Paid For Cruise--Now What?

[drcpa]

Might I ask...?

My wife and I have booked the Sept 19 2011 "Iberian" cruise on the Rotterdam and have just made our final payment.

This is our 1st HAL cruise.

With the cruise paid for we were given access to the online check-in and have completed that as well.

I realize the cruise is months away, but I was wondering what else we can and should be doing on the HAL website prior to the cruise? To clarify (respectfully), I'm not asking about general travel plans--such as secure your passport or obtain foreign currency--but rather what, if anything, we should select, enroll, register, reserve, or sign up for with HAL?

Selfishly (but frankly), I'd like to use our early payment to our advantage and be "first in line" for those things we can select now.

Thanks for your consideration.

[terigo]

Did you go the HAL site, go to my account, my reservations, then itinerary?

For each day, there will be a selection of things you can pre-book, but be aware you must prepay them as well.

There will be dining choices, spa choices, shore excursions, etc.

 

I don't know if everything will even be listed this far out, but that would be a good place to start.

[Mary Ellen]

I'm sorry but your early payment won't get you "first in line" for anything. Anyone who is booked on HAL (made their deposit) can pre-book shore ex, shore ex, spa, Pinnacle Grill... All anyone needs to do is go to the HAL site (or call) and book what is available. It will probably be a while before shore ex are even listed though.

[Roz]

The shorex may not be available to book, but you may be able to pre-purchase alcohol pkgs., beverage cards, spa treatments, etc. As Teri already pointed out, anything you pre-purchase will be immediately posted to your credit card. I happen to like pre-paying for things, but it makes some people bristle.

 

Roz

[Krazy Kruizers]

I really don't know why you have completely paid for your cruise this soon. I would rather keep that money in my savings account and collect interest on it rather than let HAL collect interest on my money for that many months.

 

We have always been able to book dining reservations (for the Pinnacle & Tamarind) months in advance without having maid final payment. Also -- as soon as tours become available -- we book them as well. As said -- you pay for them via credit card -- when you book them.

[drcpa]

Thanks to Terigo and Roz for your helpful replies. I was not aware that I could make these selections early and your answers were exactly what I was looking for.

To Mary Ellen, thanks for the information that I could have booked these items with just a deposit. I had incorrectly thought that I needed to pay for the entire cruise so I appreciate you educating me on this matter.

And as for Krazy Kruizers, I just knew that someone would not be able to resist criticizing me for paying early...although I will miss the thousands of dollars in lost interest.

[Alcarondas]

You can pre-buy or pre-book all the things that others have mentioned. I tend not to, but that's just my extemporaneous style.

 

The next thing that you'll HAVE to do won't happen for a while. About 50 days before sailing, you'll get an email from HAL asking you to complete your online check-in and review your e-docs. Make sure everything set forth on them is accurate. You can print them (and luggage tags) at that time, or you can wait until just before you depart. There's no limit to the number of e-doc copies or tags you can print.

 

If your cabin assignment changes for any reason (bump, upsell, etc), don't forget to reprint your docs and tags. :)

[Emily626]

We are cruising on 9/17 and we are able to book shore excursions now. (Have already booked 2) So, I would think your shore excursion list should be available now or soon. Unless the availability to book varies cruise to cruise.

[Roz]

If your savings acct. is paying what mine is, you probably lost about 5 cents in interest. ;)

 

Roz

[Emily626]

If your savings acct. is paying what mine is, you probably lost about 5 cents in interest. ;)

 

Roz

 

Ditto :cool:

[solecruiser]

 

If your cabin assignment changes for any reason (bump, upsell, etc), don't forget to reprint your docs and tags. :)

 

 

What would cause one to be bumped and is this common practice or unusual?

[Randyk47]

What would cause one to be bumped and is this common practice or unusual?

 

Unless you've booked a guarantee the chances of getting upgraded are really pretty slim. It happens but not often. Also has a lot to do with what level or category you booked even if you booked a specific cabin. Obviously, guarantee or specific cabin, the lower category you're in then more categories and cabins above you and therefore more opportunities to be upgraded or offered an up sell.

 

As to the notion that paying in full early gives you some kind of advantage...well, OK but none that I know of. Our final payment is a couple of weeks away but we've been able to book shore excursions, etc., since day one when we paid our initial deposit and I see nothing that would indicate that our choices were limited or given less priority because we're only at the deposit level. Unfortunately we've had to cancel two cruises over the past four years and I've been glad that all we had at risk was the initial deposit and even that wasn't much of a risk in retrospect as we got all our money back in both cases.

[Roz]

Sole,

 

Some of us book guarantees, so we don't get our cabin assignments until a few days before sailing. I think the "bump" that's being referred to is a cabin upgrade, not bumped off the ship. This happens fairly often. If you picked a cabin and don't want to be moved, make sure your TA notes this on your reservation with the cruise line.

 

Roz

[Typhoon1]

Sit back and watch time fly by.

[donaldsc]

Sit back and watch time fly by.

 

Or crawl by!!

 

DON

[cruz chic]

If your savings acct. is paying what mine is, you probably lost about 5 cents in interest. ;)

 

Roz

Really, who cares if it's 2 cents. I'd much rather have it in my account then HALs. To the OP.....this is my opinion YMMV. I (nor KK I'm sure) was being critical of you. Just don't understand why people are so quick to part with cash.

[Alcarondas]

Unless you've booked a guarantee the chances of getting upgraded are really pretty slim. It happens but not often.

 

I'm speaking purely from my own experience (8 cruises with HAL), but I've always booked a specific cabin, and gotten bumped 3 times. Granted it's a hopelessly small sample size, but so far I'm batting .375 ;) Twice I've been upped from obstructed outside to standard outside, and once from standard outside to standard verandah. Every time, the bump came at the embarkation desk, but this was before the days of online check-in and e-docs.

 

For my upcoming trip, I decided to roll the dice with an outside guarantee... we'll see what happens. :cool:

[Randyk47]

I'm speaking purely from my own experience (8 cruises with HAL), but I've always booked a specific cabin, and gotten bumped 3 times. Granted it's a hopelessly small sample size, but so far I'm batting .375 ;) Twice I've been upped from obstructed outside to standard outside, and once from standard outside to standard verandah. Every time, the bump came at the embarkation desk, but this was before the days of online check-in and e-docs.

 

For my upcoming trip, I decided to roll the dice with an outside guarantee... we'll see what happens. :cool:

 

Which really speaks to my second comment and that is the lower you book the higher the chances you'll get upgraded or offered an up sell as there are more cabin categories and cabins above you. :)

[drcpa]

I get your point, I really do, but in this case I see it differently.

The ability to take some year-end, windfall cash and pay for the cruise now provides me with a psychic lift worth far more than the few (taxable) pennies I'd make by putting it in the bank.

For the next several months whenever I think about the cruise, or it comes up in conversation, I get to go to that happy place where I get all dreamy eyed and think "PAID FOR".

I honestly see that "paid for" status as a tangible asset, something that cost me the amount of missed interest.

Thus, this was a careful decision and not simply a rush to part with cash that was burning a hole in my pocket.

[Randyk47]

There are a few who pay for their cruises in full up front before the final payment date, some for the very reason stated, so while not the norm it does happen. I think more important was the suggestion that doing so puts or might put the passenger somehow higher on the priority list, if there were such a thing, for booking other aspects of the cruise. There doesn't seem to be an evidence that's true so paying early for that reason isn't a consideration.

[cruz chic]

I get your point, I really do, but in this case I see it differently.

The ability to take some year-end, windfall cash and pay for the cruise now provides me with a psychic lift worth far more than the few (taxable) pennies I'd make by putting it in the bank.

For the next several months whenever I think about the cruise, or it comes up in conversation, I get to go to that happy place where I get all dreamy eyed and think "PAID FOR".

I honestly see that "paid for" status as a tangible asset, something that cost me the amount of missed interest.

Thus, this was a careful decision and not simply a rush to part with cash that was burning a hole in my pocket.

That makes perfect sense to me and to you as well. I just didn't want you to think that KK or I were being nasty. It's all in what you prefer. I could easily pay cash for everything I buy but most things go on credit card. I like the idea of the bank financing me for a month.

[sapper1]

That makes perfect sense to me and to you as well. I just didn't want you to think that KK or I were being nasty. It's all in what you prefer. I could easily pay cash for everything I buy but most things go on credit card. I like the idea of the bank financing me for a month.

I like to run everything possible through a credit card to get the points. For our upcoming TA cruise I had enough RBC Visa points to pay for our flight to Fort Lauderdale and, after our Cruiseair from Venice to Montreal, the points paid for the trip from Montreal back to Saint John.