Club orange thoughts What’s to like about it

[vicd1969]

One plus for Club Orange is that everyone in the cabin gets its benefits, even though you only pay Club Orange for passengers #1 and #2. 

[FengShui@Sea]

On 10/2/2023 at 2:40 PM, AbsolutSki said:

Is it possible to find out if CO is available for a sailing before booking? If you use a TA, does it have to go through them to purchase CO or can you call HAL directly?

I called HAL this morning and had CO added to my reservation that was booked through a TA.
 

She told me was that if you want the cabin upgrade you need to pay the CO fee in advance.  I want to keep the cabin I booked so will just pay the CO extra amount with my final payment.  
 

[POA1]

10 minutes ago, FengShui@Sea said:

I called HAL this morning and had CO added to my reservation that was booked through a TA.
 

She told me was that if you want the cabin upgrade you need to pay the CO fee in advance.  I want to keep the cabin I booked so will just pay the CO extra amount with my final payment.  
 

That's what we wound up doing. I'm kicking myself for not doing the upgrade, but I am stoked for the tote bag.

[jules815]

Are there any dinner menus on Holland America (we'll have Club Orange access) that we wouldn't want to miss? I'm getting ready to book our specialty dining for our April TA on Nieuw Statendam. I usually don't like to book specialty dining ahead of time, but worried it might book up. Your thoughts on that? Should we just wait and have the concierge handle it for us once we board? We usually eat later.

 

[57redbird]

A couple of things related to the dining portion of CO -- the staff all seem to be the best of the best - from the greeter on -- to us the staff almost made the meal - very personable & professional....the chef/s were able to accommodate my dietary needs & made sure they were to my liking, the wait staff made every dinner enjoyable & the wine steward knew where to find the wine hubby liked.  We would purchase CO for the dining experience alone.

[YourWorldWithBill]

5 hours ago, jules815 said:

Are there any dinner menus on Holland America (we'll have Club Orange access) that we wouldn't want to miss? I'm getting ready to book our specialty dining for our April TA on Nieuw Statendam. I usually don't like to book specialty dining ahead of time, but worried it might book up. Your thoughts on that? Should we just wait and have the concierge handle it for us once we board? We usually eat later.

 

Everyone has different tastes, but on some of these boards I've seen that Tamarind seems to be the most popular specialty dining option. It's our favorite.

 

I think it's better to go ahead and book, as the times do get filled. 

[YourWorldWithBill]

5 hours ago, POA1 said:

That's what we wound up doing. I'm kicking myself for not doing the upgrade, but I am stoked for the tote bag.

I'm thinking of starting a website about the tote bags. I could sell pictures of them.

[X-elite]

On 9/29/2023 at 1:47 PM, Notalotofinfo said:

Newbie here looking at club orange. What’s do you like or dislike about it ?

We enjoyed fresh orange juice on the room service breakfast card with Club Orange in January on Koningsdam; however, the value of purchasing Club Orange wasn't there for us. We won't pay for it again.

 

(Tote bags left behind in the spa veranda cabins.)

[KAKcruiser]

Are you sure you received the proper Club Orange tote bags?

[DaveOKC]

10 hours ago, X-elite said:

We enjoyed fresh orange juice on the room service breakfast card with Club Orange in January on Koningsdam; however, the value of purchasing Club Orange wasn't there for us. We won't pay for it again.

 

(Tote bags left behind in the spa veranda cabins.)

As mentioned already - the main value of CO is the cabin upgrade.

[msteries]

I have enjoyed the very nice service in Club Orange, but the very best advantage is that it is so much more quiet than the loud roar and echoes of the main dining room. And it is small enough that you may well get the same waiters most evenings, and if you get sent to another table, your “regular” waiter is likely to drop by and check in on you.  I miss the days when you had the same servers every evening.

[SFO Peter]

On 10/15/2023 at 7:36 PM, X-elite said:

We enjoyed fresh orange juice on the room service breakfast card with Club Orange in January on Koningsdam; however, the value of purchasing Club Orange wasn't there for us. We won't pay for it again.

 

(Tote bags left behind in the spa veranda cabins.)

===

The biggest value is in the room upgrade within the same category.   You pay for the cheapest category then use Club Orange to move to a "better cabin".  We do not use the bag since they attract too much attention.   Thinking of taking the bag and give it to a deserving Cruise Critic traveller.

Peter

[cruising sister]

I agree the big advantage is find the cabin you want and pay for the lowest level and have the free upgrade. It was well worth the money for me. So often TA’s and  HAL employees don’t know how to do it and people just think they are paying for the bag and priority seating and dining room on ships that have a dining room. The first time I did CO the special was pay for OV and free upgrade to balcony. Then add CO and I had a great balcony cabin for the price of OV. 

[YourWorldWithBill]

7 hours ago, msteries said:

I have enjoyed the very nice service in Club Orange, but the very best advantage is that it is so much more quiet than the loud roar and echoes of the main dining room. And it is small enough that you may well get the same waiters most evenings, and if you get sent to another table, your “regular” waiter is likely to drop by and check in on you.  I miss the days when you had the same servers every evening.

Just a note to agree that although the most obvious advantage and hook is the cabin upgrade, we found the separate dining room in the Pinnacle class ships meant more to us than we thought it would.

[Holly g]

Hi all. Do you get to pick the upgrade cabin you want or does HAL pick it for you.

[DaveOKC]

5 minutes ago, Holly g said:

Hi all. Do you get to pick the upgrade cabin you want or does HAL pick it for you.

You get to pick.  Just did this yesterday.  Value of this depends on the ship and category.

 

[VacationCharlene]

On 10/17/2023 at 2:03 PM, SFO Peter said:

===

The biggest value is in the room upgrade within the same category.   You pay for the cheapest category then use Club Orange to move to a "better cabin".  We do not use the bag since they attract too much attention.   Thinking of taking the bag and give it to a deserving Cruise Critic traveller.

Peter

Thinking of taking the bag and give it to a deserving Cruise Critic traveller.

MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE PLEASE lol  (I will pay you for postage to send to California)

[FlorenceItaly]

I keep telling you all, don't count on it, LOL.  We didn't get one on our Zuiderdam May TA, LOL.

We didn't inquire as it didn't mean that much.  FOR ME, the advantage was going from a VH guarantee(complimentary room) to an assigned room of MY choice.

[DaveOKC]

14 hours ago, FlorenceItaly said:

I keep telling you all, don't count on it, LOL.  We didn't get one on our Zuiderdam May TA, LOL.

We didn't inquire as it didn't mean that much.  FOR ME, the advantage was going from a VH guarantee(complimentary room) to an assigned room of MY choice.

Same here.  But sometimes it is less expensive to just pay for the upgrade than the $25/day fee, especially on the non-Pinnacle class ships.

 

[FlorenceItaly]

16 minutes ago, DaveOKC said:

Same here.  But sometimes it is less expensive to just pay for the upgrade than the $25/day fee, especially on the non-Pinnacle class ships.

 

This was over 14 days so $15pp which is a decent deal.

[TAW1963]

19 minutes ago, DaveOKC said:

Same here.  But sometimes it is less expensive to just pay for the upgrade than the $25/day fee, especially on the non-Pinnacle class ships.

 

On 14-day or more cruises Club Orange is only $15/day, which makes it much more attractive for the cabin upgrades.  

 

Edited:  I posted the same thing as @FlorenceItaly and at the same time essentially.

Edited October 21, 2023 by TAW1963

[terrydtx]

Playing the cabin upgrade game, if done right, can pay for most or all the added $25pppd and all the other benefits are then free. We have sailed Celebrity in their Retreat Sky Suites 4 times since Covid and HAL 2 times with CO and CO comes closest to providing us some of the suite amenities of Celebrity for way less than booking a Sky Suite on them. We played the upgrade game correctly on our Volendam cruise next August and for the 11 nights, CO cost us a total of $55pp and we got the Vista Suite we would have booked without CO.

[bajae]

I’ll be on the Zaandam so Club Orange isn’t as attractive since there isn’t the separate dinning room. But I did the math and the cost of CO was the exact same amount as the difference between a guaranteed inside and the inside cabin I wanted. So I went with the CO. I’m not sure if I’ll get much benefit from CO but as far as I’m concerned my out of pocket was the same with or without CO so might as well go with. 

[terrydtx]

4 minutes ago, bajae said:

I’ll be on the Zaandam so Club Orange isn’t as attractive since there isn’t the separate dinning room. But I did the math and the cost of CO was the exact same amount as the difference between a guaranteed inside and the inside cabin I wanted. So I went with the CO. I’m not sure if I’ll get much benefit from CO but as far as I’m concerned my out of pocket was the same with or without CO so might as well go with. 

On the non-Pinnacle class ships CO gets you a special podium to enter the MDR, usually with no waiting and you get the extra CO entree item menu. CO passengers get seated over any non-CO people waiting in line for the MDR. If you are on an itinerary with tenders you also priority tendering with no line waits or tickets needed.

[njcanuck]

1 hour ago, terrydtx said:

 We played the upgrade game correctly on our Volendam cruise next August and for the 11 nights, CO cost us a total of $55pp and we got the Vista Suite we would have booked without CO.

How did you get upgraded to a Vista Suite.  I thought the Club Orange upgrade only applied up to Balcony.  We booked a obstructed balcony and upgraded to Aft balcony, on our next august Fiords cruise and it worked out about $350 less than booking at that level directly after paying the $25pp/pd.  So > $700 in value for $350.