Big cost difference!

[Marseydotes]

I was checking to see what cabins are still available on our Zuiderdam Baltic cruise in July. The difference in price between a Signature Suite I choose myself and one HAL chooses for us is $1500, which makes me think that there must be some VERY undesirable Signature Suites on the ship! Since this is our first HAL cruise, I wonder if anyone can fill me in on this! Is it typical for HAL? Should I call my TA and look into an upsell to their choice suite?

[KenNMB]

I was checking to see what cabins are still available on our Zuiderdam Baltic cruise in July. The difference in price between a Signature Suite I choose myself and one HAL chooses for us is $1500, which makes me think that there must be some VERY undesirable Signature Suites on the ship! Since this is our first HAL cruise, I wonder if anyone can fill me in on this! Is it typical for HAL? Should I call my TA and look into an upsell to their choice suite?

 

 

 

Suggest you ask your TA to explain whether the difference is due to a decrease (and you want a similar discount) or to that big a difference among the same class of Signature Suite depending on size/location.

[InTheWASide]

I would recommend take a look at the current deck plans here:

http://www.hollandamerica.com/main/DeckPlansFull.action?ship=zu_2&deck=m&WT.ac=pnav_Onboard_deckplan_ZU

 

The Signature Suites from lowest to highest are:

SZ

SY

SS

 

If it's a SZ Guarantee find every SZ, SY and SS room on the ship. You could get ANY of them. Is that okay?

 

If it's an SY Guarantee you could get ANY SY or SS. Is that alright?

 

Keep in mind that with a guarantee no rooms in that category or anything higher are off limits including funky arrangements and wheelchair accessible rooms.

 

If you would be satisfied with ANY of the Signature Suites on the ship then this would be a good move for you.

[joepeka]

Yes, that does seem to be a terribly large per person difference between "you choose" and "they choose" Signature Suites. Other than a couple of accessible Signature Suites on deck 5 forward, I believe all of them are on decks 6 and 8 and I'm not aware of any that would be considered undesirable. Are you actually booked already and just curious as to what's left or are you looking to make a reservation?

[jtl513]

How long is the cruise ... 12 or 24 days?

[stampinantie]

I booked a SZ gty for this cruise on the 29th because the price difference was huge...around 2,000 per person. If you don't know, SZ is the category they advertise when they want to sell suites at a lower rate.

 

I did a bit of research in the time before I received my assignment (10 days out, under the bathroom on the pool deck). What I decided were the risks were getting a room under the pool and hearing scrapping chairs, getting a handicapped room which apparently are smaller due to accessible bathroom, or a cabin far forward or aft which is difficult for those with mobility issues due to the walk from one end of the ship to the other or if you are prone to motion sickness.

 

I absolutely didn't care if any of those things happened, plus it was fun to wait. If you feel otherwise, then I'd pay the extra. My cabin cost is probably going to be about 40% of the cost of the trip, but you still want the cabin to be what you need.

 

A family member is looking at that cruise and the prices have come down nicely especially with the anniversary promo.

[DaveOKC]

I was checking to see what cabins are still available on our Zuiderdam Baltic cruise in July. The difference in price between a Signature Suite I choose myself and one HAL chooses for us is $1500, which makes me think that there must be some VERY undesirable Signature Suites on the ship! Since this is our first HAL cruise, I wonder if anyone can fill me in on this! Is it typical for HAL? Should I call my TA and look into an upsell to their choice suite?

 

That does seem to be a very large difference. Only thing I could think of is if it is a longer cruise AND you are moving from an SZ to an SS.

[SilvertoGold]

After final payment or very shortly before sometimes the pricing goes south if HAL is trying to fill the category. This may be what is happening with this cruise.

[catl331]

That does seem to be a very large difference. Only thing I could think of is if it is a longer cruise AND you are moving from an SZ to an SS.

 

After final payment or very shortly before sometimes the pricing goes south if HAL is trying to fill the category. This may be what is happening with this cruise.

If OP is talking about the Jul 4 sailing, a fare-tracking site says the SZ price dropped from 4499 to 3699 on 4/21, and then to 3299 on 5/13, so it does look like they are chopping heavily to fill the category. (SS remains at 4699)

[Marseydotes]

Yes, we are booked on this cruise--12 days. We paid close to this price, and not for even a balcony, so the difference seems insignificant! I will do as suggested by experts here (thanks!) and check out all the SZ suites for possible problems. Never had a problem with motion, and a suite of any size is preferable to no suite to me, so it would only be early morning or late night noise that would hinder taking this price!

I do understand that tips are higher, but only by a total of $12 per person for the 12 days.

[DaveOKC]

If OP is talking about the Jul 4 sailing, a fare-tracking site says the SZ price dropped from 4499 to 3699 on 4/21, and then to 3299 on 5/13, so it does look like they are chopping heavily to fill the category. (SS remains at 4699)

 

That makes more sense. HAL likes to use certain categories (like SZ) for low price promotions to fill the ship.