Don't get too attached to the cabin you selected!

[Wehwalt]

29 minutes ago, ebtrip said:

I booked 3 cabins for a holiday with my family.  At final payment I noticed my extended balcony cabin was changed as were the other 2 cabins, WITHOUT NOTICE.  I called my PCC he said he was also unaware of the change. The cabins they gave us were on same deck, same category but not what I booked. I wrote to the CEO, with no results. If it wasn’t a family vacation I might have cancelled.  I am booked on another cruise, final payment is due at the end of the month. I keep checking and my extended balcony cabin that I booked is still mine.  BTW, these cruises were booked 9 months ago.

I have never experienced this in the 40 years I have been cruising. As a former TA, when a cruise line wanted to change a clients cabin I would be notified and I asked what is the compensation, which could have been a great upgrade or financial benefit.  Boy, things have changed and not for the better

I think it's pretty clear, from HAL explicitly placing in the cruise contract that they can change your cabin that when they do this, compensation is not in the offing. Many of the people that this has happened to booked cabins with a capacity higher than the number of people they proposed to put in them. 

[Windsailer]

4 hours ago, Wehwalt said:

The fact that as far as can be told, they do not give their customer service agents the authority to offer such things to placate angry customers.

The Office of the President doesn't seem to have that authority either. I had three contacts with them. Very negative responses. You can see verbatim the comments in my earlier posts. 

[Sea Hag]

8 hours ago, ldtr1 said:

let them stay in room and do work while room is occupied

I vote for this one. It's way more fun. On a Princess cruise, we once came back to our cabin and found the ceiling nearly totally dismantled. This was when they were upgrading the wifi, and they said they needed to run things through there. 

[ldtr1]

2 hours ago, horseymike said:

Aren’t Princess and Holland America both owned by Carnival ?

yep. They used to be in the same group, but not they each report directly.

[ldtr1]

18 hours ago, srsurman said:

The level of victim blaming on this board by the HAL apologists never ceases to amaze me.  It's quite simple:  the OP ordered and paid for a filet mignon.  HAL said they are out of filet mignon and offered him a ribeye.  Just because ribeye is delicious, it still isn't what the OP paid for.  And the fact that some are making that they are happy with a hamburger instead of a steak has absolutely nothing to do with the what the OP paid for.  Simple enough?

Except in this case they got another similar  steak, because the one purchased was not available.  Not like they purchased a balconey and got an inside which is what you example implied.

 

They also got notified early enough that they could change they mind for full refund.

 

If a cabin is removed from inventory it is no longer available to customer service or inventory management.

 

Not unlike if a airline changes equipment for a given flight and you selected seat is not available

[ldtr1]

16 hours ago, KAKcruiser said:

I'm sure the person in customer service has no idea why the stateroom was taken out of inventory.  They are just people answering the phone and sticking to a script (except when they start making things up.)  I think it would be next to impossible to find out what really happened.

You can sometimes find out when on ship, but usually not befote hand. In the case with celebrity i noticed some workmen out the room after i boarded and started talking with them. In that case they were doing major work on doors and door seals and were redoing 14 rooms on a 7 day cruise. They were also replacing carpet due to water damage from bad seals in those rooms, but that was being done by a different team.

 

In the Princess case there were no names on the room, but my steward, who covered that room as well said his list first had us in that room, then it got changed empty for the first 3 days, then to a visiting entertainer.

 

In both cases could not get any answer before the cruise, only that they were removed from inventory for operational reasons.

[ldtr1]

2 hours ago, HappyInVan said:

 

Quite so.

 

The remodelling excuse does not stand up to scrutiny. These things are scheduled long in advance for a drydock. It certainly makes poor financial sense for last minute work that bumps paying pax during peak season; particularly suite pax. We know how HAL is trying to squeeze every last dollar out of the ships. 🙄

One would consider a 6 month lead time to be scheduling well inadvance. Plenty of work goes on between dry docks. Usually does not require rooms to be taken out of service, but sometimes they do have projects that do require it.

[HappyInVan]

4 hours ago, Wehwalt said:

I think it's pretty clear, from HAL explicitly placing in the cruise contract that they can change your cabin that when they do this, compensation is not in the offing. Many of the people that this has happened to booked cabins with a capacity higher than the number of people they proposed to put in them. 

 

The exclusion clauses were put there by layers to protect the company from liability. On the other hand, respectful companies will offer compensation even if they are not legally required to do so. Particularly if its their fault. 

 

2 hours ago, ldtr1 said:

One would consider a 6 month lead time to be scheduling well inadvance. Plenty of work goes on between dry docks. Usually does not require rooms to be taken out of service, but sometimes they do have projects that do require it.

 

Let's consider this carefully.

 

There are minor remedial or upgrade work that requires only a few hours. HAL would not close the stateroom for the entire cruise.

 

There are serious repair issues that may take days of work. Yes, HAL may have to cancel that stateroom for an entire cruise. But, they would do this ASAP. Not give several months notice?

 

For whatever reason that HAL bumped the OP, a respectful company would be contrite and placate the pax. Particularly since it is not the OP's fault.

 

Let's remember that the OP made a careful early booking of a coveted stateroom. This was not a guarantee favored by some people on this forum. Therefore, the OP was righteously angered. And, outraged by the lack of respect by HAL. This is the kind of customer service that I would expect from Carnival. Take it or leave it! 🧐

 

Let's hope that this is not a glimpse into HAL of the future! 😏

Edited Sunday at 09:31 PM by HappyInVan

[Windsailer]

I booked V5053 as part of the Club Orange complimentary upgrade process. That involved paying extra for the cabin and my TA talking directly to Ship Inventory to have that specific cabin assigned to me. The Club Orange rules don't say "here's the upgrade you paid for but we might take that cabin away later and we won't tell you why." Nor did Ship Inventory tell my TA that.  V5053 is one of the best cabins on the ship. The other V cabins are OK but I wouldn't pay extra for the one I got.

[TiogaCruiser]

1 hour ago, Windsailer said:

I booked V5053 as part of the Club Orange complimentary upgrade process. That involved paying extra for the cabin and my TA talking directly to Ship Inventory to have that specific cabin assigned to me. The Club Orange rules don't say "here's the upgrade you paid for but we might take that cabin away later and we won't tell you why." Nor did Ship Inventory tell my TA that.  V5053 is one of the best cabins on the ship. The other V cabins are OK but I wouldn't pay extra for the one I got.

“That involved paying extra for the cabin and my TA talking directly to Ship Inventory to have that specific cabin assigned to me.”

 

Wait a second- am I understanding correctly that your TA asked specifically that the cabin be made available? Was it set aside/ or readily available without special intervention before your TA stepped in?

Was it showing up as available on the HAL website as bookable?

[Windsailer]

7 minutes ago, TiogaCruiser said:

“That involved paying extra for the cabin and my TA talking directly to Ship Inventory to have that specific cabin assigned to me.”

 

Wait a second- am I understanding correctly that your TA asked specifically that the cabin be made available? Was it set aside/ or readily available without special intervention before your TA stepped in?

Was it showing up as available on the HAL website as bookable?

It showed up on the website as bookable. That's why I asked for it. With CO you have to talk to Ship Inventory for them to approve the upgrade from a lower priced balcony. 

Edited Monday at 12:10 AM by Windsailer

[TiogaCruiser]

24 minutes ago, Windsailer said:

It showed up on the website as bookable. That's why I asked for it. With CO you have to talk to Ship Inventory for them to approve the upgrade from a lower priced balcony. 

Thanks for the clarification.

[Pboyd]

I am an inexperienced cruiser and have a basic question that I think everyone here can probably answer. It is not a response to the OP question, but does touch on the guarantee issues that have been mentioned.  I am on the 01/03/25 Zaandam 16 day Panama Canal cruise.  I have a Category FF Guarantee window cabin at the very back of the ship. These FF window cabins are unobstructed on Deck 1, and there are only 4 of them.  Why didn't HAL just go ahead and assign me one of those not particularly desirable cabins? Assuming they assign them to other passengers for some reason, what does that mean for my window cabin guarantee? Where could I be assigned? Is it  possible I could be assigned to a better cabin, or is it more likely to be a worse obstructed window cabin? Hope I have been clear.  Thanks

[oaktreerb]

2 hours ago, Windsailer said:

I booked V5053 as part of the Club Orange complimentary upgrade process. That involved paying extra for the cabin and my TA talking directly to Ship Inventory to have that specific cabin assigned to me. The Club Orange rules don't say "here's the upgrade you paid for but we might take that cabin away later and we won't tell you why." Nor did Ship Inventory tell my TA that.  V5053 is one of the best cabins on the ship. The other V cabins are OK but I wouldn't pay extra for the one I got.

You booked with a TA so the TA should have a contact at HAL.  Ask the TA to call their contact at HAL and suggest that relocating you to a Vista Suite would be a fair trade for your carefully selected stateroom.

[3rdGenCunarder]

12 minutes ago, Pboyd said:

I am an inexperienced cruiser and have a basic question that I think everyone here can probably answer. It is not a response to the OP question, but does touch on the guarantee issues that have been mentioned.  I am on the 01/03/25 Zaandam 16 day Panama Canal cruise.  I have a Category FF Guarantee window cabin at the very back of the ship. These FF window cabins are unobstructed on Deck 1, and there are only 4 of them.  Why didn't HAL just go ahead and assign me one of those not particularly desirable cabins? Assuming they assign them to other passengers for some reason, what does that mean for my window cabin guarantee? Where could I be assigned? Is it  possible I could be assigned to a better cabin, or is it more likely to be a worse obstructed window cabin? Hope I have been clear.  Thanks

 

Crusie lines like guarantees because it gives them flexibility in assigning cabins. While someone might not choose one of those FF cabins, it's possible that more than four people/couples will book FF guarantees, so somebody will not end up in one of the FF cabins, but in a higher grade. What constitutes a higher grade is HAL's definition of "better." The good news is that, from what I can see on the Zaandam deck plans, the obstructed ocean view cabins are all lower grades than FF, so you will not end up in one of those. You may be in one of the FFs or in one of the other (higher) grades of ocean view. Or you might get really lucky and snag a balcony. Unilkely, especially on a ship with so few balconies, but possible.

 

Edited Monday at 01:15 AM by 3rdGenCunarder

[oaktreerb]

11 minutes ago, Pboyd said:

I am an inexperienced cruiser and have a basic question that I think everyone here can probably answer. It is not a response to the OP question, but does touch on the guarantee issues that have been mentioned.  I am on the 01/03/25 Zaandam 16 day Panama Canal cruise.  I have a Category FF Guarantee window cabin at the very back of the ship. These FF window cabins are unobstructed on Deck 1, and there are only 4 of them.  Why didn't HAL just go ahead and assign me one of those not particularly desirable cabins? Assuming they assign them to other passengers for some reason, what does that mean for my window cabin guarantee? Where could I be assigned? Is it  possible I could be assigned to a better cabin, or is it more likely to be a worse obstructed window cabin? Hope I have been clear.  Thanks

You booked a guarantee.  You have been charged for an FF.  You can be assigned to an FF or higher category anywhere on the ship.  If they have 50 people who paid for an FF guarantee those people will also be assigned an FF or higher category stateroom.  It won’t be a worse category or cabin.  It won’t be a fully obstructed cabin.

[dchip]

43 minutes ago, Pboyd said:

I am an inexperienced cruiser and have a basic question that I think everyone here can probably answer. It is not a response to the OP question, but does touch on the guarantee issues that have been mentioned.  I am on the 01/03/25 Zaandam 16 day Panama Canal cruise.  I have a Category FF Guarantee window cabin at the very back of the ship. These FF window cabins are unobstructed on Deck 1, and there are only 4 of them.  Why didn't HAL just go ahead and assign me one of those not particularly desirable cabins? Assuming they assign them to other passengers for some reason, what does that mean for my window cabin guarantee? Where could I be assigned? Is it  possible I could be assigned to a better cabin, or is it more likely to be a worse obstructed window cabin? Hope I have been clear.  Thanks

We are experienced cruises that ended up booking an FF guarantee on the Zaandam for a cruise next month. When we booked 10 months ago that was the only option available. We have never booked a guarantee in 45 cruises. 🤪 I’ll let you know what we end up with. 

[Pboyd]

36 minutes ago, 3rdGenCunarder said:

 

Crusie lines like guarantees because it gives them flexibility in assigning cabins. While someone might not choose one of those FF cabins, it's possible that more than four people/couples will book FF guarantees, so somebody will not end up in one of the FF cabins, but in a higher grade. What constitutes a higher grade is HAL's definition of "better." The good news is that, from what I can see on the Zaandam deck plans, the obstructed ocean view cabins are all lower grades than FF, so you will not end up in one of those. You may be in one of the FFs or in one of the other (higher) grades of ocean view. Or you might get really lucky and snag a balcony. Unilkely, especially on a ship with so few balconies, but possible.

 

Thank you!

[Pboyd]

24 minutes ago, oaktreerb said:

You booked a guarantee.  You have been charged for an FF.  You can be assigned to an FF or higher category anywhere on the ship.  If they have 50 people who paid for an FF guarantee those people will also be assigned an FF or higher category stateroom.  It won’t be a worse category or cabin.  It won’t be a fully obstructed cabin.

Thank you!

 

[Pboyd]

2 minutes ago, dchip said:

We are experienced cruises that ended up booking an FF guarantee on the Zaandam for a cruise next month. When we booked 10 months ago that was the only option available. We have never booked a guarantee in 45 cruises. 🤪 I’ll let you know what we end up with. 

That would be nice.  Thanks!

[Windsailer]

40 minutes ago, oaktreerb said:

You booked with a TA so the TA should have a contact at HAL.  Ask the TA to call their contact at HAL and suggest that relocating you to a Vista Suite would be a fair trade for your carefully selected stateroom.

The Vista Suites have been sold out for some time. As have the Neptunes. I know because an additional friend wanted to come along and checked. I checked the Signature Suites today and they are sold out. That's why I think a VIP wanted my cabin. There was no one in a suite HAL could move. 

[terrydtx]

41 minutes ago, 3rdGenCunarder said:

 

Crusie lines like guarantees because it gives them flexibility in assigning cabins. While someone might not choose one of those FF cabins, it's possible that more than four people/couples will book FF guarantees, so somebody will not end up in one of the FF cabins, but in a higher grade. What constitutes a higher grade is HAL's definition of "better." The good news is that, from what I can see on the Zaandam deck plans, the obstructed ocean view cabins are all lower grades than FF, so you will not end up in one of those. You may be in one of the FFs or in one of the other (higher) grades of ocean view. Or you might get really lucky and snag a balcony. Unilkely, especially on a ship with so few balconies, but possible.

 

The chances of getting a balcony cabin on the Zaandam is about zero when booking a FF GTY cabin. The only balcony cabins on both the Zaandam and Volendam are Vista Suites and Neptune Suites. There are more OV cabins than any other categories on those two ships.

[Pboyd]

5 minutes ago, terrydtx said:

The chances of getting a balcony cabin on the Zaandam is about zero when booking a FF GTY cabin. The only balcony cabins on both the Zaandam and Volendam are Vista Suites and Neptune Suites. There are more OV cabins than any other categories on those two ships.

 

6 minutes ago, terrydtx said:

The chances of getting a balcony cabin on the Zaandam is about zero when booking a FF GTY cabin. The only balcony cabins on both the Zaandam and Volendam are Vista Suites and Neptune Suites. There are more OV cabins than any other categories on those two ships.

Thank you!

[Horizon chaser 1957]

12 hours ago, Windsailer said:

I booked V5053 as part of the Club Orange complimentary upgrade process. That involved paying extra for the cabin and my TA talking directly to Ship Inventory to have that specific cabin assigned to me. The Club Orange rules don't say "here's the upgrade you paid for but we might take that cabin away later and we won't tell you why." Nor did Ship Inventory tell my TA that.  V5053 is one of the best cabins on the ship. The other V cabins are OK but I wouldn't pay extra for the one I got.

I’ve noticed several of these cabin switches are people getting the Club Orange complimentary upgrade. The actual wording in the Club Orange upgrade is ‘best available’ not ‘of your choice’. Although people with Club Orange are allowed to say what cabin they want, maybe not specifically paying the higher ‘you choose your cabin’ rate allows the cruise line an excuse to reassign the desired cabin, and give them a different ‘best available’ upgrade? If so, it would be nice to know in advance that a Club Orange upgrade choice is a probable booking, not a definite one.

Edited Monday at 10:49 AM by Horizon chaser 1957

[terrydtx]

46 minutes ago, Horizon chaser 1957 said:

I’ve noticed several of these cabin switches are people getting the Club Orange complimentary upgrade. The actual wording in the Club Orange upgrade is ‘best available’ not ‘of your choice’. Although people with Club Orange are allowed to say what cabin they want, maybe not specifically paying the higher ‘you choose your cabin’ rate allows the cruise line an excuse to reassign the desired cabin, and give them a different ‘best available’ upgrade? If so, it would be nice to know in advance that a Club Orange upgrade choice is a probable booking, not a definite one.

Actually, the upgrade is to the highest category cabin available at the time you book and add CO. In our case, while on a Volendam cruise, we booked 3 VH verandah cabins in a row, all with Club Orange for the August 21, 2026, N. Statendam cruise. We specified for our CO upgrade we wanted 3 cabins in a row on the port side midship on deck 6, which are VA category. A day later we got confirmation by emails of our 3 cabins from HAL, cabin 6068, 6070 & 6072.  I was in 6072 and two weeks later when I checked my online account, I found I had been moved to 6074. This was done without any notifications. I called my TA and all she got from HAL was the standard we were moved for "operational reasons". They refused to give me my original cabin and at that time there were not 3 VA midship cabins available in a row on deck 6. The only three cabins midship were on deck 5 in a V category which we reluctantly moved all 3 cabins to. HAL tried to convince us that a V cabin is an upgrade from VA. A V cabin shows on the HAL website to cost $90pp more than a VA, but it is just one deck above the top of the lifeboats and not to me as desirable as the deck 6 VA cabins.