Comparing Credit: Have you been bumped by a Charter/Cancellation?

[Wilcoam]

My group of 6 were bumped from a Zuidy Jan 27th sailing, AFTER booking flights, shore excursions, and hotel rooms.

Have you been 'bumped' by HAL for a charter? If so, maybe you can share with me what kind of credit you were offered?, if any.

We've been offered Westerdam Jan 28th sailing. 4th deck aft, instead of 5th, a VB n VD instead of 2 VA's, and $250.00 OB credit for ther suite, $200.00 for the VA's.

It's sounds like a fair deal, though I'd prefer 5th, 6th , or 7th deck afts, based on advice here on CC. Would I be wrong to ask for further credit for switching from VA's to VB n VD, or 5th to 4th? What's reasonable?

Also,the majority of my group doesn't really want to sail the 28th on an itin we didn't pick nor like. So, we may switch to the Princess Star, and simply ask for a refund. If so, what are my chances of asking HAl for a $900 future credit and getting them to honour the hotel rooms, as they are during super bowl weekend, and Princess is sold-out of hotel rooms.

HAL wouldn't cancel our cruise and then refuse to honor our hotel rooms, would they?

Advice welcome from fellow bumped HAL Pax...
What did you get offered in the past?

Thx
JC
Toronto
Ex Zuidy Jan 27th 07

[Tricia724]

A couple of months ago, we had a 2007 cruise canceled by HAL but it was a year and a half away. We had booked it virtually as soon as the booking opened to get a choice aft cabin, so we had been booked only a few months when it was canceled. Nevertheless, it was a 26-day cruise and the discounted cost was in excess of $15,000.

We were given 5 options.....all were for sailing on specific cruises at specific dates. Three of them were shipboard credit only....the amount depending on the cabin category we purchased. Had we chosen one of these cruises, the maximum we could have received was $200pp.

The other two options were a combination cruise discount and cabin credit....again depending on the cabin category selected. Both of the cruises were longer cruises and therefore more expensive. One of them was a sailing we had no interest in at all....the other option is the one we were interested in and did book. I do not want to quote the discount percentage....it was not large....but it was the best option open to us and the only one we were interested in doing.

Our offer was a "take it or leave it" deal. If we didn't like any of the options, we would simply get our down payment back and that was that. I honestly don't know whether there was any room for negotiation if we had been interested in a different itinerary, but if so, I'm sure it would have been a shipboard credit only.

Our travel agent told us that when HAL bumps a passenger, compensation is offered based on several different factors....how close is the sailing to cancellation date, the length of the cruise, length of time booked, cabin category, availability of other options, etc.

I can't address the issue of your hotel rooms....I don't have a clue how that works....but you might have a little bit of room to negotiate on the cabin categories. I suspect you are being offered lower categories because that is what's available right now in the same time frame, and probably the choice VA aft cabins you booked originally are sold out on Zuiderdam.

I don't know whether HAL would consider giving you a future cruise credit....I'd like to think so, but wouldn't bet the farm on it. I can well understand your reluctance to take the Westerdam cruise with an itinerary you don't like. We book our cruises based on the itinerary as well as the ship and would probably feel the way you do.

Your best bet is a TA who will go to bat for you. I don't think you are being unreasonable asking for a future cruise credit in place of an onboard credit. Frankly, it would be to the cruiseline's advantage....you would have an incentive to book another cruise instead of being less than thrilled with a cruise you did not choose. BUT.....and this is a big BUT.....where the cruiselines are concerned, logic does not always apply.

Good luck....and I hope this works out to your satisfaction.

[Krazy Kruizers]

I would doubt very seriously if HAL will let you keep your hotels rooms should decide to cruise on Princess.

[tomc]

I got bumped because the ship (the Volendam) was still in the yards and, somehow, I wasn't notified. HAL and my TA figured that the fax never made it from Seattle to the TA's office and it was within a bunch of weeks of "sailing." I want to say that HAL absolutely bent over backwards to make it good for me, lots of things to make me happy, and somehow got me on the replacement ship and cruise. I can't praise them enough.

[Roz]

I was bumped from a 4-day Pacific Northwest cruise, and was offered a 7-day Alaskan cruise if I gave HAL about $90 more, or a full refund of my original cruise. I took the Alaskan cruise, and was upgraded from an inside cabin to an outside cabin, although that was wasn't part of the deal they made me.

I thought I was treated very fairly. However, the cruise was far enough away that I hadn't booked air and hotel.

I think you're asking for a little too much, IMO.

Roz

[ANSalberg]

We had a "Prinsendam" European cruise booked several years ago- and it was withdrawn and put in Alaskan waters. We were offered another cruise -on the Rotterdam - that turned out to be a bit longer -plus shipboard credit that was MORE than adequate. We took the deal happily, had a marvelous experience on the Rotterdam in Europe and have sailed it again[ plus the Amsterdam -twice/sister ships -I too, say HAL treated us VERY fairly.
WE are retired so have few long term committments that render a change impossible; IF I were still working [ and my husband was also] it might have been a problem. WE happily accomodated HAL, but for us that was easy. It seems to me each situation CAN be very different.
Another point is that -if the ship is to be taken over by a huge group- you could be shut out and/or ignored through no fault of yours- and I would find THAT intimidating. Our cruising experiences have been WONDERFUL ones- I would hate to damage those memories [25 cruises and counting; 12+ on HAL]

[KAKcruiser]

Future cruise credits are sometimes hard to use. I don't know if you should go to a lot of trouble to try to get them.

[Bramcruiser]

I was bumped last year. I originally booked in December 2004 for a 3 day September 2005 coastal cruise from Seattle to Vancouver on the Oosterdam. During the winter months I went ahead and made hotel reservations in Seattle, used my airline frequent flyer points for an open jaw return (from Toronto) and arranged to spend several days in the interior of BC after the cruise to visit relatives.

Of course in April 2005 I got a call from the TA saying the ship was chartered out. My two options: 1) cancellation with a full refund of the deposit; or 2) a rebooking on the Vancouver-San Diego 4 day repositioning cruise immediately following with a similar cabin category and a shipboard credit fo $75 per person with no real change in price (yes, a four day for what I was going to pay for 3 days).

Well the shipboard credit didn't mean a lot to me but what was important was the fact I made all sorts of offship plans that unfortunately had penalties for cancellation or changes. So I looked at it logically and added up what it would cost me to rearrange all my plans.

Thankfully I took the small hit and went for option two and found myself staying with my relatives before the cruise and flying home from San Diego after spending a few days there after the cruise. In fact I even did a day tour into Mexico which I had never been to before and would never have done in my original plans. It was my first HAL trip and despite the "revised" iteniary I thoroughly enjoyed it. And i guess the shipboard credits helps too.

Honestly I don't think businesses go out of their way too often to make things easier for you if they have to cancel so I take the position you can't too greedy. If it sounds good and you can make the change do so. If the time or new cruise is something you are not interested in take the refund and book elsewhere. Yet, if you have other non-cruise aspects of the trip they might ultimately become the reasons for making your decision.

[twinkletoes4445]

Honestly, I'd never even thought of the possibility that a cruise line would have chartered a ship, and continued with regular passenger bookings. Although we are flexible when it comes to vacation time, not everyone else is.

I've been talking with several friends and we were thinking about possibly doing a cruise in Europe somewhere. I'm not sure I want to do this now, after learning all this. We'd be better off flying over, and doing a land tour. Even if we would get bumped from the airline, we'd eventually get to our destination. The same goes with the hotel. We may get bumped, but we'd be able to find another hotel.

IMO, there's no excuse for HAL to continue taking bookings for a cruise that they know is chartered by the Olivia group. And there's no explanation that would be acceptable to me as to why they haven't notified those that are going to be bumped. The 1/27 sailing was one we thought about. I mentioned that date along with the 2/3 date with our TA. For some reason, she only checked on the 2/3 date. I am so THANKFUL! We booked the cruise, and I found great air travel the same day, and booked that.

Here's an article I found concerning this very subject, which is why I posted it on this thread. They offer some suggestions if you are one of those unlucky ones who are "bumped."

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12153636/

[Roz]

You are more vulnerable to being bumped by a charter when you take a cruise that's 7 days or less. Those 3-4 day Pacific Northwest cruises are chartered all the time by insurance and real estate companies as reward for their top producing agents. That's what happened to me.

Also, groups like Olivia, RSVP, and other theme cruises are more likely to attract a full ship by offering shorter itineraries. Once it goes over a week, you've lost a larger portion of working people and families.

I'm not saying it can't happen, but it would be more unusual for a corporation or special interest group to charter a ship doing a 12+ day Mediterranean itinerary.

Quite honestly, I would have been royally honked off if HAL had let me stay on the ship with 1,200 insurance salesmen. :D It would have been woman overboard!

Roz

[Tricia724]

That almost happened to us. We were booked on Westerdam for January 21 and noticed that all of a sudden, most of the cabin categories were closed. After doing some web searching, we learned that there were two special interest groups who had group cruises on that date. One of them was a gay reunion cruise and the other was a "family reunion" cruise. The family group is apparently a large group of people who share the same family name from all over the country. Apparently neither group is large enough to charter the ship but will be a major presence on the cruise.

Our travel agent contacted HAL, and the cruiseline wouldn't give her any information, but after considerable prodding, they admitted that there was a group booking which would fill about half of the ship. So, we canceled that cruise and rebooked a 10-day cruise on another ship.....at more than twice the price! Even so, I'd rather do that than find that we were spectators rather than participants in someone else's good time.

Thank goodness we found out early enough to make other plans. I'm sure there are other people who booked early as we did who have no idea what the situation is and will discover it when they board.

[tomc]

I was on a cruise where the ship was 40% booked by a "Women of Faith" or some Inspiration group. They were really great people and I had a lot of fun with them. Not the kind of fun I wanted :eek: . No, sorry; I take that back. But I'd sail with them anytime. The only person who did not smile or act friendly was the guy who seemed to be their coordinator, or something like that.

[kryos]

Future cruise credits are sometimes hard to use. I don't know if you should go to a lot of trouble to try to get them.
Why are they hard to use? I don't understand.

I got a credit from my Zuiderdam cruise in September 2004. It was for something like $200 and I had one year to use it (book, not necessarily cruise). I had no trouble applying that credit certificate to my Hawaii/South Pacific cruise that I took this year. I booked it within the one year timeframe.

I guess you would only lose the credit if you weren't planning to take another HAL cruise within the year.

Blue skies ...

--rita

[KAKcruiser]

I had applied the credit to a cruise I booked directly with HAL. When I turned it over to a travel agent, they couldn't discount from my HAL price like they usually do. They said they had to use the price HAL was advertising for that day which was a lot higher than I had paid.

[Randyk47]

If I understand KAKcruiser correctly the only future credit we've ever been offered was the same deal. Yep....was offered the credit but it had to be applied to the HAL published fare, not to what the TA could get. Since the TA was offering a much...and I mean "much" with a capital "M"....lower fare for the same category cabin there was no advantage to the future cruise credit. As it turned out HAL withdrew the offer as the group that wanted the ship negotiated a different deal and we went on the originally booked cruise. I tried to get an on-board credit for the couple of weeks of being "jerked around" about changing cruises but the TA got nowhere. :o

[sail7seas]

HAL wouldn't cancel our cruise and then refuse to honor our hotel rooms, would they?

Yes, that is exactly what I would expect them to do.
The hotel rooms you have booked through them are blocked by HAL for use by HAL cruisers. If you are not cruising with HAL on the upcoming date(s), it seems highly unlikely to me that your hotel reservation as part of the cruise/land arrangements would remain available to you.

I'd be very surprised if they did NOT cancel your hotel booking..

JHMO..........

[jodster]

Wilcoam,

It just happened to me about a month ago....................I was booked on the Westerdam sailing on 1/7/07. We had a roll-call going and there was a message from a person who wanted information about our sailing since it was to feature "Delbert McClinton". I had no idea who this person was so I did a search and lo and behold he is a grammy winning singer who was going to be on my sailing with a whole line-up of entertainment. That's the last thing I wanted was a huge "concert" going on. Didn't quite fit into my plans for a quiet and relaxing cruise experience.

Called HAL couldn't get a thing out of them, so I had my TA call and HAL finally "fessed up" that the sailing was chartered by this group. Not a very good impression to give a customer who is sailing on your cruiseline for the first time.

Apparently HAL doesn't have to give you anything for canceling your cruise but they did....we ended up switching our sailing to 11/12/2006 with an OBC of $125pp and some other amentities to go along with that. I wish HAL would have been honest from the start since we had a different cruise booked for 11/12/2006. We just switched our cruises around and it all worked out fine.

[Wilcoam]

I appreciate the response(s) from those who have also been bumped by or cancelled by HAL. It's nice to know my group's problems are not that unique or without precedence.

It would seem HAL bumps alot of Pax for charters, specifically in Jan-Feb in the Carribean. In this regard, while HAL was initially my first choice of cruiseline, perhaps in the future, X and Princess are more stable choices.

With that in mind, leary of HAL, I've regrettably switched to the Star Princess Jan 27th sailing. Because of the awesome advice here, I'm not going to even ask/try for future cruise credit. Agreed, if one cannot get the credit after a TA discount, it ain't much of a credit.

I'll still hold out for HAL to do the right thing, and honour the super bowl
weekend hotels I had previously booked. I refuse to believe, despite some of the posts here, that HAL could be that cruel, that evil, or that greedy, to leave 6 people, 4 of which are out of state/country senior citizens hotel-less, after cancelling their cruise in the first place, or that cruisers here could condone or agree with HAL for doing so...

We'll see..
jc
ex Zuidy Jan 27th

[KAKcruiser]

I don't want to give you wrong information. What I meant was that the future cruise credit was a problem when I tried to get the travel agent to take over the cruise I had booked directly with HAL. They said they would have had to rebook me with the fare HAL was offering on that day. Since I had paid much less when I originally booked, it would have cost me more to rebook with the travel agent even using the future cruise credit.

[MBeamTX]

jc,
I don't mean to rain on the parade, but I really doubt that HAL will allow you to keep the hotel reservations. They'll need them for the charter passengers who will be occupying the cabins you would have had.

If I were you, I would get moving on booking a cancellable hotel reservation now. Rates are ridiculously high, but that's the price of choosing to cruise on Super Bowl weekend. I would recommend that you book at Embassy Suites on 17th St. It's near the port and shoppin, and has rooms available for just under $300 a night on the 26th. You could put 3 or 4 people in each room, because they have a sleeper sofa and some have two double beds instead of a king. Some rates also include shuttle service to the pier.

Good luck,
Susan

[getcat]

Wilcoam, following you from the prior thread - we finally heard back from HAL on our 10 S suites bumped from the Zuiderdam 1/27/07 sailing. They couldn't accomodate us on the 1/28 Westerdam as not enough S suites left. Instead offered to book us on Z 1/13 sailing which has the same itinerary as the 1/27. Compensation was $150 shipboard credit pp and they'd pay any airline fees associated with rebooking. I think maybe half our group is taking the deal. Timing is wrong for me - and now I'm rethinking which cruise line I want to sail with next year to Europe. I'm very disappointed with HAL's handling of this situation - and as I said before, am (was) a loyal, long-term HAL customer who usually books SS or higher.

Will be on Sapphire Princess in 3 days - let's see if their customer service is any better.