cruz chic

I did contact our TA about this. She was told by HAL that the only change we could make would be to a guarantee, which means we could end up in a connecting room anyway or worse. Many of these things I read here & things I have experienced personally since booking, make me wonder if we will ever sail on HAL again. It seems they need to "upgrade" their customer service.

Well that is really stupid. Georges gal on our cruise moved to another room within her category. I wonder if your category is now only guarantees. I've gotten mostly good assignments but you just never know. Their customer service does leave a bit to be desired at times. I'm hoping this cruise is a good one. The ones I took last year left a bit to be desired and I'm a Hal fan.

Is the bottled water in the stateroom also 50 percent reduced?

Yes

If you try the App called ShipMate it shows the layout of the various gyms on all Hal Ships by looking in the deck plans. It shows a schematic of the machines?

 

 

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Good info.

Only thing better is Pinnacle complimentary.

I was looking at the N Amsterdam Panama: the balcony cabins are down in price substantially!

Are you going to join us? Would love to meet you and we have a great group going. I'm very tempted to upgrade but I'll wait for upsells. If not I'll be fine in my ov.

When we were 4 star we loved the 50% off Specialty restaurants. Also 50% off the Explorations Cafe and Wine Package (Admirals and Navigator) and Mini-bar.

Those are my favs too :).

Now you've got me worried about the closet space. Ours is a 19 day cruise, & I am definitely in the over packer category. :D

If you are concerned I would contact your ta or Hal if you booked thru them and arrange to move now. They should be able to move you to another cabin if there is one in that catagory. I've never noticed a huge difference in the closet space with the connecting rooms. The standard balcony rooms are just not that big to begin with. It might be more noticeable in a suite level room.

I definitely agree this is the way to go. It seems it is getting harder and harder to fix things after the fact. Like being charged for PG dinners when 5*. This has happened to us several times and even having Concierge services, it was like pulling teeth to get the charges removed.

Actually they did reverse mine without much problem after the snarky comment. I think when you involve others sometimes it just makes things more difficult because they don't have a vested interest. It seems others have had no problems when they didn't make the notes but I have and will continue to do it in the future.

Did the snippy, rude front office person remove the laundry charge?

 

Yes, they did thankfully.

WOW! :eek: The correct response should have been "Oh we're sorry, we'll remove that charge."

Exactly. I was floored. You best believe I won't forget to write it again :eek:.

Whoa...... what a rude response from a customer service person, ie front office staff.

 

Easy answer is your name and cabin number were on the laundry slip. It is their job to look and see what star mariner status you had and charge or not accordingly. :rolleyes:

 

I really get irked when a 'service person' give such a snippy response.

 

A better answer would have been: "So Sorry you have been inconvenienced and we apologize for the error. I will immediately credit your OBC in the amount you were charged."

 

(Notice I didn't mention the ever present chocolate strawberries. :D )

 

I was not a happy camper but it seemed to be sop on that cruise. It got to the point that I asked them not to send the chocolate strawberries :D.

I usually do but on my last cruise I forgot on one bag. I got charged for it. When I went to the front desk they said I should have marked it. They said "how is the laundry supposed to know I'm a four star :rolleyes:".

Thx for the update.

Agree: we have several private tours planned with fellow roll call members. I was hoping to get last minute details at our M&G. It would be a private discussion with the tour organizer, not the entire group attending. If HAL doesn't even have officers show up any more, I doubt servers would care or feel slighted.

If they don't have officers there I really don't see the problem. I'm not taking any private tours and I really don't care if others discuss them there if no officers are present.

I love dinners in Tamarind but the lunch never appealed to me. :)

Me either.

I would love to see more variety in beer, especially ales.

 

I have not seen a "newly inspired" cocktail that interests me. Most of them have so many ingredients that I can't imagine they'd taste good. I think that all the reasonable combinations were invented long ago, and the "mixologists" have to keep tossing in more and more stuff just to make something new.

I don't know. There is a go to drink I always have on princess. It's a raspberry creme brulee Martini. I've yet to find one person that doesn't like it. I'm anxious to try the jalepeno pineapple margarita on Hal. I know these won't appeal to everyone but I can't stand beer so I don't care what they have.

Seeing I don't care for steamed dumplings or sushi, the Bento Box is not very tempting. :o Anyone else?

It doesn't do anything for me either. I'd rather go to the restaraunt.

Thank you Ruth for your response. But yikes, we're in a VF, which isn't really desirable overall. But hubby is worried that someone needing the connecting room could bump us out. Sorry for the thread highjack.

 

To the OP, I hope you get to keep your shower stall.

I wouldn't worry too much. I've gotten connecting rooms as assignments. I've heard people complain they don't like them. I don't think it's something that is terribly sought after but that's my opinion. I would say it's not likely to happen.

On our recent cruise on the Veendam, the Pinnacle was only open for lunch on sea days.

I was about the same for me when I was on last May. I'm not a fan of the lido so this was disappointing.

Thanks. I just found info online about Tamarind Bento Boxes that you can order for Room Service dinner. Are they still available? :confused:

I believe they still are.

The bottom line is there are smokers and non smokers on this forum who choose to sail HA for what ever their reasons, but there are certain smokers who make that group of smokers come across as inconsiderate and obnoxious. I am a smoker, I booked HA three years ago not knowing that they had balcony smoking. I would go to the designated smoking areas on the ship when I wanted to feed my addiction. I wasn't aware that balcony smoking was permitted until halfway through the cruise. But before that I had made my decission that I wouldn't sail with any other line because I enjoyed the ambience of the ship and the size of it. I have since sailed 3 times with HA and not because of balcony smoking. If they were to stop it tomorrow it would not be a big issue with me. I do believe though it should be stopped in the Casino. It stinks and that is coming from a smoker. The allocated area out the back of the Lido stinks. So much so that I find I can't bring myself to go out there and enjoy a cigarette. There should be an allocated area where the smokers can go that don't impede on the enjoyment of on non smokers. I limit my smoking whilst on board so that others don't have to endure the foul smell of cigarettes. If there were someone on my adjoining balcony I wouldn't even consider lighting up.

Thank you for being so considerate.

The tamarind is no longer serving lunch. You'll have to wait until you get onboard to reserve lunch at the pinnacle.

My keyboard is acting up so forgive any typos.

 

What about converting Northern Lights to a smoking lounge, then make the casino non-smoking? On all the cruises I have been on with HAL, the only time there is ever more than a handful of people in NL is when they have trivia. Such a nice place, underutilized. The bar is never open. They use the casino bar is service is even offered.

 

I play I the casino a lot. I also smoke a lot. If HAL makes the casinos non-smoking, and I have to go all the way to the Sea View Bar to have a smoke, I will forgo the casino however, if there was an area nearby to smoke, I would still play and slip around he corner. NL is not near a main walkway

I believe they have gotten rid of the northern lights on the eurodam.

This is so true! Now add to that those who have mobility issues that have to try and deal with the elements! I posted something similar quite a long time ago! A couple of posters posted "they should quit smoking"! I guess their answer to it all! Lol

 

Out of my last four Cruises only one was balcony friendly for sitting out! That was a Carib cruise. Even then we spent very little time out there! On the other three Cruises no one spent time on their balconies due to the weather being too cool or the Itinerary being very Port Intensive.

 

The Prinsendam is the only Ship that has an outdoor smoking area which is sheltered especially since they added the row of fake trees. The Seaview Bar is not very sheltered and can be brutally cold and windy! Anyone who has sailed in cold, windy weather especially down around the Horn in March will agree! Anyone who has gone out there to take pics when it's cool and windy can agree!

 

When I read all this angst about balcony smoking it just makes me wonder do you all just sail in the Carib and warm weather? Also, do you really spend your entire Cruise sitting on a balcony when you do? I'm not being facetious! I'm really curious!

 

Thanks!

I see you come from a fairly warm climate. I do not. We have winter here pretty much 8 months of the year so I do warm cruises and most of them are Caribbean. Why would anyone get a balcony if they don't intend to sit out there :confused:. Are we not allowed?

Not showing up when you have said you would is like sending an RSVP card for a wedding saying you'll be there, then not showing up. The organizer has gone to a bit of trouble on your behalf, the polite thing to do is show up & express your thanks.

Absolutely.

Did I also read about how the Noordam's casino allows smoking only on certain nights, or is that the case with all HAL ships?

I believe smoking is no longer allowed in the casino on any night on the eurodam and Noordam according to posters on the board.