Holland America DVC cruise

[altowdwfan]

Thinking about using our points for a Holland America Alaska cruise this summer. Lots of questions about best way to do this (straight cash and rent our points; use points to max extent possible, etc) and also how to add Holland America excusions on to the total package. About to engage with both DVC and Holland America Customer Support folks, but would love to hear from anyone who has done this in the past, especially suggestions and warnings.

Thanks

 

[LarryM]

Hello
We went on an alaska cruise last June, not on Holland America though. We had Balcany cabins on Celebrity for 1500 per person. Before you commit your points I would consider going to cruisecritic.com and checking out there message boards and see what Alaska cruises they reccommend and you can get trip reports. It cost 332 points and up depending when you go so you might want to research cash prices and chcek all lines.

 

[PKS44]

We did Holland America to Alaska and while the food was good the service was less than I have come to expect on other cruises...interstingly the cruisecritic.com review ended up saying the exact same thing....I would look into using a different cruise line personally.

 

[GlennI]

We have cruised on Holland America one time, and let me tell you .... IT WILL BE OUR LAST unless someone gives me a totally free cruise. The service was terrible, crew was not friendly at all, and several mornings we had sour milk for breakfast. I spent over $6,000.00 to have sour milk and poor attitudes, I THINK NOT.

We have also sailed on Royal Caribbean Ships, and have been very pleased with them all around.

 

[BVC4us]

We went on a Holland America cruise to Alaska in July 2003. We did not use points. The cruise was fantastic.The Holland America Line for us was incredible!! The service was fantastic, the ship immaculate and the staff very friendly. I would definitely sail Holland America again.

 

[LenDVC92]

I recently booked a Holland America Alaska cruise for June using our points. We've sailed three times on DCL, but never on HAL so I can't speak to the quality of the food or service. I hope we're not spoiled.

I second the recommendation to check out cruisecritic.com. They have boards for all the cruise lines, including Holland America, and for Alaska cruises. HAL's Alaska itineraries seem to get good reviews there.

Alaska is a very popular destination with a very short season. Many of the cruises for this summer are already sold out or have limited availability, and thus the prices getting up there. Using a rental value of $10 for my points, the cash price for the cruise was close enough to the points needed not to be worth the trouble to rent out the points and use cash for the cruise. (This was not the case, BTW, for our last DCL cruise)

Booking on points gets you a category C large outside cabin on HAL. You can then pay cash as I did to upgrade to a veranda cabin. Most people I've talked to recommend a veranda on Alaska cruises since you do a lot of scenic cruising through the inside passage and around the glaciers. HAL is currently running a free upgrade promotion where you can get a free upgrade on certain cruises. However, member services told me that we couldn't use the promotion when using points.

I didn't shop the other cruise lines, so you may find better deals. I would suggest that you check with a travel agent, online or otherwise, that specializes in cruises and get some quotes. -- Make sure any quotes you get include all fees and taxes. Many of the prices you see advertised do not.

As far as shore excursions etc., you can book these online or by phone directly with HAL with the reservation number that Member Services (or you TA) gives you when you book the cruise. Again the HAL board on cruisecritic is a good source of information.

Let us know what you find out.

Len.

 

[Dizma]

Len,
Could you share with us some specifics? How many people? How many points? Does this include port charges and taxes? Which itinerary? How much extra$$ to upgrade to a verandah? Were both starboard and port cabins available? Thanks for sharing!!

 

[LenDVC92]

Specifics? Sure...

We are sailing on the Zuiderdam round trip from Vancouver in mid-June. This is the "Glacier Bay & Tracey Arm" itinerary, and includes cruising the inside passage and port calls in Juneau, Skagway and Ketchikan. I chose this over the Seattle departures because those seem to have more time "at sea" and don't do the inside passage. That makes sense since Seattle is 125 air miles south of Vancouver so you have all that extra distance to sail just to get to Alaska. Note, however, that the airfares I found from Boston were about twice as much to Vancouver as to Seattle. Since I'm using frequent flier miles for the flights, that didn't matter to me.

The other choice was one-way between Vancouver and Seward (near Anchorage). This is supposed to be a great trip, especially northbound. I looked into this, but the flights into or out of Anchorage were going to be more hassle in time and money than I wanted to deal with. Maybe next trip.

You can find all the details of the various itineraries on the Holland America website.

The season is only five months long, yet they divide the cruises into six price categories ranging from 166 to 230 points per person depending on sailing date. (Check out the point charts on the DVC site). Our cruise falls into "standard" season, so it cost me 205 points each for myself and DW. The cost to upgrade from a category C large outside stateroom to a category VA verandah stateroom (a four category jump) was $210/pp. The upgrade prices were $135, $160, and $185/pp for categories VD, VC and VB respectively. For our cruise only the VA was available, but that was what I wanted anyway. Keep in mind that the upgrade price also varies by ship. For the Volendam, which will sail the same itinerary departing on Wednesdays this summer, ranges from $415 to $475/pp. All these prices include taxes and port fees.

My total cost for the trip comes to 410pts + $420 upgrade + $95 DVC exchange fee. This compares to about $4100 for the same cabin on the HAL site. Given that most of the points I used were banked from last year and would have expired at the end of July, the price was close enough that I didn’t want to bother with the whole rental thing. As I said previously, I didn’t do a lot of shopping around for prices so there may be better cash deals around on HAL or other cruise lines than I used for my calculations. When you book also makes a big difference. The best prices are found for very early or very late reservations. Right now is probably not the optimal time to find the best prices for this summer's Alaska cruises.

On the advice of many folks on cruisecritic.com I chose an aft-facing cabin to get the best views both port and starboard. Member services asked what my preferences were and then called HAL. Since I got my first choice I didn’t find out if there were also port and starboard cabins were available.

I'm happy to answer any more questions that you have.

Len.

 

[Dizma]

Thanks so much for all the info! It sounds pretty pain free. I hope you and DW have a wonderful time. I sure hope that you do a trip report when you return. Alaska looks wonderful! Enjoy!!!!!

 

[LenDVC92]

Pain free, yes. At least so far. But "pain free" is not the same as "free".

I know that I probably could have saved a few hundred bucks by planning earlier, doing more research and shopping, renting out my points and using the cash, etc. But at this point the convenience is worth it for me, so I've purposely tried not to use too sharp of a pencil when doing my calculations. My cash outlay for the vacation has been very small: the cost of the cabin upgrade, the DVC exchange fee, and about $70 in taxes for the FF flights, and $0 for a couple of nights in Vancouver before the cruise I'm doing on my Marriott points. Now I have plenty of $$ to use on shore excursions and the like.

 

[wintergreen]

I note that Holland America also offers cruise and land tours. Does anyone know if it is possible to add on the land portion to a cruise paid for with points?