HELENPSL

We always do Any Time Dining and it works perfectly.  Sometimes we do specialty dining.  Sometimes we eat in the Lido.  When we go to the dining room I always tell them the same thing - happy to sit with other people at a table for 6.  A table for 10 is out of the question and sometimes a table for 8 means that dinner will take that much longer.  We've met many lovely people at dinner over the years doing it this way.

Helen

2 hours ago, kazu said:

Overall, the food was quite good on this cruise - better than I expected -much!  The MDR food was varied and cooked as requested.  

 

Lido had a lot of variety and the tempura shrimp was to die for.  The lovely lady insisted on making a fresh batch for my sis.  Yum.

 

Special menus like a Neptune night.  

 

Service in the Sea View Bar was beyond exceptional - fantastic guys - remember where I went was limited with the chair.  They took fantastic care of me - bringing towels to raise my foot in the chair, ice for my foot, wheeling me to my room on occasion - the list was endless .  And you didn’t need to be in a bad situation to get attention - everyone loved them.

 

MDR service was good once we found an experienced table - fantastic even.  Some people were new and all you had to do was talk to Zin and it was fixed - an awesome dining room manager - and so nice to see a woman in that position 👍 

 

And along with my sis, I had some fantastic roll call members who helped me with some of our activities, got me coffee (you can’t reach Lido coffee in a wheel chair) and even helped get me to my room.  This is where I  fear I will forget someone but here goes.  Many thanks to Tina @0106

Gerry @ger_77   Helen & Angelo  @HELENPSL Randy   @R2D2 Mike @Dunmore2    Mike   @strad  Art @Takes Notes and of course, my sweet sister.  A huge help in delivering Meet & Greet invites, other invites (Tina and my sis), sending off the cabin crawl groups, opening the wine at the wine tasting, helping pass out name tags at the M & G, and just plain helping and helping me.

 

Forgive me, if I missed you - we had a terrific roll call and the kindness they exuded was overwhelming. I will never forget it.  This will be a cruise I will never forget - not the first solo cruise I planned - but with such a great roll call, you couldn’t help but still make lemonade out of lemons and have some good times.

 

I apologize this was not like one of my normal live threads - hopefully next time I will be out and about and give much better reporting and use port wifi when the ship’s isn’t working.

 

Thanks for hanging in with me and if anyone has any questions, I’m happy to answer if I can.

 

 

The service has always been great on our cruises but I have never seen service like the guys in the Seaview bar area on this cruise.  They never said no to any requests.  AND…they always did it with a smile.  They were simply fantastic!

Helen

My partner and I went to Singapore in 2017.  He uses a controlled substance given to him by the VA.  You can print the form off the website for the health department in Singapore.  I filled in as much as I could and then wrote a cover letter explaining why he was taking the drug.  He took it to his doctor at the VA who filled in the missing info, put my letter on his letterhead and signed everything.  I scanned and emailed it to Singapore and had approval in 48 hours.  It was a pain getting it done but easy to get the approval.  We got to customs and nobody asked to see anything but I didn’t want to take that chance.

Helen

Thanks to all for the good wishes.  It’s also my first time on the Oosterdam so I’m really excited.  And I promise we will all take good care of Jacqui!

Helen

Usually the only things you cannot get in the lido are the escargot and the onion soup.  We were on the NS two weeks ago for 14 days.  We ate in the dining room twice at a table for two which is very unusual for us.  We were out in less than an hour since we wanted to make the early show.  We found the food in the lido to be very good.  They had prime rib several nights.

Helen

We have done many HAL trips and 3 Princess cruises .  We found the food and service much better on HAL and the entertainment better on Princess. But with all the new entertainment venues on the HAL Pinnacle ships entertainment is pretty even.  I’ve never done Celebrity since they usually price out higher than HAL on Caribbean cruises.  If we want to do a longer cruise we think HAL has the best itineraries for a mass market line.

Helen

Thank you all for your good wishes.  This is one of two cruises cancelled multiple times because of COVID.  So excited to finally go on this cruise!

Helen

On 9/23/2022 at 4:56 PM, cwd79 said:

Thanks for the info. We have another cruise scheduled for the Rotterdam and I called today as we had an ocean view guarantee and I wanted to see what it would cost to get a midship room. The rep said 99% of the ocean view rooms are on main deck 1. Only a few were available so I went with 1119 which appears to maybe be under the shops. They had some more on the port side but would have been under the clubs or possible kitchen. So, hoping we made a good choice with 1119. Not sure if it's  bigger than a standard interior room or not. As we were previously on the NS in a standard interior and that was pretty small but still worked for hubby and I. 

You have chosen my favorite cabin.  We stopped doing veranda when we realized how little time we spent out there.  Now we do midship ocean view either 1119 or 1117.  It’s near the elevator so it’s convenient but there’s no noise.  You will love it.

Helen

1 hour ago, jimmy2x said:

Does HAL still sell cartons of cigarettes aboard?

On most ships it’s buy 3, get one free.

Helen

22 hours ago, Gelerp said:

Thank you for all the replies. We have booked the Statendam for March and I am feeling very content with our choice!  

We are getting ready for our October trip from Quebec City, Canada to Fort Lauderdale on the Nieuw Statendam.  We are bringing the ship back for Caribbean season. This will be our 5th cruise on her and it's a beautiful ship.  As others have mentioned, several music venues, great food and the service is amazing.  HAL got rid of the big production shows several years ago but if you see that they're doing the BBC show take your kids.  They will love it...and so will you.  Enjoy...enjoy...enjoy!!

Helen

On 9/9/2022 at 12:01 AM, sailingdutchy said:

@kazu Thank you so much keeping track of all of us cruisers and your very kind words , I hope that very soon you will also get back on board ship for a nice cruise with your Teddy Bear ! 

 

Thank you all for the very nice send off ! 

 

Martha and Tony 😁😁

Smooth sailing to you and Martha.  Have a fabulous time!

Helen

We always call ship services (1-800-541-1576) and tell them we need a long extension cord to go across the room for a C-pap.  Sometimes it's already in the cabin when we get there.  We then get the cabin steward to run it across the floor, under the bed to the outlet.  At that point, they tape the cord to the carpet so I don't kill myself.  Hope this helps.

Helen

4 minutes ago, indybelle said:

I hadn't seen anyone mention this and the board is usually where I see these sorts of things first, so am wondering if I'm missing something in the new protocols.  It looks like vaccinated guests no longer have to provide a negative covid test to board in Europe (except for Greece)- this removes the 16+ day exception to the previous policy.  Am I missing something?

 

Updated August 23, 2022

Until further notice, these are the requirements for our cruise guests on Europe sailings.

Important Update: For European cruises* departing on or after September 6, 2022, guests will enjoy new simplified vaccine and testing protocols on most voyages. 

*New protocols do not apply to cruises embarking in Greece, trans-ocean, and designated remote voyages. 

For European cruises departing on September 6 or after:

• Pre-cruise testing is no longer required for vaccinated guests. Vaccinated guests must provide proof of vaccination status prior to embarkation. 
• Unvaccinated guests are welcome and must provide results of a negative medically supervised or at-home self-test taken within three days of embarkation.

 

We will be on a transatlantic leaving Barcelona on Nov. 5.  According to this we still have to get the test before boarding since it's a trans-ocean cruise.  Bummer!

Helen

50 minutes ago, LewiLewi said:

My husband used to receive $250. OBC for a 14+ day cruise. Now it looks like it is only $100. no matter the length of the cruise.

The $100 credit is a Military credit.  I believe the $250 is on 14+ day cruises and for owning 100 shares of Carnival stock.

Helen

1 hour ago, CruiserBruce said:

If your upcoming cruise involves Canada...you will still need to test. Canada requires it, not HAL.

I'm a little confused.  On the ArriveCan information under covid requirements it states that if you are fully vaccinated you do not need a test.  They may randomly select you to take one but it is not necessary as long as you have proof of vacccination.  Hope this is correct.

Helen

Two things you won’t find in the Lido…escargot and onion soup.

Helen

11 minutes ago, Mary229 said:

One more thread.  So we have a cruise upcoming and am thinking ahead to the pre-test.   There has been lots of talk about there are no longer free pharmacy tests so I went straight to the source Medicare.gov.  They say they are still free if you are covered by Medicare

 

https://www.medicare.gov/coverage/coronavirus-disease-2019-covid-19-diagnostic-tests

Went to the pharmacy at my grocery store and asked for the free tests.  Had to give them my Medicare card, they filled out a form and gave me 8 tests.  No problem!

Helen

11 hours ago, kangforpres said:

OK I booked the Spanish Farewell on 11/05. I hope they don't send a free offer for this cruise before I sail. I got a real good airfare from flight Ease. OW from SFO to BCN for only $653 for Air Canada Premium Economy.

 

-Paul

Now that you booked it come over to the roll call.  You will be shocked by the amount of activity.  Hope to see you there.

Helen

21 hours ago, kangforpres said:

OK, I got a new one today, but not a free cabin offer. Still I might go on the Spanish Farewell in November if wife approves.

 

 

HAL_HEP2234CO_ADAGrid_US2_3.pdf 441.26 kB · 53 downloads

If you decide to book come over to the roll call.  We have an amazing and very active group.

Helen

Hey Jacqui - when you have a minute can you add the following?  Thanks my friend!

Nieuw Statendam - 07 Jan.- 23  -  7 Day Eastern Caribbean

HELENPSL (and Angelo)

5 hours ago, sofietucker said:

We used to always request a large table, whether fixed (our preference) or anytime dining... Have not cruised with HAL since the Before Times, but on our other recent cruises, there was no more dining-with-strangers option. A HAL cruise is coming up in Sept., and though we could choose fixed/anytime and dinner time, the table size was no longer an option.

We cruised this past March and anytime dining was available.  We are also booked for anytime dining for our Oct. and November cruises.  Chech with your travel agent or PCC.  They should be able to reserve it for you.

Helen

As mentioned above you may do better with anytime dining.  You just go to the dining room whenever it's convenient for you and they will seat you either with other people, which is what we do, or at a table for two if it's available.  Sometimes if we're tired after an excursion we'll just go to the Lido.  All the choices are yours with anytime dining.

Helen

Did a one week cruise on a cruiseline beginning with "P" and it made me nuts.  Almost impossible to find a quiet spot on the ship.  Constant music and movies by the pool.  And it was LOUD!!  I'm so ready to be back on HAL!

Helen

Thanks for all the info regarding the ship.  We will be on with you in November for our first transatlantic.  I’m a little nervous about 7 days at sea but at least the casino will be open.  Big trouble!

Helen

Just back from my 3rd cruise on Princess and probably the last one.  It was a casino offer and too good to turn down since we only live a little over an hour from the port.  There were some good points from the cruise:

1.  Service was excellent.  Although our cabin steward was always wearing a mask you could tell that he always had a smile on his face.  The cabin was always spotless and he was there twice a day.

2.  We met some wonderful people on the cruise and one in particular that is now a friend.

3.  We had made reservations in the DR for 6:20PM every night and never had to wait more than 5 minutes.  If we arrived early it was never a problem.

The down side for us:

4.  The food in the dining room was always cold.  After a while you just get tired sending it back.

5.  MY BIGGEST COMPLAINT - HAL has spoiled us for having food plated by the staff in the lido.  We like to eat breakfast in the lido (same exact thing every day) but this was a free for all.  There were people taking bread, picking it up, looking at it, deciding they wanted something else and putting it back.  Much of the food was pre-cooked and put under heat lamps like the eggs benedict.  We are used to the food being cooked fresh right in front of us even if we had a wait an extra couple of minutes.

6.  I was very disappointed in the entertainment.  Princess's entertainment was always considerably better that HAL's.  They had the same comedian for 3 nights, a magician for 1 night and a production show for 1 night which was fabulous.  I expected more.

It may not be fair to do comparisons between lines but it is impossible to avoid it.  For now we have 3 HAL cruises booked of which 2 of them have been delayed for 2 years.  I do think though that everyone has to cruise a line for themselves to make their own comparisons.

Helen