Who has gotten cabin assignments this week?

[bennybear]

I always say "Do Not Upgrade" and I have gotten upsell offers quite often.

 

Thanks! Would hate to miss out on something I might like!

[ddaley]

Booked a VE guarantee on a flash sale and have been waiting for assignment. I was hoping for one of the aft view cabins or one of these double veranda's and scored 4164. I think I would have preferred an aft cabin but I am happy with 4164 and the double veranda. Having been to Alaska 5 times we live on the balcony so it will be nice to have the extra space. Interestingly enough this is VB and in the past on guarantees we have been assigned VA's that are midship near the elevator and I hated them as I had to hear the ding, ding of the elevator at all hours. I think this is our best assignment yet, thank-you HAL.:)

[ddaley]

Booked a VE guarantee on a flash sale and have been waiting for assignment. I was hoping for one of the aft view cabins or one of these double veranda's and scored 4164. I think I would have preferred an aft cabin but I am happy with 4164 and the double veranda. Having been to Alaska 5 times we live on the balcony so it will be nice to have the extra space. Interestingly enough this is VB and in the past on guarantees we have been assigned VA's that are midship near the elevator and I hated them as I had to hear the ding, ding of the elevator at all hours. I think this is our best assignment yet, thank-you HAL.:)

[KAKcruiser]

I agree about the ding ding of the elevators. We were a couple of cabins away from the midddle elevators on the Zuiderdam and that noise was constant. The funny thing was that I had never noticed it before on the older ships.

[mexylopez]

I love reading this thread! It feels like I'm getting the upgrade! :)

[Nimbet]

Did you get the upgrade? Just curious as I am waiting for a room assignment now for a cruise leaving 1August.

 

 

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[Loveofsailing]

Sailing in 6 days on the Westerdam - have a guaranteed SZ-and haven't been assigned yet- a little nervous - no a lot!! Second time doing guaranteed- 1st time received our cabin assignment over a month out. Anybody else waiting? Do they do assignments over the weekend?

Thanks!

[Nimbet]

Did you get the upgrade? Just curious as I am waiting for a room assignment now for a cruise leaving 1August.

 

 

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Yes, I got it about two days ago. Unfortunately no upgrade, I got a fully obstructed cabin. I think that happened because there were many that were booked on the cruise on 15 August that were put on our cruise (because of a charter or something). Those people probably got the better cabins and rightfully so since they had to change their date of sailing

 

 

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[Loveofsailing]

Nothing yet- we sail on Saturday

[Loveofsailing]

Sailing Saturday on the Westerdam just got our guaranteed assignment-Cabin number 5002- anybody know anything about that cabin?

[Dosenpfand1]

Sailing Saturday on the Westerdam just got our guaranteed assignment-Cabin number 5002- anybody know anything about that cabin?

 

Had this one on the Oosterdam some time ago. Handicap, lots of space, Windows to the front and side, really large desk, verandah smaller than other suites, like normal verandah stateroom, just one sink in bathroom. Loved it - except small verandah

[Loveofsailing]

Thanks!

[lelo14]

New cruiser here. What are you guys talking about? Don't you pick your cabin when you book your cruise?

[Cruise a holic]

New cruiser here. What are you guys talking about? Don't you pick your cabin when you book your cruise?

Some people book a cheaper guarantee rate. They hope the cabin they are assigned exceeds what category they paid for. Since I do not gamble, I prefer to choose my cabin and location. With my luck, I would be assigned a noisey poorly located cabin or suite.

[lelo14]

Some people book a cheaper guarantee rate. They hope the cabin they are assigned exceeds what category they paid for. Since I do not gamble, I prefer to choose my cabin and location. With my luck, I would be assigned a noisey poorly located cabin or suite.

 

Thanks.

 

What is a guarantee rate? How do you get one?

[lelo14]

Found part of the answer here: http://www.cruisecritic.com/articles.cfm?ID=337

 

And I think I unknowingly booked a guarantee rate.

 

I booked with HAL over the phone and after a lot of back and forth discussion, the details of which I don't remember, she offered to GUARANTEE that I would get an 'N' class cabin. Her wording may have been different but that is what I understood. Are you saying that "guarantee" is industry jargon and doesn't mean what I think it means? I took it to mean that there was no chance that I would get anything but an 'N' class. Is there a chance that I won't get an 'N' class cabin? I want an 'N' class cabin. There are only 8 of them on the ship and I have no preference which one. I do not want a so called "upgrade." Do I call HAL in a panic?

[Lady Arwen]

Found part of the answer here: http://www.cruisecritic.com/articles.cfm?ID=337

 

And I think I unknowingly booked a guarantee rate.

 

I booked with HAL over the phone and after a lot of back and forth discussion, the details of which I don't remember, she offered to GUARANTEE that I would get an 'N' class cabin. Her wording may have been different but that is what I understood. Are you saying that "guarantee" is industry jargon and doesn't mean what I think it means? I took it to mean that there was no chance that I would get anything but an 'N' class. Is there a chance that I won't get an 'N' class cabin? I want an 'N' class cabin. There are only 8 of them on the ship and I have no preference which one. I do not want a so called "upgrade." Do I call HAL in a panic?

 

Call HAL and book a specific cabin in the category that you want and ask for "no upgrade". You might want to go online and look at the deck plan to see which cabins are available and which location you prefer.

[jtl513]

Sailing Saturday on the Westerdam just got our guaranteed assignment-Cabin number 5002- anybody know anything about that cabin?

Google /5002-oosterdam/ for pics taken by cc member oaktreerb. Click on each to enlarge.

[lelo14]

Call HAL and book a specific cabin in the category that you want and ask for "no upgrade". You might want to go online and look at the deck plan to see which cabins are available and which location you prefer.

 

Thanks, I called them. They can't do anything till 6 am Seattle time when ships inventory opens.

 

She did inform me that N is the very lowest class. So I asked for and received the following:

----------------------

 

Good Morning,

 

Thank you Laura for reaching out to Holland America regarding the confusion of your stateroom category. As you requested the below is the list of categories and they are listed in order. The top category of PS is shown at the top and the bottom category is N shown at the bottom.

I hope this helps!

 

PS4

SA4

SB4

SC4

SS3

SY3

SZ3

VA4

VB4

VC4

VD3

VE4

VF4

VH

C 4

D 4

DD4

E 4

F 4

G 3

H

HH3

I 4

J 4

K 3

L

M

MM

N

 

---------------------

Does anyone know what the numbers mean?

[RuthC]

Does anyone know what the numbers mean?

I know the numbers do not mean the number of cabins in the category. There are many more cabins than that in most categories, and fewer/same number in a few.

 

I've been around both HAL and CC for a long time, and I haven't a clue what the numbers mean.

 

Good luck that you get the category you want. But may I ask why you are adamant you want an "N" category cabin? There are some really great inside cabins on all the HAL ships.

[iancal]

Our experience on HAL and on other lines is that cabin categories often have more to do with marketing and with pricing matrix than they have to do with anything else. There always seems to be good and less than favourable cabins in most categories.

 

There are a number of ships where our preference is for a lower cabin category because of the attributes in a number of those cabins. We pay far more attention the location, size etc than we do to category.

[lelo14]

I know the numbers do not mean the number of cabins in the category. There are many more cabins than that in most categories, and fewer/same number in a few.

 

I've been around both HAL and CC for a long time, and I haven't a clue what the numbers mean.

 

Good luck that you get the category you want. But may I ask why you are adamant you want an "N" category cabin? There are some really great inside cabins on all the HAL ships.

 

We want to be in the front. All the other interior categories have some cabins that are not in the front. I.e. of all the interior cabin categories, only N is entirely in the front. I'll be happy with any cabin that is in the front no matter the category although I'll be slightly annoyed if it is not also an interior.

 

We have one cruise under our belt. When I booked that first one, I put no thought into which category or location or any other thing. I had no idea what it would like so we took the least expensive option. Interior was sold out so we took an ocean-view. I hadn't even seen a deck plan till I got my map the day we got on the ship. We had the 2nd to the most forward cabin, starboard, deck 5 of Caribbean Princess which is like deck 2 on a HAL ship.

We loved it but thought that the window made little difference. We did hate dinning in the back of the ship where we could feel the vibrations of the engines. We felt very lucky to be in the front away from the vibrations and swore to always be in the front in the future.

 

We had so much fun on the first cruise, that in addition to booking the Alaska cruise for which I have the "guaranteed" class N we have also put a deposit down for a Caribbean cruise in March when we are treating our mothers to an all expense paid vacation. We all agree that we don't want to waste money on windows when we can spend it on other things. But before I inflict a windowless cabin on my in-laws, I want to try one myself just to make sure that we aren't wrong about the value of windows. So I want an interior cabin for the Alaska cruise so I can try it and find out. If it turns out that we hate our windowless cabin, then we will spend a little more on the March cruise to have windows after all. But if I don't get to try an interior then I will have a dilemma.

 

Anyways, I called HAL back as it was after 6 in Seattle and got told that the person I talked to at 5 was wrong about needing help from ships inventory department but that she (the lady at 5 o clock) was probably new and inexperience but that he (6 o clock gent) could certainly help me. But then turns out he can't help me and handed me up to a manager. The manager eventually said he (the manager) had to check with ships inventory (after all) and put me on hold and eventually I got disconnected. I expect him to call back. Not sure how long I should wait for a call.

 

Thanks for everyone's help and interest. I'm sorry if I hijacked a thread.

[RuthC]

We want to be in the front. All the other interior categories have some cabins that are not in the front.

Thanks for the explanation. If the front is what you want, then I sure do hope that's what you get.

 

I take inside cabins as a matter of course, and love them. Other than never having a clue what time it is, and waking myself up to check, I sleep better than ever in an inside. (bring a battery or wind-up clock)

I find I'm also more likely to get out and participate when the cabin isn't as inviting to retreat to. The time I was placed in a balcony cabin was great, but I lived on that balcony, and practically never met anyone on the cruise!

[lelo14]

Our experience on HAL and on other lines is that cabin categories often have more to do with marketing and with pricing matrix than they have to do with anything else. There always seems to be good and less than favorable cabins in most categories.

 

There are a number of ships where our preference is for a lower cabin category because of the attributes in a number of those cabins. We pay far more attention the location, size etc than we do to category.

 

There are only 8 N class cabins. If you have a preference between port or starboard then you might care which one but other than that I doubt anyone but the room steward can tell when inside them which one they were in.

 

So while I would not normally choose just based on category as in nearly every category there are cabins I would like and cabins that I would not like, in the case of N, they all fit the bill. Forward Interior. That's all I ask.

[jtl513]

Does anyone know what the numbers mean?

At first I thought it could be room capacity (persons) but that doesn't work either. I can't figure them out.

 

That list looks like it's for a Vista class ship. On other classes there are a few more types: SQ, VQ, CQ, IQ, VT, A, AA, AS, B, BB, CA, DA, EE, FF, ... :D

Edited July 28, 2016 by jtl513