BigMattT

10 hours ago, BermudaBound2014 said:

 

I  do agree with this statement. Sicker people need more care.

 

Since comorbidity has always been (and continues to be) the number one predictor of needing hospitalization from covid, do you think cruise lines should refuse everyone with a comorbidity?  

 

I appreciate what you're saying here, @BermudaBound2014 -- and I'm very impressed with this thread staying on topic and helpful for discussing cruise travel on HAL.

Can you link to something supporting the statement that comorbidities are a stronger predictor than unvaccinated status for hospitalization or death?  I just browsed a small sample UK study and the February 4 "SARS-CoV-2 Infection and Hospitalization Among Adults Aged ≥18 Years, by Vaccination Status" report, which I'm still understanding as suggesting otherwise.

Re: refusing everyone with comorbidities:  since the number and severity of comorbidities is the bigger predictor or hospitalization among vaccinated breakthrough cases... I would hope people with multiple and severe comorbidities would evaluated their fitness to travel rigorously.  I'm not sure there is a comparable degree of risk to calculate for unvaccinated status.

Or looking at this from another perspective...

If HAL has a ship of passengers where EVERYONE has a comorbidity and IS vaccinated... and NCL has a ship of passengers where EVERYONE has a comorbidity but is UN-vaccinated... which ship, according to statistics, will have more patients requiring medical care facilities onboard or hospitalization?

And which ship do I want to be on?

2 hours ago, *Miss G* said:

 

 

Oh wait.  Are you thinking of the cheese topping as bechamel?  The white topping on a regular lasagne typically is a mixture of ricotta, parmesan, and mozzarella.

Traditional /conventional / original / authentic lasagna is layered pasta, bechamel, and bolognese. I think Americans "invented" the ricotta style. I'm sure someone has made a youtube video or something cataloguing the evolution.

4 hours ago, iceman93 said:

Ask for the kid's fries.  We had the same impression of the ship's fries until our 9 year-old ordered something off the kids menu that came with fries.  They were delicious, perfectly-cooked steak fries that were WAY better than the other fries on the ship!

What!? I'll have to remember that!

1 hour ago, canadarocks said:

Is the Lasagna served at dinner in the MDR the same as the Lasagna in the Canaletto? And is the Burger served at lunchtime in the MDR the same as the lunchtime Burger in the Pinnacle Grill? 

The burgers are totally different between MDR and Pinnacle Grill. The Pinnacle Grill burger tasted freshly ground and meticulously stacked. The Chef that came by was very proud of it.

(The fries are the same all over the ship: bafflingly bad, coated, from a bag things.)

22 hours ago, CruiserBruce said:

What a cluster...we walked off at 9:10. The taxi wait line for us, at that time, was an hour long...and the line was the same length when we got into a cab, as when we joined the line. Fortunately we didn't have a deadline to be somewhere,  and fortunately almost all the line was in the shade. Clunky end to a great cruise.

Sounds just ghastly!

On 7/30/2022 at 6:19 PM, iceman93 said:

Notes was one of the big disappointments on my current NS cruise.  My wife and I were really looking forward to the near-daily tastings, but after the first couple we realized the bartender running them had no real education or experience in whiskey.  He was reading notes from a mobile phone and was unable to answer even basic questions from the other guests.

 

I still think it's a really neat idea you want to surprise your husband with this, but just go in knowing that if he knows anything at all about whiskey, he won't be learning anything at the tastings.

I'm so sorry to hear Notes was a disappointment on NS.  In contrast: it was our favorite experience on the Koningsdam in October. Had a wonderfully educated leader of tastings, who seemed very passionate about production methods, aging, regions.

It's also a pretty darn good collection. We participate in tastings and flight offerings regularly when we travel, and we were introduced to three new Asian whisky products on that cruise which we now stock at our bar at home.

FYI - the standard bar menu does not include the selections at Notes. Many of the "tasting" pours are covered by the $15 limit on the Elite package. The bottles in stock seem to change though.

On 7/30/2022 at 10:52 AM, C-sea said:

We have a hold on a cabin on Nieuw Statendam, directly below blues club, can you hear the club at night in cabin?

Yes, you will hear the club at times. I had an oceanview guarantee cabin on Koningsdam in March, and I was assigned a cabin directly below. The good news is: it is an *extremely* convenient midship location, which I wouldn't hesitate to book again.

I heard music (and muted cheering) on only 3 nights: 2 nights I heard nothing after 10pm; 1 night music was until about 11:30pm. I'm pretty sensitive to noise when sleeping, and the dull thudding of bass was A) not bad enough to keep me awake without earplugs, and B) not audible with earplugs.

I strongly recommend always packing earplugs while traveling, but especially cruising. There are any number of sounds that ships make (rattles, bangs, creaks) aside from the music. For what it's worth, I find the lido chairs scraping above at 5am, is FAR far worse than any club or show music.

1 hour ago, kangforpres said:

 

 

Also you should get a mariner point for every night spent in a HAL cabin on a HAL cruise regardless of how the cabin is payed for. Maybe they didn't have your mariner #? I would investigate.

 

Thank you— resolved. Amazing what happens when one logs in to the correct account.

I did receive Mariner points!

40 minutes ago, DaveOKC said:

yes

Hmm... I have not received Mariner points for "free cabin" casino cruises.

On 7/19/2022 at 10:18 AM, CruisingCanucksTwo said:

The NS and Rotterdam have a hot tub in the Retreat Cabana area - that appears to not be the case on the Koningsdam - can anyone confirm that?

There is no hot tub in the Koningsdam retreat. I used the (awesome) retreat a couple months ago.

8 hours ago, JennysUncle said:

On the NS in April the bars had 12oz cans and 16oz aluminum bottles with screw caps.  Our pre-cruise printout of the Signature package said that water up to 500ml was included, but onboard there was a little card saying that the cutoff was 12oz.  I complained at the front desk and was told that that was how it was.  The cans are not convenient in the room or to take on excursions, so we paid for a bottle and just kept refilling it from cans.  You can't bring bottled water onboard, but you can bring an empty bottle that will be convenient for you and keep it refilled.

That’s awful they wouldn’t honor the language you booked.

Without the 12oz screw top bottles, the package makes even less sense now.

On 6/27/2022 at 1:04 PM, FlorenceItaly said:

Mine still showing.  In fact, I had a few new ones this morning.  I check daily all 47 pages!  By chance a few weeks ago I came upon a 2023 16 day TA, balcony,  that had not been sent to me in any offer.  I booked it.   It disappeared not long after.  It reappeared this morning, but, for interior only.

They do seem to come and go.

Same here. Although by the time my PCC called me back the next day, the Verandas were gone. Booked an inside… but slightly bummed about no Verandah for our first crossing. 

I was in 4156 in October. I think every extra inch of that Vista will be a great thing for your party of 4.

(Plus no risk of the occasionally reported loud 1am sounds from the stairwell on the other side of your cabin wall.)

3 hours ago, steve4031 said:

How would this affect me in Neptune suite 42111.   Would I be able to use that first set of elevators as I go forward?

Yes, the aft elevator bank is usable. As is the midship hallway on the other side. Once you walk into the aft elevator bank lobby, the forward port side doorway is closed is all. You get used to it quickly 😉

35 minutes ago, ShipWalker said:

Wind noise- one of many reasons we carry gaffer tape rolled on a pencil with us when cruising.

 

Curious why you roll it on a pencil?

The curry is one of the best I’ve ever had.

Heresay:

I researched this a lot recently for our Eurodam Alaska cruise in August. Consensus from scouring posts and blogs (which I can’t link to, ridiculously) is it’s a long time on a boat, but totally worth it. Reasonably accommodating inside area to warm up and sit down. Spectacular scenery and they go to great lengths to show you “something” even when the waters/ice don’t allow up-close with the bigger glaciers. (Only rare reports of it.)

Only disappointment people cite is that they weren’t able to do a “big ship drops you off at the fjord then travel by smaller boat to Juneau”, which carves a few hours off the travel time of this long but worthwhile excursion. 

7 hours ago, Louise sail said:

We are signed on for a back to back starting in Montreal and signed with the idea that we would eat mainly in the dining room where we could be waited on while I recover from an injured leg.

 The classical musicians are a favourite part of our before dinner time.We paid top dollar for this cruise and we expect good service.We will be very disappointed if our expectations are not fulfilled.

We’re on Zaandam’s next sailing, so we’re watching things carefully as well.

I think it may be a bit premature to judge subsequent service levels based on a repositioning cruise, which is also a maiden sailing following nearly 800 days without passengers.

To be proactive, I would recommend asking HAL about any assistance you may need in the buffet due to your reduced mobility. (Those are port heavy itineraries, which wouldn’t have lunch available in the dining room under more traditional circumstances anyway…)

If dining room breakfast weren’t available on our sailing, I would likely ask nicely for the Club Orange enhanced room service menu for my stateroom nightly.

6 hours ago, Ready2go11 said:

Afternoon tea was also very tasty and the service was good. One of the best I have experienced on HAL after many sailings on many ships.

I’m very much looking forward to tea, then! We had planned to skip it after being disappointed with the Koningsdam’s. (HAL: if you’re reading: I would gladly pay a small upcharge for a premium Afternoon Tea on a Sea Day in Tamarind on Pinnacle class ships. Perfect space and theme for it.)

That wouldn’t be a surprising change, considering how sparsely attended both have been on my last two cruises post-restart.

But a disappointing change for sure.

Might just be for the repo?

I had noticed the couples discount missing when I tried to buy it for my upcoming Zaandam cruise.

We’ve never really “gotten our money’s worth” by buying the passes vs individual visits. We usually miss a few days. But we bought the passes more as convenience than anything… as a way to guarantee they weren’t sold out on a sea day or something.

$80 more just makes it feel like we’re throwing money away. We’ll likely set aside one day to “Spa Out” instead of buying the length of cruise pass.

(Especially on Zaandam. I’m shocked the price is the same for Zaandams limited Thermal Suite and the Pinnacle ships’.)

26 minutes ago, JRG said:

I don't think it is necessary to bring a 'fistfull of dollars' unless you are headed to a Chippendale's or heaven forbid,  a strip joint.      I know for a fact that educatators (teachers) like to play that drinking game that involves dice and singles (dollar bills) and alot of laughing and whooping it up and when that happens look out because anything can happen.  

 

You can write your tip in on your drink slip and it works just as well.

 

 

Heavens to betsy! A strip joint?! Ohh my I feel another wave of the vapors coming on! What’s next? Ragtime? — shameless music! We’ve got to keep the young ones moral after school! Our children’s children are going to have trouble! Terrible terrible trouble!

Oh, and there aren’t drink slips now.

Our on-board spending (including gaming buy-in) always exceeds the “fare” portion of our cruises by a significant amount. I’m guessing that’s why we receive the offers for “free” cabins.
 

They want profitable customers onboard.

Across the hospitality sector, the most “loyal” customers in rewards programs pay the MOST, not the least. The companies talk openly about how their “members” command a higher rate than “non-members” on their earnings calls… if you're into that sort of thing.

Yes, we usually encounter lots of reasons to tip crew going beyond normal expectations throughout a trip. But it’s more like $5’s and $10’s these days, not $1’s.

The Navigator compliments thing is really great now, too. Anyone we tip extra usually gets a mention there too.

7 hours ago, willoL said:

Thanks, @BigMattT. I haven't used the pay version of Duolingo before, so I wasn't aware that one received downloadable content by doing so. That's really helpful!

 

I think Duolingo allows your whole family to use the account if you buy the paid version, too, so no excuses from my teens if I "suggest" they keep up with their language studies on our trip, too. 😁

 

--willoL

Onboard, they’ll find a whole world of languages being spoken, too 😉

On 4/22/2022 at 5:46 PM, whogo said:

Thanks for the link, ShipWalker. None of the photos look like they started as 1/4" thick slices, I think that is a misprint.

Not a misprint. A 1/4” thick slice should render down beautifully, and when torched at the end have a wonderful slightly brulee-like crisp glaze.

We enjoyed what they served us in the Pinnacle, but I don’t think they started with 1/4”. I doubt 1/4” is what is shown in the OP’s photos either.

Nowadays, even the local chain breakfast place serves candied bacon / (“millionaires bacon” as it’s sometimes called)… so being served breakfast slices instead of premium cuts of 1/4” bacon is particularly noticeable. The $50 up-charge without a commensurate increase in food quality makes it even more noticeable.

On 4/23/2022 at 3:31 PM, Florida_gal_50 said:

I’d take the pickles any day over this.  Why cover something perfectly yummy with a candy coating?

Candied bacon can be seen as an offshoot of many gourmet preparations of pork belly in a sweet sauce in many types of Asian cuisine. The “why” is probably it’s wild popularity.

Food is such a unique thing in that you have to risk not liking something you’ve tasted in order to be a qualified opinion. Candy covered bacon is likely as odd to you as a sweet pumpkin pie is to an Australian.

Have you tried it?

1 hour ago, Sir PMP said:

The Zaandam looks now exactly like the Volendam, all the entertainment is on deck 5, including the 2 piano players. The crows nest will be a morgue after 7:30pm.

A delightful ambiance.

Hello! My husband uses Duolingo and made the decision to purchase the downloadable version. That enabled him to keep his streak on the ship.

As far as quality, on Mexican Riviera and California Coastal itineraries I experienced at least one day on each where I could not get enough data from the ship’s premium internet to update my daily reading apps. I haven’t been on HAL to Alaska yet, but on other lines (even ones that have the “super-fast” infrastructure onboard…) they all struggle with internet on Alaska Itineraries.