Club Orange upgrade

[rodndonna]

5 minutes ago, Haljo1935 said:

Hey @singleflyer can you provide the number you called? I'm trying to add HIA to a casino booking and have had no luck.

 

On the HIA page - they give this number to add HIA - so perhaps should be the most experience with adding HIA to bookings

 

Call to upgrade
1-877-724-5425

[Haljo1935]

3 minutes ago, rodndonna said:

 

On the HIA page - they give this number to add HIA - so perhaps should be the most experience with adding HIA to bookings

 

Call to upgrade
1-877-724-5425

Thanks @rodndonna I will try that one, hopefully that's the winner that ends my pouting 😪🤔

[erdufylla]

I just wanted to pop in and say thank you to everyone offering advice and info about Club Orange. I just talked to my PCC, and after crunching some numbers, it came out cheaper to change my reservation to a lower-grade stateroom option and add CO, which gave me not only the same category of room I was aiming for in the first place, but also a room I got to pick myself (instead of just guaranteed class) and all the other CO benefits on top. It never would have occurred to me to do that had it not been for you all. So thanks! 🙂

[OCJayGuy]

1 hour ago, Haljo1935 said:

Thanks @rodndonna I will try that one, hopefully that's the winner that ends my pouting 😪🤔

Not that I really know what I'm doing yet, but just popped into 'Manage My Cruise' and HIA shows up as an option to buy online from there at 50%. Hopefully you found some luck with that number already!

[OCJayGuy]

12 minutes ago, erdufylla said:

I just wanted to pop in and say thank you to everyone offering advice and info about Club Orange. I just talked to my PCC, and after crunching some numbers, it came out cheaper to change my reservation to a lower-grade stateroom option and add CO, which gave me not only the same category of room I was aiming for in the first place, but also a room I got to pick myself (instead of just guaranteed class) and all the other CO benefits on top. It never would have occurred to me to do that had it not been for you all. So thanks! 🙂

Love when it works out like that :). I was given midship oceanview with CO, asked about the family oceanview but was told that's only for at least 5 and we're only two people. Spa oceanvien was already sold out.

[Haljo1935]

28 minutes ago, erdufylla said:

I just wanted to pop in and say thank you to everyone offering advice and info about Club Orange. I just talked to my PCC, and after crunching some numbers, it came out cheaper to change my reservation to a lower-grade stateroom option and add CO, which gave me not only the same category of room I was aiming for in the first place, but also a room I got to pick myself (instead of just guaranteed class) and all the other CO benefits on top. It never would have occurred to me to do that had it not been for you all. So thanks! 🙂

Congrats and enjoy!!

[Haljo1935]

15 minutes ago, OCJayGuy said:

Love when it works out like that :). I was given midship oceanview with CO, asked about the family oceanview but was told that's only for at least 5 and we're only two people. Spa oceanvien was already sold out.

Congrats and enjoy! I was told if I wanted to monitor the availability, if a different cabin came open that I wanted (in same category, of course) I could call to get it changed at no charge. So, if you see a spa ocean view does become available, you could move there. We did one in Feb - it was very nice; part room, great views.

[singleflyer]

3 hours ago, Haljo1935 said:

Hey @singleflyer can you provide the number you called? I'm trying to add HIA to a casino booking and have had no luck.

 

1-800-330-2249

[SFO Peter]

4 hours ago, erdufylla said:

I just wanted to pop in and say thank you to everyone offering advice and info about Club Orange. I just talked to my PCC, and after crunching some numbers, it came out cheaper to change my reservation to a lower-grade stateroom option and add CO, which gave me not only the same category of room I was aiming for in the first place, but also a room I got to pick myself (instead of just guaranteed class) and all the other CO benefits on top. It never would have occurred to me to do that had it not been for you all. So thanks! 🙂

====

Good for you.   We are all learning.  I could not add CO to my Feb 2024 sailing because I was too late and CO was no longer available (offered).   I did manage to book it on Koningsdam Oct 2024 sailing.

So to get CO one may need to book early.  I am mostly interested in the CO Cabin Upgrade.

Peter

[Haljo1935]

57 minutes ago, SFO Peter said:

====

Good for you.   We are all learning.  I could not add CO to my Feb 2024 sailing because I was too late and CO was no longer available (offered).   I did manage to book it on Koningsdam Oct 2024 sailing.

So to get CO one may need to book early.  I am mostly interested in the CO Cabin Upgrade.

Peter

Hey @SFO Peter yes CO does have limited availability as it's capacity controlled, but if it's something you're really interested in, you may want to check back occasionally to see if a space opens up. Like you, the main draw was the cabin upgrade and we were bummed when the day we were getting prices it was available, but when we called back the next day to add it were told it was full. So, we called again the next day and we were able to add it! Of course, our luck, our top 5 cabin picks were gone and we had to go with 6th choice, but we still got the area we wanted (true aft). They told us if we found a cabin (in the same category, of course) that we wanted, we could call and change it with no fee.

Worth a shot if you really want CO.

 

[NCTribeFan]

On 6/26/2023 at 4:22 PM, Haljo1935 said:

Is there a trick to getting HIA added to casino bookings? ...

 

I book my HAL cruises through my PCC and have added CO through them.  I've never called the dedicated line, but I'll make a note of that number for future reference.  Sometimes my PCC takes several days to get back to me and with CO having limited availability, good to know I have another option.  Don't want to miss out on getting the cabin I want for the upgrade.

[acruisingcouple]

21 hours ago, SFO Peter said:

====

Good for you.   We are all learning.  I could not add CO to my Feb 2024 sailing because I was too late and CO was no longer available (offered).   I did manage to book it on Koningsdam Oct 2024 sailing.

So to get CO one may need to book early.  I am mostly interested in the CO Cabin Upgrade.

Peter

I booked the December 29th sailing on the Rotterdam two weeks ago in a VB cabin.  I called the next day to add CO but it was sold out and was advised to try calling back.  I called back the following Wednesday- still sold out.  I then called two days later and was able to purchase it.  They were able to ‘downgrade’ my fare to a VH and then give me the CO upgrade to my original VB cabin.

 

 

 

 

[OCJayGuy]

Just called to ask about upgrading our current C Oceanview to a balcony. We already have CO on our booking. Cost to upgrade to VH would be $100 pp, but the agent said management wouldn't allow another upgrade from VH to VQ using Club Orange. It had to be done at the time of booking. Does this sound right?

[horseymike]

If you have an interior cabin what upgrade would purchasing CO get you ?

[terrydtx]

12 minutes ago, horseymike said:

If you have an interior cabin what upgrade would purchasing CO get you ?

Upgrades are only to the highest available cabin in your current booked category. The best you could do is the highest level interior cabin available.

[terrydtx]

38 minutes ago, OCJayGuy said:

Just called to ask about upgrading our current C Oceanview to a balcony. We already have CO on our booking. Cost to upgrade to VH would be $100 pp, but the agent said management wouldn't allow another upgrade from VH to VQ using Club Orange. It had to be done at the time of booking. Does this sound right?

Adding CO would only allow you to book the highest available cabin in your category which would an Ocean View. You would not be able to upgrade from OV to a balcony category. 

[horseymike]

18 hours ago, terrydtx said:

If you use CO for just the category cabin upgrade it will pay for itself. Example, we booked the Volendam for August next year in a Vista Suite for 11 days. We booked a category B Vista located close to the aft, but we wanted a Category A midship location. The CO with the upgrade cost us $275 each.  However, the cost difference between the Cat B Vista and the highest level A Vista was $270 each. So CO only cost us $5 each for the cruise as we would have booked the A Vista Suite midship without CO anyway. When we booked and got the upgrade we were also able to book the exact cabins and location we desired. If you play the upgrade CO game right, CO is almost free.

 

Now our Koningsdam cruise in November was a different story. When we booked we booked the last aft facing verandah cabin available and didn't add CO until a few weeks later so we were already at the highest lever cabin category and an upgrade was not available and unwanted. HAL gave us an additional $100 pp OBC because there was no upgrade available, CO cost us $175 each, with the $100 OBC it only cost us $75 each to add CO. $75 is well worth the cost of having Club Orange dining room service for dinners.

 

2 minutes ago, terrydtx said:

Upgrades are only to the highest available cabin in your current booked category. The best you could do is the highest level interior cabin available.

I think we already have the highest level interior cabin 🤣

[OCJayGuy]

3 minutes ago, terrydtx said:

Adding CO would only allow you to book the highest available cabin in your category which would an Ocean View. You would not be able to upgrade from OV to a balcony category. 

I was hoping that the CO upgrade would kick in after the paid category upgrade. But sounds like it can't work that way.

[Florida_gal_50]

1 hour ago, OCJayGuy said:

I was hoping that the CO upgrade would kick in after the paid category upgrade. But sounds like it can't work that way.

It’s a meta upgrade meaning within the category you booked in.  You do not jump from and inside to an outside, outside to a balcony etc.

[KAKcruiser]

Could you cancel your current reservation and start again?  Then you could book a VH, buy Club Orange and upgrade to VQ. Or are you already in the cancellation phase?

[OCJayGuy]

24 minutes ago, KAKcruiser said:

Could you cancel your current reservation and start again?  Then you could book a VH, buy Club Orange and upgrade to VQ. Or are you already in the cancellation phase?

Thought about doing that too, but in the cancellation phase already :/. Jan '24 sailing. I also tried arguing that I hadn't received an upgrade within Oceanview yet, but I guess midship is an upgrade lol. 

[NCTribeFan]

You shouldn't be in the cancellation phase already.  I have a January cruise booked and final payment isn't until mid-October.

 

I've booked the cabin I wanted, then called to get CO, got "downgraded" to the lowest price cabin (interior), then "upgraded" to my wonderful Large Interior cabin (on Vista and Signature class ships).

 

I do think I've been told that you might lose some perks if they are no longer available.  Say you book and get the HIA with the extra perks but that is no longer available.  You'd lose those and have to take the regular HIA.  But I could be wrong!  Amazingly, that's been known to happen. 😁

[OCJayGuy]

8 minutes ago, NCTribeFan said:

You shouldn't be in the cancellation phase already.  I have a January cruise booked and final payment isn't until mid-October.

 

I've booked the cabin I wanted, then called to get CO, got "downgraded" to the lowest price cabin (interior), then "upgraded" to my wonderful Large Interior cabin (on Vista and Signature class ships).

 

I do think I've been told that you might lose some perks if they are no longer available.  Say you book and get the HIA with the extra perks but that is no longer available.  You'd lose those and have to take the regular HIA.  But I could be wrong!  Amazingly, that's been known to happen. 😁

Maybe final payment depends on the casino offer? Mine was due one day after the booking. Just got off the phone with them for a second try at this, and looks like we made some headway. Agent had to call two different departments (resolutions and ship inventory). Both departments confirmed that if I'm willing to pay the $200 to upgrade from C Oceanview > VH Veranda, then they can apply the CO and bump me up to VQ. He had to verify that my original stateroom wasn't already upgraded, which it wasn't. Unfortunately I called as the departments were closing for the day, so I have to call back tomorrow but the agent put the approval notes in my reservation so it should make the effort tomorrow easier (fingers, toes, and more crossed). 

[Florida_gal_50]

51 minutes ago, OCJayGuy said:

Maybe final payment depends on the casino offer? Mine was due one day after the booking. Just got off the phone with them for a second try at this, and looks like we made some headway. Agent had to call two different departments (resolutions and ship inventory). Both departments confirmed that if I'm willing to pay the $200 to upgrade from C Oceanview > VH Veranda, then they can apply the CO and bump me up to VQ. He had to verify that my original stateroom wasn't already upgraded, which it wasn't. Unfortunately I called as the departments were closing for the day, so I have to call back tomorrow but the agent put the approval notes in my reservation so it should make the effort tomorrow easier (fingers, toes, and more crossed). 

Just beware that a vq is a smaller balcony.  It’s NOT a juliette balcony like some have posted.

[Haljo1935]

1 hour ago, OCJayGuy said:

Maybe final payment depends on the casino offer? Mine was due one day after the booking. Just got off the phone with them for a second try at this, and looks like we made some headway. Agent had to call two different departments (resolutions and ship inventory). Both departments confirmed that if I'm willing to pay the $200 to upgrade from C Oceanview > VH Veranda, then they can apply the CO and bump me up to VQ. He had to verify that my original stateroom wasn't already upgraded, which it wasn't. Unfortunately I called as the departments were closing for the day, so I have to call back tomorrow but the agent put the approval notes in my reservation so it should make the effort tomorrow easier (fingers, toes, and more crossed). 

Yes, sounds like you're headed in the right direction. Please update us after your next round of calls.