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Club Orange worth it?

_CruiseLover

By _CruiseLover,
in Holland America Line

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Florida_gal_50

Florida_gal_50

Posted
Posted
23 minutes ago, Iamthesea said:

If I do not hear back by after noon tomorrow, I will try calling her.  I would really hate to lose the stateroom and a place in CO.

 

I have used this same TA for the last 6 years. She was privately recommended by someone on these forums.  She is with a well known larger company (not a Big Box). However, her specialty is luxury cruising.  She was kind enough to take this Celebrity, HAL, cruiser under her wing.   During all but the pandemic years, we have booked 2-3 cruises a year with her.  She has always been very responsive until now. 

 

I think most of the problem is because #1- Travel agents seem to be overwhelmed these days.  So many quit to find other jobs.  Also, getting though to the cruiselines has not been any easier for a TA than some of us on these boards trying to get in touch.   Wait times have been reported of a few hours. #2- I don't believe that my TA is familiar with HAL and Club Orange.   

If it works ok for you more power to you.  I think most people that work are pretty bogged down at least in the private sector where you have to report to shareholders.  To me that’s the ta’s job.  They should have to earn their commission.

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rubytue

rubytue

Posted
Posted

Whelp… not quite. It took an hour to add it, but by then the people that do the rooms had “been gone for an hour”. So, calling back tomorrow to pay and get the room. 
 

my guy on the phone admitted he’d never hear of CO, and had to Google it to see what I was asking for, but said he is really impressed with it and it’s a great deal. So… thank you cruise critic. My H thinks I’m great at cruise hacking. I owe it all the cruise critic 😘 He still gushes about that time I “scanned the passports into your phone and we bypassed all the lines” 😂 RIP mobile passport app. I also told him that my fastest debarkment ever was last week, with Covid, and I had the private customs inspection on the pier. 

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rubytue

rubytue

Posted
Posted

Whew! Or Woo! Took roughly 3 hours on the phone to get this cruise booked. First hour was trying to find my FCCs left over from 2020. Then the CO adding. But it’s done! From VH to V with one of those extended balconies. 
 

I’m confused by the pricing. It kept going between $350 and $280. I understood it to be $350 ($25 x 7 x 2). Final charge was $280. Not complaining. But, how did I go from $25 to $20/pp/d?

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rubytue

rubytue

Posted
Posted (edited)
11 minutes ago, Caribbean Chris said:


Were you talking about dinner seating (open seating versus fixed early/late)? If so, yes, the TA should enter your preference into the record.

 

But if you were talking about booking specialty dinner reservations, you can easily do those yourself online. Helps in my opinion to control as much of those details as possible.

I asked to have Club Orange added to my reservation. The response was “call Holland for dining reservations.”


“trying to get CO. He tried to tell me dinner reservations are made through HAL”

 

 I’m confused because this is the same thing I said above, in a thread about Club Orange. So I’m not sure why both you and the TA are thinking “I want to buy Club Orange” means “I want a fixed dining reservation.”

Edited by rubytue
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57redbird

57redbird

Posted
Posted
18 hours ago, rubytue said:

Yeah, I know there are downsides. With a dozen cruises under my belt (I know, I’m still a baby cruiser to many of you, but… 9 years til retirement!), I haven’t really had much issue. We only book verandas, and I think an upgrade would be so life changing we couldn’t go back. 😂

That's what I'm thinking --- we just took an upsell for our upcoming 35 day cruise....to a Neptune & this might be our last cruise.

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Caribbean Chris

Caribbean Chris

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, rubytue said:

I asked to have Club Orange added to my reservation. The response was “call Holland for dining reservations.”


“trying to get CO. He tried to tell me dinner reservations are made through HAL”

 

 I’m confused because this is the same thing I said above, in a thread about Club Orange. So I’m not sure why both you and the TA are thinking “I want to buy Club Orange” means “I want a fixed dining reservation.”

 

Thanks for the clarification of what you were asking the TA. Deep apologies for misunderstanding your post.
 

Since CO came into being, I’ve arranged for Club Orange either by booking a Neptune suite or by adding it to an existing booking by calling the toll free HAL number. It was a very easy process. But only recently we learned from Cruise Critic that the magic toll free number no longer is offered on the Club Orange PDF, instead, it’s “call your travel planner”... and apparently the travel planners don’t know anything about it.

 

 

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rubytue

rubytue

Posted
Posted

I think my pricing question got lost in TA vs PCC debate. 
 

it’s supposed to be $25/pp/d, which is $350 for a couple on a 7-day trip. 
 

in the run around I was getting, pricing was quoted at $280, then $350. And then, the final charge was $280. So, I lucked into $20/pp/d. 
 

Anyone have a guess as to how? Some secret CO special? Wooing me because I canceled two cruises? 

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DaveOKC

DaveOKC

Posted
Posted
3 minutes ago, KAKcruiser said:

They have so many promotions that the reps can't keep track of them.  Sometimes you just get lucky.

So true.  A couple a weeks ago I got a great deal and I think that part of it was due to confusion on the part of HAL.  I did not complain as it saved me about 25%!

 

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Iamthesea

Iamthesea

Posted
Posted (edited)
20 hours ago, 57redbird said:

That's what I'm thinking --- we just took an upsell for our upcoming 35 day cruise....to a Neptune & this might be our last cruise.

Curious...tell me about your upsell.  How far our from your cruise was it offered.  Did you initiate, or did HAL make the offer?

Edited by Iamthesea
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mcrcruiser

mcrcruiser

Posted
Posted

We went from a VH lowest cost balcony to a V cat   ,highest cost balcony plus we get to dine breakfast & dinner in the Club Orange restaurant  & no long lines . Then there is priority boarding & priority tenders  & that priority customer relations line   .Can't beat the deal at just $15 per day per pax😁😄😁

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Iamthesea

Iamthesea

Posted
Posted (edited)

Update:

Our TA did get us in Club Orange, but was not able to get any type of refund for the difference in cost of our already booked VA stateroom and the lowest level Veranda category.  They wanted to upgrade us to a Spa Veranda which we did not want. Don't like the location or the smaller verandas.   

 

Also, if we changed categories and went down to the VB, with the extra large veranda, we were going to lose the HAL $300 OBC.  So we are staying unless we decide to upgrade (or get offered an upsell) to a Signature Suite.

 

Am I happy with the outcome?  Not really, especially since some are successful while others are not when dealing with HAL.  However,  the whole situation is not worth fighting over. Final cruise and Club Orange are officially paid for!

 

Lessons learned:

#1 - If we enjoy Club Orange on this upcoming cruise, then we will know to book it at the time of the cruise.

#2 - Look first for availability in category VB before booking any other V category if we are interested in a large veranda.

 

Thanks for all the advice!

 

Edited by Iamthesea
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0106 "Live from...." Rare

0106

Posted
Posted

My PCC was able to move us from my favorite VA cabin to a VH.  We bought Club Orange and she moved us back to our original VA.  We were able to keep our HIA which included crew appreciation and our onboard credit.  We saved $600 by adding CO.  I’m happy my PCC knows what she is doing.

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FlorenceItaly

FlorenceItaly

Posted
Posted

I booked the cruise with HAL and added Club Orange yesterday yet I do not see it anywhere online in my HAL account. Like cruising sister it is on my booking confirmation under special services.  I am not sure it shows anywhere online whether you booked with HAL or a TA.

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TAW1963 Great Review Rare

TAW1963

Posted
Posted
21 minutes ago, 3Shelaghs said:

Same here. Under special services... Club Orange Pass ... Guests 1,2

 

1 hour ago, FlorenceItaly said:

I booked the cruise with HAL and added Club Orange yesterday yet I do not see it anywhere online in my HAL account. Like cruising sister it is on my booking confirmation under special services.  I am not sure it shows anywhere online whether you booked with HAL or a TA.

I asked about this as well and this the only place Club Orange shows up --> under the special services section of your cruise contract, or booking confirmation,  that is emailed to you from HAL.  There is no way to look at the booking details from the HAL webpage and see that you have Club Orange.   It sure would be nice to see it under your booking details.

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Sea42

Sea42

Posted
Posted
2 minutes ago, Iamthesea said:

Ah,  if you remember my post way back, we never received an invoice from HAL.  I have my TA invoice, but I just added Club Orange this week after having the cruise booked for months.  So my invoice will not have CO written on it.  Thanks!

We also added CO with our final payment this week. It was noted on the confirmation of final payment that we received from our TA

Payment Summary
Made By For Date Amount
XXXXXXX Holland America Line (XDVT4M) 9/28/22  
XXXXXXX Holland America Line (XDVT4M) 9/28/22  
XXXXXXX Holland America Line (XDVT4M) 2/7/23  
Total Charges  
Amount Paid  
Balance Due PAID  
  excludes insurance quotes  

Includes: "Have It All" Perks

Includes: $250 onboard credits per stateroom from Holland America.

Includes: $250 onboard credits per stateroom from us for total of $500.

Includes: Club Orange

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