How do you book an SZ category on Westerdam

[DaveOKC]

Looking at the Westerdam in Sept and cannot get the HAL site to show me the SZ category (there are 2 SZ cabins on this ship). I can book them if I wanted to go in May.

 

Can this category be booked, or does HAL hold it back for later bookings/specials?

 

Strange........

 

DaveOKC

[Typhoon1]

Should be bookable just like any other cabin. If everything fails, give HAL a call.

[PathfinderEss]

Could be that catagory is sold out already. Call Hal like Typhoon said.

[catl331]

Usually they're not offered for sale until approximately final payment date, just like the bottom step in other categories - VH, HH, and NN. None of those are available yet for the Westerdam in Sept either.

[LAFFNVEGAS]

No, HAL is definitely holding them, you can call HAL or a Travel Agent to book (cannot be booked on line) but the price of the SZ is drastically higher than the SY and SS and for the reason that they do not want to release those cabins yet. This category is their special promotions/Flash Sale category much the same as category VH and HH. HAL has always held out those two cabins. It is not at all likely they have been sold. I do not know what date you want but I just pulled up one of the September Alaska dates and the SY is $1599 for Sept 21st and it will allow me to book the SZ for a price of $6299.00 per person :D It let me take it all the way to placing on hold for a grand total of $12930.60 but it is not showing available for sale on the consumer site ;) But if you badly want one of those cabins I am sure HAL or any travel agent would love to talk to you ;)

[DaveOKC]

Lisa - thanks for the info. I figured it was like that. It sounds crazy, but I understand what they are doing. Funny that they released those SZs for the May 11 sailing already though - and I could book the cabin, not taking a guarantee.

 

Dave

[Tricia724]

We had SZ6117 a couple of years ago on the South Pacific cruise, and it is a dynamite cabin. We opened it up for a cabin crawl, and people were surprised to see how spacious that cabin is with the extra square footage. Keep watching cabin availability, and if one of the rooms opens up to you, grab it.

 

On our trip, there were several options for booking for the South Pacific....a 35-day trip from Seattle, a 34-day trip from Vancouver, and a 30-day trip from San Diego. In addition, there were several options for a coastal cruise. I think there was a 1-day and a 4-day. SZ6117 was only available to book for the 35-day segment from Seattle, which is what we did.

 

Funny thing. I hear people who book an SZ guarantee get so excited when they get an "upgrade" to an SY or SS. Technically it is an upgrade as far as HAL is concerned, but on Westerdam or one of the other Vistas, I'd pay more money for the SZ. What surprises me is that HAL hasn't changed the category of those two cabins to SS the way they have on the newer ships.

[mollyanne]

Dave: I'm glad you posted this question because it was something I've been wondering as well.

 

We booked an SZ gty in June for our December cruise. Eventually upgraded to an SS and then upsold to an SA. I wouldn't hesitate to book the SZ gty again but haven't seen them offered for the cruise I'm looking into. Will have to wait it out to see if the guarantees come along in a few months.

[jtl513]

What surprises me is that HAL hasn't changed the category of those two cabins to SS the way they have on the newer ships.

There will always be two SZ because, as Lisa said, "This category is their special promotions/Flash Sale category". Originally on the Eurodam 10005/10006 were the SZ and 5093/5098 were SY. When 10005/10006 were upgraded to SU, 5093/5098 were downgraded to SZ for no other reason than they wanted to have two SZ.

[moniquet]

When we booked a guaranteed verandah suite we were given an SZ category although no cabin number. We were offered an upgrade to an SA suite for a small payment so don't know what we would have got.

[DaveOKC]

When we booked a guaranteed verandah suite we were given an SZ category although no cabin number. We were offered an upgrade to an SA suite for a small payment so don't know what we would have got.

 

We did the same last year. Most of the time the SZ is a guarantee only, but I was able to book a SZ cabin on a "test" that I ran for an earlier sailing of the Westerdam.