richwmn

I have just added a few more cabins. Hope y'all enjoy.

 

There are a couple of cabins that do not yet include provider and / or date as they were not supplied. If you did not supply your screen name, please let me know and I will add it.

 

thanks

 

Rich

If I remember correctly, there used to be a switch on the headboard that you could turn on to receive the announcements in the room. That is now gone. I have never been able to find the announcements on the TV. Some rooms you can't hear announcements at all and some you can hear if you get near the door. I also think the announcements should be on one of the channels. Some of the announcements are important. It would be nice if you could hear them.

On the Zaandam last year there was still a multichannel switch on the headboard, and a volume control. I believe the announcements were on channel 1 and music was on a couple of the other channels.

On the Eurodam last month the announcements were on a TV channel, I believe it was either 40 or 44.

 

Rich

I am always impressed with people who volunteer to spend untold hours to provide a service to others for no personal gain, other than the satisfaction of knowing that their efforts will benefit many.

 

I have built a website for a volunteer society before, so I know this is a large task with a major time commitment. Your efforts will be much appreciated by many.

 

I know many HAL cruisers like the format of ship class being the headings, but I find they defeat the "quick and easy" format requested by most posters.

 

Although we have sailed many HAL ships, and they are our line of preference, I do not know which class each ship is in. It really is not of interest to me, so I have not made an effort to remember them. Also, new cruisers will certainly not identify their ship by it's class.

 

For me, I checked the new site looking for information on the Noordam. I knew it wasn't the Prinsendam, so was able to save myself one click. But it took me 4 clicks before I was able to find it. This is a definite frustration which would detract from my enjoyment of using the site. If you don't know which class your ship is in, it can easily be more than "just one extra click".

 

I would like to suggest that the headings show the names of the ships without having to click on a tab to find them. If ship class is considered important to show, could you list them with the ship names showing as sub headings on the homepage? I feel this would be a big positive for many users.

 

I will forward some pictures I have from a couple of cruises we have taken as soon as I can. I do like the suggestion of posting a list of what pictures to take for a "cabin standard". It would make it easy to compare if we all took a basic set of each cabin. Extra pictures to add to the basic standard would then be bonus.

 

Thank you for your efforts to provide a much appreciated source of valued information for HAL cruisers. I know I, for one, am looking forward to being able to refer to it for preparing for our next cruise on our DAM ships!

When you "hover" your mouse over the heading, ie Vista, the names of the ships in the class should appear below the class name. I hope that is satisfactory for most people.

Rich

You may already know this. There is a small navigation problem on your site. If you hover over R Class and then click on Amsterdam, you do not see the 7002 cabin pictures. If you click on the link you gave or click on R Class, it works.

Chris is supposed to fix that this evening. Thanks

 

Rich

I have a headache just thinking about what an enormous undertaking this is for you, and having to start from scratch. Even more onerous given the upcoming changes. So you have my utmost admiration.

 

I am not techie-minded, so do I just send my photos in one email, per ship, as attachments, and put the date in the body of the email? (And I will put month and day as in May/13!)

 

That would work very well, thanks.

 

Rich

I realize that I'm straying from topic here, however, I'm guessing that there are many folks in this thread who would be able (and willing!) to help.

 

Does anyone have pics of the following?

 

1. Room 6166; 6177; 7142; 7151; 8140; 8147 (Neptune Suite on Zuiderdam)

 

2. Room 7002; 7004; 7006; 7036 (Neptune & Vista Suites on Volendam)?

 

Thanks so much!!!

 

7002 on the Amsterdam has been posted and should be very similar to the same cabin on the Volendam. Just go to http://www.halfacts.com/r-class.

The cabin photos currently there (Prinsendam 303) has a heading

 

"Provided by jtl513 taken 5-13".

 

Would it be possible to put all dates as month name and year to save any confusion. eg May 2013

 

Could you also put a note to say which category the cabin is

 

Thank you

 

Otherwise it looks like the new layout will be very good

 

I published what I received. In an earlier post (#78) I requested that the date be provided with the month spelled out.

 

Rich

I like the ease of navigation a lot! But I'd like it more if you could include a modicum of text. :)

 

I take it you've settled on 300x300 as the max size?

 

The date for the 418 Veendam I sent is Oct '11

click on the picture for a larger view.

 

Rich

Do you have any preference in how we email pix? ( to make organization faster)

IE: ship name, cabin# in subject? )

 

I'll be sending some by next weekend but I don't have many. Due to the request by several will include pix out the semi obstructed windows.

 

Having the ship name / cabin / date in subject line would help, but as long as the information is in the body I can handle it.

 

Also, for ease in understanding, please use month name or abbr, vice number.

 

Rich

Looking good Rich

 

Perhaps consider putting S class behind PRDM and in front of R class if you're going by age - Same with reversing Vista and Signature - or I could be super anal ;)

 

Will check on it. Classes are currently in Alpha order. Chris will be the one to change that.

 

Rich

Good evening all!

We had a good discussion earlier and now have the site organized. I have started to enter the pictures sent so far. This process will take a little time.

 

Please include you CC handle (user name) with the pictures.

 

Please let us know what you think.

 

Rich

Oops ... I acted too quickly and sent all mine with a max dimension of 1200. Sorry. :o

No problem -- just trying to cut down on the amount of data transmitted. 1200 is ok and we can take care of things.

 

Rich

First, thanks for all the responses.

 

Please remember that this is coming together very quickly and 3 people who know each other only thru this website are finding a way to work together to bring it about. We each have strengths and weaknesses and need to find out what each can bring to the project.

 

Also, each of us is doing this in addition to their other daily duties. We are not a large corporation with massive resources to throw at this. We will be limited by our abilities and the physical resources we have available.

 

Having said that, I do believe that given time most of the suggestions given in this thread can be accomplished. Please don't be upset if your suggestion is one that is put off in an attempt to get something back up an running.

 

Next, a request. Please use the email address pictures@halfacts.com for pictures and the associated comments only. Any requests for information or clarification should be directed to the principals directly.

 

Several people have already provided pictures, thanks for that. They will be posted as soon as we work out the format we will be using.

 

In one email and also on this thread was a question about picture size. To be shown on the website the picture will be resized to 800x600 (or maybe less). So anything sent larger than that would waste the resources needed to transfer it so I suppose we should use that as a limit for the time being.

 

My email, for this project, will be rich@halfacts.com.

 

Thanks, again, to everyone for the support and encouragement.

 

Rich

Good evening all!

 

Pictures / comments to be included on the new cabin site can be sent to

 

pictures@halfacts.com

 

this address has been set up for this purpose only. Please forward any

comments to one of us working on the site.

 

Thanks to all

 

Rich

Yes, I see the Promenade Deck is completely walkaround, but what about the UPPER PROMENADE deck? Can you walk all the way around on this level? On the deck plan website, it doesn't look to be a complete wrap around, but I wanted to be certain. Sorry for the confusion and thank you for the clarification!!

The UPPER PROMENADE deck does not have any public walking area. What looks like it might be a public area on the deck plan is actually the balconies for the cabins involved.

 

The PROMENADE deck is a walk around deck. On the Vista and Signature ships there are no cabins on this deck.

When I was on the Noordam a little over a year ago I typed up the list of movies.

It can be found at

http://www.wa70.com/HALMovies.pdf

Checking on the Zaandam and Eurodam later, the booklet seems to be the same.

I have organized and hosted several M&G's over the past few years. The official policy has always been that they would make and deliver the invitations for a fee ($50 comes to mind but I am not sure).

 

As with everything else, the official policy has been interpreted differently by staff on the ships. When I have met the Beverage Manager or Party Planner on embarkation day, and had invitations already made up and addressed, they were nice enough to deliver them. However, they are not obligated to.

 

As far as Royal Caribbean and Celebrity -- they are "official" sponsors of the M&G and actively participate in the planning. HAL handles the M&G just like any other activity a group of cruisers may wish to set up while on board. They provide the space, munchies, coffee, tea and water. The rest is up to the organizer.

 

Rich

Just saw this on yahoo finance:

Holland America Line, one of the most famous cruise lines of [I]Carnival Corporation[/I] ([URL="http://www.zacks.com/stock/quote/CCL"]CCL[/URL]), recently launched a promotional initiative to boost its guest count during the sailing period of 2014. Under the program, named Above and Beyond, the customers will be able to avail four different promotional offers valid from Jun to Dec 2014

[url]http://finance.yahoo.com/news/carnival-launches-promotional-offers-184005285.html[/url]

I don't doubt that it's "a factor" but what weight it has in the total formula is known only by HAL. With all the information they have about repeat cruisers, it wouldn't make business sense to just throw darts to choose who gets upgrades. I agree with cruz chic that first-timers often get very good upgrades as a "hook", but after that it's all a mystery to us outsiders.

 

I would suggest that with as much as they keep track of, our spending habits would most likely get us an upgrade rather than straight days at sea. That would partially explain the extra days for spending. Many of the "high days" posters on CC talk about their lack of spending - ie: no HAL excursions, not purchasing from the shops, no spa treatments. Rewarding those who spend a lot on the ships makes more financial sense for HAL than just rewarding number of days.

Hubby and I will be leaving in less than two months for a B2B Caribbean cruise on the Eurodam.

 

I have all of our activities/excursions lined up, except for St. Thomas.

 

Hubby is physically limited...He can walk short distances, and most of the shorex for St. Thomas are for the physically active. We were interested in one shorex (rated 'one man') that is a bus/jeep ride around the island. However, I have read the reviews of this excursion on HAL's website and one person commented that unless you are the correct side of the bus, that photo taking opportunities are very limited and is highly disappointing..

 

I have checked Roll Call and it is not very active for this cruise. Anyone have ideas for an independent 'tour' of the island? We would love to hire a reliable taxi/tour guide for three to four hours. Hubby is an amateur photographer and videographer and we both have read that St. Thomas is particularly beautiful.

 

If any CC'ers can recommend a tour company in St. Thomas, please let me know. We do not mind spending the extra cash for this opportunity, but just want a guide/company that is reliable and with a good reputation.

 

Thanks!!!

Arwen

 

I am just back from St Thomas on the Eurodam. It was a great cruise. In St. Thomas I have a cab driver that takes me around and has for many years. If you want more info, send me a message at rich@wa70.com. Use St. Thomas in the subject line to remind me to look at it.

 

Rich

I was also on this cruise, and agree with segarsmoker that the cruise director was excellent.

 

I would like to comment on disembarkation.

 

I had a VQ veranda on Deck 10 and was standing at the door when my color/number was called at 8:15 - right at the time advertised. Headed down to the gangway and was through customs and calling the shuttle to the parking lot at 8:48. Luggage was easy to find. Customs/Immigration line was a little long, but kept moving.

 

It appears that the hangup happened after that time.

 

Rich

It looks like you might be on either the Westerdam (leaving Saturday) or the Eurodam (leaving Sunday). Both have roll calls going. If you post to the roll call you might find someone to accompany you on Grand Turk.

 

Westerdam Roll Call -

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1790760

 

Eurodam Roll Call -

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1792919

(has a Meet & Greet Scheduled)

Are you kidding? Any port where there is free wi-fi in or near the terminal you'll find 5 to 10 stewards sitting there with laptops any time of the day.

 

As far as "coordination", the way the stewards move around from ship to ship the word would spread pretty quickly. In a year or less every steward in the fleet would know about it. I'm sure they already have a word-of-mouth "database" about some frequent cruisers who are problematic.

 

In addition, many of us have had experiences where crew members remembered us from cruise to cruise, even on different ships and a year of two later. Many have related experiences with Hunky Dory and Burt Reynolds remembering them. If they remember names and faces they most likely remember other things about the passengers involved.

 

It has also been suggested that the crew members get to see the passenger manifest prior to sailing in case they recognize a name. I don't know if that happens or not, but it might.

I am glad to see that you did the price comparison. It seems that many who tout PCC's or travel agents do not. Note that online agencies frequently offer better prices by phone than what they list on their websites.

 

I would think that suite passengers that pay $20,000 or more for a cruise would do a little comparison shopping. A fifteen minute phone call that saves you $1,500 is like earning $6,000 per hour. I have been pleased with more modest earnings of $400 per hour.

 

Yes, I do watch the prices. In the past I have tried the site that allows various TAs to bid for your business, gone to several of the "big" TAs and I check the "fish" site for changes. I actually used a TA for 3 of my cruises, one a TA in the town I lived in at the time who was recommended by a friend for 2 cruise and the other the mother of a friend. In both cases I got pretty much the same price. No perks from either one. The first (2 cruises) didn't seem interested in trying for more business.

 

As in everything else, YMMV. For those that have a good TA that they like and gives them discounts, more power to you. For others, the same TA might not be so good.

 

Each PCC I have talked to seemed to be genuinely interested in making sure that I had what I needed. That includes the PCCs who have assisted me when my PCC was not available.

We are often shocked about the large group of folks that are happy to book direct with HAL. On a short cruise (less then 10 days) we understand that it might not make much difference to use a TA . But once you get to longer more expensive cruises the savings are substantial. If I show somebody how they can save over $1000 by booking with a TA...they might say....."yes, we know we can save over $1000, but we still like our PCC." Go figure :)

 

Hank

 

I have a 27 day cruise booked with a PCC. When I checked with a couple of online TA's the price quoted was approximately the same as I paid HAL. Again booking outside cabins (inexpensive) is most likely the difference.

 

For our cruise starting on the 30th, we booked about a month ago online with HAL and received 2 upsell emails from them in the last two weeks. No PCC help or involvement.

 

I know that the general reservations department gives good service. However, I like having a contact point for personal service.

 

Rich