blue whale

I agree. I just looked up pricing on the VOV for 2016. I finally just gave up. I wanted to contrast pricing for a verandah, window, lanai. It was just too complicated. Thank you to the person who suggested going to an online site big box agency. Good idea.

D

HAL please go back to the old system which I found so easy to navigate.

D

One of the times we had to make final payment a bit early because we were to be on a cruise when the final payment was due, I asked my PCC if a price drop occurred prior to the actual due date of final payment, would we get the discount and was assured we would. He told me though a final payment is made, the full terms of 'shut off' for taking advantage of any offers is not until the actual date that final payment was due.

 

Thank you, We must pay early for the Maasdam's Rio and Amazon cruise sailing in January, because we are leaving shortly for another cruise. It is good to know that if the price goes down before final payment date, we will get the difference credited back to us.

Mariner points earned by spending or by having a verandah accommodation really do not count for anything once one has passed five star, if I have it straight. There are no additional amenities until 1400 actual sail dates once a mariner has reached five star. One does get a platinum medal at 700 sail days, but that medal does not bring any additional amenities, does it? At 1400 actual sail days a mariner may be invited into the President's Club, which does have benefits—or so my PC friends tell me.

D

What is the difference between V numbered cabins and the A and Bs. Both have balconies and mini frigerators.

D

thank you all for your interest and comments!

all is well that ends well!

Dorothy

Hi bob,

We have been sailing for a long time with HAL, but not so long as you. Today I had to call about another matter and the woman who helped me told me that George and I had 38 cruises with HAL. We did not realize that. I could not believe that.

But forty five years is a big commitment. There should be a special medal for that. With some more perks, too. I guess it represents umpteen cruises.

D

I am happy to report that the agency released my booking! The agency has sent a fax to HAL indicating that they OK the transfer. We sent a fax, actually two of them to HAL, giving the details regarding the four cruises. And the receiving agency has faxed HAL saying they will now take responsibility for the four cruises.

I am happy, for fortunately I just received updated credit cards with the new chip and new info. So the original agency no longer has access to my card.

Actually the original agency did not stall at all. They worked promptly in getting the fax out, for which I am thankful. They sent me a copy of their fax. They asked me to reconsider, but when I said no, they did not put up an argument.

I feel much better tonight.

Thank you all, for your interest.

But the main thing is to know that there is a procedure for moving cruises from one agency to another, especially if the reason is important.

And of course, we all should check our credit card bills to make sure all is OK.

D

We always ask the agent to check for a price drop just before final payment. That has been our protocol for years and years; and we have been cruising for many years.

And before working with an agent, we always ask whether HAL will show on our credit card as the receiving party when we pay.

We did both of these in this case.

But the good news is that we got the money sent back to our card. I have to admit that I called the card company every morning for 7 mornings until the money showed up.

And hopefully we will get all our future cruises transferred.

We think that travel is wonderful.

Thank you for all your interest.

Hi Bob, Wander, USN and others,

One of our cruising friends has used this agency many times and without problem until this event. We used the agency for our short June cruise up to New England this past June. All seemed OK. And the agent located in Orlando, Florida, was nice to deal with, prompt, pleasant, and helpful.

But on our upcoming Prinsendam cruise (where the trouble occurred) the price went down just before final payment. For us it went down 2120 dollars. The invoice up to that point was higher. So I guess that the agency thought we would never know that we had got a lower price. They just put the lower price on our credit card paid to HAL, and they put the difference (the 2120) on our card paid to themselves. Since they did the same to our friend, they "made" a little over 4000 dollars on the deal.

I just received an email from the agent. She said that she will get her manager to write the release letter tomorrow (Monday) and fax to HAL. I hope this happens promptly.

So far, HAL reps on phone and in email have been very helpful. That is good to know, also.

As a post script, we think that the price on the cruise went down to encourage new bookings. The ports of call are in Turkey, Greece, to the end of the Black Sea. There are probably some folks who would be nervous traveling there, and HAL may have had cancelations.

D

I will post here when the transfer of the cruises is complete.

Since this transfer is of four cruises, two of which are rather long, it is a big loss for the company that has to release the bookings.

Dorothy

Serendipity asked what the travel agent said when I first questioned her on the two payments: one to HAL and one to the travel agency:

Here are her words directly from her email:

"The agent took a short pay at the cruise lines that is why we had to run the rest of the money in house to avoid cancellation."

When I followed up and asked why they did not run the rest of the money on my card to HAL since they had the card info available, she wrote:

"The money was paid to HAL You have been charged exactly what is owed to the cruise line."

With that I called HAL. The rep there was fantastic. As soon as she heard my concern, she told me exactly how much had been paid to HAL, which was the final full payment owed. I asked her whether an additional 2120 dollars had been sent by the travel agency, and she told me, "No."

Then I called the travel agent, who said, "The HAL agent had no right to tell you what had been paid." In other words, the travel agency thought they were covered, that HAL would not speak to me since we were working with an agent. BUT HAL was wonderful in this regard! The HAL lady was open and helpful.

We are now going through the process that HAL told us to do.

Dorothy

PS Leslie, good to see your post.

Recently I had a serious problem with my travel agency. The agency posted an unauthorized charge on my credit card. I had authorized payment to HAL for an upcoming trip. Instead, they posted two charges on my credit card, one to HAL (which was for the actual cost of the trip including insurance, fees, and taxes) and one to themselves for over 2000 dollars. I checked with HAL and was told HAL had received only the amount posted on my card as going to HAL.

Only after considerable back and forth of emails, did the agency concede that they were wrong, and refunded the unauthorized amount. It now is safely back in the hands of my credit card.

I decided I wanted to transfer my future, unpaid bookings to another agency and requested information from HAL on how to make the transfer. I got an immediate response from HAL. I thought others might be interested, if they want to make a similar transfer. Here is the direct quote from HAL:

Thank you for sending the email. For an agency to agency transfer, we would need a letter from the original travel agency signed by the owner or manager* indicating title on agency letterhead releasing the booking.* We would need a letter signed by both guests asking us to transfer the booking to the new travel agency.* We*would need a letter from the new travel agency signed by the owner or manager indicating the title on agency letterhead accepting the booking.* Our fax number is 206-281-0627.*

If we only receive the letter signed by the guests and the accepting letter from the new travel agency, then we will send a 48 hour notice to the original travel agency.* If the original travel agency still does not send in a releasing letter, then a legal release will be sent out that will need to be signed by both guests and the owner or manager of the new travel agency in order to complete the agency transfer.

*

Please note that if the original travel agency has group rates, group amenities, onboard value booklets, or any amenity or rate that is specific to the original travel agency, that these amenities or rates*will not transfer over to the new travel agency.*

This is a bit complicated, but I thought others might find the information useful at some point. I know that my posting here is a bit involved.

No question: we all need to check our credit cards to be sure an agency uses it only to send money to HAL when it is due.

Thank you for your log. We must remember to keep washing our hands while on cruises and carry the liquid disinfectant while on tours. Your log made us much more aware.

You said that the cd was a female named Jude. We have never had a cd by that name. Did you enjoy her? Did she run a good trivia? What kinds of questions did she tend to use? On our winter cruise lots of questions were centered on pop culture with almost no science, geography, history, or literature. We began to think this might be a new HAL direction, to get younger pax.

We are going on the Maasdam voyage mid-Jan, down to Rio and up the Amazon. It is for 47 days. Go to the roll call boards for the Maasdam. You will find the thread for our cruise. Nanner is organizing the list of CCers on the cruise.

D

Hello, Diane and John,

I have been following your blog. We met on a prior world cruise. I remember you well, Diane, for you helped me navigate the steep steps when we went to Angor Watt. I probably misspelled that.

You write about the stomach virus and fear of pirates. Is there any concern now about terrorism as you sail through the canal and up into the Med? Has the captain mentioned the events in Tunis at all? Are folks concerned about visits to museums and mosques? We have a cruise planned for the fall on Prinsendam that goes to Israel and Turkey. We are watching the political situation carefully to see whether we should reschedule.

Thank you!

Dorothy

I already got an email back from the taxi that was suggested above. He is going to get me pricing. He writes in English. Thanks!

Thank you, Ine. I just sent off an email

dorothy

Does any one know how to get from the airport to the seaport at Ijmuiden, specifically the holiday inn at the seaport? We will be doing that transfer in the fall.

We are waiting to board Maasdam tomorrow.

D

We just did an up sale on the same Maasdam sailing. It looked like an ok deal.

D

Thank you Colbe,

Appreciate your input.

D

Thanks for the report about the ship condition.

D

I guess the noise would subside after 11 pm, when the second show closes????

D

Another question:

Does anyone know whether HAL has got the temperature under control in the show lounge? It was so coooold on our last voyage.

What is the condition of the ship? We are sailing on her in January/February.

Thanks

D