Toofarfromthesea

FWIW, this was one of our favorite excursions.  The meal was one of the best I ever had, and I'm not much of a salmon person.  The view of the glaciers from the seaplane was spectacular.  We even got some unplanned entertainment.  While we were eating, a bear came out of the woods and ambled up to the outdoor grill they cook the salmon on.  He proceeded to scoop the grease from the bottom of the grill and chow down on it.  Good times and great memories.

33 minutes ago, albingirl said:

I consider lunch in the Pinnacle to be a very special occasion.  The filet with creamed spinach and mashed potatoes are really something I'm not having on a regular basis where I live.  Bring it on.  I will happily leave my coveted lounge chair and book to enjoy a very fun lunch complete with a great glass of wine. 

I was a big fan of the carpaccio.  One of my best bites all cruise.

2 hours ago, Petronillus said:

 

I think OP was hoping that in a joint billed as "fine dining," his/her comfort food would be raised to a new level. Getting the same old same old was a letdown. I get it.

Lots of fine dining restaurants serve mashed potatoes.  They may call it something fancier but it is what it is.  IAC he didn't say anything about the quality of the things he ordered.

7 hours ago, nannygoatjunction said:

I understand it is a steakhouse. I didnt say i didn't enjoy the food. 😬 and, yes, it was part of the hia package.  It is promoted as fine dining, which I guess I think of as something that takes skill to prepare, not something my kids can cook up and we eat every week.  I will eat mash taties till the cows come home.  If its offered, I can't help myself!  Hence, why I chose it.  I know many are happy, I had hoped for a little bit of exceptional. 😆 

To get exceptional you have to order something exceptional, not your same old same old.  There are exceptional things on the menu, you just chose . . . differently.

15 hours ago, nannygoatjunction said:

We had our meal last night on our embarkation day.

Seriously. Fried onion rings and mashed spud with steak? Not my idea of fine dining thats for sure.  😂

 

 

Isn't that what you ordered?  Didn't you have other choices?

On 4/23/2024 at 8:06 AM, 9tee2Sea said:

Try looking into MSC.  Very different feel than NCL.  A very European crowd on board.

I was going to ask if they just want to cruise around Europe or if they want a European experience.  If the latter I completely agree with you.  Particularly, but not necessarily, in the Yacht Club.

7 minutes ago, Mary229 said:

They are slow to process all refunds. There is another thread about onboard spending account errors and that is likely also just slow paying 

Oh, OK, I guess that makes sense, thanks.

20 hours ago, Mary229 said:

I am sorry that happened but it does sound like an honest mistake.   I hope you enjoy the cruise 

I agree, but the one thing that puzzles me is why HAL is holding onto the upsell money instead of just refunding it

11 hours ago, Sea42 said:

But 10 days for a confirmation isn't really a drop everything situation or an unreasonable expectation.

I was talking about this: "Like you, we have had trouble finding ones that meet all three of your criteria"

The 3 criteria encompassed more than getting a confirmation in less than 10 days.

6 hours ago, Torquer said:

@CafeBruno I think what you are looking for is very reasonable.  We are in a similar situation, that when we book a cruise we know exactly what we want and the only reason we use a TA is for the discount/rebate we get from them.  We always book the top suites on our cruises, so the TA gets a much bigger commission from the cruise line than someone who books an inside cabin for no more work than their booking, so we think we should get a large discount/rebate.  Like you, we have had trouble finding ones that meet all three of your criteria and we have changed TAs several times and now use a couple different TAs based on the best discount they can give us for that specific cruise.  The only point I would quibble about is your expectation of a 10% discount.  We have looked around a lot and have not found that recently.  8% or so used to be pretty common and one time we got a 9+% discount, but post-covid the best we can find is a 6-7% discount.

Sounds like you want it both ways.  You claim that you only want the best deal, but the next minute you seem to want 'drop everything to take of me' service.

6 hours ago, SusieKIslandGirl said:

@dockmanI'm not sure I understand your question. It seems the main point is getting a faster reply, so how does that reduce the agent's commission?

Because the NEXT booking takes priority over your existing booking.

8 hours ago, Steerpike58 said:

Thanks for the detailed replies to my message; I'll review and digest the info and probably come back with more questions shortly.   In the meantime, I did a sample booking and was surprised to see the very high premium associated with choosing your own room!  For a basic 'ocean view' room on a 14-day cruise, the difference between choosing my own room vs letting HA assign it was $700 - 

(and I think the premium was higher if I chose a better room class).  Is this always the case and why do they charge such a premium?  

 

The more I go through the details, the more I see the 'value proposition' eroding between HA and Viking!  The 'starting price' for HA is much lower, but - Viking include specialty coffees, sparkling water, basic wine/beer with meals, basic WiFi, specific room choice, one excursion per port, (some) specialty dining, and probably more I haven't figured out yet!  It's still hopefully going to be cheaper, but not by as much as I first thought. I guess that's somewhat obvious! (not trying to turn this into a Viking vs HA debate, just making some observations!). 

 

If you get Club Orange and book the lowest class 'guaranteed' cabin I'm pretty sure you can use the Club Orange complimentary upgrade to upgrade to a specific cabin in the highest class within your category.

21 hours ago, neutral333 said:

 

So, I contacted my TA. He sent an updated confirmation with the $100 added. Should I show that at the moment of sailing or it's going to appear automatically during the cruise?

 

Thanks 

It should happen automatically, but on my last cruise it didn't.  It was simple to get it added by Guest services.  Just be sure to bring your documentation.

1 hour ago, bigboy61 said:

You are correct. After further research, that is what I found but too late now. To her credit, she also offered the option of paying direct to Princess by calling her with our credit card number or something like that.

I'm so sorry this is happening to you.  I don't have much to offer because I've never heard of a situation like this.  One of the things posters here drummed into my head when I was a cruise newby was to be sure my deposit was charged to my credit card by the cruiseline, not the TA.  And every cruise I've booked has been with a TA and this never happened.  But that advice is too late for you.  I hope this works out for you. 

And don't let this discourage you from using a TA in the future.  Thousands of bookings have been made through a TA on this site and this is the first time I've heard of someone encountering this situation.  There are reasons to use or not use a TA, but this isn't one of them.  It is supremely unfair for someone to suggest that your situation is a reason to not use a TA.  And for the record, I'm not a TA.

22 hours ago, LJanet said:

Booking agent made the change so we assumed we used our club orange to receive the upgrade.  Please advise how to go through the ship inventory dept for upgrade. We were not aware of CO process to receive an upgrade.

 

Last numbers I have are 1.888.628.8107 or 206.626.7381.  Sounds like you got a booking agent that didn't know his business.  On a future occasion you might consider using a TA.

36 minutes ago, LJanet said:

We purchased Club Orange to get complimentary room upgrade. We booked obstructed verandah and purchased club orange.  We changed our room to standard verandah and total cruise fare increased.  We tried to get this resolved with resolution department and it’s been an ongoing battle.  I feel like cancelling the cruise and start a new booking.

How did you change your room to standard verandah?  To take advantage of Club Orange you have to go through the ship inventory dept for the upgrade.  If you simple changed your booking on your own that is not the Club Orange upgrade.  

14 hours ago, red904 said:

Put me in touch with your TA please 🙂

We're not allowed to name TAs here.  But they aren't hard to find.

20 minutes ago, HappyInVan said:

 

Not likely. Any large company has access to marketing consultants to keep them informed of the industry's doings, and for advise on future policy, And, HAL has inhouse marketing expertise.

 

 

I'm not sure I buy this argument.  Any large company also has access to technology and web consultants to present a professional face to the public on their website yet look at what a long term cluster flop their website is.  

On 4/18/2024 at 7:46 PM, red904 said:

So I book 4 to 6 suites each cruise and I book 4-5 cruises a year for my company and I was wondering if I can become a TA so I can take advantage of the commission instead of not getting any benefit of booking directly through the cruise line. I have used TA's in the past and they do not give me any additional benefits and they make a percentage of what I spend. Can someone tell me the easiest way to become an agent for myself so I can start to take advantage of the cruises I'm booking?

Thank You. 

Due respect but if you are booking this volume of business and can't get any benefits from a TA beyond what you get booking directly with the cruiseline you are doing something seriously wrong.

Now whether those benefits would inure to you or the company is an interesting point, but I don't for a minute believe that I can get 8-10% in price reductions and OBC booking a single cabin for myself while you can't get anything while booking 16-30 cabins.  It strains credulity.

19 hours ago, jimdee3636 said:

I don't like the $2.00 deposit idea at all. What's to stop people with nothing else to do from making numerous "what the hell" bookings, e.g., booking nine or ten cruises for the same time period or destination and waiting until the final payment date to cancel all but one of them? Plenty of sailings will "artificially" sell out, forcing serious customers to either look elsewhere or wait until after the final payment date in hopes that something might open up.

 

It just seems ill-conceived.

 

Jim

I completely agree.  If they have to do this they should limit such low deposit bookings to just 1.

9 hours ago, leaveitallbehind said:

Perhaps you missed that I indicated just that in my response:

"Choosing a cruise based on one or maybe two ports of call in an itinerary can lead to disappointment"

 

Your statement of "I think it is foolish to book a cruise purely on itinerary" didn't indicate that, which I why I responded as I did.

 

I agree completely with your most recent comments.

I still think it is foolish to book a cruise purely on itinerary in the broader sense.  Nobody books purely on itinerary - cruiseline, ship, amenities, cost, length of cruise, time of year, etc. also play a huge part.

20 hours ago, ldubs said:

 

I guess everyone who travels is foolish because things can happen with any kind of travel.   

They chances of missing a port on a sea voyage are much different than the chances of missing a city on a land tour.  

20 hours ago, leaveitallbehind said:

I understand that the ship and cruise line play an important part in this decision, but what other than where the ship is going would one normally consider?  Choosing a cruise based on one or maybe two ports of call in an itinerary can lead to disappointment, but IMO the overall itinerary is certainly a primary reason to choose a given cruise.

I'm talking about people who book a cruise based on a particular 'can't miss' port or two.  Of course the overall itinerary matters.  You're going to be on a ship, in a particular part of the world.  But the details of particular ports may change.

I think it is foolish to book a cruise purely on itinerary.  Things happen at sea.

1 hour ago, Ileneilene123 said:

Thank you. This is our first cruise & it’s been very difficult not to be able get access our account or manage our cruise. I know we are not alone, but still very frustrating. Many people have posted various fixes here on CC and elsewhere and so far none of those have worked for us. We are a group of 4 with 2 different bookings and not one of us can get in on any of our devices. I may ask my daughter who’s in her 20’s to give it a try — she’s always been the IT department for our family. 

Have you tried the incognito workaround?