How to see room availability?

[Kiwicake]

Hi,

 

I received a upsell offer through my email, however, prior to accepting the offer, I would like to view the room availability first to see if I like the location of my new room. However, when I try to make a dummy reservation on the Holland America website, it says that the cruise is sold out. I'm aware I can just call and ask, but I would like to avoid having to keep calling and waiting on hold every time I want to check for room availability. 

[CruiserBruce]

If it is listed as sold out, then you won't be able to see availability. It must be getting very limited. 

 

Are they saying they are offering you an exact cabin, or a level of cabin?

[Kiwicake]

2 minutes ago, CruiserBruce said:

If it is listed as sold out, then you won't be able to see availability. It must be getting very limited. 

 

Are they saying they are offering you an exact cabin, or a level of cabin?

 

I know it's not sold out because when I call the upsell number, they give me a list of available room numbers (despite the holland america website stating that the cruise is sold out). Hoping to avoid having to call everytime I want to know which rooms are available.

They are only giving me an upsell offer with no listed cabin or level in the email.

[Mary229]

When talking to the upsell office you should always have the deckplan downloaded to discuss the cabins.   They only discuss specific cabins not categories.   Have your credit card ready too, sometimes upsells disappear quickly. 

[Kiwicake]

1 minute ago, Mary229 said:

When talking to the upsell office you should always have the deckplan downloaded to discuss the cabins.   They only discuss specific cabins not categories.   Have your credit card ready too, sometimes upsells disappear quickly. 

 

Hi yes, they are very helpful when I call when giving me exact cabins that are available. However, I'm hoping to avoid having to call and waiting on hold in order to find out which cabins are available--would rather just look at the available rooms online and see if I want to spend the money to upgrade. Do you know if this is possible? When I try to do a dummy reservation online, it says the cruise is sold out (however, I know this is not true because the upsell agent has given me a list of rooms available).

[Mary229]

1 minute ago, Kiwicake said:

 

Hi yes, they are very helpful when I call when giving me exact cabins that are available. However, I'm hoping to avoid having to call and waiting on hold in order to find out which cabins are available--would rather just look at the available rooms online and see if I want to spend the money to upgrade. Do you know if this is possible? When I try to do a dummy reservation online, it says the cruise is sold out (however, I know this is not true because the upsell agent has given me a list of rooms available).

That is not how they operate.  They have specific rooms available and the best you can do is ask what else is available.  Additionally they only offer upsells up one or two categories.   Rarely will someone who booked an inside be offered a suite, it does happen but rarely.  

[oakridger]

@KiwicakeYou need to respond quickly.  That means you should have decided ahead of time if an upsell is what you want and how much you are willing to pay for one.  If the offer is good, it won't last very long.....maybe only minutes!!!   Others have been given the offer also.  As the other posters have mentioned, be prepared and have all the deck plans in front of you!!  Then, make that call!!

 

~Nancy

[Haljo1935]

Agree - what you're asking for does not exist. So, the answer is no - there is not a way for you to see availability before you call. 

You need to have a deck plan handy so as they give you cabin numbers, you can check the deck plan to see if you want it.

Congrats and move quickly - they may already be gone.

[POA1]

The only people who will have the list of open rooms on offer for a sold out ship are the people in Ship's Inventory. You'd have to get a job at HAL, go through training, and probably wait until a position opened. That's probably going to take a little longer than the phone calls.

 

In the meantime, here's the deck plan PDFs in a single file.

 

https://www.evernote.com/shard/s88/sh/2b6fccac-7be1-9eec-87f0-e578adca16b0/1qzFYUVjBgunv9tKGzRm0WOqwPeBO1IsI8FFqLxEL4oj7EtiA3zcJSfeaQ

[hhoope01]

Also note that just because there are specific rooms available doesn't mean they have lots of available inventory for sales.  A number of people could have "Guarantee" types of rooms. That means they have a room, but no room number yet.  They could be trying to eke out a little more revenue by trying to get others to purchase "upgrades" instead of putting a "guarantee" customer in that room.  If they can do that, the "guarantee" only gets the lower level room, you get the paid upgrade, Holland gets more money.

[Heartgrove]

With regards of moving up two or more categories, in the past I received an upsell from a Signature Suite to a Neptune Suite. I purchased the upsell and a few days later recieved an upsell to a Pinnacle Suite, which I declined. It is possible to move two or more categories but it is done in steps one at a time.

[Sea42]

1 hour ago, Heartgrove said:

With regards of moving up two or more categories, in the past I received an upsell from a Signature Suite to a Neptune Suite. I purchased the upsell and a few days later recieved an upsell to a Pinnacle Suite, which I declined. It is possible to move two or more categories but it is done in steps one at a time.

In May on the NS we went from a veranda to a Neptune via an upsell in one step. The offer we received listed the prices for Signature, Vista and Neptune upsells.

[Mary229]

2 hours ago, Heartgrove said:

With regards of moving up two or more categories, in the past I received an upsell from a Signature Suite to a Neptune Suite. I purchased the upsell and a few days later recieved an upsell to a Pinnacle Suite, which I declined. It is possible to move two or more categories but it is done in steps one at a time.

I have had this happen as well however once I had an inside and was told insiders were only allowed in the first round up to OV for that particular cruise.  I guess it is both about inventory control and controlling expectations.  

[Heartgrove]

45 minutes ago, Sea42 said:

In May on the NS we went from a veranda to a Neptune via an upsell in one step. The offer we received listed the prices for Signature, Vista and Neptune upsells.

 

Like I said, that was 2017 so it may depend on the actual cruise.

 

Comparing cruise companies, last week I received an upsell offer for our MSC cruise in September. They use a bidding process for the upsell so you get to set the amount you would care to offer, but it does have minimums for the bids. On that particular cruise the offer was for three choices: an Aurea Experience balcony (we are in a Fantastica Experience balcony); one for an Aurea Suite; and the third was for a Yacht Club suite. They are listed in the pecking order and priced accordingly. The Fantastica would only change to a more midship location and "Anytime" dining, the Aurea Suite would be a larger stateroom, and Yacht Club (which we have enjoyed in the past) is a true suite all-inclusive experience (they refer to it as "A ship within a Ship") with many amenities and services including a personal butler.

[friendswithdave]

3 hours ago, Heartgrove said:

With regards of moving up two or more categories, in the past I received an upsell from a Signature Suite to a Neptune Suite. I purchased the upsell and a few days later recieved an upsell to a Pinnacle Suite, which I declined. It is possible to move two or more categories but it is done in steps one at a time.

Last December I was offered an upsell from a verandah to a Neptune Suite and I took it. So yes, you can move two or more categories at one time.

[Heartgrove]

7 minutes ago, friendswithdave said:

Last December I was offered an upsell from a verandah to a Neptune Suite and I took it. So yes, you can move two or more categories at one time.

 

Maybe the situation I gave was because of the second offer being for the one Pinnacle Suite onboard and needed to get closer to the sail date. I was already in a Signature Suite to begin with, not a verandah.

[C 2 C]

There is a travel agency website on which you can book a cabin and choose from cabins still available.

We are booked on Zuiderdam in September and I just looked up the sail date and found cabins we could still choose.

[cbr663]

18 hours ago, Kiwicake said:

 

Hi yes, they are very helpful when I call when giving me exact cabins that are available. However, I'm hoping to avoid having to call and waiting on hold in order to find out which cabins are available--would rather just look at the available rooms online and see if I want to spend the money to upgrade. Do you know if this is possible? When I try to do a dummy reservation online, it says the cruise is sold out (however, I know this is not true because the upsell agent has given me a list of rooms available).

 

My understanding is that when this happens the cruise is considered sold out for new bookings.  The Ship Inventory staff are now at the point of filling Guarantee bookings and upsells.  So there will be cabins available for upsells but these won't show as available on HAL's booking site as they are not available for new bookings.

[aledomom]

Could someone share the phone number for the upsell office?

[Nodakboiler]

Ship Inventory is 888-628-8107

[dockman]

On 7/26/2023 at 5:05 AM, C 2 C said:

There is a travel agency website on which you can book a cabin and choose from cabins still available.

We are booked on Zuiderdam in September and I just looked up the sail date and found cabins we could still choose.

go to one of the major online cruise sellers and you can often see which rooms are still open and available for sale....

[cccole]

Can't you go to the Holland America website, choose your cruise and level of cabin and find out what is available.  We are scheduled on a cruise in January and I do this to see if there's a cabin I would rather have.  Not a frequent HAL cruiser so this is what works for me.  Cherie

[POA1]

12 hours ago, aledomom said:

Could someone share the phone number for the upsell office?

 

11 hours ago, Nodakboiler said:

Ship Inventory is 888-628-8107

I think the upsell offers come from the PLUS department. I think PLUS stands for preferred limited up sell or something like that. I deleted the email unfortunately. The number was different than Ships Inventory. If I get another email, I will post the number.

[POA1]

3 hours ago, cccole said:

Can't you go to the Holland America website, choose your cruise and level of cabin and find out what is available.  We are scheduled on a cruise in January and I do this to see if there's a cabin I would rather have.  Not a frequent HAL cruiser so this is what works for me.  Cherie

Once a category is closed out, you won't see the rooms. They'd be in waitlist status or completely closed to bookings.

 

On 7/26/2023 at 3:04 PM, cbr663 said:

 

My understanding is that when this happens the cruise is considered sold out for new bookings.  The Ship Inventory staff are now at the point of filling Guarantee bookings and upsells.  So there will be cabins available for upsells but these won't show as available on HAL's booking site as they are not available for new bookings.

Exactly! If someone takes an upsell to an open verandah from an ocean view, that opens up the ocean view for either new bookings or upsells for an inside cabin. Since the least & most expensive rooms sell the fastest, there's probably a lot of juggling going on up until sailing day.

[POA1]

14 hours ago, POA1 said:

 

I think the upsell offers come from the PLUS department. I think PLUS stands for preferred limited up sell or something like that. I deleted the email unfortunately. The number was different than Ships Inventory. If I get another email, I will post the number.

The 8017 # is correct. My mistake.