Price drop after final payment - can I upgrade?

[ashkramer8]

I am booked on an Alaskan Cruise for which I paid $899 pp for an inside cabin. I just made my final payment a couple of weeks ago (cruise is 68 days away). Today I see that the price for an ocean view cabin has dropped to $799 pp. Should I be able to "upgrade" from an inside cabin to an ocean view and receive $200 in OBC? I am going to contact my TA, but before I do I'd like to try to find out if this is a reasonable request.

 

Thanks,

 

Ashley

Edited June 1, 2015 by ashkramer8

[DaveOKC]

I am booked on an Alaskan Cruise for which I paid $899 pp for an inside cabin. I just made my final payment a couple of weeks ago (cruise is 68 days away). Today I see that the price for an ocean view cabin has dropped to $799 pp. Should I be able to "upgrade" from an inside cabin to an ocean view and receive $200 in OBC? I am going to contact my TA, but before I do I'd like to try to find out if this is a reasonable request.

Thanks,

Ashley

 

I think you should get one or the other, but unlikely both. Decide which is more important to you and then be ready to accept (or not) when HAL makes you an offer. You can always ASK for both, but I doubt it will happen after final payment.

Edited June 1, 2015 by DaveOKC

[bermuda triangle]

For my upcoming cruise I was offered an upgrade or a future cruise credit, not a OBC, for half the amount of the price I paid minus the current price. I went for the upgrade.

[RMLincoln]

They are usually listed as for new bookings only. When that's happened to me my TA said no deal, so I now book with a HAL PCC. I hope you get something. Asking is free and they work for you! let us know how it goes. m--

Edited June 1, 2015 by RMLincoln

[chrisbu315]

I am booked on an Alaskan Cruise for which I paid $899 pp for an inside cabin. I just made my final payment a couple of weeks ago (cruise is 68 days away). Today I see that the price for an ocean view cabin has dropped to $799 pp. Should I be able to "upgrade" from an inside cabin to an ocean view and receive $200 in OBC? I am going to contact my TA, but before I do I'd like to try to find out if this is a reasonable request.

 

Thanks,

 

Ashley

 

I would keep my powder dry for at least another couple of weeks - there are likely to be further drops - then call and try to negotiate a good deal to upgrade to a Verandah.

[cruz chic]

I'm confused as to why if the price dropped $100 why you would get $200 in obc. If it works let us know.

[Tiffany18]

I'm confused as to why if the price dropped $100 why you would get $200 in obc. If it works let us know.

 

She paid $899 per person so two people would be a savings of $200

[HokiePoq]

When that happened on one of our HAL cruises, our TA was able to get us moved to an outside cabin as we'd paid the same price for an inside earlier. OBC was not on the table.

[polySeraph]

Last fall we booked an OV GUAR on the Westerdam after the final payment date for what we thought was an excellent price. A few weeks later prices had dropped again and a VH GUAR was now $100 pp less than what we had paid for the OV. I called my TA and asked her if she would be willing to call HAL and ask for an upgrade to a VH and a little OBC to "ease my pain" at seeing the price drop.. She said that it didn't hurt to try. Neither of us were expecting much, but much to our surprise, I got the upgrade and a token amount of OBC.

 

HAL had the last laugh, though. We ended up being assigned a VB in a great location and had a wonderful time. As a result, we've booked two more cruises on HAL for what are definitely not last-minute prices.

Edited June 2, 2015 by polySeraph

[cruz chic]

She paid $899 per person so two people would be a savings of $200

 

Sorry about that. I wasn't thinking. That said, if hal does give an obc it's usually half of the drop. I've never heard of anyone getting the drop and upgrade.

[ashkramer8]

Sorry for the delay - but here's an update on what happened:

 

I decided to take the advice Chris gave me to wait a little longer to see if there were any more price drops. Today the inside cabin price dropped $200 per person from $899 to $699 and the ocean view remained at $799. I emailed my travel agent and asked her what, if any options were available after final payment had been made. I decided to not make any demands or have any expectations, just let her tell me what was possible. She got back to me and said that I could either take the upgrade to the ocean view or a $400 OBC! I gladly accepted the OBC since we were happy with the location of our inside cabin and my husband prefers to sleep in complete darkness. The verandas are all sold out for this cruise, otherwise I would have maybe waited another week or two to see if the price on those went down at all for a possible upgrade.

 

Anyway, thanks all for your input - it really helped!

[chrisbu315]

Sorry for the delay - but here's an update on what happened:

 

I decided to take the advice Chris gave me to wait a little longer to see if there were any more price drops. Today the inside cabin price dropped $200 per person from $899 to $699 and the ocean view remained at $799. I emailed my travel agent and asked her what, if any options were available after final payment had been made. I decided to not make any demands or have any expectations, just let her tell me what was possible. She got back to me and said that I could either take the upgrade to the ocean view or a $400 OBC! I gladly accepted the OBC since we were happy with the location of our inside cabin and my husband prefers to sleep in complete darkness. The verandas are all sold out for this cruise, otherwise I would have maybe waited another week or two to see if the price on those went down at all for a possible upgrade.

 

Anyway, thanks all for your input - it really helped!

 

Wow! You did really good. My advice does not always work out this well. Thank goodness the price did not go up!

[frankc98376]

From everything I have seen and heard sounds like "you can ask" is the most common advice about upgrades or OBC for price drops after final payment. I'd add that it probably doesn't hurt to ask nicely though :)

 

We book NS so seldom see a price drop after final. Only once did it happen and was much less than the OBC we would lose by re-booking.