brovol

I have two HAL cruises booked, one Christmas week, and another in April.  I sent two separate emails with the same photo of a stock statement, and including the booking # and cruise date, and then received an email confirming that the stockholder credit was approved and would be applied at embarkation.  I have a TA, so don't have an updated invoice, but I trust it should be there in my account when we board.  Shouldn't I?

23 hours ago, AFNavigator said:

Except for a few Alaska test cruises this summer where they only charged the cost difference, the $11 limit is firm.  Any drinks prices above $11 will be charged full price plus 18% gratuity.  Drinks you pay for should not count against your daily 15 drink allowance though.  If concerned about going over the 15 drink limit, some have said they bought a separate beverage card ($50 is lowest denomination, I think) and used that towards sodas/waters/coffees, leaving the SBP for the higher priced drinks.

Wouldn't it be better in that case to purchase the higher level beverage package for the $5 per day increase, and then the $15 drinks are included?

I have two Holland America cruises booked; one on Nieuw Amsterdam during Christmas week, and another on Nieuw Statendam the first week of April.  I find Holland America's app to be schizophrenic, not user friendly at all, and the worst of all the cruise lines we've been on.  

The excursions do not pop up for me. Dinner reservations won't allow me to reserve for all the people in my party (My wife and two children).  I am planning on calling customer service Monday morning and hope they can assist with the reservations.

Kind of surprising that with all the technology available that Holland America can't get this right. Princess does an amazing job with technology in general, and has a great, very user-friendly, app. Surprises me that other cruise lines don't just mock what they are doing.

14 minutes ago, Cruise Suzy said:

 

Please see my post above - #2.

I just reread your post. Think I understand now. So, because we have 6145 and 6149, if I'm understanding correctly we will have a tub/shower combo, because it does not have an asterisk.  I noticed the picture and link you posted were from the Eurodam, as opposed to the Nieuw Amsterdam, which I booked. I'm assuming it's exactly the same on both?

Again, thank you for the info. Very helpful.

2 hours ago, oakridger said:

Unless you are all big bath people, I would go with deck 6 to have the showers and NOT be below the aft Lido pool area!!   I think you will be happy with your choice to go with two side by side cabins.  Two bathrooms!!  

😁

 

Deck 6 is my go-to deck on the Nieuw Amsterdam....not too low and not too high!

 

Let us know which cabin you decide on!

 

~Nancy

Followed your advice. Got cabins 6145 and 6149.  I was thinking the same thing with deck six being right in the middle of everything. I haven't seen any pictures though of the veranda cabins with a shower only. Is it a decent shower, with it regular shower door? Or is it a curtain? I assume otherwise the rooms are identical?

Thank you for your input.

About to book side by side veranda cabins on the Nieuw Amsterdam.  TA has given a few options; VE category in the aft of deck 8 (lido deck above), or VD in the aft on deck 6.  The VD's are $40 more per person (four of us total), and TA said that the VE cabins have a tub and shower, buy the VD's have just a shower.  I figured that all the veranda cabins had the same bathroom layout.  Am I getting good information from my TA?   

Any insight from those here in the know? 

Is the AARP gift card deal still available?  I actually just purchased an AARP membership so that I could buy the cards, and I cant figure out how do find them on the AARP site.  I hit the link from the original poster of this thread, but its just a generic page to AARP benefits.  does anyone have a link to the actual HAL gift cards?

I was debating between another Princess cruise (generally our favorite line) or HAL Nieuw Statendam, and had some of the same concerns.  We absolutely love both the Princess Plus value, and the medallion technology on Princess. Great deal, with game-changing convenience throughout the cruise process. The included internet with the Plus plan is incredibly good (able to do everything same as at home, including live streaming football games). 

Having said that, we picked the HAL NS for our cruise next March.  We have sailed HAL several times, and although we prefer Princess, we have enjoyed our HAL cruises too, and the pinnacle class ships really seem to offer a lot.  Great ship size and design, along with tremendous food and service.  I think the two lines are more alike than different. 

We have cruised over 30 voyages, on most of the mainstream lines, and both HAL and Princess are among the very best.  Do like me; pick one of them and dont look back.  You will be happy with either. I do wish though that HAL would follow the princess lead in terms of the Plus perks, and technology. 

Does anyone have the direct link to the AARP cards?  The original post has a link to the AARP rewards page, but I cant find the HAL gift cards through that link.

I am about to book a cruise for next April, and I am contemplating purchasing some of the gift cards to both pay for the cruise, ultimately, and also use for the deposit.  My TA said she wasn't sure, but thought that if I used gift cards for the deposit and then decided to cancel the cruise, I wouldn't get the deposit back.  Anyone know if this is right?

Great videos. Hope you do a general review video of the Statendam.

3 hours ago, *Miss G* said:

 

Yes, we left out of Fort Lauderdale on March 12th on a TA.  The internet was excruciatingly slow in Fort Lauderdale and worked sporadically (but still excruciatingly slow) for three days.  (Note we didn’t leave port until 7:20pm.)  Over a week went by before it showed up again, but it was hit or miss and still excruciatingly slow.  A few hours of that and then it was gone, never to be seen again.  This was a 16 day transit and I would say I got about a half hour total of internet the whole time.  Lots of posts on this if you do a search.

Thats terrible.  Wonder what the issue was. I was actually shocked at how good, fast and reliable it was in November.  Live streamed several football games from my ESPN app throughout the cruise, and without even a single slowdown. Ten times better internet than I have ever had on a ship, in over 30 cruises.  My wife and i were on the NCL Breakaway a couple weeks ago, and the streaming internet wasn't nearly as good as what we had on the Sky.

12 hours ago, *Miss G* said:

 

Yes, but I was responding to the OP, who stated the internet was great on the Sky.

We were on the sky this past November, and the internet was nothing short of incredible.  We were in the Caribbean, where princess low flying satellite system works very well. I am curious, were you sailing in Europe when you are on the sky? I think that would make a huge difference. I am confident that the princess ship internet will work quite well if we sail again in the Caribbean. I'm less confident that the Holland America ship will.

Tough choice. Both cruises have pros and cons for sure. Appreciate everyone's input.

Thank you all for your input. Very helpful and appreciated.

looking to book next April, and both are out of Ft Lauderdale.  We have sailed both HAL and Princess many times, and really have enjoyed each; including our Sky Princess cruise this past November. Love the Princess Plus and medallion technology on Princess, and the internet was incredibly good, allowing me to stream live football games perfectly.  The Regal is a sister ship, and therefore would be a similar experience.  The Statendam looks like a perfect ship for my wife and me.  The music venues and entertainment options on that ship are right in our wheelhouse, and everything else I have been reading excites me about the Statendam.  Would likely book either a balcony or low suite on either of the ships.  I'm worried that the internet on the Statendam will suck, which would be a drag, both with respect to what I do online personally, as well as professionally, as I stay connected with my staff while on vacation.  Princess is more of a know quantity to us as we sailed so recently on the Sky, and we have always really enjoyed our Princess cruises, but the Statendam looks perfect, with the exception of the internet.  Another smaller factor is the ship gym.  I like to start the morning with a workout, and would like to be able to grab an elliptical without much wait.

Any thoughts or insight would be appreciated; particularly from those who have sailed the Statendam, and are familiar with the quality of the streaming internet, as well as the gym.

10 hours ago, Kzeeguy said:

Being our first cruise and not wanting to go about it aimlessly  , I started creating an hourly excel of our upcoming 7 day cruise but then thought why rework the wheel? ...Does anyone have ones they like and can share. ?

No offense, but the high structure sounds like the opposite of vacation. Lol.  To each his own though, so plan away.

1 hour ago, TheAdventureSeeker said:

The really thing I hate about NCL is their internet prices and they are such a ripoff and they keep increasing their prices for slow internet. I came back from Princess Cruises who's owner is Carnival Corp and they have high speed low orbital satellites and they only charge you $10 per day for internet or $5 per day if you are a Platinum member and it's a huge difference in the experience I got. I have to check emails for work so I have no choice to buy their expensive plans. I really wish NCL started upgrading their systems and stop these insane prices for internet they are charging while other cruise lines like Carnival Crop and RCL have already invested in higher speed satellites and don't charge such an insane amount like NCL does for the amount they are charging people it should be the best internet at sea period but it's usually very poor.

 

Also these money grabbing Premium, Standard internet of blocking ports so you have to pay more to visit more sites is a rip off imo, just give us all an affordable package and stop these money grabs. NCL should dump the company they have and get a new one.

I agree with you.  Princess provides great internet, and offers it at a great price.  In fact, the Princess Plus plan has to be the best package around.  And the internet I used on the Sky Princess was outstanding for anything and everything, including streaming live football games, face-timing, and more.  Was great everywhere on the ship too. 

My guess is they will have the network coverage on either the sports channel or on a channel that is on or off depending on whether there is some big event to televise.  I get the steaming service just in case.  I'm in the breakaway during the final four.  I'm sure those games will be televised on the ship, but I have the streaming service anyway.  I hope the streaming is even half as good as it was on the Princess ship we were on last thanksgiving week.  That internet was incredibly good.

In my experience with NCL (over 10 NCL cruises), as well as other cruise lines (30+ total), the ship will have the capacity to televise most nationally or internationally relevant games in just about any sport.  NCAA basketball tourney, football, NFL, MLB, Golf tournaments, and certainly soccer.  It being a WC qualifier, I would bet a lot that the game will be playing, or available if you ask.  There is usually one dedicated "sports" channel on the cabin TV lineup, which has the "big games" of the moment, and then one of the otherwise unused channels will have "big games" as well, but will turn off when the game ends.  I cruise in March a lot, and have always been able to watch the NCAA Tournament games; particularly the sweet 16 and beyond.

Having said that, because I am a sports junky, and dont want to miss anything, I have the streaming internet for my Breakaway cruise at the end of March.  I am hoping it works as well as the medallion streaming internet I had in November on the Sky Princess; which was unbelievably good for streaming live football games on my phone.

As for soccer, I used to think it wasnt a great sport, until I actually started watching it.  Its a fantastic sport (except for the constant ridiculous fake injuries, and drama, which is beyond stupid).  It requires every bit the skill, strength, vision and strategy that other sports require.  Folks who think otherwise are generally "limited" in the capacity to understand that, or they would enjoy it as much as those who are passionate about soccer.

2 hours ago, Crisvw said:

I can only see the "pending" when I log in from my computer. I do not see it if I'm on my phone.

Ok, got it.  Thanks!

My wife and I are kind of indifferent to the upgrade deal.  We have stayed in the Haven twice, both times when our kids were with us in the two bedroom, two bathroom family haven, and we loved it.  But its just the two of us now, and we have a spa club balcony suite, which we think we will be pretty happy with, and in light of the anticipated reduced capacity of the ship we think the benefits of the haven will be less (less crowds at the pool, and likely more attentive service shipwide).  If we win the upgrade to the aft haven thats great, but if not, thats great too.

Where does it show on ones account if an offer is "pending"?  I cant find anything regarding the up-sell offer I made, other than the email confirmation NCL sent a month ago.  We got a first offer to bid, and did not bid, but then got another email offer to bid, and that one had minimum bid options which were about half of what the first offer to bid proposed, so we put a couple bids in for aft haven suites.  We are currently in a spa club balcony.  But I cant find anywhere to look at or even adjust our bids.

15 hours ago, rmurray847 said:

We did a transatlantic on Breakaway in 2018.  When we were in LaHavre, the ship time did NOT match local time and we were reminded frequently to stay on SHIP time.  Lots of confusion.  Almost like they were hoping people would screw up and miss the ship!

HAHA.  Maybe that was the plan.  I'm sure there are times when ships stay on the original port "ship-time" while traveling through time zones, but I think it is more typical to change with the zones.  The time, anywhere you are, is what it is where you are.  A ship cant change what the time actually is; it can just advise that for all things scheduled on the ship they are going to ignore the actual time, and utilize its own for ships purpose.  But I'm not disagreeing with you at all.  All of our cruises over the years have been Caribbean, or Atlantic to Bermuda or Bahamas, so, while we have been on 30 or so, they have been limited to those sections of the world.

One of the things I spent extra FCC on was prepaid gratuities and the premium internet with streaming.  I know that wasnt the question, but in the event that someone looking for ways to frugally utilize OBC, or other credits, those are ideas.

Wife and I have been on about 30 cruises over the years, and recall that any and every time the ships have entered a new time zone, ships time changes accordingly, and changes back when we renter to original time zone.  Cant imagine doing it another way either.  The time is what the time is where you are on the globe.