Why does HAL seem to cost a lot less than Princess?

[Hlitner]

7 minutes ago, Florida_gal_50 said:

Too bad ta’s names can’t be shared on here.  My guess is that if you could no names would be shared.  Anyone can say anything.  Reality is can you back that up?

We routinely trade TA information when on our ships (one big advantage of sharing large tables).  In fact, we recently got an e-mail from a lady (who we met on a cruise) suggesting we check-out a cruise agency that she has used a few times.

 

But when folks talk about saving 7-10% (often in the form of OBCs) this is actually quite normal when you use decent high volume agencies.  The real trick is finding an agency (and agent) that excels in customer service.  And these days that has become much more difficult because so many terrific agents moved on to other jobs during the COVID shutdown.  We are fortunate that our favorite agent survived (her agency kept taking care of their best agents).  When we talked to her about 2 months ago she said that all the business was overwhelming and suggested using e-mails (instead of phone calls) whenever possible.    Until COVID we had 3 excellent cruise agencies we used depending on which one had the best deal for a particular cruise.  Post COVID, one of those agencies had dropped off our favored list because their customer service had become awful.   While we understand why agencies cut-back on staff, it is a dog-eat-dog world, and I am not wearing milk bone underwear.   We tell our favorite agency/agent that our loyalty is only as good as the last deal.

 

Hank

[Florida_gal_50]

5 minutes ago, Hlitner said:

We routinely trade TA information when on our ships (one big advantage of sharing large tables).  In fact, we recently got an e-mail from a lady (who we met on a cruise) suggesting we check-out a cruise agency that she has used a few times.

 

But when folks talk about saving 7-10% (often in the form of OBCs) this is actually quite normal when you use decent high volume agencies.  The real trick is finding an agency (and agent) that excels in customer service.  And these days that has become much more difficult because so many terrific agents moved on to other jobs during the COVID shutdown.  We are fortunate that our favorite agent survived (her agency kept taking care of their best agents).  When we talked to her about 2 months ago she said that all the business was overwhelming and suggested using e-mails (instead of phone calls) whenever possible.    Until COVID we had 3 excellent cruise agencies we used depending on which one had the best deal for a particular cruise.  Post COVID, one of those agencies had dropped off our favored list because their customer service had become awful.   While we understand why agencies cut-back on staff, it is a dog-eat-dog world, and I am not wearing milk bone underwear.   We tell our favorite agency/agent that our loyalty is only as good as the last deal.

 

Hank

This is the kicker.  I have no time to experiment. I’m talking week days before the usuals make comments about my posting frequency 🙄.

Edited July 16, 2022 by Florida_gal_50

[travlin]

One of the reasons for price difference is that Princess and Celebrity often include their plus packages with initial pricing. Once you add similar perks to HAL, the pricing is much closer. You can price Celebrity and Princess with the packages. They are much closer.

 

[YoPhilly]

12 hours ago, Hlitner said:

I am likely to encounter areas with folks dozing in their chairs, doing their knitting, etc. 

Ouch, Hank!!!  You're likely to see me knitting out on deck, but that doesn't mean I'm a sleepy old fart!  🤣🤣🤣. I bring books, knitting and other things to keep me busy on sea days.  If you see me out on O's deck with my knitting, be sure to stop and say hi. 😁

[Oceansaway17]

On 7/15/2022 at 12:50 PM, Taters said:

What my question has always been is, why is Princess so much more expensive than HAL or many other brands?  I've been on a couple of Princess cruises and honestly, there is not much of a difference in experience.  I would have sailed on them more often if their pricing was more competitive.  Now with most of their fleet being megaships, I no longer even consider them.

yes I agree.  I only sailed on one ship - Caribbean Princess and I was turned off by the lumpy ugly blue carpet on the Balcony off all places.  That and just overall little things including the price.

I find HAL to be reasonable for solo folks.   Princess is just as expensive as Disney.

[Petrocelli]

On 7/16/2022 at 6:02 AM, Hlitner said:

So, what is wrong with HAL?  We could start with "sleepy ships" (somebody else recently said this about their first HAL cruise), lack of Production Shows, minimal live entertainment, downgraded cuisine in both the MDR and Pinnacle, add-on items in the MDR (shrimp cocktail?), an issue with "deferred maintenance,"   . . . If I sit at the International Cafe on Princess, just about anywhere on MSC, and the Atrium on Celebrity, the ships are alive from 8am until nearly midnight!  On HAL I am likely to encounter areas with folks dozing in their chairs, doing their knitting, etc.  

 

I have only cruised once, and it was two weeks ago on HAL .   As I researched my first cruise on this forum, I saw you make statements in multiple posts about HAL's "sleepy" ships and dozing geriatrics.

 

I have no idea what you are talking about when you refer to "minimal live entertainment" and people "dozing in their chairs."  I was on HAL's Music Walk every night.  Every single venue was full until very late.  People would go between Billboard, Rolling Stone and BB King's, and it was often hard to get a seat -- and this was with the ship at less than full capacity.   The dance floor at BB King's would often be full. 

 

I don't know if the rest of the ship was "sleepy".   We spent our entire evenings on Music Walk.  I can assure you Music Walk was rocking from early to late.  

 

 

 

 

Edited July 21, 2022 by Petrocelli

[Anubi]

We are itinerary driven and usually go right to Princess for cruises but with their ships getting larger we aren't going right to them any more.  We do have a Transatlantic booked with them for this year on a larger ship but that's mainly due to the FCC we accumulated during the Covid shutdown. 

 

When our 2020 Baltics on Princess was cancelled, we looked around and saw an AMAZING Baltics cruise on Volendam which we booked.  Unfortunately, it also got cancelled.  My husband has always wanted to do Norway and HAL had the BEST itinerary of all the lines so we booked it.  

 

I'm seeing a pattern here!!  LOL  We are looking forward to our first HAL cruise.  

 

[iancal]

Our experience....at any given point in point for a popular 7, 10, or 14 day itinerary where there is lots of competition any one of Princess, HAL, or Celebrity can offer the highest or the lowest price of the three.  And those prices can change overnight...up or down depending on demand.  Especially inside the final payment window.

 

We see very little difference between these cruise lines.  We see far more difference between ships within each fleet and between different sailings than we do between the brands.

Edited July 21, 2022 by iancal

[FlaMariner]

5 hours ago, Petrocelli said:

We spent our entire evenings on Music Walk.  I can assure you Music Walk was rocking from early to late.  

 

Agree.  Love Music Walk.....Our favorite is Billboard Onboard....but we rotate between them all...Even Lincoln Center at least once!

 

And Music Walk always seems to be busy and folks staying thru the last sets.