Hawaii for 30th anniversary ... advice needed

[beachchick]

Oh my gosh....I'm so glad I found this thread....what amazing information!

 

My husband and I are celebrating our 20th next year....oops...this year by treating ourselves to a fabo vacation. I'm looking at a Penthouse suite AE on the Pride of America as well. I'm wondering about the suites on deck 12....they're a little cheaper, but I afraid there will be more motion from the ocean....if ya get what I mean. Does anyone know about this?

 

I haven't made a final decision between POAmerica or POAloha...sure wish POHawaii was still running.....Beachchick I would love to have one of the Garden Villa rooms. I've really read some negitive things about POAloha, are the two really that different?

 

One last question.....I've never cruised NCL and I keep reading about upselling, if this opportunity only availabe to those that purchase directly through NCL?

 

Aloha. We didn't have one of the two huge three-bedroom Garden Villas, but we did have a tour. "Oh wow" barely covers it. We had the smallest of the Courtyard Villas, the A4, which has one bedroom and holds two pax. The Villa was fabulous; the Courtyard was fabulous; the whole thing was fabulous.:D

 

I've never been on the PoAl (or PoAm for that matter). All three ships are completely different. Each is a thoroughly different design. The PoAm is a one-of-a-kind that was a contract build which NCLA took over from a now defunct cruise line. She was designed specifically for the Hawaii cruises. The PoAl was the Norwegian Sky (1999) originally and was completely retrofit as the PoAl when the PoAm had her "mishap" during the build phase. I think that the Sky was built before NCL implemented Freestyle, so the design was not ideal for that. I don't know how that was addressed during the retrofit. The PoH (love her) is a sister in the Jewel design, which is purpose-built for Freestyle. The decor on each of the three ships is vastly different. Lots of bright colors and huge tropical prints on PoH; an emphasis on the "America" on PoAm with lots of red, white, and blue; and the PoAl sounds like the emphasis is on Polynesian design. So, the short answer is that yes, they really are that different.

 

Upsells are available to whoever the Upsell department calls. Sometimes that's pax who've booked directly, sometimes that's pax who've booked through a TA. You cannot call and ask for an upsell. It used to be allowed, but people were calling the teeny, tiny department daily starting months before their cruise date to plead for an upsell. As one person basically handles all upsells for each ship, the department became overwhelmed and couldn't handle the volume of calls. The management changed it to "don't call us, we might call you, and if you pester us, we may put you on a 'do not call' list!" Plus, the management of the Revenue department determined that passengers "in the know" were booking much lower level categories than they wanted and then starting in with the calls to the upsell department trying to score a deal. Let's just say, the Revenue folks were not pleased. (All this is direct from someone who works with the Upsell department; it's not supposition.)

 

If upsells are offered on a specific cruise, the upsell offers are based on which cabin categories are selling well (and which aren't), which they think they can upsell and then resell the original cabin again, how well the cruise is filling (or not), and any number of other factors. No one knows exactly how they determine who will be called first. (I think that having a popular category in a prime location helps, but I could be wrong. We had a prime aft AF and got three calls. After we said yes to offer three, our AF went back into inventory and was gone a couple of days later.) The one best way to not be called by the "Upsell Fairy" is to try to call the NCL Customer Service, Upsell, and other departments to try to get an upsell. You can ask to have it noted on your reservation that you'd be interested, but honestly they basically assume that most people would at least be interested in hearing an offer. It's not like, "Oh most people wouldn't want a great deal, let's call people who've said they want a great deal..."

 

My best advice remains the same: Book the category of cabin that you will be happy with. Do not under any circumstances book a lower category hoping/assuming/praying for an upsell (or the even rarer free upgrade). So, if you know you want the AE, book it. It's possible that you might get an upsell call for a higher suite category, but if you're cruising during a busy time, there's a good chance the entire cruise will be sold out well in advance. In that case, there would be no upsell opportunities at all.

 

I wouldn't worry all that much about deck 12 on PoH, but I can't speak to the other ships or the suite locations. The Courtyard in mid-aft on Deck 14 on the PoH. We had no problems with excess movement, but we had pretty good ocean conditions. Weather and ocean conditions would certainly effect that.

 

I hope you have a fabulous cruise regardless of which ship you choose. I agree that it's a shame PoH is leaving Hawaii. Unfortunately, they just couldn't seem to keep three ships filled full time, and PoH is the best candidate to be retrofit and moved.

 

beachchick

[FishingWidow]

Beachchick…..you are fabulous!! Thank you for your time and all of the great information. Fortunately for us we are pretty flexible on cruise dates Nov & Dec 08 which is great… we can get the exact cabin that we want. If they call for an upsell that’s a bonus, if not that’s fine too. I’m very easy going on vacation....what's not to love, right?

I believe I’ll pay the extra cash and book a suite on deck 10 PoAmerica just to be safe....my hubby would not appreciate scraping deck chairs late afternoon. The deck 12 suites are less expensive….now I have a good idea why.

Thanks again....:D !!

[beachchick]

FishingWidow: I'm glad I could help. Mahalo for your nice compliment. Sounds like you've made the right call on going for Deck 10 instead of Deck 12! I always assume that when some cabins/suites in a specific category are less expensive then others in that category, there's got to be a good (make that "bad") reason. Neither my DH nor I would enjoy hearing the scraping of deck chairs while trying to relax on our balcony or in our cabin/suite.

 

November is an excellent month to visit Hawaii. December is very good as well, and you have a somewhat higher chance of seeing early whales. The less expensive weeks are likely to be the first and third weeks of November and the first two weeks of December (that's a really quiet time; I guess everyone is out shopping and not cruising or visiting Hawaii--the fools!).

 

Hope you have a delightful time. I'm sure we'll "talk" many times between now and then.

 

beachchick