Question about verandah

[coffee39]

We are booking out first cruise for next summer and I was looking on HAL website for available cabins. It says all of the verandah's are closed for next summer...Does this mean that they are already booked and we will not be able to get one?

[InTheWASide]

If you're talking about Alaska sailings and you're booking something OTHER THAN a Seattle roundtrip, HAL Marketing puts the verandahs aside for a priod of time for the folks booking CruiseTours.

 

If you book a Seattle cruise, everything is open unless booked to capacity and for anything else, book the category of OCEAN VIEW that is a best case scenario for you personally, and then waitlist for all verandah categories you'd be interested in.

 

This is a case of a policy that MAKES SENSE but simultaneously is questionable...

 

Sort of a damned if you do, damned if you don't kind of thing.

 

I'd appreciate the option being out for me a little longer though if I was planning on putting down even THAT MUCH MORE money for a cruise tour, so...

[coffee39]

So if we are booking a cruisetour we could have a verandah cabin? We want to tour Alaska for a few days on land prior to the cruise back to Vancouver.

[InTheWASide]

Unless they;re already booked this early yes. If there's a particular cruise you want, find the TOUR starting date that coordinates with that ship.

 

TIP:

Tours 1-10 have either a 3 or 4 day cruise and a longer land portion.

 

11-29 have a FULL 7 day cruise, plus land.

 

Price differnece is next to nothing for verandahs, etc on the tours 1-10 but you get less time on the ship...

 

My favorite of the itineraries I've seen personally is Tour 17.

 

Includes Denali AND Kenai Fjords so it's the ultimate wildlife experience.

[coffee39]

Thank you for your help. I just looked at cruisetour 17 (I think 18 is the one we would do).

 

I am soooo excited about this trip. I have always wanted to go on a cruise but wasn't sure it would ever really happen. I just wish I didn't have to wait a whole year.

 

This website is so wonderful. I have found so many answers to questions here.

[InTheWASide]

Since you're still pretty west in North America 18 would work well.

 

If you're on the East Coast even number tours aren't as good because of jet lag, etc and you spend your whole first day in AK just getting used to when to sleep, wake and eat...

 

Not a major change from SK to AK though.

[Krazy Kruizers]

One year we had to fight with HAL to open up a suite as we knew exactly what suite we wanted and we also wanted to do back-to-back cruises.

[coffee39]

Looking at the verandah suites on Zaandam. we would like an aft cabin. It looks to me like these are all handicapped cabins. Is that the case and would they frown upon non-handicapped persons booking these cabins?

[grannynurse]

Looking at the verandah suites on Zaandam. we would like an aft cabin. It looks to me like these are all handicapped cabins. Is that the case and would they frown upon non-handicapped persons booking these cabins?

 

If you mean aft as "on the wake" there aren't any on Zaandam.

I've heard of a little known far aft cabin on Volendam that is classified as inside but really has a window. The R class ships do not have cabims on the wake like the Vistas.

I personally would not book an HC cabin becuase someone much less mobile than I am may need it. I don't even like the cabin configuration and don't need the roll-in shower and I do prefer the tub combo.

GN