"Changed Booking" email

[SetAnOpenCourse]

It is three days before embarkation. Yesterday I found out my stateroom and went through the online check in. Today, a few hours ago HAL sent an email, "Changed Booking", which says I have a stateroom change. It tells me to log in and reprint my express docs. However, the stateroom is showing the same. I wonder if this is just a lag in their system, with today's "change" actually just reflecting the upgrade that happened a day or two earlier. HAL is apparently closed today for Thanksgiving. Our "D" oceanview looked like a nice location, so I'm hoping they didn't move me to one of the few mediocre verandahs (steel railing or way foreship). Anyone ever get one of these puzzling emails?

[cbr663]

Yes, we also received one for our newly assigned cabin.

 

On Monday, we received an email with the subject, "Booking Confirmation for XXX Party". This email had a Guest Booking attachment with the newly assigned cabin.

 

On Tuesday, we received another email with the subject, "Changed Booking - (Guest Notification of Changed Stateroom) Your Holland America Line Express Docs. This email was a change notification and requested that we re-print our express docs.

 

The cabin didn't change for us from Monday to Tuesday.

[cruz chic]

Yes I've rec'd one. Hal's systems don't talk to each other.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Yes -- it can happen. HAL's systems aren't always co-ordinated.

Don't know when your cruise is, but once you get to the pier, you can always check with the porters to find out if there has been another change. They have a master list.

[bluegiraffe]

We had the same thing happen for our Nov. 30th sailing. Received a "changed booking" email on Tuesday and another on Wednesday. It doesn't appear that there has been another change to the stateroom, so I'm assuming that the explanation is as others have noted - that the HAL left hands and right hands aren't communicating very well.:)

[SeaBands]

our Tampa cruise was changed to FLL back in October and no one contacted us. My TA didn't know about it and I only found it here. A rep of the TA called last night to make us aware almost 2 months since it happened. HAL should notify cruisers and not just TAs. They owe us that.

[cruz chic]

our Tampa cruise was changed to FLL back in October and no one contacted us. My TA didn't know about it and I only found it here. A rep of the TA called last night to make us aware almost 2 months since it happened. HAL should notify cruisers and not just TAs. They owe us that.

 

When you book through a ta you become a third party. Hal must deal with your ta. This is exactly why I have zero interest in using a ta.

[Lizzie68]

our Tampa cruise was changed to FLL back in October and no one contacted us. My TA didn't know about it and I only found it here. A rep of the TA called last night to make us aware almost 2 months since it happened. HAL should notify cruisers and not just TAs. They owe us that.

 

I have used a TA for nearly all my travels, and they have been invaluable. If this is indeed the case, then HAL is at fault for not communicating. But do double-check. There are bad TA's just as there are bad HAL reps, or PCC.s. My experience with the PCCs has been abysmal so far, whereas I have never, ever had a problem with a TA. And my TA has always come through with great upgrades and upsells.

[Fouremco]

When you book through a ta you become a third party. Hal must deal with your ta. This is exactly why I have zero interest in using a ta.

 

I have used a TA for nearly all my travels, and they have been invaluable. If this is indeed the case, then HAL is at fault for not communicating. But do double-check. There are bad TA's just as there are bad HAL reps, or PCC.s. My experience with the PCCs has been abysmal so far, whereas I have never, ever had a problem with a TA. And my TA has always come through with great upgrades and upsells.

I always used to do our bookings because I enjoyed having complete control and I have the time to keep an eagle eye on prices and new perks being offered. For our last cruise, I made the booking but handed it off to a TA that I wanted to try. The result was some minor OBC and a bottle of wine. We subsequently booked two more cruises through her, including a somewhat more complex booking for 12-person multi-generational family cruise on a line we've never used. She handled that very well, taking care of some issues that I wasn't even aware of.

 

I still keep a close eye on things, and recently asked her to check out a sale for the family cruise. As a result, we gained $1600 in combined fare reduction ($600) and increased OBC ($1000). I'm not sure whether or not she would have proactively refared our booking had I not asked about it.

 

In any event, there are pros and cons with either approach, and I'm happy with our current way of handling booking.

 

As for the SeaBands' point, I see no reason why both TA and the passenger couldn't be included on an email notification of a major change. Any follow up by a passenger could still have to go through the TA, but there's no reason why the notification couldn't go to all concerned.

Edited November 29, 2015 by Fouremco

[cruz chic]

I always used to do our bookings because I enjoyed having complete control and I have the time to keep an eagle eye on prices and new perks being offered. For our last cruise, I made the booking but handed it off to a TA that I wanted to try. The result was some minor OBC and a bottle of wine. We subsequently booked two more cruises through her, including a somewhat more complex booking for 12-person multi-generational family cruise on a line we've never used. She handled that very well, taking care of some issues that I wasn't even aware of.

 

I still keep a close eye on things, and recently asked her to check out a sale for the family cruise. As a result, we gained $1600 in combined fare reduction ($600) and increased OBC ($1000). I'm not sure whether or not she would have proactively refared our booking had I not asked about it.

 

In any event, there are pros and cons with either approach, and I'm happy with our current way of handling booking.

 

As for the SeaBands' point, I see no reason why both TA and the passenger couldn't be included on an email notification of a major change. Any follow up by a passenger could still have to go through the TA, but there's no reason why the notification couldn't go to all concerned.

 

As I mentioned previously you become a third party when you book thru a ta. How would Hal get their system to tell the difference between major and minor changes? If you have a good ta there should be no concerns. If I had a great ta I certainly wouldn't bother with a PCC. I see no value in it.