We requested a downgrade.

[danielsumner]

We booked during Hollands Sale at Thanksgiving for a cruise leaving next week.  We got Tips, Beverage cards and OBC from Hal.  Also a bunch of OBC from our TA.   I had picked a cabin on the spa deck.  I have been watching the available cabins just fun, waiting for our cruise.  A lower cabin came available with a humongous balcony.  I called my TA and asked about the possibility of moving, but not if I was going to lose any of my perks.  Holland was good to us, they kept our perks, moved us to the cabin with the humongous balcony, and wait, wait wait.  They gave us a refund of the difference between the price of the spa cabin and the new location.

 

[Sea42]

That's wonderful!

[Dogstar]

17 minutes ago, danielsumner said:

Holland was good to us, they kept our perks, moved us to the cabin with the humongous balcony, and wait, wait wait.  They gave us a refund of the difference between the price of the spa cabin and the new location.

 

Congrats on the positive stateroom category downgrade to a better one more to your liking. Nice to hear HAL was supportive with a fare difference refund, retained benefits, etc.  👍🏻

Edited December 6, 2018 by Dogstar

[iancal]

Smart.  It pays to watch for category pricing changes.

 

We did exactly the same on a Celebrity cruise a few years ago.  We often find the cabin categories within similar types of cabins to be meaningless.  Like you, we look for a large bump out balcony.  Princess and Celebrity have some of these as well.   More than once we have downgraded our balcony cabin, saved money, and ended up with a cabin that is as good or better than our original.  When we book outside the final payment window we pay close attention to not only price decreases but also to shifts in how the various cabin categories are grouped together from a pricing perspective.

Edited December 6, 2018 by iancal

[a.madruga]

wow  great  have fun

[rhgold53]

On 12/6/2018 at 5:06 AM, danielsumner said:

We booked during Hollands Sale at Thanksgiving for a cruise leaving next week.  We got Tips, Beverage cards and OBC from Hal.  Also a bunch of OBC from our TA.   I had picked a cabin on the spa deck.  I have been watching the available cabins just fun, waiting for our cruise.  A lower cabin came available with a humongous balcony.  I called my TA and asked about the possibility of moving, but not if I was going to lose any of my perks.  Holland was good to us, they kept our perks, moved us to the cabin with the humongous balcony, and wait, wait wait.  They gave us a refund of the difference between the price of the spa cabin and the new location.

 

How did you watch available cabins while waiting for your cruise?  I don't see anywhere on the HAL website where you can monitor the progress of bookings or see which cabins are still available.

[Krazy Kruizers]

That is fantastic!!

[danielsumner]

11 hours ago, rhgold53 said:

How did you watch available cabins while waiting for your cruise?  I don't see anywhere on the HAL website where you can monitor the progress of bookings or see which cabins are still available.

 

HA site will not show all available cabins.  Most TA sites don't either, only about 6 to 10 to chose from.  I found one TA site (I don't book with them, but they show all the specials) that show most if not all available cabins in the categories.  I do a lot of research ( I really enjoy getting the best deal).  To bad cruise critic doesn't have a private message function,  I would send you the information.  My TA is great.  I use several TA sites for research and just one to book.