Cruise Cancellation??

[1cruiselvr]

After booking the 12/6/04 Hawaii Statendam cruise yesterday, I noticed that almost all categories are still open on their website which means the cruise is not very full. Has anyone ever had a cruise cancelled due to low pax booking? I'm curious as to how HAL will handle this problem. Do they cancel under booked cruises? Drop pricing at the last minute? I know this is a rare situation, since most HAL cruises sail full. Happy Sailing!

[doone]

I have never known them to cancel a cruise for low bookings. Don't worry, I am sure it will fill up at some point.

[sail7seas]

I've never heard of HAL cancelling a cruise due to low bookings. They will probably start lowering prices to up the bookings.

 

 

Watch the pricing and if you see your category priced at more than 10% lower than what you are paying, have your TA contact HAL as they most usually will rebate the difference if the savings are more than 10%.

[1cruiselvr]

Thanks for the support. I was thrilled when we booked it yesterday until I saw most of the categories still available (except for S and PH) which made me worry. Maybe it will sail 1/2 full and it will be like we are cruising on a small luxury yacht. ;) I will watch pricing as you suggested, maybe we will get some cash back, like winning the lottery!

Well, I can dream, right? Happy Sailing!

[Aussie Gal]

This happened to us last year on the Noordam cruise, Copenhagen to Rome. Even after the final payment, the ship was only about one third to a half full. What they did was to sell the cabins at a ridiculous price and as we had paid top dollar, we were able to get a huge amount in shipboard credits and an upgrade. The upgrade was not that wonderful as we had booked a B and A is the top on that ship.

 

Jennie

[1cruiselvr]

That's my fear - a last minute fire sale to fill the ship. So how did you get your shipboard credits/upgrade? Did you have to contact your TA or HAL to get it or did they automatically offer it? I'm wondering what I should do should this cruise get severely discounted to fill it up. Happy Sailing!

[Krazy Kruizers]

A month after 9/11, we sailed on the Ryndam for a Mexican/Sea of Cortez cruise. Many people cancelled because they didn't want to fly.

I kept checking HAL's website and there were lots of empty cabins.

When we got on the ship nearly every category was closed. We asked what happened. Since we had flown out to San Diego several days early, we did not know until we got on the ship that notices were put in many of the local papers advertising REALY low fares for our cruise. We were in a suite and had paid big bucks. Other suite passengers who booked those last few days before the cruise got prices at 1/3 of what we paid.

When we got home our TA called HAL- their answer - too bad!

[1cruiselvr]

I don't like it when a cruiseline takes the 'too bad' attitude. We have lots of cruiselines to choose from, so they should be more customer oriented if they want to keep our repeat business. Happy Sailing!

[Orcrone]

1cruiselvr,

 

9-11 was an unusual circumstance regarding passengers cancellations, one we'll hopefully never see again. It is possible to see price reductions after final payment if the ship is not selling well. No one likes to think they didn't get a good deal. But also keep in mind that by booking early you get your choice of cabin. You also get to lock in your fare because the opposite could be true. The cabins could sell very well and the fare can go up.

 

For my 10/30 cruise the prices have bounced around and with 37 days to go the cabin I'm booked in is almost the same price as I paid.

 

However, after booking my 3/26 cruise the cabins we're in have gone up by about 15%.

 

BTW, just because there are a lot of categories open, it doesn't mean there are a lot of cabins available. Cruiselines overbook, assuming a certain cancellation rate, similar to airlines. Also, check how many of those available categories are only booking guarantees.

[1cruiselvr]

The cruise is less than 80 days from now, so most agencies are not holding cabins for future bookings. Final payment due date is gone, and most cabins are available on HAL's website. When you do an internet booking search, alot of cabins in each cabin show open, so no bookings there. Yes, it's true we got to pick a nice verandah cabin, but IMHO there is no such thing as a bad location in a HAL ship verandah S ship. I'm mostly concerned about a cancellation since I have never seen a HAL cruise so available only a few mos from sail date. Happy Sailing!

[Aussie Gal]

1Cruiselvre,

 

I watched HAL's website and saw that the prices had dropped more than 10% for our category, (it was on all categories) but on ours it was more than 25%!! I rang our TA and told her about HAL's policy. I actually sent her a copy of HAL's policy which I had copied from a C.C. posting from this board (I still have it and if you like I can send it to you via your email, just let me know).

 

In Australia the Marketing agents for HAL had never heard of this and were very loathe to even ask HAL but my TA insisted and next thing we received the huge shipboard credit and the upgrade.

 

As I said, the ship was half empty but with the "fire" sale it was pretty full when we sailed. I know our table mates paid a quarter of what we paid for the same category and most people on board paid well under $1000US for a 14 day cruise from Copenhagen to Rome. We were the silly ones who always book early to get the cabin we want and paid the full amount. We still do this, but I do watch the prices constantly now.

 

Jennie

[1cruiselvr]

It might come in handy, if you don't mind email HAL's policy to me @ 1cruiselvr@iwon.com THANKS!

[Aussie Gal]

1cruiselvr,

 

It is on the way!

 

Jennie

[cruise freak]

Just received a promo by mail for that cruise and the prices were greatly reduced. I am sorry can't post what they are as I through it away because I am booked on Celebrity Infinity for the same dates and the same sailing. Celebrity came out with much better pricing originally or I would have booked HAL. It seems the promo might be 61. Did someone else get the info in the mail too. I believe the a verandah cabin was around $2300.00 per person

[1cruiselvr]

I was originally booked on that Celebrity cruise, then got cheaper pricing from Princess so switched to them. Right before final payment, we got a great offer on HAL so we switched again. Then I realized it's not very full, so I've been stressing about what will happen. I guess it's karma for switching. Happy Sailing!

[temple10]

Hi there Aussie, I am scheduled on the holiday cruise on the statendam Dec. 21-Jan 5 th. I have also been watching the holland web site and this cruise is not filling up either. Could I troble you for a copy of that also, just in case. Smart to have it in hand if needed. Thank you bunches. Christine. temple10@msn.com