avian777

Thoughts & prayers go out to all folks affected by this horrible tragedy. 🙏🙏🙏

10 minutes ago, Tampa Girl said:

 

No.  I wasn't thinking of the VOV.  Obviously, the cruise line came to mind.  But thank you for your enlightenment.  

You're welcome - happy to have been of assistance to you.

5 hours ago, kazu said:

 

... Some of my cruises are more than my C/C limit and since I want to use the C/C that gives me travel benefits, making payments solves the issue and allows me to budget a bit 😉 

 

 Good advice, especially for folks who need to budget their extravagances.

1 hour ago, Tampa Girl said:

You are aware that you are on the HAL board, although you mentioned booking aboard while on a Viking cruise?

... you think maybe OP used "Viking" as a shortcut to reference her/his HAL "Voyage of the Vikings" cruise???

9 hours ago, Krazy Kruizers said:

We had incorrect information on our cruises -- they forgot one part of our Collectors Cruise.  We called them -- e-mails just don't seem to work for us.  They corrected it within  a day.

9 hours ago, gknep said:

I noticed that my birthday was wrong on my Mariner account so I e-mailed them after several days with no response I called the customer service number. Took them 5 seconds to correct the information. All is good now.

Like y'all, I have had universally good results when I've called Ship Services with a problem.  Conversely, I've never had a single HAL problem solved by the good folks here on CC.

On 5/4/2019 at 3:29 PM, JudithLynne said:

Hsan262:  We had this same problem 2 years ago on the Amsterdam.  We called HAL and did get it straightened out.  The HAL rep said that the cleaning crew for turn around day is not composed only of the stewards on the floors, but also additional staff that are pulled from other areas. Being in a rush to get the job done, they make mistakes.

 

We will be on the Amsterdam again in 6 weeks in a NS and I have prepared a message, printed it on card stock in large letters and will leave it in a conspicuous place upon disembarkation.  Here it is:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

July 1, 2019

To the disembarkation cleaning crew:

We have not taken anything from this cabin.  Please do not mistakenly charge us for items that we have not taken, especially from the refrigerator.  This happened to us two years ago on the Amsterdam and we do not want to repeat the hassle this created.  We have also notified the concierge of this information.

 

🙄🙄🙄  That should do the trick nicely ... you may want to add a line about having taken hourly pictures of the Stateroom each day of your cruise to document what was and what wasn't there.  And it certainly wouldn't hurt to get your message notarized or at least "witnessed" by one of the Senior Officers.

5 minutes ago, Krazy Kruizers said:

I do remember reading somewhere that Rudi worked for RCI.

Your memory is good - he was at RCI immediately after leaving Cunard in July 1998

According to my sources, Rudi was at Cunard for 11 years,  from February 1987 –  July 1998 ...

RIP, Walt.  Prayers & condolences to Walt's family.

21 hours ago, Brad1185 said:

This charge really turned us off HAL. We would be very hesitant to book with HAL in the future.  We have previously cruised 5 times with them.  

Having to pay higher cruise fares (and thereby subsidize passengers who order one or more extra entrees) really turns me off.  We have more than 2 dozen cruises with HAL.

4 hours ago, TAD2005 said:

I sure hope you eat both of your 2 meals.   The resultant food waste that you seem to routinely partake in was one of the reasons that HAL initiated the testing of this program.   You would never do that in a land-based restaurant, because you would have to pay for both meals. 

...  But flat out ordering 2 full meals, intending to eat only the one that meets your taste expectations is wasting food.  

 In addition to the waste issue, there is the question of requiring other passengers to subsidize (by having to pay higher cruise fares) passengers who order one or more extra entrees.

5 hours ago, Lyndihop said:

 

We occasionally order 2 main meals, just to be sure we get ONE we like.

👎👎👎

I hope you also thank the other passengers who only order ONE entree but are forced to subsidize your over-ordering by having to pay higher cruise fares.

4 hours ago, KroozNut said:

 

Just curious as to whether you also do this in your favorite land-based restaurant at home.. 🤔

👍👍👍 Thanks for the excellent Post!

2 hours ago, AtlantaCruiser72 said:

Holland america has 2 options for a 1nt pre-cruise package, and in the case of the 2/2/20 Konigsdam sailing being on SuperBowl weekend it seems their rates may not be totally insane all things given ......

 

Harbor Beach Marriott Resort - 1nt $445.12

Renaissance Ft Lauderdale Plantation - 1nt $356.70

 

Totals are for 2 people (not per person) and include all hotel taxes and airport to hotel and hotel to ship transfers.

 

Both hotel packages are currently available by calling HAL or your travel agent.

Thanks for sharing this great info.

6 hours ago, joekerstef said:

This is all in the past two years. I think since I'm already in touch with the ship's coordinator for my next cruise, I'm just going to ask her if she could arrange with whomever to get me my pin. Can't hurt to ask.

Good idea.  The basic problem is that HAL allows the individual ships a lot of latitude in how certain matters are handled - this results in inconsistency which is difficult for many people to understand or accept.

13 hours ago, joekerstef said:

Re: the Mariner pins. My mother made 2* as a result of our first Alaska cruise in 2016. I thought for some reason that her pin would be in our cabin at the beginning of our next cruise but it wasn't. When it didn't show up after a couple days, I had her go to the front desk and inquire. The next day in our cabin was her 2* pin and a nice note from Capt. O'Driscoll. So I made 2* as a result of that cruise, and again, no pin at the beginning of our next cruise. Few days later I went to the front desk to inquire... and was handed a pin just like that. My mother had the same experience as me on Zuiderdam in December for her 3* pin. On our last two cruises, near the end of the cruise, people who moved up a level as a result of only that cruise's sea days received pins and I think congratulatory letters in their mailboxes. I made 3* on my last cruise but I needed a couple days of spending bonus to get there so no pin. I imagine I'm going to have to go to the front desk again on my upcoming cruise to claim my pin. It's not a huge deal, but it would be a nice touch to be remembered by HAL since one of their biggest selling points is service. 

I don't know what period of time is covered by the experiences you describe above, but an acquaintance of mine who has worked at HAL for several years told me last summer that HAL had stopped automatically giving out Mariner * pins because so few people actually want them.  Now they generally keep a supply on each ship for the Front Desk to hand out on request.

18 hours ago, msteries said:

I just booked a cruise on the Koningsdam that departs FT Lauderdale on Feb. 2, 2020.  Turns out that the Superbowl is in Miami area that weekend.  My old favorite, the Hilton Marina FtL is already full on the 1st.  Any suggestions?

You might check on HAL's pre-cruise hotel package - we found ourselves in a similar situation a few years ago and were able to get a very conveniently located hotel through HAL.

7 hours ago, taxmantoo said:

We pay everything onboard in USD, whether purchased before or during the cruise.  We never get (or expect too get) the credit before we board. We seem to have a problem obtaining the 5-star discount every time we pre-purchase specialty dinners.  We have had delays of a few days after the actual dinner onboard after several visits to Guest Services and several weeks after the cruise once back at home, if not resolved onboard.  We continue booking anyways in order to get the time slot we want but run against resistance once on the ship more often than not.

 

I have discussed this with a few Hotel Directors onboard and in correspondence with Seattle and they assure me every time that they are working on  a system that would factor in the Mariner discount at purchase time.  That has been going on for over 5 years 🙄  I am certain an entry-level computer programmer could fix the problem in a few days (i.e. the cost is "x", you are a 5-star Mariner, your discount is "y", the net cost to your credit card will be "z" ... a few lines of code and everybody would be happy).  

Thanks for your response.  And sorry that you have experienced delays in getting credit for your Mariner discount.  We must be the luckiest HAL cruisers of all, as we have NEVER experienced these or similar delays.  Hopefully HAL will resolve this matter t your satisfaction soon.

19 hours ago, joekerstef said:

Zuiderdam in December there was a welcome reception for 3* and up in the BB King/ATK area and there was the Mariner brunch at the end of the cruise where you could get your tile. 

Ditto for Zuiderdam in late January-early February.

56 minutes ago, taxmantoo said:

...  Sometimes takes days or weeks to get reimbursed for Mariner discounts when specialty dinners are pre-purchased at full price before a cruise.

Just curious - Are you saying "days or weeks" after the cruise is over or "days or weeks" after the date you made the reservations?  We have never had similar experience in all our years of cruising on HAL - in fact, all of our Mariner discounts for specialty dinners purchased at full price before the cruise are credited to our onboard account before the cruise is over.  Is it possible that converting to Canadian $ causes delays?

12 hours ago, RMLincoln said:

.. I'm not a marketing specialist so I have no suggestions, but I know that Happy Cruisers become return customers, and that's good for the stockholders!   m--

Getting repeat business is only good for the stockholders IF the corporation makes a profit.  So, if HAL loses money on each passenger (by under-pricing its fares, meal add-ons, gift shop merchandise, etc.), the passengers may become Happy Cruisers (return customers) but that most assuredly would not be good for shareholders of its parent corporation, Carnival Corporation.

4 hours ago, slidergirl said:

The "level of bad press and public opinion" - do mean the posters on Cruise Critic?  A drop in the ocean.  I haven't seen any press on it, other than the announcement that it was happening.  Anything official, or just rumor and innuendo?  Was it not well received by all passengers or just CCers or just 4-5 star Mariners?   Data please.

👍👍👍  Excellent post with especially good (rhetorical) questions!

11 hours ago, Hlitner said:

This kind of thing is happening across most of the mass market lines (we cruise on many lines).  Some of the cut-backs are almost laughable such as when Celebrity stopped giving those in Aqua Class...unlimited free bottled water (which cost them pennies).  Princess has been experimenting with a supplemental menu in their MDR which offers some higher end steaks (that are also available in their alternative restaurant).  MSC is also playing with add-on items (for an extra fee).  And now we are seeing a trend to charge for room service and/or some room service items.  I recently heard that Carnival has been playing around with cabin stewards only servicing a cabin once per day...and I can see a future where folks will have to pay extra for twice a day service in regular cabins.   It is a downward spiral when it comes to the quality of mass market cruising.

 

Hank

Good insights.  Thanks for sharing.

13 hours ago, TAD2005 said:

Considering the level of bad press and public opinion that this "test plan" generated, I am amazed that as a CCL shareholder,  you would want to promote a plan that had a negative impact on the company.  If the plan was successful, then it would be a done deal.  It apparently was not well received by passengers AND crew, so it was dumped.   As told to me by the food & beverage manager on the Eurodam, one of the test ships, the real food waste is in the Lido market, not the MDR.  The revenue gained by hitting up the few guests who actually ask for a 2nd main course is far offset by the bad publicity of the program.

You are certainly entitled to your opinion and I am entitled to mine.  The fact that HAL did not immediately implement the surcharge after the test concluded is probative of nothing, as is the "bad press and public opinion" allegedly surrounding the test.  In all likelihood, HAL is currently working on some variation of the $10 surcharge plan and may run future "tests" on some of those plans.  Whether HAL's goal is to reduce waste or increase revenue (or both), I think it is likely some variation of the recent test plan will be implemented ... probably in both the MDR and Lido.

On 4/20/2019 at 9:22 AM, Windsailer said:

Probably the only way we will find out how this experiment turned out (in HALs eyes) is if and when the $10 surcharge shows up on the menus again. 

As a CCL shareholder, I hope a $10 surcharge for each extra entree is implemented by HAL.