Extra fee to select your own cabin?

[gizmodog]

I think that fee is ridiculous! Just like the airlines charging extra if you pick an aisle seat. Todays world I guess and if we want an aisle seat or to choose our own room, we are being held hostage and have to pay. Welcome to todays world

[Tampa Girl]

45 minutes ago, gizmodog said:

I think that fee is ridiculous! Just like the airlines charging extra if you pick an aisle seat. Todays world I guess and if we want an aisle seat or to choose our own room, we are being held hostage and have to pay. Welcome to todays world

 

First of all, it is not a fee.  Secondly, this is not "todays world."  Where you sit in a theater; where you sit on a plane or train; what amenities may be available at a slightly higher price, have been around for decades.  If you object to paying the cruiseline for the ability to pick your own cabin, don't sail HAL or several other cruiselines.  These complaints are, IMHO, ignore realtiy.   

[OlsSalt]

Guarantees are like gambling: you pays your money and takes your chances.

Anyone have a spreadsheet about the relative win:loss ratio?

 

Chances are for the most part the final cabin assignment will be just fine. But there are Goldilocks cabins out there, just to make the game interesting.  Some matter, some do not.

 

1. Under the Lido deck

2. Near the elevator

3. Under/over entertainment areas

4. Under the ping pong table

5. Near crew stairwells

6. Near the anchors

7. Under tile-floored galley and prep rooms

 

[3rdGenCunarder]

1 hour ago, gizmodog said:

I think that fee is ridiculous! Just like the airlines charging extra if you pick an aisle seat. Todays world I guess and if we want an aisle seat or to choose our own room, we are being held hostage and have to pay. Welcome to todays world

 

Try to think of it as a discount for being willing to give up the opportunity to choose your cabin. 

[crystalspin]

Definitely been around for as long as the HAL website has been friendly to passengers doing their own booking. I don't remember exactly what year I was looking at a Princess cruise (Coral Princess Panama Canal) but remember there was no savings to let them choose cabin -- I wondered who would do that!

[DaveOKC]

1 minute ago, crystalspin said:

Definitely been around for as long as the HAL website has been friendly to passengers doing their own booking. I don't remember exactly what year I was looking at a Princess cruise (Coral Princess Panama Canal) but remember there was no savings to let them choose cabin -- I wondered who would do that!

I have seen that - you have the option to select your cabin or go with a guarantee which would be for at least that category but the possibility for an upgrade at no extra cost.

[Mary229]

5 minutes ago, crystalspin said:

Definitely been around for as long as the HAL website has been friendly to passengers doing their own booking. I don't remember exactly what year I was looking at a Princess cruise (Coral Princess Panama Canal) but remember there was no savings to let them choose cabin -- I wondered who would do that!

I remember before you could book online.  I was an infrequent cruiser, didn’t know any better and always took the guarantee.  Thankfully my agent usually got me moved when it was a bad draw. 

Edited July 13, 2023 by Mary229

[gizmodog]

1 hour ago, Tampa Girl said:

 

First of all, it is not a fee.  Secondly, this is not "todays world."  Where you sit in a theater; where you sit on a plane or train; what amenities may be available at a slightly higher price, have been around for decades.  If you object to paying the cruiseline for the ability to pick your own cabin, don't sail HAL or several other cruiselines.  These complaints are, IMHO, ignore realtiy.   

Really? It is a fee, I pay the fee to book the cabin I want. When I book on celebrity I am not charged extra to pick my own cabin. The FEES have not been around for decades, I have been around for decades and I’m here to tell you it is todays world.

not trying to be obstinate if I want to sail HAL I will and I will pay the FEES to chose my own cabin, I stand by my first comment, the FEE is ridiculous as are all the extra fees a lot of companies are charging now IN TODAYS WORLD!

[OlsSalt]

3 minutes ago, gizmodog said:

Really? It is a fee, I pay the fee to book the cabin I want. When I book on celebrity I am not charged extra to pick my own cabin. The FEES have not been around for decades, I have been around for decades and I’m here to tell you it is todays world.

not trying to be obstinate if I want to sail HAL I will and I will pay the FEES to chose my own cabin, I stand by my first comment, the FEE is ridiculous as are all the extra fees a lot of companies are charging now IN TODAYS WORLD!

 

What other suggestions to you have to retire the covid-inflicted $10 billion dollar debt CCL was forced to incur, just to sail another day?

[Mary229]

You pay a lot of fees to cruise.  This one is and has been optional. If you can’t afford it then don’t pay it.  

[crystalspin]

@gizmodog The lines (Princess and apparently Celebrity) that don't DISCOUNT guarantees are just leveeing the FEES on everyone. You do understand that, right?

[Hlitner]

9 minutes ago, gizmodog said:

Really? It is a fee, I pay the fee to book the cabin I want. When I book on celebrity I am not charged extra to pick my own cabin. The FEES have not been around for decades, I have been around for decades and I’m here to tell you it is todays world.

not trying to be obstinate if I want to sail HAL I will and I will pay the FEES to chose my own cabin, I stand by my first comment, the FEE is ridiculous as are all the extra fees a lot of companies are charging now IN TODAYS WORLD!

Actually, on Celebrity (and some other lines) you are often paying extra to choose a cabin.  While they do not charge, what you call a fee, if you book a specific category guarantee (often called cat X) the price will be less than selecting a specific cabin in that same category.   Of course the cruise agent would tell you that you get a "discount" for doing a guarantee.  Same difference.

 

We always choose guarantees when we book Seabourn which has gotten us very nice upgrades on 5 or our 6 bookings!  On their ships, all the veranda cabins (in various categories) are exactly the same other than location.  Since we could care less about our location, doing a V1 guarantee is a no brainer and has saved us thousands of dollars on 5 out of 6 bookings .  

 

On Princess we will often choose a mini-suite guarantee when it is priced lower or the same as the lowest category mini.  Again, all the mini suites are the same except for location.  Nearly fifty years of cruising has taught us that the most perfectly located cabin can be a real "lemon" because of noisy neighbors, squeaky panels, etc.  

 

On our recent Westerdam cruise we had dinner (a few times) with a delightful couple that had what they called "the cabin from hell."  They had carefully chose that suite for its "perfect" location.  But their cabin had a badly malfunctioning A/C system (it was never repaired during the 42 day voyage), had trouble getting cold water in their shower (I kid you not) which was never fully fixed, and had a very noisy cabin ceiling (which was never fully rectified).  I once teased them that, at least, they had their chosen location :).  I might add that our Signature Suite guarantee cabin was one of the best cabins we have ever had on any cruise.  We never heard any of our neighbors, our A/C system was perfect (the thermostat actually worked), and everything in our nice bathroom was perfect,  We were also blessed with terrific cabin stewards.  Just luck of the draw.

 

Hank

 

Hank

 

Hank

[gregma60]

You are not paying "extra" to be able to choose your cabin, you are paying "less" to allow them to choose the cabin for you (including a bad cabin).  It's not an extra fee, the choose your cabin is the normal fare, the let us pick a random cabin for you is giving you a discount.  And yes, I've noticed that the discounts are getting more on some sailings, on some itineraries and one some ships.  Also, seems as if the number of available undesirable cabins grow, that discount also grows.  If you are ok with rolling the dice and getting a good cabin, let them pick it and get the lower fare.  If not, choose your own at the non-discounted rate.

 

-gregma

[Tampa Girl]

10 minutes ago, gregma60 said:

You are not paying "extra" to be able to choose your cabin, you are paying "less" to allow them to choose the cabin for you (including a bad cabin).  It's not an extra fee, the choose your cabin is the normal fare, the let us pick a random cabin for you is giving you a discount.  And yes, I've noticed that the discounts are getting more on some sailings, on some itineraries and one some ships.  Also, seems as if the number of available undesirable cabins grow, that discount also grows.  If you are ok with rolling the dice and getting a good cabin, let them pick it and get the lower fare.  If not, choose your own at the non-discounted rate.

 

-gregma

 

Exactly.  Thank you.

[dchip]

We picked our own cabin on the Volendam because we like the Dolphin deck OV. Love looking out the window and being so close to the water. We have had the exact same cabin on both the Amsterdam and Maasdam. More importantly we did not want to be on Deck 3 looking out on the promenade deck. Those cabins are higher category than our Dolphin Deck but is wasn’t worth leaving it to chance. 51 days is too long to not have the location you want. 
Denise

[Florida_gal_50]

10 hours ago, POA1 said:

I know that there's more of a push to promote the lower cruise fare that comes with a guarantee, and it's kind of more pronounced if you happen to be viewing the "new" HAL sites. BTW - since today, July 13th is celebrate your geekness day, here's how to tell which version of the site you are seeing. You'll need to look at the URL line in your browser. (If you don't know what I'm talking about, you clearly are not celebrating with me today. 😉)

 

In the USA, if the part of the URL after the dot com is:

 

/en_US/

 

Then you have the old site. I think Canadians get /en_CA/ and I'd guess my UK pals get /en_GB/ and Aussies get /en_AU/ but I don't know for sure and I'd need a VPN in those countries to test it out. (As a geek, I have said VPN. I'm just not really committed to finding out.)

 

Anyway... The new version of the site has URLs with

 

/en/us/

 

in them. My guess is that the server cookies "stick" you to a version once you hit the old or new flavor. My browsers dump their cookies upon closing because I do a lot of web nonsense and need to always fetch fresh versions of sites and pages. So... If you see /en/ca/ in Canada, you are probably seeing the new version. If you see /en/us/ you definitely are.

 

I noticed this looking at the site when I was trying to find a cruise for 2024. The search changed, and I was like, "What in the actual heck?" That's when I saw the URL change.

Thanks.  Mine does say en/ca

[RD64]

8 hours ago, gizmodog said:

I think that fee is ridiculous! Just like the airlines charging extra if you pick an aisle seat. Todays world I guess and if we want an aisle seat or to choose our own room, we are being held hostage and have to pay. Welcome to todays world

Ridiculous or not - it is what it is. If you do not like it, you have the option to find another cruise line which allows you to book as you wish.

[RD64]

5 hours ago, Mary229 said:

You pay a lot of fees to cruise.  This one is and has been optional. If you can’t afford it then don’t pay it.  

I truly love your particular brand of charm and honesty. Sadly, a lot of people do not like our particular brand of charm and honesty, and will file a nuisance report.

 

From Economics 101 -Opportunity Cost Day 1. You can’t always have your cake and eat it too. Higher Fare / Pick Your Cabin or Lower Fare / Let HAL choose for you.

Edited July 14, 2023 by RD64
Additional

[Florida_gal_50]

2 minutes ago, RD64 said:

Ridiculous or not - it is what it is. If you do not like it, you have the option to find another cruise line which allows you to book as you wish.

I’m sure the op realizes that 🙄.  Why does this always have to be the response when someone doesn’t like something?  

[RD64]

Just now, Florida_gal_50 said:

I’m sure the op realizes that 🙄.  Why does this always have to be the response when someone doesn’t like something?  

Because it is true!

[Florida_gal_50]

19 minutes ago, RD64 said:

Because it is true!

Yes, then hal can have nothing on its ships besides the freebie takers, and cheerleaders.  That’s a great way to improve a product. That will work.  It should be no skin off hal if they sell an h guarantee cabin or if you pick an h cabin.  Until recently that’s the way it was.  It’s nothing like airlines.  If you have to pay for an aisle seat instead of sitting in the middle I have no qualms about that because there is value.  If there is value, that is the key difference.

[RD64]

It is all about profit maximization - plain and simple. If HAL, and Princesss (and others I am sure) can increase revenue and maximize their profits then so be it. They are a business plain and simple and must evolve if they wish to remain a going concern.

 

They are providing consumers with options and there is nothing wrong with that - not being a cheerleader. By offering guarantees at a lower price point they are serving one segment of the market. By allowing consumers to select a specific cabin at a higher price they are serving a different segment. In marketing terms, we call this “Price Discrimination” - nothing illegal in doing so.

 

Guarantee cabins are truly the luck of the draw. Sometimes you win - sometimes you lose. If a consumer gets a “bad” cabin - in their opinion - they will be less likely to select a guarantee next time around, and select a higher priced specific cabin. If they get a significant upgrade, they will continue to play the lower priced, guarantee game.

 

Given the exhorbitant airfares and out of control port taxes, the guarantee option allows consumers to save a few $$$ if they so choose. At the end of the day, nobody is forcing the informed consumer to choose this option.

 

 

[Florida_gal_50]

4 minutes ago, RD64 said:

It is all about profit maximization - plain and simple. If HAL, and Princesss (and others I am sure) can increase revenue and maximize their profits then so be it. They are a business plain and simple and must evolve if they wish to remain a going concern.

 

They are providing consumers with options and there is nothing wrong with that - not being a cheerleader. By offering guarantees at a lower price point they are serving one segment of the market. By allowing consumers to select a specific cabin at a higher price they are serving a different segment. In marketing terms, we call this “Price Discrimination” - nothing illegal in doing so.

 

Guarantee cabins are truly the luck of the draw. Sometimes you win - sometimes you lose. If a consumer gets a “bad” cabin - in their opinion - they will be less likely to select a guarantee next time around, and select a higher priced specific cabin. If they get a significant upgrade, they will continue to play the lower priced, guarantee game.

 

Given the exhorbitant airfares and out of control port taxes, the guarantee option allows consumers to save a few $$$ if they so choose. At the end of the day, nobody is forcing the informed consumer to choose this option.

 

 

And that would be a valid argument if they weren’t handing out cabins for free like candy.  You can say this will generate extra income.  I’ve heard many people complain that they still have to pay port fees.  I think that a pretty safe bet hal won’t be rolling in dough from that exercise.

[gizmodog]

I love cruising and will continue to cruise with whichever cruiseline I wish to cruise….thank you for giving me the option to leave though.

I have and I’ll continue to pay their ridiculous fees because I like to choose my own cabin, it’s not all about saving a few bucks, it’s about how everything is about making more money above and beyond. they could easily solve this by just raising the fee by 10 or 15 percent and not having all of these different prices. 
I have many choices in cruising and I choose by itinerary , cost and cabin choice. 
you cheerleaders really are the company’s dream, anything they choose to do is alright with you, that’s fine but as long as they can do it without complaint or loss of business things will just keep going up up up. I pay what they deem fair do not complain to them, love my cruises, but it does not mean I agree with their policy of an up charge to choose a room. 
you obviously from your response think it’s fine for airlines to charge to choose an isle seat, which is a fairly new charge, most people know including the government that airlines are charging for everything extra, soon it will be soda and water, yet I still pay because what can I as one person do? Nothing! So let’s keep cheering for all of the ways we can let them charge us. I will just enjoy life, my cruising and be sure not to say anything negative about the way anybody does anything on these boards. It is my opinion and I was under the impression everybody’s opinion was welcome on these boards. Apparently only opinions that are agreeable and nothing else!
 

[OlsSalt]

This discussion is a little bit of this - is it not? Which way can two people see the same thing and reach opposite conclusions. Is this an old lady or a young beauty?