ksmaxey

We have a medical record for each of us from the medical center noting our testing positive and the date.
 

Today we received a call from guest relations telling us to be ready to disembark at 7:30.  We then got a letter with special luggage tags saying housekeeping would get us at 7:30 and would take us to a special gangway for disembarkation before everyone else. 

The same letter advised us to arrange a hotel and transportation to the hotel to complete our isolation.  Tomorrow morning is day 5 so our isolation per US health standards will be complete.  We will need to wear a mask for the next 5 days.  (letter is clearly generic and designed not to need updating as guidelines change.)

We had planned to disembark with our luggage ourselves.  We now are at the front of the line!  Easy to get transportation to the airport before the masses on a Saturday at Port Everglades. 

4 hours ago, scooter6139 said:

This was the last message on this I got from our PCC:

 

You CANNOT upgrade on line if you already have Have It All.  You can only upgrade on the ship and the cost will be $17.70 pp/per day extra.

 

If you prepurchase the elite w/out Have It All the cost is $58.94 per day. 

 

As long as you would also purchase wi-fi, take $100 worth of excursions and 1 specialty dinner (value $250) then paying $350 for Have It All means the beverage package is costing you $100 for 7 days or $14/day.  So $14 day plus the $17.70 to upgrade to elite will mean you are paying $31.70/day which is still a better deal than buying the Elite separately.

 

I hope you follow all that but the bottom line is you can ONLY upgrade to elite on the ship if you have Have It All on your booking.

We have upgraded on many cruises before. 

On this cruise we were told that upgrading is no longer available online or in person because of the new policy that you only pay the overage amount for beverages over $11.

Given that every drink menu has this printed in it, I am certain this is going fleet wide.  It just depends on when it hits each ship

Since we have been in isolation I have to share that the lack of new menus (wine and drinks) in the Navigator App and the TVs is maddening.  They had to know of the increase and should have had paper menus printed the day before and the online stuff updated within 24 hours.  I would encourage others to us the app and message through the front desk. 

We asked for a wine through in room dining they asked where they could find it and I had to say I had no idea. . .

18 minutes ago, Ipeeinthepools said:

A quick question for those who have contracted Covid, do you have any idea how you were infected?  Was it a crowded theatre, someone coughing on a bus, etc?

Based on the timing it was either the day of travel or the first two days on the ship.  We wore a mask on the plane except for 15 minutes eating/drinking.  We didn't wear a mask in the lounge before the flight but were well spaced out.

On the ship we had private tables in the dining room but did attend the origin story of HAL and went to the Rolling stone Rock room and BB Kings.

It is hard to say exactly because it would have taken 15 minutes plus of close contact.  Not likely an elevator though those could be petri dishes.

In terms of insurance - we have had no costs because of Covid and we do have documentation.  Because we are likely to take future cruise credit which is worth 100% vs trip protection 90% we won't need any further documentation as the front desk has already sent a letter confirming our dx and options.

Kevin 

Based on our conversation with medical I have good reason to believe that there is a fair amount of positive cases on this segment.

We would be due to be tested on Saturday but they said they won't test because we are disembarking.  We will see if we get notice about the special disembarkation process.  If not we will mask up and self disembark early. 

We are both feeling significantly better and know that is because of our vaccination status.

It took a couple of days to get the "special" lunch and dinner menus delivered to our mailbox. These offer about half the options as in the main dining room.  By then we had figured out how to order what we wanted from wherever we wanted.  (We even got the Canaletto by paying the fee - though discounted because of status.)   For breakfast they use the same room service breakfast menu so we write in what we want.   For lunch yesterday we just called in our order.  For dinner we wrote in what we wanted on the paper menu and left in our mailbox.

After the first day we haven't had any trouble ordering beverages from our signature beverage plan. 

We are curious what will happen with the Thermal package we had purchased and could only use half of before testing positive.  We have already gotten a second letter about future cruise credit or using our insurance for 90% back.

5 minutes ago, Ipeeinthepools said:

I hope you recover quickly.  Does HAL offer any additional services on disembarkation day?  Perhaps, you can bypass customs and go straight to the airport.  Does HAL get you a ride to the airport?

They haven't indicated that they do.  I don't think they can do anything with Customs and that has always been easy and quick.  We plan to self-disembark early and get a ride to the airport.  I would expect that HAL could not get us there nearly as quickly and easily as we can ourselves.

38 minutes ago, hmorrow said:

So I JUST got off the phone with guest services, and she said you MUST upgrade onboard. They do not have the ability to do it? 

I can say that I spoke with the Beverage Manager who I knew from previous cruises and he said there was a change in policy 2 weeks ago and no upgrades to the elite package are allowed

They won't let you know how many are positive but the medical center staff seemed to indicate there was more than a few.

We are in our original cabin.  All food comes just like room service with real dishes and siverware and glassware.  We can order from any menu on the ship but if we order from Tamarind, Canaletto, or Pinnacle we are responsible for the cost.  Canaletto was delicious last evening.  Stewards prefer to bring meals into the room and don't all have masks on.  We have held onto a few things like salt and pepper shakers.

Our isolation is 5 days with the first day of symptoms day 0.  On day 6 they test again and if negative you are free.  We head home that day and with early flight will test ourselves and mask for the Uber, airport and flight.

9 minutes ago, hmorrow said:

So can we upgrade before we get on, next month? By calling?

I can't answer definitively but I can't expect that they will let you upgrade before if they won't let you do so upon embarkation

We are getting full silverware service and real plates.  We ordered from the Canaletto last night and they only charged us for one because we only ordered one entree.  Yesterday we were told we would get an expanded breakfast menu and then lunch and dinner menus in our mailbox with deadlines to order. Lunch and dinner arrived today after the lunch deadline and with about half of the options on the regular menu in the dining room.   Yesterday we had great luck just pointing out what we wanted and writing things in on the in room breakfast menu so we will keep doing that. 

We had a little trouble getting beer and wine yesterday because room service wanted to charge.  I called the front desk and got that fixed.  They will only bring 2 drinks each at a time.  We aren't drinking to oblivion but given we have 4 more days we tried to get a bottle for each of us (white and red) to save on staff work and exposures.  Not an option to get a bottle instead of five glasses.

Btw the staff want to bring food into the room.  They aren't all masked.  We think most of them have not only been vaxed but have also had covid. 

We have all vaccines and the bivalent booster and have had relatively mild symptoms so far.

We are on the Rotterdam currently and they are no longer allowing passengers to upgrade to Elite onboard.  Very few menus for drinks are available as there was a price increase on most things as we boarded.  The menus that are present do push paying the difference for any beverage over $11. 

Since we have upgraded many times it does feel like a bait and switch change.  The whole reason I liked the Elite was because of the wine options AND not having my statement littered with beverage charges. 

We have been really enjoying our cruise (#12 with HAL) and enjoying the time away from snow and gray skies!   Last night we stayed in our stateroom to watch the championship games and toward the end of the evening we both began to feel cruddy.  This morning was no better so we took a Covid test we brought and both of us tested positive.  We called medical and they confirmed the dx after we went for a second test there.  We are now in isolation until we disembark.  We are both fully vaxed and so far the symptoms are mild.  We are taking it in stride.  We have room service and someone to cook for us.  Both the medical center and guest services said we were taking it better than other passengers who have been testing positive.  We made it nearly 3 years without catching it and we know many who have had it 3 times now. 

Kevin

We joined the Rotterdam yesterday and will say the embarkation process was quite smooth.

A couple of notes.  There were barely any bar menus in any bar (we found partial menus in 2 bars and we checked them all) and they had trouble finding a wine list in the main dining room.  It turns out that many of the prices went up and everything was being reprinted.  We had two instances were bar staff commented on the how much some things increased.  Senior beverage staff were assembling the new wine lists in the dining room as we exited.

We also tried to upgrade from the signature to the elite and the policy has again changed.  No way to upgrade on the ship.  The new policy is that you can pay for anything over $11 instead.  They are also wanting signatures for drinks even on the package though enforcement is spotty.  With a full ship and several purchases a day from each customer I can't imagine trying to find a paper copy later even if they are saved.  If they want a copy they need to move electronic.

Looking forward to HMC

I will be on the Rotterdam and the itinerary hasn't changed since we booked the cruise in November.

41 minutes ago, kopykat said:

I’ve had the bagels and they are on the smallish side. Definitely not a NY bagel

I think good bagels are boiled in malt water before baking which I doubt could be done easily.

10-Day Southern Caribbean Seafarer SHIP Rotterdam Jan 25, 2023

Kevin & Janice Maxey

13 minutes ago, Chickadee910 said:

FYI if you get a beverage card and don’t use it all the remained is added on to your tab on the last night.

I believe this policy has changed to no refund.  I haven't cruised since Jan 2022 but that was the case then

The policy on the refund of unused balance has changed!  There is no refund at the end of the cruise if you do not use the entire balance.

On 5/1/2022 at 8:37 PM, Crew News said:

I asked a Lido Market chef who assured me that canola oil is the only type used on the ship for frying.  The PG chef said last night they use olive oil in their unsuccessful attempts to sear scallops.  I will continue asking at other venues to get you a complete answer.

That may fully explain the issue with sear.  Olive Oil has a low smoke point

17 hours ago, Scotto97 said:

Sorry, but it's not my job as a stranger to protect you........Our country has always been about individual freedom. And that's the only reason I will give up my rights for a stranger - to protect their freedom. If you are too fragile to place yourself on a cruise ship after being fully immunized and wearing a properly fitted N95 mask, then you should not put yourself in that situation. I shouldn't be forced to wear a mask because of another person's health concerns / issues. BTW - I'm fully vaccinated and boosted and have no co-morbidities.

Would you support the elimination of all laws restricting the operating of a motor vehicle while intoxicated or impaired?  One persons rights end when they harm another.

One thing that has been dropped from the beverage packages is bottles of San Pelegrino.  We always got one for dinner.

4 hours ago, LocoLoco1 said:

Thank-you!! Fun to read. Upon reflection: Was ‘The Vibe’ aboard ship sedate to the point of being dead silent? We are sailing next week to Panama (Eurodam), primarily to get a tan poolside while reading a raft of books. 

There was good energy particularly at BB Kings.  The closed the 2nd floor of dining and had crew all focused on passengers.  I would jump to do it again. 

I will say that in our case we believe the Cruise Director, 1 comedian, 1 dancer and the steel drum band all came down with Covid.  (they all disappeared and had scheduled performances.)  The last 2 sea days were lacking in activities, but we weren't looking for things to do as we were looking for down time in the sun.

On 1/27/2022 at 6:04 AM, Crazy For Cats said:

I received this survey yesterday too.  I responded.  We cancelled because of their protocols.  IMHO masking on board with a vaccinated cruise is too much.  I also said that it is difficult to meet their current testing requirements.  Our recent encounter with Covid proved the point.

We just returned from the Eurodam 10 Day cruise.  We booked because of the requirements for masking, testing and vaccinations.  My wife works in healthcare and spent too many days during peaks having goals of care conversations with families of those unlikely to survive. 

We are also pretty sure that 6 entertainment staff who we saw interacting back stage without masks ended up positive in quarantine.  (including the cruise director)

4 hours ago, oakridger said:

@ksmaxeyI enjoyed reading about your cruise.  I certainly hope the elimination of debarkation day breakfast room service is just temporary due to short staffing or low guest count.  It is one of the features that sets HAL apart from some of the other mainstream lines and something I do appreciate on the last morning!  

 

~Nancy

I know that this has been reported on other ships as well.  I think HAL is taking advantage of the opportunity to drop this.

Our ship was 25% occupancy with nearly 1.5 crew to every passenger.  Dropping room service on the last day had nothing to do with not enough crew.

We got off of her yesterday with  closer to 500 passengers than 600.  This cruise should be under 700.