Jump to content
Cruise Critic Community

Club Orange on The Non Pinnacle Class Ships

mcrcruiser

By mcrcruiser,
in Holland America Line

 Share

Recommended Posts

Tampa Girl

Tampa Girl

Posted
Posted
On 1/28/2023 at 10:22 AM, DaveOKC said:

 Now, if you cancel your cruise and are outside of the final payment date, you get all of your monies back.  After final payment, you get back only what the rules are for cancellation at that point.  

 

 

Does this cancellation rule apply to all cruises where fees are refundable?  I just looked at my contract for this summer's VOV, and there is a  $875 forfeit fee on March 24, 2023, and final payment is not due until April 23, 2023.  Can this be correct?  I am considering cancelling but I wanted to wait until closer to the final payment date.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Sea42

Sea42

Posted
Posted
14 minutes ago, Tampa Girl said:

 

Does this cancellation rule apply to all cruises where fees are refundable?  I just looked at my contract for this summer's VOV, and there is a  $875 forfeit fee on March 24, 2023, and final payment is not due until April 23, 2023.  Can this be correct?  I am considering cancelling but I wanted to wait until closer to the final payment date.

Yes, there are cruises where penalties start before final payment.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Tampa Girl

Tampa Girl

Posted
Posted
2 hours ago, StLouisCruisers said:

Absolutely true.  Always check your HAL confirmation for the penalty date.

 

Who set these penalty dates and why?    I understand if there is an interim payment due. But simply responding "yes, there are earlier payment dues" without an explanation for the apparent reason is no answer.  I have never seen forfeitures set before at least the interim date, not even on a grand voyage.  Do any of you know the basis for these?  There was no interim payment due on this cruise.  Does anyone know what the rules are?

Link to comment
Share on other sites
RuthC

RuthC

Posted
Posted
5 minutes ago, Tampa Girl said:

 

Who set these penalty dates and why?    I understand if there is an interim payment due. But simply responding "yes, there are earlier payment dues" without an explanation for the apparent reason is no answer.  I have never seen forfeitures set before at least the interim date, not even on a grand voyage.  Do any of you know the basis for these?  There was no interim payment due on this cruise.  Does anyone know what the rules are?

My experience with penalty dates before final payment is with longer cruises which were not Grand Cruises. There were no interim payment dates for them, either. Just the deposit, penalty date, then the final payment date---followed by a long cruise. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Tampa Girl

Tampa Girl

Posted
Posted
12 hours ago, RuthC said:

My experience with penalty dates before final payment is with longer cruises which were not Grand Cruises. There were no interim payment dates for them, either. Just the deposit, penalty date, then the final payment date---followed by a long cruise. 

 

It seems like it is the length of the cruise determines, whatever date that might be.   I have seen "cancellation" dates and the %, but I have never seen a "forfeiture $xxx." date.  I was wondering if this was a TA-determined date.    I think a phone call to our TA will clarify.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Hlitner "Live from...." Rare

Hlitner

Posted
Posted

The cruise lines set the penalty dates and most cruise/travel agents will add a few extra days to make sure they have enough time to get a payment/cancellation done on time.  The industry is changing (even if some cruisers refuse to change).  Many lines are moving away from allowing folks to secure reservations with a small deposit with no additional payment due until the normal final dates.  Lines like Viking Ocean and the new Explora Journeys encourage full payment, far in advance.  MSC, who does allow bookings with small deposits, recently decided to make deposits for their popular Yacht Club...non-refundable.  They did that because folks would put down the small refundable deposits and usually cancel near final payment.  Since the Yacht Club only has a limited number of cabins, they decided to impose a different set of rules to discourage false bookings and cancellations.

 

So here is an unpopular opinion.  I like the early mandated payments and/or substantial discounts tied to early payments.  Why?  For far too long, some cruisers will simply book lots of different cruises with the relatively small refundable deposits and then cancel the cruises they do not want when near the final payment period.  This deprives others of the ability to book the same cruise and also pulls a lot of the best cabins out of inventory.  On HAL we once met a very nice lady who was proud that she had booked 3 different HAL cruises (all cruising at the same time) because she said, "I can make up my mind later."

 

We were recently looking at some Oceania cruises, and several were completely booked nearly 2 years in advance.  We found that discouraging until some regular "O" cruisers told us not to worry because many of those bookings would eventually disappear as folks cancelled.  That particular line even has a deposit program for folks who want to be on a "waiting list" for popular cruises.  Now that is crazy.

 

Hank
"

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
FlorenceItaly

FlorenceItaly

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, mfanderso said:

I just read on another board that if you have Club Orange on a non-Pinnacle Class ship that you are allowed to eat breakfast in the Pinnacle Grill with the Neptune Suite guests.  Is this new or has it always been that way?

I don't believe this is true.  On the HAL site it says all other ships, Orange Club gets priority seating in dining room for breakfast and dinner.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • 2 weeks later...
DaveOKC

DaveOKC

Posted
Posted
On 2/10/2023 at 1:50 PM, Florida_gal_50 said:

I've said the exact same thing to be told by a poster on this board that they have gained entrance with club orange.  I'm having a very hard time believing it. 

This past week on the NA I met a couple who were in the Pinnacle Grill for breakfast due to their CO pass.  It may have been a mistake, but it did happen.  Not many COs on this sailing though.

 

  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Florida_gal_50

Florida_gal_50

Posted
Posted
3 minutes ago, DaveOKC said:

This past week on the NA I met a couple who were in the Pinnacle Grill for breakfast due to their CO pass.  It may have been a mistake, but it did happen.  Not many COs on this sailing though.

 

Thanks for the information.  Maybe that’s the key, not having many club orange people.  I hope more people report on this.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
 Share
Go to topic listing
  • Forum Jump
    • Categories
      • Welcome to Cruise Critic
      • New Cruisers
      • Cruise Lines “A – O”
      • Cruise Lines “P – Z”
      • River Cruising
      • ROLL CALLS
      • Cruise Critic News & Features
      • Digital Photography & Cruise Technology
      • Special Interest Cruising
      • Cruise Discussion Topics
      • UK Cruising
      • Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
      • Canadian Cruisers
      • North American Homeports
      • Ports of Call
      • Cruise Conversations
×
×
  • Create New...