Cat. SS Guarantee

[PCruzer]

We are booked on the Oosterdam for the 2/28/09 Panama Canal cruise. We have a Cat. SS guarantee, which we will be very happy with. What are the chances of getting upgraded to a deluxe suite? Pretty slim? I know that the Vista class ships have a lot more deluxe suites than the Statendam class. Has anyone ever gotten upgraded from a Superior Suite to a Deluxe Suite?

[jhannah]

I never have. Haven't gotten any sort of upgrade from HAL ever. Some do. It's all a mystery. ;)

[NetwrkEng]

I haven't tried the SS GUAR but have done the SZ GUAR twice. Once we were put in an SS and this last time an awesome SC. Good Luck!

[cruznon]

We had SS once and were able to buy an upgrade for a very small cost. Have your TA inform HAL that you might be interested in doing this or ask TA to be in contact with HAL close to sail date and inquire about a buy up to an S. You never know....

If this doesn't happen you will love the SS--great cabins!

[Bill S]

Yes! Last year, we booked a Mexican Riviera cruise on the Oosterdam for an SY guarantee. A couple of weeks before embarkation we were assigned to an SS cabin. Then, at check-in, we were given a complementary upgrade to an SA cabin! That was wonderful! :D But, we don't expect that to happen again. :(

[PCruzer]

Thanks for the replies. We have been in Cat.SS on the Vista class ships. It is a great cabin, and we will be very happy if that is what we end up with. This Panama Canal cruise is 14 days - our longest cruise yet. So that in itself is going to be wonderful. We have booked Cat. SA a number of times on 7-day cruises and once on a 10-day, but for 14 days the price tag was pretty steep. So, we figured that by going for the SS, which we already know we will like, and booking it as a guarantee...well, like they say, "Hey! You never know." Thanks again!

[bepsf]

Frankly, for a 14-day cruise I would choose a specific SS stateroom so that you're not stuck in an adjoining cabin that has 3/4 the closet space of a non-adjoining cabin...

...you can always have your TA mark your reservation that you're willing to entertain an upgrade offer.

[Moriah]

I never have. Haven't gotten any sort of upgrade from HAL ever. Some do. It's all a mystery. ;)

 

Jim are you saying you book guarantees and never get ANY upgrade, ever? How frequently do you sail? I think it is quite rare for someone to get upgraded from a specifically chosen cabin, but not rare at all when booking a guarantee...

[jtl513]

I think it is quite rare for someone ...

I don't think it's "quite rare" from what I read on this forum, but it certainly is far less frequent than with guarantees. HAL will first assign cabins to guarantees, doing upgrades in the process, before they get to those folk who have chosen specific cabins but agreed to "accept an upgrade".

[jhannah]

Jim are you saying you book guarantees ...

No, I don't do guarantees. I did an S guarantee once, but that was fairly late in the game and was all I could do. I'm approaching 75 days on HAL.

[Moriah]

No, I don't do guarantees. I did an S guarantee once, but that was fairly late in the game and was all I could do. I'm approaching 75 days on HAL.

 

Okay, that's why the upgrade fairy hasn't smiled. :( Of course it DOES happen that people get spontaneous upgrades for whatever reason, but it's much much more common when booking guarantees.