LAFFNVEGAS

Hi Jacqui, while I have a couple of NCL cruises in 2024 I will just give you my HAL Westerdam August 25, 2024 7 Day Alaska Explorer Thanks so much!! 🙂

Right now through Sunday is the Black Friday Sale that includes Pre paid Crew Incentive, waiting till late January has pro and cons. First you will not get the Pre paid Crew Incentive, or at least very unlikely, 2, if there is a stateroom you want it may not be available if you wait. 3. pricing could easily go up. Wait and booking on board is definitely more money ship board credit wise. The gamble is what could change before you can book it.

Bon Voyage!! Have a wonderful cruise!!

Because HAL wants you to book the Have It ll, but they also want t o offer something that is less but with the Non-refundable it is a Gotcha, if you change your mind, they keep the deposit. They make a lot of money off canceled cruises that way. Their web site stopped offering the Advantage Fares shortly after covid. You need to be pro active to obtain the refundable no perks deposit. I would not say it has anything to do with Travel Agents, many TA's have no clue about it.

HAL has definitely not gotten rid of Platinum and Standard CPP https://www.hollandamerica.com/en/us/plan-a-cruise/pre-post-travel-cruise/cancellation-protection-plan I had no trouble pulling up the CPP information.

Private Fares are totally different and attached to Mariner numbers, they are often non-refundable deposits but not always. Advantage Fares are available to everyone, no perks but refundable deposit that is often not a reduced deposit. The Call Center is based on HAL's Peak Call Volume and Over Seas hours, they operate when calls coming in our the heaviest. Late hours at the end of the day call volume is low. A large percentage of HAL Reps that work state side are on Pacific time.

Unfortunately if you got a Call Center Rep, they do not have a clue, plus they have only been told to sell what is on the Web Site Non-refundable and HIA. Your TA should be able to book Advantage Fare or an Experience Stateside Rep. The best time of the day to call and get someone stateside rather than Call Center is after 5:30 Pacific time. It is rare to get a Call Center Rep after that time. If it helps tell them you want promo code NH1 that is the code for Advantage Fares for all voyages.

I agree Navigator is no good but for all important things such as making Spa Appointments I never do it on Navigator but rather do it on line, just signing into my cruise. Being Embarkation Day there could be some lower prices. I have made massage appoints for my last several cruises and my upcoming cruise but never on Navigator.

The unfortunate thing here is that while the TA may have known about the BFS there is no guarantee that there would have been a saving with the Pre paid Crew incentive. There were several itineraries that went up in price with the Black Friday Sale. until that Sale actually hit no one would knew for sure if the price was going to be better. Also if the booking was done with the Flash promotional the hold time for this pricing is normally 24 hours which could be why the TA was pushing. This could have very well turned the other way and you waited only to have to pay more to get the Pre paid Crew Incentive. I have seen a couple of cases of that this weekend. I know this stinks but unfortunately that is what can happen.

I am pretty sure they did not do it our week on the Koningsdam I usually try to read the daily the night before and definitely would have seen this plus we did hit up the Lido daily. But I did see on FB that those on Koningsdam this week in Mexico had it and they posted pictures of the cakes. I get a second chance at it since be will be on Nieuw Statendam 3 weeks from today.

Bon Voyage!! Wishing you a wonderful Voyage as you bring the Nieuw Statendam to Ft Lauderdale so I can embark on her on the 10th 😉

I also am not seeing any that require full payment unless it is falling within the penalty period. Also watch that many agencies/big box do have special pricing that these are mostly all Non-refundable deposits so penalty would start right away.

Bon Voyage!! Enjoy!!

Good that you went ahead and paid it. HAL will not process through their bank till Monday at the earliest. It may show as a hold on your credit card but it will not be a transaction till it actually hits your bank which most likely will be Tuesday.

When booking on board the SBC offer for booking on board is quite generous and is basically the exact same as the Welcome Home VPN/ZPN but it definitely cannot be combined with the booking while on board.

Club Orange can be canceled and refunded as long as you booked with a refundable deposit and that you are canceling prior to when Penalties begin. Club Orange becomes part of the Cruise Fare and follows all cancellation penalties. Once you are are the start of penalties it still can be canceled but with the Penalty schedule.

Sadly what you are not understanding is that Holland America has never operated like RCI, Celebrity or NCL for transferring deposits and keeping that money with that reservation number. They never had, this is not something new for them. This is also the same process with Princess. You are trying to compare Oranges to Walnuts lol. It is what it is. Each voyage number is assigned a reservation number if you change voyages it must generate a new reservation number. Their system just does not allow a change. I understand that it is hard to understand if you are accustom to dealing with RCI, Celebrity and NCL. I am one to agree that HAL way of doing this is a bit old fashion compared to other lines. Holland America also has not helped themselves with over seas Call Centers and Reps who do not have a clue. I would much rather talk to NCL than an Overseas HAL Rep all day long. I will be the first to say that I much prefer NCL but the price point for HAL is often much cheaper and I got started cruising HAL way before I did NCL so I am far more invested. But one just has to know what each cruise line offers and except what they offer because they are not the same.

I disembarked November 11th and received the post surveys yesterday November 14th. I will state that on the last day of the cruise I received notifications through the Navigator app to be looking for the survey in a few days. It appeared as a notification on my watch.

Bon Voyage!!! Wishing you sm amazing cruise.

I like this idea and actually may consider this next month. I would be Happy with Wedge Salad, the Mushroom soup then Key Lime Pie 😉

We did receive this evening our pictures from the Medallion Ceremony. They are quite nice. i want to Thank all of you for joining us for dinner this past week, it has been lots of fun 😃🥰 If you are willing to do it again you will not have long to wait. Tom and I are flying to Miami non stop on December 9th so we can board the Nieuw Statendam December 10th. This will be our first time on this ship and will complete having sailed on every ship of the current HAL fleet. This next cruise will be with friends and we all have Club Orange. Looking forward to seeing the ship decorated for the Holidays.

Here is what we ordered…. I had the Wedge Salad, NY Steak with side of mushrooms. Keylime pie and Baileys with coffee. Tom had the Clothes line Bacon and Shrimp Cocktail, then he had the Filet and 12 oz lobster, mashed potatoes and Chocolate Soufflé.

It’s that time of day to play”What would you order for dinner?” Tonight is our last night on board the MS Koningsdam and we are in the Pinnacle Grill Steak House.

Luckily Tom and I don’t have noro, it’s the head cold thing for us Tom normally gets worse head colds and typically this time of year. I actually feel drastically better now this afternoon. Tom decided to just sleep . Below is a picture of my bruised knuckles, they look far more purple in person. I am sure they will be colorful tomorrow morning. We are still waiting for our pictures from getting the medallions. I went down to the Photo area and actually spoke with the guy who took our photo, I thought maybe I had to buy them. He said no the were printed off yesterday and sent to Guest Services who in turn are to have them delivered to our stateroom. He was going to call Guest Services for me and tell them we have not received the picture.

Good Afternoon from Santa Barbara California. I spent the morning in the spa having treatments. I find the spa lay out and the treatment rooms not being on the same level strange. But that is my opinion. I do not think they put a lot of thought into it that they have an older crowd and the steps are not the easiest. On another note I remember reading where people have gotten hurt running into the sliding clear motion detection doors between Lido buffet and Lido pool on the Dive in side. i had gone into that bathroom after having a light breakfast before heading to my spa appointment. I walked in and gagged , Someone had gotten sick all over the woman bathroom. I immediately went to leave and walked right into the door. Luckily I had my left hand out and my knuckles stopped me . Then I could not get the motion door to even open. I crew member came out the door right there. I mentioned the bathroom problem and he stood there waiving his arm to get the door to open. The problem with this door is there is not enough markings to show it’s a door. There are white round dots but they are up high well over 5 ft when someone is short and walking out of that bathroom they are not looking up. Needless to say I will have black and blue left hand across my knuckles. Sadly I don’t think this is a healthy ship. The shops are short handed because some crew are out due to medical, the MDR has been short handed the whole week. i had not felt well but feel 99% today Tom is feeling a bit rough but not horrible but just taking it easy. We are planning on going to Pinnacle this evening for the last night. Oh yes, also a first received a note from guest services that we have unspent nonrefundable ship board credit to be used 😂 That is a new one for me. But that was before my spa visit 😉