Club Orange worth it?

[kazu]

1 hour ago, Iamthesea said:

Does CO try to push dining with others?

 

No, they don’t.

[0106]

9 minutes ago, kazu said:

You had me intrigued so I went to look.

 

Same as you would see in there - the special / additional entree is not listed just as it wasn’t on the menu on board.

I see it on my Navigator app…at bottom in orange…scallops.

[kazu]

Just now, 0106 said:

I see it on my Navigator app…at bottom in orange…scallops.

 

Oops - I’m as a blind as a bat.  Apologies

 

That’s great they are now there.

[Anne614]

In May of last year my friends who were in a Neptune suite got a different menu which listed the club orange special entree.

[Florida_gal_50]

19 minutes ago, 0106 said:

I see it on my Navigator app…at bottom in orange…scallops.

Thanks for posting.  It was not there on my cruises on the koningsdam, even while on the ship.  Hopefully they will continue to do that.

[Florida_gal_50]

16 minutes ago, Anne614 said:

In May of last year my friends who were in a Neptune suite got a different menu which listed the club orange special entree.

Very strange.  I always had to ask.  Last cruise was in November.

[Iamthesea]

1 hour ago, AFNavigator said:

If you are truly interested in Club Orange, you can have your TA contact HAL to see if they will permit a temp downgrade to an obstructed balcony, buy Club Orange, then "free" upgrade back to your VA category cabin.  We did that last year (booked direct with HAL so contacted HAL direct) on the NS.  They let us do that process and it ended up saving us $60 off the V category room we had booked (and got again through Club Orange).  Essentially by buying Club Orange, we got our room for $60 less and got Club Orange benefits for "free".

I am truly interested and why my TA has been working on it for 2 days.😁  She said that I would not get an answer until Friday.  I have no idea why.  Perhaps she is off until then.  🙄

1 hour ago, Florida_gal_50 said:

I seam to remember @Crew News getting a obc when an upgrade wasn’t available before the pandemic but iirc it wasn’t big.  Maybe they will clean your jewelry now 😉😛.  I wouldn’t hold my breath for much but why not ask.  They will not make you sit with others.  I have had pleasant chats with nearby tables but that’s as much sharing as I’m interested in.

I saw that "cleaning jewelry" offer.  My thoughts were that they would try to sell you something in the jewelry store.  No thanks!  Same for the "free" spa & salon consultation.  haha

[Florida_gal_50]

13 minutes ago, Iamthesea said:

I am truly interested and why my TA has been working on it for 2 days.😁  She said that I would not get an answer until Friday.  I have no idea why.  Perhaps she is off until then.  🙄

I saw that "cleaning jewelry" offer.  My thoughts were that they would try to sell you something in the jewelry store.  No thanks!  Same for the "free" spa & salon consultation.  haha

I think you are right about the spa and jewelry store 😀.

[Trapper44]

On 1/23/2023 at 11:56 AM, Overhead Fred said:

Can anyone verify that the Club Orange cost is non-refundable? As in "I cancelled a cruise and did not get my CO $$ back" not just somebody at HAL said it wasn't (since we know you often get different info from HAL every time you call😉)? 

 

Thanks!

I had a cruise booked using Club Orange. My card was charged for the 28 days of Club Orange. We later canceled that cruise and the money ways refunded to my card a few days later. In my case it was refundable.

[DaveOKC]

14 hours ago, Anne614 said:

In May of last year my friends who were in a Neptune suite got a different menu which listed the club orange special entree.

Thats because Neptunes get CO included with their fare.  

[3 on a cruise]

On 1/25/2023 at 10:04 AM, AFNavigator said:

If you are truly interested in Club Orange, you can have your TA contact HAL to see if they will permit a temp downgrade to an obstructed balcony, buy Club Orange, then "free" upgrade back to your VA category cabin.  We did that last year (booked direct with HAL so contacted HAL direct) on the NS.  They let us do that process and it ended up saving us $60 off the V category room we had booked (and got again through Club Orange).  Essentially by buying Club Orange, we got our room for $60 less and got Club Orange benefits for "free".

Have recently done exactly this and received a substantial reduction in cost

[boeckli]

Thank you everybody for all the useful info in this thread.

Have just booked a Noordam cruise for next year with an FCD and upgrading from a VH to VA saved me close to A$600 net. CO charge was simply included in the total amount due at final payment. 😁

[Crew News]

13 minutes ago, boeckli said:

Thank you everybody for all the useful info in this thread.

Have just booked a Noordam cruise for next year with an FCD and upgrading from a VH to VA saved me close to A$600 net. CO charge was simply included in the total amount due at final payment. 😁

Glad that CC was able to help with your CO choice.  Feel free to ask lots of questions to help in your planning.

[Iamthesea]

UPDATE:

My TA contacted me by email on Friday around 1:50pm.  I did not see the email until 2:45pm.   Below is what the email said:

 

I was able to get through to HAL regarding the Club Orange.

The cost is $210 per person, and I would call and add that for you. Payment is due at the time it is added.

They would upgrade you to the category V verandah, but wouldn’t adjust your rate down.

Do you want to add that to the reservation?

Here us a list of the current cabins in the V category -

 

So I emailed back right away and said that we did not want to get the upgrade to V, and preferred to get a certain stateroom number in the VB category, which I once again gave to her.  I then mentioned that I had read on CC that an adjustment could be made, but not to worry about it.  I just wanted to get our stateroom of choice, and sign up for Club Orange.  Our final is due any day and I authorized payment for both final and CO.   I immediately get an automotive reply (at 2:54pm) that TA is out of the office and will be back in on Monday (yesterday) and her hours are Monday- Friday 8 a.m. EST to 3:00 p.m. EST .   I have yet to hear back from her!  Doing a mock booking shows that my stateroom of choice is still showing available.  Not sure what to do because HAL will not talk to me.  UGH!!!

 

 

[StLouisCruisers]

26 minutes ago, Iamthesea said:

UPDATE:

My TA contacted me by email on Friday around 1:50pm.  I did not see the email until 2:45pm.   Below is what the email said:

 

I was able to get through to HAL regarding the Club Orange.

The cost is $210 per person, and I would call and add that for you. Payment is due at the time it is added.

They would upgrade you to the category V verandah, but wouldn’t adjust your rate down.

Do you want to add that to the reservation?

Here us a list of the current cabins in the V category -

 

So I emailed back right away and said that we did not want to get the upgrade to V, and preferred to get a certain stateroom number in the VB category, which I once again gave to her.  I then mentioned that I had read on CC that an adjustment could be made, but not to worry about it.  I just wanted to get our stateroom of choice, and sign up for Club Orange.  Our final is due any day and I authorized payment for both final and CO.   I immediately get an automotive reply (at 2:54pm) that TA is out of the office and will be back in on Monday (yesterday) and her hours are Monday- Friday 8 a.m. EST to 3:00 p.m. EST .   I have yet to hear back from her!  Doing a mock booking shows that my stateroom of choice is still showing available.  Not sure what to do because HAL will not talk to me.  UGH!!!

 

 

I would be on the phone trying to get through.  I didn't get a reply yesterday morning to a message I left on my TA's phone, so I called back in late afternoon and her associate handled things for me.  I hate when they don't get back when you say you need to talk today (make a payment)!  First time using this TA.  The one I used before this would email me back immediately 7 days a week but she's retiring.

[TAW1963]

1 hour ago, Iamthesea said:

UPDATE:

My TA contacted me by email on Friday around 1:50pm.  I did not see the email until 2:45pm.   Below is what the email said:

 

I was able to get through to HAL regarding the Club Orange.

The cost is $210 per person, and I would call and add that for you. Payment is due at the time it is added.

They would upgrade you to the category V verandah, but wouldn’t adjust your rate down.

Do you want to add that to the reservation?

Here us a list of the current cabins in the V category -

 

So I emailed back right away and said that we did not want to get the upgrade to V, and preferred to get a certain stateroom number in the VB category, which I once again gave to her.  I then mentioned that I had read on CC that an adjustment could be made, but not to worry about it.  I just wanted to get our stateroom of choice, and sign up for Club Orange.  Our final is due any day and I authorized payment for both final and CO.   I immediately get an automotive reply (at 2:54pm) that TA is out of the office and will be back in on Monday (yesterday) and her hours are Monday- Friday 8 a.m. EST to 3:00 p.m. EST .   I have yet to hear back from her!  Doing a mock booking shows that my stateroom of choice is still showing available.  Not sure what to do because HAL will not talk to me.  UGH!!!

 

 

Sorry if this is long-winded, but here is my experience with a similar issue...  About a week ago I contacted HAL by phone and added CO to a prior booking, where I already had booked a VS cabin on a Pinnacle class ship.  Of course, I was already in a top cabin the the veranda meta category. I then read this board about HAL being able to downgrade to a VH, add CO, and rebook me into my original VS cabin, which would result in a huge savings.  I called HAL by phone and asked the agent if this was possible and was told this absolute was not possible.  I then decided I was going to cancel the cruise entirely and move my non-refundable deposit to a new booking, which has to be equal to or greater in fare price than my original.  I found the new cruise I wanted, which matched the price requirement, and proceeded to call HAL on the phone again.  I was now told that in order to do the deposit transfer, she would have to transfer me to, what I believed she called, an accounting specialist.  When the specialist came on, I explained my issue of not be able downgraded by previous bookings VS cabin to a VH cabin, add CO, and be upgraded to my original VS cabin.  It made a difference of about $700 pp in savings and I told him that I didn't want to pay $1400 more than I should be and that I wanted to cancel that booking and move my deposit to another one.  He said, "I can do the downgrade procedure on your old booking if you want to keep it.  Thats not a problem."  So, it appears that if you get to a person with more authority, they can, and are willing to, do the downgrade process so that you get the savings.  I still proceeded to change my booking, and was able to save about $300 pp on the new booking by booking a VH cab, adding CO, and then being upgraded to an aft-facing VB cabin.  The savings wasn't as significant due to it being on a non-Pinnacle class ship.  I hope this helps and perhaps you can have your TA (if you can get a hold of them) call back and ask to be transferred to someone that has the authority.

Edited January 31, 2023 by TAW1963

[Florida_gal_50]

1 hour ago, Iamthesea said:

UPDATE:

My TA contacted me by email on Friday around 1:50pm.  I did not see the email until 2:45pm.   Below is what the email said:

 

I was able to get through to HAL regarding the Club Orange.

The cost is $210 per person, and I would call and add that for you. Payment is due at the time it is added.

They would upgrade you to the category V verandah, but wouldn’t adjust your rate down.

Do you want to add that to the reservation?

Here us a list of the current cabins in the V category -

 

So I emailed back right away and said that we did not want to get the upgrade to V, and preferred to get a certain stateroom number in the VB category, which I once again gave to her.  I then mentioned that I had read on CC that an adjustment could be made, but not to worry about it.  I just wanted to get our stateroom of choice, and sign up for Club Orange.  Our final is due any day and I authorized payment for both final and CO.   I immediately get an automotive reply (at 2:54pm) that TA is out of the office and will be back in on Monday (yesterday) and her hours are Monday- Friday 8 a.m. EST to 3:00 p.m. EST .   I have yet to hear back from her!  Doing a mock booking shows that my stateroom of choice is still showing available.  Not sure what to do because HAL will not talk to me.  UGH!!!

 

 

This is the "fun" of having a TA.  You'd think every TA in the world is amazing when you read these boards.

[Stelladoro]

We booked our third HAL cruise directly with them. Didn't know anything about CO, but after the reps explanation, I decided to purchase this option. It worked in our favour and we were able to move from a VH Cat to V (which is the cabin we wanted). Cost of CO was included in the total price, but had to be paid, at time of deposit, which was fine. This saved us approx $800 CDN for a 17 day cruise. 

[Sea42]

1 hour ago, Iamthesea said:

UPDATE:

My TA contacted me by email on Friday around 1:50pm.  I did not see the email until 2:45pm.   Below is what the email said:

 

I was able to get through to HAL regarding the Club Orange.

The cost is $210 per person, and I would call and add that for you. Payment is due at the time it is added.

They would upgrade you to the category V verandah, but wouldn’t adjust your rate down.

Do you want to add that to the reservation?

Here us a list of the current cabins in the V category -

 

So I emailed back right away and said that we did not want to get the upgrade to V, and preferred to get a certain stateroom number in the VB category, which I once again gave to her.  I then mentioned that I had read on CC that an adjustment could be made, but not to worry about it.  I just wanted to get our stateroom of choice, and sign up for Club Orange.  Our final is due any day and I authorized payment for both final and CO.   I immediately get an automotive reply (at 2:54pm) that TA is out of the office and will be back in on Monday (yesterday) and her hours are Monday- Friday 8 a.m. EST to 3:00 p.m. EST .   I have yet to hear back from her!  Doing a mock booking shows that my stateroom of choice is still showing available.  Not sure what to do because HAL will not talk to me.  UGH!!!

 

 

I was able to add CO to my booking directly with HAL (11/2021) even though I had booked with a TA. That may have changed but it would be worth a try to call the CO number directly.

Edited January 31, 2023 by Sea42

[kazu]

1 hour ago, Sea42 said:

I was able to add CO to my booking directly with HAL (11/2021) even though I had booked with a TA. That may have changed but it would be worth a try to call the CO number directly.

 

Ditto - was able to do the same and I am booked with a TA.  No trouble at all.  They will also do the cabin change.  when you call the number it says to have the deck plans out.

[DCThunder]

I have a cruise booked for 2024 on  Westerdam.  That's one of the ships without the separate CO dining room, right?  I have a guaranteed VH cabin.  If I get CO, will that get me a specific assigned cabin now rather than waiting until just before sailing?

[Crew News]

24 minutes ago, DCThunder said:

I have a cruise booked for 2024 on  Westerdam.  That's one of the ships without the separate CO dining room, right?  I have a guaranteed VH cabin.  If I get CO, will that get me a specific assigned cabin now rather than waiting until just before sailing?

Yes.  Give HAL Inventory a call:  1-888-628-8107 or 206-626-7381

[DCThunder]

11 minutes ago, Crew News said:

Yes.  Give HAL Inventory a call:  1-888-628-8107 or 206-626-7381

Thanks.  I booked through a TA.  Can I have them do it?

[AFNavigator]

6 minutes ago, DCThunder said:

Thanks.  I booked through a TA.  Can I have them do it?

Since you are booked on a cruise a year+ out, you could start with your TA.  The worst that can happen is your TA tells you that you have to work Club Orange direct with HAL.  Whichever way it works out, you should be able to get your choice of assigned cabin up to the highest level balcony category (since your VH is within the verandah "meta-category" cabin group).

[Iamthesea]

If I do not hear back by after noon tomorrow, I will try calling her.  I would really hate to lose the stateroom and a place in CO.

 

I have used this same TA for the last 6 years. She was privately recommended by someone on these forums.  She is with a well known larger company (not a Big Box). However, her specialty is luxury cruising.  She was kind enough to take this Celebrity, HAL, cruiser under her wing.   During all but the pandemic years, we have booked 2-3 cruises a year with her.  She has always been very responsive until now. 

 

I think most of the problem is because #1- Travel agents seem to be overwhelmed these days.  So many quit to find other jobs.  Also, getting though to the cruiselines has not been any easier for a TA than some of us on these boards trying to get in touch.   Wait times have been reported of a few hours. #2- I don't believe that my TA is familiar with HAL and Club Orange.