Promotions?

[minnie328]

Hey!
I was interested with a October 2021 cruise.

The price is a problem. 
“Take advantage of this great fare and the flexibility to cancel with refund.

No Wi-fi, no drinks, etc   :(

 

Do you have any idea how much longer for a new promotion? 
 

Thanks!

[canadianbear]

The thing with promotions is the price will be higher.  Not sure when the next one will be.  Some people like “have it all”, some don’t.  For those that don’t drink,  having the drink package isn’t worth it.  Usually you can choose if you want the perks or don’t.  

[LAFFNVEGAS]

I seriously doubt there will be any new promotions for a long time. I think HAL is trying to go the way of Celebrity. Pricing could go up and down but for right now you can choose Advantage Fares that have no Perks or Have It All with perks. Although I would not be surprised if after 6 months something does not change but then again maybe not. It appears to be working for Celebrity. Time will tell.

[mcrcruiser]

what I noticed .We booked very early 3 cruises . One with HAL ,Hawaii ,18  night  ,Feb2 m2022 with ppd gratuities , drink pkg & the  special  restaurants included has doubled in price & no longer offering ppd gratuities in their promotion  package  .  We booked into a BB category handicap  .Then we have the Ruby Princess with all the perks from Princess where we used FCCs  ,This is the Sept 7 ,2022  ,10 day Alaska cruise  in a  Aloha Deck handicap cabin  .This one has gone up $800 already  /

 

 From the above what we see are higher prices ,as cruising gets closer to actually starting 

[mcrcruiser]

The 3rd Cruise is April 2023 to Mexico 7 day  on   Carnival Panorama we book with Casino pricing with Carnival do there is no way to compare .It is 7 night  in a handicap balcony for $1600 total  with free drinks in the casino & $198 deposit  

[LAFFNVEGAS]

13 hours ago, mcrcruiser said:

what I noticed .We booked very early 3 cruises . One with HAL ,Hawaii ,18  night  ,Feb2 m2022 with ppd gratuities , drink pkg & the  special  restaurants included has doubled in price & no longer offering ppd gratuities in their promotion  package  .  We booked into a BB category handicap  .Then we have the Ruby Princess with all the perks from Princess where we used FCCs  ,This is the Sept 7 ,2022  ,10 day Alaska cruise  in a  Aloha Deck handicap cabin  .This one has gone up $800 already  /

 

 From the above what we see are higher prices ,as cruising gets closer to actually starting 

This is where I think HAL really messed up with this new promotion, their sister cruise line Princess who started something similar several months before HAL includes pre paid gratuities, as does Celebrity. Their competition actually is offering something that is more tempting to the consumer. 

Just my opinion I think this might back fire on HAL. They are stating the Value for Have it All is $99.00 per day per person. Interestingly enough I have found in several cases the price increase to get the package to be more the $99.00 per day and at the very least it is very close. Of course it depends on the category. If someone is a 4 or 5 Star Mariner drinks mostly wine you may come out much better purchasing at the Advantage Fares. I have found with Princess it really has been a good deal with their package that is similar and the price difference is not that much more to just move up to getting the package. 

[mcrcruiser]

4 hours ago, LAFFNVEGAS said:

This is where I think HAL really messed up with this new promotion, their sister cruise line Princess who started something similar several months before HAL includes pre paid gratuities, as does Celebrity. Their competition actually is offering something that is more tempting to the consumer. 

Just my opinion I think this might back fire on HAL. They are stating the Value for Have it All is $99.00 per day per person. Interestingly enough I have found in several cases the price increase to get the package to be more the $99.00 per day and at the very least it is very close. Of course it depends on the category. If someone is a 4 or 5 Star Mariner drinks mostly wine you may come out much better purchasing at the Advantage Fares. I have found with Princess it really has been a good deal with their package that is similar and the price difference is not that much more to just move up to getting the package. 

Yes we agree with  your comments .We see that HAL has made the mistake taking away the ppd gratuities replacing with tours  . In reality per day cruising cost (we have both cruise packages )  with the previous promos ,a better price per day with Princess . Now I can't see how HAL can justify a double out price  on our Hawaii cruise .  Perhaps ,after the final payment when all the TAs turn in unsold cabins the prices will drop a lot

[LAFFNVEGAS]

 

1 hour ago, mcrcruiser said:

Perhaps ,after the final payment when all the TAs turn in unsold cabins the prices will drop a lot

 

Contrary to popular belief that is not how it works for TA's, while they may set up a Group and have XX number of categories they can sell in a group. What they have to sell is exactly is the same as when you look at it. Everyone has the same access to the same cabins. Once it is sold no matter by a Travel Agent Group or individuals it is sold and does not show. For many years people seem to think Travel Agents hold out cabins and that is actually not the case. The only time that happens is when there is a partial Charter, that presells for profit but when that type of group does that they physically have to pre pay for those cabins and place customer names on them or the Chartered Group name. In truth that does not happen as often any longer because most Very Large Groups Charter the whole ship.

Pricing for all sailings are going up, basically supply and demand is driving it up, as well as Cruise lines need to make profit than ever before. There are not going to be any free upgrades. Many future sailings appear sold out and that is because they are. Many knew cruising really would not start up till 2022 or into 2023 so many moved deposit money or future cruise credit over from canceled cruises.

[AtlantaCruiser72]

I agree the "Have It All" fare is a a miss.  It should have included Gratuities (Hotel Service Charge) rather than a Shore Excursion credit.  It should also have been a flat amount per guest per day over the "Advantage" (no-perks, refundable deposit) fare. 

 

Princess got this concept right - the Princess Plus fare is $40/guest/day more than Princess Saver fare regardless of room type or Voyage length.  Other cruise lines have each fired a miss in one way or another - HAL no Gratuity and uneven pricing differential per guest/day, Celebrity no base fare w/o Perks, NCL adding service fees to "free" (included) perks and not including Gratuity, etc

[mcrcruiser]

13 hours ago, LAFFNVEGAS said:

 

 

Contrary to popular belief that is not how it works for TA's, while they may set up a Group and have XX number of categories they can sell in a group. What they have to sell is exactly is the same as when you look at it. Everyone has the same access to the same cabins. Once it is sold no matter by a Travel Agent Group or individuals it is sold and does not show. For many years people seem to think Travel Agents hold out cabins and that is actually not the case. The only time that happens is when there is a partial Charter, that presells for profit but when that type of group does that they physically have to pre pay for those cabins and place customer names on them or the Chartered Group name. In truth that does not happen as often any longer because most Very Large Groups Charter the whole ship.

Pricing for all sailings are going up, basically supply and demand is driving it up, as well as Cruise lines need to make profit than ever before. There are not going to be any free upgrades. Many future sailings appear sold out and that is because they are. Many knew cruising really would not start up till 2022 or into 2023 so many moved deposit money or future cruise credit over from canceled cruises.

Thank you for clearing this up in my mind .We were under the  idea that TAs had a block of unsold cabins to  sell from   .Thus what you are saying is the demand is high  pushing  prices higher . That is logical  . 

 

 Other than cruises or other vacation sales   there are many products that vendors are keeping in short supply to drive prices artificially  higher in todays markets   .Look at lumber & copper  ;as examples   ,sky rocketing    in cost . These tactics add to artificial inflation  . 

[LAFFNVEGAS]

3 hours ago, mcrcruiser said:

Thank you for clearing this up in my mind .We were under the  idea that TAs had a block of unsold cabins to  sell from   .Thus what you are saying is the demand is high  pushing  prices higher . That is logical  . 

 

 Other than cruises or other vacation sales   there are many products that vendors are keeping in short supply to drive prices artificially  higher in todays markets   .Look at lumber & copper  ;as examples   ,sky rocketing    in cost . These tactics add to artificial inflation  . 

Two things I did forget to mention is that often cabins do not show available IF that sailing is part of a Collectors voyage and or is being offered  for shorter or longer days that you are looking at. HAL especially will divide up cabins between the various voyages that are linked with the voyage you are looking at. Therefore making it looking like there are not many cabins available to choose from where in fact most of the cabins may be on the shorter first or second portion of the cruise. The second is that in the case of the current sailing to Greece on the Eurodam. HAL was pushing balcony and higher at a price point that was quite high but was blocking all Ocean View and Interior cabins. It appears they have opened up the Ocean View for a bit lower price point, but it too is still too high. At this point they cannot drop the price of the verandah because those that just purchased are going to be might mad. Although that percentage appears to be pretty low for those that have booked. They are going to need to do something quickly I suspect the next move will be to open up interior cabins but that will not be enough either.

[Florida_gal_50]

18 hours ago, LAFFNVEGAS said:

 

 

Contrary to popular belief that is not how it works for TA's, while they may set up a Group and have XX number of categories they can sell in a group. What they have to sell is exactly is the same as when you look at it. Everyone has the same access to the same cabins. Once it is sold no matter by a Travel Agent Group or individuals it is sold and does not show. For many years people seem to think Travel Agents hold out cabins and that is actually not the case. The only time that happens is when there is a partial Charter, that presells for profit but when that type of group does that they physically have to pre pay for those cabins and place customer names on them or the Chartered Group name. In truth that does not happen as often any longer because most Very Large Groups Charter the whole ship.

Pricing for all sailings are going up, basically supply and demand is driving it up, as well as Cruise lines need to make profit than ever before. There are not going to be any free upgrades. Many future sailings appear sold out and that is because they are. Many knew cruising really would not start up till 2022 or into 2023 so many moved deposit money or future cruise credit over from canceled cruises.

I think this is a story people like to pass around.  I've never had this illusion, but I've heard it a lot.