free 3 nd 4 ????

[oilbert]

good afternoon or whatever time it is for you.we have not sailed with hal before but i would like to find out if in my view they are as great as people on this board seem to thinkthey are

 

today we have pouring rain , highway closures (snow)and it is quite cool and very windy. i want to cruise !!!!!

in two recent emails from HALthere have been offers - 3 and 4th quests sail free or at reduced prices. while one part of my head says great the other part is saying whats the catch ? noone offers "free anything without some qualifications. ? thus my problem does anyone know how this offer works ? are they free if everyone stays in the same cabin??? this would be a degree of closeness that could split a family of 4 into 3 or more warring camps. no thankyou. my wife and i plus our daughter and son in law we could tolerate our daughterfor a week in a tiny space - thank god she has become a wonderful caring adult in the last 5 years. before that don't ask.... thus my problem if they come do they get their own cabin if so what type ???? or do we even get a choice ???? what about shipboard expenses can all 4 of us use my credit cardor sail card or whatever hal calls itand no i donot want to call or be called. too often thcruiseline reps are cluelessand or plain rude:eek:

thank you

[Sprocket]

good afternoon or whatever time it is for you.we have not sailed with hal before but i would like to find out if in my view they are as great as people on this board seem to thinkthey are

 

today we have pouring rain , highway closures (snow)and it is quite cool and very windy. i want to cruise !!!!!

in two recent emails from HALthere have been offers - 3 and 4th quests sail free or at reduced prices. while one part of my head says great the other part is saying whats the catch ? noone offers "free anything without some qualifications. ? thus my problem does anyone know how this offer works ? are they free if everyone stays in the same cabin??? this would be a degree of closeness that could split a family of 4 into 3 or more warring camps. no thankyou. my wife and i plus our daughter and son in law we could tolerate our daughterfor a week in a tiny space - thank god she has become a wonderful caring adult in the last 5 years. before that don't ask.... thus my problem if they come do they get their own cabin if so what type ???? or do we even get a choice ???? what about shipboard expenses can all 4 of us use my credit cardor sail card or whatever hal calls itand no i donot want to call or be called. too often thcruiseline reps are cluelessand or plain rude:eek:

thank you

 

I'll try and answer some of your questions:D I believe the 3rd and 4th pay taxes and port charges and all must be in the same cabin. You can book 2 adjacent cabins if you wish but each passenger will pay the double rate.

There are also some connecting rooms. Lots of families opt to book one balcony cabin and one inside across the hall, so they have more space and more importantly two bathrooms.

 

You can add as many people to your credit card as you wish, just remember there is a $60 a day PP hold placed on the credit card. It is not a charge but a hold.

 

If you decide to have all four in a cabin you cannot book a guarantee. Have a look at Joanie's sticky at the top of the page, lots of great info and pictures about the various cabins and catagories.

[Moomduck1]

We booked this deal. We had to pay the port charges for the 3rd and 4th guest, which I think were 225 each or something like that. Other than that, they were free. The "catch", if you want to call it that, is that it is the 3rd and/or 4th guest in the same room with you. We purchased one of the more expensive rooms to give us more room, since our children are both grown. The room itself was more than we would have paid for just the 2 of us, but when we averaged it out for 4 people, it was a good deal. We also looked at booking 2 rooms - 1 outside and 1 inside. For how much more it cost, it was really a better deal to get the better stateroom for the 4 of us.

[tamsocal]

good afternoon or whatever time it is for you.we have not sailed with hal before but i would like to find out if in my view they are as great as people on this board seem to thinkthey are

 

today we have pouring rain , highway closures (snow)and it is quite cool and very windy. i want to cruise !!!!!

in two recent emails from HALthere have been offers - 3 and 4th quests sail free or at reduced prices. while one part of my head says great the other part is saying whats the catch ?

No catch. 3rd & 4th guests are free if that is the promotion being offered. But 3rd & 4th guests would be the 3rd & 4th guests in the same cabin-- you & your spouse being #1 & #2. For our upcoming cruise- 3rd & 4th are our kids & 3 months ago the 3 &4 passenger rate was $499 or $699 and then it went to free and 1st & 2nd price was not increased to offset this. We only had to pay port & taxes.

noone offers "free anything without some qualifications. ? thus my problem does anyone know how this offer works ? are they free if everyone stays in the same cabin???

Yes, if you get another cabin-- those guests would no longer be guests #3 & #4 in your cabin--> they would be guests #1 & #2 of a new cabin

this would be a degree of closeness that could split a family of 4 into 3 or more warring camps. no thankyou. my wife and i plus our daughter and son in law we could tolerate our daughterfor a week in a tiny space - thank god she has become a wonderful caring adult in the last 5 years.

Looks like this promotion will not be a preferred option for you.

before that don't ask.... thus my problem if they come do they get their own cabin if so what type ???? or do we even get a choice ????

I think these ?'s are in relationship to the free 3rd & 4th-- so as above yes they can get their own cabin but at the current published rate for passengers 1 & 2 what about shipboard expenses can all 4 of us use my credit card

Yes or sail card

I don't think so-- all of the sailing cards can be linked to your credit card but you will each have your own card w/ the proper persons name on it-- as you need this for ports, etc or whatever hal calls itand no i donot want to call or be called. too often thcruiseline reps are cluelessand or plain rude:eek:

thank you

 

I have always had great HAL reps when calling in-- with the exception of one time-- but she was new & it was just a really long phone call- kept placing me on hold to ask other people the questions-- but very polite & professional (it was either her 1st or 2nd day- can't remember what she told me....)

[iamaqt2]

My family booked this deal and we are sailing in a quad... yes it will be tight quarters, but our children are not grown.

 

For the 3rd and 4th fare we paid taxes, but were not charged port charges... not sure why we weren't charged.

 

Also be aware that there is an 11.00 per person per day service charge that you do not pay in the cost of the cruise. It is charged to your shipboard account to be settled at the end of the cruise. So for a 7 day cruise 11x7x4=308 additional dollars to factor into the overall cost.

[iamaqt2]

I tried posting a picture here of what a quad balcony would look like, but it didn't work.

 

Here is a link to a thread with a picture in post # 11

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1167874&highlight=vista+quad

 

It's very close quarters.