Live from the Maasdam - May 1 – 16, 2015 The Atlantic Coast

Actually, we only filled out one form for ourselves but requested 2 each. When we got home & received our email, we only got 1 each. I sent an email yesterday saying they could confirm our request for 2 each from the form & asked for our 2nd ones. I haven't heard back yet.

Did you get your issue resolved yet? If not, if you do not mind sharing your home city I can have a friend at HAL call you to fix the problem.

DaveOKC

Hi Dave,

Good news ... When I got home last night there was a voice message from Kyle (female) @ HAL asking me to return her call. I just spoke with her and she took care of getting us our requested 2nd credits. I was very pleased. I need to check with my b-i-l to see if they were shorted their 2nd one, also.

Thank you for the offer. I really appreciate it. Hopefully we'll see each other on another (healthier) dam ship! :-)

Hi Dave,

Good news ... When I got home last night there was a voice message from Kyle (female) @ HAL asking me to return her call. I just spoke with her and she took care of getting us our requested 2nd credits. I was very pleased. I need to check with my b-i-l to see if they were shorted their 2nd one, also.

Thank you for the offer. I really appreciate it. Hopefully we'll see each other on another (healthier) dam ship! :-)

Kyle had asked me for the names of the people on our board who had problems getting the FCD, so I gave her another poster's and your first names and locations. She must have taken it from there.

Thank you. She was very nice.

Hi there

I complained about the future cruise person in my survey but am also writing a letter.

I went to her about the future cruise credit and she gave me the same story about the forms coming out 2 days before departing. I told her that I wanted a different credit card used. So she reluctantly found a form almost threw it at me and told me to fill it out I did and she just took it, I did get the certificate before I left the ship. I told them on the survey that she needed to retire.

Glad all is better with You Alberta Quilter and DM . Dave hope Gerri did not get it.

Take care everyone and maybe we will see you on another Dam ship

Hi there

I complained about the future cruise person in my survey but am also writing a letter.

I went to her about the future cruise credit and she gave me the same story about the forms coming out 2 days before departing. I told her that I wanted a different credit card used. So she reluctantly found a form almost threw it at me and told me to fill it out I did and she just took it, I did get the certificate before I left the ship. I told them on the survey that she needed to retire.

 

Glad all is better with You Alberta Quilter and DM . Dave hope Gerri did not get it.

Take care everyone and maybe we will see you on another Dam ship

Tink5520. So glad to have met you and hope you had a nice flight home to Calgary. Loved all your coordinating glasses and outfits. I made my train home to Ottawa with 6 minutes to spare:eek: When I went to get off the ship my scanned room card set off a siren of bells. My cabin was mistakenly entered into some blasted computer and I had to go back to the Wijang theater to report to Customs. Customs told the HAL security officer that my name was NOT on their list.... Glad to get home but hate to do my own cooking now. My cough from all the cleaning products HAL used 24/7 cleared in one day. Hope to meet you on a future cruise.

P.S. I still think of you and that huge steak you told me you ordered at the Pinnacle Grill (lol)

Hi there

I complained about the future cruise person in my survey but am also writing a letter.

I went to her about the future cruise credit and she gave me the same story about the forms coming out 2 days before departing. I told her that I wanted a different credit card used. So she reluctantly found a form almost threw it at me and told me to fill it out I did and she just took it, I did get the certificate before I left the ship. I told them on the survey that she needed to retire.

 

We had problems with her on our April 17th cruise, too. This is the first cruise we didn't purchase a future cruise and it was because of her not letting us do the deposit when we wanted to.

Tink5520. So glad to have met you and hope you had a nice flight home to Calgary. Loved all your coordinating glasses and outfits. I made my train home to Ottawa with 6 minutes to spare:eek: When I went to get off the ship my scanned room card set off a siren of bells. My cabin was mistakenly entered into some blasted computer and I had to go back to the Wijang theater to report to Customs. Customs told the HAL security officer that my name was NOT on their list.... Glad to get home but hate to do my own cooking now. My cough from all the cleaning products HAL used 24/7 cleared in one day. Hope to meet you on a future cruise.

 

P.S. I still think of you and that huge steak you told me you ordered at the Pinnacle Grill (lol)

Really? You had to report to Customs? I thought we cleared customs, and immigration, in Halifax where we had to turn in the declaration form. I'm glad you made your train, though. That must have been scary, particularly if you were caught in that line-up to get out of the terminal like we were. I wish we could have walked but, in hindsight, I'm glad we took the taxi, given DM's illness later that day.

I wish we could have spent some time together, Sue. I really was looking forward to chatting with you. But we didn't seem to be on a similar schedule.

Oh, DM did enjoy the balcony. Well, I really enjoyed it while I was quarantined! I did finally tell her that I paid for it as we drove back to Montreal yesterday. I just didn't tell her how much I paid; I just said it was more than I had wanted to spend. I also told her of your offer to trade! I'll leave her response to your imagination.

I hope we'll meet again on another dam ship!

Welcome to Homedam, Clipper! Glad Mum is feeling better and you're all settled in from your adventure. Sucks that you both got hit by the dreaded 'plague' - can't imagine how awful that must be. But this too shall pass (pun intended;)) and it sounds as though you are both well on the road to recovery.

And hey, how about that? my two favorite Canadians met up onboard a HAL ship! (Hi Sue!:D) I too wish you could have spent more time together - I'm sure you would have hit it off like we did with each other!

Thanks again for posting as often as you did, Kathryn - it was a joy reading about your adventures. Next?!?

Albert Quilter I've been enjoying reading this thread..So happy to hear that both your Mom & you are so much better.. Sounds like you had a wonderful cruise..

In March of 2003, we were on a 7 day cruise on the Maasdam with two other couples. from our Sailing Club... The first night, before dinner, we all met for Happy Hour in the Crows Nest.. One of the ladies joined us for happy hour, but never had a drink, which was very unusual ;):)... She said she was not feeling well.. When we got into Half Moon Cay the next day she advised us that she & her DH were quarantined... Her illness was reported by the Room Steward, as they may have had a problem in their cabin.. The Lady was called down to see the Doctor & both of them were quarantined for two days.. Room service delivered all their meals.. However, the decision was made by both the Dr. & the Captain to disembark them in Grand Cayman, (the first port of call) on day three.. HAL booked them in a hotel for the night, paid for their plane fare to Ft. Lauderdale the following day, & gave them a full refund for that cruise... In addition, HAL gave them a 50% discount on their next HAL cruise.. They used that discount on another cruise almost a year later..

Not sure if they were charged for the Dr.'s visit or not, but I think not...

Our Friend always insisted that she picked up something in the terminal just before boarding.. However, we & our other Friends, suspect she actually picked it up some place else & brought it on board with her, as we don't believe the incubation period for that kind of virus/flu is that fast...

We also are wondering if the decision to disembark them was because our Lady Friend, may not have completely obeyed the quarantine.. She actually left her cabin to meet with us to tell us that they were being disembarked.. Our other Friends & DH & I often discuss this & we've all come to the same conclusion.. Fortunately the four of us that continued on the cruise never came down with the illness..:)

Also, we've all often cruised together on our own private sailboats & the one couple never failed to partake of Happy Hour before!..:)LOL

Re Future Cruise Consultant on the Maasdam May 1-16

Fellow cruisers, I am amazed at the attitude of this person, so foreign to my newbie experience with 2 happy HAL cruises under my belt. As someone who was planning to purchase FCD’s on my upcoming Maasdam October Atlantic Adventure I find this very unsettling.

Let me say that as one who has had 42 years experience working with the public our best defense is to document these unfortunate substandard performances by copying and pasting the aforementioned posts (#313, 314, 317, 330, 332) into a document. By taking them along on our next Maasdam cruise we will have published testimony of past unprofessional performance. These copied testaments, publicly posted by Maasdam passengers, should put us in good shape if any glitches develop with our forthcoming Future Cruise Deposits.

Good Luck to all. --Charles

She wasn't the best representative of a HAL experience. I attributed it to the Noro outbreak. She also wouldn't give me a form when I requested one. Said it would be delivered to our room. Does anyone know if they receive commission for bookings only? And nothing for FCC? We wanted to book but it wasn't (2016 fall) open yet.

Re Future Cruise Consultant on the Maasdam May 1-16

 

Fellow cruisers, I am amazed at the attitude of this person, so foreign to my newbie experience with 2 happy HAL cruises under my belt. As someone who was planning to purchase FCD’s on my upcoming Maasdam October Atlantic Adventure I find this very unsettling.

 

Let me say that as one who has had 42 years experience working with the public our best defense is to document these unfortunate substandard performances by copying and pasting the aforementioned posts (#313, 314, 317, 330, 332) into a document. By taking them along on our next Maasdam cruise we will have published testimony of past unprofessional performance. These copied testaments, publicly posted by Maasdam passengers, should put us in good shape if any glitches develop with our forthcoming Future Cruise Deposits.

 

Good Luck to all. --Charles

I believe she would be more than happy to help you if you actually book another cruise with her, but if you just wanted to put down the Future Cruise deposit, she didn't want anything to do with that. In the past, they were always happy to help us with that.

Alberta quilter---so sorry to hear you both came down with the virus. Thanks for reporting your experience, though. Sure hope they get rid of it soon!

Re Future Cruise Consultant on the Maasdam May 1-16

 

Fellow cruisers, I am amazed at the attitude of this person, so foreign to my newbie experience with 2 happy HAL cruises under my belt. As someone who was planning to purchase FCD’s on my upcoming Maasdam October Atlantic Adventure I find this very unsettling.

 

Let me say that as one who has had 42 years experience working with the public our best defense is to document these unfortunate substandard performances by copying and pasting the aforementioned posts (#313, 314, 317, 330, 332) into a document. By taking them along on our next Maasdam cruise we will have published testimony of past unprofessional performance. These copied testaments, publicly posted by Maasdam passengers, should put us in good shape if any glitches develop with our forthcoming Future Cruise Deposits.

 

Good Luck to all. --Charles

Charles - I do not think you will have anything to worry about on your Oct. cruise. I know that the situation has come to the attention of the appropriate people at HAL corporate and they plan to address it ASAP.

Since I have encountered the "you will get it in your mail box late in the cruise " response on other sailings, it is apparent that HAL must instruct the future cruise consultants to handle it in this manner. Hopefully, if enough of us point out the problems with botched forms and the difficulty in correcting them until too late in the cruise, they will rethink this policy.

Charles - I do not think you will have anything to worry about on your Oct. cruise. I know that the situation has come to the attention of the appropriate people at HAL corporate and they plan to address it ASAP.

 

Since I have encountered the "you will get it in your mail box late in the cruise " response on other sailings, it is apparent that HAL must instruct the future cruise consultants to handle it in this manner. Hopefully, if enough of us point out the problems with botched forms and the difficulty in correcting them until too late in the cruise, they will rethink this policy.

Thanks Dave, good job. Feeling better already.

We received a very nice email from Kyle and received the corrected certificates so that now our friends each have 1 and we each have 1. Was sorry to hear there were several others that had not received the correct certificates that they had ordered. Very glad to see that once HAL received info concerning the errors they/Kyle corrected things.

Really? You had to report to Customs? I thought we cleared customs, and immigration, in Halifax where we had to turn in the declaration form. I'm glad you made your train, though. That must have been scary, particularly if you were caught in that line-up to get out of the terminal like we were. I wish we could have walked but, in hindsight, I'm glad we took the taxi, given DM's illness later that day.

 

I wish we could have spent some time together, Sue. I really was looking forward to chatting with you. But we didn't seem to be on a similar schedule.

 

Oh, DM did enjoy the balcony. Well, I really enjoyed it while I was quarantined! I did finally tell her that I paid for it as we drove back to Montreal yesterday. I just didn't tell her how much I paid; I just said it was more than I had wanted to spend. I also told her of your offer to trade! I'll leave her response to your imagination.

 

I hope we'll meet again on another dam ship!

I/we did clear customs in Halifax. My cabin number was entered into HAL's computer by mistake which is why I had to go to customs in Montreal. Of all times for them to make an error considering we docked so late.

Yes, we must have been on a different schedule as I ran into Tink often. Of course if it was a sea day I didn't get up until noon. I did go to tea, play trivia, and enjoy Mix at night. And I went to all the shows - mostly at 8pm. Next time.

Hi Sue

Glad to hear you made your train . I saw you running from the disembarkation point and thought maybe you were to late for your train. I was waiting to get off and take the terrible airport tour. I would not recommend this to anyone. Was advertised as approximately 3 and a half hours . We left the ship about 9:10 the tour left by 9:30 we were at the airport by 11:40 still had to sit in the airport for 4 hours. The tour quite was a Québécois person enough said on that.

Sue I would like to chat with you of the site. Did not exchange this info on the ship. Is it still possible

Margaret

Interesting though there is plenty of "news" on the Internet regarding the May 1 arrival of the Maasdam in Fort Lauderdale, nowhere can I find any "official" mention of the illness continuing on our cruise May 1-May 16. Have heard over 200 were ill, most like true for at any time there were 3-4 people ill in just our corridor on Deck 9. HAL wasn't very forthcoming with information during the cruise, and there's nothing out there now.

Interesting though there is plenty of "news" on the Internet regarding the May 1 arrival of the Maasdam in Fort Lauderdale, nowhere can I find any "official" mention of the illness continuing on our cruise May 1-May 16. Have heard over 200 were ill, most like true for at any time there were 3-4 people ill in just our corridor on Deck 9. HAL wasn't very forthcoming with information during the cruise, and there's nothing out there now.

I found this strange as well, but thought about it and came up with a couple of differences:

First, it may take a week or so to report and we are in a 3 day weekend now.

Second, the May 1-16 cruise ended in Montreal (Canada) while the previous one ended in Fort Lauderdale (US).

Will be interesting to see the actual numbers when they do come out - but my be is that it is well over 200. Plus, there are reports of people getting sick on the way home and even the next day (at home).

If anyone sees anything, please report it on here.

Hi Sue

 

Glad to hear you made your train . I saw you running from the disembarkation point and thought maybe you were to late for your train. I was waiting to get off and take the terrible airport tour. I would not recommend this to anyone. Was advertised as approximately 3 and a half hours . We left the ship about 9:10 the tour left by 9:30 we were at the airport by 11:40 still had to sit in the airport for 4 hours. The tour quite was a Québécois person enough said on that.

Sue I would like to chat with you off the site. Did not exchange this info on the ship. Is it still possible

Margaret

Tink. Not a good idea to post our e-mail address. Unless you post your address only???

I sent an e-mail to the VSP dept. of the CDC to see why the numbers are not up yet. Will let everyone know when I get a reply.

Thank you! I had been checking, also.

I sent an e-mail to the VSP dept. of the CDC to see why the numbers are not up yet. Will let everyone know when I get a reply.

I think Dave is correct in that, since the cruise ended in Canada, a report does not have to be sent to the US CDC.

I've tried to google to find a similar agency here in Canada. I found one and have sent an email, requesting further information about the GI illness onboard our cruise, to the National Enteric Surveillance Program under the Public Health Agency of Canada. I'll post here if I hear back.