SeaMatesNYC

26 minutes ago, Skicruiser55 said:

Figured that was the case and the trade for a bottle of wine won’t be much better - thanks 

And the non sparkling wine won’t clear potential bathroom sink drain clogs (I’ll get me coat…)

4 minutes ago, cccole said:

0106, I'm with you on minimizing our footprint on the world and support your post #7.  But if there is already a paper charge slip but you will not sign...how does this stop the charge slip from being printed?  It won't be signed and the bar tenders deal with it but it does not eliminate the paper printed.  Hopefully HAL will figure this out.  Cherie  

Tap to pay from Navigator would be great! With signed slips as a backup. 

1 minute ago, 1ANGELCAT said:

Lisa, I don’t ever remember having star status printed on the luggage tag.

It’s on the boarding pass. 

3 minutes ago, krittykat said:

My husband and I are sailing this September and our daughter is going along with us in her own cabin.  We have specialty dining vouchers.  Is there a way to link our Specialty dining reservations together?  We want to dine together but I didn't see where there was an option where we could link the reservations.
 

Any suggestions?

 

Kristy

Or Make the reservation for 3, redeem two credits (assuming they are HIA credits) from your account, and then have podium staff add her voucher once you are onboard. I’ve only made rezzies for two with a credit redemption for each of us, so not sure 2 redemptions on a three party rezzie will work but it should. 

1 hour ago, 0106 said:

Nope.
 

How does my unsigned slip prove the charge?  Over the past two years, I have cruised 80 days on 5 different HAL cruises. Twice, I had an incorrect charge on my drink bill.  Since I had the HIA package, I should not have been charged.  Both times, I used the “let it know” feature on the Navigator app stating I should not have been charged.  In less than 8 hours, the charge was removed from my bill.  (I check my bill every morning.) 

I believe the point was if you sign then a slip with no sig will be easier to dispute. A drink that falls under HIA incorrectly charged is not the experience that shows the wisdom of signing. The expensive bottle of champagne showing up once on New Years on my shipboard account is the instance where I was happy to be signing and the powers that be could see the chit for the champers was signed differently. I think they still thought it was me and I had signed funny. But I was asleep at the time of the purchase and my spouse backed me up on that! And I suppose they could have checked the logs seeing me having keyed into my room. 

32 minutes ago, oaktreerb said:

If you do this excursion from the ship you will transfer to a smaller vessel (catamaran) and there will be enough indoor window seating for everyone.  You may get wet transferring to the smaller vessel if it is raining and the transfer does require sure footing.  The crew will guide people from the ship to the boat.  (similar to a tendering process)

This sounds like the Hubbard glacier catamaran (when the cruise ship discharges the tour participants onto the catamaran as a tender type operation).

We have done the Tracy Arm (on a Southbound from Juneau) and you get off the ship at the dock (or tender to the dock as the case may be) and walk a short ways to get on the excursion boat from a nearby dock. This is not akin to tendering. This happens on and off shore side docks. Perhaps northbound does it different?

On Tracy Arm tour, there was ample inside seating for all. But being outside was the true pleasure. It was the best tour for us of the cruise portion of our cruise tour. Worth.Every.Penny. 

Another thing to remember is that in these few ports, it is often easy to garner extra onboard credit by using the “best price guarantee.”  A simple Google search for shore excursions in Alaska will give you tour operators, some of which are the same ones that HAL uses, down to simply copying the tour description into the HAL system.

If you take the time to do a little sleuthing and fill out the form, you can get 110% of the price difference (for 2025 season, you may have to wait to get the next year pricing, but if it’s lower this year will likely be similar next).

On an upcoming voyage, we are netting about $140 in OBC from excursions in 2 ports (taking the HAL offer but using best price guarantee versus a major shorex operation).  Good luck to you!  

Oh and I agree, if you like it, book it right away, especially if it is via your HIA credit. Even if it’s credit card charge, you are likely to experience fast credits in cancels. We have gotten them same day onto our cards on recent cancellations when we swapped “placeholder” tours for clearing-waitlist, preferred tours. 

43 minutes ago, RRFan said:

I was skeptical about the new Stockperks app. Have used it twice now and it was fine. Yesterday I sent my request for our August cruise and was approved within 4 hours.  I wish I could go ahead and do our Oct cruise too but not sure I can. 

Any departure in 2024 should work. If you put in 2025 cruises, you will be asked to return and request in November. 

14 minutes ago, Crackin cruisers said:

Thanks for confirming.
 

I called the main number and said “agent” several times to get to a human as I had several topics to address that were specific and not in the FAQ or other self serve areas. I’m guessing it was a regular reservations person. 

Ok, so may I suggest you try again and contact shore excursions?  1-888-425-9376

39 minutes ago, Crackin cruisers said:

The customer service agent on the phone says that we can, however, make this change from credit card to credits without losing our position once on board.

This part is true. Did you talk specifically with shore excursions or merely the regular reservations team?

Perhaps try this:

in website booking, look to upper left hand corner and click on Itinerary and should show booked and waitlisted excursions for each day as you scroll down. 

1 minute ago, Torquer said:

I think it is only NS & PS that have umbrellas on all ships, but they may be on lower suites/cabins too on some ships.  We have had them on every cruise in the top suites.

We had them in our most recent Vistas on Rotterdam (10/23) and Koningsdam (04/24). 

17 minutes ago, VMax1700 said:

 

Note that the package only includes specific waters.  The "open water" 330 ml/12 fl oz of purified water in pull ring cans is included in the package.  Other waters are not included.

 

 

Do they not still include small Perrier bottles??  I know the large San Pelligrino is out but as of Mar/April the small Perrier was included. Has this changed??

3 hours ago, Wehwalt said:

and we received six nights credit for the land tour on our HAL accounts

Meaning you got Mariner points for the land portion?  Yes, that’s correct. 🤙

From the Alaska-Tour-Tips 2024 pdf (revision 04/20/24) with respect to seating on the McKinley Explorer, on page 7 it states:

"All rail cars have assigned seats according to tour itinerary and number of traveling companions."

https://www.hollandamerica.com/en/us/cruise-destinations/alaska-cruises/articles-and-videos 

Do some tour itineraries have open seating?  Not saying it doesn't happen, as some reported above, but the written guidance from HAL (and my 1 experience) was assigned car and seat for each passenger on the tour.

1 hour ago, alsas said:

Stands for Presidents Club to qualify it is 1,400 

pure days only.

And an invitation to join. 

1 hour ago, Gibbie42 said:

It will stay Smart Casual until you're actually underway, then they'll add in Dressy Nights. 

Or, as with my most recent past voyages, they may add them before departure, and then supplement, delete, and move them either before and or after departure. All depends on the ship staffs’ personal work flow/style. 

I keep looking at my tabs in Safari and it says “Unable the access Cruise Critic.”  Oh wait, that’s this thread. Never mind. 😆 All working now Safari/iPhone here. Not working yesterday PM thru 6:00am PDT but now fully operational. 

19 minutes ago, BaileyMJ said:

OMG - same for me since yesterday - I show signed in but nothing if I click boards 

••this is happening with safari on my iPhone but can access the forum/boards if I use the google app on my iPhone 

 

I have searching everywhere for help

 

Hoping we get help soon!

Ditto 

1 minute ago, Real NHDOC said:

Mine was a contact about my disappointment over the decision to discontinue the embarkation day lunch in the MDR.  I didn't feel following up after not hearing a canned response which others reported receiving was worth the time.  My point was, that my history of having guest relations follow up was less than satisfactory so don't believe them when they say they will follow up.  

Yes I see. While it is regrettable that they fail to meet the expectations they set, each situation is unique and each individual has a different threshold for tolerating this. I did not mean to attack you, rather to point out, if you really expect an answer, don’t stop asking. For a matter like you raised, it may be satisfying enough to know your views were made known to HAL, even if they did not take the time to acknowledge your input.  

6 minutes ago, NotLikeBelleRosen,IHope said:

Disheartening to hear that guest relations is good for robo-response but no follow up. We shall see.

Of course, if they fail to respond within the timeline THEY set, always good to follow up with a phone call. I always chuckle when I read “they said they would be in touch within x hours or x days, and I never heard from them.”  Well, did you try again in an escalated route of communication? Squeaky wheel and all that…

8 hours ago, Zippercat said:

We booked an 11 day Alaska Cruisetour after the final payment date (great rate!).  I filed with Stockperks and got a confirmation the next day that our shareholder credit had been applied. But the credit was only for $50.  The ship portion of the Cruisetour is less than 7 days, but our entire tour is 11 days.  Should we have received credit for the land portion?

We got higher for a 10 day this June that was 3 land 7 sea. Although they no longer take requests for credit at HQ, maybe send them an email outlining your concern with stockPerk documentation and booking #. Perhaps my higher amount was the mistake, but maybe not. 

CCLshareholderHAL@hollandamerica.com

47 minutes ago, Iamthesea said:

In other words, don't call them!  My husband heard the conversation, as well.

My two cents, call all you want!  They messed up and if you need to reach out multiple times a day, that is your prerogative. What will they do about you calling?  Be even more incompetent?

1 hour ago, chill6x6 said:

and sometimes a bottle of something

Yeah, we had one too our last trip with the agency I wrote about above. Nice gesture. $8.95 I don’t drink alcohol so let my other half try it. One sip and used the rest to unclog the sink. Memories of Welcome Aboard Pol Acker on Cunard. 

2 hours ago, CHOPPERTESTER said:

You'll have to do the math. If you have HAL cancellation insurance and add HIA they will increase your insurance contribution as well versus waiting until you get onboard to add HIA.

They sell HIA once aboard? Or the beverage package?  What’s the onboard price for HIA?