incentives given after booking

[LewsFirst]

Does anyone have experience with getting ship board credit, free packages, price reductions or other incentives after booking? Is it common to have offers extended closer to the time of travel? I am looking at a July 2019 Alaska cruise. nothing is offered from HAL at this time but my travel agent says if they are offered I would be given what is available, however Costco is already offering credit.

[dee2673]

If you book now, you’d have to rebook when an attractive promo comes out. The price could change too

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[oaktreerb]

If you book a non-refundable fare you are unlikely to get anything added because HAL has given you what they consider a low limited promo price. If you put a deposit on a cruise that you can cancel with no penalty prior to final payment you may be able to add promotions that become available because you still have the option of cancelling and rebooking if something better comes along. If you book through a TA or BIG BOX store all communication will have to be made through them. You will need to keep watching for a better offer and then have your TA or CC rep contact HAL to renegotiate for you. Beware of the nonrefundable deals that are currently being offered.

 

The BIG BOX (CC) offer of credit varies according to your fare and is their way of refunding to you some of the commission they receive from HAL for handling the booking.

[Wishing on a star]

Some, if not many, agencies, just by association and incentive, and number of bookings, can offer incentives. This is what you are seeing with your quote.

 

It is good that you are asking questions and are becoming well informed!

 

You need to be very careful about what the terms of your proposed fare and booking are.

If this is NON-refundable, then it is just that... NON-refundable.

If the deposit and/or fare are refundable, then yes, you can re-book, or what might be called re-fare, with any new promotion that is offered, before final payment date.

 

Whether a new promo comes along that saves you money, and/or gets you a promotion that you will really benefit from, might vary!

 

I am looking at a cruise that is even further out than yours, and right now, the fare that shows up on the web-site is the current promo with a 'supposed' low fare, but in my particular case, the ENTIRE booking must be paid, in full, NON-refundable.

Ummmm. no thanks!

Not ready to take that kind of risk.

 

I am thinking that we could actually call HAL directly and could get a quote on a refundable fare?

Not sure if you could get that thru a third party travel agency, or if they wouldn't want to bother?

[Krazy Kruizers]

Check and see if you are being asked to do a non-refundable deposit. If so -- anything offered will require you to cancel the original booking and lose your deposit -- and maybe even the cabin if you have booked a specific one.

Also make certain that HAL is not requiring you to pay off the entire cruise right now -- this is another new gimmick HAL is doing.

[LewsFirst]

Thank you for all the great replies. The quote I have is refundable and I still have a few days before I have to pay the deposit so my options are still open. I am not sure if the Costco offer is refundable so thanks for that tip, I will have to research that ASAP!

[Hlitner]

There is a reason why we have long advised cruisers to "shop around" among a few reputable high volume cruise agents....BEFORE booking a cruise. And if one books direct with a cruise line, then they can usually still ship around cruise agencies to inquire as to what is offered is the booking is transfered. We recently did this with a HAL future booking and one of our favored cruise agencies quickly offered us an additional OBC of $1050. Otherwise, you get what you get.

 

Hank

[tgg]

Does anyone have experience with getting ship board credit, free packages, price reductions or other incentives after booking? Is it common to have offers extended closer to the time of travel? I am looking at a July 2019 Alaska cruise. nothing is offered from HAL at this time but my travel agent says if they are offered I would be given what is available, however Costco is already offering credit.

 

I see this is your first Cruise Critic post. Welcome. You'll get quite an education here if you're willing to do some reading and learn how to use the "search forum" and "search thread" functions. They let you find answers about a particular subject. It takes a while to navigate around this site - but the amount of knowledge you'll gain will be well worth your time.

 

In reference to your question about credit: I receive a minimum of 5% of my cruise fare from my travel agent as a REFUNDABLE onboard credit. It goes right back on my credit card if I don't use it on the ship. If my travel agent has a block of rooms to sell, I get a better price. (This is called group space.) Both the refundable onboard credit and the group space pricing are in addition to any promotion the cruise line is offering.

 

Cruise Critic will not let anyone post the name of a travel agency. What I can suggest is that you start with some of the agencies that advertise on Cruise Critic. Get in touch with them all. Find out who has the best prices and sounds like someone you would feel comfortable spending money with. Check their reputations on the internet.

 

I found my agent by asking people on my second cruise who they book with. (Never ask anyone how much they paid.:D) That's how I found my wonderful agent, who I've booked with for more than 10 years. People who use this agency were only too happy to help me out as a new cruiser. So shop price, perks, service, and make some calls.