meemo

Well, after 4 1/2 hours on hold I had someone answer (Jill, I think)  I sympathized for how busy it has been for them and then told her about my flights not being ticketed and dropped by United.  She said nothing in return, the line was quiet for 2 min then the call ended.....  Ugggghhhh!!

We are flying from Cleveland to Copenhagen on June 18th.  Our flights have disappeared from the United airlines website and when I contacted them they told me the flights weren't ticketed and that we don't have active flights!  I am on hold with Flight ease to see what is up.  The flight ease webpage talks about schedule changes but all the same exact flights and times are still available for that day.  The cost for our round-trip for both of us was around $3,700 but the same flights are now over $12k!  We are supposed to sail on the Nieuw Statendam on June 22nd.  This is our first ever Holland America cruise (first booked for Aug 2020...)

If this is happening due to non payment from HAL to the airlines, should we be concerned about the financial health of Holland America??  We have paid around $25,000 to HAL for 2 separate cruises this year and I am getting an uneasy feeling about this.  Thoughts??

I have looked into a Hop On Hop Off bus but from reviews that I have seen it seems that many times there is no room on the bus to hop back on.  Also, I know that Iceland doesn't have Uber.  I have been trying to research, but not always sure where to look.  Taxi seems like a good option but I can't always tell on the websites if they need to be booked in advance or not.  

I have looked all over HAL website and couldn't see any mention of a port shuttle in places that may be needed.  

We will be on the 24 day cruise on Nieuw Statendam to Norway, Iceland, Scotland, germany, Sweden and Denmark.  Later this year we will also be on the Noordam to Alaska.

We have our first Holland America cruise coming up in June!!  Does HAL provide any shuttles in port from the cruise ship docks into the city center??  If so, what do they usually charge?  Thanks for any help.

Are day passes available on board?  Any idea what they may cost?

1 hour ago, catl331 said:

If you are referring to decks 5/6/7 they are only open to the public during slow-speed "scenic cruising" such as in the Panama Canal or Glacier Bay or fjords.

Yes, those are the decks I was referring to.  Thanks for your reply.  The cruise we are on has quite a few days with scenic cruising, so I am sure we will take advantage of it!

59 minutes ago, Copper10-8 said:

 

If you are referring to Deck 1/Main Deck, yes that's a passenger deck with cabins, the lower portion of the Main Stage showroom, and Guest Services in the Atrium. The Deck below that is A-Deck which is crew only and also used for one of three gangway decks

 

We are actually on the Upper Verandah Deck.  Someone else answered that the forward decks are only open for scenic cruising.  

In photos of the Zuiderdam, there appear to be forward decks at the 3 levels below the bridge.  Does anyone know if these decks are accessible to passengers?  We have booked an inside cabin on one of these decks and I thought this would be a good way to get some fresh air and view scenery.