Club Orange

[terrydtx]

57 minutes ago, POA1 said:

Tu add to this... If you are in a cabin you really like and there is an upgrade available - and you decline the upgrade, you don't get OBC.  You only get the OBC if there is no upgrade available.

 

When I was young and stupid (mid-April of last year) I booked a category A, midship Vista Suite on the Nieuw Statendam. It was in a great location. We added Club Orange. A category AS aft Vista Suite was available. I declined the upgrade because we wanted the midship location.

 

Because I declined the upgrade, no OBC for me. The smart thing, which I did when I was older and wiser (late 2023) would have been to book the lowest category of Vista Suite, BC, and then upgrade to the midship category A. (Upon receiving wisdom, I booked a VH guarantee on the Rotterdam. We upgraded it to a category V.)

 

We did, however, get both the regular 150th Anniversary tote bag and the fabulous Club Orange tote bag. (If you need help toting, we're the go-to couple.)

 

Don't let them try to fook you. Priority embarkation, room upgrades, and that extra entrée choice are not the real reason for choosing Club Orange. It's the sweet, sweet tote bag.*

 

*The Club Orange tote bad has a zipper top and mesh side pockets for plastic water bottles (which you cannot buy or bring onbosrd.) Poohby Joe not included in Club Orange amenities.

 

 

My experience with CO and upgrades is close to yours. We were on the Koningsdam last November with CO, but no CO bag, our room attendant told us they were out of stock and not available for our cruise.  Hope to get one more this August on the Volendam in CO. We used CO  and booked lowest level Vista Suite and upgraded to highest level VS midship in exact cabin we originally wanted.

[islandwoman]

9 hours ago, KAKcruiser said:

You are only eligible for OBC is there is no other cabin available in your meta category to upgrade you to.

As I mentioned way back on this thread, we booked our cabin exactly where we wanted it before even considering Club Orange.  Not only do we have the highest category (SS) in our meta-category, but at the time we bought Club Orange, all cabins except inside on our cruise were showing "sold out".  We wanted Club Orange mostly for quicker as-you-wish seating in the MDR. After learned posters on this thread told me that they had received OBC when cabin upgrades were not available, we decided to buy Club Orange. 

[terrydtx]

1 minute ago, islandwoman said:

As I mentioned way back on this thread, we booked our cabin exactly where we wanted it before even considering Club Orange.  Not only do we have the highest category (SS) in our meta-category, but at the time we bought Club Orange, all cabins except inside on our cruise were showing "sold out".  We wanted Club Orange mostly for quicker as-you-wish seating in the MDR. After learned posters on this thread told me that they had received OBC when cabin upgrades were not available, we decided to buy Club Orange. 

We got $100 OBC for our Koningsdam cruise last year because we had booked the last AFT facing Verandah cabin and there was not a higher cabin in our Meta-category. However even if we hadn't gotten the OBC, the other advantages of CO, like the CO dining room, far outweighed the $100 OBC value.

[islandwoman]

7 minutes ago, terrydtx said:

We got $100 OBC for our Koningsdam cruise last year because we had booked the last AFT facing Verandah cabin and there was not a higher cabin in our Meta-category. However even if we hadn't gotten the OBC, the other advantages of CO, like the CO dining room, far outweighed the $100 OBC value.

How long did it take before you were informed that you had received OBC?  How were you informed?  Is there a place on hollandamerica.com that you can see OBC? 

 

I certainly agree with you about the CO dining room on the Koningsdam being a great advantage.  The lines,  the crowding, and the hectic service in the MDR on my recent (spring 2024) Koningsdam cruise were enough to make me decide never to sail that ship again.

[terrydtx]

10 minutes ago, islandwoman said:

How long did it take before you were informed that you had received OBC?  How were you informed?  Is there a place on hollandamerica.com that you can see OBC?

Our TA was told when she booked the CO that we would get the $50pp OBC. It didn't show up until we boarded the ship.

[terrydtx]

13 minutes ago, islandwoman said:

I certainly agree with you about the CO dining room on the Koningsdam being a great advantage.  The lines,  the crowding, and the hectic service in the MDR on my recent (spring 2024) Koningsdam cruise were enough to make me decide never to sail that ship again.

We saw lines from the MDR every night down the hallway from the MDR to the CO dining room. We were so glad we had CO and didn't have to eat in the MDR. The day we boarded I needed to change one of our shore excursions, I was able to do this in the CO guest services line with one person in front of me. The line for shore excursions desk had maybe 50 people in line.

[islandwoman]

1 hour ago, terrydtx said:

Our TA was told when she booked the CO that we would get the $50pp OBC. It didn't show up until we boarded the ship.

Thanks for the information.  Our TA hasn't mentioned anything about OBC instead of an upgrade.  I'll have to contact him.

[terrydtx]

2 minutes ago, islandwoman said:

Thanks for the information.  Our TA hasn't mentioned anything about OBC instead of an upgrade.  I'll have to contact him.

My experience is you have to ask for the OBC if no cabin upgrade is available. My TA knows to ask.

[islandwoman]

18 minutes ago, terrydtx said:

My experience is you have to ask for the OBC if no cabin upgrade is available. My TA knows to ask.

Apparently mine doesn't.  I'll have to remind him.

[POA1]

Your OBC shows on the HAL booking confirmation. It does not, however, give you a breakdown of the sources.

 

Some TAs do not send out HAL booking confirmations, preferring to use their own form.

 

Your TA or PCC should be able to tell you the sources and amounts of your OBC though.

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

21 minutes ago, POA1 said:

Your OBC shows on the HAL booking confirmation. It does not, however, give you a breakdown of the sources.

 

Some TAs do not send out HAL booking confirmations, preferring to use their own form.

 

Your TA or PCC should be able to tell you the sources and amounts of your OBC though.

. It does not, however, give you a breakdown of the sources.   I wish it did ...

[terrydtx]

43 minutes ago, Gail & Marty sailing away said:

. It does not, however, give you a breakdown of the sources.   I wish it did ...

That would be expecting too much from HAL IT people who can barely keep their app working properly, LOL🤣

[Suncitycruiser1925]

We had Club Orange in February when we sailed on Nieuw Statendam.  We booked an obstructed veranda on deck  4 and were able to upgrade to an unobstructed veranda on deck 7.  We really enjoyed the smaller, quieter Club Orange Dining room and also felt service was much better.  We were interested in 2 sailings, one on  NS in November and one in February on the Rotterdam.  We were told Club Orange is not available for either sailing. 

.

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

2 hours ago, terrydtx said:

That would be expecting too much from HAL IT people who can barely keep their app working properly, LOL🤣

It is not fair we have no idea.

[terrydtx]

14 minutes ago, Suncitycruiser1925 said:

We had Club Orange in February when we sailed on Nieuw Statendam.  We booked an obstructed veranda on deck  4 and were able to upgrade to an unobstructed veranda on deck 7.  We really enjoyed the smaller, quieter Club Orange Dining room and also felt service was much better.  We were interested in 2 sailings, one on  NS in November and one in February on the Rotterdam.  We were told Club Orange is not available for either sailing. 

.

You can book either a Neptune or Pinnacle Suites and automatically get CO. On the Pinnacle class ships we will only sail on them with CO, just too many people and long lines to deal with otherwise. The CO dining room is a must have for us or we look elsewhere for a cruise.

Edited June 8 by terrydtx

[mac_tlc]

6 hours ago, terrydtx said:

We saw lines from the MDR every night down the hallway from the MDR to the CO dining room. We were so glad we had CO and didn't have to eat in the MDR. The day we boarded I needed to change one of our shore excursions, I was able to do this in the CO guest services line with one person in front of me. The line for shore excursions desk had maybe 50 people in line.

Makes me glad we bought CO for our 18 day Koningsdam cruise in January! 
 

mac_tlc

[Suncitycruiser1925]

2 minutes ago, terrydtx said:

On the Pinnacle class ships we will only sail on them with CO, just too many people and long lines to deal with otherwise. The CO dining room is a must have for us or we look elsewhere for a cruise.

I agree with you 100%.  We did not book either cruise we were interested in because of no Club Orange availability.

[terrydtx]

9 minutes ago, mac_tlc said:

Makes me glad we bought CO for our 18 day Koningsdam cruise in January! 
 

mac_tlc

We even have it on our 11 day Volendam cruise in August. We got a nice cabin upgrade and  we will not have to wait in lines for almost anything, including anytime dining in the MDR with the extra entree CO menu. 

[islandwoman]

1 hour ago, terrydtx said:

We even have it on our 11 day Volendam cruise in August. We got a nice cabin upgrade and  we will not have to wait in lines for almost anything, including anytime dining in the MDR with the extra entree CO menu. 

Since the Volendam, along with the Zaandam, is HAL's smallest ship in passenger count, I would hope that Club Orange would not be necessary in order to avoid lines.

[terrydtx]

17 minutes ago, islandwoman said:

Since the Volendam, along with the Zaandam, is HAL's smallest ship in passenger count, I would hope that Club Orange would not be necessary in order to avoid lines.

True, but in this case we booked a lowest level B category Vista Suite with CO, then upgraded to the highest-level A category VS that we would have booked without CO. The cost difference between the B and A paid for all but $20pp of the CO cost. So basically, we got CO for free. While the Volendam is a smaller ship with fewer passengers the crowdedness of the ship is still proportional, so CO gives us smaller lines to deal with, especially when it only cost us $20pp.

 

Thanks to CC forums like this one we have learned how to work CO for all it is worth. 

Edited June 8 by terrydtx