luv2cruisenz

Also I while on board and you are finding out what wine is actually available, and if there is a particular wine you like, you can ask them to hold it/reserve it for you in case they run out of it. 
 

I do that now as I love one particular vineyard that I can’t buy at home, so I really look forward to enjoying it on my cruise. 
 

Sometimes a wine you select may not be available on that day - it might be in storage somewhere down below…so it might become ‘available’ later. 

The computers HAL provide for guest use only give free internet access to the HAL website and your HAL account etc, and anyone they have a partnership with - you used to be able to view selected articles from the NY Times for free for example, but not sure if that’s still the case. If the NYT still is free, you can also view it from the Navigator App. 
 

If you log into your HAL account and have purchased an internet plan, you can use their computer to use the internet such as for airline checkin, and print things off. Or you’d just use your own device. But they don’t provide free internet access to airline web sites. 
 

On one of our cruises last year the internet was down on the last sea day which was when alot of people were needing to do airline checkin. The lines at guest services were huge, and they did offer to make any calls for you that you needed for free which was a nice gesture. 

Like already said, if you don’t want to pay for the ships internet you can do your airline check in on the day, as long as it’s before their cut off time!

As it’s just a deposit I don’t see why the exchange rate comes into it.
You by the FCD in the same currency that you buy the cruise in. So if you buy your cruise in £ then you’d buy a FCD in £ and use it to take advantage of the reduced deposit and some OBC when you book. 
 

You can’t use a FCD that was bought in USD for example and apply it to a booking sold in a different currency. That’s what a future cruise consultant told me.

Yeah I think it did go away as I didn’t get the discount last year- such a shame 

As with everything you should shop around and compare rates.

The Vancouver hotel rates are very expensive before our Alaskan cruise in September. I had never booked a pre cruise hotel with HAL before and someone on our roll call suggested it. The HAL rate for this trip, was much cheaper at the Fairmont than booking direct, when I booked it in March. It includes transfers from the airport and to the ship - although they aren’t a big deal for us. 
 

I am still tracking the rates direct with the hotel to compare, out of curiosity, and while they have come down slightly, the room rate with HAL still works out cheaper. 
 

You can always book the hotel package with HAL as a backup so you don’t miss out, and cancel it if you find something better.

Another vote for the meatballs, they’ve always been delicious and I always have them. My favourite dessert is the trio of gelatos. DH always has the tiramisu - the presentation has varied over the years, but it’s always delicious! 

11 minutes ago, sciencewonk said:

Interesting.  I just checked the preferences on my account.  I'm opted in to email, text message, instant message, and snail mail.  I have never received anything from HAL in any of those media.  I don't want to be inundated, but I would like to hear about specials when they come out. 

Hi, I never have either and I think they don't send anything to us as we are in NZ & AUS. Perhaps it's only people with USA addresses that get marketing communications? We are not include din all sales & promotions either which is a bit annoying.

I was told by a Future cruise consultant on board HAL in 2022 that the only consideration to think about is that you wouldn’t be covered by any consumer laws of your home country if you buy it from another country. Like if that agency goes broke etc. That’s all, no restrictions as such.
 

Yes it does look like it’s something their system needs to have.
‘Delivered to Dining Room’ could just mean the PG dining room. Although it’s a bit superfluous from a customers point of view. And confusing!

I do wonder if they have any kind of user experience testing on their website to identify when things are not clear. So it would be good if HAL can confirm what it really means. 

Do you recommend this tour company and the tour you did ?

On 3/5/2024 at 11:37 AM, vms said:

There are limited shore excursions for these ports and they are all sold out or not of interest to us. While we might throw our names on the waiting list, wondering if anyone on the boards has done either of these locations on their own, even if not via cruise, and might have some ideas for us. Nothing showing on Viator or ToursbyLocals.  Private tours, car rental options, other ideas?

 

Thanks in advance!

We’re in a similar situation for our September cruise. I know it’s late in the season and several operators have said they’d have finished, especially in Kodiak. I did find this company for Valdez though and have booked this trip

https://alaska.guide/tours/valdez-glacier-shuttle-tour

I also looked at this company but have booked the other one

https://valdezwatertaxiandcharters.com/sightseeing

So I’m still looking for something in Kodiak. 

I was trying to book the Fairmont before our cruise through HAL, and it was there sometimes and then disappeared, so I thought HAL had sold their allocation. The choices were the Fairmont (900 West George Street) and the Pan Pacific. I kept checking and when I saw it there again last week I just booked it myself, and paid for it online. I contacted the HAL customer service to ask what transfers were included as it didn’t specify exactly on the website. They confirmed it was transfers from the airport to the hotel, and to the ship. I’ve never booked the hotel package through HAL before so wasn’t sure.
 

They also asked me to contact my travel agent to put my flight details into the system so the ground operators can meet us at Vancouver airport. 
 

If you want the Fairmont Hotel package from HAL, and the travel agent won’t book it, then do it yourself. It’s your holiday after all! It was cheaper than booking it through the hotel for my dates in September so I am quite relieved that’s all done. 

Info from HAL’s website 

If you need to make any updates or corrections, contact the Mariner Society at 1-800-547-9139 or mariner_society@hollandamerica.com. 

Yes that is good advice as we had a terrible experience there when the taxi driver tried to charge us a lot more and then locked the doors when I disputed it. It was horrible, and he only let us out when I threatened to call the police.

I will also never take an Uber again from the hotel to the ship on embarkation day after a similar aggressive and stressful experience when the driver dumped us at an underground car park and left. I know it’s only these 2 drivers but it’s awful they took advantage of people who are not familiar with the area. 

On 9/2/2023 at 12:22 PM, Haljo1935 said:

Recently re comped grats that I could see on an invoice from HAL, once the booking was transferred to my TA, they weren't listed. When I called the TA, he said he could see them in the booking so I should trust they were there. Respectfully,  no - only those things which are documented and visible to all parties exist, so I'll take an updated invoice, please and thank you.

I eventually got a copy of the invoice the TA gets from HAL - it's the TA agency version, not meant for the passenger - and the grats were on there, but never showed on my copy. I still have the original from HAL that shows them before the booking was transferred. I will take that with me when I sail, JIC.

I really don't think HAL is trying to screw over passengers, I think their systems are so "wonky" so unstable (like their website) that different people, with different levels of access see different things depending on where they're looking. It doesn't make any of it right or acceptable, it means we all (HAL & TAs included) need to patient and diligent.

We have the same situation - we booked our upcoming cruise in the Black Friday sale while on board last year. That included tips, but it’s not on our invoice. I now have a copy of what HAL has in their system that shows it does, so will see what happens when we embark on Wednesday!
 

In my experience their systems don’t seem to be integrated well at all, and that creates bad processes and potential misinformation. Front line staff need access to all relevant information to provide the service we customers need. As I don’t want to waste time lining up at guest services to correct something that should just work. And I agree, we need to be diligent and patient.

I say that as we are waiting all day at Vancouver airport because our flight to Copenhagen this morning was cancelled, and we have been re-routed via London tonight, with bad seats. Luckily we had planned to have 2 days there before the cruise, so even though it’s now only 1 day, we still have the cruise 🙂

My DH who is Dutch, pronounces it as the long ‘o’ like cone. 
 

On the Volendam last December-the team are so talented and it’s great fun to admire all of their cute critters ! 

9 hours ago, VMax1700 said:

You can pre purchase at any time from booking up to (I was informed by a HAL Agent in UK) 5 days prior to embarkation.

If you are not in the US dollar area it can be advantageous to prepay as HAL uses a very generous exchange rate.  Prepaid Grats are billed to credit card in the currency of the booking.

Thanks for that advice, I didn’t know you could do that! I have just prepaid the grats as it will certainly save us a little bit of money on the exchange rates. And it’s less to pay for later! Win win

We were also on the Volendam Amazon cruise last Nov/Dec and loved it - it’s awesome to be able to see such a special part of the world. We loved walking around the lower promenade of the ship, especially at night. The moths and insects that hitched a ride on the outside deck were fascinating, they made for great photos, some were huge!

The itinerary is the draw card. But I do like the smaller ships as you get to know the crew a bit. We had several changes of itinerary along the way due to the changing water levels and tides, but we never missed out on anything on the original itinerary, they were just in different date order! It was all tender stops on our cruise and the conditions of the floating docks were a bit unpredictable. Devil’s Island was a bonus. 
 

We did private tours in all ports except for one HAL shore excursion. We had a guest speaker on board who gave space exploration talks during the day, and at night he talked about the night sky out on the back by the pool. The lights were turned off so we had a fantastic view of the stars, and saw many shooting stars as well. I loved that trip and would do it again.
 

There were two great, talented and friendly cover bands and live classical music which suited the mood of the cruise, if you like. It’s probably luck of the draw as far as the entertainment goes but I enjoyed the relaxed vibe. After what we’ve all been through with COVID, I think if you want to go, just go. The itinerary is well worth it.  
 

Have fun, whatever you decide 🙂

We got tiles on the Volendam in December and also from the NS in January. It’s a shame the Koningsdam didn’t have them for you. Contact the Mariner Society and ask if they can send them out to you - not sure if they still do that though 🙂

If they do need a supervised RAT test they can get this from a Unichem Pharmacy or Life Pharmacy. Most will do a walk in without an appointment but you can book online if they want that assurance, maybe the hotel reception can help with that. Allow 15 to 30 minutes for it and they’ll need to take their passports. It costs $65 New Zealand dollars each including tax, and the pharmacist will give each of them a printed certificate which they can also email to them, just ask. I did this last November (I live in Auckland) for our HAL Amazon cruise and it worked well, it meets all the HAL requirements. No stress at all! 
 

They have locations throughout Auckland including in the city if that’s where they’re staying. 
 

https://www.unichem.co.nz/

https://www.lifepharmacy.co.nz/

When we were on the Volendam last year  the Christmas gingerbread display went up first on 30 November and was added to over the following weeks. It was in the Attrium so it was quite large and fun and was often changed around and new characters added all the time. Christmas trees and decorations went up all around the ship soon after, along the bannisters etc. it was a wonderful display. 

At Port Everglades there is a flat rate of $8 to go between terminals, there’s a sign that states that and they can’t charge you any more. The sheriff there also told me that. They might try to charge you more as we had to take a taxi between terminals in December (because our HAL transfer never showed up)  and he demanded $10 and locked us inside until I insisted. I don’t know why some taxi drivers behave that way, it’s very intimidating. 

We were also on the 28 day Volendam Amazon cruise and I thought the ship and crew were wonderful, and beautiful fresh flowers on display everywhere! Ryan the cruise & travel director was brilliant and gave interesting and useful destination talks. Yes there was the one broken hot water tap in one machine in the Lido but there are other places to get that so it wasn’t a biggie. Didn’t notice rust, maybe a few spots outside, so not unusual. Loved that the art works of the children of the Ukrainian refugees was on display the whole cruise. The crew seemed to feel like they worked together as a team, if that doesn’t sound too corny, but that comes from good leadership. The day we disembarked we joined the N.Statendam for a holiday cruise and although it was a bigger, newer ship with some advantages I missed the Volendam and wouldn’t hesitate to cruise on her again.

We were at Bridgetown in 10 December and attached is a photo of the pre set taxi rates inside the secure area.

It was $2 per person in a taxi van as a shared ride into town - about a 15 minute walk on a busy road if you want to walk. 

In Bridgetown there’s a nice boardwalk along the river and a newly developed area called Golden Square, that used to be an old historic area with fantastic artistic sculptures etc to remember and honour Clement Payne.

Plenty of taxis to get back to the port - negotiate a price, we paid $5 for two people.