Pre-Purchasing for Our Cruises.......

[kryos]

Anyone else getting many of these reminders/suggestions?

Funny you should ask that question. I just got one tonight. Problem is I've already prebooked just about everything ... months ago.

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[Krazy Kruizers]

We just got back from our cruise to Alaska, no welcome home letter, probably too soon but I also never get emails and very seldom snailmail. I was hoping for an apology from HAL for forgetting our 50th wedding anniv. and my DH's birthday this last cruise but again natta. :mad: Our TA couldn't get a decent answer from them either. Nevertheless we booked another cruise for Sept. '09 yesterday. Worse things could happen. :)

 

DH also celebrated his birthday on our May cruise -- the Pinnacle staff kept talking about it as they knew about from our TA -- but when the actual date came -- nothing!!

When we got home there was a Happy Birthday e-mail from HAL.

But as yet we have never received a "Thank you for Traveling with us" e-mail.

At this late -- don't expect to get one.

And - yes we did book another future cruise while we were cruising.

[kryos]

Yes; we have a long [ Grand] cruise coming up in September. I can see the logic for HAL; find & sell POPULAR tours- have an edge on who & how many.

As regards shore excursions ... HAL may like to get them prebooked as far in advance as possible so that they know how many tour operators they need to contract with for each tour. I would imagine that some tours sell out simply because there are no more available tour guides in the port to offer them. Other cruise lines snapped them up ... after all, HAL is not necessarily the only cruise line in port that day ... so HAL is stuck with the original number they hired ... and can't clear out their wait lists.

 

So it makes sense to know pretty much which tours are going to be popular ... popular enough that people will pay money in advance to book them ... so that HAL has plenty of time to make sure they have the available manpower to meet demand.

 

Remember that shore tours are big, big business ... involving lots of money. I must have spent close to $2 grand on various shore excursions for my upcoming Hawaii/South Pacific cruise this September. Believe me, HAL hates like h*ll to turn anyone away and lose that revenue ... especially with the price tags on some of the tours in certain areas. So it is important they know as far in advance as possible what they will need in terms of resources to meet the anticipated demand.

 

Same sort of thing would go for making spa appointments, etc. What if the spa were going to be extremely popular with the passenger demographic on that particular cruise? I am sure there are some cruises where the spa is more heavily used than others. Well, you'd want to know that in advance so that you don't have to turn anyone away (and lose that revenue). Even though the spa is independently owned and operated, I am sure HAL gets a nice cut of their onboard revenues, so it's in HAL's best interest to make sure they have enough people to meet the customer demands on any given sailing. So, if you knew you had an unusually high number of bookings for treatments, HAL could always allocate extra cabins for spa personnel, and less perhaps in another area, so that more can be brought along on that particular sailing.

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[sail7seas]

We'll be celebrating our 39th Anniversary while aboard Maasdam. I don't think our PCC know our Anniversary date but that's fine! ;)

[ANSalberg]

We'll be celebrating our 39th Anniversary while aboard Maasdam. I don't think our PCC know our Anniversary date but that's fine! ;)

 

Congratulations on 39 years together!!! We've been married a very long time too [ college sweethearts] I never wanted to marry someone else and when we were raising our family/working -we didn't have the TIME to vacation very much -NOW we are enjoying retirement an absolutely incredible adventure TOGETHER! NOW we cruise! Now YOU have the time TOGETHER; Cherish it -and each other! Best Anne

[sail7seas]

Thank you, Anne. We also met in college and are grateful for the adventures we have shared. The good ones and the not so good ones. ;) We have celebrated many anniversaries on HAL ships. We were aboard Maasdam last year for our 38th. We celebrated our 20th and 25th aboard. Our 30th.... and some 'non-milestone' ones.

 

Congratulations on your many years together!! And wishes for many more wonderful adventures. Happy traveling. :)

[mamaofami]

Congratulations, Sail. In today's world, that's an impressive number.

Last two cruises, I've been registering on line, saying I'm using cash, and then changing it when we get to the desk pre boarding. It only takes a minute.

I love the idea of another credit card with a small limit to use on line. I'm going to do that today...if I remember.:D

['The Bear']

'Sail' ---- Congratulations on your milestone anniversary !! We, too, just celebrated our 39th on May 3; again like you & the others, college sweethearts.

 

May you be blessed with many more !!:)

 

Gord

[innlady1]

Thank you, Anne. We also met in college and are grateful for the adventures we have shared. The good ones and the not so good ones. ;) We have celebrated many anniversaries on HAL ships. We were aboard Maasdam last year for our 38th. We celebrated our 20th and 25th aboard. Our 30th.... and some 'non-milestone' ones.

 

Congratulations on your many years together!! And wishes for many more wonderful adventures. Happy traveling. :)

 

We celebrated our 40th in May, Sail! Not on HAL...here at the inn. :rolleyes:

We want to celebrate when we close for the season, mid October, and have always celebrated big anniversaries (and our honeymoon) in Bermuda.

There are two choices for a cruise to Bermuda in October: NCL Dream and RCCL Jewel. Neither thrill me as you can imagine. :(

[innlady1]

We'll be celebrating our 39th Anniversary while aboard Maasdam. I don't think our PCC know our Anniversary date but that's fine! ;)

 

An early Happy Anniversary to you and DH, sail! :)

[innlady1]

Thanks for starting this thread, sail!

It reminded me that, although I've received emails from HAL, I've not received any snail mail since returning here in late April. I realized I'd forgotten to go in and change our address with HAL...from our winter address to our summer address.

I get something from Princess on a weekly basis (or more), but that's the address they always have...I've forgotten in the fall to change it with them back to our winter address.

It gets confusing. :rolleyes:

[kryos]

Just received an email an hour ago from HAL - same thing - welcome to Hawaii and reminder to explore activities and plan details online (purchase shore tours and onboard gifts).

We must have definitely been in the same batch. I got the exact same one ... probably at about the same time.

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[sail7seas]

Congratulations to all who celebrated their anniversaries....the milestone ones are extra special but they are all wonderful!! Many more years together in good health and happiness and

 

CELEBRATING THOSE HAPPY EVENTS ON HAL SHIPS!!! (Either on the date or a little early/little late. ;) )

 

We've woken sometimes if it's a birthday or anniversary and found balloons on our door, cards in our mailbox. It's so festive and fun and very appreciated.

[lazey1]

Sail I am averaging about one a week. But then I currently have 4 HAL cruises booked. I have two (October and February) Mexican Riviera cruises coming up and I am getting an email about every other week for up for a Mexican Rivier excursion and I am not sure which cruise they are talking about :D

 

What I did get yesterday in the mail which I thought was interesting was the big thick book that said Caribbean and Mexican Riviera 2009 to Spring 2010

Of course I quickly looked to see if they changed their minds about regular 7 day Mexican Riviera cruises in 2010 and sadly nothing:( The only 7 days cruises are just Holiday cruises. I feel like HAL is abandoning us on the West Coast:(

Please check, are there any Baja Mexico cruises for 2010? I did not receive that book.