Oosterdam Charter Bump - 7/16/05

[Earthworm Jim]

The July 16th, 2005 sailing of the Oosterdam for Alaska has apparently been chartered and all other passengers bumped. The guy that sits next to me at work had booked it for his honeymoon, and he just got a notification that he had been bumped off since the ship had been chartered.

They only offered him a $50 per person shipboard credit to rebook, which isn't anything great. It sounds like the same deal offered to those bumped off another Oostedam sailing in the spring for the same reason though.

[Orcrone]

Earthworm,

It sounds like you're familiar with the other Oosterdam bumping. I would point your friend towards that thread and suggest that he be persistant with HAL. Seems to me that they will make good if pushed, but they first try to get away with as little as possible.

[Earthworm Jim]

Thanks Orcrone. I'm not that familiar with the other Oosterdam bumping, I just read a few posts about it here.

If anyone did get more than a $50 credit out of them I didn't see that post, but my friend has already started doing as you say: Letting them know he isn't happy about their offer.

He does have other options. He may end up going on a different cruise line out of Seattle on the same date. Diamond Princess and Saphire Princess are both under consideration, and the cost is similar to marginally better.

[Orcrone]

Earthworm,

Here's the link (http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=84631)to the Oosterdam spring cruise cancellation.

Marc

[Ziggy7]

Oh I just feel so sad to hear about these bumps! Especially when its a honeymoon, I sure hope they find something fast! We have been searching for 2005 crusies and we are finding that most verandas are taken, DH wont cruise without one .
Please tell your friend to not wait too long on booking a new cruise :)

[Earthworm Jim]

An update, my friend complained, and now he is happy he did. He had booked a Deluxe Veranda Outside (class VA) on the Oosterdam, and the online travel site that he used offered him a Deluxe Veranda Suite (class S) on the Amsterdam sailing the next day from the same city (Seattle) for the same price.

Needless to say, he's very happy with this big upgrade. He went from a 284 sq. ft. room to a 560 sp. ft. room!:D

Kudos to HAL and/or his online travel agent, because one or the other or both of them went the extra mile to make things right.

Thanks for the help and well wishes Orcrone and Ziggy7!

[RuthC]

Congratulations on his turning lemons into margaritas. (Just add some tequila and a bit of salt). He'll have an unforgetable honeymoon, I'm sure.

And therein lies the problem. Unforgetable. They say that once you've had a suite you can't go back to "lesser" cabins.

Yuck-yuck.

[localady]

Woo Hoo!!!:D A honeymoon in a Suite on the Amsterdam is a fantastic honeymoon!!!! We had our honeymoon on the Amsterdam in 12/03, it was awesome. So glad to hear that HAL and/or his travel agent made good on the situation!!!:cool:

[Earthworm Jim]

And therein lies the problem. Unforgetable. They say that once you've had a suite you can't go back to "lesser" cabins.


I told him the same thing. Since you can't afford that kind of suite, you'll never be able to go on a cruise again.;)

(Not that I would know. I've only cruised inside "steerage" cabins myself.;))

[Orcrone]

Rebooked in a suite for the same price. Anyone want to charter out the Maasdam in two weeks?:D