Club Orange cancelled by HA two days before cruise

[Wayward Son]

On 6/1/2024 at 5:06 PM, bajae said:

Correct me if I have this wrong, but those in the Neptune Suites get club orange benefits, correct? If so, maybe there were some later bookings in the NS with 3 or 4 guests that pushed the CO numbers higher than planned for so they needed to reduce numbers somehow. 

 

I would prefer to believe this is the correct scenario, rather than believe HAL intentionally overbooks CO.

 

Regardless, HAL needs to make OP whole.

 

[SilvertoGold]

1 hour ago, Wayward Son said:

 

I would prefer to believe this is the correct scenario, rather than believe HAL intentionally overbooks CO.

 

Regardless, HAL needs to make OP whole.

 

HAL overbooked a Japan Westerdam Japan by 50+ cabins, resulting in expensive compensation to pay out. HAL knows from their past cruises that pax cancel and have a good idea how many on average. so some overbooking makes sense if the occasion arises. Would this be what they do with CO, as well?

[Wayward Son]

8 minutes ago, SilvertoGold said:

so some overbooking makes sense if the occasion arises. Would this be what they do with CO, as well?

 

Overbooking makes sense for an airline, when there's almost always another flight to put them on. It makes no sense for a cruise line, where there are no options other than expensive compensation.

 

I honestly hope HAL isn't attempting the best of both -- cancellations with limited compensation.

 

[Blackduck59]

As presented this sounds really shady from HAL. They sold the OP a product, took there payment in full and held it for months (years?) and then hours before sailing say. Oh we're sorry you can't have that product and here is part of your money back.

My personal thought of what would be the "Minimum" recompense for the OP would be that the Club Orange fee would be fully refunded. The OP would get to keep the cabin upgrade per club orange and maybe an extra specialty restaurant meal. I think the OP should be able sort out a suitable arrangement in the MDR for the family meals. Don't get me wrong I think the OP should go after what they can but this is not a "Full Refund" of the cruise fare type thing. Many people like club orange and think it is great value; others have paid the fare and didn't think it great value. Especially on non pinnacle ships without a separate CO dining room.

[Suncitycruiser1925]

We booked Club Orange for our last sailing on Nieuw Statendam in February.  We really enjoyed eating breakfast and dinner in the Club Orange Dining Room.  We felt service was better than in the Main Dining Room and we enjoyed eating in the much smaller restaurant.  My husband says he will only book another cruise if we can book Club Orange.  Now I am apprehensive that if we book another cruise and pay the Club Orange upgrade fee, we may not get to use it?  Has anyone else had a problem being able to use Club Orange after booking and paying for it? 

[Mary229]

According to news reports other cruise lines are having similar overbooking issues.  I have to wonder if it is not some new piece of slick software created by the geniuses of the cruise line IT departments causing the issues.  You know, because they are so on top of technology 😁

[Ellencruise]

Can’t wait to hear/read from OP how this all turned out 

[ChinaShrek]

11 hours ago, Mary229 said:

According to news reports other cruise lines are having similar overbooking issues.  I have to wonder if it is not some new piece of slick software created by the geniuses of the cruise line IT departments causing the issues.  You know, because they are so on top of technology 😁

How can they be overbooking and offering a Standby fare option at the same time? Unless both initiatives are designed to boost profit, which I concede is a possibility, they would seem to cancel each other out. Either cruises are booked full or overbooked or they are not not (and hence the need for standby passengers). 

[SilvertoGold]

10 minutes ago, ChinaShrek said:

How can they be overbooking and offering a Standby fare option at the same time? Unless both initiatives are designed to boost profit, which I concede is a possibility, they would seem to cancel each other out. Either cruises are booked full or overbooked or they are not not (and hence the need for standby passengers). 

Belt and suspenders approach to making profit. One or the other should work so win-win.

[Mary229]

20 minutes ago, ChinaShrek said:

How can they be overbooking and offering a Standby fare option at the same time? Unless both initiatives are designed to boost profit, which I concede is a possibility, they would seem to cancel each other out. Either cruises are booked full or overbooked or they are not not (and hence the need for standby passengers). 

I didn’t say this was working.  Typical of their software solutions it is ridiculously bug ridden. 

[ChinaShrek]

2 minutes ago, Mary229 said:

I didn’t say this was working.  Typical of their software solutions it is ridiculously bug ridden. 

I'm just trying to figure out what HAL is doing. 

[ChinaShrek]

14 minutes ago, SilvertoGold said:

Belt and suspenders approach to making profit. One or the other should work so win-win.

I guess that makes sense but it seems to be pissing some customers off. 

[cccole]

2 hours ago, ChinaShrek said:

How can they be overbooking and offering a Standby fare option at the same time? Unless both initiatives are designed to boost profit, which I concede is a possibility, they would seem to cancel each other out. Either cruises are booked full or overbooked or they are not not (and hence the need for standby passengers). 

This was not overbooking rooms it was overbooking a specific service.  I know there have been threads on cabanas booked and paid for and then taken away.  To me overbooking a service is different.  It sucks for the guest and HAL should do the right thing, but they did not take away the OPs ability to take the cruise.  There has been mention of a Japan cruise where they did overbook cabins and impressive compensation was offered.  I would be upset if I was OP.  Cherie

[Traveling Dot]

As much as it is sad that this happened just before sailing they did get money back except for $220 which paid for their cabin upgrade.  I'm sure the cabin upgrade would have been a lot more money without the CO.  So maybe they made out on the deal and they did also get some onboard credit.

When I did CO on the Rotterdam I only did it for the cabin upgrade and had fixed dining in the main dining room.  Only had breakfast in the CO room. I would have been more upset if they took away the cabin upgrade.

It seemed their only other complaint was that they had to make dining reservations.  That wasn't that much of a problem because we all get dining in the main dining room with no extra charge.  To tell you the truth eating in the CO room isn't all that fabulous.  Depending on which ship you are on it is like eating in a fish bowl with people looking in while passing on their way to the main dining room.  JMHO 🤔

[KAKcruiser]

The point was that they had a confirmed reservation and it was taken away from them.  Nobody liked the way it was handled.

[cruising sister]

44 minutes ago, Traveling Dot said:

As much as it is sad that this happened just before sailing they did get money back except for $220 which paid for their cabin upgrade.  I'm sure the cabin upgrade would have been a lot more money without the CO.  So maybe they made out on the deal and they did also get some onboard credit.

When I did CO on the Rotterdam I only did it for the cabin upgrade and had fixed dining in the main dining room.  Only had breakfast in the CO room. I would have been more upset if they took away the cabin upgrade.

It seemed their only other complaint was that they had to make dining reservations.  That wasn't that much of a problem because we all get dining in the main dining room with no extra charge.  To tell you the truth eating in the CO room isn't all that fabulous.  Depending on which ship you are on it is like eating in a fish bowl with people looking in while passing on their way to the main dining room.  JMHO 🤔

I never felt it was a fishbowl and I sat at the window a lot. I found most people never looked my way. I feel more exposed in the MDR. Glad others feel your way and more chance I can get club orange. 

[Traveling Dot]

On 5/31/2024 at 4:13 PM, kentuckycruiser said:

Spent several hours on the phone getting transferred from one person to the next. Zero resolution. We are getting reimbursed about $480 of the $700 cost of CO. Was told by one person it was probably due to the room upgrade. (So much for us getting to “keep the upgrade”) Plus getting $50 per person OBC. Everyone was adamant that we are not entitled to anything more. Very discouraging. A lot of language barriers with most departments. 
Our PCC has disappeared. Probably with our $220. 🙄

If you read this, she she got back $480 plus they were getting $50/pp onboard credit equalling $200.  So for $20 or $10 per cabin, they kept their upgraded cabins just didn't get to eat in CO.  And nobody made off with their money. 

And they don't say what other OBC they got when they booked (only 4 or 5 months ago).  I'm sure they weren't the only ones to lose out on CO either.  You have to learn to "roll with the punches".  At least they are on the cruise. 🙄

[Wayward Son]

2 hours ago, Traveling Dot said:

like eating in a fish bowl with people looking in while passing on their way to the main dining room.  JMHO 🤔

 

I think you mean, jealously looking in. I'm fine with that. 😄

 

[kentuckycruiser]

10 hours ago, Traveling Dot said:

If you read this, she she got back $480 plus they were getting $50/pp onboard credit equalling $200.  So for $20 or $10 per cabin, they kept their upgraded cabins just didn't get to eat in CO.  And nobody made off with their money. 

And they don't say what other OBC they got when they booked (only 4 or 5 months ago).  I'm sure they weren't the only ones to lose out on CO either.  You have to learn to "roll with the punches".  At least they are on the cruise. 🙄

As it turned out the PCC made an error with our original booking. After 5 hours the accounting dept determined she made a mistake and so our proper refund was $350 and $365 for CO. They also gave us $100 pp OBC. 

And one of our rooms was an inside so no upgrade. 

[kentuckycruiser]

There were also a long list of people who got bumped from CO. Most seemed to find out when they boarded. 

[Alberta Quilter]

18 minutes ago, kentuckycruiser said:

There were also a long list of people who got bumped from CO. Most seemed to find out when they boarded. 

Oh, no.  That would be awful to find out at checkin.  There's no good time to find that out but at checkin, I think it would be worse.  Especially if one is counting on priority boarding.  Do you have any idea how many people were affected?

 

And how are you enjoying your cruise?  As disappointing as this was, I hope you and your family were able to move past it and not let it affect your enjoyment.

[Roz]

@kentuckycruiser, thank you for reporting back.  I'm glad to hear you got a full refund of the CO amount. 

 

Enjoy your cruise despite the stress and disappointment you experienced. 

[Iamthesea]

14 hours ago, Traveling Dot said:

Depending on which ship you are on it is like eating in a fish bowl with people looking in while passing on their way to the main dining room.  JMHO 🤔

I am with cruising sister.  I almost always face the hallway when in OC.   Rarely does anyone look our way as they trudge to/from the dining room.  I love the people watching!   Looking out upon the ocean is also a bonus.  Had OC been walled in, it would have felt quite claustrophobic in the long narrow room.  

[Ileneilene123]

3 hours ago, kentuckycruiser said:

As it turned out the PCC made an error with our original booking. After 5 hours the accounting dept determined she made a mistake and so our proper refund was $350 and $365 for CO. They also gave us $100 pp OBC. 

And one of our rooms was an inside so no upgrade. 

Thank you so much for taking the time to post here again. I know that you spent hours being bounced around at HAL trying to sort through this. I am glad that the HAL Accounting department was finally able to help. 
 

At the end of day, after all refunds, were you able to keep your cabins at the original pricing without being charged for the CO cabin upgrade? 

 

I truly hope that you enjoy the rest of your cruise! 

Edited June 4 by Ileneilene123

[SilvertoGold]

2 hours ago, Iamthesea said:

I am with cruising sister.  I almost always face the hallway when in OC.   Rarely does anyone look our way as they trudge to/from the dining room.  I love the people watching!   Looking out upon the ocean is also a bonus.  Had OC been walled in, it would have felt quite claustrophobic in the long narrow room.  

Having the ocean view is definitely a plus! We went to a wine tasting in CO once, sitting at a hallway side table. We had at least one third of pax walking along looking into the room, at the tables. Didn't feel very comfortable.