Anyone want to upgrade to a Balcony Cabin (5076) 10/9 on the "z"?

[LandCruiser]

10/9 Eastern Carib. on the Zuiderdam

 

My wife and I originally were going as a twosome but we recently took a long trip to South East Asia and cannot stand the thought of being away from the kids again. Just three weeks ago I lucked out and got the last Aft Cat S suite which was the only way all six of us could come (Me 33, My Wife 32, Zach 10, Drew 8, Sara 6, and Anna 4). We added one to the room we orignally booked and the other 3 in the Aft suite. We are going to all stay in the suite and the Balcony cabin is just going to sit emply the whole week.

 

We would love to offer our balcony cabin 5076 to anyone who would like it, maybe some first time cuisers or someone who would just like to try a balcony for the first time. We just want someone to enjoy that other room, we do not think we will use it at all. So anyone who may have a cabin that they are not totally happy with we would love for you to enjoy the one we will not be using. If the ship won't let us officially "trade" we will just keep it on the down low and trust you don't go Perry Ferrel (Rock Star prone to trashing hotel rooms) on us and trash the room at our expense.

 

I am starting to wonder if we might stick out just a bit on this cruise. Is anyone else bringing any children along? We really don't mind being the odd ones out and our Kids will love the extra attention but I am sure they would love to meet some new friends as well.

[TedC]

Six people in a suite will be very, very tight. You might want to hang onto the second cabin for some of the children to sleep in. HAL ranks the suites as sleeping four. And the aft suites, which have larger verandahs, have a smaller interior space than the side suites.

 

HAL's S suites are not true suites in the traditional sense of separate sleeping and living areas. The S is just a large all-purpose room with a large verandah.

 

The Penthouse does have separate sleeping and living spaces and might accommodate six.

[ekerr19]

I must agree with TedC.. we had four in the Suite on the Zuiderdam... that was plenty... I don't know about your kids, but ours (15 & 10, at the time) did not like "sharing" the queen sofa bed...

 

I am surprised you are allowed so many in a room - HAL's policy is that each person MUST have their own berth - the Suite we were in accomodated only four, you could order a crib through ship services, but only one. The largest capacity we saw in a Suite was 5 persons, with one child being in the crib...

 

You may want to check on this before you let go the other cabin!

 

Are your children out of school at this time? Just curious, some kids have "year-around" schooling and would be able to cruise if that were the case...?

[Jana]

What he is offering is a trade, either openly or under the counter... he is being incredibly generous. He's offering to swap the balcony cabin for a lesser one so someone who doesn't have the veranda can enjoy it. He's still keeping the two rooms, but what he's saying is that the balcony is a waste for his party, because no one will use it.

 

I think it's awfully nice. I wish I were going :-)

 

Jana

[LandCruiser]

I do appreciate everyones concerns, however, Jana is correct, I am offering a trade, I still need to technically (and possibly functionally) have two rooms. We will try to all stay together in the Suite just so we can all be together but if it gets uncomfortable we will split up. Our children are still very young (10,8,6,4) and do not require a bunch of space, but we will have to see.

 

I was noticing on the ship map that there is a small interior cabin right out the door of our suite. It would be ideal if we could find the folks who have this room and offer them the Balcony room one deck up mid ship if they would like. If not we will just keep it and have a little walk to our other room. We really just hoped someone could enjoy the other room that we really do not need.

 

We are easy going people, I am sure something will work out for the best, whatever that may be.

[Jana]

I'm also impressed (and heartwarmed) by the fact that you are choosing to have your entire family with you. I can bet that your children will not be the ones running through the corridors, doing cannonballs in the pool or scribbling swear words in the nap of the elevator wall-carpet.

 

Thank you for reaffirming my faith in good parenting and family values :-)

 

Jana

[LandCruiser]

We expect them to be very well behaved, but they are young children and they can be a little loud and silly at times. They have never been on a cruise and even though everything will be new and exciting I am confident they will show respect to the ship, the crew, and all of the other PAX.

 

We are actually going to surprise them and tell them the day we leave home, I can hardly keep the secret I am so excited. My wife is much more calm about the whole thing.

[Jana]

OK, this obviously isn't your first cruise... where and when and on what ships have you cruised before?

 

Jana

[Krazy Kruizers]

Have you thought about contacting HAL and asking if they would contact the people in the inside cabin about wanting to "swap" rooms with you? Since you have already paid for the balcony, I assume, that you don't mind swapping rooms knowing that the inside cabin costs less than the balcony cabin and you are essentially picking up the bill for some lucky person to move from an inside cabin to a balcony.

[TedC]

The upgrade fairy strikes in mysterious ways!

 

 

I think KrazyKruizer has a great idea. And if HAL doesn't cooperate, just ask the folks in the inside cabin if they would like a free upgrade to a verandah.

 

Try to catch them before they unpack, if possible.

 

Good luck!

[LandCruiser]

I did contact HAL and they told me that there is nothing they could do until we get to the ship. I plan on trying to work something out at that point.

 

Jana- this is only our 2nd cruise, the first with our kids. My wife and I took a cruise to the Western Carib. last Nov. on Carnival for our 10th and absolutely loved it. I am totally hooked now and I am only 33. I tried to make my wife commit to at least one cruise a year, so far so good. We have never had a balcony let alone a suite so needless to say I am excited and very much looking forward to this cruise. Knowing how excited I am about having a balcony I am sure someone out there would enjoy having one, especially when it is a surprise.

 

I am really looking forward to cruising with HAL, so far their customer service has been excellent.

[Jana]

Wouldn't this qualify as a "random act of kindness?" Spread it around!

 

Jana

[sail7seas]

How generous of you. You sound like a very nice gent.....

 

Hope you and your family have a wonderful time. What a beautiful family you have. All the children two years apart from the next.

[Peggy Sue]

Although we're not sailing with you...I just wanted to chime and say what a nice thing you are doing! Imagine how surprised and delighted some lucky person will be when you offer to swap your verandah for an inside cabin. I'm sure they will appreciate their good fortune every single day!

 

Bless you.. May you and your family enjoy calm seas and sunny skies.

[mattR]

This is very generous:) It will have to go through HAL otherwise ship board charges will be charged to each others credit cards. I'm sure that the room stewart would figure it out as well. Which I was on this cruise and had the inside cabin across from you :)

[Packerfan1904]

My wife and I are going to be on this cruise, would be interested in exploring the possibility of changing cabins if possible. We've got a cat. F oceanview, would prefer balcony. Never cruised with HAL, but have done Royal Caribbean previously.

[Sierrachik]

My wife and I are going to be on this cruise, would be interested in exploring the possibility of changing cabins if possible. We've got a cat. F oceanview, would prefer balcony. Never cruised with HAL, but have done Royal Caribbean previously.

Welcome to the cruise, and to Cruise Critic! There is a roll call for this sailing, click here: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=58394.

 

Only just over a week to go :)

[LandCruiser]

Packerfan1904

 

You are the first person on the cruise to express interest. Where is your cabin? Send me an email.

 

Dave

[Packerfan1904]

LandCruiser-

 

Your profile does not show an e-mail address...I set up a hotmail account if you would like to respond. The address is: packerfan1904@hotmail.com

Feel free to contact me if you are still interested. We have cabin F6002, a bow cabin with a window on the Upper Verendah deck. We're in the near-30's age group with no kiddies (yet...maybe by the end of the cruise we'll have one on the way), so we're quite flexible. This is our second cruise, first with Holland America. We're flying out to Ft. Lauderdale tomorrow (Friday) afternoon from Springfield, IL (Land of Lincoln!!). Shoot me an e-mail if you wish, I will make an effort to check frequently. I can provide a cell number for you once contacted. Your offer is quite generous, and if it works out, great!

 

Gabriel