HALcruiser2001

I was on NS Feb 18. Receipts were not consistent. Sea View, almost never. Ocean always. Never with meals. Did not really bother me since you see in Navigator.

This was my 3rd cruise. First two were 2001 and 2006. Both HAL. After reading nightmares here, I was scared. From bad food, small portions, cabana boom boxes/cancels, the list went on. I finally ignored them. Here is a breif summary. 1) Boarding: 9/10. I could have had someone drive me to the room in a golf cart to get a 10/10. 2) Room: Neptune suite. Ambulatory ADA 7085. Carpet was dirty, awesome veranda, great bed and pillows. 9/10. 3) Room stewards. I guess 10/10, but really, we did not require anything from them. 4) Neptune lounge: 9/10, would have liked better food. Wish that they had Tazo teas like in the crows nest. 5) Room service. Breakfast 9/10. Midnight snacks arg..... 3/10 6) Lido market,, its a buffet, I asked for fresh stuff mostly so that it was hot, Food was not as hot as I liked but still 8/10. If you are alone, lean your chair against table if you have to leave otherwise, they will clean your table and someone else will get it, 7) Club orange. 9/10, we had some really odd tasting salad one night. LMAO. Portions were perfect. I had to skip lunch to eat an entire dinner. Wife has picky taste and Gi issues. If she did not like something she ordered they brought her something else. Amazingly accommodating. She had 3 birthday cakes one for each meal. They redid one because it was not decorated to the satisfaction of our waitress Kaileah (sp?) 8- Pinnacle grill 10/10, steak and burger were perfect, but total overload as far as fat content. 9) Rudi's: Amazing. 10/10. Nico was awesome waiter.. 10) Rock and Roll room. 10/10. We were lucky great band. Don't think they are staying on ship or as a band. 11) BB Kings Day 1: 10/10. Days 2-7: 4/10. They lost vocalist and keyboard on 2nd day and struggled. Trumpet and Guitar were really great. Good drummer, but tough for them. 12) Ocean bar... our favorite. 10/10 great everything, poured and mixed well. Great cosmos and great smoked old fashions. Also liked the Rotterdam Martinez. 13) Promenade deck: 9/10 just because I have been on Zuiderdam. Thank you for giving me a place to walk 5-8 miles per day. We were mid ship, so i usually went down to promenade, then outside to walk bow or stern (pool and spa lido deck) and then back via promenade. The promenade is especially awesome in heavy seas. We had some rough nights and captain Eric was doing 16-20NM, so the front of the promenade was amazing and being an insomniac it was humbling to be down there at 2-3AM. 14) Cabana: 8/10 Great service. Could have better view. Peaceful and quiet. I cannot imagine anyone rating HAL or this ship low. i cannot imagine a better way to have spent my wifes 60th bday. My wife and I are so happy we spent a mega ton of money for her 60th. HAL treated us very well.

Amsterdam is the main flight hub. Blues and Rock and Roll have to be played loud, if not most effects are lost and if soft, you just hear everyone talking. Wear eargasms or plugs if necessary. The musicians control the level of the sound. Greenhouse is cheap at $149 for a week. Treatments are more than a cheap spa at home, but the service and facilities are generally much better, its a captive audience and they book out. The "seminars" are promotions and it is made pretty clear. Why even bother. Just book a treatment. Libraries require a lot of space and weight and generally people bring the books they wish to read or use a computer for reading. lectures are not well attended and lecturers are too expensive.

Never had a single problem with Navigator, but all we used it for was menus. They need to keep it and improve it.

Richard and Ronaldo on Nieuw Statendam make awesome Cosmos and Smoked Old Fashions. Cosmos were in HIA. Anything > $11 was diff in price. Ian in Sea View was great server. Ady in MDR and Cabana. Dewa in cabana.

Probably more true than your follow up opinion. People under 40 have plenty of cash in general. Companies are offering vacation and time without pay pretty aggressively these days. "Trust me".... often said by people one should not trust. 😉

The best available hotels in national parks are not all that great and have unique staffing issues. Depending on how the govt funds these hotels determines if the are closed during government shutdowns and apparently now, pandemics. I am not surprised that hotels and restaurants struggled within park due to certain mandates and being inundated with all the new van life people. Mandates shut a lot of high end restaurants down, but not where I am, no forced mandates here even in May of 2020 few restaurants closed. Technically, legally, national parks cannot be closed. Services, yes, parks no.

It is unlikely that this apocalyptic change happens.

Anyone that doesn't plan 1 year in advance. Anyone actually paying for a specific suite.

How are we as cruisers supposed to say if a ship is understaffed or not? The only thing to go from is crew to passenger ratio. Everything else is subjective.

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2908274-starlink-high-speed-internet-coming-to-hal/

I think you cannot xfer the credit, but ask. I was told no.

Your post is empty.

I would bring my own. Get them from a trusted source. https://eclipse2017.nasa.gov/safety https://eclipse.aas.org/resources/solar-filters I still think that the most entertaining view is projecting using a colander onto an object. Find videos on youtube. You DO NOT look through the colander.

Nope. https://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/list.html

I think last time I called there may have been an option to turn it off. Maybe another hold I was on though.

Interesting. I read the Tamarind restaurant menu and figured this, so booked Rudi's instead. Many of the dishes in Tamarind are going to lack if under spiced and the HAL demographic may not be the spicey food crew. If the chefs do not know how to make those dishes spikey, they might just throw in chili, sambal or flakes, which will ruin some dishes. I may go for apps and drinks if possible, but likely will steer clear on this cruise.

Click bait is really something that is intended to take you to another website. Usually an advertizement for that website. I don't think this was intended as clickbait. I think that this person just wanted to get a HAL bashing thread going, or to bash HAL his/her self. They have not responded with any other comment and are asking about other cruise lines.

For every "AWFUL AWFUL" review there is a good one.

I do not believe that this math is correct, but I cannot really confirm it as once you purchase HAL bundles the price of HIA into the cost of the cruise and then lists HIA as special services. S HIAx2 $ 798.00 $ 798.00 EXCx2 $ 200.00 $ 598.00 Wifi $ 105.00 $ 493.00 Diningx2 $ 150.00 $ 343.00 Per Day Drinks $ 49.00 Per Day Drinks PPAX $ 24.50

Considering that HIA does not include the best drink package, it is silly and restrictive for HAL to not allow any possible way to upgrade after you purchase HIA.

Wow. Quite surprised.

Wouldn't Club Orange and Priority seating and boarding be really worth it for non suite pax?

The post I replied to implied LCS was target of casino upgrade. So yeah. that would eliminate BBK. I did not see any HAL news that implied that. Any paid video games any where? Untapped, market, they never pay out, captive audience, should be right up their alley. I bet a small arcade would be pretty popular.

It is never good to do this, IMO. Your ATM or CC will give better exchange rate for sure. Better than any service or in person bank. Almost anyone welcomes USD as tip. Sometimes you can negotiate no fee on cash advance from a CC.