Shame on Holland!!!! Never again!

[Jumbiecruiser]

I'm sorry for sounding like a cheerleader, or insulting anyone as I don't mean to at all, but and just doing simplistic math...

 

If a cabin is $1k pp ($2k total) and you book 2 cabins with 1 person each but paying $4k ($2k x 2) for the rooms, you're getting bumped together with an upgrade to a balcony and you're getting the one room fare back so you're only paying a $2k total and got the balcony?

 

Uhm... I don't understand the worry???

 

You're spending $2k less, right? I'm not sure how much wine drink and not sure if you're flying in an AH64 Apache helicopter... but really?

 

Honestly sounds like you're coming out ahead.

 

Derek

 

If they had wanted to share a cabin in the first place then they would have booked one cabin. That was not the case. It's not right but I still think the TA is up to something. I like HAL. I don't think that they are the ones giving the OP the ultimatum.

[lvz2cruz]

We booked in early February and the outside guarantees were $599--they had a sale going for the first 2 weeks of Feb. of outside for the same price as inside.

At a single supplement the price should have been about $1300--600x2 +100 port. Don't understand how you are paying $2000. You are going a few weeks before us and pricing was less for those early weeks.

A verandah 1700 -1800 for first and second person each. I think you are getting a reaallly good deal and don't understand your hesitation to grab it and enjoy:).

 

I think your TA must have commited to something funny--HAL would not arbitrarily combine the two with a take it or leave it attitude. And why would she quote so much higher than HAL's rates?

[innlady1]

I think we can put this one to bed. The OP is leaving on their cruise today...I took a peek at his other posts and most often they are always complaints of one thing or another.

 

Probably thinks Cruise Critic is a place to criticize. :confused:

[OVgirl]

We booked in early February and the outside guarantees were $599--they had a sale going for the first 2 weeks of Feb. of outside for the same price as inside.

At a single supplement the price should have been about $1300--600x2 +100 port. Don't understand how you are paying $2000. You are going a few weeks before us and pricing was less for those early weeks.

A verandah 1700 -1800 for first and second person each. I think you are getting a reaallly good deal and don't understand your hesitation to grab it and enjoy:).

 

I think your TA must have commited to something funny--HAL would not arbitrarily combine the two with a take it or leave it attitude. And why would she quote so much higher than HAL's rates?

The $2000pp amount was just an example of pricing. I don't think it was what the OP was actually paying.

[colbe]

I think Lisa or Candy here to help try and figure out what the OP is saying and to help him/her out.

 

I, like many others, think the TA is at fault in, at the very least, explaining what is happening to the OP and possibly to us.

 

Can someone do the math for me here please?? (I'm lousy at math:o)

 

In Sept 2011 we paid per person in our stateroom for our cruise to Alaska:

 

Cruise Fare: $2199.00

Taxes: $110.40

Port Fees: $235.00

 

What is the percentage of Taxes and Port Fess (Which HAL has no control of, btw) that we paid per person?

 

Joanie

 

Joanie, assuming $2199 is your total fare, then the $345.40 that you paid in taxes and Fees is 15.71% of your fare. Hope that this is what you wanted to know.

[lilybob]

Thanks Sail7Seas and Ariawoman for your response. I only booked a GTY once and did experience the "upgrade fairy" but not on HAL

[IRL_Joanie]

Joanie, assuming $2199 is your total fare, then the $345.40 that you paid in taxes and Fees is 15.71% of your fare. Hope that this is what you wanted to know.

 

That is exactly what I was asking help with:) THANK YOU!!!

 

The reason I asked was because of one of th eparagraphs in the OP's first post

 

QUOTE: "What Holland "offered" was an upgrade to a balcony cabin for us to SHARE. It was not a "full refund." Rather, they want to credit us with the cruise cost alone, not the port charges or taxes, which I found out are approx. 55% of the total I paid...... " UNQUOTE

 

So if hubby and I each paid almost 16 percent each and, if I am thinking correctly, that is basically what the OP and his mother should each have paid, not the 55 percent that he stated. Even at twice the amount that would still be doubled to 32 percent not 55 percent.... Just trying to comprehend where he came up with his numbers....

 

Joanie

[ariawoman]

Don't understand why so many on this board are assuming this is a Female poster..;)It could very well be a Male poster..

 

Funny I presumed it was a male poster by how he expressed himself. Women tend to express themselves a bit differently (as seen on this thread LOL).

[WVBill]

I cannot imagine that HAL would force two unrelated passengers who had booked singles to give up their singles and combine into one cabin. I cannot imagine that they would even suggest such a thing.

 

Two singles are two separate bookings - so unless someone (the TA ?) told HAL these two people are related HAL would have no way of knowing that....

 

I think the evidence points to the TA more than it does to HAL.

[LAFFNVEGAS]

I cannot imagine that HAL would force two unrelated passengers who had booked singles to give up their singles and combine into one cabin. I cannot imagine that they would even suggest such a thing.

 

Two singles are two separate bookings - so unless someone (the TA ?) told HAL these two people are related HAL would have no way of knowing that....

 

I think the evidence points to the TA more than it does to HAL.

The two cabins more than likely would have been linked for dining and maybe even the last names were the same. The department that handles this always looks for linked bookings when they are needing to move people even if they do not have the same name HAL would have contacted the TA to see if clients wanted to do this. I am truly thinking that the OP misunderstood the offer, yes the TA may be to blame for not explaining this offer to a client in a way that they understood but in the long run it was the OP that changed their mind after agreeing to make the change is what I think happened.

[Pam in CA]

My question is, why not just share a cabin? I would rather have a balcony and share the room. JMO.

This is a question I get all the time because I often cruise with a friend, or sister, or whomever and we each get our own cabin. It's our preference and we're fortunate to be able to do so. I've even cruised with three other ladies and we had four cabins, each paying the single supplement. I've had people contact me through a roll call saying, "I know you're single and I have a friend who wants to go but doesn't want to pay for a single fare. I'm sure you'd like her and want to share." Err... no.

[edmusic]

Funny I presumed it was a male poster by how he expressed himself. Women tend to express themselves a bit differently (as seen on this thread LOL).

Perhaps he wanted his own cabin so he could 'entertain someone' as he saw fit and not have his mom in the same room:)

[fleckle]

This is a question I get all the time because I often cruise with a friend, or sister, or whomever and we each get our own cabin. It's our preference and we're fortunate to be able to do so. I've even cruised with three other ladies and we had four cabins, each paying the single supplement. I've had people contact me through a roll call saying, "I know you're single and I have a friend who wants to go but doesn't want to pay for a single fare. I'm sure you'd like her and want to share." Err... no.

 

Perfectly understandable and certainly your right.

 

If those people think sharing a cabin with their friend is such a good idea, maybe they should offer to let her share their cabin. ;)

 

 

Perhaps he wanted his own cabin so he could 'entertain someone' as he saw fit and not have his mom in the same room:)

There are any number of reasons why people may want their own cabin, even if cruising with someone who is dearly beloved.

 

When people book and pay for separate cabins, no explanation or justification is necessary. Their reasons for doing so are immaterial, nobody's business but their own.

[lcand1923]

I'm an "Old Maid" or "Unclaimed Treasure", so my Dad and I have the same last name. We travelled together and shared a cabin after my Mom passed away. Eventhough we would specify "twin beds", HAL always made the bed up as a single. So, sharing a last name can cause difficulty. Years and years ago I took a trip with a very good friend. We shared a room. I thought we would be compatible travelling companions. We weren't. My next cruise will be as a solo.

[fleckle]

Joanie, assuming $2199 is your total fare, then the $345.40 that you paid in taxes and Fees is 15.71% of your fare. Hope that this is what you wanted to know.

The percent of the total fare that Joanie paid for taxes and fees would have no bearing on the percent that the OP paid (unless they both booked the same category cabin at the same price).

 

The taxes and fees are a much higher percent of the total cost when booking a lower priced cabin than when booking an expensive high level suite.

[IRL_Joanie]

The percent of the total fare that Joanie paid for taxes and fees would have no bearing on the percent that the OP paid (unless they both booked the same category cabin at the same price).

 

The taxes and fees are a much higher percent of the total cost when booking a lower priced cabin than when booking an expensive high level suite.

Ah.... Now see, this I did not know....... Can anyone give me their best questimation of what my SC suite at the price I quoted in my original question would be if I were to book it as a solo??

 

I'm serious. Hubby wants to fly to other parts of the world to cruise and I want to cruise to go to the same places. Hope that makes sense. In other words, I will cruise by myself to meet up with him to go on his cruise and then return the same way.

 

Joanie

[PeaceLoveCruise]

All this math!

 

Enjoy your cruise, your Mother's company and I hope you get memories of a lifetime!

 

Ps..., I would fire this TA. Something's not right!!!

 

 

PeaceLoveCruise

[Taxguy77]

To be clear:

 

This was NOT optional. If we want to go on the cruise we must acept their offer share the cabin. My agent verified this twice at my request. She even presented alternatives such as booking another date, etc. Those were expressly refused. So, we either take the cruisefare portion of what was paid as a refund and consolidate to one cabin or we don't go.

 

One pays cruise fare, port charges and taxes in total---the two of us combined paid what it would cost 4 people to have 2 cabins since the single supplement was 100%. The cruise fare portion of the total was so low that it counted for a little over half of what was charged. The rest was port charges and taxes. The port charges amounted to what they charge 4 people even though only 2 were going and since the taxes were based on the total cruise fare portion of what was paid there is nothing "wrong" with what they charged there.

 

Anyway, buyer beware.........it's not the way to start a vacation and I do not plan on speding my week fighting it onboard.

 

I would tell them to send my money back!

Their are lots of cruiselines out there, and I can't imagine why they are not happy with the sales they have.

[readytogo2]

There has to be more to this story...why would HAL jeopardize 2 paid for cabins for the sake of one cabin? It doesn't make sense from a business point of view.

[Boytjie]

Can anyone give me their best questimation of what my SC suite at the price I quoted in my original question would be if I were to book it as a solo??

 

In Sept 2011 we paid per person in our stateroom for our cruise to Alaska:

 

Cruise Fare: $2199.00

Taxes: $110.40

Port Fees: $235.00

 

My guess is your single fare would be (assuming the supplement is 100%):

 

Cruise Fare: $2199.00 X 2 = $4398

Taxes: $110.40

Port Fees: $235.00

 

Total: $4743.40

[styles27]

There has to be more to this story...why would HAL jeopardize 2 paid for cabins for the sake of one cabin? It doesn't make sense from a business point of view.

 

I would say they did it because the cruise was over sold and they needed to free up as many cabins as they could.

 

 

The thing that didn't make sense to me and a few others here was the "take it or leave it" offer that HAL supposedly made.

 

THAT to me was the TA trying to cover his/her butt for not relaying the offer from HAL correctly the first time.

 

The OP thought he was being offered an upgrade to a verandah for BOTH he and his mom...in other words 2 veranda cabins.

 

There is no way that HAL would say "you now have to share 1 cabin...take it or leave it". No way!

[CowPrincess]

I would say they did it because the cruise was over sold and they needed to free up as many cabins as they could.

 

 

The thing that didn't make sense to me and a few others here was the "take it or leave it" offer that HAL supposedly made.

 

THAT to me was the TA trying to cover his/her butt for not relaying the offer from HAL correctly the first time.

 

The OP thought he was being offered an upgrade to a verandah for BOTH he and his mom...in other words 2 veranda cabins.

There is no way that HAL would say "you now have to share 1 cabin...take it or leave it". No way!

 

The red bolded part -- I completely agree. I am not 100% certain, though, that the fault is with the TA -- the poster may have misinterpreted what was offered, and didn't ask enough questions to be sure of the offer. I don't think we'll ever know, y'know? ;)

[Harris Jeffer]

Book directly with HAL.....accept no imitations :D

[readytogo2]

I would say they did it because the cruise was over sold and they needed to free up as many cabins as they could.

 

 

The thing that didn't make sense to me and a few others here was the "take it or leave it" offer that HAL supposedly made.

 

THAT to me was the TA trying to cover his/her butt for not relaying the offer from HAL correctly the first time.

 

The OP thought he was being offered an upgrade to a verandah for BOTH he and his mom...in other words 2 veranda cabins.

 

There is no way that HAL would say "you now have to share 1 cabin...take it or leave it". No way!

I can see the logic of trying to free up a cabin, but I can't see HAL or any other cruise line forcing 2 separate bookings into one. And even the worst TA I can't see trying to pull that on anyone. I just think there is some major part of this story not being told.

The red bolded part -- I completely agree. I am not 100% certain, though, that the fault is with the TA -- the poster may have misinterpreted what was offered, and didn't ask enough questions to be sure of the offer. I don't think we'll ever know, y'know? ;)

 

I think you're right, we will never know.

[IRL_Joanie]

My guess is your single fare would be (assuming the supplement is 100%):

 

Cruise Fare: $2199.00 X 2 = $4398

Taxes: $110.40

Port Fees: $235.00

 

Total: $4743.40

 

That's what I thought. Thanks Peter:) Means I pay for 2 people even though it is just me... I can deal with that:) The peace alone would be worth it:)

 

Joanie