Rare cbr663 Posted July 19 #26 Share Posted July 19 20 hours ago, boooomer said: Thank You. I will check that. I’m late to the dance on this cruise and I haven’t booked yet. The math on this is interesting: Suite upgrade from 8 to 6 costs $600. CO cost $510($15*17*2). It’s a no brainer. CO saves me $90 and I have the benefits. Booking through a TA affords me a nice discount or OBCs - but I don’t think a TA could finesse this. OTOH if CO isn’t available or the TA can’t do this, it’s not a big deal. We’re 4 star mariners, We get the early boarding. Concierge and a reserved area in the MDR are nice - but I think the added $510 would better be used in the Pinnacle Grill and Canaletto. And maybe a pop up. Dunno. Bernie Yes. For those of us who care about our cabin location on the ship, CO can make a lot of sense. Here's another tip - if you snag the cabin you want, you may want to tell them that you don't want to be upgraded. What HAL considers an upgrade you may not. 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boooomer Posted July 19 #27 Share Posted July 19 30 minutes ago, cbr663 said: Yes. For those of us who care about our cabin location on the ship, CO can make a lot of sense. Here's another tip - if you snag the cabin you want, you may want to tell them that you don't want to be upgraded. What HAL considers an upgrade you may not. Great point! The classic is the “upgrade” from a standard balcony cabin to an 8th floor Signature Suite. The idea of a suite is compelling but If your sensitive to noise that can be nightmare. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crystalspin Posted July 19 #28 Share Posted July 19 On 7/17/2024 at 6:46 PM, cccole said: I just wanted to know if there was cabin on the Noordam that could be upgraded to a signature suite with CO. From the responses I think the simple answer for the Noordam is "No". Other ships yes, but not on the Noordam. There are no HAL ships where you can upgrade from any cabin (that is not a signature suite) to a signature suite with CO. The rules are the same for Noordam as for the fleet. The deck plan may be in error showing the same two-letter designation for all signatures? I did not check. But doing some dummy bookings will give you the difference in price between the Deck 6 and Deck 8. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cccole Posted July 19 #29 Share Posted July 19 @crystalspin Yes - that is what I have done and the difference between Deck 6 and Deck 8 is $300. Same category cabin but some consider Deck 8 as a negative. We loved Deck 8 on the Oosterdam, but were in an aft cabin. We always choose our cabin and have not done the CO upgrade so I was checking for friends who want to join us and have not cruised before. Just trying to give them options. Thank you, Cherie 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare cbr663 Posted July 19 #30 Share Posted July 19 9 hours ago, boooomer said: Great point! The classic is the “upgrade” from a standard balcony cabin to an 8th floor Signature Suite. The idea of a suite is compelling but If your sensitive to noise that can be nightmare. I know that lots of people like to roll the dice and see if they can get upgraded to a different meta category. A Signature Suite to a Neptune for instance. Look carefully at the deck plans though as I know for me, there are lots of Neptune Suites that I would not want and I sure there are lots more like me. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cccole Posted July 19 #31 Share Posted July 19 18 minutes ago, cbr663 said: I know that lots of people like to roll the dice and see if they can get upgraded to a different meta category. A Signature Suite to a Neptune for instance. Look carefully at the deck plans though as I know for me, there are lots of Neptune Suites that I would not want and I sure there are lots more like me. So true about Neptune Suites. We only book a Neptune Suite to get an aft corner cabin. If these were in any other category on the cruise we want we would book that category. Being in a Deck 8, aft corner for 3 weeks was fabulous, no noise issues. There are so many cabins I do not want on a ship, so great that there are cabins for everyone's preferences. JMO. Cherie 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaxThrusters Posted July 20 #32 Share Posted July 20 Hi! I can't speak for others, but I will share my experience with my upcoming cruise next March-April 2025. We booked a discount ocean view, and for that price with the promotions at the time plus a Club Orange booking, we got upgraded to a category V cabin, of which there are only 4-6 on the entire ship. It's basically the same as a VA but with a bit of extra space and near the middle of the ship (in our case, Konigsdam). I do not think one can book Club Orange and expect a last minute cabin upgrade that is meaningful though. Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare tigervixxxen Posted July 21 #33 Share Posted July 21 I booked CO on Rotterdam a couple months ago. If I hadn’t been reading this board I would have had no idea how this works. It’s my first HA booking, I do not use a TA and called on the phone and did everything myself. 1. Made initial booking, picked out an obstructed verandah I knew I wasn’t keeping. 2. Told booking agent I wanted to buy CO. It was available and added to the booking on initial call. My understanding is my deposit is refundable but the CO up charge is not. 3. Booking agent told me CO was successfully applied and paid for but I couldn’t pick my upgraded cabin until 24 hours later. The second I hung up with her I called the CO number that’s been posted here and I told them I had my desired cabin picked out. All the Aft ones were sold out but I got one of the deeper balconies on deck 7 that I’m very happy to get. They quickly made the change, documents were updated. Pretty easy. The cost of the obstructed booking plus CO upgrade was equal to the lowest non obstructed verandah I was going to buy anyway and so I got the room upgrade (from VF to VA I believe) plus CO benefits for essentially free. Might not work out that way all the time but was a great hack for this booking. 5 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waiting2retire Posted July 21 #34 Share Posted July 21 Well done! Just a note on your second point. Club Orange is non-refundable only in that you cannot change your mind and have it removed from the booking. If you cancel the entire booking prior to final payment, the cost of CO will be refunded along with any refundable deposit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mchell810 Posted July 21 #35 Share Posted July 21 10 hours ago, tigervixxxen said: 3. Booking agent told me CO was successfully applied and paid for but I couldn’t pick my upgraded cabin until 24 hours later. The second I hung up with her I called the CO number that’s been posted here and I told them I had my desired cabin picked out. All the Aft ones were sold out but I got one of the deeper balconies on deck 7 that I’m very happy to get. They quickly made the change, documents were updated. Pretty easy. Like you I booked direct with HAL (last month); however, the agent on the phone processed my room upgrade in the same call. She passed me to the automated system to pay the deposit (including CO), once the system returned me to the agent she put me on hold while processing the room change. I immediately received the email showing my desired room. I've read here a number of people having to call the inventory department (or whatever it's called) but that was not the case for me. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare tigervixxxen Posted July 21 #36 Share Posted July 21 1 hour ago, waiting2retire said: Well done! Just a note on your second point. Club Orange is non-refundable only in that you cannot change your mind and have it removed from the booking. If you cancel the entire booking prior to final payment, the cost of CO will be refunded along with any refundable deposit. Good to know, I wasn’t aware of that thank you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare tigervixxxen Posted July 21 #37 Share Posted July 21 37 minutes ago, mchell810 said: Like you I booked direct with HAL (last month); however, the agent on the phone processed my room upgrade in the same call. She passed me to the automated system to pay the deposit (including CO), once the system returned me to the agent she put me on hold while processing the room change. I immediately received the email showing my desired room. I've read here a number of people having to call the inventory department (or whatever it's called) but that was not the case for me. Interesting I didn’t get any automated system, it was all done speaking to the booking agent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mchell810 Posted July 21 #38 Share Posted July 21 (edited) 3 minutes ago, tigervixxxen said: Interesting I didn’t get any automated system, it was all done speaking to the booking agent. The automated system was just to make the deposit payment. I don't know when HAL started the using this method but I have seen it mentioned by others on this board. Edited July 21 by mchell810 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chaka7969 Posted August 1 #39 Share Posted August 1 (edited) a Edited August 1 by chaka7969 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chaka7969 Posted August 1 #40 Share Posted August 1 On 7/17/2024 at 8:11 PM, cccole said: I'm so happy you posted this thread. I was trying to decide which CO thread to post on. My question to the experts who will hopefully respond to your thread is: If you want to use CO to upgrade to a signature suite on the Noordam, what is the cabin you should book before adding CO? I know that Noordam does not have a separate CO dining room but it would give them some of the benefits that we will receive in a Neptune suite, like tenders, etc. We have our coveted location but friends want to join us. Thanks for any help. We booked a Vista Suite on the MS Rotterdam and also purchased CO. I was told by HAL we could not upgrade because we were already at the top of our category. We were given a $400 OBC instead. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Crew News Posted August 1 #41 Share Posted August 1 15 minutes ago, chaka7969 said: If you want to use CO to upgrade to a signature suite on the Noordam, what is the cabin you should book before adding CO? I know that Noordam does not have a separate CO dining room but it would give them some of the benefits that we will receive in a Neptune suite, like tenders, etc. Before any booking find the Signature Suite that you want then book the stateroom with the lowest Signature Suite cost. With booking number, contact HAL Inventory and make the Club Orange purchase. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare cbr663 Posted August 1 #42 Share Posted August 1 8 minutes ago, chaka7969 said: We booked a Vista Suite on the MS Rotterdam and also purchased CO. I was told by HAL we could not upgrade because we were already at the top of our category. We were given a $400 OBC instead. Depends on what cabins are available when you book. The Rotterdam has 4 categories of Vista Suites - AS, A, B, BC. When selecting Club Orange, your strategy should be to book a BC Guarantee cabin, purchase Club Orange and then upgrade to the AS which is the top category. A $400 OBC is a nice alternative to the upgrade. Enjoy your cruise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chaka7969 Posted August 1 #43 Share Posted August 1 21 minutes ago, cbr663 said: Depends on what cabins are available when you book. The Rotterdam has 4 categories of Vista Suites - AS, A, B, BC. When selecting Club Orange, your strategy should be to book a BC Guarantee cabin, purchase Club Orange and then upgrade to the AS which is the top category. A $400 OBC is a nice alternative to the upgrade. Enjoy your cruise. I booked the AS cabin before even hearing about CO. I booked the AS category because it is an aft view which I've never experienced. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cccole Posted August 1 #44 Share Posted August 1 21 minutes ago, chaka7969 said: I booked the AS cabin before even hearing about CO. I booked the AS category because it is an aft view which I've never experienced. I also think that the $400 OBC is good. And, you will love the aft view cabin. Thank you for the info you provided. Cherie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Haljo1935 Posted August 2 #45 Share Posted August 2 2 hours ago, chaka7969 said: I booked the AS cabin before even hearing about CO. I booked the AS category because it is an aft view which I've never experienced. L❤️VE aft wake views!! I hope you have a safe, wonderful cruise and enjoy those fabulous views and OBC.☺️ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare scooter6139 Posted August 2 #46 Share Posted August 2 Can you purchase a "guarantee" veranda and then add CO, or does it have to be placed in a specific cabin before upgrading? Taking one of the "we choose for you" options is much cheaper ($500 or so PP) when going with the HIA+. We just lost our PCC we really liked, so I need to find a new one that is hopefully as good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Crew News Posted August 2 #47 Share Posted August 2 (edited) 2 minutes ago, scooter6139 said: Can you purchase a "guarantee" veranda and then add CO, or does it have to be placed in a specific cabin before upgrading? Taking one of the "we choose for you" options is much cheaper ($500 or so PP) when going with the HIA+. We just lost our PCC we really liked, so I need to find a new one that is hopefully as good. That is what I do. Book a guarantee and then purchase CO. Just need the booking number before contacting Ship Inventory. Edited August 2 by Crew News 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chaka7969 Posted August 2 #48 Share Posted August 2 48 minutes ago, cccole said: I also think that the $400 OBC is good. And, you will love the aft view cabin. Thank you for the info you provided. Cherie I've heard both pros and cons about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chaka7969 Posted August 2 #49 Share Posted August 2 8 hours ago, scooter6139 said: Can you purchase a "guarantee" veranda and then add CO, or does it have to be placed in a specific cabin before upgrading? Taking one of the "we choose for you" options is much cheaper ($500 or so PP) when going with the HIA+. We just lost our PCC we really liked, so I need to find a new one that is hopefully as good. Thanks for the tip. I'll have to do that on our next HAL cruise. I wanted to get an aft facing suite this time, that's why the AS category. I'm not sure if you can choose which cabin to be upgraded to tho. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waiting2retire Posted August 2 #50 Share Posted August 2 I go through the online booking process as far as choosing my room so I can see what cabins are currently available. I then write down the numbers of a couple of cabins I like (normally aft-facing verandas) then exit the online system. Then I call my PCC and ask to book an obstructed balcony guarantee and have him check availability of CO before making the booking. If it is available, I have him book the obstructed balcony, add CO and move me to the aft-facing balcony cabin of my choice, all while I am still on the phone with him. Works like a charm!! 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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