Hlitner

Here on the Westerdam, water has been the typical plastic bottles. No problem if you want water or soft drink cans unopened.

Welcome to the world of HAL where customers have little clue as to what they get on any specific cruise. Consider we had a terrific Lincoln Center group in March but have had nothing but a dark room for the past 3 weeks. No cooking demos on this ship, no crew shows. Little entertainment, etc. We will be sticking to cruise lines that deliver a more predictable product

We have a week of sea days until we get to Kodiak. Unless somebody learns how to make decent pizza dough, we are in trouble 🤧

This evening was special and let me explain. Went to,dinner at 7:30 and shared a decent table with an English couple and a couple from Singapore. It was another delightful dinner, not because of the mediocre food, but our interesting table mates. After dinner we went to the main stage for the 9:30 Step One show only to discover it was cancelled due to ship movement. No surprise to us since this was the third Step One show cancelled on our cruise. What a job! DW and I then walked over to Billboard to catch the end of the set performed by the two players/singers who were having a good night. At 10, we went to the Rolling Stone Lounge to catch the last set (which ends at 11) of the excellent Rolling Stone Lounge Group. They did a terrific third set to about 20 awake passengers. But then the magic happened. About 10:50, they played their last song which was a request for Purple Rain. A couple ( he in his 70s and she a bit younger) got up to dance and put on a show that would have shamed the Step One dancers. This older couple had no problem with the seas, and put on one of the best dance performances I have ever seen on any ship. They danced, did lifts, and moves beyond description, all, on a night when the young healthy professional dancers could not perform. It was the best entertainment we have seen on this cruise, and happy that DW and I were among the few awake to see it. As to the Step One dancers, we wonder if we will even see them again on this voyage. We only have 13 remaining nights, and the ship is likely to move on many nights. Perhaps HAL has a dozen BBC documentaries to fill those evenings. They are a good dance group, but since boarding the ship in March, they have cancelled 3 out of 6 shows (at 9:30). I suspect that the folks in Seattle who decided to rely on small group,dance companies were not aware that ships,move upon the sea and dancing on a moving ship is a tough business. Leave it to 70+ dancer to show the way. This has me thinking about a solution to the lack of entertainment. Perhaps HAL should solicit acts from among the passengers who could work for free lobster tails. Yesterday I mentioned that we were again overcharged for drinks. HAL, following a message from me, again corrected the errors without comment. The onboard staff seems competent at correcting errors (only after pointed out by passengers). But the question that remains is why we keep seeing these accounting errors. I sometimes think we are in a contest with HAL called , “find the billing errors!” Those that spot the errors are rewarded, but others simply pay the extra price without having a clue. Hank

Sounds like HAL is “looking” at many things and delivering next to nothing. We are living in the now, and the “now” on this particular ship at this particular time is nowhere near the standard we have expected from HAL or any other line that we cruise. Perhaps the new HAL marketing campaign should be entitled “Promises, Promises.” As stated in an earlier post, what we have here is, at best, just OK. If and when HAL delivers on what you forecast, we might return. For now, based on what we have experienced in the past 4 weeks on this vessel, we would not recommend that any of our friends book HAL until there is tangible proof of improvements in entertainment and cuisine.

Getting back to this specific cruise, the Captain just informed us to expect a pretty rough crossing to Kodiak, with forecasted 5 meter seas. There is a major storm developing to our north, that is expected to move east and stay with us as we cross the Pacific. A good chance we will have plenty of Rock and Roll onboard. This all ties in with the cancelation of Kushiro, as the Captain is planning on a more southern route to avid the worst of the forecasted storm. We appear to have increased our inventory of booze, so I guess we will be well “fortified” in the event of rough seas 🤯 Hank

You do realize there are no more cooking demos, Lincoln Center Stage performances are either gone, or on their way to gone, and the show might by the “HAL Story” or a BBC documentary? Also no more crew shows. Hank

That is what we see today on the Westerdam. However, there are also add-ons in both restaurants. Fir example, just ordering a soup starter and salad, in the PG, will result in an extra $7 + 18%. And you will get a bill with a place to add an extra tip 👟😐

ROFL. I do not see anymore HAL in our future, although anything is possible. If we tried to sum up the current HAL in a word it would be “OK.” But, we can get better than “OK” so future cruises on HAL make little sense. If HAL ever returns to its previous quality than we would also return. We just returned to the ship from a wonderful few hours in Yokohama along with some decent food in Chinatown. We are now looking forward to 6 consecutive relaxing sea days. Upon returning to the ship terminal, we quickly passed through Japan’s exit processing. For those planning to cruise in this land we would suggest having a few empty Passport pages. The entrance/exit process can take a page for each cycle. Hank

Our Signature Suite is serviced twice a day by truly excellent stewards. Funny how all the billing errors are in HALs favor.

Yes or at least Maybe. The onboard accounting system is so flawed that one must carefully monitor credits and debits. We did have 1 shuttle covered by HIA credits which is correct since the shuttles are sold as an Excursion. Hank

68-70 on The Hill. I was part of USAFSS, but think that entire operation was shut down years ago. We used to do some Camping near Lake Towada.

Greetings All, Loved Cruisemom’s photos and we have similar photos on our phone as we did go to Kamakura today. it cost us about $4.00 pp for the train from Yokohama and another $3 in admission fees. DW thought it the most amazing Buddha she has seen (I still favor the one in Nara), but we had a fantastic day…until we returned to the ship. So now starts our third 14 day segment and we are welcomed with $28.28 in drink overcharges on the first evening. Folks, I believe this now the 7th time we have been overcharged. My patience with HAL is growing thin. To make matters worse, since our itinerary was changed and our excursion cancelled (by HAL) we reluctantly booked another $200+ excursion (in Alaska). We have already been charged for the excursion which should be covered by our $200 HIA credit. But alas, the shore excursion folks admit they still do not have their own cancellation information and it “might” all get fixed in the next few days. Bottom line is that lesser mortals would be jailed for such an awful and lax accounting system. One wonders how much money is lost to those who do not carefully monitor their accounts. This evening we dined in the PG. Our dinners were pretty good, but it would have been nice to have a Caesar Salad without having to pay an extra $7 + 18% on top of the $39 + 18%. To be honest, we did not pay anything because the PG dinner was a loyalty perk and we did not dare order a salad, I wish we had the nerve to follow our hearts and bring in a free Caesar Salad from the Lido! So back to my pet peeve which is HAL entertainment. Several hundred new voyagers boarded today and were welcomed with a single 7:30 main show of the History of HAL. The Lincoln Stage remains dark since there is no Lincoln Stage Group on the ship. The excellent Rolling Stone Group was off tonight, although there was some recorded music in that near empty venue. Our onboard light jazz trio did play a few sets in the Ocean Bar. The only entertainment after 8:15, was the Billboard duel piano players (they are OK, but not better than OK) which had an audience of about 30. The Casino is closed (because we are in port) so we assume nearly all the remaining 2000 passengers went to bed by 9…..out of sheer boredom. In the past, some posters have referred to HAL as a floating nursing home (I prefer assisted living center). But I now think this would be insulting to many nursing homes who probably have more activities and entertainment, By the way, I finally broke down and grabbed some pizza, at the Lido, this afternoon. To say it is the worst pizza at sea would be insulting bad pizza. HAL knows how to make acceptable pizza (they do it on some other ships) but here we get partially cooked, too thick dough, with OK toppings. Fortunately, the Dive-In burgers, fries and dogs are decent. DW and I are suffering “pizza withdrawal” and happen to be in one of the few countries where it is difficult to find decent pizza. Finally, we send our best wishes to all of our new found friends who debarked today, and wish them all a safe journey and long healthy lives :). Hank

If you simply want a med evac policy, check out medjetsssist.com. Hank

It looks like there is availability for some of the Alaska excursions, so we will either need to book something we do not want or kiss the credit goodbye. This last minute itinerary change does give us another day here in Yokohama which is a fabulous port because of its location. It is about a 10 min stroll to the subway which links to both the JR train system and regional subways. We are relaxing in the Crows Nest trying to develop a plan. We are thinking of taking the train to Kamakura and suffering through a few more Temples. Just a matter of getting out of our comfy chairs and leaving the ship. Hank

We do hope you are wrong. But we shall play their games..for now.

We were told today, that our April 26 visit to Kushiro has been cancelled due to forecasted high winds/seas. Hank

I will try to explain how things are now working in Japan. They do not have a zero out process similar to the USA. Instead, they do a face to face every time you enter and leave Japan. But if a cruise ship is simply moving between Japanese ports, there are no further immigration procedures until such time as the ship is leaving Japan (I.e. going to Korea, Taiwan, USA, etc). So a turn around day in Yokohama, may or may not involve immigration procedures depending on the previous and following ports. And finally, Passport checks can happen at any Japanese port, so folks are required to carry Passports when going ashore. If there is a routine Passport check it usually happens in a terminal as is a fast procedure. But the face to face immigration procedures (when entering or leaving the country) can take 3+ hours to handle all the passengers. But once you have had the face to face you are free to go ashore or return to the ship. Hank

Today is a sea day with sunny skies and cool temps in the mid to upper 50s. The Captain announced that he had cancelled the April 26 port day in Kushiro due to forecasted high winds and rough seas. Since they can night find a substitute port we will spend overnight April 24-25 in Yokohama. This means that those boarding tomorrow will get no Japanese ports. I am interested to see how HAL handles those with HIA packages. We got $200 pp in shore excursion credit and used it to book a $220 excursion in Kushiro. So now, we will have that credit with no decent option to spend it (most decent tours in our few AK stops are already booked. At this point we do not even have any access to AK tour info on the Navigator app. I should mention that onboard supply issues have been changing. This morning, Earl Gray tea was available for the first time in over 3 weeks. Beer selection has been constantly waning as has the wine selection. We are hoping to get resupplied in Yokohama, but only time will tell. Hank

One other issue, meaningless to me. We left port around 6:30 pm, as the Captain managed to maneuver, in significant wind with the help of two tugs. But now, at 10:20, the casino remains closed. Why? We should have been in international waters before 8pm. Perhaps our smooth seas are also too much for the slots. Strange cruise line is this. Hank

It is 9:30 and I am sitting in Billboard listening to the mediocre performers. Why? For the 2nd, maybe the third, time we have boarded the ship our Step 1 show was suddenly cancelled because of sea conditions. If the ship is moving, we can not feel it and our drinks are dead still in the glass. While I understand that safety is Number 1, this is a bridge too far. It makes a case for less dancing and more music. Speaking of music, our only option for now are the Billboard pianos or pre recorded music in Rolling Stone. Dinner tonight was with a nice British Couple who agreed with the theme that there are better options than HAL. They also mentioned they have heard much of the same from many folks. As to Cruisemom, if we do not see you we wish you a safe trip home. Tonight we have a new shortage which are limes in the bars. We suggested we could buy limes in Yokohama and bring them aboard to give our favorite bar tenders, but it was suggested it would either be contrary to the rules or we might need to pay a “lime corkage fee.” I would also be happy to donate some Cognac to our favorite bar, but HAL would also not permit that practice just like they will not resupply our ship with booz that has been absent for months. Read Cruisemom’s, post about Canoletto and we were also underwhelmed with the venue and the policies of the day. We had planned on dining at Canoletto, 3 times, on the next cruise but decided to keep it to one visit. So we will enjoy the piano players (the only live entertainment) as the alternative is to go to bed at 10. One other issue. Tonight, DW and I had Wiener Schnitzel. But it was made with pork (not veal) which would be Illegal in Austria. Another cut-back. Hank

We often discuss these kinds of insurance issues on the CC/Cruise discussion topics/ trip cruise insurance board. And by the way, some (not all) Medicare Advantage Plans do include some out of the country coverage for Emergency/Urgent Care. Folks need to be aware that nearly all out of country coverage will require you to pay the bills and later seek reimbursement. Hank

After lunch on the ship, we decided to again brave the chilly wind and go ashore. This time we walked (about 10 min) to the Redbrick warehouse shopping area and spent an hour exploring the various shops/stalls. DIY ALERT. Folks, two of the major tourist attractions in this port are a stone’s throw from the port. Another, the cable car (called a ropeway) is also walkable from the ship and costs about $14 to ride. The ship’s excursion that covers those 3 places costs $130 pp So a couple can save over $230 by simply crossing the street from the port and adding another couple of miles of strolling! If you can’t handle the longer walk to the Ropeway, a taxi would cost you less than $10. Do you really need a guide to drop you at two different market venues? As to the Ropeway, as predicted it was closed due to high winds. The other excursion options from Hakodate are somewhat underwhelming. This is one of those ports that should be on a comprehensive itinerary, but lacks the great tourist options found in other more popular ports. The port is right across the street from the train station, but unlike many other ports in Japan, there really is nowhere to go on a train (for cruisers). Hank

Using bikes in Japan is routine with many cities having marked bike lanes (often ignored by pedestrians. We have had quite a few windy days and have often seen groups of parked bikes that were blown over. Our Captain, somehow got us docked (on schedule) in Hakodate in crazy gale force winds. We are docked next to the popular morning market where I saw a lot of King Crabs, and many other type crabs. Prices are typically high for King crab legs (I saw 3 for about $100). We also noticed squid ink ice cream 🤮 which some describe as fishy tasting vanilla. DW and I started to walk a few blocks to the Red Warehouse shopping area, but the winds were so nasty that we gave up ( for now) and returned to the ship for some morning libations. Our Captain continues to do an excellent job getting us in and out of ports on schedule. This is the last port on this 14 day segment and, this evening, we will start cruising south towards Yokohama for another turn-around day. I will again reiterate that DW and I have enjoyed this cruise and its itinerary. We have not had the best weather, but that is just part of the travel game. As mostly independent travelers, we can often adapt our plans to the weather. Other times you just go with the flow, even when that means rain is flowing over your eyes. One shocker, for me, was noticing that it still takes nearly 4 hours from Hakodate to Sapporo via train….just as it did when I lived in Northern Japan 53 years ago. Train travel in Japan is generally fantastic, but not for those who want to go to Sapporo. Hank