Club Orange Cabin Upgrade?

[Petersonfcu]

My wife and I love the Club Orange dining experience on the Pinnacle class ships.  We are uncertain, however, how to best use the in-category cabin upgrade that comes with a Club Orange purchase.  Does anyone have any thoughts on this?   Which Pinnacle ships and associated cabins offer particularly good value for using the Club Orange cabin upgrade option?  Depending on the itinerary and of course the fare we might buy anything from an inside cabin up to a signature suite.  Thanks!

[Sea42]

3 minutes ago, Petersonfcu said:

My wife and I love the Club Orange dining experience on the Pinnacle class ships.  We are uncertain, however, how to best use the in-category cabin upgrade that comes with a Club Orange purchase.  Does anyone have any thoughts on this?   Which Pinnacle ships and associated cabins offer particularly good value for using the Club Orange cabin upgrade option?  Depending on the itinerary and of course the fare we might buy anything from an inside cabin up to a signature suite.  Thanks!

I think that is going to vary from cruise to cruise dependent on how well a given category is selling. You would have to price out each category to determine which one offers the most value to you.

[Nodakboiler]

The best value is always the verandahs because they have the most categories to choose.

 

[Sea42]

2 minutes ago, Nodakboiler said:

The best value is always the verandahs because they have the most categories to choose.

 

That's a good point, I didn't think about it that way.

[SDARCH]

Recent booking experience (28-day N. Statendam): FIRST...confirm that C.O. is available.  Then booked cheapest Obstructed Verandah.  Next step, pay for C.O.  Finally, get Obstructed Verandah upgraded to Aft Verandah.

When I did that booking, it involved a call to Ships Inventory to verify availability of C.O.  

On a booking last week, it seems they have a new reservation system (Windows vs. DOS) that allows them to check C.O. availability from their screen.  Getting Military and AARP OBC did require a call to a Supervisor however.

I call HA directly and do not use a TA.

[YourWorldWithBill]

1 hour ago, Sea42 said:

That's a good point, I didn't think about it that way.

For our next cruise we booked the least expensive category verandah and upgraded to the highest.

[Petersonfcu]

3 hours ago, SDARCH said:

Recent booking experience (28-day N. Statendam): FIRST...confirm that C.O. is available.  Then booked cheapest Obstructed Verandah.  Next step, pay for C.O.  Finally, get Obstructed Verandah upgraded to Aft Verandah.

When I did that booking, it involved a call to Ships Inventory to verify availability of C.O.  

On a booking last week, it seems they have a new reservation system (Windows vs. DOS) that allows them to check C.O. availability from their screen.  Getting Military and AARP OBC did require a call to a Supervisor however.

I call HA directly and do not use a TA.

Thank you.  This is very helpful.   

Can you tell me what AARP OBC is?  I am familiar with buying discounted HAL gift cards through AARP, but is this OBC something else?

[SDARCH]

1 minute ago, Petersonfcu said:

Can you tell me what AARP OBC is? 

If you are an AARP member, you verify on the HA website and get some OBC.  Be sure to pre-verify and mention this when booking.  I do not think it can be applied after booking is complete.

 

https://www.hollandamerica.com/en/us/cruise-deals/community-appreciation-cruise-offers/aarp-member-benefit-offer?XID=EXTHPRTNR20230501VT3I62RMF3

[RedIguana]

3 hours ago, SDARCH said:

Military and AARP OBC did require a call to a Supervisor however.

I call HA directly and do not use a TA.

I believe I am also going to have to call for health care worker and AARP, even though I had verified before booking. Apparently they told my TA I had to re-verify. TA was able to call and confirm club orange was available before booking though and book club orange at the same time.

[RedIguana]

4 hours ago, Petersonfcu said:

My wife and I love the Club Orange dining experience on the Pinnacle class ships.  We are uncertain, however, how to best use the in-category cabin upgrade that comes with a Club Orange purchase.  Does anyone have any thoughts on this?   Which Pinnacle ships and associated cabins offer particularly good value for using the Club Orange cabin upgrade option?  Depending on the itinerary and of course the fare we might buy anything from an inside cabin up to a signature suite.  Thanks!

Saved about $450 on a 7 night booking a BC vista and upgrading to an AS vista (aft).

[fox02554]

we were already in a VA , Handicap room , and they are HARD to come by, club orange added $200 OBC to our account due to no cabin change

[Midwest Sunseeker]

I thought we needed to re-verify AARP every year. I made a note on my calendar a year out to check.  If this is true will they send us a note it is expired?

[cbr663]

Remember that there are 2 advantages to booking CO and the complimentary upgrade:

 

1.  The upgrade level itself, and

2.  Being able to select your actual cabin.  At times HAL can charge quite a premium for this option.

[YourWorldWithBill]

Note: you don't have to be an AARP member or a certain age to buy the AARP HAL gift cards, at a 10% savings.

Edited January 10 by YourWorldWithBill

[Petersonfcu]

1 hour ago, SDARCH said:

If you are an AARP member, you verify on the HA website and get some OBC.  Be sure to pre-verify and mention this when booking.  I do not think it can be applied after booking is complete.

 

https://www.hollandamerica.com/en/us/cruise-deals/community-appreciation-cruise-offers/aarp-member-benefit-offer?XID=EXTHPRTNR20230501VT3I62RMF3

Thank you for this.  I will now be going for the triple stack of OBC:  AARP, Military, and Shareholder Benefit!

[Petersonfcu]

12 minutes ago, YourWorldWithBill said:

Note: you don't have to be an AARP member or a certain age to buy the AARP HAL gift cards, at a 10% savings.

True.  But I am already a member of AARP because there are other discounted gift cards I buy that require membership, including Albertsons (Safeway) and Carnival cards.

[Petersonfcu]

58 minutes ago, cbr663 said:

Remember that there are 2 advantages to booking CO and the complimentary upgrade:

 

1.  The upgrade level itself, and

2.  Being able to select your actual cabin.  At times HAL can charge quite a premium for this option.

Yes, I was just thinking about the ability to pick any open cabin within category -- and realizing I needed to do research.  Based on the comments above, I started with the aft Verandahs, and found that there are some people who don't like how small the balconies are for these Pinnacle aft verandahs.  And that led me to the realization that we would probably prefer VB category on Beethoven Deck, and a couple of very specific cabins within that VB category.

Edited January 10 by Petersonfcu

[Toofarfromthesea]

6 hours ago, Petersonfcu said:

My wife and I love the Club Orange dining experience on the Pinnacle class ships.  We are uncertain, however, how to best use the in-category cabin upgrade that comes with a Club Orange purchase.  Does anyone have any thoughts on this?   Which Pinnacle ships and associated cabins offer particularly good value for using the Club Orange cabin upgrade option?  Depending on the itinerary and of course the fare we might buy anything from an inside cabin up to a signature suite.  Thanks!

 

This is my plan the next time I book, with the questions I will ask, in order:

 

1) is there still club orange availability

2) is there XX category cabin availability (where XX is the category I want located where I want)

3) is there YY category cabin availability (where YY is the lowest cost cabin in the same category as XX.

 

If all the answers are yes I'll book YY with the regular deposit, purchase club orange and pay for it immediately, and since club orange is paid for, immediately upgrade to XX.

[GeorgeL]

I just booked a cabin using club orange and moved from VH guarantee to VA. Actually I wanted to book VB but they did not have any available cabins. My question is following - will it be possible to change from VA to VB later if one becomes available on deck 4? By the way, the total price for the VA cabin with orange is still about $500 less than booking VA without Orange. Great deal just by getting the upgrade.

[Ipeeinthepools]

1 minute ago, GeorgeL said:

I just booked a cabin using club orange and moved from VH guarantee to VA. Actually I wanted to book VB but they did not have any available cabins. My question is following - will it be possible to change from VA to VB later if one becomes available on deck 4? By the way, the total price for the VA cabin with orange is still about $500 less than booking VA without Orange. Great deal just by getting the upgrade.

 

That may be a tougher sell.  It's been my experience that HAL sticks to a one-time cabin assignment as an upgrade.

[kazu]

On 1/10/2024 at 5:54 PM, Petersonfcu said:

Yes, I was just thinking about the ability to pick any open cabin within category -- and realizing I needed to do research.  Based on the comments above, I started with the aft Verandahs, and found that there are some people who don't like how small the balconies are for these Pinnacle aft verandahs.  And that led me to the realization that we would probably prefer VB category on Beethoven Deck, and a couple of very specific cabins within that VB category.

 

I highly recommend those cabins.  the verandahs are deep (some of the deepest and I’m comparing to top suites).  That’s been my choice on my 2 Pinnacle Class ships I have been on and I was happy I did it.

[POA1]

On 1/10/2024 at 4:29 PM, YourWorldWithBill said:

Note: you don't have to be an AARP member or a certain age to buy the AARP HAL gift cards, at a 10% savings.

Bill, that changed in January 2024. You may still be able to get the $100 cards, but you have to have a paid AARP membership to purchase the $500 ones.

[YourWorldWithBill]

1 hour ago, POA1 said:

Bill, that changed in January 2024. You may still be able to get the $100 cards, but you have to have a paid AARP membership to purchase the $500 ones.

Another great justification for my decision to be old.

[ORTravelGal]

2 hours ago, YourWorldWithBill said:

Another great justification for my decision to be old.

The AARP membership requirement to buy discounted gift cards actually changed in the October/November 2023 timeframe (ask me how I know🤣) and applies to either card value.