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Is this normal for HAL?

gertiesmom

By gertiesmom,
in Holland America Line

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gertiesmom

gertiesmom

Posted
Posted

Ok, so my family and I leave on the Amsterdam on Sunday. When we originally booked, we had 2 veranda suites. When we booked. They said since we are flying in the day before and we had suites, we could stay at the fairmont Olympic hotel for free the night before the cruise. Of course we said yes!

 

So, we got an upsell to Neptune suites 2 weeks ago. We reprinted all our paperwork, and it does show our hotel reservations still. My mom, who always double checks everything, called the hotel to confirm our reservation. They have reservations for us... At $212 per room. My mom asked to verify that HAL is paying for the room and they said that was confidential. So, she called HAL today, and the man says they don't give out free hotel rooms for Neptune suites.

 

Does this sound right to you all? We were never told of this when we took the upsell. Has this happened to anyone else? Now my mom is freaking out that it's a "sign" that things are gonna go wrong on this trip. We can afford the rooms, that's not a problem, just a little mad that they would take away a free hotel room after it was promised to us. We were also supposed to have free transportation.

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pris993

pris993

Posted
Posted

Do you have documentation that you had the free hotel, free transfer originally in writing?

 

You may be able to use this as leverage to request HAL reinstate.

 

If you don't, I don't know how the HAL agent would know this was promised initially.

 

Glad you can afford to cover.

 

Lesson learned here, is always ask if free items promised will be included in the upsale.

 

Good luck.

 

Hope you have a great trip.

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Jemima

Jemima

Posted
Posted (edited)

OP stated their paperwork after the upsell still shows the hotel. The total amount of cruise including any hotel cost would also show on that.

HAL hotels include the airport to hotel and hotel to ship transfers.

OP or her mom should contact HAL again on this or go through their TA if they booked with a TA.

Edited by Jemima
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kazu "Live from...." Rare

kazu

Posted
Posted

the trouble with calling is that you get two or three different answers.

 

I would email so at least you have something in writing.

 

I have never heard of things disappearing when you take an upsell.

 

 

that doesn't mean it wouldn't happen, it just doesn't make sense.

 

I am hoping LAFFNVEGAS sees your post and has time to chime in.

 

It just doesn't make sense to me that they would delete something with the upsell.:confused:

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Lizzie68

Lizzie68

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Posted

I think it does happen... when I was new on this forum and searching for information on Alaska cruises, I saw at least one post from someone who had a room in Vancouver hotel as part of the cruise package with Holland. I'm afraid I can't even remember what I typed in to search, but I know I read it. Hopefully someone can confirm that for you.

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canadianbear

canadianbear

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I don't think they should take away your "free" room either. You need to make a big stink about that. You paid for an upsell in good faith and they need to honor the hotel for free as they stated when you booked.

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gertiesmom

gertiesmom

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Thanks for all the responses. I think my mom is just disappointed and now she is worrying. I told her not to worry, that the hotel snafu is not a big deal and we will have a great vacation anyway. Yes, the hotel is still listed on our paperwork, so maybe there is just some sort of miscommunication. I guess we will find out when we get there! I will let you all know what happens!

 

Also, we booked directly with HAL. Our original paperwork also shows the hotel reservation, without any charges for the hotel. We booked with a military discount in January. Maybe that has something to do with the hotel rooms?

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PathfinderEss

PathfinderEss

Posted
Posted (edited)

I also have never heard of Hal giving away free rooms, except maybe the 'World Cruise'. There are packages where they will shuttle you from an airport to a hotel and then to the pier but Hal charges for these kind of packages. Certainly never heard of this when you up sell to a Neptune Suite.

 

Never heard of Hal having a Military rate either, have we been missing out? Wow, this is so interesting, please do come back and tell us how all of this turns out.

Edited by PathfinderEss
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erewhon Holiday Sharing Rare

erewhon

Posted
Posted

Here is our experience with HAL giving a pre cruise hotel room.

In 2010, we had booked the last Alaskan cruise of the season, to be followed by the Trans Pacific.

 

I had read here on Cruise Critic that HAL were "giving" a hotel night at the Pan Pacific or the Fairmont Hotel situated at Canada Place, for the veranda staterooms categories or above.

I asked our Travel Agent to enquire on our behalf, to my great surprise HAL agreed that they would give us the pre cruise night at the Pan Pacific, meet us at the airport, and transfer us to the hotel.

 

As we were flying into Vancouver 3 days prior to the cruise, we contacted the Pan Pacific to book the other 2 nights, staying in the same room that HAL would be giving us. After several communications with a charming hotel employee we were booked so that we did not have to change rooms after 2 nights.

 

To our surprise when we printed our boarding passes, HAL had changed us to the Fairmont Hotel. After contacting our Travel Agent, who had to contact the HAL agent who then contacted HAL, HAL agreed for us to stay at the Pan Pacific as originally stated.

 

As we were flying in on the Sunday for our Wednesday cruise, I e-mailed HAL enquiring if we would be met at the airport, the reply stated that NO we would not be met.

We were quite happy with that decision.

 

On arrival in Vancouver, collected our luggage and headed for the exit.

 

We saw a HAL representative who was obviously searching for HAL passengers, we paused and asked if she was looking for us, YES, she was!! She gave us pre cruise information and took us to a taxi with instructions to the driver to take us to the Pan Pacific. She gave him a voucher for the taxi fare.

 

So, it pays to check with HAL and to check with the HAL representative at the airport.

 

We arrived in the hotel room to see the Ryndam departing early at 4.10pm.

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happyzoey

happyzoey

Posted
Posted

It is one of the current promotions that HAL is having. If you book one of their suites you can get a free night and this was on their website and also got those brochure in the mail. This is what's written on the brochure:

 

" Enjoy a free overnight stay at a downtown hotel in Seattle, Vancouver, Fairbanks or Anchorage with the purchase of a spacious suite. In Seattle, stay at the luxurious Fairmont Olympic Hotel, the Pacific Northwest's only AAA Five Diamond hotel"

 

*Offer applies to select cruises and Land+Sea Journeys on the ms Amsterdam, ms Statendam, ms Zaandam, ms Volendam, ms Oosterdam, ms Westerdam, and ms Zuiderdam.

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Crew News "Live from...." Rare

Crew News

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Posted

We have received a free room in Vancouver from our HAL PCC for our last Neptune Suite cruises out of Vancouver (Fairmont and Pan Pacific). Since we did a back-to-back, we received a pre-cruise room and a post-cruise room. It must be noted that the breakfast is not included.

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happyzoey

happyzoey

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I don't know of any code and you probably won't be able to combine it with any other offers. But then again if you originally book a cabin/suite that includes a free night hotel then you should still be able to get that after upgrading to a "higher" category suite.

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kjw869

kjw869

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Posted

We were given a free hotel room at the Pan Pacific Hotel in Vancouver for our May cruise, as well as the couple traveling with us. We paid $6.42 PP in taxes. It was from a promotion earlier in the year. Hotels are notified with the passengers names 14 days before the cruise. Pan Pacific had no record of our names until that time.

 

Hope you get this straightened out and have a wonderful cruise!

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