Is Club Orange or HIA better for Norway cruise?

[WNCtourist]

New to HAL but have cruised 5 times -- including Alaska, Hawaii, Bermuda, and Caribbean. We are very interested in the 14-day Best of Norway cruises offered in 2024. As part of our research, would you recommend adding Club Orange or HIA to our booking? Or neither?

 

More info: we may have 1-2 adult beverages each daily; usually prefer soft drinks or water. So a beverage package may not be important. We prefer a balcony if it's affordable. On a cruise with a lot of port days, we typically go to the buffet for breakfast and dinner -- but maybe we'd use the Club Orange dining room more on Rotterdam? Or maybe not -- in that case, would it be a waste of money for CO? That's the decision process I'm going through so I would appreciate any and all info you might want to provide to help us make this decision.

 

We are looking forward to our first HAL cruise!! 

[YourWorldWithBill]

We were on the Rotterdam in May, and the separate CO dining room is really great. That itself made it worth it, but there is also the potential upgrade to a different stateroom within the same category, preferred boarding, etc.

 

On another thread here there is an elaborate discussion about whether Club Orange is worth it. The great majority of people said it is, especially those who had sailed on one of the three newer ships; and among those, any who had been on the Rotterdam were especially happy about it.

 

I can't weigh CO against HIA, as the HIA was included as part of our original booking.

[kazu]

CO and HIA are 2 very different things.  HIA does more than just give you alcoholic drinks - specialty coffees, fresh squeezed oj (available in CO for free though), sodas, waters (not the kind out of the tap), etc in that package along with shore excursions, specialty dining, etc.  It’s worth doing the math for.  If the math doesn’t add up - don’t get it.

 

CO - is more about a bit of priority for tendering, embarkation, etc upgrading your cabin and the CO dining room for breakfast and dinner.  I don’t need it per se but after having CO on the K, I gladly booked it again for the CO dining room on the Rotterdam.

[AFNavigator]

2 hours ago, WNCtourist said:

New to HAL but have cruised 5 times -- including Alaska, Hawaii, Bermuda, and Caribbean. We are very interested in the 14-day Best of Norway cruises offered in 2024. As part of our research, would you recommend adding Club Orange or HIA to our booking? Or neither?

 

More info: we may have 1-2 adult beverages each daily; usually prefer soft drinks or water. So a beverage package may not be important. We prefer a balcony if it's affordable. On a cruise with a lot of port days, we typically go to the buffet for breakfast and dinner -- but maybe we'd use the Club Orange dining room more on Rotterdam? Or maybe not -- in that case, would it be a waste of money for CO? That's the decision process I'm going through so I would appreciate any and all info you might want to provide to help us make this decision.

 

We are looking forward to our first HAL cruise!! 

 

2 hours ago, WNCtourist said:

New to HAL but have cruised 5 times -- including Alaska, Hawaii, Bermuda, and Caribbean. We are very interested in the 14-day Best of Norway cruises offered in 2024. As part of our research, would you recommend adding Club Orange or HIA to our booking? Or neither?

 

More info: we may have 1-2 adult beverages each daily; usually prefer soft drinks or water. So a beverage package may not be important. We prefer a balcony if it's affordable. On a cruise with a lot of port days, we typically go to the buffet for breakfast and dinner -- but maybe we'd use the Club Orange dining room more on Rotterdam? Or maybe not -- in that case, would it be a waste of money for CO? That's the decision process I'm going through so I would appreciate any and all info you might want to provide to help us make this decision.

 

We are looking forward to our first HAL cruise!! 

The biggest financial benefit to the Club Orange package is its no-cost within-category cabin upgrade.  Under that program, you can book the lowest cost obstructed balcony then have Club Orange upgrade you to the balcony of your choice for no extra charge.  In many cases, the Club Orange cost is less than what it would cost for the upgraded cabin location.  If you do this, it is best to do a dummy booking to find the exact available balcony cabin you want because they will need to know exactly where you want to be located.

Since you don't drink many alcoholic beverages, the HIA program loses a lot of its value for you.  The Club Orange dining room looks like it would be a great fit for you (and you can get free mimosas with your breakfast there too).  It is a great alternative to the main dining room--we really liked the CO dining room.  It's also nice having the priority line at the service desk and, assuming they have them in stock, the upgraded Club Orange tote bag is nice too.

[Toofarfromthesea]

On 8/10/2023 at 2:40 PM, AFNavigator said:

 

The biggest financial benefit to the Club Orange package is its no-cost within-category cabin upgrade.  Under that program, you can book the lowest cost obstructed balcony then have Club Orange upgrade you to the balcony of your choice for no extra charge.  In many cases, the Club Orange cost is less than what it would cost for the upgraded cabin location.  If you do this, it is best to do a dummy booking to find the exact available balcony cabin you want because they will need to know exactly where you want to be located.

 

 

I just found out how true this is.  I booked a category OO Oceanview and paid 255 for Club Orange, and just did the free upgrade to a D category cabin, which would have cost more than a thousand dollars more if I had just booked it directly.  That more than paid for my HIA.

[vicd1969]

I did a 7-day Norway trip on the Rotterdam last year. Had both Club Orange and HIA, and a balcony. CO allowed me to upgrade my “obstructed” balcony to an unobstructed one near the middle of the ship, more than paying for itself. Also had the best dining service ever with the separate dining room intimate space. I never came close to using up 15 drinks per day with HIA, as a moderate drinker like the OP. I also do a lot of self-tours so the shore excursion benefit is minimal for me. So definitely prefer Club Orange over HIA.