Highest Prices We Have Seen

[PACD_JG]

16 minutes ago, Destiny0315 said:

The OP conveniently never responded to this post which questioned his original premise to begin with and was posted just a few hours later. It's always the same premise, turn up the heat-stir the soup-then leave it for others to clean up as it boils over.

The easiest way to restrain attention-seekers is to ignore them.

[sansterre]

On 4/3/2023 at 7:03 PM, ChinaShrek said:

I am still convinced that many people are receiving free or discounted cruises. For example, did you receive the 20-25% casino discount? I receive that off of all cruises that I book.

I'm not fond of these discounts but assume HAL knows that it brings in more $$$ than it costs them.  What does one need to spend (or is it based on losing?) in the Casino to receive such a discount on all cruises?  Does that apply to World Cruises too?

[mcrcruiser]

15 hours ago, Mary229 said:

Yep, I worked hard, I worked smart, I saved and I invested, I just retired,  I probably have less than 20 years left and I am not shorting myself now.   Phooey on that.  
 

Laissez les bons temps rouler

Mary enjoy your retirement to the fullest . Wish we could go back 24 years  when I retired . Not so much for lack of cruises ;but ,We should have made more land trips to our National Parks & monuments where it is the real beauty of our country  

[rodndonna]

3 minutes ago, sansterre said:

I'm not fond of these discounts but assume HAL knows that it brings in more $$$ than it costs them.  What does one need to spend (or is it based on losing?) in the Casino to receive such a discount on all cruises?  Does that apply to World Cruises too?

 

I could be wrong, but my understanding is that it is not actually HAL footing the bill for those discounts but the Casino club which is financially separate. Maybe someone else can provide better insight ...

 

We receive them (typically 30%) and by our definition - the answer to "how much do you need to gamble" is "not alot" or at least it has always been less than we then get in future discounts. Ball park taking $50 a day to play in the slots, We play more for entertainment and "points" than expecting to win, so games that have alot of up and down so we can milk that $50 as long as we can. Even if we lose every night of a 7 night cruise (rare to have that happen), worst care we are out $350 - not hard to make that up in a discount on the fare for future cruises.

 

Not sure if they apply to World Cruises, but I kinda doubt it.

[3rdGenCunarder]

46 minutes ago, PACD_JG said:

The easiest way to restrain attention-seekers is to ignore them.

 

And a new opportunity has just presented itself. Makes me think of an actor bio I saw in a Playbill recently. Many actors list their websites, facebook names, etc. One said that he "is not on social media and invites you to join him there."

[mcrcruiser]

19 minutes ago, rodndonna said:

 

I could be wrong, but my understanding is that it is not actually HAL footing the bill for those discounts but the Casino club which is financially separate. Maybe someone else can provide better insight ...

 

We receive them (typically 30%) and by our definition - the answer to "how much do you need to gamble" is "not alot" or at least it has always been less than we then get in future discounts. Ball park taking $50 a day to play in the slots, We play more for entertainment and "points" than expecting to win, so games that have alot of up and down so we can milk that $50 as long as we can. Even if we lose every night of a 7 night cruise (rare to have that happen), worst care we are out $350 - not hard to make that up in a discount on the fare for future cruises.

 

Not sure if they apply to World Cruises, but I kinda doubt it.

It has always been a puzzle how the casino department   picks people for cruise discounts. We got them on Celebrity cruises for basically playing craps occasionally  .I would never play slots  unless it was a Fun slot Pull with people from our roll call .Then we put in $15 & play the $5 slot which in slot play gets better odds .  

 So I stopped trying to figure how the casino awards those free cabins or deep discounts 

[albingirl]

1 hour ago, Destiny0315 said:

The OP conveniently never responded to this post which questioned his original premise to begin with and was posted just a few hours later. It's always the same premise, turn up the heat-stir the soup-then leave it for others to clean up as it boils over.

Where I live, it's called hit and run.

[Laminator]

1 hour ago, sansterre said:

I'm not fond of these discounts but assume HAL knows that it brings in more $$$ than it costs them.  What does one need to spend (or is it based on losing?) in the Casino to receive such a discount on all cruises?  Does that apply to World Cruises too?

Below is an example from a casino player that just got off a cruise. You receive 1 point for every $2 played. So she rolled $74,000 thru the machines on her cruise. Most of the cruises you can choose are between 6 and 14 days unless HAL offers a special event cruise. The cruises are limited to the Caribbean, Alaska, Mexico, Panama Canal, Coastal, Canada/New England, Europe and Australia/New England. The casino offers are definitely diminishing for most players. 

Edited April 6, 2023 by Laminator

[rodndonna]

20 minutes ago, mcrcruiser said:

It has always been a puzzle how the casino department   picks people for cruise discounts. We got them on Celebrity cruises for basically playing craps occasionally  .I would never play slots  unless it was a Fun slot Pull with people from our roll call .Then we put in $15 & play the $5 slot which in slot play gets better odds .  

 So I stopped trying to figure how the casino awards those free cabins or deep discounts 

 

I thought (could be wrong) the Celebrity and RCL Casino reward program was a little more straightforward (at least for slots) in terms of being able to know "if I have earned X points what will that get me". We are leaving for our first Celebrity cruise Saturday, but not sure if we will check out the Casino program. We seem to be getting more Casino deals than we can take advantage of already with Holland and Carnival. 🙂

[mcrcruiser]

36 minutes ago, albingirl said:

Where I live, it's called hit and run.

what are you & them talking about .I am here & willing to answer all inquiries . I been here all the time & those comments are un called for . I do not duck issues of any kind, so please state what you want to discuss ?

 

 I still maintain that HAL's initial cruise prices are far too high for the value received if you buy from them . We are now totally convinced we will only book after final payment if we can get a suitable cabin ,at lower prices .being retired has it's advantages . We will definitely book  on a cruise if possible & it is after final payment for the new cruise .We are not interested in paying Carnival Corp. debt load

Edited April 6, 2023 by mcrcruiser

[mcrcruiser]

27 minutes ago, rodndonna said:

 

I thought (could be wrong) the Celebrity and RCL Casino reward program was a little more straightforward (at least for slots) in terms of being able to know "if I have earned X points what will that get me". We are leaving for our first Celebrity cruise Saturday, but not sure if we will check out the Casino program. We seem to be getting more Casino deals than we can take advantage of already with Holland and Carnival. 🙂

Celebrity gave us both discounted rates plus ppd gratuities The Classic drink package & free Wifi on B2B cruises .This was a blue Chip Deal ,theRCL/Celebrity Casino dept

[sansterre]

41 minutes ago, Laminator said:

Below is an example from a casino player that just got off a cruise. You receive 1 point for every $2 played. So she rolled $74,000 thru the machines on her cruise. Most of the cruises you can choose are between 6 and 14 days unless HAL offers a special event cruise. The cruises are limited to the Caribbean, Alaska, Mexico, Panama Canal, Coastal, Canada/New England, Europe and Australia/New England. The casino offers are definitely diminishing for most players. 

I'm still confused.....does the 40k at the close of the casino refer to spending or winnings.

And $700 free play?  Do they actually give free money to play casino games???

Sounds like a lose-lose for HAL.

[Laminator]

Just now, sansterre said:

I'm still confused.....does the 40k at the close of the casino refer to spending or winnings.

And $700 free play?  Do they actually give free money to play casino games???

Sounds like a lose-lose for HAL.

That player, at 40,000 points, put $80,000 into the slot machines. I have no idea whether they won or lost. I would venture to guess they lost somewhere in the area of $5000 to $7000 unless they hit a couple of decent size jackpots. In order for HAL to remain competitive with their competition they do need to offer free cabins and free play to get the gamblers on their cruises. Some of HAL's bigger players receive $5000 to $10,000 in free play along with Neptune Suites.

[mcrcruiser]

4 minutes ago, sansterre said:

I'm still confused.....does the 40k at the close of the casino refer to spending or winnings.

And $700 free play?  Do they actually give free money to play casino games???

Sounds like a lose-lose for HAL.

That is a lot of money going into a slot machine which is a computer . These are the bandits that take up the mist square feet in any casino on land or at sea .The reason is that they make the biggest contributions to the casino .The best game on any casino is the dice table which gives true odds & a easy game to play .so the casino entices people to play the slots where they make the most profits . 

[sansterre]

Thanks Laminator and Mccruiser for helping me understand.  I guess some people enjoy the risk and have fun in the Casino.  It's not for me, but everyone is different.

[Destiny0315]

On 4/3/2023 at 6:35 PM, mcrcruiser said:

Shocked to learn that a refundable deposit on a VH cat handicap with Club Orange for upgrade was $2988  for 2 refundable  deposit  cruise fares .

The refundable deposit for the cruise you were talking about in your original post was and still is in fact $700, as pointed out by Boatdrill in a post here on Tuesday. Your post contained at the very least a misleading statement to support the title you gave it, 'Highest Prices We Have Seen'. Now the thread has drifted off into whatever land. Nice play!

[mcrcruiser]

1 hour ago, Destiny0315 said:

The refundable deposit for the cruise you were talking about in your original post was and still is in fact $700, as pointed out by Boatdrill in a post here on Tuesday. Your post contained at the very least a misleading statement to support the title you gave it, 'Highest Prices We Have Seen'. Now the thread has drifted off into whatever land. Nice play!

Here is my original post :

 

We were speaking to HAL today ,With regards to a March 23 ,2024 Mexican Riviera cruise on koningsdam .Shocked to learn that a refundable deposit on a VH cat handicap with Club Orange for upgrade was $2988  for 2 refundable  deposit  cruise fares .The Club Orange added a total of $350 to the over all cost . Port taxes are $135 per pax included in the dare above. No on board credit

 

 In 2019  that cruise would have been about $1700 for 2 people .Taking off Club Orange at $25 per day per person ,the fare comes down to $2638 . $ 938,00 more than we once paid.That is a rather substantial increase in a cruise  fare

 

Now that $2988 was a price for 2 in a veranda VH  for a 7 night Mexican Riviera cruise.The fares were a refundable pricing.If we wanted to upgrade with club orange the cost per person was $25 per day or $350 total for the cruise . What I was comparing to was 2019 prices for the same 7 night Mexican riviera cruise on Koningsdam & the whopping price increases 

 

  I don't get were you are coming from .The whole issue is very very high prices on new cruises introduced by HAL  .The only way we can afford to go will be on substantial  decreased prices after final payment & a cabin selection  we can tolerate .  The percent increase is huge  in 3 years far exceeding  the inflation rates  for those 3 years .

[Destiny0315]

 

37 minutes ago, mcrcruiser said:

Shocked to learn that a refundable deposit on a VH cat handicap with Club Orange for upgrade was $2988  for 2 refundable  deposit  cruise fares

I am coming from the fact that the refundable deposit for the cruise fare for you or anybody else is $700 and not $2988 as you originally stated. Yes the refundable fare has gone up to $2988 since 2019 which in turn means the deposit amount has too. But clearly HAL is not requiring a 100% full fare deposit on a one week Mexican Riviera cruise nearly a year from now unless you choose to pay it in full now. Fini!

[Florida_gal_50]

4 hours ago, Destiny0315 said:

The OP conveniently never responded to this post which questioned his original premise to begin with and was posted just a few hours later. It's always the same premise, turn up the heat-stir the soup-then leave it for others to clean up as it boils over.

If no one responds the post will sink down but it's the same people that respond over and over.

[mcrcruiser]

1 hour ago, Destiny0315 said:

 

I am coming from the fact that the refundable deposit for the cruise fare for you or anybody else is $700 and not $2988 as you originally stated. Yes the refundable fare has gone up to $2988 since 2019 which in turn means the deposit amount has too. But clearly HAL is not requiring a 100% full fare deposit on a one week Mexican Riviera cruise nearly a year from now unless you choose to pay it in full now. Fini!

[albingirl]

1 hour ago, Florida_gal_50 said:

If no one responds the post will sink down but it's the same people that respond over and over.

Mostly because it is mildly entertaining. Better than theeads about laundry services.

[mcrcruiser]

5 minutes ago, mcrcruiser said:

1 hour ago, Destiny0315 said:

 

I am coming from the fact that the refundable deposit for the cruise fare for you or anybody else is $700 and not $2988 as you originally stated. Yes the refundable fare has gone up to $2988 since 2019 which in turn means the deposit amount has too. But clearly HAL is not requiring a 100% full fare deposit on a one week Mexican Riviera cruise nearly a year from now unless you choose to pay it in full now. Fini!

The refundable is the fact that that cruise price is HALs refundable price .Non Refundable is lower priced at less than the $2988  total price of a refundable cruise price .It had nothing to do with what the amount of the deposit was which in that pricing case is also refundable ;but ,only because of the higher pricing quoted.

Edited April 6, 2023 by mcrcruiser

[mcrcruiser]

4 hours ago, albingirl said:

Where I live, it's called hit and run.

No hit & run .The op simply did not understand my post .I subsequently clarified it ,see above 

[albingirl]

2 minutes ago, mcrcruiser said:

No hit & run .The op simply did not understand my post .I subsequently clarified it ,see above 

I don't understand it either lol.

[kangforpres]

HAL cruises are currently higher priced then they ever have been, even for what was traditional a cheaper cruise (7 Day Mexico, RT from SD) is the original point of this thread. 

 

How do HAL loyalist deal with the price increases for the product which in most CC'ers opinion has lost it's luster over the years do to cost cutting.

 

-Paul