Cruise Canceled, Lose Double Credit for a Suite?

We were booked on the Sep 26 five-day Pacific Coastal Cruise on the Amsterdam but our big box TA sent us an email saying that HAL had advised that the cruise was canceled, We had booked a Vista Suite guarantee, partly because the price was good but mostly to get the double credit on sailing days from booking a suite. It's all part of a plan to get to four-star Mariner before our Transatlantic in Oct '18. HAL is offering to move the booking to the Oosterdam, still a five-day cruise but leaving a day early and with a different itinerary (Astoria, OR instead of SF). The Oosterdam does not have Vista suites and all the Signature suites are booked, so no chance of an upgrade. So if the only option is to book a Veranda, does anyone think HAL will honor the previously booked double credit commitment? Our TA has asked HAL and HAL has to kick the request up the line to a lead, but I'm curious what Cruise Critic folks think might happen. Our TA promised to get back to us in a day or two once HAL decides.

Verandah Suites -- if you are willing to pay the higher price -- will give the extra Mariner days.

If you do a guarantee for a regular cabin and then HAL upgrades you to a suite -- no double points.

I hope HAL will be generous with you since they cancelled the cruise. Hopefully your TA is good at negotiating. We had HAL cancel our 21 day cruise but were very generous (in my opinion) with OBC etc. I think you have a good argument to get the double credit since there is no Signature suites available.

Good luck-let us know what happens.

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Krazy Cruiser, our guarantee on the Amsterdam was for a Vista Suite, category BB, so there was no question whether we would be entitled to double cruise days. But the Oosterdam does not have Visa suites and the closest equivalent in price would be a Veranda cabin, which would not carry with it the double cruise days credit.

If HAL says no, I would still appeal to the Mariner's Society after the cruise. Good luck! :)

We were booked on the Sep 26 five-day Pacific Coastal Cruise on the Amsterdam but our big box TA sent us an email saying that HAL had advised that the cruise was canceled, We had booked a Vista Suite guarantee, partly because the price was good but mostly to get the double credit on sailing days from booking a suite. It's all part of a plan to get to four-star Mariner before our Transatlantic in Oct '18. HAL is offering to move the booking to the Oosterdam, still a five-day cruise but leaving a day early and with a different itinerary (Astoria, OR instead of SF). The Oosterdam does not have Vista suites and all the Signature suites are booked, so no chance of an upgrade. So if the only option is to book a Veranda, does anyone think HAL will honor the previously booked double credit commitment? Our TA has asked HAL and HAL has to kick the request up the line to a lead, but I'm curious what Cruise Critic folks think might happen. Our TA promised to get back to us in a day or two once HAL decides.

Good luck to you. I'm hopeful they will accommodate you. I'm curious; do you know why they cancelled, and what itinerary the Amsterdam will do instead?

PS Edited to add that your original itinerary still currently shows up on HAL's website.

Good luck to you. I'm hopeful they will accommodate you. I'm curious; do you know why they cancelled, and what itinerary the Amsterdam will do instead?

 

PS Edited to add that your original itinerary still currently shows up on HAL's website.

Sorry, I don't know why the cruise was canceled or what itinerary the Amsterdam is doing instead. And yes, the original itinerary still shows on HAL's website but if you click on "book now," you're returned to the find your cruise screen. I assume it will be sorted out in a day or two.

Wonder if a last minute charter?

She's sailing from Alaska to San Diego, where she leaves on an 80-day Grand Asia cruise on October 1.

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She's sailing from Alaska to San Diego, where she leaves on an 80-day Grand Asia cruise on October 1.

I think that's the one the OP was kicked off... Can you imagine how much it must cost to charter a ship that's already booked full? You'd have to make it worth HAL's time including all the onboard spending of passengers!

Could be a decision to do a short dry doc before the 80 day.

I looked at a cruise data base and that 5 day period is showing nothing. But I am wondering if HAL has a problem with the PVSA. That 5 day cruise would have been from Seattle to San Diego.....which is a clear violation of the PVSA...unless they could somehow toss in a "distant foreign port." A quick dry dock is unlikely since it would have to be very quick :). The ship still needs to move from Seattle to San Diego which is approximately 1000 nautical miles. That would normally take at least 2 days....and 3 day dry docks are pretty rare unless there is some kind of emergency repair needed.

Hank

I looked at a cruise data base and that 5 day period is showing nothing. But I am wondering if HAL has a problem with the PVSA. That 5 day cruise would have been from Seattle to San Diego.....which is a clear violation of the PVSA

http://www.cruisetimetables.com/cruisesonmsamsterdam-26sep2017.html

Sep 25 was to be a separate overnight from Seattle to VCR. I just tried a test booking for that 1-day and it "errored out", same as trying to book the 5-day. Maybe the ship is heading to SD a day earlier without passengers to give them 4 days for some repairs or changes.

Or maybe without paying passengers they can do some emergency maintenance or changes en route while chugging along at 10 knots or so.

Or maybe without paying passengers they can do some emergency maintenance or changes en route while chugging along at 10 knots or so.

I know of several people starting the Grand Asia in Vancouver, so there will be passengers on board.

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I know of several people starting the Grand Asia in Vancouver, so there will be passengers on board.

 

 

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I just heard that the passengers who had planned to start the Grand Asia in Vancouver have now been moved to the Oosterdam.

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From a thread I started a few days ago.

I have a bit of a strange question on my upcoming B2B on the Amsterdam, the 5-day Coastal Vancouver to SD and the Grand Asia. It's a true B2B, not a collector.

 

I'm pretty sure my account carries over from 1 segment to the other even though it's 2 separate bookings, but I just reviewed my online checkin and see that I've registered 2 different credit cards for the 2 segments.

 

Do you think that will cause a problem and any ideas of which credit card would be used?

 

Thanks

Roy

I just heard that the passengers who had planned to start the Grand Asia in Vancouver have now been moved to the Oosterdam.

 

 

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I JUST YESTERDAY went into my account to change my 2 Amsterdam reservations to the same credit card and now this happens.

I have a bit more of a predicament as I was booked on the 1-day Oosterdam from Seattle to Vancouver, and doing that and the Oosterdam would put me in violation of the PVSA.

My TA is looking at options but I may end up moving the Seattle-Vancouver cruise the same day to the Emerald Princess.

Roy

We are on the 12 night Mexico out of vancouver. Sounds like the coastal part will fill up fast. Prices for our cruise dropped significantly today so guessing E4 will be coming soon

We booked a Neptune Suite on the canceled Amsterdam cruise and it is not available on the Oosterdam Sept 25th cruise that they "recommend" as a substitute. Their Rep was not helpful in offering OBC or anything at all as compensation. Do you have any suggestions whom to call or any experience with getting some compensation for this canceled cruise? Btw, the fashion they are handling this issue is terrible. The Rep was not familiar with the problem. Since we don't even know what was the reason for cancellation, we cannot get any refunds from the credit card for change fees etc.

Thanks to all for the responses. I've resolved our situation. I called HAL this morning to ask what was the reason for the cancellation. The HAL agent didn't know but after checking, she did say there were now six Signature Suites available on the Oosterdam sailing on Sep 25. I checked the online price and found that it was exactly the same as what we had paid for a Vista Suite on our original booking on the Amsterdam. I called our big box TA to see if we could be transferred to one of those suites on the Oosterdam. After a long hold time the agent came back and said "done," plus the price was $200 less. We lose the port call in San Francisco where we were hoping to connect with family and we have to stay one night in San Diego to catch our flight which we had booked for the original debarkation date, but all in all, everything turned out ok. I'm fairly confident HAL would have come through for us but with only six cabins remaining, we didn't want to take the chance of them being booked before HAL could respond. I hope others affected by this cruise cancellation are also able to find a satisfactory solution.

Have a nice cruise! It seems that you were lucky or perhaps booking via TA helped. We booked directly from HAL and were treated poorly. Their offer was ridiculous: downgraded cabin on the Oosterdam cruise with no compensation for the price difference. No compensation for re-booking flights. We have cruised with HAL three times and, sadly, this is enough :-( Similar complex past issues with Celebrity and Azamara were solved smoothly and efficiently.

Thanks to all for the responses. I've resolved our situation. I called HAL this morning to ask what was the reason for the cancellation. The HAL agent didn't know but after

Have a nice cruise! It seems that you were lucky or perhaps booking via TA helped. We booked directly from HAL and were treated poorly. Their offer was ridiculous: downgraded cabin on the Oosterdam cruise with no compensation for the price difference. No compensation for re-booking flights. We have cruised with HAL three times and, sadly, this is enough :-( Similar complex past issues with Celebrity and Azamara were solved smoothly and efficiently.

Wouldn't hurt to call back. Since this is just happening today things could change. I'm sure that whoever you talked to had been beaten up by others for most of the day and was only repeating what they had been told. If you paid for a suite there should certainly be cost adjustments for a lesser stateroom. Someone said earlier that they were able to get into a Signature Suite. SS staterooms are very nice- probably better equipped and larger than mini suites on other lines

Have a nice cruise! It seems that you were lucky or perhaps booking via TA helped. We booked directly from HAL and were treated poorly. Their offer was ridiculous: downgraded cabin on the Oosterdam cruise with no compensation for the price difference. No compensation for re-booking flights. We have cruised with HAL three times and, sadly, this is enough :-( Similar complex past issues with Celebrity and Azamara were solved smoothly and efficiently.

Marekam, I agree with Frankc98376. I would give HAL another call and tell them that they accommodated another passenger who had been booked in a Vista Suite by transferring the booking to a Signature Suite. Since you paid for a Neptune Suite, you should get the Signature Suite and the price difference as compensation. When I finished my transaction about two hours ago there were only five of those Signature Suites left. Good luck; don't give up. Its only fair.

We booked directly from HAL and were treated poorly. Their offer was ridiculous: downgraded cabin on the Oosterdam cruise with no compensation for the price difference. No compensation for re-booking flights. We have cruised with HAL three times and, sadly, this is enough :-( Similar complex past issues with Celebrity and Azamara were solved smoothly and efficiently.

Yikes ... so sorry to hear that! I was on a cruise that was chartered a couple of years ago in Sept and they did provide adequate compensation for those already booked, albeit, not without a lot of work on my end. But, I did end up switching to another cruise and it was fabulous!! And, they gave us a lot more leeway in terms of notification timing to rebook something else.

I was just booked on a cruise for next Sept on NCL when they notified me to tell me that cruise was being canceled. Since it was so far out, they were offering $25 obc and any associated flight change costs. They knew they wouldn't have to pay that as the airlines haven't even released their schedules yet.

Seems like Sept might be the big cancellation month. Wouldn't you know it ... that is both my anniversary and birthday month.

So sorry to hear they haven't treated you well.

Member on our Roll Call says TA informed him that per HA Amsterdam was going into wet dock. Likely will be in Seattle or Victoria- they have used both before