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sprintscorer

By sprintscorer,
in Holland America Line

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sprintscorer

sprintscorer

Posted
Posted

We have received an offer for a free inside cabin.  We are thinking of taking this offer in December, with an upgrade to a Veranda room.   When I do the numbers, vs booking just from the website it seems like a substantial saving.  Has anybody taken any of these offers? If so did it work out ok? Any advise??

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rodndonna

rodndonna

Posted
Posted
16 minutes ago, sprintscorer said:

We have received an offer for a free inside cabin.  We are thinking of taking this offer in December, with an upgrade to a Veranda room.   When I do the numbers, vs booking just from the website it seems like a substantial saving.  Has anybody taken any of these offers? If so did it work out ok? Any advise??

 

Congrats! Yes it works. We've never upgraded cabin, but have added HIA when booking.

 

In the end you should be saving the base rate of inside cabin (before tax) on your booking, so it's a really good discount on your cruise.

 

Not surprisingly (not big players) we do not get them anymore, but we did take advantage of them when we could (booked 2 sailings with a "free" cabin).

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Nickelpenny Holiday Sharing Rare

Nickelpenny

Posted
Posted

Yes, I have booked it 3 times.  First was 11 day Mexican Riviera (cost $440 with $200 back in OBC) over New Years.  I added HIA.  It was a WONDERFUL cruise.  I have 2 more booked (7 day New England/Canada in June) AND I got the 28 day Amazon Explorer for Feb 2024 at a huge discount.  I don't upgrade from an inside because I love insides because the time I got a balcony it was a complete waste of money for me (I travel solo so I can cruise more getting insides).  Well worth it and I love getting those emails!!  🙂 

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Sea42

Sea42

Posted
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I took advantage of this offer once. One suggestion is to look into booking the lowest category veranda cabin and adding Club Orange. You can then upgrade to the highest veranda cabin of your choice as an included perk of CO. Sometimes it is less expensive than booking that higher cabin outright, sometimes not.

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daisy-mae

daisy-mae

Posted
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We booked an ocean view stateroom following an offer for an Alaskan cruise last fall; we contacted the HAL cruise consultant whose name appeared in the text and were able to select a cabin (as opposed to having it chosen for us).

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five.

five.

Posted
Posted

We had our free interior a few weeks ago, ours was not a casino offer, just an offer they made when we were onboard our Alaska cruise. About a month before our cruise we got an upsell offer of $198 per person to upgrade to a balcony, so it really worked out. At the time of the free interior offer, it would have been $90 per person per day... so we saved a chunk of change by waiting them out.

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Jldevlin

Jldevlin

Posted
Posted

We have a b2b booked for May to Alaska and then one week in September as well on a casino offer. We have not sailed HAL in years and gamble very little. Maybe $100 between the both of us on a week cruise. They do have a $200 deposit that you get back in onboard credit and we will use that for the spa pass that we always get. We get offers every month now for next year and we are looking into what we might want. We got the Hia for all of them which we do for NCL as well .

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AFNavigator

AFNavigator

Posted
Posted
5 hours ago, Sea42 said:

I took advantage of this offer once. One suggestion is to look into booking the lowest category veranda cabin and adding Club Orange. You can then upgrade to the highest veranda cabin of your choice as an included perk of CO. Sometimes it is less expensive than booking that higher cabin outright, sometimes not.

Yes, Orange Club can be a great deal when upgrading from a lower category.  Have an idea of the exact cabin you want (making sure it is available), then contact HAL, either direct or through your TA, to buy Club Orange.  Pay to have them upgrade you from the inside cabin to the lowest cost Veranda cabin (usually obstructed) then have them apply the Club Orange complementary upgrade to the specific cabin you want. We did that last year and saved $60 off of the V-category cabin we wanted, after the $350 Club Orange cost.  We essentially got Club Orange for free and saved $60 off the cabin price.

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Taters

Taters

Posted
Posted
25 minutes ago, IamHungry said:

My free offers seem to be gone......

Mine, too.  I am going on a casino deal cruise next month, but I haven't received another offer since January or February.  I've read that people got offers last week and again today.  I didn't receive those.

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hhoope01

hhoope01

Posted
Posted

We have been getting the "free" inside stateroom offers every couple of months for over a year now.  We finally bit on an 11-night Mediterranean cruise. I was surprised they let me upgrade to a NS for a very discounted rate.  I've only been on a Holland America cruise once before and we didn't spend any money at the casino.  But we did purchase an NS for our Alaska cruise.  Maybe that has something to do with getting on their mailing list.  I just hope they don't stop sending them to me now that I've bit on one of them.  😜

 

The room category for each level is the "guarantee" room, but I'd guess if you then purchased Club Orange you ensure you get the best category room in that level (except for NS as I can't purchase Club Orange with my NS).  

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YourWorldWithBill

YourWorldWithBill

Posted
Posted
10 hours ago, AliceS said:

Please explain Club Orange.   Thanks

Newer ships have an exclusive dining area, on older ships you get "priority seating." They say Club Orange has an "expanded menu", but it's really just one added item. Supposedly priority check-in and disembarkation, priority line at guest services, etc. As discussed here, a stateroom upgrade. Perhaps another one of the most noticeable is that on a very crowded ship you get the separate dining with no wait (or little wait).

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AliceS

AliceS

Posted
Posted
12 minutes ago, YourWorldWithBill said:

Newer ships have an exclusive dining area, on older ships you get "priority seating." They say Club Orange has an "expanded menu", but it's really just one added item. Supposedly priority check-in and disembarkation, priority line at guest services, etc. As discussed here, a stateroom upgrade. Perhaps another one of the most noticeable is that on a very crowded ship you get the separate dining with no wait (or little wait).

Just thought that they might look like they’re in a fishbowl?   If you love it….go for it.

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Florida_gal_50

Florida_gal_50

Posted
Posted
16 minutes ago, YourWorldWithBill said:

Newer ships have an exclusive dining area, on older ships you get "priority seating." They say Club Orange has an "expanded menu", but it's really just one added item. Supposedly priority check-in and disembarkation, priority line at guest services, etc. As discussed here, a stateroom upgrade. Perhaps another one of the most noticeable is that on a very crowded ship you get the separate dining with no wait (or little wait).

It was an extensive wait on the koningsdam in November. Some mornings it was well over a half hour.  I'm hoping that was an anomaly.

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Florida_gal_50

Florida_gal_50

Posted
Posted
4 minutes ago, AliceS said:

Just thought that they might look like they’re in a fishbowl?   If you love it….go for it.

It's no more a fish bowl than the mdr.  I don't enjoy being stared at and I've never noticed that. The only people that might stare are the ones that didn't get brought up right and think to stare is polite.

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AliceS

AliceS

Posted
Posted
Just now, Florida_gal_50 said:

It's no more a fish bowl than the mdr.  I don't enjoy being stared at and I've never noticed that. The only people that might stare are the ones that didn't get brought up right and think to stare is polite.

Yikes…..Honestly, I didn’t stare.   It just didn’t appeal to me….to each his own.   Enjoy what you love.   I really was brought semi right?   
 

 

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