Sail Standby for $49 a day- new program

[Horizon chaser 1957]

22 hours ago, ORTravelGal said:

Can you call HAL and just ask to be moved to the "confirmed" group of sailors and off the standby list?

 

21 hours ago, HappyInVan said:

Personally, I would rather wait for a late or last minute deal. Get the price and location that I find acceptable. 😌

That’s why we only booked a five day cruise as a trial run. If it costs us a few dollars more, it’s not like it’s a bucket list trip or long enough for the money to add up. I’d only use Standby for cruises out of Vancouver anyway, and those show up as last minute discounts quite regularly. I happy we gave it a shot, but think I’ll stick to last minute deals instead after this.

[Horizon chaser 1957]

22 hours ago, ORTravelGal said:

Can you call HAL and just ask to be moved to the "confirmed" group of sailors and off the standby list?

Part of the deal is that it’s non refundable unless you’re still unconfirmed 48 hours before sailing or if they can’t get you on at all.

[Lauren Spray]

Well, our wait listed sailing is Saturday (4/13) and as of 6:15 EDT (4/10) we are still wait listed.  I called HAL and the person I talked to confirmed it.

 

Please let us know already, Holland America.  We figured out we aren't the type who should choose this option in the future.  It was an experiment for us but in the future, we are going to pay the money and choose what works for us.

 

To be continued...

 

 

[Lauren Spray]

....continuing.  We cleared the wait list.  We got what we paid for, maybe a better location, but that's all. Maybe we will be offered an upsell.  Maybe not.  I don't care.

 

I hadn't packed yet, but I took my clothes out of the closet before, in case.  That did the trick.😁

 

That's fine with me. 

 

Good luck to others who are waiting to hear on their cruise. It is nerve wracking having to wait!

[Laurie59]

We just got off the Rotterdam with standby cruise. We were offered a balcony upgrade the next day due 249/pp

[Real NHDOC]

I inquired with our PCC about the Voyage of the Vikings 35 day cruise out of Boston which shows as being offered on this standby program.  She said, after checking, that HAL has closed out this cruise and is no longer offering Standby for it.  It's strange that they do that since the cruise is far from sold out (albeit the current prices start at an eye-popping price of around $200PP/Day).  Especially strange they would close it out since HAL could just keep collecting the $4800 per cabin for an interest-free loan and just refund it later if the cruise is full. 

 

I suspect they are afraid that by offering such an expensive cruise for $49 a day it will discourage people who are hoping for a bargain from booking the cruise at 4-6X that price.  In other words they are creating vacancies because of the program.  It's weird because the VoV is typically sold out, sometimes years in advance but this year there are plenty of empty cabins for sale. 

 

My suspicion is that as we get closer to the July departure their dynamic pricing will adjust fares down to sell out cabins at somewhere between $49 and $200PP/Night thus shutting out many of the standby people but it will be interesting to see what happens. 

[HappyInVan]

There's a rumour that CCL is sailing above capacity. The reality is that HAL has many deals...

 

https://www.hollandamerica.com/en/ca/find-a-cruise?dealId=TOPTEN23&csvFileName=multi_TOPTEN23_1.csv&ICID=INTHWEB20240124Q89QXAW4NL

 

I find this itinerary attractive  "14-DAY BRITAIN, SCOTLAND & IRELAND" June 15 on the Statendam from Copenhagen. The airfare looks okay. Might go for it! Possibility of an upsell to the suites.

 

While the standby fare (gotta pay first) looks attractive, we have to realize that the pax is gambling (like at the slots) against the company. The House always sets the odds in their favour. In this example, the House can improve the odds in their favour by offering discounts and incentives before passing the remains to the standby folks.

 

Enjoy your cruise!

 

 

[publicpersona]

5 hours ago, Real NHDOC said:

I inquired with our PCC about the Voyage of the Vikings 35 day cruise out of Boston which shows as being offered on this standby program.  She said, after checking, that HAL has closed out this cruise and is no longer offering Standby for it. 

 

I know this sounds cynical, but I suspect the agent's incentives for your current booking might be affected if you cancelled it and repurchased under the standby program. You could find out for sure by starting the process of purchasing your cruise standby anonymously and see what they say.

[Real NHDOC]

1 minute ago, publicpersona said:

 

I know this sounds cynical, but I suspect the agent's incentives for your current booking might be affected if you cancelled it and repurchased under the standby program. You could find out for sure by starting the process of purchasing your cruise standby anonymously and see what they say.

I am not sure I understand your comment but actually don't have the cruise booked at all (or any cruises currently booked).  Only would consider it if we could have signed up for standby as we live around an hour from the port and it would have worked well for us.

[publicpersona]

2 minutes ago, Real NHDOC said:

I am not sure I understand your comment but actually don't have the cruise booked at all (or any cruises currently booked).  Only would consider it if we could have signed up for standby as we live around an hour from the port and it would have worked well for us.

 

You're right. I didn't read it carefully and somehow joined the "our" with the name of the cruise, but that's not what you said at all.

[RuthC]

7 hours ago, Real NHDOC said:

I inquired with our PCC about the Voyage of the Vikings 35 day cruise out of Boston which shows as being offered on this standby program.  She said, after checking, that HAL has closed out this cruise and is no longer offering Standby for it.  It's strange that they do that since the cruise is far from sold out (albeit the current prices start at an eye-popping price of around $200PP/Day).

More likely is that there were one (or two---in any case, a small number of) cabins left, and a lot of guarantees to be placed. 
If so, then selling that one (or two) cabins would have the ship filled, and close off the cabins, as your PCC noted. 
The Standby bookings are in case someone has to forego the cruise at the last minute. It happens. 

[Real NHDOC]

I hadn't thought about that although it would make sense if that were the explanation. 

 

It doesn't make a ton of sense to me to spend $18K-$20K for a 35 day cruise for a guarantee cabin when, for literally a few dollars more you could be assured to have an acceptable one, but that's me.  I mean, if you have that much money to spend on this cruise why gamble getting a cabin you'll be unhappy with?   But it would explain why they show many cabins available in just about every category if they're already sold but just not yet assigned.

 

The other thing is that final payment was recently due on this cruise so it is also possible that they had lots of people who cancelled recently and a slew of cabins has opened up that they now will have to deal with selling.  I just checked and there were 14 Neptune suites showing as available.  Hard to believe that many people who would shell out $50K for a NS would choose a guarantee.

Edited April 15 by Real NHDOC

[PDsquare]

I am on Boston/Montreal on May 25 with my usual cruising roommate. We are booked on a Casino rate and upgraded from an inside to an OV obstructed for $50 each.
 

Another friend of mine has been watching the price so that she may join us. She will be traveling solo and it has been an expensive fare. We found out about this program from my PCC about three weeks ago and my solo friend booked. All in her fare was $611.  She lives in Pittsburgh and booked refundable air to Boston and returning from Montreal for about $600 as well. Now we wait. I checked HALs site this morning and there are still about 60-ish cabins left on the cruise. I, myself, have received three paid upgrade offers to go from an obstructed to an unobstructed OV for $149 pp. Not worth it to me. I’ve noticed that all suites and lanais are unavailable. 
 

I feel good about my friend’s chances at getting on board. If she does, this will be a tremendous value for a solo cabin. Her original quoted price was around $1500 all in. 

To be continued…

[Horizon chaser 1957]

On 4/20/2024 at 9:29 AM, PDsquare said:

I checked HALs site this morning and there are still about 60-ish cabins left on the cruise. I, myself, have received three paid upgrade offers to go from an obstructed to an unobstructed OV for $149 pp. Not worth it to me. I’ve noticed that all suites and lanais are unavailable. 
 

I feel good about my friend’s chances at getting on board. If she does, this will be a tremendous value for a solo cabin. Her original quoted price was around $1500 all in. 

To be continued…

As a heads up, the appearance of 60-ish cabins left on the website can be deceiving. Supposing they have 10 cabins unsold and 50 cabins booked at the lower price guarantee rate.  The website will show all 60 cabins that aren’t specifically assigned to someone paying to select their cabin. Once those 10 vacancies are taken, sales close. The remaining 50 cabins no one specifically chose are assigned to the guarantees. 

[liamur14]

Where do you find the standby list for Hal?

[CruiseDuckDuo]

https://www.hollandamerica.com/en/us/cruise-deals/standby-program 

[SeeSun&Sea]

3 hours ago, CruiseDuckDuo said:

https://www.hollandamerica.com/en/us/cruise-deals/standby-program 

 

"Page Not Found" 3 hours later ... and my standby bookmark also showed not found!

Hopefully just a little tech glitch.

Edited April 24 by SeeSun&Sea
word

[SoloYolo]

I have not been able to find the list for about three weeks.

[PolythenePam57]

Working now.

[Greysandy]

It seems odd that there are only two options in April for San Diego departure and 3 options from Fort Lauderdale. Maybe they sell those options as last minute sales?? I was hoping to see a more extensive list from San Diego.

[CruiseDuckDuo]

San Diego departures are repositioning to Vancouver and Seattle for the Alaska cruise season.  I think one of the Ft Lauderdale departures is Eurodam enroute to San Diego/Seattle, and the other departures are enroute to Europe.

[0106]

Article from Condé Nast Traveler magazine This New ‘Standby’ Cruise Fare Costs Just $49 Per Day—but Is It Worth It?

[HappyInVan]

5 hours ago, 0106 said:

Article from Condé Nast Traveler magazine This New ‘Standby’ Cruise Fare Costs Just $49 Per Day—but Is It Worth It?

 

Big difference...

 

"The majority of new ships break even at 50% occupancy, while older ships need 80% occupancy to hit that benchmark, according to Tom Baker, president of Cruise Center."

[sunviking90]

7 hours ago, CruiseDuckDuo said:

San Diego departures are repositioning to Vancouver and Seattle for the Alaska cruise season.  I think one of the Ft Lauderdale departures is Eurodam enroute to San Diego/Seattle, and the other departures are enroute to Europe.

This. There are no other sailings from San Diego from April until the ships go back down in September/October.

[Horizon chaser 1957]

So, it’s Friday evening and our Standby is for Tuesday. We called this afternoon and are still marked as Waitlisted. Our 48 hour mark is Sunday afternoon, but the offices won’t be open. I guess we’ll see what happens on Monday.