What was your recent experience on an upsell offer with HAL?

[Iamthesea]

Now that's the first I have heard that the balcony is smaller. 🤔 We will be on a cold climate cruise, so perhaps it will not matter.  I am aware that the Vista is only slightly bigger, but as I mentioned above, we like the layout and location better.  

[Florida_gal_50]

2 hours ago, Iamthesea said:

Now that's the first I have heard that the balcony is smaller. 🤔 We will be on a cold climate cruise, so perhaps it will not matter.  I am aware that the Vista is only slightly bigger, but as I mentioned above, we like the layout and location better.  

I had a cabin with a larger balcony.  I took this upsell expecting the balcony to be bigger.  When I saw the balcony I thought were is the rest of it.  Got the same offer on the next cruise and passed on it.  I shock like crazy on top of it.  It was over the wake.  I had that type of room before and it didn’t feel like that.

[MAVIP]

15 hours ago, Florida_gal_50 said:

I had a cabin with a larger balcony.  I took this upsell expecting the balcony to be bigger.  When I saw the balcony I thought were is the rest of it.  Got the same offer on the next cruise and passed on it.  I shock like crazy on top of it.  It was over the wake.  I had that type of room before and it didn’t feel like that.

It was a pinnacle class; do you remember the numbers? Thank you.

[Iamthesea]

 Not understanding the following statement???

 

"I shock like crazy on top of it.  It was over the wake.  I had that type of room before and it didn’t feel like that."

[Florida_gal_50]

3 hours ago, MAVIP said:

It was a pinnacle class; do you remember the numbers? Thank you.

My last post should have said shook not shock ;).  I'm pretty certain the vista I had was 4213.  I believe the balcony I had was 4171 but I'm not certain.  It was somewhere in that neighbourhood for sure.

[MAVIP]

3 hours ago, Florida_gal_50 said:

My last post should have said shook not shock ;).  I'm pretty certain the vista I had was 4213.  I believe the balcony I had was 4171 but I'm not certain.  It was somewhere in that neighbourhood for sure.

OK I understand, if you had a balcony like 4171 and I know those and will stay in one soon and get an upsell to an aft cabin on the same deck, the 4213 cabin must have been larger, but the balcony.....

[evalbert]

Got two upgrade offers on my Oosterdam cruise (31 days)from Buenos Aires next week.  Upgrade to Veranda from OceanView guaranteed  - about $1300pp first time (3 weeks out), next one (2 weeks out) was about $750pp). Didn't take either.  Got notice of a OV confirmed which was fine with us. Then this week got notice that we had been upgraded to a Veranda (VC) anyway. Thanked our HAL agent right away.   Our 7th HAL cruise, second on the Oosteram.  Happy cruisers.😃

[Florida_gal_50]

48 minutes ago, MAVIP said:

OK I understand, if you had a balcony like 4171 and I know those and will stay in one soon and get an upsell to an aft cabin on the same deck, the 4213 cabin must have been larger, but the balcony.....

The cabin was barely larger.  That’s why I passed on the next upsell.

[Iamthesea]

I just looked at several Vista Suite videos with their balconies.  They all have a normal sized balcony.  EXAMPLE 

 

The stateroom that you had on the 4th deck is one of the Verandah staterooms with the extended balcony. No wonder you thought the Vista Suite had a small balcony. 😉 Although the extended are nice, as long as we have room for a chair and stool, we are happy.  Especially on a cold weather cruise.  Now, I understand that the Spa Verandah (VQ) category does have a smaller balcony. 

 

evalbert - You received a great deal.  Good thing that you waited.  I would have been tempted to take the $799pp upsell.. I consider with 31 nights, that's a good value.   However, I don't know where you started to begin with.

 

 

 

[Anne614]

On 2/28/2023 at 12:59 PM, Anne614 said:

We recently received an upsell off on our 7 day Mexican Riviera cruise. Our cabin was a free obstructed ocean view. Our offer was $249 pp for an upgraded ocean view.  We are not interested in that offer.

We were assigned a D category. Our upsell offer of $249 pp was for a C - F category. Glad we didn’t take that (terrible offer imho.)We are very happy with this midship ocean view!

[Florida_gal_50]

11 minutes ago, Anne614 said:

We were assigned a D category. Our upsell offer of $249 pp was for a C - F category. Glad we didn’t take that (terrible offer imho.)We are very happy with this midship ocean view!

I agree.  I think you should go to a balcony to make me consider it.

[Florida_gal_50]

1 hour ago, Iamthesea said:

I just looked at several Vista Suite videos with their balconies.  They all have a normal sized balcony.  EXAMPLE 

 

The stateroom that you had on the 4th deck is one of the Verandah staterooms with the extended balcony. No wonder you thought the Vista Suite had a small balcony. 😉 Although the extended are nice, as long as we have room for a chair and stool, we are happy.  Especially on a cold weather cruise.  Now, I understand that the Spa Verandah (VQ) category does have a smaller balcony. 

 

evalbert - You received a great deal.  Good thing that you waited.  I would have been tempted to take the $799pp upsell.. I consider with 31 nights, that's a good value.   However, I don't know where you started to begin with.

 

 

 

Maybe I am just used to a bigger balcony.  I would say this is an accurate view of how “big” the balcony is. I thought the video made the room look bigger.

[Florida_gal_50]

3 hours ago, evalbert said:

Got two upgrade offers on my Oosterdam cruise (31 days)from Buenos Aires next week.  Upgrade to Veranda from OceanView guaranteed  - about $1300pp first time (3 weeks out), next one (2 weeks out) was about $750pp). Didn't take either.  Got notice of a OV confirmed which was fine with us. Then this week got notice that we had been upgraded to a Veranda (VC) anyway. Thanked our HAL agent right away.   Our 7th HAL cruise, second on the Oosteram.  Happy cruisers.😃

You did well with that free upgrade.  It’s been my experience that it rarely happens. 

[Iamthesea]

1 hour ago, Florida_gal_50 said:

Maybe I am just used to a bigger balcony.  I would say this is an accurate view of how “big” the balcony is. I thought the video made the room look bigger.

All the videos (Koningsdam, Statendam, and Rotterdam) that I watched had the exact same sized stateroom.  Videos are much more accurate than a photo.  Especially a cruiseline photo.  Now those are exaggerated!!!

Edited March 4, 2023 by Iamthesea

[glorialagos]

On 2/4/2023 at 2:35 PM, tuolumne couple said:

We don't have much experience on upsell offers with HAL as we usually keep the room we book and ask to not be upgraded. But am just curious about your experiences in this situation. Were you offered an upsell a few weeks out? If so, did you accept it? How much was your upsell? Any recent experiences out there to share?

Got the first upsell about 30 days out.  Veranda to a Neptune $999 per person.  Ignored.  Second upsell offer came the next week.  Veranda to Neptune $750 pp.  Called but none available.  Ten days before sailing.  Third offer.  Neptune for $549 pp.  Took it.  Best decision ever made.  Choice of two cabins, both great location near the lounge.

[Florida_gal_50]

9 hours ago, Iamthesea said:

All the videos (Koningsdam, Statendam, and Rotterdam) that I watched had the exact same sized stateroom.  Videos are much more accurate than a photo.  Especially a cruiseline photo.  Now those are exaggerated!!!

No I just mean things always look different to me in video than in reality not that the room was any bigger.  It’s not worth it to me to upgrade to a vista on the pinnacle ships because the difference is minimal to me.

[Florida_gal_50]

2 hours ago, glorialagos said:

Got the first upsell about 30 days out.  Veranda to a Neptune $999 per person.  Ignored.  Second upsell offer came the next week.  Veranda to Neptune $750 pp.  Called but none available.  Ten days before sailing.  Third offer.  Neptune for $549 pp.  Took it.  Best decision ever made.  Choice of two cabins, both great location near the lounge.

How long was the cruise?  And some think all the good cabins are gone years before 😛.  Thanks.

[DaveOKC]

2 hours ago, glorialagos said:

Got the first upsell about 30 days out.  Veranda to a Neptune $999 per person.  Ignored.  Second upsell offer came the next week.  Veranda to Neptune $750 pp.  Called but none available.  Ten days before sailing.  Third offer.  Neptune for $549 pp.  Took it.  Best decision ever made.  Choice of two cabins, both great location near the lounge.

Sounds like a couple of people cancelled late.  Sometimes this opens up some well located cabins.

 

[Iamthesea]

41 minutes ago, Florida_gal_50 said:

How long was the cruise?  And some think all the good cabins are gone years before 😛.  Thanks.

Good point!  That's important to include when sharing about upsells.  I failed to do that when mentioning the upgrade that we paid for.  Our cruise is 14 nights. "We upgraded from our VA to an A Vista Suite for $410 total! "

 

Now I am wondering how much a reasonable upsell should be to go from a Vista to a Signature or a Neptune, on the small chance we be offered one.  Only 3 Signatures showing left, but there are multiple Neptunes for our upcoming cruise.  Didn't even consider one until seeing the above because they cost so much to book.

[DaveOKC]

1 minute ago, Iamthesea said:

Good point!  That's important to include when sharing about upsells.  I failed to do that when mentioning the upgrade that we paid for.  Our cruise is 14 nights. "We upgraded from our VA to an A Vista Suite for $410 total! "

 

Now I am wondering how much a reasonable upsell should be to go from a Vista to a Signature or a Neptune, on the small chance we be offered one.  Only 3 Signatures showing left, but there are multiple Neptunes for our upcoming cruise.  Didn't even consider one until seeing the above because they cost so much to book.

On a Pinnacle class ship there are few Signatures and they often sell out.  Thus you are more likely to get an offer to upsell to a Neptune.  The way I judge upsell offers is to first check out the going fares for the difference in price and then take one third of that number.  Anything below that number I would accept, above it would depend on how close it is and how bad I want the upsell.

[storkington]

We phoned the Upsell Desk and took their offer for a Signature Suite on our upcoming cruise. I assume we won't be receiving an email upsell offer say for a Neptune? When I called they were all sold out, so just wondered if that would ever happen?

[FlorenceItaly]

2 minutes ago, storkington said:

We phoned the Upsell Desk and took their offer for a Signature Suite on our upcoming cruise. I assume we won't be receiving an email upsell offer say for a Neptune? When I called they were all sold out, so just wondered if that would ever happen?

Enjoy your SS.  How many days before your sailing did you call?

[storkington]

Just now, FlorenceItaly said:

Enjoy your SS.  How many days before your sailing did you call?

29 days out. We go in 21 days.

[Florida_gal_50]

7 minutes ago, storkington said:

We phoned the Upsell Desk and took their offer for a Signature Suite on our upcoming cruise. I assume we won't be receiving an email upsell offer say for a Neptune? When I called they were all sold out, so just wondered if that would ever happen?

If you are asking, do you ever get a second offer the answer is yes.  A few years back I went from a balcony to a signature suite because it was too pricy for the Neptune.  A little later it was more reasonable to go to a Neptune so I took that.  That said, I don’t find the value is there for a Neptune that there once might have been.  Sure, the room is lovely but that’s about it.  There is a poster on this board that had done several hal cruises in a Neptune.  He’s done a couple of cruises on celebrity and really likes them.  He had a recent thread about a celebrity cruise and the menus and food looked much nicer and upscale than hal.  They have a separate dining room of course for suites.  If I booked suites I’d be hard pressed to choose hal based on that. Now I know why celebrity lovers say suites are much better on celebrity.

[FlorenceItaly]

1 minute ago, Florida_gal_50 said:

If you are asking, do you ever get a second offer the answer is yes.  A few years back I went from a balcony to a signature suite because it was too pricy for the Neptune.  A little later it was more reasonable to go to a Neptune so I took that.  That said, I don’t find the value is there for a Neptune that there once might have been.  Sure, the room is lovely but that’s about it.  There is a poster on this board that had done several hal cruises in a Neptune.  He’s done a couple of cruises on celebrity and really likes them.  He had a recent thread about a celebrity cruise and the menus and food looked much nicer and upscale than hal.  They have a separate dining room of course for suites.  If I booked suites I’d be hard pressed to choose hal based on that. Now I know why celebrity lovers say suites are much better on celebrity.

This is true.  There is no comparison between Celebrity suite benefits and HAL suite benefits.  It is ridiculous that one must pay for alcohol in the HAL suite lounge.  The Neptune suites are large and lovely, but beyond this there is not a whole lot to be said in comparison to other cruise lines.  Zach is the cruiser you are referring to with the review and I have a feeling his HAL days are over.