VS (aft view) Guarantee…beware!

[Explorer2020]

I will be on the Koningsdam next week for an Alaska cruise. I generally don’t book a HAL guarantee …though when I booked this cruise I wanted an aft veranda suite and the only option was an aft (VS) guarantee. Got my cabin assignment this week and was “upgraded” to a VQ spa suite on deck 10. Hardly an upgrade..other end of the ship with a regular veranda view - and a small veranda at that. To call the spa suites an upgrade from the aft class seems ridiculous- I suspect these levels were the brain child of a marketing person who wanted to oversell aft suites and needed a classification higher to mitigate the oversell issues.   Anyway, it will be fine, but I’ll never do that again. I have cruised many times with HAL so should have known better. 

Edited August 20, 2023 by Explorer2020

[shipshape sam]

I would not be hard on yourself.  I would be surprised if asked, would anyone think a spa cabin is an upgrade from an aft facing (stern) cabin.

[seattle sojourner]

Sorry that happened!  I always request NO Upgrades if I am happy with my current cabin , but haven’t done guarantees.  I wonder if someone can comment on the difference between the VS aft cabins on deck 7 immediately above the A aft cabins on deck 6.  Why are they different classes?

[DaveOKC]

I agree that an aft verandah is superior to a spa verandah.  Just the fact that the aft verandahs sell out much quicker should verify this!

 

[Mary229]

Afts are rarely available as a guarantee since they are so popular.   Lesson learned 

[VMax1700]

On Koningsdam I found that the aft vistas shimmy a lot.  Consider yourself lucky.

[USN59-79]

One thought:  We once booked a guarantee and were "upgraded" when we arrived at the ship.  Didn't like the upgrade, so we didn't unpack and asked the steward to show us the original one to see if it was vacant.  It was, so we had the front desk reassign us to the original one and moved in after dinner.  Worth checking.

Ray

[3rdGenCunarder]

I don't consider the spa cabins an upgrade over an aft view. I think HAL makes the spa cabins a special category to sell cabins that are not in a good location or have smaller balconies or other minus points. BUT they're spa cabins! Near the spa (but don't include a spa pass, just a shorter walk). And I think you might get a yoga mat and maybe a little fountain that makes soothing sounds. 

Edited August 20, 2023 by 3rdGenCunarder

[Mary229]

I had to take a guarantee on my last cruise.  Once I got my assignment I called them and asked what else they had available, they gave me 2 other choices in my category and a nice upsell for a small fee.  They knew they had given me a useless cabin. 

[Haljo1935]

3 hours ago, shipshape sam said:

I would not be hard on yourself.  I would be surprised if asked, would anyone think a spa cabin is an upgrade from an aft facing (stern) cabin.

Definitely not an upgrade vs true aft.

You might call and see if you can get moved; worse that happens is you're told no; best case, you get moved.

Safe travels  - enjoy your cruise!

[SFO Peter]

To each his own.  We happen to like Spa Verandas.   We don't spend much time sitting on the Veranda but like to open the outside door occasionally for fresh air.   We like the closeness to the Lido, the Crows Nest and the Coffee shop.   Not much traffic in the Spa cabin area which we like.  I must say it is just a Veranda.  Nothing special about Spa Verandas.  We do Club Orange upgrade to Spa Veranda from lowest balcony category so we are getting value.

 

Peter

Edited August 21, 2023 by SFO Peter

[CruiserBruce]

HAL ranks their cabins generally from A down. VA ( on some ships V) is the best in the category,  VZ the worst. Fact of life, has been that way for years. Discussed here a lot. Its a risk when you book guarantees. Doesn't matter what we think.

[Real NHDOC]

17 hours ago, seattle sojourner said:

Sorry that happened!  I always request NO Upgrades if I am happy with my current cabin , but haven’t done guarantees.  I wonder if someone can comment on the difference between the VS aft cabins on deck 7 immediately above the A aft cabins on deck 6.  Why are they different classes?

I think you are confusing the rear facing AS cabins on decks 4 and 7 to the VS cabins on the other decks.  AS cabins are Vista Suites (in HAL terms the word suite is a misnomer here as it is just slightly larger than a Veranda and just has a slightly different layout). VS are the rear facing verandas. 

 

Whenever you accept a guarantee cabin you are at the mercy of those who have subjectively deemed what they consider to be "superior".  Lots of "superior" category veranda cabins are on deck 8, directly below the lido which would be my last choice of location on the ship.  So we always try to choose our cabin and never take guarantee or the upgrade option unless it is the only choice.  If we do then we keep our fingers crossed.

 

Depending on how nice they want to be you can always call in and ask to have the cabins changed even after taking a guarantee.  There may be an "inferior" cabin (V, VA, VB, VC or VD) that is more preferable to the VQ they assigned you and sometimes they will accommodate a request to change even though, technically, when you accept a guarantee they can give you anything they want as long as they have deemed it to be at least as good as what you paid for and you have agreed to accept that as part of the guarantee acceptance.

 

Or, for a small additional fee they may offer to put you into a Vista Suite.

Edited August 21, 2023 by Real NHDOC