Do HAL "Drip-Feed" Staterooms??

[NaughtyNanna]

Hello. I wonder if any of you think/know if HAL always show all available staterooms at any given time. I am currently considering a 35 day cruise in July 2015. Because I am a solo traveller, the cost is very expensive. At the moment there are only a few staterooms available in the class I would prefer. Because of the cost involved (which has gone up around AUD$4,000 in the last few weeks!!) I would like to think about it a bit longer. However because of the few cabins currently showing, I am feeling a bit of pressure to jump in so as not to miss out. While I have done two previous cruises with HAL, the cost was nothing like this one and so I just booked straight away without giving it a great deal of thought once I decided what I wanted to do. So, I am wondering if they generally only release a set number of cabins at a time, and more become available as time goes on, or is it that this particular cruise really is nearly fully booked around 10 months out.

[POA1]

Your instincts are correct. The entire inventory does not show up for the public. I'm pretty sure a travel agent can see it though.

[PathfinderEss]

Welcome to Cruise Critic.

POA is right. A good TA can resolve those issues with Hal. I don't know if they are any different then other cruise lines but they do jockey around cabins.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Welcome to Cruise Critic.

You need to talk to a TA. What HAL shows on their site is not always all the cabins available.

After you talk to a TA let us know what happens.

[Bescotti]

When I have looked at staterooms available on HAL Australia or any online TA in Australia, only a maximum number of 6 staterooms have ever been shown in any class. Less than 6 I would think about booking soon.

 

Also when I book direct with them, HAL Australia has always honoured price drops before final payment.

[Lis2065]

I check on the website and then ask my TA to book for me. Then I monitor the prices and if they go down, ask her to organise for the price drop to be passed on to me.

 

This has worked for my upcoming cruise, I found out about asking for the price drop to be passed on here on Cruise Critic (thanks to CC I saved $600). I understand that you are able to do this right up until you have made your final payment.

 

I think that working with a good Travel Agent is critical. Others here will be able to advise if you can do the same booking directly with HAL, as I've always used a TA.

 

I must say that when I have contacted HAL directly about other stuff they have been great too.

 

I hope you book your cruise and have a wonderful time!

[ScriptOhio]

Hello. I wonder if any of you think/know if HAL always show all available staterooms at any given time. I am currently considering a 35 day cruise in July 2015. Because I am a solo traveller, the cost is very expensive. At the moment there are only a few staterooms available in the class I would prefer. Because of the cost involved (which has gone up around AUD$4,000 in the last few weeks!!) I would like to think about it a bit longer. However because of the few cabins currently showing, I am feeling a bit of pressure to jump in so as not to miss out. While I have done two previous cruises with HAL, the cost was nothing like this one and so I just booked straight away without giving it a great deal of thought once I decided what I wanted to do. So, I am wondering if they generally only release a set number of cabins at a time, and more become available as time goes on, or is it that this particular cruise really is nearly fully booked around 10 months out.

 

I'm sure that only showing a limited number of staterooms in a specific category on their website (when there actually are more) is a well thought out marketing strategy by the cruise lines. I'm guessing that it is to create an illusion that there are fewer rooms available than there actually are to make you more eager to book now.

 

I'm am pretty sure that cruise lines have computer models that project how many cabins need to be sold "X" number of days before sailing for them to be "on schedule" to likely sell out all the cabins before that sailing date (based on their historical sales data). If the price is going up it usually means that they are ahead of schedule in selling the cabins for that specific cruise. Regardless there will less cabins actually available than the sum of all the specific available cabins as all the "guarantee" bookings have not yet been assigned a cabin. The specific assigned cabins sold plus the guarantee cabins sold really can't be greater than the total number of cabins on the ship. Yeah, I know; some cruise lines have been known to "overbook" a small number of cabins (like the airlines do with seats) because they know there will be some last minute cancellations, etc.

[mame42]

Welcome to Cruise Critic.

You need to talk to a TA. What HAL shows on their site is not always all the cabins available.

After you talk to a TA let us know what happens.

 

However, some unique, one time only or once yearly sailings do sell out many months in advance. Again, your TA should be able to worm the info out of HAL.

[richardukcruise]

If you have a list of stateroom numbers you want to check availability for, you are able to check availability of these staterooms manually whilst checking availability on HAL's website. You just enter the stateroom number (not including the category) and it will advise if it is available. Once you know that, I think your TA should be able to get you one of those.

Edited September 15, 2014 by richardukcruise

[comcox]

One thing to keep in mind is that some companies/agencies reserve a block of cabins to sell themselves and if they don't all sell they get released back into the inventory. Also individual travelers who have booked have up until mid March to cancel and still get their deposits back. I'm one of those hoping I can get together the full amount of money (I'm also facing that solo price) for my July cruise. When that deadline passes, there may some cabins suddenly available.

[Randyk47]

Your instincts are correct. The entire inventory does not show up for the public. I'm pretty sure a travel agent can see it though.

 

Maybe some can but last I talked to my old brick and mortar TA she said even as a "preferred account agent" she could only see the same inventory I could see. I do remember her putting me on hold so she could call HAL to check on a specific cabin.

[DaveOKC]

You likely know this, but you can check for a specific cabin on the website. If you REALLY want to know how many are available in a given category, you can input each cabin number in that category, one at a time, and see the availability.

 

DaveOKC

[1of4]

If you have a list of stateroom numbers you want to check availability for, you are able to check availability of these staterooms manually whilst checking availability on HAL's website. You just enter the stateroom number (not including the category) and it will advise if it is available. Once you know that, I think your TA should be able to get you one of those.

 

This is what I do. While the website will only show 6 cabins as available max, there is the box where you can put in a specific cabin number and the computer will tell you if it is available or not. That will help give you an idea. But as someone else said, some online agencies block groups of rooms and then they are released if they don't sell so talking to a PCC or TA is really good.

 

But the special once a year or unique cruises do sell out well in advance. Like the Voyage of the Vikings which is on my list to do but I just can't book a year in advance yet as I am still working.

[3rdGenCunarder]

I just played around with the site, checking my cruise for January and a similar cruise in 2016. When I asked for Neptune Suites, I saw the same set of available cabins for both. They're the aft-most midships Neptunes on Rotterdam deck. Everything closer to the Neptune Lounge is blank, which looks unavailable. I thought on my cruise, since it's fairly close to sailing, it made sense that the cabins closest to the lounge went first. But more than a year out? Seems unlikely that the exact same booking pattern would exist.

 

I suppose they think if they show too many cabins available, the cruise looks too available and people will be more likely to wait for a price drop?

[sail7seas]

Have you tried entering in the select your cabin box the numbers of all cabins in which you would be interested? Depending upon how many in the category, it could be time consuming but I think that is the best chance of getting all available cabins, one at a time, to show which are not yet sold.

 

[sail7seas]

This is what I do. While the website will only show 6 cabins as available max, there is the box where you can put in a specific cabin number and the computer will tell you if it is available or not. That will help give you an idea. But as someone else said, some online agencies block groups of rooms and then they are released if they don't sell so talking to a PCC or TA is really good.

 

But the special once a year or unique cruises do sell out well in advance. Like the Voyage of the Vikings which is on my list to do but I just can't book a year in advance yet as I am still working.

 

 

 

 

Oops, sorry. :o

I just saw your post suggesting similar.

 

You are right, 1of4, about this Viking cruise selling out. It goes out full most years.

 

 

[NaughtyNanna]

Thank you to everyone who responded. I appreciate you taking the time. My normal TA is away, but I spoke to one of her employees and was told that they can't see any more cabins than I can! I spoke of my suspicions about it being a marketing ploy not to show all cabins available, but he said he didn't think they were allowed to do that. Who knows, but it wouldn't surprise me at all!:rolleyes: As far as entering a particular cabin number to check what happens, I had already tried that. The problem I had there was that the field seems to insist on a 4 digit number. It is the small Prinsendam I am looking at, and the cabins are all 3 digit numbers. I tried putting in a leading zero, but that doesn't work either. Does anyone know how to get around this? Thanks again!

[Hflors]

Here is something else to consider if this pertains to your sailing. Does your cruise have multiple embarkment days? I know that sounds strange, but here is how is works on certain cruises. (I did this on our hawaii/tahiti cruise) There were three embarkment days. Vancouver, San Francisco, and San Diego CA. I wanted a cabin for San Diego and it wasn't available. So I kept checking and nothing. Finally I accidently hit the San Francisco and majically a cabin in the cat. I wanted popped up. So then I looked at Vancouver and there was the exact cabin I wanted. I called HAL and told them the cabin I wanted for San Diego embarkment was available for VAncouver and asked if they could book that cabin for the embarkment in SAn Diego. The rep put me on hold and came back in a minute and said I was all set.

 

I hope this helps someone, if not you. Good luck.

[Ship's Wake]

Thank you to everyone who responded. I appreciate you taking the time. My normal TA is away, but I spoke to one of her employees and was told that they can't see any more cabins than I can! I spoke of my suspicions about it being a marketing ploy not to show all cabins available, but he said he didn't think they were allowed to do that. Who knows, but it wouldn't surprise me at all!:rolleyes: As far as entering a particular cabin number to check what happens, I had already tried that. The problem I had there was that the field seems to insist on a 4 digit number. It is the small Prinsendam I am looking at, and the cabins are all 3 digit numbers. I tried putting in a leading zero, but that doesn't work either. Does anyone know how to get around this? Thanks again!

 

There is a reason for this. No cruise line wants to make available a true reading of their unsold inventory. They want the customer (in this case you) to act sooner than later.

 

Hope you are able to book at a fare to your liking.

[serendipity1499]

Thank you to everyone who responded. I appreciate you taking the time. My normal TA is away, but I spoke to one of her employees and was told that they can't see any more cabins than I can! I spoke of my suspicions about it being a marketing ploy not to show all cabins available, but he said he didn't think they were allowed to do that. Who knows, but it wouldn't surprise me at all!:rolleyes: As far as entering a particular cabin number to check what happens, I had already tried that. The problem I had there was that the field seems to insist on a 4 digit number. It is the small Prinsendam I am looking at, and the cabins are all 3 digit numbers. I tried putting in a leading zero, but that doesn't work either. Does anyone know how to get around this? Thanks again!

 

Yes the Prinsendam only haq three digit Numbers, but try inserting the class before the Number such as E331..

Edited September 16, 2014 by serendipity1499

[wander]

Or the deck level number followed by the cabin number.

[Theodorable]

with the online agencies. There is a specific one which unfortunately I can't mention the name of which will show lots more cabins than 6. Also, for such a long cruise, you might find that your gratuities will be included as a perk along with some onboard credit. The online agencies are mentioned at the top of the cruise critic home page under "find a cruise" and then "price the cruise". Well worth having a look at! I would never dream of booking a cruise directly with the cruise line and I have been on over 30 cruises on lots of different lines.

[lcand1923]

I, too, am a solo cruiser, so I can relate. Here's what I did.

 

All of the cabins in the category I really wanted were blocked on the HAL website. My brick and mortar TA contacted HAL and was told they were unavailable.

 

I "bit the bullet" and reserved a higher category cabin than I really wanted to make certain I was on the cruise. (The cruise was 18 months out, so I started cutting back on everything so as to cover the cost of the cruise. It would be tight, but I could make it.)

 

I checked the HAL website every other week or so inputting the cabin numbers of my preferred cabin category. About four month before the embarkation date, one of them became available. I contacted my TA and was able to get the cabin I wanted.

 

I discovered that a very large group had booked this particular cruise. I suspect they had blocked certain categories of cabins. At a given point in time, HAL must have made them release them to the general public.