richwmn

quick question...are there DVD players in all cabins of the Westerdam?

quick answer - yes

all ships / all cabins

HAL (and all the other major cruise lines) operate a cashless system onboard ships. Anything you buy onboard, including stuff at the shops, Bingo cards, drinks, etc. are simply charged to your onboard account. If you register a credit card at embarkation, then your final account of onboard charges will be automatically charged to your credit card and you will receive an itemized statement (in your cabin) on the last morning. If you do prefer to settle your bill by cash you can go to the Guest Relations Desk (generally on the last evening of the cruise) and pay your statement in cash.

 

The only time you really need cash onboard is in the Casino (although you can get credit and not use cash here) and if you want to give some small cash tips to certain crew members (most folks tip the room service steward $2 or $3 if you order room service items.

 

Hank

 

If you register a credit card and then chose to settle you account in cash, the highlighted information is correct.

 

If you don't wish to register a credit card you will be required to have cash deposited in your onboard account equal to the "hold" that would be placed on a credit card. That would be $60/day for cruises under 30 days. That deposit could be done by credit card and you would still get whatever points are available - sometimes more if you set up more cash than you spend. At the end of the cruise, any excess is refunded. In my experience the refund is in cash.

That could be accurate dates.... I don't know but I do know it was far more than 6 months.

 

As to cruise lines sailing ships smoke free, some are sailing very close to smoke free.

There is very little smoking permitted on many cruise lines. No smoking in any cabins or verandahs and that is a major step HAL needs to take.

Many of us will continue to firmly make our opinions known it is time they do join so many other cruise lines and get rid of verandah smoking. The time is past due for HAL to provide smoke free verandahs for the comfort, safety and enjoyment of the vast majority of their guests. When the percentage of smokers is under 20%, the other 80% have a very loud voice. It is that loud voice that has had smoking eliminated in so many venues that previously permitted smoking. This is the last smoking fight we need wrestle.

 

Sail -- sorry but I am going to take issue with two of your statements.

1.

When the percentage of smokers is under 20%, the other 80% have a very loud voice.

While it is true that about 20% of the population smokes, your assertion that the entire remaining 80% shares your opinion about smoking can not be justified. At most, about 20% of the population would have the loud voice against smoking. The remaining 60% (give or take) don't care or are not effected by smoking. If 80% of the passengers were as vocal against smoking as you are, HAL would have restricted smoking more already.

 

2.

This is the last smoking fight we need wrestle.

Unfortunately, this is not true. At each step restricting smokers, those vocal against smoking have continued to ask for, and get, more.

 

3. Ultimately, this is a money decision for HAL - although it is one you don't agree with. If and when the issue begins to drop the bottom line, it will be addressed again.

I tried that too Rich. The reason that I show up is that I have been mentioned a number of times both in post titles and bodies.

 

funny how search engines show different results for different people. I just tried

site:boards.cruisecritic.com scrustyrock

and the first page was full of entries on cruise critics for that name

 

Besides ... even if a person IS in the Member List, with searching still disabled we still can't find any of their posts! ;)

 

When using google (and I believe yahoo) search, you can use the following:

 

site:boards.cruisecritic.com cruisering

 

this tells the search engine to report only matches on the requested site.

 

Doing so for "cruisering" does not seem to show a member posting by that name, using "jtl513" (for example) brings up a bunch. From that I would think that cruisering has never been used on this forum

 

Rich

I like to take the time, especially on sea days, to be out of touch. I usually lock my iWhatever in my safe and just take it out if I want it on shore. I would like to see the daily programs on the room tv. Something else I'd like is to see the programs posted or shown in different places around the ship. That way, if I want to see what's happening, I won't have to carry paper or return to my cabin to check the schedule.

 

For motion sickness, DH likes bonine and benedryl usually works for me, as well as helping with my allergies. I probably just misspelled both of those. Correction: I just noticed someone posted the Bonine suggestion... what he or she said, take it before you need it.

 

 

Trish

 

For that part, at least, it is already done (sort of). Ask any bartender and they will let you look at the current schedule.

The Dining Room maps that are provided on the halfacts.com site were provided by ships services for all ships on Jan 15, 2014 so they should be correct.

 

Prior to that date the maps that were available had been provided by CC members and it was thought that all ships of the same class used the same table numbers. I believe some differences were pointed out.

 

Hope that helps everyone.

 

Rich

Going on the Oasis in a few weeks and we are looking for parking for a week in Ft Lauderdale that is self parking (not valet) and in a fenced area. Any suggestions?

 

Thanks in advance for your help.

Crusin Nut

 

Highly recommend Park & Go which is located right at the Port. I got a great rate by pre-booking online. Their service was prompt and courteous!!

 

I found them by the many recommendations they received on these boards.

 

I will definately use them every time we sail from FLL.

 

When I cruised in December I used Park & Go for the first time, and while the service was good, it was valet. I have also used Park & Fly (just as convenient) and at least a couple of years ago it was self park.

You might want to try

http://www.openstreetmap.org

 

high quality maps, free to use.

 

The maps can be exported for use on GPS units

And you can add Marriiott to the esteemed list.

 

My card (used to secure the reservation) and DH's were both fraudulently used. On the news last night = huge problem at Marriott for fraud - Yeah, tell me about it - not going to be our hotel of choice in the future. I had a long chat with the security officer there, plus emailed and to date, he has never let me know a thing. The only thing in common our two cards had was the Marriott and I told our credit card company that very thing.

 

Big red flag for me. I love the hotel, but until someone tells me that they have things tightened down, I don't have the time or the energy to go through two more issues of counterfeited cards.

 

Jacqui -

Please don't paint Marriott in general with this broad brush. Most, if not all, hotels are not owned by the brand name (Marriott in this case). They are owned by REIT's which control things like which credit card processor to use.

There is a local group here that owns a Hilton Garden, a Holiday Inn, a Holiday Inn Express and a Springhill Suites. The group that had a problem owns quite a few hotels of different brands.

The hotels are franchises. While the franchisor sets some standards, most decisions are made by the board of the REIT.

 

Rich

If you ever decide to go back and label the cabin numbers for type, I suggest something very simple:

I - inside

OV - ocean view (window)

Lanai

B - balcony

S - suite

PS - penthouse

Add HC to any of the above as appropriate.

 

The actual cabin won't change, but the various categories within each type may change.

 

Thank you!

 

Marie

 

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Forums mobile app

 

Just Inside, OV, and Balcony designations would be great.

 

ok - I have a request. I just printed a list of the cabins we have in each class, and referenced Prinsendam, R, & S classes to what type of cabin they are (I inside, OV, PV Partial View, V Verandah, S Suite) and those 9 ships seemed pretty straightforward.

 

However, when I get to Vista Class there seem to be some cabin number problems. One (5090) we already had a note on as aft-wrap seems to be in the middle of the ship where 5190 looks to be the aft-wrap. 7132 also has an aft-wrap note, but seems to be an inside.

 

Could those that sent in Vista pictures confirm, either here or by email, what type of cabin they are.

 

In addition, all new submissions should contain a reference to the type of cabin.

 

Thanks

[quote name='gigianne']Jacqui - I am not the least bit concerned that the photos I sent you more then a few days ago are not posted. Getting a new site up and operational is not an easy task and I do know you also keep a couple other threads going as well. We all appreciate what you do - and we do have patience!![/quote]
With a couple exceptions of pages that Kazu started and was working with people on, I believe everything has been caught up now. If you don't see your cabins posted, please send a note and I will see if I can find them.

Rich

[quote name='rafinmd']Sorry to hear about the attack. One slight correction. The Veendam cabin I submitted is 660, not 600.

Roy[/quote]
It has been fixed - sorry, my fault.

Rich

The Halfacts website is certainly a go-to-site for me. You filled an unfortunate gap in information as soon as the need arose.

 

The volunteer effort is impressive and in my mind, just as valuable to me as comments on the CC forums. That got me thinking about your site and it's relation to: those that cruise, those that want to cruise and the CC forum. I can't determine if your website is advertised anywhere other than on the CC forums but I suspect not. With such a strong connection, I don't understand the refusal to create either an announcement or a sticky advertising your web site. Also, (forgetting the volunteer work) I trust that you are out-of-pocket for the cost of the website. So that begs the question: assuming you would still volunteer the effort needed to create the site, why isn't the web site hosted by CC itself?

 

To answer some of your questions, I am the one who is "out of pocket" for this website. From my standpoint it is not much and is pretty much hidden in some of my other work so it is not a big deal.

 

As far as advertising the site, from previous experience I know that users of this site are not limited to CC. While the 3 of us (AFAIK) have not advertised it outside CC, without a doubt the other similar sites know about it now, or will shortly. Many members here, including myself, are members of at least one other cruise forum and some post reqularly (I don't). In checking the logs for previous information I found direct links from many places, not the least of which was google.

 

As to why the site isn't hosted by CC - they haven't made an effort and if they did would most likely have to do it for all lines. I don't think it would be worth their time.

 

Rich

Good morning. I have time to work on this as well today. We should be able to get caught up.

A reminder - please include your CC name, the cabin number, and the date the pictures were taken. We would like to credit everyone for the pictures as we feel this site is a community effort. If you don't want credit, just let us know in the email.

All of the "Class" pages have been updated to show "Dining Room" rather than "Upper Dining Room". Each pdf shows both levels, each on a page.

 

Sorry, I guess I should have changed that earlier. My thought was that most people wanted to use the chart for traditional seating, so the title was ok.

 

Rich

[quote name='Linda&Vern'][SIZE=3][FONT=Comic Sans MS][COLOR=Blue]:eek: I am so confused about all this that at this point I wouldn't even try to send pictures. After reading all of this thread I am still wondering why it matters what source your photos are sent from and how does anyone know what that site is? It's like we need to read between the lines to figure out what's okay and what's not. I certainly couldn't tell what source KK's beautiful PH photos came from. I too am not a computer geek - but thought I knew a lot more than I obviously do. Truthfully, I'm not sure if I should bother trying to get cabin photos for you while on my upcoming cruise.[/COLOR][/FONT][/SIZE][/quote]
As long as you email us the pictures, everything is ok. The problem is that KK is protective of her email address and tried to get us her pictures by posting them here. Unfortunately, the pictures were stored on a site that, like TA sites, CC doesn't allow.
Like everything else - this too shall pass.
Please email us any pictures you fell would be helpful to other CC members

Thanks

Rich

[quote name='Krazy Kruizers'][FONT=Comic Sans MS][SIZE=5]Sorry that I screwed everything up.[/SIZE][/FONT]

[FONT=Comic Sans MS][SIZE=5]I just didn't want to try and start a new e-mail address -- I had so much trouble creating a second for something else I had to do that I had to fight to get back my regular e-mail address.[/SIZE][/FONT]

[FONT=Comic Sans MS][SIZE=5]My Security system threw out my e-mail address I used regularly and it was over a week before I got it straightened out. The default was the big problem.[/SIZE][/FONT]

[FONT=Comic Sans MS][SIZE=5]I am not a computer geek like so many of you.[/SIZE][/FONT][/quote]

KK - the two services I pointed you to in post #10 use a web based (browser) interface so they don't make any changes to your computer at all. After you set the accounts up, you just go to the same places ([url]http://mail.yahoo.com[/url] or [url]http://gmail.com[/url]) and sign in to look at your mail or send out emails.

Rich

Most banks have pre paid travel visas. For 4.95 you put the cash on the card and tgen use it as a regular credit card. If possible financially you coukd get one and load it with the required amount to be held. After the cruise you can continue using whatever is left. The card doesn't expire so on future trips you coukd load it the same way. No credit limits, no credit checks, yet fully functioning credit card.

 

Sent from my SCH-I915 using Forums mobile app

 

Check with HAL (or any other provider for that matter) and make sure it will work. I seem to remember reading somewhere that HAL doesn't take pre-paid cards.

[quote name='nana51']I have been on 3 cruises, have pictures of all the rooms, but have no idea what their rooms #'s were. would Holland America have that info on the website?[/quote]
If you contact the Mariner's Society they might have the information. In fact, since you can request a reprint of your final statement (which includes the cabin number) it might be easy for them.

Rich

I'm having trouble accessing Nieuw Amsterdam 7138. It is listed under the Vista Class ships.

Are you able to get it fixed or do you need new copies of the pictures?

 

Should be fixed - thanks for letting us know.

They will put a hold on the card for the full amount before you sail. Lat year we were on our honeymoon so had over $1500 in OBC from wedding gifts. HAL still put a hold for $840 on our card day one.

I've heard Celebrity and possibly others only put holds on as needed (supposedly a daily hold once your OBC has been used up). You might check with HAL to see if with sufficient advance OBC a hold could be waived.

If you have OBC equal to or greater than the "hold" would be, all you need to do is select "cash" as your payment method. When you check in you will be told to check in with the front desk. When I do, they look and see the credit and say thank you. At the end of the cruise, any refundable credit is returned.

I don't remember how to set up a 3rd e-mail account not using anything that deals with Comcast.

 

The easiest way is to go to

 

http://mail.yahoo.com

 

or

 

http://gmail.com

 

and click on the link that says create new account.

 

Each will step you thru the process of setting up an account without too much trouble

 

Rich

My memory isn't clear on this, because we've never been in a position to do this. I recall getting letters in the past from HAL, shortly after arriving home, stating that if we booked another cruise within (60? 90?) days of returning we would get OBC, or something?

 

Does HAL still do this? I think there was a code for it.

 

HAL still does this. There is a code but I can't remember it. When I book within the proper time frame my PVP knows what the code is and applies it. I would think that a good TA would know the code as well

as I posted this morning, I realized that my two star HAL symbol is not showing and scrolling through other posts, I notice other Hal star symbols missing.

 

I am assuming this is because the web site we copied them from has been taken down. Is there somewhere else we can link to these symbols for Cruise Critic?

 

Thanks in advance for all your replies. This board has answer to questions I sometimes didn't know I even had:D

 

 

I believe that some people were linking to the basic "star" symbols on the HAL site - I have no idea on what HAL feels about this. The link is

 

https://www.hollandamerica.com/images/5starMariner.gif

 

Change the 5 to whatever star level you are.

 

On another thread Joanie stated that the animated stars were her creation and she has not offered them to the HALFACTS site.

 

Rich