Booking Hotel/Airline with HAL

[iancal]

We only book with the cruise line if the price is attractive.

 

Never booked a hotel room through the cruise line. We always check...typically they are priced at twice what we pay for the same product. We do not feel that the convenience is worth the price increment to us. HAL, Princess, Celebrity, RCI pricing, in our experience, all seems to be about the same...double. Sometimes more in Europe. Plus, you really need to watch to location if you are booking on a Friday or Saturday night.

 

After many cruises, many flights have only found cruise air to be advantageous twice in terms of price or route. Once on a Barcelona to Canada one way (25 percent saving) and once on a one way FLL-Costa Rica flight (15 percent saving). Our preference is to book with the airline.

[DoggyDaddy]

On a Carribean cruise, we booked our air thru HA as we were told that if anything happened, they would get us to the ship. That sounded good, so we booked with them even thou the fare was a little higher. We paid with our United MasterCard to get miles and free luggage. Guess what? When we checked in at the airport they wanted $25 each for checking our bag! We tried to argue but the attendant said the flight was paid for via another card, not ours. Our $$$ went to Holland America and they paid for the flights. It cost us an extra $100 for the trip. Thankfully the flights were on time and we had a good cruise.

 

DD

[Marigold252]

We just booked a September Mediterranean cruise inside the final payment window. Prior to booking, I looked for the one way flights, but they were prohibitably expensive. Was I ever pleased with what HAL booked for us! I booked the hotel on my own. This is the first time I've used HAL for flights. The agent said the change to using Princess's air program was a huge improvement.

 

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[djhsolara]

On a Carribean cruise, we booked our air thru HA as we were told that if anything happened, they would get us to the ship. That sounded good, so we booked with them even thou the fare was a little higher. We paid with our United MasterCard to get miles and free luggage. Guess what? When we checked in at the airport they wanted $25 each for checking our bag! We tried to argue but the attendant said the flight was paid for via another card, not ours. Our $$$ went to Holland America and they paid for the flights. It cost us an extra $100 for the trip. Thankfully the flights were on time and we had a good cruise.

 

 

 

DD

 

 

 

Yes...the fares quoted are exactly that anymore...a fare for a person. If you are checking baggage, you will be charged the fees.

 

 

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[djhsolara]

Good on booking the air. What did you decide about the hotel?

 

 

 

We booked on our own and did the Holiday Inn at the airport for around $150 including breakfast. We're really not planning on doing anything in Vancouver other than going to the hotel to sleep and going to the ship in the morning...so a downtown hotel wasn't important to us.

 

 

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[pmcubed]

We booked our cruise, flights, hotels and transfers all through Hal. We made a deposit at booking and made the final payment this week which included all that was booked through Hal. One payment, now all we need to take of is what we spend for tours expenses and the expenses we incur on the ship. We look at that as having peace of mind concerning the costs.

 

Not only peace of mind concerning costs - but also if there are problems with the flights. . . HAL takes care of you if you miss a flight or "heaven forbid" the ship! We were victims of this flying to Europe - yes, we were flying in days EARLY but between storms and terrorist bombings in Europe still missed the boat. We were flown to the first cruise stop and put up in a lovely hotel for the night - all on HAL's dime. The only thing I had to do was submit to our insurance the hotel we had already paid for at the embarkation port.

[iancal]

No matter what cruise line you book a hotel through you should pay close attention to the location of the hotel if you intend to do more than just spend the night.

 

The have met folks at various business type/area hotels who were not enthralled with the hotel location because it was away from the tourist area. It may have a very recognizable name, Sheraton, Westin, Marriott, whatever.

 

We heard some complaints in Rome from people who bought the Sheraton Golfo through a cruise line. And in FLL at Westin Ft. Lauderdale which is smack dab beside the I95 and several large office complexes. Nowhere to walk and well away from the port area. Cruise lines like to sell these hotels on weekends because they can get very attractive wholesale rates.

[bUU]

Does HAL offer better deals for pre-cruise hotel stays than what I can book myself online? We're going to be sailing out of Vancouver and the hotels seem very expensive for the night prior to sailing.

Thanks for asking this. I'm just encountering the same reality as I budget for our upcoming Alaska cruise. I did get a price quote for two very nice hotels (Pan Pacific and Four Seasons) from Holland America. The cruise line's prices are much lower than I can get directly from those hotels though their own websites and through my corporate discount, and the cruise line also throws in transfers and baggage gratuities. I'm going to confirm the prices I was quoted by Holland America but assuming that they're correct, I'm hoping someone chimed in with details on how to get better rates at these hotels than what I was offered by the cruise line.

 

Additionally, we've never booked air with HAL because we are Southwest people, but Southwest does not fly to Vancouver. Can you do one-way air with HAL? Do you usually find that you can get a better deal booking air through HAL than doing it yourself online?

Another question that I was just about to pose myself. I've been tracking fares (booking direct) but haven't tried to get any information from the cruise line yet.

 

Thank you for any input!!

Ditto retroactively and in advance.

 

For Vancouver specifically the HAL rate at the Pan Pacific is not terribly bad. For example - 2nts with tax and transfers will run you $838.28 for most dates in 2018 if booked through HAL. I checked a few dates for the Pan Pcific for summer 2018 on Trivago and kept coming in around $846USD with tax but no transfers. Now if one does not wish to stay at the Pan Pacific you could potentially save money. However on an EVEN comparison of the same property/dates the HAL hotel package was the better overall value.

Okay so at least that's one sanity check on what I've found so far. Thanks.

 

Hal Flight Ease and Princess EzAir are the same program essentially. Both WILL allow you select date, airline, number of stops and from flexible or restricted fares. You just have to know how to start a new search and choose additional options to get what you want.

Is there a way to do a test run before the 331 day point? I asked this earlier and got a pretty clear 'no' but I thought I'd check to see if anyone else might know a way.

 

I've been tracking this one specific flight I want and the lower priced fare classes are snapped up within hours of being made available, very consistently, every week. So I really don't have time to do a lot of learning-as-I-go with booking these flights.

[martincath]

Thanks for asking this. I'm just encountering the same reality as I budget for our upcoming Alaska cruise. I did get a price quote for two very nice hotels (Pan Pacific and Four Seasons) from Holland America. The cruise line's prices are much lower than I can get directly from those hotels though their own websites and through my corporate discount, and the cruise line also throws in transfers and baggage gratuities. I'm going to confirm the prices I was quoted by Holland America but assuming that they're correct, I'm hoping someone chimed in with details on how to get better rates at these hotels than what I was offered by the cruise line.

I've certainly heard of folks getting a better price through HAL at their preferred hotels (PP & 4S) before, but not what I'd describe as MUCH lower. Apologies in advance for perhaps being insulting, but are you comparing a Per Person HAL price with the Per Room price that applies on hotel & TA websites? Those overpriced included cruiseline transfers have to be paid for somehow - and they are overpriced, dang near as much as your very own taxi as a Solo and for a couple comparable to taking your own limo.

[CruiserBruce]

This also depends when you look at the price. 11 months out, the prices are probably good. But if you wait until HAL starts locking up rooms for their cruisers, supply and demand takes over, and the rates go up. Have seen this in a couple of locations, where the known cruise line hotel raises prices as the peak booking season approaches.

[bUU]

I've certainly heard of folks getting a better price through HAL at their preferred hotels (PP & 4S) before, but not what I'd describe as MUCH lower. Apologies in advance for perhaps being insulting, but are you comparing a Per Person HAL price with the Per Room price that applies on hotel & TA websites?

All I can go by is what the agent told me. She said it was total, not per person.

 

 

 

 

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