BKFlowerMound

Let it drop and cross NCL off your list. They had a customer service opportunity and they failed. Spend your future vacation dollars on smarter companies. 

Did they owe you $60, no.  Should they have reimbursed you for it, probably not. What they should have done is made an apology and gesture while on the ship. A comped bottle of wine would’ve cost them $5 or less. Strike one. Onshore customer service could’ve given you $60 in future cruise credit as a goodwill gesture while both apologizing and explaining why they couldn’t provide reimbursement; that would have MADE them money if you used it. Strike two.  

Either nearly costless gesture would have shown they cared. You showed you cared about this issue by stopping by the desk AND writing them. Since this isn’t baseball, they need to pay the “I’m a stupid company tax” and be out with two strikes. Spend your money elsewhere. 

We were in 334 on the Amaviola a few weeks ago. And yes, it's small. But it's also well laid out and we didn't have any issues with space. We also didn't have any issues with noise either from the Chef's Table, engine noise / vibration, or noise from above. The bathroom is the same size as other cabins -- with a largish shower. There was plenty of storage. The French Balcony provided plenty of light as well. But there is no room to walk around in the room, sit other than the bed, etc.

A nice feature of this room is that there is a coffee machine in the Chef's Table that you can quickly access. The Chef's table is empty except at night and it was a quiet, nice additional lounge for morning river views. It was nearly private too.

We did have an issue when rafting next to a shorter ship that was funneling exhaust into our cabin. Our captain and cruise manager were able to address the issue.

This was our first Amawaterways cruise but won't be our last.

Cinque Terra is magical. But the 5 towns are built into steep ravines that run into the sea. There are stairs and steep streets with inclines. Part of the magic is walking between the towns. The paths between the towns are flat in places but steep in others. The walk between towns ranges from 20 minutes to more than an hour. There's also a train that connects the towns. I can't imagine taking a bus between the towns as the road is not as scenic.

You might want to look at pictures of the towns to gauge whether walking around the towns is above your ability at this point. Consider also that if you are disembarking from a ferry and transitioning to a bus in any of the towns, you will almost certainly have to walk up the hill to where the busses can park. That will be hundreds of feet in elevation. You may want to consider waiting to book until you're onboard. Remember, however, that unless the excursion staff has actually been on the tour, they won't really be able to tell you much more.

Heck, even TSA approved locks are removed and not put back. So far, I've had two go missing from US airports. They were there when I checked the luggage in. :mad:

Before buying another lock for your luggage, go to YouTube and view the videos on how to get into luggage with a ballpoint pen. If your luggage has a zipper on it, a lock is worthless.

I have been following this post on Reddit as well. Reddit is extremely popular among the Millennial generation.

This Reddit post has over 4400 comments. Not views -- comments!!

And it's gotten results too. Here's the latest post from the OP on Reddit:

"Okay we are up. I'm just going to list a few facts for you all:

1.Around 9:30 last night, our room phone rang and it was the head of guest services. It was a very quick call but long story short, he said they were aware of the video and were engaged with discussions internally regarding how to handle it. I know very little else about their reaction to this.

2.They are refunding our $600 upgrade and comping us a nice dinner on the ship. They said they have something else in mind but are still discussing. I do not know what that means.

3.They can't for sure say whether or not the maintenance outside our window will continue, although it appears that there is still plenty of work to do as far as I can tell, although that's just my opinion.

4.They can't move us because the ship is full, which I understand.

5.We have a plan to go do a long tour of Norway today so we'll be off the ship for the night, returning tomorrow.

6.This has not ruined our trip. We intend to have a blast and have another 2 weeks to do so.

I'll update on the train or something. They have my cell number so hopefully they will call me."

If you take the Reddit OP at his word (and I do), he deserves compensation. The ship confirmed that they knew about the maintenance as it's part of the regular cycle. HAL took his money for the upgrade knowing that they were going to be doing the maintenance. (The fact that the actual person who sold him the upgrade didn't know about the maintenance doesn't matter at all. HAL knew). Had he known about the maintenance, he wouldn't have paid the money.

Rather than accepting their onboard "too bad, so sad" he showed them the power of social media to change the way things have been done in the past.

I completed an Internet survey sent to me by HAL a few days ago.

They asked questions about numbers of cruises, numbers of vacations days I've taken over the last two years, my age, my income, etc. In other words, demographic, target-audience qualifying questions.

Then there were a few interest-type questions. Most of these, I don't really remember. But because of this thread and other comments about the Koningsdam (which we will be on board a month from now), I do remember a question about the library.

My conclusions based on all of this are these:

- HAL's doing and has done market research on libraries

- Libraries don't matter to the demographic of the people likely to take a cruise on the Koningsdam and its future sisters

HAL is trying to be polite in its responses to its current loyalists who value libraries but it's not likely to change its mind here. EReaders, iPads, etc., have dramatically changed publishing. While not universally true, older folks buy paper books and younger folks download them. HAL has to start to skew younger or it won't survive. I'm 53 and my general view of HAL is that it's for old people and the truth is my 25 year old self would considered me an old people. Who will think of HAL as their line in 10 years as the current loyalists stop taking cruises?

Have you noticed whether the Sip & Savor wine tasting before early dinner is listed on the daily program?

 

Have other, more formal, wine tasting events been offered?

 

In keeping with the appeal to younger cruisers, are there fewer Gala Nights?

 

Thanks for posting this thread. It has given me an excellent idea of what to expect from the K.

We are booked on the August 7 K'Dam cruise. Last night we received an "Important Notification about our Cruise" from HAL that the number of gala nights had been increased from 1 to 2. I guess that we had assumed their would be 2. Remember that even Gala night dress codes are now pretty relaxed.

You should call access and compliance at (800)547-8493. They will be able to assist you. Do not wait until you get on the ship.

We've been on the Solstice, the Silhouette, and the Reflection and will be on the Koningsdam in August. We've loved the Solstice class ships and did the Eastern Med on the Reflection last Summer (which included an overnight in Istanbul at the time that has been cancelled for safety reasons this Summer). Those ships are wonderful, with a preference to Silhouette (liked the mix of specialty restaurants better than the glass show on Solstice and is a half a deck smaller with a full Sky Observation lounge compared to Reflection).

My guess is that while we will really like Koningsdam, we will still like Celebrity better, especially with perks including beverage packages and if the price is better. But, Istanbul would probably make up for any difference. It's magical. I'll update if my thoughts change after the koningsdam cruise.

The OP here has the smartphone App, but it really amazes me how many people with smartphones don't get the Apps for the airlines that they are flying. They're free and they take only seconds to download.

Even though Southwest's App isn't the best of them, just yesterday it saved me. My Southwest flight was canceled because of weather. I was notified by text and immediately jumped on the app and rescheduled. My two colleagues who were on the same flight who were with me didn't have the app. One called. The other tried to go online. By the time they got through, the flight I was on was booked. They were booked on flights 2 and 3 hours later.

You're not locked into all the features of the app. As noted above, you can have someone else check you in and then bring up the boarding pass on the app. Or you can check in on the app and print a boarding pass either at home or at the airport. The pass can be uploaded to the Apple wallet.

Bottom line - get the app for ever airline you fly even if it's for just a single flight.

Krentenbollen(raisin buns) are something I look forward toon every cruise. For my husband it's the mini chocolate croissants.

 

I can always count on HAL to have something to please everyone in our family.

 

Rijsttafel-sambal and ketjap manis please

 

Pinnacle grill burger(lunch) just do it. Trust me! So good!

 

LeCirque Chateaubriand or Lamb--excellent

 

For us we are almost always pleased. My issues are usually with seasoning or lack there of. I know many guests have issues with sodium so I am satisfied with S&P on the table

My sample with HAL is fairly small, but your seasoning issue is something I noticed. In my opinion, salt & pepper on the table is no substitute to properly seasoning food while it's cooking. I chalked HAL's lack of seasoning in comparison to other cruise lines to an attempt to cater to the older clientele. It's food is seasoned like food in a nursing home.

I have not been on a HAL cruise (RCI, DCL, CCL..) but not HAL. I am considering taking one, since they have ships departing from NY, not too far from me. it would be a great help if specific examples of how HAL has been "ruined". I have nothing to compare it to, as I've never taken one.

I'm probably not the best person to answer this question because I don't think Mr. Ashford could possibly have ruined HAL in his so-far brief tenure. Additionally, I've only been on 2 HAL cruises, though I'm very much looking forward to our 3d one in a couple months on the brand-new Koningsdam -- which is likely Exhibit A in any claim that HAL is on the road to ruin. And the biggest reason why I shouldn't be answering this question is I'm not that big a fan of the way HAL is/was before it was allegedly ruined. But I'm going to give it a shot anyway.

To get a better idea of why it's being ruined, you probably need to start with a base-line of what HAL's many fans like about it. In a phrase, HAL has emphasized traditional cruising elegance. Examples of how this has played out are:

- The décor is traditional with nautical touches - like brass and dark woods. Fans would call it classy

- HAL ships maintain teak decks and full wrap-around promenades where you can sit on a deck chair

- HAL ships are generally smaller than its competitors and it also has had longer cruises than those competitors

- HAL has more older ships with fewer balcony cabins

- Food has been traditional ocean liner fair with fewer specialty restaurants than most of its competitors and even these are traditional (Steak & Seafood, Pseudo-Italian, Faux-Asian)

- Entertainment has been geared toward the older demographic that HAL attracts (even noticeable on what background muzak is playing on deck and in other public areas). There doesn't tend to be all that much going on at night on a HAL ship

- And then there is the topic that may not be discussed except in the sticky thread at the top, which is also different than most of its competitors

So IMHO what you see on HAL ships is a much older average age than what you're probably used to. While some of these much older folks are in the grumpy-old-fart category, most are in the type-of-older-person-that-I-aspire-to-be-category who've lead interesting lives and with whom you could have a great conversation and are fun (when they're awake). The trouble with this group of folks, of course, is that they're dying off. Changes are being made that HAL hopes will lower the average age of cruisers without alienating its core fans. Of course, like with the other cruise lines, some of the changes that are being made might just be revenue enhancing, cost cutting measures disguised as innovations.

Even if Mr. Ashford isn't responsible for all of these changes (and he can't be) you can see what direction HAL wants to go by looking at the Koningsdam:

- The décor is less traditional with a design theme that is not Nautical

- The wrap-around promenade deck is not wide enough for most HAL traditionalists and it's views are blocked by lifeboats

- There are more "for pay" restaurants

- There are also more no additional charge restaurant options as well

- Cinema is gone replaced by a big screen at the pool

- The passenger laundry facilities are gone (but haven't been built on the last several HAL ships)

- New drinks packages are being introduced (HAL has traditionally had a lenient policy allowing wine to be brought on board that has been tightened and has had cheaper drink prices overall) and some are concerned that this might lead to higher prices overall

- General trend toward monetizing spaces (like the restaurants), a wine mixing concept, etc., with a de-emphasis on spaces like the library

- Formal nights have essentially been eliminated in place of a looser defined "Gala" night, which really isn't anything other than dress up if you want to

Couple these changes with the fact that some of the older, smaller ships that many HAL fans love have been retired or are going to be retired and you get these "ruin" threads. The complaints about change are not all that different than what you see on other boards about other lines.

I hope folks will correct me if I got HAL wrong here or what the "ruin" is all about.

We took our then 12 and 15 year old boys on the Maasdam in 2015.

Were there a lot of children - No. Were there enough for them to make a few friends, yes. In fact, there were more on this cruise then during our HAL Alaska cruise. It is HAL after all, which attracts an older demographic and fewer families than, perhaps, any other mass market cruise line.

As far as the ports go, there are several things that could be of interest to kids. Quebec City has the Citadel with its changing of the guard, cannons, etc. Sydney has the Louisburg Fortress. Halifax has many options suitable for children, including some Titanic things if that's of interest to them. If they are girls, PEI has Anne of Green Gables stuff (I have boys and they couldn't have cared less but liked the Confederation Bridge). Bar Harbor has Acadia National Park. At either end is Montreal and Boston, which have just a ton of stuff for children.

HAL is my boys least favorite cruise line but compared to another vacation option, they would choose a HAL cruise and they certainly enjoyed the Maasdam cruise and were happy to accompany us. If you want to do New England and Canada in the Summer, HAL is pretty much your only choice. The kids should have a good time.

There is ever so slightly more risk booking an excursion privately than through the cruise line but it is in my opinion nearly always worth the risk:

1) the risk of being left at the dock is so slight as to be not really worth considering as the people providing the service have a lot of incentive to get you there on time. Sometimes, there's no risk as you'll be in the exact same tour as cruise line passengers, you are just paying less. I think the risk increases if you haven't prebooked something and are arranging it at the dock but it's still pretty slight. Frankly, the people who are missing the ships aren't people on private excursions, they're independent people bad at time management who had four too many at Senor Frogs.

2) the loss of deposit risk if the ship arrives late or not at all is, in my experience, a red herring. Reputable operators refund your money in these instances. They don't want a bad review on cruise critic or elsewhere. This is usually spelled out at the time of booking if a deposit is taken.

3) you often cannot only do it cheaper, you can do it much, much better for cheaper. In other words, you can book a more private, more customized tour for less. Of course, you're in a sense paying for this as you have to do the research to find reputable operators, etc., but cruise critic helps. Who wants to be on an excursion with six busses with 300 others? Do you really want to stop at that jewelry factory where you know the cruise line is getting a kick back?

Sometimes you have to fork over the extra money for the cruise line's tour. We've had issues with booking privately in Alaska as the cruise lines do have exclusive arrangements with some of the tour operators there. Also, sometimes the rate of gouge isn't so excessive and you need someplace to burn some OBC. This is usually most true with shuttle type tours where they're taking you someplace and little else.

Here's the "too long; didn't read" or "tl;dr" version: Price is lower, quality is higher, and risk isn't as great as cruise line would lead you to believe if you book privately.

I really would have been surprised if they'd given us that Anniversary promotion, considering it was about $1,500.

 

I don't understand how they can get away w/ free gratuities. Does that mean the staff goes w/o? I saw them add the gratuity as a credit then charge our onboard account on Princess.

 

ON a long cruise, it turns out to quite a bit of money.

We've received "Free Gratuities" on both Celebrity and Disney on previous cruises. In neither case does it mean the Staff did without. Disney gave us a voucher that we included in the gratuity envelopes. On Celebrity, we were just on a list that the Staff had (which was identical to the list of folks who had prepaid their gratuities).

Angela,

A word of advise. Keep it brief. Complaint letters like yours are NOT treated seriously.

Why? You've buried some real issues in a sea of minor complaints. The real issues get lost and people think you're cranky, hard to please, with a distorted sense of reality. That might not be fair but a "laundry list" of complaints is going to be perceived that way.

Sorry you didn't enjoy your cruise.

We love Celebrity and while it is family friendly, it's not the most family friendly for children under age three. Kids under age three are not permitted unaccompanied in the kids clubs. Also, as noted, there are no swim facilities for anyone not potty trained.

I generally hate it when people suggest families look elsewhere but there are some cruise lines that do have more accommodations for very young children. Carnival, for example, permits two year olds in their kids clubs. Even Disney is I think still three year olds though they have some activities for younger ones.

Cruises are great family vacations but are definitely better when the kids are just a bit older. On the other hand, what are you supposed to do, sit around and do nothing for two more years?

We were there two summers ago.

The location is at 3rd and Spring, which is just a few blocks from the dock. 5 minute walk. It's small with only one person checking you in. They were friendly and moved quick but the line was probably 15 people deep at 8:00 when it opened.

Was there ever any clarification on the July 20th itinerary? Celebrity website is still different from our confirmation. I just found out only because of the thread. Thanks to the OP!:)

No clarification. Our booked private excursion in Ephesus has confirmed with us that we're booked with them no matter what day we are there.

Hi all,

 

Itinerary 1, which is quoted above, is the correct itinerary information. Please disregard Itinerary 2, we are working to have this removed from the website.

The July 20th itinerary also has some discrepancies. Is there anything that we can rely on? The various officials in the different ports have Reflection there on different days than what you say.

Crystal played What a wonderful world. X played A Hawaiian version of Somewhere over the rainbow in 2004. The singer was named Iz or Oz. Not sure. He died a young man from complications of obesity.

It's by Iz: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel_Kamakawiwoʻole

The song is medley that combines elements of both Somewhere Over the Rainbow and What a Wonderful World.

I don't think you could take an Air Canada flight from Seattle to Vancouver and then continue on the same plane from Vancouver to Hawaii. However, i don't think there is anything to stop you from taking one Air Canada flight to Vancouver and then another to Hawaii. In this sense I think air laws are similar to the PVSA laws.

Airline protectionism is more stringent than this example. It doesn't make a difference if the plane is the same. Air Canada cannot even sell a ticket or a combination of tickets that ends up transporting a passenger from SEA to HNL even though you change planes in YVR. Similarly, United Airlines couldn't sell a ticket from Montreal to Vancouver with a plane change in Chicago. And, yes, they have some systems in place that can and do catch people trying to do this and will refund these types of tickets to avoid stiff government fines.

Yes this is protectionism and all governments do it.

Without question, do the one way on Millie. Solstice is a beautiful ship but you just see much, much more on the one way. Tag on a trip to Denali, ride the rails between Seward and Anchorage, and spend some time in the Kenai. The Solstice does have the incomparable Brent Nixon as its naturalist but doesn't go to Hubbard Glacier or get out of a Southeast Alaska.

It's on deck 15 forward and is called the X club. There are planned activities but it's primarily a place for teens to meet and connect with other teens. There will be playstations, xboxs, etc.

Unfortunately the cruise you are on is likely to have few teens as it's not a school holiday in the US.

Wow.. jeans and a polo would work just fine. I didn't realize dining on Celebrity would be that relaxed.

 

I was searching for current room service menus, but the latest ones I found were from 2012. :( Any idea of where I could find more current ones?

I don't think the room service menu is any different. Remember that you can order from that evening's MDR menu during dinner hours for room service too.