VA to a SZ guarantee

[hulamoon]

Aloha everyone,

 

We are booked on the zuiderdam 5/20 cruise, originally a VH guarantee:eek: We got upgraded to a VA right above the spa and what seemed a great side of the ship.

 

My TA just called and I had 5 minutes to decide to upgrade to a SZ guarantee. It was $298 for both of us for the upgrade. I don't know if we will be in the room much but I thought I would give it a try. I sure hope that size and a whirlpool tub really do make a difference. would you have done the same thing? This will be our first HAL experience.

 

Thanks for your input and if it was a poor choice I will gladly take suggestions to explain this to DH.

[LAFFNVEGAS]

I would go for it:) The size difference of the cabin and the bathroom are amazing and pretty much every location is very good for an SY and SS which is what you will most likely get with an SZ Guarantee.

[hulamoon]

Thank you Lisa.

[gordons4]

hulamoon--so did you do it? :)

 

Also, if you're still there Lisa, I have a similar question. Right now we're in a booked aft VA on deck 5. (You and others sold me on the aft cabins--though I can't afford your infamous SC cabin.)

 

I see that the SZ's for our cruise are WAY lower in price than the VA I booked 12 mths ago. In your opinion (and anyone else who wishes to chime in) should we give up the aft cabin for an SZ or better? (If I can even do this through my TA.)

 

Thanks for the input. This is our 25th wedding anniversary cruise, and we really want it to be special. :)

 

Sheri

[LAFFNVEGAS]

That is a really tough choice because the aft is so wonderful, with the view and the sound of the wake. But if you can get an SZ which normally works out to be a SY or SS for less money I would go for it!!! Unless you are traveling with friends and have the whole aft booked like we did with the Yum Yum Man Worshippers;) Then I cannot tell you have special it is to have everyone together with the balcony doors open between the cabins.:)

I honestly think the best bargain on HAL for the Vista Class ships is the SY/SS cabins. You get the big bathrooms with the double sinks and show ans seperate tub and the cabin feels so close to that of a Full S Suite. I only wish they had that category for our next cruise on the Amsterdam because it is such a great inbetween category.

[Infrequentcruisers]

Sheri,

 

We were on the Zuiderdam for the west to east repositioning cruise last Sept. and had a SS cabin (#8052) and it was great. If you can upgrade for a resonable price I would go for it. If memory serves me correctly, the aft cabins on deck 5 have decking between the cabins and the end of the ship and I think passengers have access to this area. Now, this was before the retrofit in April, so the configuration could be different now.

We will be on the Z for the Oct 23rd sailing from Venice to Ft. Lauderdale. We currently are booked into a VB cabin and are hoping we might get lucky and be offered an upgrade at a "resonable" price before we sail. We have had one offer already, but the difference in price was just out of this world.

Have a great cruise.

[hulamoon]

Yes i did upgrade, because we haven't cruised often, it is hard to know what is the best way to spend the budget. If it cuts down on one territorial sink spat then it will be worth it:) . Also I am hoping I can add some salts or bubbles to the whirlpool bath.

 

Now to decide if I need some spa treatments!

 

The dollar is worth less today than yesterday against the euro so I keep thinking I will do better spending money on the ship than off of it! We are taking trains and renting cars for most locations. I do hope we do not miss the port side if we get starboard.

 

Thanks to all of you!

[Destin Mom]

So, if upgrades are available, does HAL typically offer one week out (as appears to be the case with hulamoon)? Our specific cruise appears to have quite a few cabins that opened back up after final payment due- we sail 7/7...not sure how likely it is that HAL will fill the ship on a 12 day Med cruise with airfare where it is. I'm hoping there will be upgrade options- is it basically first come, first serve? Hulamoon- you said this was your first HAL cruise so are upgrades available to us non-veterans? Thank you

[hulamoon]

I can let you know when I return if this was a smart choice for the budget. I am hoping it turns out to be a nice mini suite, I am trusting here! i did read the blog of the fellow who did not like a handcapped mini suite with a toilet in the shower?!

 

This was our first HAL cruise and I thought it was amazing I went from a VH guarantee to a VA above the spa on the Navigator deck 8014. We had decided the port side may be best for our cruise, and noticed we had that. We booked originally in April 08.

 

As time went on I heard of bargain upgrades and of course my TA tried to get me to do the concierge class. It all sounded luxurious! On the boards I noticed guests were excited about the mini suites. some told us they were called, but when i called HAL everything was sold out. So today my Ta called and asked if I wanted to purchase a SZ guarantee for 298. for both of us. I hope in the end the space and cabin upgrade will be terrific and that the carpets were repaired in dry dock.

 

we did cruise twice on Princess and this cruise will be during a birthday and anniversary. but I do not think this helped us.

 

My only advice is if you think you may want to purchase an upgrade know what you may want. I had no idea what it meant to have a SZ and for a few moments thought it meant the concierge lounge. It does not I found out, but I only had a few minutes to decide.

 

I already had the great upgrade I mentioned above at no cost, so I do hope that I didn't test the system too much by hoping for more.:rolleyes:

[Softball20]

Hulamoon,

 

We did this upgrade a couple weeks ago for this same cruise. We were offered a similar price for an SZ guarantee, and we ended up with an SY on the Upper Verandah deck. We did get a handicapped cabin, which I hear has more space, but I am curious about this "toilet in the tub" comment??? I'm wondering if since they had us originally booked in a handicapped cabin (when we originally booked our VF, that's all they had available), that they just assigned us to another handicapped cabin? It does look like it has more space, so I'm not worried about it.

 

I hope that your upgrade process goes a lot easier than mine. My TA was great and very helpful - HAL has been a tad difficult. It meant a whole new booking, new fuel supplement, a change in excursion prices, etc. I do think it was worth it, and I am really looking forward to the extra space.

[hulamoon]

We already registered on line, I suppose I need to redo that? No one mentioned extra fuel charge etc, but we did notice we were under the wire for the new surcharge in our original booking. ?So now maybe I have costs I wasn't told about.

 

I read in an earlier reply about a handicapped unit having a toilet in the shower, I have no idea if this means it is actually in the shower?! If I get one and find it objectionable I can deal with it at the time, but I did a guarantee so I probably have no room for complaints.

 

This cruise was tough to plan, we did it late and originally thought we may not do much in ports, but of course this changed so we hope the whirpool bath and the extra room come in handy. Lisa says this will spoil us for future cruises.:p

 

Whe we meet on the 21st we can compare notes. Did you ever hear if the whole ship was recarpeted?

[Softball20]

Don't know much about the new ship yet, but I am hoping someone will post some more info before we leave on Monday.

 

We did have to re-check in on line, too. No big deal.

 

We also only have two excursions. Actually it's just one, the other is transfers to Rome from the port. Otherwise, we are doing each port on our own.

 

Looking forward to meeting you next week!

 

Donna

[JunPOA]

Hulamoon's upgrade prompted me to ask what I hope is not a stupid question.:o

We are booked on the Oosterdam VD 4166 Veranda Deck (NOV 2008)-we selected the cabin ourselves (with help from you HAL folks).:) My question is if we have an assigned NOT GTY cabin, does that rule out any chances at all of getting a call asking if we're interested in an upgrade? If I do want to increase the chances of an upgrade offer should I give explicit instructions to my TA to tell HAL we will accept an upgarde if offered How does that work please - I know someone out there knows.:D

 

Many Thanks

leah, RN

[hulamoon]

I did call HAL and my TA before I got the call this morning, but each time there was nothing available. I think doing both is a solid plan, but letting a good TA know what you may accept would be a good plan then you can let go and get all the port planning done, that is time consuming.

 

We had already been assigned a cabin when I go the call, and I know of another passenger who was called by HAL directly after hers was assigned.

 

Good luck!

[JunPOA]

Thanks Hulamoon - helpful.

BTW - where is Kapolei? I am assuming its a town/city on one the Hawaiian islands or maybenot. Looks like a word of polynesian/Tahtian origin with all the vowels.

Bon Voyage!

[hulamoon]

Kapolei is west of Pearl Harbor on Oahu. It means Kapo's lei. Kapo was Pele's sister a goddess of healing and hula.

 

The city was designed to take pressure off Honolulu, but as it turns out it has become very big and busy.

[eddiesgal]

Sheri,

 

We were on the Zuiderdam for the west to east repositioning cruise last Sept. and had a SS cabin (#8052) and it was great. If you can upgrade for a resonable price I would go for it. If memory serves me correctly, the aft cabins on deck 5 have decking between the cabins and the end of the ship and I think passengers have access to this area. Now, this was before the retrofit in April, so the configuration could be different now.

We will be on the Z for the Oct 23rd sailing from Venice to Ft. Lauderdale. We currently are booked into a VB cabin and are hoping we might get lucky and be offered an upgrade at a "resonable" price before we sail. We have had one offer already, but the difference in price was just out of this world.

Have a great cruise.

 

Does anyone know since the retrofit if deck 5 still has the decking between the cabins that passengers still have access to? For me that would ruin the entire aft experience.:(

[Babr]

I used the "Search this Forum" tool to do a search for "Candy Zuiderdam." There is a thread from her "Live from Zuidy" in March 08. I used the links in her signature to check the handicapped cabins since I have not been in one myself. Click on the one that has Hcp views and follow it to the end. I think the handicapped cabin views have a 2004 date stamp on them. (If there is a simpler way to get to those picture, sorry I don't know it.)

 

I know the Westie has had some structural changes, but I don't think they changed the layout of the bathrooms. It sure looks like the toilet is attached to the wall opposite the showerhead - all behind a rather short shower curtain.

[Crusing Bob]

In the handicapped cabins, the toilet is a handicap toilet but it is not in the shower. There is only a shower(no tub) for handicapped passengers and separate from the toilet.

[Softball20]

Cool. Thanks for the info on the pics. Does anyone know if that handicapped bathroom still has the double sink? I would not want to lose that!

[Desdemona01]

Cool. Thanks for the info on the pics. Does anyone know if that handicapped bathroom still has the double sink? I would not want to lose that!

 

No, the HC cabins have a single sink, and there is no shelf underneath in order to accomodate a wheelchair. Also, the shower curtain is on the far side of the toilet, which results in the entire toilet area (including paper) getting wet. This could be where the "toilet in the shower" question came from. It is this way in the SS/SY cabins on the Oosterdam, Westerdam and Zuiderdam. They may have corrected it for the Noordam because I know that some HC pax contacted Seattle about the poor design before the Noordam was built.

[Softball20]

Yikes! One of the reasons we liked the suite idea was for a little more room in the bathroom as well -- for 12 days on a ship, a little more space would have been nice. Oh well.

 

 

I've always wanted to go to St. Somewhere......... [with a boat drink, of course]

[1cruiselvr]

Booking as GTY does give you an edge on upgrades due to the nature of the booking type. We have sailed on HAL approximately 1-2x a year for the past 10 years and have NEVER been upgraded for free or offered one for $$, always with booking where we chose our cabin with one exception. That time we decided to try an outside GTY. We ended up getting the lowest outside category and the worst cabin location (first cabin forward, portholes). So upgrade opportunities are not as frequent as one tends to believe from reading the upgrade stories on this board no matter how you book. Happy Sailing!

[Travel Angel]

Yikes! One of the reasons we liked the suite idea was for a little more room in the bathroom as well -- for 12 days on a ship, a little more space would have been nice. Oh well.

 

 

I've always wanted to go to St. Somewhere......... [with a boat drink, of course]

 

I think we have a happy camper now in that "SC" stateroom !!! :D

 

Bon Voyage'

[Softball20]

You bet!!! A very happy camper - even without the double sink!

 

THANKS!!!!!!!!