Hypothetical Question

[AlohaPride]

I was just keeping an eye on the prices for the VF Category room we have booked for the Noordam's Christmas Cruise and I noticed that the category NN, N, HH, D, and C categories are ALL almost $1,000 MORE than what I paid for our VF 5065 room. The VH (one level below the VF) is $2000 more than ours. Is this because the ship is filling up in those categories MORE than other categories? Or are those rooms better? Or what?

 

Is there something wrong when the N inside is the SAME PRICE as the SY and SS???

 

Please remember, this is just a hypothetical question. I'm perfectly happy with my VF...

[Navy_Chief]

I've seen this happen before and it is usually (IMHO) that HAL is "steering" sales in some fashion. I'll bet they go down within a couple of weeks

[bepsf]

Usually those price discrepancies are due to the category being sold out.

(the site will show a higher price on an unavaialble category than an available one instead of showing no price at all)

[AlohaPride]

I've seen this happen before and it is usually (IMHO) that HAL is "steering" sales in some fashion. I'll bet they go down within a couple of weeks

 

That's what I thought, I guess I didn't realize they would be steering sales this far out :eek:

[Grumpy1]

I was just keeping an eye on the prices for the VF Category room we have booked for the Noordam's Christmas Cruise and I noticed that the category NN, N, HH, D, and C categories are ALL almost $1,000 MORE than what I paid for our VF 5065 room. The VH (one level below the VF) is $2000 more than ours. Is this because the ship is filling up in those categories MORE than other categories? Or are those rooms better? Or what?

 

Is there something wrong when the N inside is the SAME PRICE as the SY and SS???

 

Please remember, this is just a hypothetical question. I'm perfectly happy with my VF...

Sometimes it indicates a category is sold out. The pricing goes back to "brochure rate" then

[Grumpy1]

I just looked at this cruise on Travelocity. For some reason, the lowest catgory in each class is the one with the outrageous prices. SZ is $2000 more than an SS, a VH is $2000 more than a VF, an HH is $1500 more than an H, an N 1s $1000 more than an I. All other prices seem to fall in line the way they should. Strange... and the site shows specific cabins available in each of those categories.

[FRANKIEDNYC]

:cool: It's funny how these things work. I booked Noordam in Feb for a Mar 15 sailing and the VF was the least expensive and it turned out to be a great cabin furthest forward starboard side, except for one night when crew was having a going away party for someone. the crew's lounge is right next door.

 

DOLPHIN IV, SUNWARD, NORDIK EXPRESS,MV BOND, NORTHERN RANGER, BIG RED BOAT II 2X, CARNIVAL VICTORY, ROTTERDAM VI 2X, ZENITH 2X, KWARTHA VOYEGEUR, GOLDEN PRINCESS, MAASDAM 2X, QUEEN MARY II, CARNIVAL LEGEND, NORDIC EMPRESS, NOORDAM, NORWEGIAN SPIRIT ALSO USS SPARTANBURG COUNTY USS MOALE, MYLES C FOX, DAMATO, VOGELGESANG, ORTOLAN AND FULTON JAN 07 RYNDAM 30 DAY HAWAII & FRENCH POLYNESA

[AlohaPride]

:cool: It's funny how these things work. I booked Noordam in Feb for a Mar 15 sailing and the VF was the least expensive and it turned out to be a great cabin furthest forward starboard side, except for one night when crew was having a going away party for someone. the crew's lounge is right next door.

 

Our room is 5065 which is starboard more mid-ship and I'm absolutely excited. I just didn't understand the "reasoning" behind the pricing and thought it would make a good conversation here on our CC Board :) Thanks for all the discussion!

[noblepa]

We had 5065 on the Oosterdam this past April. We really liked the room location. It is about halfway between the midship and forward elevators. It is about six or seven cabins aft of the point where the superstructure narrows above the lifeboats.

 

Deck five is the one above the lifeboats, so your balcony will look down onto the lifeboats. They will in no way obstruct your view straight out to sea. They may obstruct your view of something happening in the water very close to the ship, but that is all.

 

We found that, being midway between elevators, there was very little foot traffic outside our door, which made things quiet. It is close enough to the middle of the ship and low enough, that we felt very little motion. To be fair, though, the seas were pretty calm and the ship wasn't rolling or pitching much anyway.

 

After we booked our trip, I seriously considered upgrading to a "higher" category, such as a VC or even a VA. The only ones that I thought might have been better than ours, were the aft-facing cabins, which are VA category. Those have HUGE balconies. They're the same width, but much deeper. This may not be true on the Noordam. I believe that they reduced the terracing of the aft cabins, which made the Lido deck a little longer and allowed them to put a few more cabins in, at the expense of shallower balconies. In any case, what I'm trying to say is, that I couldn't find a cabin location that I liked any better, without upgrading all the way to a suite, which was out of my price range.

 

Have a great trip!

 

Paul Noble

[AlohaPride]

We had 5065 on the Oosterdam this past April. We really liked the room location. It is about halfway between the midship and forward elevators. It is about six or seven cabins aft of the point where the superstructure narrows above the lifeboats.

 

Deck five is the one above the lifeboats, so your balcony will look down onto the lifeboats. They will in no way obstruct your view straight out to sea. They may obstruct your view of something happening in the water very close to the ship, but that is all.

 

We found that, being midway between elevators, there was very little foot traffic outside our door, which made things quiet. It is close enough to the middle of the ship and low enough, that we felt very little motion. To be fair, though, the seas were pretty calm and the ship wasn't rolling or pitching much anyway.

 

After we booked our trip, I seriously considered upgrading to a "higher" category, such as a VC or even a VA. The only ones that I thought might have been better than ours, were the aft-facing cabins, which are VA category. Those have HUGE balconies. They're the same width, but much deeper. This may not be true on the Noordam. I believe that they reduced the terracing of the aft cabins, which made the Lido deck a little longer and allowed them to put a few more cabins in, at the expense of shallower balconies. In any case, what I'm trying to say is, that I couldn't find a cabin location that I liked any better, without upgrading all the way to a suite, which was out of my price range.

 

Have a great trip!

 

Paul Noble

 

Thank you for your words of encouragement! I'm so very excited about of FIRST cruise...and for us to have a lanai makes it even better! I absolutely can't wait!!

 

Another question, I placed an order for my husbands cigar package christmas gift a week ago, and the order has yet to be confirmed and money placed on hold with my account...is this normal or should I call?

[AlohaPride]

I'm still concerned about the prices for the VF category on the Noordam this Christmas. Now it's cheeper to book a VF rather than a GG - obstructed or most of the inside cabins! 3 questions -

1) Is HAL just trying to sell the VF's and;

2) if so, what's wrong with the VF cabins? I know about the metal on the lower level, but I'm in 5065, so I wont have the metal. :)

3) What happens if they over sell VFs? Even though I'm not a Guarantee, I wont be "upgraded" right?

 

N-E-Ways, just thought I'd like to point out the AWESOME prices to those of you "thinking" about joining DH and me on the Christmas Cruise ;) :rolleyes:

[RuthC]

3) What happens if they over sell VFs? Even though I'm not a Guarantee, I wont be "upgraded" right?

Chances are no, you won't get an upgrade if you selected a specific cabin. It's possible, but less likely than if you have a guarantee.

You can have your TA mark your file that you will accept an upgrade; a good TA will even go to bat for you.

But we all know where you stand on that score. :rolleyes:

Might I suggest, Mary, that at this point you relax and just enjoy the anticipation. You want the cruise to be the climax of a fun anticipation---not a relief after a lot of worrying.

[AlohaPride]

Chances are no, you won't get an upgrade if you selected a specific cabin. It's possible, but less likely than if you have a guarantee.

You can have your TA mark your file that you will accept an upgrade; a good TA will even go to bat for you.

But we all know where you stand on that score. :rolleyes:

 

Might I suggest, Mary, that at this point you relax and just enjoy the anticipation. You want the cruise to be the climax of a fun anticipation---not a relief after a lot of worrying.

 

Thank you, Ruth! I'm not so much worried as curious :o It's just odd that for a month now the VFs have been just as expensive as the inside cabins and obstructed view cabins. In the end, it really doesn't bother me. Also, kinda wanted to throw out the deals for our cruise incase anyone wanted to join us ;) :D

[Navy_Chief]

As you know Mary, we're on the cruise just before yours. HAL was running that sale for a few days on VF guarantees and it may make sense that they would be trying to fill the ship by offering a low rate for the VFs while backfilling the Guarantees up in catagory. I just can't see that happening yet, it's still a bit early for that. I havent seen any other sales on your cruise lately that might explain it.

[shortnsweet]

I have been playing ping pong with Expedia and HAL since March. I have been calling and changing rooms every time the price drops; and that has been twice. We went from a VD, up to a VC, and then we decided to change dates entirely and saved over $700 with a guaranteed room in VF with a two category upgrade and a free motorcoach from Boston. We went from 1500 down to 999 and now don't have to pay the 200 it would have cost to park the car for ten days.

 

Noordam November 15