Bear with me, please - for a couple more assignment/upgrade questions!

[ltsally]

Looking for some experienced input from the many veteran and knowledgeable HAL folks here.

 

First question: How reliable is the HAL website, in terms of availabilities? I've just come from looking at the booking page for our 3/26 sailing (Cortez) on the Ryndam and it is showing availabilites in all categories of inside and large outside, as well as BC verandahs. Is our ship really likely to be that..."un-full?" (Based on the CC roll call - minimal - it would seem it might be so).

 

And if so, does HAL routinely bump up folks from the lower categories into better cabins when there's that much availability?

 

Looking at our ship plan, the HH cabins which are listed as 'fully obstructed views' are also sold on the website at about $500 pp more than our category H fare. Why?

 

Lastly, I've seen mention here of 'upsells' and would appreciate more info - at what point does a line offer an upsell (does one have to make up one's mind standing portside at embarkation?) How do you judge if it's worthwhile (can you view the offered cabin, for instance?) I've read here of folks who are definitely NOT interested in changing their cabin assignment..because of poor location/noise, etc.

 

Would appreciate all advice/info...Thanks!

[ltsally]

For what it's worth, I just looked at the two sailings prior to ours (3/6 & 16) and it's showing NO availability in any category. :confused: :confused:

[hammybee]

What you don't see is how many cabins in each cat. are unsold. It could be 10 cabins or 100. Only thing certain, that by sail date, the ship will be full.

 

Roll calls are meaningless in terms of projecting how full a sail is or not. Even the most jammed roll calls are only a small percentage of all passengers.

 

Upgrades move from the bottom up. They need to sell more less costly cabins than they have available to jump start the process. It's the business necessity that creates upgrades, not unbooked cabins at higher grades.

 

If you are interested in an upsell, let your travel agent know about it. He/she is in the best position to determine what's available. With more than a month to go before your sale, it may be awhile before you hear back.

[dakrewser]

As Hammy said, it's the cruise line's need to have YOUR cabin that creates both cheap upsells and free upgrades. So if no one wants your cabin then there's little chance of either.

 

But if there are open cabins in categories above you, then paid upgrades (sometimes at very reasonable prices) are possible. Have your TA check in to this.

[Sopwith]

For the last 2 or 3 cruises we have asked our TA to let HAL know we would consider un upsell if the price was right. We have scored twice.

 

The first time they called several days out and offered an upgrade to an SY for $199 each, for each week of a two week B2B. We took it. Then a couple of days after we sailed the front office called us in our cabin and offered another upgrade to an SA for about the same price. We declined.

 

More recently on a 7 day Mexico ex SAN they called about 2 weeks out offering an upgrade from SY to SA for $399 each. I declined, hoping they would drop the price if it didn't sell. Sure enough, they called back a week later and offered the same upgrade for $199, which we took. It was well worth it.

 

It all goes to show that if there is space available they will negotiate.

[ltsally]

Very interesting, Neil! Thanks for being so specific. Sounds like a call to our TA around the second week of March might not be a bad idea.

 

Thanks to all for replying.

[mrstay]

The first time they called several days out and offered an upgrade to an SY for $199 each, for each week of a two week B2B. We took it.

 

What type of cabin did you originally have booked?

[Sopwith]

Very interesting, Neil! Thanks for being so specific. Sounds like a call to our TA around the second week of March might not be a bad idea.

 

Thanks to all for replying.

 

I would have the TA call HAL sooner rather than later.

[Sopwith]

What type of cabin did you originally have booked?

 

I think it was a VF on the W'dam.

[AECrowell]

We just took an upsell for the Maasdam's Panama Canal cruise of 2/9/08. Of course we were hoping for some sort of price break, but we knew that the Panama Canal itinerary was a popular one, the ship had been sold out, and that she has relatively few verandah cabins. About five days out from sailing, we received a phone call from our agent saying there was a balcony cabin available for an additional $1500 per person, which brought the price we paid exactly up to the price we would have paid had it been available when we booked. This was for my parents, who are in their mid-70s and more likely to spend a good deal of time in their cabins, so we felt it was worth it even at that price. As it turned out, they came down with bad colds, scarcely left the ship, and were constantly on their verandah - and I think it was worth it for them!

[dakrewser]

We just took an upsell for the Maasdam's Panama Canal cruise of 2/9/08. Of course we were hoping for some sort of price break, ...

 

Since you DID pay the price offered, I guess their marketing dept. got it right.;)

[grannynurse]

Looking for some experienced input from the many veteran and knowledgeable HAL folks here.

 

First question: How reliable is the HAL website, in terms of availabilities? I've just come from looking at the booking page for our 3/26 sailing (Cortez) on the Ryndam and it is showing availabilites in all categories of inside and large outside, as well as BC verandahs. Is our ship really likely to be that..."un-full?" (Based on the CC roll call - minimal - it would seem it might be so).

 

And if so, does HAL routinely bump up folks from the lower categories into better cabins when there's that much availability?

 

Looking at our ship plan, the HH cabins which are listed as 'fully obstructed views' are also sold on the website at about $500 pp more than our category H fare. Why?

 

Lastly, I've seen mention here of 'upsells' and would appreciate more info - at what point does a line offer an upsell (does one have to make up one's mind standing portside at embarkation?) How do you judge if it's worthwhile (can you view the offered cabin, for instance?) I've read here of folks who are definitely NOT interested in changing their cabin assignment..because of poor location/noise, etc.

 

Would appreciate all advice/info...Thanks!

 

Seeing that HAL's website does not operate in "real time", it is not an indicator of availability. Unless an itinerary is just not selling well, upsells and upgrades don't occur until nearer to sailing dates. There are more opportunities on the larger Vista ships and on those itineraries that are more common. The itineraries thar are less common won't see as many potential deals; this is also true for cabin categories that have many availabilities rather than those that 5 or fewer cabins of that variety like the Vista SZs. People who have booked under guarantee status have more liklihood of getting an offer, also those who have indicated they will accept an upgrade. I also think Luck is a major factor. After booking 3 guarantees in the last 2 years, we have gotten 2 significant upgrades... BUT we booked guarantees on Vistas, AND in categories that had fewer cabins.

Hope this helps,

GN