Real NHDOC

The most frustrating part of sailing on HAL is the lack of consistency of experiences. On our most recent cruise on Zaandam we had two great dinners and one great lunch in the pinnacle but the new years day brunch was pretty bad. On past cruises we have had some great and some terrible experiences in the pinnacle on the same cruise. it’s just a roll of the dice! Steak roulette should be the specialty of the house!

You can ask for the dumplings with any steak (or other dish) and they’ll give them to you.

If your friend’s son got banned he probably abused the system and you’re not being told the whole truth. I have filed several disputes over the years and even had to resort to suing HAL once and am still welcomed aboard. If you have a legitimate case against them they won’t hold it against you.

The OP indicated he was told it could take 10-12 weeks for HAL to respond to his inquiry about the overcharge. That’s just unacceptable and not coincidental the time window given to dispute a credit card charge (most credit cards only allow a dispute for charges made within 3 billing cycles). So, upon receipt of such a notice I would immediately dispute the charge and protect my right to dispute it by doing so. If the credit card company asks if you tried to resolve it say yes, but was told it would take longer than the dispute window allows for them to respond.

I will echo what someone else reported here. The management of the retreat cabana area is the responsibility of the beverage manager. I have found that the quality of service (ie training) of the attendants is a direct result of how good the BM is. The best BM we have had was Csaba and the absolute worst was Ivan. When Csaba is in charge the retreat is run like a swiss watch and he comes up a few times a day to check. Ivan is lazy and doesn’t do anything or care if the retreat is being well tended to. If you are unsatisfied with your experience on the retreat go first to the food and beverage manager and then to the hotel manager and tell them the BM isn’t doing his job.

It’s just a scam. There’s no “free upgrade”. They just make the price of the veranda the same as the OV (usually by raising the price of the OV). And yes, you need to get the HIA package to get the “upgrade”.

I think what bothers people about responses like yours is they aren’t really helpful and don’t provide the OP with anything useful. He’s indicated that he is bothered by being overcharged. Telling him it doesn’t bother you enough to have your money taken to try and get a refund isn’t helping him. It reminds me of all of the useless comments after the Covid shutdown when guests didn’t want to just accept FCC and wanted refunds and people told them they should be happy with FCC because they were.

Not doubting this could be true but note the source of this information is a travel agency email and I can’t find any information on the HAL website that supports this. Everything on HAL website refers only to the February 2023 increase but does mention it is subject to change without notice. Also noted that I am currently on Celebrity and their rate is $18 a day and the service isn’t quite as good as HAL.

Hahahahahahahaha

Obviously the very least they can do is refund your money but I would say you’re entitled to some extra onboard credit given the circumstances. There’s really no excuse for them to overbook the retreat cabanas other than simply being careless.

I always take a picture of the final balance from the navigator app at the end of the cruise so I can make sure it matches any credit card charge.

Yep. As I mentioned before the dispute process works great. Sure, make a call but if you can’t get it resolved in a couple of minutes on the phone just let the credit card company handle it. They collect lots of money so I never feel bad about having them work for it. One time I was leaving a parking garage where the rates that were displayed were much lower than what I was charged so I took a photo of the sign and filed a dispute for the difference. It was one of those garages where nobody works and you have to pay by credit card to get out. It was settled in one day. They didn’t ask if I had tried to contact anyone. No reason to pay anything you didn’t agree to, ever. And, if you’re filing a legitimate dispute and you are not trying to scam them they won’t “ban you from cruising”.

If you canceled before the cruise started it will be refunded to the gift card. If you’re onboard the ship it gets credited to your onboard folio.

Agreed. The mariner’s discount makes it the best deal at sea.

Looks like the selection on Cellar 1 is the same as we just had but the price has increased by $9 for the 8 bottle package ($219 to $228) and $5 for the 4 and 6 bottle packages. Since the price has been the same for several years the 4-5% increase is actually less than I expected it to be. Cellar 2 and 3 prices seem to have not increased and in some cases actually decreased slightly.

Remember that anytime you are charged any amount other than what you have authorized you have the right to dispute the overcharge with your credit card and let them and the vendor figure it out. They will likely refund a small amount without any further need for documentation or forms filled out and most cards have online dispute initiation processes that take only a few seconds to complete. Don’t even bother asking anyone at HAL to respond, just file a dispute and assuming it was truly an overcharge you’re going to receive an interim credit immediately which will become final once the credit card company completes the process.

While the nightlight configuration varies from ship to ship and cabin class to cabin class the bathrooms all have a “shaver outlet” and we have adopted a policy of traveling with a nightlight that works great in all of the ships’ bathrooms. We were just on Zaandam and there’s a motion sensor nightlight outside the bathrooms but no light inside so it was perfect. Traveling with one also works in hotels so we don’t leave home without one now. Also, as a reminder to take the nightlight with us we leave a note in the safe with our passport as a reminder to take it.

On Zaandam right now. The Ocean Bar has both a pianist and a band who share the stage. Some evenings the pianist will play a couple of sets and then the band plays a few sets. There’s also a piano singer in Mix and a classical duo (cello and piano) who plays in a venue near the entrance to the dining room. The talent varies from fair to excellent with the most points going to the classical duo and the least going to the singer in the Mix in my opinion. Stage entertainment has been several comedians (each does two nights), a singer who sings to prerecorded music, a husband and wife magic act and a male singing group. No dancers and no live music on the main stage so it’s a pretty minimal effort. The crow’s nest had one night where the band from the bar played (on orange party night) otherwise it’s just used for game night and trivia during the day. Some dancing up there to recorded music. There’s also a theater on deck 4 where movies are shown. Also movies on demand available in the cabins on the TV system. It’s more or less a typical HAL experience. If you’re cruising for the entertainment then HAL isn’t the best choice and Zaandam definitely has less than the larger ships offer but it’s adequate and the food and overall service on the ship has been excellent in my opinion.

I wouldn't jump to any conclusions about this issue. They have been putting zero $ charges on the bills for several years (some ships do it differently than others). For example, sometimes on the Pinnacle class ships if you order something from the NY Pizza and Deli or Dive In they will ask for your cabin number and show a $0 charge. They just do it for internal accounting so I wouldn't say it is indicating any changes to the "free room service" policy.

I have an annual plan through seven corners and they offer the option for longer than 30 days but I think the default is 30. Keep in mind when you sail B2B cruises the length of the "trip" is only each individual leg so you don't need longer coverage unless any one of the bookings is over 30 days. I did have to buy a longer policy when we went on a 42 day south pacific cruise last year so I know they offer longer options.

Tried to pay a booking balance off using a credit card this morning got this message: "Something went wrong, try again later". Well-done HAL!

If you bought HIA separately you certainly can remove it before the cruise starts and get a refund. If it was booked as part of the fare, I don't think so.

And so what justification is there for raising the price of the HIA package and raising the price of the drinks too? Seems like double dipping unless they were to raise the threshold for coverage to $12. Have it all is becoming have less and less.

I wasn't doubting your ability to tell the difference. Just saying what the history has been over the past 2-3 years since Covid. We are getting onto Zaandam next week for 16 days out of FLL and would be happy to find that the cold water lobster is back onboard there (as you pointed out it's not necessarily Maine lobster but the species found in the cold waters up by New England and Canada). And yes, it is absolutely frozen as is most of the seafood aboard. Nothing wrong with that. I'd rather have seafood that was frozen right after being caught than "fresh" stuff that's been in a cooler for several days.

We were last on N-S in September in Europe and at that time they were still serving the Caribbean lobster tails. Same all last winter in the Caribbean. Not having been on since September I cannot say what they are serving now. We are coming back to N-S in March so hoping that they are back to Maine tails then. There is no comparison between the cold and warm water lobster. My point, once again, is you get what they have not necessarily what the menu says.