Last Minute and Stand-By

[trikeman]

Some cruise lines offer deals for passengers who can sail Last Minute and Stand-By. Does HAL do this? If so where can you sign up for it? Now that I'm retired :) I can travel at the last minute and be at any U.S. port in four days or less. Thanks for your help.

[Hawaiidan]

Some cruise lines offer deals for passengers who can sail Last Minute and Stand-By. Does HAL do this? If so where can you sign up for it? Now that I'm retired :) I can travel at the last minute and be at any U.S. port in four days or less. Thanks for your help.

 

Its the master plan to encourage you to book far out and not in the best interest of the company to give people an incentive.

You may see sone price drops 60 days out and as close as 30 days after final payment. However , in my experience the las min 14 day or less rates are at full rack rate... the highest published.

On the monster ships with 4000 to 6000 passnegers you might see this Holland ships are 1300 to 2000.

 

Best rates I have found are booking as soon as the cruise is put up. As an example I booked a 14 day cruise 15 months ago for $1599, that is now going for $2150

[trikeman]

Thanks Hawaiidan.

 

I figured that it didn't hurt to ask, I'm still getting use to this retirement thing and the free time. I think I'm going to like it. :D

[catl331]

We've requested our name to be put on a short-notice list for cruises out of FL several times over the last 10 years and have never gotten a call. :( I don't remember where we found it on the HAL site, or if it can even be done on-line any more. If you can't find it, maybe you can call them --- but don't hold your breath waiting for a call! :)

 

I'll look and see if I can find it again on HAL's site.

 

edit: sorry, I can't find it any more - but as I said it never did us any good anyway! :)

[vicocala]

It is going to depend very much on the sailing. Not so much last minute, but from 30-60 days before the cruise, you can find some great deals. The lines actually punish you for cruises within a week of sailing usually as Dan said.

[kcscrapper]

I have friends who've just relocated to Florida ... who were told by friends there, that they can take their packed bags and passports to the dock and sometimes get very favorable "walk on" rates for a cruise leaving that same day.:eek:

 

Wouldn't that be fun?!?

[catl331]

... that they can take their packed bags and passports to the dock and sometimes get very favorable "walk on" rates for a cruise leaving that same day.

I doubt that is true any more with today's security considerations. Please let me know if they succeed at doing anything like that, as we live about 30 minutes from Port Canaveral and I have never heard of any friends or neighbors doing it in the last 11 years! I think "last minute" these days is about 3 days.

[DAllenTCY]

You will find that Carnival will take last minute walk ups; however, they are not at largely reduced rates. Holland America closecruises days ahead.

David

[PathfinderEss]

Every time I ask about availability on a cruise 3 or 4 days out they always tell me the same thing, cruise is sold out, so I have my doubts that anyone walks up to Hal the day of a cruise and gets on. As cat said, the other big problem is security.

[jtl513]

At Port Everglades they generally ask to see a boarding pass at the entrance security gates.

[0bnxshs]

I doubt that is true any more with today's security considerations. Please let me know if they succeed at doing anything like that, as we live about 30 minutes from Port Canaveral and I have never heard of any friends or neighbors doing it in the last 11 years! I think "last minute" these days is about 3 days.

 

You are probably right about the walk-up last minute idea being more like 3 days but last time I had a drop-off and pickup at Port Canaveral (mid-Oct) there was no security check at all. Simply drive in to the terminal parking area, walk into the terminal itself and, voila', you are there. At least it worked this way at the RCCL terminal for Menace.... er, Monarch of the Seas. Was the same just over a year ago for the NCL terminal that I think they've left now. There literally was nothing stopping you from getting to the terminal itself, only a stop on the way out to make sure you paid. On pickup, I was there for just at or over an hour and didn't have to pay anything.

 

I know it's off-topic, but I just found it odd that there was virtually no security, like Port Everglades, checking anything at Port Canaveral.

[jtl513]

I just found it odd that there was virtually no security, like Port Everglades, checking anything at Port Canaveral.

I only sailed out of Canaveral once (on RCCL) and there was a guard at a security gate that asked if we were passengers or doing a drop-off/pick-up, but no ID or document check like at Everglades. I presume that was just to direct us which way to go.

 

We have dropped and picked up Disney passengers, but we just did that at a parking lot across the road from the terminal, and there was no security check for us. I don't know at what point they had to show some boarding proof - that is, whether they were able to walk into the terminal unquestioned or not.

[0bnxshs]

I only sailed out of Canaveral once (on RCCL) and there was a guard at a security gate that asked if we were passengers or doing a drop-off/pick-up, but no ID or document check like at Everglades. I presume that was just to direct us which way to go.

 

We have dropped and picked up Disney passengers, but we just did that at a parking lot across the road from the terminal, and there was no security check for us. I don't know at what point they had to show some boarding proof - that is, whether they were able to walk into the terminal unquestioned or not.

 

I was able to park in terminal parking at the RCCL terminal and walk into the terminal building with DW to drop her off and 3 days later pick her up. There was someone with the PA standing at the gate in a fence separating parking from the terminal who pointed us to the entrance of the terminal and, again when I was picking her up, gestured that it was safe for me to cross the road to go to the terminal. Never once was I asked for any documentation. Maybe I got a new guy or something. All I did on driving in was pull a parking ticket from a printer that then opened a wood gate. The security booth was empty. At the old NCL terminal, there wasn't even a fence with a gate. Odd how things can be so different from place to place and time to time.

[PathfinderEss]

In San Diego, you can not get into the terminal without your Hal documents. You have to show it, but you can get on the grounds for pick up and drop off without proof.

[vicocala]

When I sailed the Monarch on October 15th they had security outside the terminal checking both boarding passes and passports before you go inside and thru the x-ray and metal detectors. I have always been asked. Perhaps you did have a new person there. I was also an early bird so perhaps they did not feel as rushed.:confused:

[Randyk47]

I have friends who've just relocated to Florida ... who were told by friends there, that they can take their packed bags and passports to the dock and sometimes get very favorable "walk on" rates for a cruise leaving that same day.:eek:

 

Wouldn't that be fun?!?

 

My late father and step-mother used to do that in the 80's and 90's in Miami and Ft Lauderdale. They lived in Orlando and my father's brother lived in Miami and they'd stay with him and go from terminal to terminal seeing what cruises were going out, find out if they were fully booked, and put themselves on standby lists for one or two. They often got on as I'd get these hurried last minute phone calls telling me they were off to wherever. My father suffered his first stroke in 1996 and my step-mother passed unexpectedly in 1997 so they never made it to 2001 and what was probably the end of the true at terminal stand by list.

[sapper1]

At Port Everglades they generally ask to see a boarding pass at the entrance security gates.

 

I have never been asked for a boarding pass at the port entrance----only a passport. Maybe the asking for boarding passes is random.

[jtl513]

I have never been asked for a boarding pass at the port entrance----only a passport. Maybe the asking for boarding passes is random.

Last March we were not only asked for it at the port security gate but also to get into the terminal 21 building. (Prinsendam was at 26) Could be random, or the luck of the draw of who's working that gate that day ... or how long the line is behind you. We're usually very early, before the lines get long!