Zaandam midship rooms for Alaska 2018 ALL booked?

[Ratdoggie]

Maybe I'm having a brain freeze, so I want to see if this sounds right. We are looking at a 14 day Alaska cruise on Zaandam for May 2018. It looks like NO MID-SHIP oceanview rooms are available. We can settle for aft but could I be missing something in looking at the website? Or should we book now before the rest are sold out? :confused:Thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks!

[kazu]

Maybe I'm having a brain freeze, so I want to see if this sounds right. We are looking at a 14 day Alaska cruise on Zaandam for May 2018. It looks like NO MID-SHIP oceanview rooms are available. We can settle for aft but could I be missing something in looking at the website? Or should we book now before the rest are sold out? :confused:Thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks!

 

 

I just went to look and there are lots of mid ship OV's.

 

Click stateroom first and select ocean view and you will see all three locations available. (Aft, mid and forward).

 

Click on the mid ship and you will see the cabins that are available.

 

HAL only shows so many cabins, so you can also input the cabin number of your choice to see if it is available.

[Ratdoggie]

Thank you for your help. I guess we were only looking at the main deck level and not the other two! So there are more available than I thought, but they still seem to be going fast.

[crystalspin]

@Ratdoggie

It is my understanding that large blocks of staterooms are sometimes pre-booked (put on hold?) for large travel agencies to sell exclusively, up until some set date, at which time the unsold ones go back into the pool. I may have seen that explained on CC or I may have just reached that conclusion by observing odd patterns of unavailable rooms way in advance (as you have done).

 

Now, just recently, I saw it suggested that a PCC (Personal Cruise Consultant, a person who works for HAL to arrange cruises for individuals) can see and get rooms that do not show on the general website that you or I can see. So, if you have gotten an e-mail from HAL offering you a PCC's services, take them up on it -- or look on the website for a place to connect to one.

 

That said, I recommend staying on the Lower Promenade deck -- the views are ALL somewhat obscured by the boardwalk and some are Partially or Fully Obscured by metal structures (I forget what to call them!) -- but they all are steps away from the largest balcony on the ship. The PO or FO status is indicated with a symbol on the deckplan.

[Ratdoggie]

Thank you Crystalspin. I think your understanding about blocks of rooms being put on hold sounds totally legitimate. I'll contact HAL or a PCC and find out if there is more available. I'll come back and post my findings for anyone who is curious. Thanks for the tips!

[packercruising]

Thank you Crystalspin. I think your understanding about blocks of rooms being put on hold sounds totally legitimate. I'll contact HAL or a PCC and find out if there is more available. I'll come back and post my findings for anyone who is curious. Thanks for the tips!

We are booked for May 21. Our TA has/had some pre-booked cabins, unfortunately, we are not allowed to list them on here.

[Andi Land]

With the "new" website, I find it easier to search by a particular room number. I'm also looking at the Zaandam next year for Alaska. I'm also looking for ocean view. It seems to always choose the lowest available category without the option to search by category. It's somewhat frustrating. But now that I know what room I'm looking at, I just put that in the search by room number option. There still seems to be plenty of available time. Also, try going to the Big Box retailer who also has travel. You can see room availability there a little better.

[Ratdoggie]

Thank you all for your help. Through your tips I have found that there are more cabins available than the HAL website initially shows and we were able to get the cabin location we want! This is why I love Cruise Critic!