Westerdam - June 4th - Bumped??

[DamTxCruiser]

Hi,

We have received an email this morning saying that the June 4th Westerdam sailing is very popular, etc. and we are offering guests booked into a Superior Verandah Suite two offers:

1. Move to another sailing date July 2nd or July 16th and receive a Superior Verandah Suite and a $400pp refund

or

2. Stay on the June 4th sailing and move to a VA cat and receive a $400pp refund

I have called a few times and have been assured you can keep your suite and not have to take these offers....but...should I be worried we will get to the pier and have no cabin?

With all the trouble we have had with docs/air/etc....I think I'm just being paranoid.

Thanks!

[nanashirl]

We are also on the June 4 sailing. We have not received anything from HA.
We have a SZ guarantee. I called this morning to see if cabins have been assigned yet. They had not but she did not say anything about changing date or anything. That makes me wonder where we will end up if the Superior cabins are full??? We can't change our dates because our flights are non refundable and other reasons. Wonder why they overbooked this cat. It was taken off the website 2 or 3 times and then put back on book this cat. Hopefully everything works out. What have you decided to do?
This is probably the reason they have not booked any cabins yet. Surely it will be soon.

[cp556]

May I ask if you have been assigned a specific cabin #, or are you on a Guarantee basis?
That may make a difference ...
Thanks
Carol in SC

[dakrewser]

Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they aren't out to get you! :rolleyes:

Overbooking with cruise ships - like airlines - happens more and more these days. $400 isn't much, though - I'd hold out for more. But if you decide to stay with what you have then it's 99.9% sure you'll be fine.

[DamTxCruiser]

We have four couples all booked into the guarantee.

[Krazy Kruizers]

There is little chance that you will be bumped if you have selected a cabin and are not a guaranteed. I think it was either last year or the year before when HAL overbooked a Canada/New England cruise. Some people were bumped.

[Grumpy1]

There is little chance that you will be bumped if you have selected a cabin and are not a guaranteed. I think it was either last year or the year before when HAL overbooked a Canada/New England cruise. Some people were bumped.If I recall correctly, the ones that were bumped were almost all ones that lived close to the port and did not have air transportation involved.

[nanashirl]

Hi,

We have received an email this morning saying that the June 4th Westerdam sailing is very popular, etc. and we are offering guests booked into a Superior Verandah Suite two offers:

1. Move to another sailing date July 2nd or July 16th and receive a Superior Verandah Suite and a $400pp refund

or

2. Stay on the June 4th sailing and move to a VA cat and receive a $400pp refund

I have called a few times and have been assured you can keep your suite and not have to take these offers....but...should I be worried we will get to the pier and have no cabin?

With all the trouble we have had with docs/air/etc....I think I'm just being paranoid.

Thanks!
DamTx Cruise
When did you book your cruise?
Wonder if they are asking by date of booking or just random. You are only 240miles (Perryton, Tx) from us so it is not because you don't have air fare.
That would be hard for you since you have 4 rooms booked.

[cp556]

When they oversell, they generally try to get pax booked on guarantees to voluntarily change their plans ... much easier than trying to move people with assigned cabin #s.
And in your case it would open up four Superior cabins if everyone in your group agreed to move.
I don't believe they can completely bump you without your consent, but I'm interested in more knowledgeable replies on the subject.....
Carol in SC

[DamTxCruiser]

We booked back in Nov/Dec. if I remember correctly. It is part of a group set up through our local travel agency. I think there is a total of 15 cabins or so.

[cp556]

If your TA did the booking, I'd call them and reinforce that you DO NOT want to be moved ... and ask them to confirm for you that everything remains as it was ...

[Grumpy1]

When they oversell, they generally try to get pax booked on guarantees to voluntarily change their plans ... much easier than trying to move people with assigned cabin #s.
And in your case it would open up four Superior cabins if everyone in your group agreed to move.
I don't believe they can completely bump you without your consent, but I'm interested in more knowledgeable replies on the subject.....
Carol in SCUnder the terms of the one-sided contract, yes they can, but they will really try to get volunteers with some incentives before they pull the rug out from under someone. that creates lots of ill will and possibly bad publicity. I know, there are times when it seems they go out of their way to do just that... :rolleyes: but I think they actually DO prefer happy customers:)

[nanashirl]

I called HA and told them I was concerned that they had overbooked and if there was a chance of getting bumped. She said NO. She said that it is very common for them if they are concerned they are overbooked in a certain cat to offer refunds to switch and they always have people who can change their plans for a good refund. They do not make you take change unless you want to. She said they will probably assign cabins on the 30th and I could call back then to get number.

[TLHB]

I called HA and told them I was concerned that they had overbooked and if there was a chance of getting bumped. She said NO. She said that it is very common for them if they are concerned they are overbooked in a certain cat to offer refunds to switch and they always have people who can change their plans for a good refund. They do not make you take change unless you want to. She said they will probably assign cabins on the 30th and I could call back then to get number.

Thank you so much for posting this. I feel better because I, too, was concerned.

[DamTxCruiser]

Thanks everyone for your replies. I appreciate it!:D

[kryos]

I have called a few times and have been assured you can keep your suite and not have to take these offers....but...should I be worried we will get to the pier and have no cabin?

Relax. You're not the only one who received those offers. Plenty of folks got them who have flexibility and who will gladly jump ship to another sailing in order to get the extra $400 bucks.

The same thing happened to me on my 30-day Hawaii/South Pacific cruise last January. Got some fantastic offers ... and I do mean fantastic ... in order to "stand down" on that particular sailing. One of them was 90 days of the World Cruise for the same price, in the same level of accommodations. That's 90 days for the price of 30. How can you beat that? Unfortunately, I did not have the flexibility to take advantage of such a deal, but surely plenty of others did since everyone on my sailing had a cabin. :)

Blue skies ...

--rita

[Bramcruiser]

If its too much of a hassle to change everything else - ie, airfare, car rentals, hotels, etc. - then stick with what you got and let someone else get bumped.

However, I'd probably go for the July 2 cruise if I could swing it. Purely for personal reasons. July 2 is my birthday and that would be a great birthday present.