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They Overbooked Our Cruise . . . .

debshomespun

By debshomespun,
in Holland America Line

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AAAAmerican

AAAAmerican

Posted
Posted

VF Guar. is the min. even with OBC it should be tyhe min you get.

 

Like airlines sometimes ship lines do overbook so as to fill the berths aboard.

 

I do hope they do not stop the serving of food as they have on airlines where now you have to bring your own...

 

I can attest on other cruise lines the food quality has gone down dramatically...:mad:

 

HAL has gone up in the quality now.:cool:

 

Just be patient and the lowest room will be what what you paid for.. the max well it depends on the UpGrade Wizard and Fairy family in Seattle, WA.

 

:eek:

 

Going on the Westerdam on 10-29-06, only 5 more days, in a VF balcony guarantee. Still anxiously waiting for our cabin assignment. My TA called me last night to let me know they have oversold the cruise, and HA was offering us a 25% credit, to switch to an oceanview cabin! I said absolutely not! She agrees that we would not be happy in an oceanview, even with the credit. They have to put me somewhere, any suggestions? I am perfectly fine with any VF balcony cabin, but NOT an oceanview cabin! I wonder how many cabins are overbooked, and how many guarantees there were.

 

Does this happen very often on Holland America? This is our first time with this line. What do they usually end up doing?

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RevNeal

RevNeal

Posted
Posted

Once -- back in the mid 1990s -- my parents were booked in an outside E guarantee on the Statendam. They were initially offered 25% off on a future cruise if they would take an inside cabin (M category). They refused. The next day the offer was 35% off on a future cruise if they would downgrade to an M inside. Again, they refused. A few days later their TA called and told them that they were being offered 50% off on a future cruise if they would accept the downgrade to an M. While tempted, again they refused. Then, a week later -- and just a week prior to cruise departure -- the TA called and told Mom that HAL was offering them a FREE future cruise of comparable length (10 days) in an A Minisuite if they would downgrade to an M.

 

They're not stupid.

They took it.

 

They ended up in a cabin a few doors forward from mine (for I was in an MM with single supplement on that same cruise). :D

 

If I were you, in your circumstance, I wouldn't agree to a downgrade until/unless they offer a deal at least comparable to what they offered my parents. Chances are, SOMEONE is going to get offered a deal similar to that if they are as overbooked as it sounds.

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legalslave

legalslave

Posted
Posted

Back in 2001, had booked an inside guarantee for an 8 day cruise on the old Westerdam. The ship sold out. About 2 weeks before the cruise, TA called me. Said they needed cabins badly. The offer was to sail a few days later, on a different ship for a 10 day cruise and upgrade to an outside cabin. No credit offered. It wasn't a bad deal. I turned it down only because I couldn't change my vacation time at work.

 

Diane

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newmexicoNita

newmexicoNita

Posted
Posted
Back in 2001, had booked an inside guarantee for an 8 day cruise on the old Westerdam. The ship sold out. About 2 weeks before the cruise, TA called me. Said they needed cabins badly. The offer was to sail a few days later, on a different ship for a 10 day cruise and upgrade to an outside cabin. No credit offered. It wasn't a bad deal. I turned it down only because I couldn't change my vacation time at work.

 

Diane

what you were offered is often the first offer: a different date, better cabin and sometimes a credit: the cruiseline will keep offering whatever it takes until they get takers and yes, to those who said they were offered 50% and more, it can happen, but it isn't common. The problem, in this case, is "last minute" 2 weeks ahead is one thing, 5 days quite another. NMnita

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happy cruzer

happy cruzer

Posted
Posted

I just checked the Volendam sailings in Nov. they show no cabins available. don't know if they are overbooked though.

 

I surely hope deb gets the cabin of her dreams on the Westerdam.

 

I wonder if I would be offered anything, I booked the lowest fare guaranteed. If the deal was sweet enough to cover changing my flight, I would have no problem changing to another date. I booked directly with HAL, would they try to contact me by phone or email?

 

guarantees are always so exciting. hee hee.

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fann1sh

fann1sh

Posted
Posted
Did HAL overbook the cabin category or the cruise itself??

 

Apparently, both. I'm not a travel agent, but a quick peek at my favorite site shows Westerdam Oct 29 sold out, as well as Nov 5, and Nov 12. There are cabins for Nov 19 (a couple of days ago, only suites were available, so maybe the upgrade fairy has been busy :D) then Nov 26 is also sold out.

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newmexicoNita

newmexicoNita

Posted
Posted
I just checked the Volendam sailings in Nov. they show no cabins available. don't know if they are overbooked though.

 

I surely hope deb gets the cabin of her dreams on the Westerdam.

 

I wonder if I would be offered anything, I booked the lowest fare guaranteed. If the deal was sweet enough to cover changing my flight, I would have no problem changing to another date. I booked directly with HAL, would they try to contact me by phone or email?

 

guarantees are always so exciting. hee hee.

could be either, but more than likely by phone.

 

Nita

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sail7seas

sail7seas

Posted
Posted

Much more likely they would contact you by phone.

 

Don't worry. You'll have AT Least the category you are guaranteed for.

 

UNLESS you AGREE to something else.

 

 

They'll make the offers good enough until they get the number of cabins they require.

 

It happened to us once for Rotterdam, a sixteen day transatlantic cruise for which we had a mid-ship category "S" booked.

 

What a sweet deal!!!!

 

 

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Ziggy7

Ziggy7

Posted
Posted
Here we are Thursday afternoon, and still no word from HA. Now i am really starting to get anxious about what will happen. Only 3 more days! I keep checking my immigration form on line, and nothing,
They are still juggling pax :) More of us in our group were asked to downgrade for a 50% refund! Sorry but we planned this cruise 18 months ago, no one is getting our cabins!

 

This new call just went out yesterday afternoon to TA's.

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molly361

molly361

Posted
Posted
=fann1sh]Not only are balconies oversold, and your sailing completely sold out, but the next two (November 5, 16) are sold out as well. Only suites are available on November 19, then November 26 is also sold out. It looks like a balcony or two is still available December 3. [/b]

Yet today there are balcony cabins available on a major travel site on November 19th for $799 plus tax for a VE- I just called HAL and confirmed the availability- Go figure, I would think that being Thanksgiving that that week would have sold out way long ago-

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Ziggy7

Ziggy7

Posted
Posted
=fann1sh]Not only are balconies oversold, and your sailing completely sold out, but the next two (November 5, 16) are sold out as well. Only suites are available on November 19, then November 26 is also sold out. It looks like a balcony or two is still available December 3. [/b]

Yet today there are balcony cabins available on a major travel site on November 19th for $799 plus tax for a VE- I just called HAL and confirmed the availability- Go figure, I would think that being Thanksgiving that that week would have sold out way long ago-

sorry I was answering for the wrong date :):)
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Songhee

Songhee

Posted
Posted

The Zuiderdam had the same problem at the last minute. Friends of ours took an offer: they switched to a sailing in the spring and got it with a 75% rebate! They told their TA that they might change but that the first offer wasn't good enough. We said no right away: we were healthy enough to travel now, but were concerned about our health 6 months from now. btw, we had a wonderful trip through the Panama.

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Steamboatin

Steamboatin

Posted
Posted

HAL over sold our cruise also last August!

 

Wife and I were scheduled for a 7 day cruise in August from Boston to Montreal on a Canada/New England cruise.

 

We negoitated for a FREE 10 day cruise on the Amsterdam from Montreal to New York in earliy October (just a few weeks ago). HAL refunded the money we had already paid for the cabin.

 

We even negoitated further and they gave us a $75 per person ($150 cabin) ship credit as well.

 

We negoitated via our local TA with HAL. Our TA did the dirty work for us.

 

We finally agreeded on the deal 3 days prior to the original August sailing date. We had the documents in our possession for that August cruise.

 

Fortunately we had our air line tickets with HAL so they had to reschedule our air plane flights for FREE also.

 

So negoitate with them. We did and got a FREE 10 day cruise and a $150 cabin credit for helping HAL solve their problem by over selling our 7 day cruise.

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debshomespun

debshomespun

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We got a cabin assignment saturday night. We are in a VA balcony cabin, deck 7 towards the rear of the ship, port side. We never got another offer from HA, but are traveling w/BIL & SIL, and really needed this cruise, so we didn't want to re-schedule. Credit would have been nice, but this is o nly our second balcony and our 11th cruise. The Cabin is very satisfactory to us, as we had only booked a VF guarantee!

 

We will be boarding the ship in a couple hours. Thanks to all who had input for us!

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