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cartervan

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  • Posts

    489
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About Me

  • Location
    West Virginia
  • Interests
    besides travel, gardening, reading, singing in choirs
  • Favorite Cruise Line(s)
    Holland America
  • Favorite Cruise Destination Or Port of Call
    Mediterranean. No, wait, Alaska. Hmm, no, New Zealand-Australia......

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cartervan's Achievements

Cool Cruiser

Cool Cruiser (2/15)

  1. Hurray and hallelujah! We just got a check from Holland America to reimbursement us for our hotel and meals when we got COVID in Alaska in the summer of '22! What a long hard struggle! First we tried and tried to get our travel insurance to pay what they owed. It wasn't a fly-by-night company we found on the internet, either. It was recommended (and still sold) by our on-line travel agency, but turned out to be worthless. So then we turned to HAL to ask for what was promised us, and started jumping through their hoops. All these months later they finally came through!! I am so sorry that the cruise lines all had to suffer hard times during the worst of COVID, and they did take care of us, although they put us up in a very basic hotel room in Anchorage that was charging $400 a night (which they promised to reimburse us for.) Well, finally, they did!! I just wanted to let those who are still waiting for their checks to not give up hope.
  2. Oh wow--I should have realized that we were not the only ones dealing with all this COVID reimbursement hassle! We also were on an Alaska Land/Sea cruise in July of 22, and, just like another person's story, got as far as Denali before my husband tested positive for COVID. After two days in isolation at the lodge we were bussed back to Anchorage where we were put up in a (supposedly $400 a night) hotel room with kitchenette but no nearby restaurants in an industrial part of town, and told to order food from Walmart. However, HAL gave us the (apparently standard) letter saying we would be reimbursed for meals and for the cost of the room. Since we did have travel insurance, we first applied for what they were supposed to pay. I won't go into all the painful details of the year-long struggle with insurance (which turned out to be worthless--our lawyer says it's a clear case of fraud) and with HAL. No reimbursement yet. We have twice mailed in all the required paper work. ( The first time HAL says they never received it). After I pushed for it, we did get Cruise Credit posted to our account, and so booked another cruise for February to cash in on that. However, in our continuing efforts to get what was promised us, HAL suddenly decided that only half of our Cruise Credit was owed to us and added another $900 or so to what we owe for our February cruise!! Hours and hours on the phone. Dozens of e-mails and letters. Unbelievable!
  3. I always wear my card on the kind of lanyard that needs to hook into a hole in the card. In 18 or more cruises I think I've only gotten a "prepunched" card once or twice. I usually go right to the passenger service desk and ask them to punch it and they are happy to do it.
  4. I'll just add one thing to all the comments above: the fries at the Dive In!!
  5. It's been awhile since I've been looking at Cruise Critic, but we recently booked a Caribbean cruise on the Zaandam in February so I'm back on getting info. I was shocked to see a few references to the contract with Lincoln Center being cancelled! Someone in a review remarked that the "Lincoln Center Stage" on their Alaska cruise was being used for art auctions. Oh, please, say it isn't so! One of our favorite things to do on any HAL ship is to sit and listen to music before or after dinner. On our Alaska cruise last summer there was standing room only for all the performances. Does anyone know any news about this?
  6. We went on an Alaska cruise last July after having had knee replacement surgery the middle of April. We had been to Alaska about 10 years ago when my right knee was starting to act up. When we got to Katchikan on that trip my knee hurt too much and I opted to stay on board rather than go out and walk around that pretty little town. When I saw the pictures my husband took I felt bad that I hadn't gone. So this time, after replacing the left knee, when the therapist asked what my goal was I said I wanted to "Walk all over Katchikan!" So I did!
  7. We were on the Noordam for a Alaska Cruise/Land Tour at the end of June into July. We enjoyed the cruise, and saw little evidence of COVID during that week. But on the 3rd day of the land tour my husband started getting cold symptoms at the McKinley Lodge, and just as a precaution got tested. POSITIVE! We were sent back to our room where we stayed for three days. Then we got a call that we were being transferred to Anchorage. We were shocked to find that there was an entire big bus full of people being sent to a hotel in Anchorage to quarantine! Apparently many of them were just finishing up a land tour and getting tested before beginning the cruise portion of their trip. All of those people had tested positive that day or the day before! I still didn't have any symptoms at that point, but being on that bus kind of sealed the deal for me I guess. I tested positive the day we finally got home.
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