2LoveBikes

We are on the Rotterdam now and were saddened by the news.  Capt and Cruise Director made appropriate sincere announcements on the ship.  Also mentioned at the Mass that was held this morning.

I think you will be happy with the music venue on Nieuw Statendam.  Lots of dancing opportunities with the BB King All Stars.  If you haven't seen the Step One dance performances before, you will enjoy them, especially Humanities and Musicology.  Go to the cruise and travel director's talks in the theater; they are interesting and well done, especially the Origin Story.  Food and service and friendliness of crew are superlative.  Enjoy your trip!

Some may be looking too much into why HAL implemented the program. 

I believe that the new standby program is a creative way to way to fill cabins when and if flight cancellations blanket the country which leaves HAL in the lurch.  HAL has a deep (qualified) bench waiting to get in the game all they have to do is send them an email and pull the trigger to fill the empty cabins.  They have a baseline of guests that have already paid, prequalified and they can offer upgrades for higher level inventories as well.

Happy sailing!

Thanks.  What's nice is it was an unobstructed verandah on deck 8.

We are on Nieuw Amsterdam Mar 2 sailing.  We were notified of confirmation on Tuesday for an inside cabin but took an upgrade offer to Oceanview for $98 for the cabin.  We accepted and were called to upgrade to a verandah for $149 pp which we accepted. Total additional upgrade was $396.00

On 3/1/2024 at 2:07 PM, Menocchio said:

 

To ALL - at what point were you allowed to CHECK-IN before you received confirmation that you were CONFIRMED to travel?  Thanks

If you use this link on your ship day of departure it will give you a list of ships with their arrival/dept  terminals.  I use it all the time:

https://pevvesseltraffic.broward.org/webx/

We have about 40 cruises with HAL and perhaps  3 times a priest was not on board.  Like others said it was due to illness.  Several times Guest Services check the passenger manifest and found a priest on vacation and he filled in with daily Mass.  We love HALs commitment to providing this service.  We include this in our surveys as well.

The process could be improved if HAL would take some added preventative steps:

1. Assign boarding times according to early vs late dining seating. Mixing everyone creates stress and disorganization.

2. Survey incoming cruisers in advance (before boarding) on any food allergies.

3. Find ways to solicit/resolve new (boarding) passenger special dining request.

a. Example allow incoming passengers to make request via Navigator 7 days in advance of boarding (ie. names/ room#s in party).

Trying to resolve dining issues on embarkation day creates long lines/& stress especially when dealing with rushing from flights, waiting for luggage, unpacking and making shore excursion reservations.  Passengers from that first encounter form opinions on their experience which is difficult to forget.

Presently, after the 1st day the issues tend to get resolved but the question is why can't the problems get resolved up front rather than later.

My mistake.  I meant Puntarenas in Costa Rica.

HAL Zaandam arrived in Puntarenas today.  

1. Which tour did you take today?

2.  How was your tour?

3.  Would you recommend to others?

Thanks

Wonderful sail away.  Will be on her Jan4- Jan19 with Panama Canal crossing.

This is a clip of the Zaandam leaving today.

Condolences to family and thank you for the many pleasures of watching the cam from Port Everglades

You can Google the price on Uber. I'm sure it will come out cheaper 

Nice

Hope you are feeling better soon!

My wife and I cruised throughout the pandemic (when ships were allowed to sail). We decided to always wear our mask whenever around people, sit at table for two and sanitize our hands frequently. We bring spare test kits and include them on our packing check list.  We use the KF94 mask which is more breathable and comfortable and for the ladies come in fashion colors and can be purchased in lots of 50 (if you need).  Most of all - It has become a way of life and thus we can still enjoy ourselves i.e. dancing, going to shows and interacting with others we meet.  I don't think it makes us look odd as we continue to meet new friends. We cruise about 8X a year (mostly HAL, Celebrity, Carnival & MSC)

Take the Tri-Rail from Delray Beach to Ft. Lauderdale Station and then Uber to the port.

Or

Ft. Lauderdale TriRail Station has a FREE shuttle to Ft. Lauderdale Airport.  Then take Uber to the Port.  (depends if you want the cheaper way if you have time.

I wish HAL had a more inclusive culture by involving their Mariners for suggestions / feedback about changes and modifications.  They removed the libraries and now spending money and time to put them back.

We bring home the wheel of cheese often.  It can stay out of the refrigerator for a week.  We put it in our fridge in the cabin by shifting stuff around.  Or you can ask your steward to take the stuff out of your fridge so it can fit.  It must stay wrapped in the wax to get it off the cruise.  (I.e.  Don't open it until you get home.)

Because of the confusion of many and my first-hand experience aboard ship at Guest Service, I just finished with a call to the Mariners Society (1-800-547-9139).  I was told that the designated Club Orange line is "ALSO for 4* & 5* Mariners and also those in suites as well.  They committed to discussion with her supervisor so that better communication will be sent to the fleet. I thanked her and said I will be sailing tomorrow and hopefully there will be a change.

I also mentioned that Carnival has a dedicated Guest Services line for Platinum and Diamond loyalty guest.  Celebrity also has a line for Captain's Club Elites and above.  Hope this helps everyone.

I agree with many of the responses regarding safety, smells,; all of which can get really out of hand.

Perhaps one suggestion in addition to movie night would be to have popcorn available under the control of the Activities coordinator 1X per day during some of the trivia events.

Does anyone know if HAL will allow you to pop your own popcorn on the ship using the ships microwave somewhere?

We were on Zuiderdam in October.  They had Stevia plus sweet an low etc..Blue, green, pink.  We also bring our own too.

Just got off Zuiderdam Sep 30 thru Oct 10.  We had a priest and daily Catholic Mass. Fr. Paul Parker.