Don't get too attached to the cabin you selected!

[BermudaBound2014]

Is it possible they are changing categories on this particular cabin since it's special with the larger balcony and extra window?

 

That happened to us once on Celebrity, but they kept us in the original cabin (but were sure to tell us it was now an upgrade). 

[3rdGenCunarder]

1 hour ago, BermudaBound2014 said:

Is it possible they are changing categories on this particular cabin since it's special with the larger balcony and extra window?

 

That happened to us once on Celebrity, but they kept us in the original cabin (but were sure to tell us it was now an upgrade). 

 

I thought that, too, but if they're going to change the category, the booking should have been grandfathered. 

[Sherry H]

No category change, on HAL website It is still a category V.  It is different from other V's in that it is a sideways cabin.  Some people may not like that but in our case it is much easier to navigate a walker as there is no narrow hallway to negotiate. 

[Windsailer]

I am getting the impression HAL thinks that all of us cruisers pick our cabin by picking a number out of thin air and it doesn't matter where it is. It's rather disappointing. 

Edited October 17 by Windsailer

[a.madruga]

16 hours ago, Windsailer said:

A year ago I signed up for Club Orange and selected V5050 on the Rotterdam. It's an April 2025 cruise. That cabin has a double wide balcony and has a window in addition to the sliding glass door. That cabin is not a triple or a quad. HAL just notified my TA that I was being re-assigned to another V cabin, it was for "operational reasons" and I couldn't have V5050 back. 

 

I contacted the Office of the President. This was the response. 

 

"We truly regret that you were dissatisfied with the stateroom we assigned you on board. We make every effort to accommodate our guests’ wishes and needs, and we do reserve the right to reassign guests as needed due to operational reasons. While we can certainly understand your disappointment, we are unable to reassign this stateroom to you and hope you can understand that guests are moved as a last resort.  We hope that the above information is helpful, and we do apologize for your dissatisfaction."

 

And no, they wouldn't clarify what the operational reasons were. The cynic in me thinks that some VIP really wanted that cabin - and there you go. 

 

Final payment on this cruise isn't until the end of this year. In the meantime I will decide if I am sufficiently irritated about how HAL treats it's 4* Mariners to cancel the cruise. Just be forewarned. I do hope this doesn't happen to anyone else. 

Windsailor,

IMO it could be a B2B that someone wants to keep or some VIP that they want to satisfy which is not proper   We too booked a cabin in nov 2023 for a July 2025 that was a quad and nothing was said only till about a month ago when HAL decided to inform us. We have kept this cabin and will see what happens. But we remind all that HAL is not the only cruise line out there.

[chill6x6]

Wow...

I would be ILL! Besides my first ever cruise in 2007, I have never booked a cabin without MUCH thought and consideration in the process.  Probably too much. I usually book WAY out from departure.  I consider really, EVERYTHING. What's above, what's below, what's on each side, what deck, forward/midship/aft, balcony size, balcony furniture, balcony roof/no roof, bathroom arrangement/fixtures,  sofa, and PRICE. THEN I narrow it down and finally make a decision! LOL.

 

There's a right way for HAL to do this for a single cabin booking and that's to offer a nice upgraded cabin and maybe a little OBC.  Really, that's the only acceptable way.  

[Fred321]

HAL seems to have begun to limit the ability to book cabins depending on whether they are also advertising a cruise as a B2B. No specific reasoning but they will not release cabins for one cruise that they are holding for the B2B's even if the cabins are available.

Unfortunately, more and more they are selling B2B's because they treat it as a single booking which lets them off the hook for perks given out per cruise. Instead of 2 free dinners because you booked 2 cruises you now get one because you are on a back to back Loyalty status has nothing to do with this. We are 5 star with over 1000 actual sea days and it made no difference when our TA asked them to release a certain cabin. You either take what they give you or don't go. 

They used to be able to release a room if asked but not anymore. So far they at least seem to be telling you prior to final payment. When that changes we are gone to another line.

[3rdGenCunarder]

6 minutes ago, Fred321 said:

HAL seems to have begun to limit the ability to book cabins depending on whether they are also advertising a cruise as a B2B. No specific reasoning but they will not release cabins for one cruise that they are holding for the B2B's even if the cabins are available.

Unfortunately, more and more they are selling B2B's because they treat it as a single booking which lets them off the hook for perks given out per cruise. Instead of 2 free dinners because you booked 2 cruises you now get one because you are on a back to back Loyalty status has nothing to do with this. We are 5 star with over 1000 actual sea days and it made no difference when our TA asked them to release a certain cabin. You either take what they give you or don't go. 

They used to be able to release a room if asked but not anymore. So far they at least seem to be telling you prior to final payment. When that changes we are gone to another line.

 

They sell many combinations of short cruises to make longer ones. If there are three cruises, A, B, C, you may combine A&B, B&C, or A&B&C. Managing inventory in this situation is tricky.

 

A few years ago, not long after the restart, HAL had issues with overbooking on the last Alaska cruise and the coastal to a California port and the Panama canal cruise to reposition to the Caribbean for the winter. They had to cancel a number of people on the short coastal cruise because their cabins were also booked as a combination with one (or both) of the longer cruises. It made sense from a money standpoint to bump people from the shortest leg--least amount to have to refund. But the bumped people were very unhappy. 

 

So now the distribution of cabins to various cruises is strictly controlled to avoid overbooking. I think they do reallocate from time to time as availability changes. On my winter cruise on Eurodam, it seemed that the ship sold out very early. Then I checked the cruise before mine and the various combos and saw what they were doing. It looked like veranda cabins were distributed by deck. One cruise had all of deck 5, another had all of deck 6, a combo had deck 7, etc. Final payment is this weekend. It will be interesting to see how many cabins become available.

 

[Windsailer]

I am sorry that other folks have found themselves in the same predicament. I probably should have had my TA push back harder to see if I could keep the cabin,or get some OBC or an upgrade. As it stands now i am not very happy with HAL. I just cancelled one cruise booked for 2025 and might cancel another booked for 2026. I still have three booked.  I won't be recommending HAL to any of my friends. Apparently HAL doesn't realize that it's 5 times more expensive to acquire new customers than it is to keep the ones you have. As a long time shareholder that offends me.  

[oceanbill457]

We were on a Eurodam canal cruise in April. Our friends had booked one of the forward looking D cabins. Their boarding pass confirmed the cabin. When they went to check in at Ft Lauderdale HAL moved them to another cabin. After days of haggling HAL said too bad, They were refused a request to speak with the Hotel Manager. If you read your contract,t hey can do anything they wish.

[3rdGenCunarder]

15 minutes ago, oceanbill457 said:

We were on a Eurodam canal cruise in April. Our friends had booked one of the forward looking D cabins. Their boarding pass confirmed the cabin. When they went to check in at Ft Lauderdale HAL moved them to another cabin. After days of haggling HAL said too bad, They were refused a request to speak with the Hotel Manager. If you read your contract,t hey can do anything they wish.

 

Yes the contract pretty much lets them do whatever they wish. But to refuse a request to speak to the Hotel Manager is horrible customer service!

[Haljo1935]

I hope the cabin wasn't pulled to accommodate a B2B - I've done many B2Bs changing cabins on turnaround day because 1 leg wasn't available. 

 

I'm sorry @Windsailer this happened 😔 whatever the reason.

[cccole]

@Windsailer  Is it possible that since you have already canceled one cruise because of this that your TA can get you an upgrade and OBC for this HAL debacle?  If HAL says no, is there any reason not to cancel and see what comes up in the future?  It's an April 2025 cruise and some great CO upgrades may become available.  We have chosen a cabin for January 2026 and we will cancel if our cabin is taken away.  Please keep us updated on a possible positive outcome.  Your TA is pretty important here I would think.  Cherie

[dockman]

21 hours ago, sandiego1 said:

Could also be a leak or some problem with the cabin so they had to take it out of service.

his cruise is april 2025...hope they can fix a leak in six months?  If indeed the cabin is being taken out of service for some obscure reason then why not tell the OP that point blank.  

 

i agree i would nicely ask for an upgrade or some form of compensation...all they can do is say no...so what would happen if op gets on ship and his chosen room is actually in service but occupied by someone else?  Perhaps very politely ask if occupant would mind lettting you look at the cabin as you were interested in that one...maybe even sharing details as to when how he booked the room.  Not to confront them but just curious...maybe he will find the occupant is the captains cousin?

[TiogaCruiser]

11 hours ago, terrydtx said:

The excuse of "Operational Issues" is a generic reply HAL uses to explain many booking issues. In my case, as I explained in my post #22 above, that was the first response we got for moving our booked cabin that I forgot to mention. I called BS and demanded a real reason from HAL, that was when my TA found out it involved a booking on a B2B cruise. Someone who had booked cabin 5072 on another leg of the B2B cruise wanted it when they must have added our cruise segment. 

That really stinks.

 

I think my high school English teacher’s favorite phrase fits here, and HAL should have used it for the newly booked B2Bers: “tough toenails Tootsie”- book late, take what is available 

[3rdGenCunarder]

10 hours ago, TiogaCruiser said:

That really stinks.

 

I think my high school English teacher’s favorite phrase fits here, and HAL should have used it for the newly booked B2Bers: “tough toenails Tootsie”- book late, take what is available 

 

Haven't heard "tough toenails" since middle school! 🤣

 

I agree that a prior booking should not be moved. I wonder if the person with the B2B was really pushy about it, like "If I can't have that cabin, then forget it, I'll cancel." And the HAL rep caved.

[terrydtx]

4 minutes ago, 3rdGenCunarder said:

 

Haven't heard "tough toenails" since middle school! 🤣

 

I agree that a prior booking should not be moved. I wonder if the person with the B2B was really pushy about it, like "If I can't have that cabin, then forget it, I'll cancel." And the HAL rep caved.

I do not think threatening to cancel gets you anywhere. In my case we had 3 couples booking cabins in a row and when we threatened to all cancel over breaking up our previously confirmed cabins it got us nowhere.

[3rdGenCunarder]

The thing that bothers me most about these threads about being moved is that people pay more to choose their cabin. Then then they don't get to keep that choice. If the change happens late, there may not be many cabins still available, possibly none in the section or deck that the person wants. I think if they're going to move someone this way, they should give an upgrade or lower the price to what a guarantee would have cost. 

[cbr663]

Thanks so much for sharing your experience with us.  HAL continues to astound me with its commitment to providing poor service.  

 

[BermudaBound2014]

48 minutes ago, 3rdGenCunarder said:

The thing that bothers me most about these threads about being moved is that people pay more to choose their cabin. Then then they don't get to keep that choice. 

 

I keep spreadsheets of my initial cruise cost along with all the price reductions/obc/etc... I started taking a screen shot of the difference in price between a guaranteed cabin, "you select your cabin", and "We select your cabin". That way if I do get moved I have an idea of the minimal amount of OBC I'd request.

 

Because HAL has different prices for 'we select your cabin' and 'you select your cabin', an OBC in the amount of the difference seems a minimal amount to ask in the event that your cabin is moved.

 

I know the contract gives them free range, but publishing different fares (more for 'you select your cabin), and then not delivering a service the customer paid for, is very different than just moving a cabin.

 

Is this ship going into drydock between now and April when the OP is sailing? 

 

Edited October 18 by BermudaBound2014

[3rdGenCunarder]

22 minutes ago, BermudaBound2014 said:

Because HAL has different prices for 'we select your cabin' and 'you select your cabin', an OBC in the amount of the difference seems a minimal amount to ask in the event that your cabin is moved.

 

I agree that it isn't much. I'd start by asking for an upgrade, but this could be a fallback offer.

 

Your question about drydock is interesting. Two of the four sideways cabins on that deck are ambulatory accessible. Perhaps HAL is going to change out the tub for the accessible shower and change the category. That's a reasonable thing to do, but if so, why not just tell OP that? 

[Sherry H]

There is no tub in the other two cabins.

[spally]

Sort of related to this topic, does HAL keep track if you have cancelled before? We have a guaranteed verandah on an upcoming cruise and haven't gotten a stateroom assignment (not worried about that), but someone mentioned previously cancelling and it made me wonder if they hold that against you.

[FlorenceItaly]

28 minutes ago, spally said:

Sort of related to this topic, does HAL keep track if you have cancelled before? We have a guaranteed verandah on an upcoming cruise and haven't gotten a stateroom assignment (not worried about that), but someone mentioned previously cancelling and it made me wonder if they hold that against you.

It is not held against you.  Typically, your guaranteed stateroom is assigned 3-7 days before sailing.  However, some have been assigned the day of but my observation is this is rare.

[3rdGenCunarder]

2 hours ago, Sherry H said:

There is no tub in the other two cabins.

 

Right, those two (5048 and 5051) are ambulatory accessible. HAL could swap out tubs in 5050 and 5053 for the accessible shower, which would make them accessible and a valid reason for moving the OP. 

 

Maybe we're trying too hard to find a reason. Maybe HAL's reason is the old "because I said so."