Upgraded from VF to VT Balcony?

[rkacruiser]

51 minutes ago, strickerj said:

So I think I'll ask for the aft section on deck 5 or 6. I tried calling but didn't even get the option to hold, just "Due to call volumes, we are unable to take your call. Please try again later." I'll call back Monday; I imagine they have reduced staff on the weekends.

 

It would be customer friendly if they instituted a call back system.

 

11 minutes ago, LAFFNVEGAS said:

Just putting my 2 cents in, about recommending the Club Orange and what HAL as done in this case.

 

Thank you for your informative post.  I was unaware up the upgrade option that might be possible booking Club Orange.  Is this option something that they have initiated since Club Orange was instituted?  

[LAFFNVEGAS]

6 minutes ago, rkacruiser said:

 

It would be customer friendly if they instituted a call back system.

 

 

Thank you for your informative post.  I was unaware up the upgrade option that might be possible booking Club Orange.  Is this option something that they have initiated since Club Orange was instituted?  

Yes the upgrade with purchasing Club Orange has been available since it started but you can only upgrade to the higest available in your meta (that is what they call it) So if you already booked the highest they will not move you higher. Say you are in a category C on a ship that does not have CA or CQ you cannot move up to a Balcony. Note that the  highest verandah categories on most of the ships are actually the least desirable. There is a reason for that...

[Sea42]

1 hour ago, LAFFNVEGAS said:

If you do the Club Orange and take the Upgrade option you must move to the Highest available category above what you currently have.

We were able to request a specific VB cabin thru Club Orange on the Nieuw Amsterdam and on the Nieuw Statendam. For the NA cruise, the ship wasn't even half full so I doubt all higher balcony cabins were booked.

[Sea42]

1 hour ago, LAFFNVEGAS said:

If you do the Club Orange and take the Upgrade option you must move to the Highest available category above what you currently have.

We were able to request a specific VB cabin thru Club Orange on the Nieuw Amsterdam and on the Nieuw Statendam. For the NA cruise, the ship wasn't even half full so I would be surprised if all higher balcony cabins were booked.

[LAFFNVEGAS]

10 minutes ago, Sea42 said:

We were able to request a specific VB cabin thru Club Orange on the Nieuw Amsterdam and on the Nieuw Statendam. For the NA cruise, the ship wasn't even half full so I doubt all higher balcony cabins were booked.

Well that is good they did that, I have had occasion that they stated to use that perk you must go to the highest category available. They also will not give out the ship board credit if you are already in say a VB category and do not want to move but request the SBC . That I know from personal experience they state you must move to the highest category available if all categories above you are reserved. Maybe they have very recently have become more lenient because this was not the case during Alaska sailings last summer when they were at 50% or less capacity. I do hope for others that is the case.

[Sea42]

3 minutes ago, LAFFNVEGAS said:

Well that is good they did that, I have had occasion that they stated to use that perk you must go to the highest category available. They also will not give out the ship board credit if you are already in say a VB category and do not want to move but request the SBC . That I know from personal experience they state you must move to the highest category available if all categories above you are reserved. Maybe they have very recently have become more lenient because this was not the case during Alaska sailings last summer when they were at 50% or less capacity. I do hope for others that is the case.

Oh, I'm so glad then that we were able to do it!

 

[Go2Cee]

1 hour ago, LAFFNVEGAS said:

Well that is good they did that, I have had occasion that they stated to use that perk you must go to the highest category available. They also will not give out the ship board credit if you are already in say a VB category and do not want to move but request the SBC . That I know from personal experience they state you must move to the highest category available if all categories above you are reserved. Maybe they have very recently have become more lenient because this was not the case during Alaska sailings last summer when they were at 50% or less capacity. I do hope for others that is the case.

 

1 hour ago, Sea42 said:

Oh, I'm so glad then that we were able to do it!

 

 

1 hour ago, Sea42 said:

Oh, I'm so glad then that we were able to do it!

 

 

[Go2Cee]

Hi Carol,

Have you booked your airfare yet?  Flight Ease right now only has non refundable flights even in 1st class.  We were told that booking now is too close to our sail date.  Yikes.  Will call my Cruise Consultant first thing Monday morning!!!

[BigMattT]

6 hours ago, LAFFNVEGAS said:

Just putting my 2 cents in, about recommending the Club Orange and what HAL as done in this case. With the Signature Class ships for Verandah categories the lowest category is VH, then VF, VE, VD, VS, VB, VA V. VT. then VQ. VT is the one mentioned in this post and VQ is a Spa Verandah. If you do the Club Orange and take the Upgrade option you must move to the Highest available category above what you currently have. If there are no higher categories above what you have booked they will give you ship board credit in lieu but say you are booked in VH and want the VB you cannot get that category if there is a higher category you must get the highest available under Club Orange. For this particular ship that most likely will be VT or VQ of which most do not want so they are usually always available. Other Class of ships taking the Club Orange can be a good move but not so on the Eurodam. I feel bad for the OP because unfortuately in HAL's Eyes they see this as a big upgrade and Buying Club Orange would not help this situation at all. He can try to talk them into moving to a different category but he would be better to offer to pay the different to choose a different category and cabin.

When we added Club Orange to our booking, we were able to pick any cabin we wanted in our meta category. We weren’t forced to take a VA over the VB we wanted.

 

On 2/4/2022 at 4:46 PM, rkacruiser said:

 

So, you enjoy standing on that small VT balcony with no place to sit for a long time?  

 

Yeah, for Alaska, we don’t tend to spend as much time on our balcony, we wouldn’t mind the small size. Especially when the Retreat is right there. 

[rochelle_s]

I too was able to request the VB on the Eurodam when I booked Club Orange, no problem whatsoever. That was for a cruise this past November.

 

Rochelle

[Sea42]

13 hours ago, Go2Cee said:

Hi Carol,

Have you booked your airfare yet?  Flight Ease right now only has non refundable flights even in 1st class.  We were told that booking now is too close to our sail date.  Yikes.  Will call my Cruise Consultant first thing Monday morning!!!

I have but I didn't use Flight Ease. I had points with my travel credit card that I used.

[rkacruiser]

20 hours ago, matthewthompson87 said:

Yeah, for Alaska, we don’t tend to spend as much time on our balcony, we wouldn’t mind the small size. Especially when the Retreat is right there. 

 

I understand.  If you are going to book the Retreat, that makes sense.  But, I'd suggest that you not spend all of your time in the Retreat.  Being "out and about" may help in viewing whatever wildlife decides to make an appearance.