents. I think they keep offering these deals so they can speak to capacity. Like, ships are now sailing at 95% capacity. It’s a good selling point for their advertising to get more people on board. What’s there to be scared of if ships are sailing full? Anyway, that’s my take. 

[BermudaBound2014]

3 hours ago, Andi Land said:

My 2 cents. I think they keep offering these deals so they can speak to capacity. Like, ships are now sailing at 95% capacity. It’s a good selling point for their advertising to get more people on board. What’s there to be scared of if ships are sailing full? Anyway, that’s my take. 

Even more important, ccl is more likely to get investors to loan more money when they advertise that ships have returned to pre-covid occupancy. 

[Andi Land]

9 hours ago, BermudaBound2014 said:

Even more important, ccl is more likely to get investors to loan more money when they advertise that ships have returned to pre-covid occupancy. 

Thank you! You said it more succinctly than I but that’s the point I was trying to make ☺️ Capacity is key at this point in time and freebies help them hit those marks. 

[Florida_gal_50]

12 hours ago, Andi Land said:

My 2 cents. I think they keep offering these deals so they can speak to capacity. Like, ships are now sailing at 95% capacity. It’s a good selling point for their advertising to get more people on board. What’s there to be scared of if ships are sailing full? Anyway, that’s my take. 

More people in a confined space.  I know some people have had Covid multiple times.  I have not had it to my knowledge.  It would be nice to keep it that way but I doubt that will happen.  It’s good for cruise lines to have paying customers.  It would be interesting to see how much extra revenue is coming from people on a free cruise vs those that paid rack rate.  There is a lot of chatter on cruise critic about spending.  I notice many people that say they are on casino rates saying they don’t do extra spending.  They want an upgrade from an inside to a balcony for next to nothing.  Then they make comments about those of us that choose club orange that are not nice.  Obviously not everyone fits into certain molds.  I’m sure there are plenty of people that pay rack rate that don’t spend a cent more.

[BermudaBound2014]

8 minutes ago, Florida_gal_50 said:

More people in a confined space.  I know some people have had Covid multiple times.  I have not had it to my knowledge.  It would be nice to keep it that way but I doubt that will happen.  It’s good for cruise lines to have paying customers.  It would be interesting to see how much extra revenue is coming from people on a free cruise vs those that paid rack rate.  There is a lot of chatter on cruise critic about spending.  I notice many people that say they are on casino rates saying they don’t do extra spending.  They want an upgrade from an inside to a balcony for next to nothing.  Then they make comments about those of us that choose club orange that are not nice.  Obviously not everyone fits into certain molds.  I’m sure there are plenty of people that pay rack rate that don’t spend a cent more.

 

You missed @Andi Land's point entirely.

 

One of the benefits to filling the ships (even with free cruise offers) is that the statistics for ship occupancy rise. Investors are much more likely to keep funding CCL when they report that occupancy has returned to pre-covid numbers. 

 

Of course, cruise lines would like these free cabins to generate revenue, but generating revenue is not the ONLY reason they are offering up the free cruises. 

 

Edited October 29, 2022 by BermudaBound2014

[Andi Land]

50 minutes ago, Florida_gal_50 said:

More people in a confined space.  I know some people have had Covid multiple times.  I have not had it to my knowledge.  It would be nice to keep it that way but I doubt that will happen.  It’s good for cruise lines to have paying customers.  It would be interesting to see how much extra revenue is coming from people on a free cruise vs those that paid rack rate.  There is a lot of chatter on cruise critic about spending.  I notice many people that say they are on casino rates saying they don’t do extra spending.  They want an upgrade from an inside to a balcony for next to nothing.  Then they make comments about those of us that choose club orange that are not nice.  Obviously not everyone fits into certain molds.  I’m sure there are plenty of people that pay rack rate that don’t spend a cent more.

I’ll use myself as an example. I got a free inside room to Mexico. Paid $596 to upgrade to ocean view. Paid $350 for Club Orange. Paid $700 for Have it all. So, $1650 all in. That doesn’t include my excursions, gratuities, or expected spa treatments. We’ll decide day of if we want a retreat cabana. Right now that same room is $3064 rack rate. I got a good deal. But it isn’t “free”. 
 

I’m sure there are people who go onboard with their free room and spend as little as possible. But I’d bet there are more people like me who have the add-ons. Cruise critic is a small percentage of the cruise population. 
 

The free room promo must be good business right now between on board spending and getting ships full. 

[Florida_gal_50]

4 minutes ago, Andi Land said:

I’ll use myself as an example. I got a free inside room to Mexico. Paid $596 to upgrade to ocean view. Paid $350 for Club Orange. Paid $700 for Have it all. So, $1650 all in. That doesn’t include my excursions, gratuities, or expected spa treatments. We’ll decide day of if we want a retreat cabana. Right now that same room is $3064 rack rate. I got a good deal. But it isn’t “free”. 
 

I’m sure there are people who go onboard with their free room and spend as little as possible. But I’d bet there are more people like me who have the add-ons. Cruise critic is a small percentage of the cruise population. 
 

The free room promo must be good business right now between on board spending and getting ships full. 

Absolutely.  Just as I said there are probably a lot of people that pay rack rate that don’t do anything extra.  I’m just speaking of actual posts I’ve seen on here and some of the really hurtful things that people choose to say about people that do theses upgrades or things that make our cruises special.  That’s putting money in the coffers for hal.  You likely already know this but sometime the cabanas are sold out pre cruise except for the lido ones.  Those I imagine are not in high demand.