Be warned, Only 1 Name Change allowed !!!

[lucchese1]

On our upcoming 05/12/07 group Alaskan cruise, we have one person that was originally sailing with his wife when we booked the trip last year but just 2 weeks after booking they found that she could not go so, they made a name change to bring there daughter. All was fine until now 2 weeks before the cruise and they find out that the daughter suddenly can not go either, dead set on completing his dream trip he decides to bring his elderly father whom has never been on a cruise.

When he calls to make the name change and pay the 50.00, he is told that the booking number had a previous name change and only 1 is allowed per booking, only 2 options

1) Cancel and rebook, loosing his 2300.00 :eek:

2) Book his father as the 3 passenger in the room and pay the 700.00

to get him on but only 2 people sail - obvious better option:(

 

I am not blaming HAL for this because I know before the ship sails the manifest has to approved by security and all I just think they should make a little more clear about this issue! O well a 700.00 lesson but he's still gonna cruise~!

[Grumpy1]

Thanks for the information about this. It's not often that it would come up, but it would certainly be a shock, not knowing about it in advance. I don't know if it's covered anywhere in the fine print or not.

 

I guess I can see possible reasons for the policy though. People would be buying and selling their cruises on Ebay and making a business of booking cruises on early bird specials and selling them when demand is high, creating a lot of paperwork for the cruiselines in the process.

[Bramcruiser]

Wouldn't a third option be - considering the room is fully paid for two people - go single and pay no more. Of course, it would be less fun without companionship but single travel is not unheard of.

 

Sorry this happened to this person though and I must admit it would have caught me offguard if it happened to me.

 

David

[lucchese1]

Wouldn't a third option be - considering the room is fully paid for two people - go single and pay no more. Of course, it would be less fun without companionship but single travel is not unheard of.

 

Sorry this happened to this person though and I must admit it would have caught me offguard if it happened to me.

 

David

 

I think why there is no option 3 for him is that his wife would trust him to be single and alone for 7 days on a cruse ship:D. just kidding!

Thank you for the response!

[SakeDad]

I'm assuming he didn't have travel insurance so he could cancel without penalty. Thanks for another reason to buy that insurance.

[MercedMike]

Thanks for the information about this. It's not often that it would come up, but it would certainly be a shock, not knowing about it in advance. I don't know if it's covered anywhere in the fine print or not.

 

I guess I can see possible reasons for the policy though. People would be buying and selling their cruises on Ebay and making a business of booking cruises on early bird specials and selling them when demand is high, creating a lot of paperwork for the cruiselines in the process.

 

Exactly right. In fact, the FIRST name change is a courtesy that the cruise line allows, usually only when it is done well in advance.

[InTheWASide]

HAL doesn't have a "$50 name change fee"

 

It's based on how far out you are (outside of penalty) and at all times there must be at least one name that remains the same. (You can't change all names as that isn't fair if there's a waitlist)

 

There is never a set fee, because you would be cancelled by "adding the standard protection" and then you save your 80%

 

I don't think I'm explaining it totally right, but it DOES make sense.

 

But HAL does not have a set fee. I know that for a fact.

[LAFFNVEGAS]

HAL doesn't have a "$50 name change fee"

 

It's based on how far out you are (outside of penalty) and at all times there must be at least one name that remains the same. (You can't change all names as that isn't fair if there's a waitlist)

 

There is never a set fee, because you would be cancelled by "adding the standard protection" and then you save your 80%

 

I don't think I'm explaining it totally right, but it DOES make sense.

 

But HAL does not have a set fee. I know that for a fact.

 

 

This is true, In our recent Oosterdam cruise there was a couple that were going with us that about 4 weeks before the cruise had a slight tiff and were sort of broken up and he was interested in changing the name to another friend. The cost was a sliding scale percentage that they could not even tell us what it was other than if he did it the day we checked on it the cost was going to be some odd amount like $722.52 and if he waited 5 days it was then $745.79 not exact numbers but you get the idea. They too told him if he waited much longer it would be cheaper to just pay for a third person because the closer to sailing the higher the cost. I think that the $50 cost comes into play that if you are a year out the fee starts at $50 and that is the minimum. The good news on my friends, they ended up getting back together a few days later and he proposed to her the night of our ROV on the ship. Yes, ALL is still good with them:)

[babyher]

Lisa,

 

That is so odd that you mentioned that about your friends. Since we booked our upcoming October cruise this past January, three of the couples have broken up :( Two married, one just dating.

 

One couple though seem like your friends , just taking a breather and look like they may work things out. (crossing fingers)

 

The second couple were a surprise , but not a shock.

 

The 3rd couple were more like, "What took them so long?"

[willowoodf]

On one of our cruises, two of the people at our dining table were a "couple" that booked a cruise but then later broke up. They decided to take the cruise anyway, even though they weren't a couple anymore. They at least stayed friends enough to go on a cruise and stay in a cabin together without killing each other, which can't always be said about breakups!

 

Mary

[lucchese1]

No he did not have the insurance, and the 50.00 name change thing just a couple days after the final payment was due, I had to make a couple of other changes and they told me if there were more than 2 letters to be changed it would be a 50.00 charge, we had to pay this twice thats all I know!

[ocngypz]

The operative word here is "GROUP". Double name changes are not allowed.

However, in FIT, as long as one original passenger remains on the booking.. then you pay the sliding scale.... which can get VERY expensive.

[beachchick]

Thanks for the information about this. It's not often that it would come up, but it would certainly be a shock, not knowing about it in advance. I don't know if it's covered anywhere in the fine print or not.

 

I guess I can see possible reasons for the policy though. People would be buying and selling their cruises on Ebay and making a business of booking cruises on early bird specials and selling them when demand is high, creating a lot of paperwork for the cruiselines in the process.

 

Yep. In fact, on another cruise line forum here, one of the members asked (quite seriously) if it would be possible to reserve a cabin during a sale, etc. and then sell it at a profit to someone else at a later date. This was a serious question--wanting to make a profit on booking a cabin during a sale. I expect this is a primary reason why at least one person on the original booking must remain on the booking.

 

Certainly the cruise line can set any rules they want regarding pax names and specific bookings. I still don't see why it should be a problem to change the second pax a second time. There is still one original pax on the booking. But, they can make the policies because they own the ships.

 

beachchick

[Jade13]

This sounds like a cancellation policy issue, otherwise anyone could buy a cruise and then sell it to someone else.

 

Now, $700 doesn't sound that bad when you consider that Hal's Platinum Cancelation insurance (cancel for any reason) would have been about $300.00 per person (based on price and location) plus 10%, so about $520.00 cost to cancel including cost of the insurance. Not sure if the OP would have to pay the single price because than every single would book two rooms and have someone cancel.

 

It sounds like HAL is being REALLY fair. I didn't know you could make a name change after final payment.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Thanks for the information. I never realized that you were allowed only 1 name change.