VermeulT Posted July 23 #1 Share Posted July 23 I have questions.... How does this work? I have a reservation for Nov 29, 2024 Rotterdam cruise (no HIA). A month ago I asked my TA to refare as the price went down by about $400 for the cabin. By the time she got back to me, there were no triples available for an inside. I was told that since it wasn't available for a new booking, they couldn't have the price adjusted. On another thread, several folks have contacted their TA to have the new promo that includes crew appreciation added to their booking. Could my TA get this done or no again, since there are no cabins available under by selected category? so basically - is a refare - keeping an existing booking and getting a discount applied, or is it a cancel and rebook? and if "it depends", what determines which needs to get done? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
c4car Posted July 23 #2 Share Posted July 23 From what I understand, refare means you have the same booking number which your deposit is attached to, but adjust the room and price in this booking number. Rebook means the booking number is void and deposit is refund. All the other purchases like spa, cabana or CO will also be refund if only if they are refundable, because they attached to the booking number. A new booking is made on the new condition. If you found a better deal or same deal with a better cabin, you can ask for change. Only problem is You may loss the promotion or OBC attached to the current version of booking. . i just did a refare for the new crew appreciation promotion. My current cabin is obstructive VH and it is no longer available for 3 people. So I was quoted the next normal VH from the website. Turn out, with a better cabin, my price remind almost the same, plus the added crew appreciation. It is no brainer for me to upgrade to new VH and get the crew appreciation. I will however lose my OBC from the obstructive VH. And I am ok with it. for your senario, if your inside doesn’t have 3 people anymore when it is 400 cheaper, then how much is an ocean view? Chances are, ocean view is also cheaper. You may not get $400 back, but you can ask for a better room. If I were you, check the next category, if it is same price, switch and get the new promotion. and don’t forget to regard to non refundable price a few days before final payment. It will save you a copy hundreds there. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crystalspin Posted July 23 #3 Share Posted July 23 2 hours ago, VermeulT said: is a refare - keeping an existing booking and getting a discount applied, or is it a cancel and rebook? A re-fare is equivalent to rebooking without possibility of losing your cabin. But, as you found out, another cabin in the same category (including additional pax in room, I just learned!) must be available... otherwise you would actually have to cancel and rebook, and any waitlisted party would snag your cabin. It is not "getting a discount applied" per se; it is getting all new conditions applied. Usually lower fare, sometimes additional promo (like daily service fee), but as c4car described -- you may also lose perks, if they have dropped off. But you could have your TA call again -- could be a triple in your category has cancelled in the meantime, making you eligible! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmcfad2 Posted July 23 #4 Share Posted July 23 FYI. I am booked on a cruise in February and my booking includes the Have It All. I saw the fare had gone down and crew appreciation had been added to HIA for their new promo. I called and was able to get the lower fare and the crew appreciation on my booking and keep my room and original booking number. I talked to a supervisor to get it done. I also had the promo code to give her. I lost $50 OBC when I refared. She told me that if the new promotion had a higher price for my cruise category I would have had to rebook, lose my existing onboard credit and take the new, higher price to get the crew appreciation added. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GalBoston Posted July 25 #5 Share Posted July 25 On 7/23/2024 at 10:23 AM, dmcfad2 said: FYI. I am booked on a cruise in February and my booking includes the Have It All. I saw the fare had gone down and crew appreciation had been added to HIA for their new promo. I called and was able to get the lower fare and the crew appreciation on my booking and keep my room and original booking number. I talked to a supervisor to get it done. I also had the promo code to give her. I lost $50 OBC when I refared. She told me that if the new promotion had a higher price for my cruise category I would have had to rebook, lose my existing onboard credit and take the new, higher price to get the crew appreciation added. it worked for me as well, price for the same reservation was adjusted downwards multiple times for the same cruise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VermeulT Posted July 25 Author #6 Share Posted July 25 Update - my TA said they can’t add the Save On Sunshine promotion because we booked it several months ago and it’s only applies for recent bookings (since July something through Aug 20th or something close to that). We’d have to rebook. Which since there are no other inside triple available, we’d have to upgrade to another category. I understand what @c4car was saying, but we had a larger inside so the “upgrade” to an outside wouldn’t really be an upgrade to us. this was for the 9 day Rotterdam on 11/29. I’m considering the 11 day Eurodam on 11/27. It would be the same price for 2 extra days even before adding crew appreciation. Decisions, decisions.! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
57redbird Posted July 25 #7 Share Posted July 25 We decided to stay with what we booked - CO is sold out if we re-fared & we ❤️ CO. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dianeh Posted July 26 #8 Share Posted July 26 At a loss. Our Jan 5 cruise to N Z is $700 less than when booked. I checked our cabin which was in cabin 1086 for 9198. Cat D. We found a cabin 1070 for cheaper. The only difference is our current elite bev vs signature. The difference doesn't matter to us. We would like some advice. Thank you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare POA1 Posted July 26 #9 Share Posted July 26 If you are outside of final payment you can refare your cruise. If you had the Elite Beverage Package, you probably had premium Wi-Fi and prepaid gratuities as well. You'd give those up and get whatever the current offer is. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare BermudaBound2014 Posted July 26 #10 Share Posted July 26 (edited) I just re-fared a cruise leaving in January 2025 also. The current 'sunshine' special still includes gratuity (and I believe yours will too) so you may not lose that (I didn't). As POA1 mentioned, there is a difference in your internet package. You will likely be downgraded from premium to surf internet. For us, the downgrade in beverage package doesn't matter as DH drinks beer. I'll pay to upgrade to premium internet onboard. It's hard to say exactly what you will save without knowing which promo you booked under. Note any difference in OBC also. For me this was a chunk of change savings. Best of luck! Edited July 26 by BermudaBound2014 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeannieAZ Posted July 26 #11 Share Posted July 26 (edited) I noticed that my May 2025 cruise fare dropped by $200 3 days after booking it. (received email from CruisePlum.com). CruisePlum's price graphs are quite useful in seeing pricing trends by cabin class. I called Holland America and the agent was very cordial and efficient in re-faring at the lower price. Edited July 26 by JeannieAZ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CruiserBruce Posted July 26 #12 Share Posted July 26 27 minutes ago, JeannieAZ said: I noticed that my May 2025 cruise fare dropped by $200 3 days after booking it. (received email from CruisePlum.com). CruisePlum's price graphs are quite useful in seeing pricing trends by cabin class. I called Holland America and the agent was very cordial and efficient in re-faring at the lower price. Welcome to Cruise Critic! Be aware we are not allowed to name or discuss travel agencies on Cruise Critic. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare BermudaBound2014 Posted July 27 #13 Share Posted July 27 (edited) 24 minutes ago, CruiserBruce said: Welcome to Cruise Critic! Be aware we are not allowed to name or discuss travel agencies on Cruise Critic. I'm sure you know this, but just in case the OP does not, we are allowed to mention cruiseplum since it's not an agency (it's just a data mine for cruise pricing.). Edited July 27 by BermudaBound2014 5 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dianeh Posted July 27 #14 Share Posted July 27 What does 'low price guarantee' mean on a booking? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dianeh Posted July 27 #15 Share Posted July 27 10 hours ago, BermudaBound2014 said: I just re-fared a cruise leaving in January 2025 also. The current 'sunshine' special still includes gratuity (and I believe yours will too) so you may not lose that (I didn't). As POA1 mentioned, there is a difference in your internet package. You will likely be downgraded from premium to surf internet. For us, the downgrade in beverage package doesn't matter as DH drinks beer. I'll pay to upgrade to premium internet onboard. It's hard to say exactly what you will save without knowing which promo you booked under. Note any difference in OBC also. For me this was a chunk of change savings. Best of Do I list what we got to find out which promo we booked? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare BermudaBound2014 Posted July 27 #16 Share Posted July 27 10 minutes ago, dianeh said: Do I list what we got to find out which promo we booked? Well, first question is, do you have a refundable deposit? If you booked under the $1 promo or $25 promo it might be cost effective to lose it. If you booked a higher non-refundable deposit you might be out of luck (but do the math). There are two Have It All (HIA) promos. Sounds like you have the early booking HIA that includes elite beverage and premium surf (all HIA packages include the same amount of specialty and shore excursion so no need to list that). Most of those also include crew appreciation which can be significant. If you have crew appreciation in your original booking, you want to account for that in your re-fare. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CruiserBruce Posted July 27 #17 Share Posted July 27 1 hour ago, BermudaBound2014 said: I'm sure you know this, but just in case the OP does not, we are allowed to mention cruiseplum since it's not an agency (it's just a data mine for cruise pricing.). Actually, I didn't know that. They don't sell anything? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare luv2kroooz Posted July 27 #18 Share Posted July 27 18 minutes ago, CruiserBruce said: Actually, I didn't know that. They don't sell anything? Sure don't. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare BermudaBound2014 Posted July 27 #19 Share Posted July 27 40 minutes ago, CruiserBruce said: Actually, I didn't know that. They don't sell anything? Not a thing. It’s a decent site to track pricing except I’ve found price drops days before they show on cruiseplum. But still, it’s one of the tracking sites I use. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeannieAZ Posted July 27 #20 Share Posted July 27 1 hour ago, dianeh said: Do I list what we got to find out which promo we booked? Only base fares are tracked, so you'll have to add on anything beyond that to get your price. If you've already purchased your cruise, scroll down towards bottom of home page to "Direct Lookup" and enter in your ship and departure date from drop down menus. Current prices will display for all cabins and below that is a graph of base fares over time. Then click the "track this sailing" button. There is also a flight search tool that searches Google flights and Skyscanner. At the very bottom of the page the "More info and book" button will take you to the cruise line's booking page. Loads of specific search options and tools are available that I haven't looked at yet; only found out about this site after I booked my cruise. I accessed from a Macbook, don't think it would be easy to navigate off a phone. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeannieAZ Posted July 27 #21 Share Posted July 27 (edited) 2 hours ago, BermudaBound2014 said: Well, first question is, do you have a refundable deposit? If you booked under the $1 promo or $25 promo it might be cost effective to lose it. If you booked a higher non-refundable deposit you might be out of luck (but do the math). There are two Have It All (HIA) promos. Sounds like you have the early booking HIA that includes elite beverage and premium surf (all HIA packages include the same amount of specialty and shore excursion so no need to list that). Most of those also include crew appreciation which can be significant. If you have crew appreciation in your original booking, you want to account for that in your re-fare. I booked on HAL with a $350 deposit. The agent confirmed that the deposit remained intact with the re-fare (booking # remained the same). Probably only lost if cancelled outright. Edited July 27 by JeannieAZ misspell Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare BermudaBound2014 Posted July 27 #22 Share Posted July 27 10 hours ago, JeannieAZ said: I booked on HAL with a $350 deposit. The agent confirmed that the deposit remained intact with the re-fare (booking # remained the same). Probably only lost if cancelled outright. HAL isn't consistent on this policy, that's for sure. I booked a non-refundable $1 deposit and just re-fared yesterday. I could not keep the same booking number with the new sunshine special and for some odd reason HAL insisted on refunding me the 'non-refundable' $2 deposits connected to the original booking 😄 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Please sign in to comment
You will be able to leave a comment after signing in
Sign In Now