Don't Discounts Annoy you??

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sail7seas

Guest
I find it so annoying (and perhaps a few other words :)) that there are discount codes out there that apply to various HAL ships and almost everyone could take advantage of them if we all knew about them.

Wonder why only some people hear about only some of the discount codes?

It was on another board that I heard about Promo 6.....if it had not been for that person mentioning it, we would not have gotten a huge savings simply for the asking.

I promise in the future, that I shall post all codes I learn about. Hope others will do the same.
 
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CruisinTex

Guest
S7S, yes, it really bothers me. I didn't even know the promo codes existed until reading about them recently on this board and another board. I'll sure try to use them in the future especially with the prices HAL charges for those S suites we love! And I, too, will post any that I hear about.
 
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tomc

Guest
I just saved a bunch of bucks on the May 23 cruise because someone on that thread mentioned a promotion that my TA said worked. That's why God created message boards (and the devil created some of the junk that goes on them).
 
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jboydston

Guest
I find it interesting that many people who replied to my post "furious at Holland America" telling me to live with a 70% reducation in price since I made final payment 2 weeks ago would say that they don't agree with the cruiseline practice of offering promotions and not making them more readily available to the public. That is my point exactly!

From what I have been able to find out researching my issue this week, it seems only a select group of TA's are offered these promotions and if you aren't lucky enough to use one of those TA's then you are out of luck. That is ridiculous! I asked Holland America for a list of these "preferred" TA's and they stated that they don't keep such a thing and that it is just a matter of getting "lucky". As consumers, I would think most of us that book cruises would find this practice unacceptable. It discriminates against those of us who book a reasonable amount of time before departure and penalizes us in the process for booking early. I don't agree with the practice and see it as a form of price fixing. Cruise lines know that if they offered these promotions on a more widespeard basis they would be losing money, so they keep them low key and hope that the rest of us will get suckered into booking at a higher rate and by the time we realize much lower rates are availabe it is too late and we would get hit with penalities.

Unless the cruising public makes their displeasure know we all get penalized. We end up deciding to wait until last minute and run the risk of having to fork out more $$$ for higher priced airline and possibly hotel prices. Also many of us must book at least 2-3 months in advance in order to secure that time off from our jobs. It seems that the same promotions should be offered to at travel agents and then those agents can decide to reduce them further by lowering the commissions they get in order to sweeten the deal and win over your business. Everyone should have a level playing field and then those that wish too could sweeten the pot. Only allowing a select few to offer such "sweetened" deals is unacceptable.
 
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sail7seas

Guest
jboydston....I still think that your situation is not exactly the same as someone who booked a "particular cabin by number" at a certain rate; that rate was reduced for the SAME cabin; and the reduced rates are reflected on HAL's own site....not some other TA's (internet) site. In a case of same cabin, price shown on HAL's site, then I think early bookers should get the discount.

You were not staying in the same cabin....you were in effect cancelling one booking and rebooking. In that instance, I think HAL has justification for refusing you. I don't think they should be obliged to match every consolidator's promos or every group that some TA has put together.

JMHO..
 
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SusanH

Guest
I'm a new kid on the block and all this talk about promo codes has me wondering where I've been. After over 100 cruises, I'm feeeling a littleleft out and stupid. The only thing I'm familiar with are some mailings from time to time that used promo codes but they never applied to our intended cruises. I also thought these great deals only came along at the last minute in order to fill up the ship and if you had already booked, you were out of luck. Am I wrong? We just booked on the Zaandam for late November - how can I check out any great deals for that and can they be applied after the fact? So there is no Santa Claus and all passengers are not treated equal. Discounts should be available to all
 
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sail7seas

Guest
Welcome, Susan. Wow....100 cruises. I would hardly call that inexperienced. These Promo Codes we are talking about are not as widely publicized as some of us think they should be. Some TA's get notice of special promotions....some do not. One TA may be informed about Code A but not about Code B. Some either don't hear about any or do not pass the info along to their clients.

Because of these type bulletin boards, cruisers are communicating and we are all learning alot.

Last week and this week, in particular, this has been a hot issue as cruise prices are dropping at rapid rates and not everyone's TA either knew about the promotional fares....or were not passing on the info.

So, as cruisers.....we are helping each other out.

Because someone on another Board mentioned a Promo Code they used, I was able to work with my TA and HAL and, seeing as we have three sets of back-to-backs booked, we saved thousands of dollars on Suites we had booked months ago.
 
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SusanH

Guest
Thank you for your welcome, sail7seas. I'm embarrassed - I was typing so fast here that I meant to say that I have sailed over 100 DAYS , not 100 cruises. Actually, I've sailed 110 on HAL in addition to some others, as well. Is there anyone that has sailed 100 cruises?
 
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sail7seas

Guest
Yes....If I am correct, our fellow @ddict ShipMaven may have been on 100 or even more cruises. She started doing crossings as a young girl with her family and has been cruising ever since......and we are so fortunate she shares her wonderful knowledge with us.
 
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MARKandROGER

Guest
I agree with Sail7Seas,
SHIPMAVEN is amazing in her generosity of sharing what she knows.
Thank You SHIPMAVEN :):):)

Mark
 
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Jo

Guest
Since one of my clients was the first to post about these wonderful discounts I will continue.

The promo 6 is still available but some dates the prices are up

Zuiderdam

Here are the dates that are still open
April 5, 12, 26 Eastern
April 19 Western
May 10, 24 Eastern
May 3 and 17, 31 Western
June 7, 21 Eastern
June 14, 28 Western
July 5, 19 Eastern
July 12, 26 Western
September 6, 20 Western
September 13, 27 Eastern
August 16, 30 Eastern
August 9, 23 Western

Price will vary by the date you choose

Promo 2045
3rd and 4th person discounts
ages 19 and up $299
Ages 18 and under $199
 
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wendyandbarry

Guest
Hi Jo
Can you use 2045 and 6 togeather? if you can that would be a Great Deal.

Barry



Post Edited (03-28-03 22:56)
 
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tomc

Guest
Gee, I know lots of people who have taken way over a hundred cruises on HAL. They're not old and they're not rich Americans. You will often see them in the dining rooms.
 
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Jo

Guest
Wendy and Barry
there are loads of discounts right now for Holland America on many different cruises but most especially on the Zuiderdam and Alaska ones.

Yes you can use Promo 6 and 2045 together. I did myself for a cruise on August 16th on the Zuiderdam. We ended up paying $3067 for a category S, 2 adults and 2 children.
It was $1441.00 per adult including all taxes in a S suite. Dates in April, May and September I have seen them as low as $1050 per adult in an S suite
 
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wendyandbarry

Guest
Yes I know, way to many I think.
I understand they are trying to fill up the ships, but some the prices are just too low to make a profit, they have to get income from somewhere else and I would not like to see services cut or charging for everything you do.
On Apr. 14 and 16 the two boards for HAL and P&O are voting for that take over and if they do approve this then what? I would have thought that HAL would be taking its line the other way like the newbe Oceania is planning to do. Who knows.


Barry



Post Edited (03-28-03 18:26)
 
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tomc

Guest
Carnival Corporation is buying out Princess / P&O, not HAL. HAL is already in the Carnival Corp stable of cruise lines, along with Canival, Cunard, Costa and a few others.
 
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wendyandbarry

Guest
I am sorry Tom I should have said, Carnival and P&O are merging, on the Books. We all know that Carnival is really buying out P&O. But you do understand my point about where HAL is headed.

Barry
 
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