Upgrade question

[doubleduty]

I have a specific VE cabin booked on the Oosterdam. I also checked the box for upgrades. Will HAL send me an email to let me know of an upgrade or do I just need to check my booking to see if the cabin number changes? I know upsells are done via email but was not sure about upgrades. I have never had an upgrade or upsell offer and I am hoping for one this time around. Since I did not win the powerball jackpot, thought maybe I would get lucky with HAL. Either way, I am happy with the cabin I booked.

[cruz chic]

Since you've picked your cabin you are way less likely to receive an upgrade. Those normally go to people that book guarantees. That said, it's not impossible. You'll need to check your reservation or the luggage tags to look for a change. You may also get an email notifying you.

[sail7seas]

Did you use a TA?

If so, the TA would get any upsell/upgrade notifications.

[Krazy Kruizers]

I agree with cruz chic -- since you booked a specific cabin -- no matter whether you booked through a TA or through HAL, guarantee people will be upgraded first.

Hope you get lucky and there will be some "upgraded" cabins left and you do get one.

Also be prepared for an upsell offer -- keep in mind what you are willing to pay for the upgrade as HAL doesn't wait forever for you to respond.

I see your cruise is in June -- nothing will happen for quite some time.

[RMLincoln]

We had a specific cabin on Nieuw Amsterdam, requested no upgrade....

But when prices started dropping about 6 weeks out I emailed our HAL PCC and asked what deals might be available - really looking for OBC for expensive shore excursions we wanted to do.

 

Well PCC came back with some offers, no OBC but one upgrade (didn't like it) and a couple of upsells, but he suggested we wait a couple of weeks.

 

Did that and received an array of one upgrade and a few upsell offers, one of which we liked so we took it. No OBC. PCC HAL isn't doing that much anymore.

 

That's how it worked for us. m--

[cruz chic]

We had a specific cabin on Nieuw Amsterdam, requested no upgrade....

But when prices started dropping about 6 weeks out I emailed our HAL PCC and asked what deals might be available - really looking for OBC for expensive shore excursions we wanted to do.

 

Well PCC came back with some offers, no OBC but one upgrade (didn't like it) and a couple of upsells, but he suggested we wait a couple of weeks.

 

Did that and received an array of one upgrade and a few upsell offers, one of which we liked so we took it. No OBC. PCC HAL isn't doing that much anymore.

 

That's how it worked for us. m--

I agree, Hal seems to be more likely to give upgrades instead of obc as of late.

[doubleduty]

I have booked a VE cabin directly with HAL on the Oosterdam. I checked the box saying I was interested in an upgrade. If I get one, does HAL send me an email or do I just keeping checking my booking to see if the cabin changes? If I don't get one I am perfectly happy with the cabin I booked but it sure would be nice to get an upgrade or even a decent upsell.

[doubleduty]

Sorry. I know there are duplicates of this question but I kept getting error messages and after re=doing the same message I saw my original message posted.

[cruz chic]

doubleduty had trouble with error messages on CC, that many others reported (and I experienced too).

 

Be kind with newbies.

 

I don't think it had anything to do with being unkind. Just letting the op know that there was another thread. Newbies can be "unkind" to the long term posters but that never seems to be recognized so please be kind to the long term posters too:). There was definitely issues with cc yesterday.

Edited January 25, 2016 by cruz chic

[ent704]

Does anyone have an idea about how many people book guarantees on an average exotic cruise? I know this sounds nuts but I wonder so I could get an idea if my chances are good for an upgrade.

[galensgrl]

I agree with cruz chic -- since you booked a specific cabin -- no matter whether you booked through a TA or through HAL, guarantee people will be upgraded first.

Hope you get lucky and there will be some "upgraded" cabins left and you do get one.

Also be prepared for an upsell offer -- keep in mind what you are willing to pay for the upgrade as HAL doesn't wait forever for you to respond.

I see your cruise is in June -- nothing will happen for quite some time.

 

DH and I booked a guarantee for the first time ever for our 9 night Atlantic Coast cruise in April/May. When I booked directly through HAL they told me there was a possibility of an upgrade to a Neptune Suite. Since this our first guarantee experience, wondered how that worked. We did book the "A" category of Verandah suite, so there is the possibility (however slight lol) that we may be upgraded to a Neptune. Since we don't have a specific cabin in mind, I guess we will just hang tight and see what the guarantee fairy has in store for us lol. Thanks for the insight.

 

Lorie

[Mtn2Sea]

Earlier this month I got my first "real" upgrade for our cruise on the Zuiderdam. I had booked a veranda guarantee and about a week prior to departure I received my cabin assignment for a veranda at a higher category than I had booked. For that assignment I received an email from HAL. For the last two weeks, the cruise was shown as sold out. During that time, I was booking excursions and could see my cabin number. On the night prior to boarding, I went online one last time to read about an excursion our friends traveling with us had decided to take. HAL's site was no longer showing excursions for the cruise, but I noticed our cabin number had changed. We had been given a last minute upgrade to a signature suite. We never received an email for this last minute upgrade. When we dropped off luggage at the terminal, I asked a porter if he had a manifest to confirm our cabin number. We quickly switched out luggage tags to show the new cabin number and only then did I fully accept that we had been given the upgrade. The only real problem with all of this is the free upgrade may very well cost me in the long run because we are now sooo spoiled.

[DaveOKC]

DH and I booked a guarantee for the first time ever for our 9 night Atlantic Coast cruise in April/May. When I booked directly through HAL they told me there was a possibility of an upgrade to a Neptune Suite. Since this our first guarantee experience, wondered how that worked. We did book the "A" category of Verandah suite, so there is the possibility (however slight lol) that we may be upgraded to a Neptune. Since we don't have a specific cabin in mind, I guess we will just hang tight and see what the guarantee fairy has in store for us lol. Thanks for the insight.

 

Lorie

 

Since you booked an "A" cabin, the next level up is a Neptune suite, so an upgrade to it is possible.

 

However, on the smaller HAL ships, there are only about 35 Neptune cabins and they tend to sell out. Even if they do not, HAL normally will first offer Vista suite (your A is a Vista) passengers a "paid upgrade", where you pay $XXX to move up to a Neptune. This way HAL gets money for the upgrade.

 

In my experience, these "paid upgrades" go rather quickly and normally sell out the Neptunes. If this does not happen, then you could get lucky and get a free upgrade.

 

What I do is watch the HAL website to see how many Neptunes are still open for you cruise and decide which ones I would want (based on location mostly). Plus, I come up with a dollar amount I would be willing to pay for this upgrade, in case I get one of the magical upsell offers (they are on a first come, first served basis, so act QUICKLY).

 

If you booked through HAL, you will get an email on these paid upgrade/upsell deals. Otherwise the offer will go to your travel agent, so be sure to advise him/her of your interest in this and to call you right away if they get one.

[jtl513]

Earlier this month I got my first "real" upgrade for our cruise on the Zuiderdam. I had booked a veranda guarantee and about a week prior to departure I received my cabin assignment for a veranda at a higher category than I had booked. For that assignment I received an email from HAL. ... We had been given a last minute upgrade to a signature suite. We never received an email for this last minute upgrade.

A down-scale version of your story also happened to us. We booked an H Gty and 10 or 11 days out were assigned a C ... just a higher level outside. Three days before departure I was checking things and noticed we had been re-assigned to a Veranda. No email was sent, and had I not noticed I would have found out at the pier ... hopefully before turning bags over to the porter. :)

[cruz chic]

Does anyone have an idea about how many people book guarantees on an average exotic cruise? I know this sounds nuts but I wonder so I could get an idea if my chances are good for an upgrade.

 

I don't think anyone but Hal could answer that. My guess, and it's only a guess, is that there would be less people taking a guarantee on an exotic cruise then on something like a Caribbean cruise.

[Lizzie68]

doubleduty had trouble with error messages on CC, that many others reported (and I experienced too).

 

Be kind with newbies.

 

Doubleduty was obviously suffering the pains we all had with CC yesterday, which was very frustrating. However, hardly a newbie.:) That twirling circle going nowhere was soooo annoying, but on the other hand I can see why someone would think their original thread did not "take", and tried again.

[MMaryM]

Can someone explain what a guarantee booking it? Thanks.

[DaveOKC]

Can someone explain what a guarantee booking it? Thanks.

 

A "guarantee" booking is where you pick the cabin Category you want and the cruiseline picks the cabin for you. You normally get a lower price than if you selected an exact cabin (in the same category) plus you stand a much better chance of being upgraded to a higher category.

 

HAL offers this for two reasons: 1) they can promote a lower price and 2) it gives them more flexibility in filling out the cabins.

 

Hope this helps.

[cruz chic]

A "guarantee" booking is where you pick the cabin Category you want and the cruiseline picks the cabin for you. You normally get a lower price than if you selected an exact cabin (in the same category) plus you stand a much better chance of being upgraded to a higher category.

 

HAL offers this for two reasons: 1) they can promote a lower price and 2) it gives them more flexibility in filling out the cabins.

 

Hope this helps.

 

You "may" get a lower price on a guarantee if it's after final payment. I haven't noticed that to be true on cruises that are further out.

[jtl513]

You normally get a lower price than if you selected an exact cabin (in the same category) ...

Not true ... at least not on HAL, although that may be the case on other lines. We've done several VE or VD guarantees (in order to avoid deck 4 VH or VF steel-wall balconies) and have always paid the same price as if we had chosen a specific VE or VD on that same day.

 

If you ask for a general "veranda class" gty you are really booking the lowest possible veranda, VH, so of course that will be a lower price. Usually these general class guarantees are not available until after final payment date, but some friends got one months earlier through a Mariner's Magazine special sale.

.

Edited January 26, 2016 by jtl513

[crystalspin]

The only real problem with all of this is the free upgrade may very well cost me in the long run because we are now sooo spoiled.

 

I wonder if that's not in the algorithm...

[DaveOKC]

Not true ... at least not on HAL, although that may be the case on other lines. We've done several VE or VD guarantees (in order to avoid deck 4 VH or VF steel-wall balconies) and have always paid the same price as if we had chosen a specific VE or VD on that same day.

 

If you ask for a general "veranda class" gty you are really booking the lowest possible veranda, VH, so of course that will be a lower price. Usually these general class guarantees are not available until after final payment date, but some friends got one months earlier through a Mariner's Magazine special sale.

.

 

Why didn't you then select a specific cabin instead of taking a chance, if the prices were the same?

[crystalspin]

Why didn't you then select a specific cabin instead of taking a chance, if the prices were the same?

 

It's that idea that you're more likely to get an unpaid assignment above your specs (which I do not have the experience to say, but which I'm sure HAL is happy for people to believe).

 

(1) I would be very very careful due to the reclassifications on HAL in particular, so that less desirable cabins are actually ranked higher than ones most of us would prefer, at least in the lower categories like inside. When you get the operator on the phone and ask why for your Special-K guarantee you got a much smaller cabin with no sofa and only one chair, they have a glib reason: "Oh it's higher in the ship! It's an I!" I'm sure they have a boilerplate list posted next to the phone "It's higher/it's lower/it's midship/it's AFT! no, it's Foreward!"

 

(2) Right now, OV guarantee on the Volendam for the Vancouver R/T in June, is in fact the same price as picking your own cabin in the partially or fully obstructed zones. I picked ours! with the help of Roy's webpage, here. I have seen guarantees go lower after Final Payment but have also seen categories go ONLY guarantee, as the company moves people around like chess pieces, trying to fill cabins AND lifeboats to the max but no more.

 

(3) We had a SPECIFIED OV on the Zaandam (had to be a Triple, even) and did get an upsell offer for a nice triple verandah -- and only the first two people had to pay the extra fee! Three upgrades for the price of two! And yes it spoiled us...

[DaveOKC]

It's that idea that you're more likely to get an unpaid assignment above your specs (which I do not have the experience to say, but which I'm sure HAL is happy for people to believe).

 

(1) I would be very very careful due to the reclassifications on HAL in particular, so that less desirable cabins are actually ranked higher than ones most of us would prefer, at least in the lower categories like inside. When you get the operator on the phone and ask why for your Special-K guarantee you got a much smaller cabin with no sofa and only one chair, they have a glib reason: "Oh it's higher in the ship! It's an I!" I'm sure they have a boilerplate list posted next to the phone "It's higher/it's lower/it's midship/it's AFT! no, it's Foreward!"

 

(2) Right now, OV guarantee on the Volendam for the Vancouver R/T in June, is in fact the same price as picking your own cabin in the partially or fully obstructed zones. I picked ours! with the help of Roy's webpage, here. I have seen guarantees go lower after Final Payment but have also seen categories go ONLY guarantee, as the company moves people around like chess pieces, trying to fill cabins AND lifeboats to the max but no more.

 

(3) We had a SPECIFIED OV on the Zaandam (had to be a Triple, even) and did get an upsell offer for a nice triple verandah -- and only the first two people had to pay the extra fee! Three upgrades for the price of two! And yes it spoiled us...

 

I agree - generally I do not let HAL upgrade me, even for free, as I select a cabin I like and VERY often there are higher ranked (by HAL not me) cabins that I would not like to get a "free upgrade" to. I mark my reservation "do not upgrade".

 

Now, even though I marked it "do not upgrade", HAL can (and often does) contact me with a PAID UPGRADE (upsell). This works for me as I can accept or decline the cabin (of course I have to pay for the upgrade, but its normally well worth it).

[jtl513]

Why didn't you then select a specific cabin instead of taking a chance, if the prices were the same?

We were hoping for - and got - an upgrade from what we paid for: once a VB and a couple of VA's. As I said, we did not want to take the chance of getting a steel-wall balcony, but were willing to take anything above those deck 4 VH/VF.

 

However, I will no longer do guarantees since the reclassification three years ago made many of the cabins that are undesirable to me higher ranked than the VE/VF guarantees. We now choose specific VE or VFs on decks 7 or 8.

It's that idea that you're more likely to get an unpaid assignment above your specs (which I do not have the experience to say, but which I'm sure HAL is happy for people to believe).

We were very lucky, and got upgrades on all 9 of our guarantees.

.

Edited January 26, 2016 by jtl513