HAL_cruising38726

Agreed, we will have our PCC escalate this to a specialist.

We have upgraded several of our staterooms (locations/categories/etc.) on non-refundable bookings. We will definitely do this. Thank you.

Except, we're not trying to cancel the booking, we're just trying to upgrade to a better stateroom. Why would HAL insist on making us cancel our booking just to upgrade staterooms?

We have paid for the cruise in full.

Posting this here in case anyone has had this issue before, or if this is a new policy from HAL. We booked an interior GUAR cabin for the 21-day Viking Explorer 2024, and saw recently that the prices went down (what we paid for an interior is the current price of verandah cabins). We called HAL and asked if we could upgrade to a verandah, offering to pay the small difference between what we paid vs. the current going rate of a verandah cabin. We were told that there is no way to upgrade staterooms and we would have to cancel our booking (and pay an exorbitant cancellation fee) if we want a better cabin. Has anyone had this issue before? We're 4 star mariners with HAL and this is the first we're hearing of this policy.

Thanks @WriterOnDeck 🙂, all info has been super helpful!

Thanks @WriterOnDeck! Were you on the Zuiderdam during the transition to Starlink this year? if so, did you experience any changes in using your PIA VPN? How was the internet, otherwise?

I'll try Express VPN, and see if that works. Seems PIA may work as well. Does anyone have any other recommendations for VPN, or other VPNs that have worked on HAL recently? Just trying to cover my bases.

Which VPN did you use for this?

I tried this and it didn't work for me, unfortunately. Which VPN have you used that this worked for?

@WriterOnDeck Can you provide more information regarding how you used your Public Internet Access (PIA) VPN on the Zuiderdam? I've never been able to connect a VPN while on the ship. Do you use a static IP or any specific settings?

These are all super helpful ("Booo" on worklife following us on the high seas, but such is life, haha).

Does anyone have experience with accessing certain sites using the Premium internet package on HAL? I'm trying to see if certain sites are accessible, specifically, Sharepoint/Microsoft 365 and Skype.