upgrades

[esimon]

so upgrade offers come from Holland? thru a TA? or directly to the passenger?

[frankc98376]

If you book online or with a PCC upgrade offers will come to you directly from HAL in Seattle.

If you book with a TA HAL will extend the offer to TA and the TA will contact you (hopefully).

[mollyanne]

Ours came from the TA as that is how we booked.

[frankc98376]

Make sure you have a TA that stays on top of things as upgrade offers go out to many at a time. If they sit on the offer you'll likely lose out. We had friends that booked an OV last year and got an offer to upgrade to SS for $249 pp- they jumped on it- needless to say the offer went very quickly.

[Cruise_More_Often]

If you book online or with a PCC upgrade offers will come to you directly from HAL in Seattle.

If you book with a TA HAL will extend the offer to TA and the TA will contact you (hopefully).

What is the difference, or is there a difference, between upgrade and upsell? Our TA told us that HAL could upgrade us without our knowledge and that we might not like the location of the upgrade.

[cruz chic]

What is the difference, or is there a difference, between upgrade and upsell? Our TA told us that HAL could upgrade us without our knowledge and that we might not like the location of the upgrade.

Upgrade is free with no choice in the matter. Upsell is paying for the upgrade with usually a choice of where you land.

[Padraic]

What is the difference, or is there a difference, between upgrade and upsell? Our TA told us that HAL could upgrade us without our knowledge and that we might not like the location of the upgrade.

 

We generally book a guaranteed balcony meaning that if all else fails we will get a balcony of the lowest category. If we are given a upper category balcony that would be an upgrade with no additional charge. HAL would do the upgrade even though we booked through our TA.

 

On two occasions we booked a guaranteed balcony and we received an upsell from HAL through our TA. Had we accepted it we would be charged additional. On one of those occasions we were offered an upsell to a suite through our TA and by the time our TA accepted the upsell she was told it was too late. Later we were given a upgrade to the same category of suite.

[Cruise_More_Often]

Thank you, cruze chic and Padraic.

[Mytime2014]

Oh how I wish the person who is primary on our booking checked her email. Ever.

 

I suspect we will miss upgrade opportunities. Oh well, next time....

[Typhoon1]

Make sure you have a TA that stays on top of things as upgrade offers go out to many at a time. If they sit on the offer you'll likely lose out. We had friends that booked an OV last year and got an offer to upgrade to SS for $249 pp- they jumped on it- needless to say the offer went very quickly.

 

If your TA is too lazy to contact you with upgrade offers, it's time to find a new one. That's what he or she is earning a commission to do.

[Charbie]

I did a quick check and there are still 30 balcony suites (Veranda & Lanai only) available on our cruise which is only 31 days away. Is there a way to determine if they will be offering upsells based on this type of information?

 

by the way, I have only been offered an upsell one time - on our one and only celebrity cruise, and we took it.

 

This is the first time we have used this particular TA and so far I am not happy with her response time when I call or email her -- so sadly, I think we are going to look to find a new one.

 

Karen

[DaveOKC]

I did a quick check and there are still 30 balcony suites (Veranda & Lanai only) available on our cruise which is only 31 days away. Is there a way to determine if they will be offering upsells based on this type of information?

 

by the way, I have only been offered an upsell one time - on our one and only celebrity cruise, and we took it.

 

This is the first time we have used this particular TA and so far I am not happy with her response time when I call or email her -- so sadly, I think we are going to look to find a new one.

 

Karen

 

The number of available cabins can be misleading, depending on how many people booked "guarantees", as these cabins have yet to be assigned. On my sailing there were a large number of unassigned cabins in my category and then all of a sudden the category was sold out! Now the whole ship seems to be sold out.

 

As to TAs, after having two nice but not very knowledgeable ones, I finally went and booked through HAL directly and am happy with my PCC. While she is not great, she is easy to work with and is not afraid to dig in and get what I requested, plus she seems to know who to talk to at HAL to resolve issues.

 

DaveOKC

[Okie1946]

 

As to TAs, after having two nice but not very knowledgeable ones, I finally went and booked through HAL directly and am happy with my PCC. While she is not great, she is easy to work with and is not afraid to dig in and get what I requested, plus she seems to know who to talk to at HAL to resolve issues.

 

DaveOKC

 

Our Holland America PCC. We have used 3 different TA's and had horrible service from them. Went the PCC route for our next cruise and will keep going that route from now on. He contacts us as soon as there is notification of an upsell or upgrade and is sure we have more that enough advance notice to make a good decision.

 

Barbara

 

Previous Cruises:

 

Alaska - Westerdam - September 2009 - 7 days

Alaska - Rotterdam - September 2010 - 7 days

Mexican Riviera - Oosterdam - April 2011 - 7 days

Alaska - Amsterdam - September 2012 - 14 days

 

Planning Stages: Panama Canal

Edited April 9, 2014 by Okie1946

[Robin7]

Our Veendam cruise leaves in 23 days. (Woo hoo! :D) Today my TA offered us:

 

1) Free upgrade from an FF on A Deck to a DD on Main or a free guarantee up to the Lower Promendae (can't remember which category).

 

We have been on the LP on the Volendam. We prefer not to be on the LP.

 

2) $40 each OBC to remain in our originally booked room--the FF on Main Deck.

 

(There has been a price decrease since we booked on 24 February.)

 

or

 

3) an upsell to a Verandah cabin for $180 each.

 

Since the cruise is port intensive, and we are traveling with family who we know will keep us out of our room no matter what kind we have, we declined. But if we'd been traveling alone, we would have jumped at that! I thought it was a pretty reasonable offer.

 

I had originally called the TA so I could order distilled water for my husband's CPAP. It's a large online TA, so I doubt they would have contacted me about the price drop if I hadn't called them to contact Ship Services.

 

I am happy with our upgrade from the FF to the DD.

 

Robin

[Charbie]

Thanks Dave & Barbara - I am going to go back to only using a PCC with the cruise lines. I have one with NCL that I have always used, so not sure why I haven't stuck with that method. Also - it reminded me that the one up-sell I did get with Celebrity we were booked directly with the cruise line.

 

Also - Thanks Robin for your info. I also keep in regular contact with this new TA -- but like I said, I am not real happy with her response time. It sounds like you are on the ship right before we are. You must be sailing from Florida. I would have liked to do that too, but friends I am traveling with only had the week of 5/10 to travel. I am hoping to get an offer of an up-sell, and I will take it!! My travel mates convinced me to book an inside cabin near them --- I booked an inside cabin just one time out of all of my cruises, and swore never again -- and I am already regretting that I let them talk me into it!

 

keep your fingers crossed for / with me!

Karen

[Charbie]

Our Veendam cruise leaves in 23 days. (Woo hoo! :D) Today my TA offered us:

 

1) Free upgrade from an FF on A Deck to a DD on Main or a free guarantee up to the Lower Promendae (can't remember which category).

 

We have been on the LP on the Volendam. We prefer not to be on the LP.

 

2) $40 each OBC to remain in our originally booked room--the FF on Main Deck.

 

(There has been a price decrease since we booked on 24 February.)

 

or

 

3) an upsell to a Verandah cabin for $180 each.

 

Since the cruise is port intensive, and we are traveling with family who we know will keep us out of our room no matter what kind we have, we declined. But if we'd been traveling alone, we would have jumped at that! I thought it was a pretty reasonable offer.

 

I had originally called the TA so I could order distilled water for my husband's CPAP. It's a large online TA, so I doubt they would have contacted me about the price drop if I hadn't called them to contact Ship Services.

 

I am happy with our upgrade from the FF to the DD.

 

Robin

 

Hi Again Robin,

 

What is the date of your cruise? And for how many days? We are on the 5/10 sailing of Veendam. (7 days, Quebec to Boston)

 

And by the way -- my TA told me that I would never get offered an upsell because I am single occ. She suggested I ask at the port when I am checking in. Even if this is true - which seems ridiculous, I am not EVER using her again!!!

 

Karen

[andrewjv1955]

I am new to HAL and I have a booking on the August 29th Medit. Empires Cruise in a SS Category.

 

How do you tell which cabins have been booked?

 

Is there a website that shows this? Can someone tell me, please, how to look at this information?

 

Is it available on the HAL website?

 

I am hoping for an upgrade to a Neptune or an up-sell (I'll accept either one); OR

I may have my TA call as we get closer to the date and just see if we can negotiate an upwell. But first, I guess I need to see whats been sold or booked.

 

Thanks for any help or references in seeing which cabins have been taken already.

[Randyk47]

I am new to HAL and I have a booking on the August 29th Medit. Empires Cruise in a SS Category.

 

How do you tell which cabins have been booked?

 

Is there a website that shows this? Can someone tell me, please, how to look at this information?

 

Is it available on the HAL website?

 

I am hoping for an upgrade to a Neptune or an up-sell (I'll accept either one); OR

I may have my TA call as we get closer to the date and just see if we can negotiate an upwell. But first, I guess I need to see whats been sold or booked.

 

Thanks for any help or references in seeing which cabins have been taken already.

 

There isn't a really direct, easy way to tell. You can kind of try to do cabin number by cabin number bookings to see if a particular cabin is available but that is extremely labor intensive, especially for the larger Vista and Signature class ships with their number of Neptune Suites.