Newbie vs Long time Customer

[startwin]

Some time ago, on a thread I can't find now, I said I would come back and report my experience, compared to my daughter's - who is a complete Newbie with Hal (though has cruised other lines). We booked after final payment, the same ship - Zuiderdam -, same itinerary (Alaska/Inside Passage), same guarantee category (HH) but sailing a month apart. And we used the same TA.

 

I just broke all the figures down. I had one negative experience with HAL when the HH price dropped $100 pp, but HAL would not honour it or give an OBC (I've seen reported on her many times that pax have received generous OBCs when price drops, but not me, the 3* mariner:().

 

Each of us got one free upgrade, and 2 upsells - HH to VH to VF and eventually arriving at assigned SY cabins. She paid slightly less for her upsells than I did. I was PO'd about that, I can tell you! She sailed in the SY. I leave next week, and just got an additional upsell offer, very reasonable, which I accepted, for a Neptune suite (SB) in a great location. What I ended up paying per person for it was hugely below posted price, so I am a very happy camper (sailor!).

 

Overall, no - the Newbie did not get preferential treatment except for the slightly less upsell amounts, but I ended up much better off in the end for my Neptune suite.

 

Moral of this story..... I have always booked well ahead, and selected a specific cabin. I am quite liking this guarantee process now!:D

 

Anyway, hope that little experiment erases the suspicion that HAL treats newbies better. Having said that, this is just a one-time experience.......

[localady]

Enjoy your SB!

It's good to know that the process is not totally tilted toward the newbie cruiser. So often my 2 star children have been offered prices they refuse to give to me, a 4 Star.

I am happy that your guarantee worked for you this time! Bon Voyage!

[SilvertoGold]

Thanks for posting this!

 

Glad you did so well with the upsells and the assignments. This year at any rate it does seem to benefit booking the Vista ships to Alaska as they are not as well booked and hence a lot of upsells compared to the S and R class ships.

 

Love to hear that you are happy with the guarentee booking! It works for us quite well, although if you are looking for upsells, guarentees aren't necessarily going to get you them. The worst you can do with gusrenttes is Collector's, as HAL wants to find a cabin for both segments and you will be pretty much stuck there, with not much chance of upsells or a really good assignment.

 

Sorry about the price drop. We've had the same situation and usually get just an upgrade to our guarentee, but with this year's pricing being so low, my TA said HAL was saying no, period (we are 5 star).

 

The varied experiences with newbies/low and high stars seems to point to no actual plan but an ad hoc situation.

 

Thanks again for the interesting report!

[Krazy Kruizers]

Thank you for posting the different experiences.

Still looking for perks as an old time cruiser.

(know they won't happen)

[erewhon]

startwin,

 

Thanks for your interesting post.

 

Congratulations on your upsell, hope that you and your DH thoroughly enjoy the SB.

[NoobCruise]

I'm glad you feel you were treated fairly. As a newbie who fell in love with HAL, it is sad to hear so many loyal customers unhappy.

[Taz]

Wow, sounds like you got great offers on your upsells and upgrades! I've received an upsell offer for my cruise at the end of next week and passed on it. I have a mid-ship CA (Lanai) and was offered a move to a BQ (Spa Verandah) at the front of the ship and above the show lounge for $300. I'm not sure I'd want to be there even if it was at no charge. We'll see if anything else comes my way.

[kazu]

Nice to hear this startwin:D:D Happy you got a Neptune Suite:)

 

You are going to have a BLAST:D

 

Enjoy the sweet life in your suite:D

[innlady1]

Wow...that's quite a jump...to a Neptune suite, startwin. Huge congratulations to you and enjoy!

I, too, have always booked a specific cabin and labeled it "do not move". This time, I took a VF GTY. We'll see what happens!

[Randyk47]

Not that it's HAL but we're now booked on our first Seabourn cruise. It's no surprise that since HAL and Seabourn are co-located in Seattle and also co-managed by some of the same staff/departments that the booking and cruise management experience is pretty much the same. Though I'm certainly not counting on it I can't help but wonder how we'll be treated in terms of upgrades or up sell offers. Seabourn, like HAL, does do or offer those but I'm not getting the feeling from reading the Seabourn boards that there is any preference shown to or given to first time cruisers. Maybe. We'll see. Of course, since we're within the greater Carnival Corporation family, maybe we won't be considered "newbies" even though Mariner status doesn't directly transfer to Seabourn. Just as an aside not all cruise lines play "fast and loose" with their cabins. One cruise may not be typical but I know that on our Silversea cruise last year higher cabin categories were available and those cabins sailed empty. I can't say I asked or at least pressed the issue but I was told by their PCC they typically don't do that. As I recall the comment was something along the lines of "we don't want to offend booked guests". I take that with a grain of salt but that was the response more or less and it never came up again.