richwmn

Thanks for the responses so far, sorry I didn't put exact dates.

1. ATL - FCO leave ATL on Sept 4, arrive FCO Sept 5

2. LIS - YUL leave LIS on Oct 4

3. FLL - ATL Oct 20

Good evening,

I am looking at doing two cruises in '17 that are 17 days apart. The hope is to make the following work.

1 - Fly from home to Rome

2 - Cruise from Rome to Barcelona

3 - Stay in Spain and Portugal for 2 weeks

4 - Fly to Montreal

5 - Cruise from Montreal to Fort Lauderdale

6 - Fly home

If I price flights from Atlanta to Rome, then Lisbon to Montreal, then Montreal to Atlanta it comes out around $6k.

If I price flights from Atlanta to Madrid, then Madrid to Montreal I find a price of around $1,300, then flights from Madrid to Rome, Lisbon to Madrid, and Fort Lauderdale to Atlanta for around $150 each for a total of around $1,750.

I understand that problems occur when changing planes booked under different tickets rather than a continuing ticket - how bad is it?

Is there another way to book the tickets at prices closer to $2k than $6k?

Thanks for any assistance.

Rich

Very frustrated with my PCC. Have sent several emails about three cruises I am interested in and no response. She has been emailing me every few weeks about working with her directly and anytime I email her I get no response or a generic response that is computer generated. I have called and left messages but nothing. She is in the office so I don't get it. Would love to build a relationship with a PCC or TA and work with them directly but appears I am stuck with a dud. Really unfamiliar with researching a good TA. :(

You can call and have a different PCC assigned to you. It is an easy process.

We use our PCC exclusively when booking all of our HAL cruises and don't feel it's right to transfer to a TA just before final payment. Sure, the PCC gets credit for the initial booking, but not as much as they would have gotten after final payment. But then again we book as soon as the HAL cruise we want becomes available and then make changes to it as promotions come and go over the next 18-24 months and usually have 3-4 HAL cruises booked at any one time. We just don't think it's fair that our PCC does all the work and only gets credit for the initial booking. But that's just us.

 

It also comes down to how much control you want to maintain with regards to your booking. By staying with our PCC, we get any HAL upgrade/upsell offers sent directly to us rather than having them sent to the TA. In addition, as was the case on our last cruise, we were able to get an upsell at a significantly reduced cost from what was listed on the upsell email because our PCC knew someone.

 

As far as OBC goes, we usually average between $800 - $1100 per cruise using our PCC which for us is plenty.

I'm curious as to the difference in credit for a cruise transferred to a TA and a cruise that isn't transferred.

My PCC has told me several times that they receive the same "credit" whether the cruise is transferred or not.

I had almost immediate response to my query and Zuiderdam rep is working on it. If we can get a venue at this late date, wonderful. If not, no great loss. We have 10 days of cruising which in itself is wonderful.

Good luck with it, hope you have a great cruise.

Can someone please direct me to the person in charge of setting up a meet and greet for our Zuiderdam roll call.

 

Thanks.

If you send an email to KCarlson@HollandAmerica.com you will receive assistance. However, be aware that they usually ask that you place your request 30 days out.

Interesting that some Posters are quick to put the blame on HAL for everything, even (or maybe especially) when they don't even have the facts. As any sentient person should realize, there are many reasons why some people may not have received the HAL e-mail notice, among which are the following: (1) HAL does not have e-mail addresses for ALL passengers because some passengers do not use e-mail or have chosen not to give their e-mail addresses to HAL; (2) For passengers who book through a TA, HAL generally communicates directly with the TA, and the TA may not have passed the info on in a timely manner; (3) As jtl513 noted above, some passengers to whom HAL did send the e-mail may have "ignored it"; and (4) Passengers who did not receive the notice may be on the list of cruisers whom HAL has targeted to make as miserable as possible on every cruise. Just my thoughts on the subject ...

Smooth sailing ...

Not to mention "spam" filters which sometimes put important messages into the "spam" or "junk" folders.

Do know one needs to present HAL with the list of CC'ers complete with last name and cabin number (if available) for these meetings - but that should not be here.

It is most unfortunate that HAL requests this information. It isn't necessary and all it does is confirm to HAL which passengers are active on CC. The end result is that those who do not want to provide it usually choose not to participate in the M&G.

I have set up many M&Gs without providing HAL with full names and cabins, only number of participants. If you provide names, they may get invited to additional functions.

I'll be waving late from the Elegant Explorer I hope. Plan to be along the Promenade deck towards the stern. :D

Have a great time! Have the ship ready for me on the 18th.

Sorry our paths won't cross

My experience last month was quite different.

 

I book with a TA but I take care of submitting my CCL info myself.

 

Doing so, I faxed my info to HAL on a Sunday and received email confirmation on Monday. About an 18 hour turnaround.

 

It now shows in my reservation account.

Does it show in your reservation account on the HAL website, or on the website your TA maintains?

Can you provide a source for the above cited "HAL rules"?

I posed that question to my PCC in an email. Here is the response:

The rule is - if someone cancels out of a two person stateroom, the person left has to pay a single rate. The policy isn't in writing outside of training manuals.

I'm not sure why everyone seems to think the "single supplement" is an additional fare.

All it means is that anyone cruising solo is going to pay the price of 2 less the port fees and taxes. There isn't an extra fee on top of that.

Cruise fares are advertised as "Per Person / Double Occupancy".

For Verandah and above cabins, a single will generally pay the same as two people less the port charges and taxes.

For Inside and Outside Cabins (and occasionally higher), the Solo Cruiser may pay between 150% and 200% of the per person rate - that is what is referred to as the single supplement.

Per HAL rules, when a second person cancels after final payment his fare is forfeit based on a percentage listed in the contract. The remaining passenger is then re-fared at the single rate. The result may come out to be more than the double would have been, particularly if the passenger that does sail is the one that paid the entire double fare.

Several years ago I booked a Caribbean Cruise for myself and a friend. I knew for sure several weeks out that he would not be going. I contacted my PCC to check on options. There were several conversations involved, but the outcome of each was that if I notified HAL that he would not be sailing it would cost me more at the time of the notification. I was advised to let the reservation stand. When I boarded the ship I said I wasn't sure of his status but he didn't show. About a week after the cruise I got a refund of the port charges.

I did read carefully - that is why I expressed doubt about the notion that if one cancels his fare is not refunded and the other has to pay single supplement.

 

That does not seem to be what was presented to you when you were told you would have to pay just $200 or so more -- which is nowhere near what a single supplement on an outside cabin for seven days would come to.

 

Yes, PCC's are meant to assist passengers- but I hope you do not think that HAL pays them to help reduce HAL's potential income by evading "the rules they are given",

 

Once more - can anyone verify the notion that HAL's practice is to absorb the fare paid by a cancelling roommate and then to charge the remaining roommate the single supplement?

OK, my bad. When I stated above that I booked the cruise I thought it would be understood that I paid for the entire booking. If I had canceled the amount charged for the solo supplement was around $200 more than the refund of the second passenger. Does that make it easier to understand?

Thanks for your input - it does seem that the about $200 (which you mentioned) would be a very low single supplement - I assume you are talking about a three or four day cruise - probably in an inside for it to be in that range.

 

Actually, if PCC's regularly advise passengers how to evade cancellation/billing policies of their employer - perhaps a low opinion of them is warranted.

If you had read carefully, you would have understood that the $200 was on top of the full payment I had made for the booking of two people in the cabin. It was a seven day cruise in an outside cabin.

As to your second point, PCC's work to give passengers the best deal possible working within the rules they are given.

Either I was very lucky and slid under the radar, or HAL has changed things since July 2003. A friend and I were booked on Zuiderdam for 7 day Eastern Caribbean from Fort Lauderdale. A couple of weeks before sailing, a family emergency came up: he contacted the line and, while he was advised he could not get a fare refund, they did refund him the port charges --- but there was no mention of hitting me for a single supplement. As I recall I gave him a couple of hundred dollars to ease his pain -- and to sort of pay for the unexpected additional space I enjoyed.

 

I remain stunned by what seems to be the experience so many posters here report --- or could it be urban legend? Have posters here actually experienced first hand the absurd outcome of having to pay a single supplement after a roommate bails after making full final payment. I do not mean did they hear from their wife's cousin that it happened to the brother in law of someone they knew at work.

I wonder if PCC's simply try to avoid the uncompensated work involved in changing a booking, and suggest the passenger simply show up and play dumb on boarding day.

 

I still would like to hear if it has ever actually happened to someone that, after a roommate bailed, he had to pay a single supplement in addition to the line keeping the half of the cabin fare already paid by the bailing passenger.

I'll ask again: have you personal knowledge of this happening - or can you refer to anything in HAL's pubic information setting forth this policy?

 

I ask because I have personal knowledge of it NOT happening - admittedly back in 2003 - but still it seems that such an extraordinary procedure would be documented more definitively than by word of mouth on a chat room like this.

You seem to have a very low opinion of PCC's in general and mine in particular. For the record, my cruise was in October of 2008, so well after yours. When I was sure that my friend couldn't join me, I called to see how the pricing would change. Since I mostly sail solo, I was well aware of the single supplement. My PCC spent time with me going over the various options. I was given a dollar amount - from memory over $200 - that I would need to pay if I canceled him. I was also told that we could do him as a no show and not pay the extra. I chose not to pay, as would most people who were in the same situation.

If you would like, just so you could get first hand knowledge, I would be happy to book a cruise with you then cancel. Maybe your luck would be better than mine and the other two that have posted the same thing.

Thank you so much. This is great advice and information! I was not aware that the check-in people have no power, but it makes complete sense of course. So I think I"ll do as you advised and just tell them at check-in about the no-shows, check in as "singles" and then on board ask the Concierges in the lounge what can be done. (Maybe my Dad and yours were friends!) :)

I would wait to mention the no shows until just before sailing. Mention that they had other travel arrangements. Just before sailing you might get a call asking if the others will be trying to catch the ship later. Mention the no shows then.

Either I was very lucky and slid under the radar, or HAL has changed things since July 2003. A friend and I were booked on Zuiderdam for 7 day Eastern Caribbean from Fort Lauderdale. A couple of weeks before sailing, a family emergency came up: he contacted the line and, while he was advised he could not get a fare refund, they did refund him the port charges --- but there was no mention of hitting me for a single supplement. As I recall I gave him a couple of hundred dollars to ease his pain -- and to sort of pay for the unexpected additional space I enjoyed.

 

I remain stunned by what seems to be the experience so many posters here report --- or could it be urban legend? Have posters here actually experienced first hand the absurd outcome of having to pay a single supplement after a roommate bails after making full final payment. I do not mean did they hear from their wife's cousin that it happened to the brother in law of someone they knew at work.

Several years ago I booked a Caribbean Cruise for myself and a friend. I knew for sure several weeks out that he would not be going. I contacted my PCC to check on options. There were several conversations involved, but the outcome of each was that if I notified HAL that he would not be sailing it would cost me more at the time of the notification. I was advised to let the reservation stand. When I boarded the ship I said I wasn't sure of his status but he didn't show. About a week after the cruise I got a refund of the port charges.

I came in late on this discussion, and .I have not read ALL the posts, but as .I see it, If the cabin has been paid twin occupancy, the line can't charge again for single.

 

 

 

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If you do read all the posts, you will find that they can - and most if not all cruise lines do. If you go from a dual to a single occupancy it will generally take money out of your pocket.

Questions: Suppose two individuals are sailing in the same room.

- How is that reservation booked?

It can be booked several different ways, including each person in the cabin having a different booking.

- Is it booked as a combined reservation where each person pays half or does one person pay all and is reimbursed by the second?

Even if it is booked as a combined reservation, payment can be made by as many or as few people as you want. Someone who is not even on the reservation can pay part or all of a reservation.

- Same question about buying Hollands cruise "insurance"?

No answer.

So if you tell them before embarkation, they recalculate if rates have gone up?

They will recalculate it as a solo fare. I don't remember if the recalculate was based on the fare when I originally booked or the current fare, but the total became about $100 more.

That sounds unlikely - by what rationale would the fare go up.

It may sound unlikely to you, but it is the HAL policy.

The rationale is that they charge more for a solo passenger than the "per person" rate for a double cabin.

Is there a close friend or relative who might be compatible to be asked to join. Seems a shame to less the un-redeemable fare go to waste - of course you'd have to contact the line in advance to approve such a change, but I know HAL permits it.

Remember that HAL considers a name change as a cancel and rebook when they allow it, so a penalty may apply.

My question would be wants the harm of telling the line now?

The fare for the passenger who is staying will be redone as a solo. When I had this happen many years ago, if I had told them that the second passenger was a no show it would have ended up costing me more than I had already paid. As it was, I did get the port fees back.

Where the Wine Package is concerned there are only two delivery options on embarkation day, stateroom or dining room. Since "at sea" isn't an option, should we assume no tax will be charged?

Or do we need to choose "dining room" to not have to pay the tax?

If it is only the stateroom option, then I think you are safe to order.

 

I hate to "assume" but if there is no "at sea" option, I think you should be good.

However, you won't normally get to the dining room until you are "at sea". I think I would take the dining room option if you don't want to pay the tax, just to be safe.

Of the movies that are available to borrow, are any of them suitable for small children? (Herbie the Love Bug, The Absent Minded Professor, That Darn Cat!, or The Shaggy Dog to name a few examples.)

if you are on a ship that still has the library you can go to

http://halfacts.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/ShipFlicks2.pdf

which is the list as of about a year ago.

Page 18 of the pdf starts the "Family" dvds that are available

I used to think it was a complimentary 24 hour hold but one TA told me they could hold it for up to 5 days. Not sure if that varies by sailing, etc. Or not.

I would think it is not the TA's policies, but the lines. If the line wants a deposit within 24 or 48 hours, or whatever, I doubt any TA would make an advance for the benefit of a customer.

I would think that if the TA is part of one of the big groups that reserve blocks of cabins, that group could set their policy differently from the cruise line policy. so they might well have a 5 or 6 day policy.

On our last cruise, I asked at the front desk about leftover OBC, and when she looked at our account, she said it could be refunded in cash or returned to our card after the cruise. Our OBC came from three sources: HAL promotion, TA credit, and stock ownership. I don't know when this applies, but it was a nice surprise.

 

 

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TA credit is refundable, it is considered a gift. Stock and HAL promotion would generally be non refundable, but as mentioned earlier, this is not always strictly enforced.