tartanmom

Update: phoned Holland America and they said Club Orange is still available. The HAL rep gave some rambling answer about stateroom upgrades which made no sense. She said that my booking would be in a "guarantee" as specific cabin choice for 3 is not available now. I completely understand that but then she said before the sailing they would send out an offer to upgrade within the category booking and I could choose a specific cabin then. I asked if the offer to upgrade was paid or free and she said free as it is Club Orange. We are 4* with HAL and done Club Orange before so have some experience with this and I question her information. So at this point if we book CO, despite the information she gave me,  I would go into it only expecting the other perks and not a stateroom upgrade. 

Thank you for your input!

We are looking at booking a triple cabin for Asia holiday cruise however it appears to be almost sold out and we are unable to select a specific cabin when doing a mock booking online. My question is, if we upgrade to Club Orange, do we just miss out on the chance to upgrade within our category? Or if instruct my travel agent to complete the booking and add Club Orange, at that point will they let me know what cabins are possibly available and I can choose one then within the same category?

On 2/20/2023 at 5:41 AM, Divi said:

16 day cruise on Zaandam in January. HIA with gratuities included. We never came close to the daily drink limit. We were credited with 16 sea days and 16 bonus days at the end of the cruise.

Can I ask if you were in a Suite? We’ve been on Zaandam twice in a veranda suite and gotten extra credit for that but nothing for our prepaid HIA packages 

Zaandam vista suite on our holiday cruise a few weeks ago. You can see the track in ceiling for the curtain. One thing to note is the tv is at the foot of the bed. I would prefer it across from the couch but c’est la vie. We had 3 in the cabin and the curtain provided ample privacy. Not sure if you are having 3 in room but if so I don’t think the Neptune suites couch converts to a bed

We were on the Zaandam holiday cruise a few weeks ago and did the Dunns River Falls Express tour. It was excellent and there were no crowds. It seemed that the Express tour went directly to Dunns River first thing in the morning while the combo tours did the Dunns River portion 2nd. There was one group of 3 people about 100' ahead of us while climbing and no one behind us. We weren't rushed to go up the Falls and there was plenty of time for photos as we went. As we were leaving the parking lot was filling up quickly so I'm sure the later excursion groups would have experience more crowds. The vendors were just starting to set up as we were leaving so we avoided a lot of that "pushy-ness too".  

We've been looking at the Far East Discovery Holiday too and contemplating adding a segment before or after. The past few years we've done the Caribbean for the holidays but maybe time for something new. I have a friend that just did Celebrity's Asian holiday cruise with similar itinerary and she loved the ports but not the ship. I'll try to get some more info from her about the ports and highlights and share it here. 

We are just off the Zaandam holiday cruise where there was a passenger with a small sized “service” dog and ironically another one on our flight homes. When the dog sits on a chair in the Crows Nest during the Orange party or on a lounge chair by the pool I question it’s legitimacy and why it is allowed onboard. Thankfully I never heard it bark! I have no issue with true service dogs onboard who are trained for specific purposes and are well behaved but allowing “emotional support” dogs onboard with vests bought from Amazon is ridiculous!  Im sorry you went through what you did but kudos for speaking up and demanding some answers from the higher ups.

8 minutes ago, MISTER 67 said:

Holland America except for the new ships always had the best promenade decks on the high seas, they are complete wrap arounds and by far the best place to read a good book while watching the ocean pass by. 
IMHO the decision to add lanai cabins on some of the ships was pure greed and a terrible idea.

Agree. And I’m not a fan of ships with more then 1700 passengers so my options are starting to get extremely limited. 

Can I ask how easy it is to find a chair on the promenade deck on this ship? Our fave ship is sister ship Zaandam but on that ship there are no lanai cabins with reserved chairs. Our favorite thing to do, even with having a balcony, is to sit on the promenade deck for a few hours each day and read. We just got off the Zaandam Holiday 2023 cruise and never had an issue finding chairs even when there were 5 of us wanting to sit together. I'm trying to plan for our 2024 cruise and unfortunately the Zaandam itinerary doesn't work well for us but Volendam does. I'd be happy to try a lanai cabin but my husband says no so the availability of promenade chairs will play a big role in our decision. 

Was planning on ordering Christmas arrangements for our room and for our friends cruising with us. However, since HAL updated their website it doesn't show me any options for flowers. Have they discontinued this service or does the website work best in a certain browser?

I've booked a couples massage for my daughter and myself on our upcoming cruise. Having never been to the spa before, is the 18% gratuity surcharge considered to be the tip? Do you tip over that if it is fabulous and do you just hand them cash or top up what is charged to the room?  I did go years ago for a manicure and the whole experienced was tainted by the hard core push at the end to sell their products despite me nicely telling them I was interested (over and over) So I'm hopeful that that doesn't happen this time around and I leave less stressed  😀

On 11/11/2023 at 1:06 PM, Crew News said:

Good luck on finding anyone at the onboard Shore Exc Desk.

True. We had this problem on our Zaandam cruise last Christmas. When it was open and I wanted to get some information I was told to "USE THE APP" and she literally walked away from the desk into a back room! Have always found the crew onboard to be superb but the Shore Excursion rep on that trip was an exception. Voiced my displeasure about her and her snotty, condescending attitude on the feedback form.  

I received a large OBC when I booked my cruise and also have CCL credit. Any idea when this shows up in my account and I can use it towards shore excursions? When I try to book excursions I've used up my HIA credit and it says the costs need to be put on a credit card. I don't want to miss out on the excursions I want but I also don't want to waste time onboard trying to get the amounts refunded from my credit card and then put against the OBC. 

18 minutes ago, Sitka2024 said:

I just looked at my booking and can see what you were talking about - only shows shore excursion credit and dining credit. Right below that is a prompt to purchase the Have It All package! Not only do we already have that but also crew appreciation. This website would scare me if I did not already have an invoice showing what was included. They need to work on that for sure! 

Exactly. We have Club Orange, HIA, OBC offer when we booked, OBC for CCL shares, and crew gratuities included. None of that is identified on the booking online except that I was able to book the speciality dining included with HIA and it shows a shore excursion credit as part of the HIA package. I would just like to be able to sign into my HAL account and see an itemized list.

THANK YOU to everyone for your help. I received the invoice from my travel agent today and it shows there. I thought I would be able to see a similar invoice online in my HAL account but apparently not. 

I can’t locate any pdf attachment. I’ll reach out to my travel agent tomorrow. Thank you for trying to help. 

Pdf attachment that can be located online? Love HAL but I find the lack of detailed information in my account online frustrating. Can't see my OBC, no details on my HIA package although I can see the credit towards shore excursions. I wish there was a detailed list but perhaps I'm just clueless.

Just upgraded our upcoming Dec. cruise with the Club Orange package.

I've got the email confirmation/receipt of payment  but it just say "Stateroom Upgrade". Looking at my booking online I can't see anywhere that actually states Club Orange. Does it show up eventually or am I calling HAL on Monday to sort it out? 

3 hours ago, rodndonna said:

I can't believe I found a relevant picture! This was 2019 taken from our hotel .. and down past that walking bridge you can see a cruise ship (not HAL though), so you get an idea of the tendering distance.

 

 

 

Have travelled all over the world and Samana is top of my Worst Ever list. We walked to that beach from the tender drop off area. Super sketchy vibe and most aggressive locals that I've ever seen.  Beach was horrible- sand fleas everywhere. My advice is to just stay on the ship  -- and I've NEVER stayed on the ship in a port in my life so that is saying something.  

7 minutes ago, crystalspin said:

Yikes! I should put my reading glasses on to read the computer screen! That was the cabin next door to 7028 not 7078, SORRY! 

No problem. I appreciate your efforts to try and help 

23 minutes ago, crystalspin said:

This older video of the next-door suite would be a mirror-image (bed on the left, sofa on the right as you enter from the hall) of yours. The roof of the expansive balcony, at about the 2-minute mark, appears to align with the footprint thereof, so your star-gazing will be out toward the horizon but not further obstructed.

 

I think they must have revamped the stateroom numbers since then. My room is much narrower and same width as vista suites on deck 6. Great video though. Thanks for your help

31 minutes ago, CruiserBruce said:

Have you checked halfacts.com?

 

All the balconies on Zaandam (and Volendam)are built into the side of the ship. All have full roofs.

I will check that out, thanks. It seems that the Lido flares out in the aft section so that the roof juts out further then the edge of the balcony. 

After a little bit of a kerfuffle with our booking, our stateroom was changed to 7078. I'm familiar with verandahs on the 6th deck but not on the 7th. I'm a little concerned that the balcony looks shorter on the deck plan and then someone at work said the Lido also juts out past the roof of the balcony.They didn't mind it but if I love looking at stars at night, is that going to bother me? I've scoured the internet for photos to no avail. I'm not so worried about being directly under the aft pool area as we are rarely in the cabin during the day and assume that it will be quiet at night. I do need a cabin for 3 so maybe will get my agent to call HAL to see if there are any other options. 

7 minutes ago, Cruise Suzy said:

 

You can see some images by going to https://www.portfever.com/

 

Zaandam starts appearing at #1170 in the 7PM folder.

Thank you

Rats we missed it. I wish we could rewind the webcam to see it.