mtnmusic

We were booked on a sold out 22 night TA Oosterdam Tampa to Rome and back to Barcelona and HAL cancelled the cruise supposedly because there was a "greater demand" in Alaska. We then booked Westerdam TA FLL to Rome instead :)and talked HAL into sweetening the pot by giving us an Explore 4 Package at no extra cost. It pays to complain to the right people in charge.

I've wondered about this so thought I'd ask.

 

Maybe "everyone" doesn't walk counter-clockwise, but it seems like most everyone does. Especially the morning power walkers.

 

I've never seen any signs on the deck telling people which direction to go, nor have I seen any other mention of it.

The ship is moving away from you if you walk counterclockwise and it actually takes fewer steps to walk the same distance than if you are walking in the same direction as the ship moves and you appear to be walking faster. DUH!

This holds true until you reach the opposite side of the ship in which case you seem to cover less distance with shorter shorter steps and appear to walk slower.

Therefore the fastest walkers walk aft and the slowest walkers walk forward. In any event I have some ocean front property for sale in Arizona. LOL!

Out of curiosity I checked the rates today on our 22 day Transatlantic cruise to Spain and the HAL website gave me a rate of $1100 pp higher than my present booking. I am guessing that port charges have increased in part due to Brexit.

Since we've been working on learning the ins and outs of booking our first cruise we've centered on the cruise itself. We knew were were going transatlantic and would have to fly home one-way from Europe.

 

When we go to Europe we always go Business Class. In fact, we refuse to travel any other way between the mainland and Europe or Hawaii. Not to be snobish, it's just that life is too short to spend 10 hours in coach if you don't have to.

 

So, while we were concentrating on staterooms, promo packages and cruise pricing we didn't bother to look at the air fare.

 

Well, today we did check on the air fare and to our surprise it cost fully 140% more to fly from Rome to Texas one-way than traveling ROUNDTRIP from Rome to Texas and back via Business Class.

 

A Rome/Texas roundtrip in Biz Class was about $3,400 a person. But one-way Rome to Texas was $4,900 per person.

 

Imagine our shock when one-way air fare after our cruise would be $10,000!!!!

 

We're checking a number of options still, but this may just be a deal killer for us. Of course, we could always book a R/T and cancel the return portion of the trip. But even if that would work it would cost $6,800 just for the air fare home.

We always fly BA to Heathrow and then book Premium Economy back to Texas. That is a seating class not offered by Delta, UA or AA.

There's very little self-service at the Lido cafeteria these days - but are you saying there was no ability to get your own drinks (coffee, tea, juice, etc.) or, e.g., desserts?

Coffee, tea and juice but nothing else.. i.e. salads, etc. It wasn't a deal breaker but as 4 star Mariners it was something we hadn't seen before.

We recently returned from a cruise to Alaska on Noordam and not once was self service permitted on the Lido Deck for the entire cruise. Since no announcements were made concerning health issues and there was no evidence of such we wonder if this is a new HAL policy.. Have any of you on other recent cruises noticed similar situations?

I've been to Tampa and used Norwegian, but I haven't used HAL. The garage seems too far to walk.

We're doing our first cruise from Tampa and looking for hotel suggestions offering shuttle or taxi service to the cruise port.

Thanks very much. That steers me toward the Noordam then as the May departure date for the Noordam is May 30th (as opposed to May 23rd with the Zaandam.)

We're doing the Noordam cruise on May 29, 2016 and this will be our third cruise to Alaska.. all done with land tour last. Another reason to consider Noordam is the entertainment. Noordam has a cast of 40 singers and dancers PLUS the BB King All-stars (not to be missed!!). On our last booking we did a private whale tour on a catamaran from Juneau and were surrounded by 30 orcas on a feeding frenzy. In Ketchikan we book a private king salmon fishing trip and that comes in at just $140 per person with a pickup and drop off at the cruise port. Afterwards they will clean and pack your fish for shipment back to your home after you return from the cruise. Great fun!

We're considering the longest HAL (20 day) land/sea combination in May of next year with another couple who have never cruised. The cruise portion of this itinerary would take place in early June, since we would do the land portion first.

 

It appears that the two ships that will be doing this itinerary will be the Zaandam and the Noordam. We've been on the Noordam, and have been on the same class ship as the Zaandam, so have some idea of what that ship would be like as well. I am aware of the difference in passenger capacity, and the age of the two ships.

 

I'd be interested in comments/advice in choosing between the two ships by those of you who have cruised with HAL in Alaska.

 

Also, have any of you stayed in one of the verandah cabins near/next to the Crows Nest on the Noordam? Too far forward? Balcony too small? (I like the idea of the convenience to the Crows Nest.)

 

Have any of you experienced a Retreat Cabana in early June in Alaska? (Noordam has them but Zaandam does not.) I realize that weather varies from year to year, but am wondering if it is generally too windy at sea in Alaska to be on that top level of the ship where the Retreat Cabanas were installed on the Noordam? We would dress in layers for warmth, but if it is always windy, it would not be worth it to us. (We've had a Retreat Cabana on the Noordam, in the Caribbean, so do like them for warm weather cruises.)

 

Naturally, we'd like to make this first cruising/HAL experience a really good one for our friends, so that is another consideration in choosing between the two ships.

 

Thanks, in advance, for your thoughts/comments/advice.

If at all possible I would HIGHLY suggest you do the cruise portion first and the land portion last. Otherwise the roads through Denali will be snowbound and you will likely be able to go only halfway. As a rule of thumb they generally snowplow and clear the park road into Denali by the 31st of May.

Our Denali cruise is coming up and I have been going back and forth on getting the meal plan. Some part of me wants to get it to keep things easy. But the other side of me wants to keep my options open so are not forced to go to someplace because of a paid coupon.

We're pretty much on the same page. I looked up the lunch menu on McKinley Explorer and there are quite a few excellent options. Breakfast buffet at McKinley Chalet's Denali Trading Co. runs $18 pp but you can also order a Continental Breakfast for $13. Also, there are several 4 star restaurants within easy walking distance of Westmark Anchorage Hotel that would give you more flexibility than HAL is no doubt offering so we're going to pass on the meal plan.

We didn't buy a meal package on our C-T, and were glad we didn't. Many times after a long day we didn't feel like eating much dinner, and about half of the per diem goes to that meal.

Seems like we cruised with you on a Prinsendam TA once upon a time.. That was great fun!

We're doing a 3 day land tour of Denali after our 7 night Alaska cruise and HAL is offering an 8 meal food package for $249 per person. Has anyone had any experience with this option and is it a better alternative than as you wish dining in local restaurants?

This will be our third cruise to Alaska and before we've rented a car in Anchorage and visited Denali on our own. I appreciate your prompt reply about the HAL land tour schedule.

We're booked on Noordam for Tour D6C on May 29, 2016 and are clueless about the land portion of the cruise. Does anyone know of reviews posted that might share what to expect in the way of lodging, meals, tours, etc.?

One of the best things HAL has done is to hire on BB King groups for 3 sets a night. They are our favorite music venue by far.

I've been away from Holland America for about 3 years, but have booked on the Prinsendam Transatlantic cruise this November. I have done one transatlantic before on Celebrity and really enjoyed it. I'm looking forward to doing it again on a smaller ship, going to ports I've never been to before. I'm excited about the Prinsendam since it's a smaller ship. Tell me I won't get bored after 15 days!! If anyone has some impressions of the ship and what to do on such a long cruise, I'd be grateful!

We have a Prinsendam roll call started for the Nov 9 Transatlantic. Please visit it and join those of us who have had NOTHING but GREAT experiences on Prinsendam. Honest to gosh, I think there are some people on this website who thrive so much on negativity that they can't enjoy anything at all without complaining about it. Prinsendam is a unique ship and you'll enjoy every moment aboard if you give her the chance.

The best meal we had the entire cruise was at Water-Prince Corner Shop in Charlottetown. In fact, I'm glad we didn't schedule an extensive excursion on Prince Edward Island but instead simply walked around town.

Thanks for the info, in terms of buying wine, given that we wouldn't want too much, 2 glasses a day?, what is the best way to purchase them, using some sort of beverage card, or just buying them as and when?

You might consider ordering wine by carafe for meals which works out to be 3 glasses for about the same cost as two. We did that on a recent HAL cruise and the wine selections were very good for the money.

I see there are often sales offered that have an OBC bonus. I also see that by bieng a Stock Holder for Carnival can earn you an OBC.

 

Does anyone have any other tricks or secrets to getting or aquiring (earning/bribing/stealing) On Board Credits in any other manner?

We use our Holland America Barclaycard to pay our initial cruise deposit and make monthly installment payments until the cruise is paid in full and we cover those expenditures each month using our personal checking account to keep the credit card balance to zero and avoid interest charges. The advantage is that we get double points for all HAL purchases which we then convert into OBC.

Dave... This has nothing to do with the Cruise Critic Search feature.. Unfortunately many Psgrs are not taking the time to peruse the actual HAL WEB pages to get their questions answered & are instead relying on Cruise Critic, which to me is a big mistake..

 

The double credit info is on the Holland America WEB site Home Page under Mariner Society at the bottom & is very specific...

 

http://www.hollandamerica.com/marine...ar_UNO_Mariner

 

Betty

I totally agree with your perspective, HOWEVER, when I was called about the upsell (a first-time experience for me) I had to choose right then and there to accept it or not. If I turned it down it would immediately be made available to the next person in line etc, etc, until it was accepted by someone else. I had no opportunity to say "Time out! Let me research that and I'll get back to you later.."

I initiated this thread because (unlike some of my critics above) I had never taken time to fully review all of HAL's policies concerning things that previous to this experience did not apply to me. Unfortunately, some of you have seized upon this as an opportunity invoke your own superiority and bust my chops because of my ignorance. As previously stated I do not apologize for starting the thread and if one CC newby learns from my experience then my time has been well spent and worth the indignity of being cast as the fool. After all, isn't the real purpose of CC to share with others things we have learned from our cruising adventures?

When I've rec'd upsell notices it says right on the upsell notice that you will not receive double credits. Was it not on yours or did you go thru a TA and not see the paperwork?

It was through a TA who was probably delighted in the boost to her commission and made no effort to explain HAL's policy about upsells. Had she done so we would probably have made the same decision but without expecting double sea day credits towards our 4 star Mariner status. I don't apologize for the redundancy of my post because not everyone who visits this site has read all the previous comments concerning what some CC members consider as same-old-same-old tired subjects.

We booked a Deluxe Verandah Stateroom Guarantee on Noordam on a recent cruise and were delighted to be offered an upsell to a suite. While we enjoyed the added amenities I noticed later that we were not given credit for double sea days credits to our Mariner account. After numerous phone calls and emails HAL made it quite clear that even though we were indeed in a suite purchased by an upsell double sea day credits are awarded only if we had purchased the suite with our original booking. Duh!

Unlimited laundry is a great way to reduce your luggage. If we're doing a pre-cruise visit somewhere we send out our laundry the day we board ship and that way we start our cruise with fresh clothes. If we're doing a post-cruise we do essentially the same thing.. just remember that you can't send out anything the night before you de-embark.

Be sure to take a voltage converter if you're staying over a few days before or after a cruise. You can pick one up at Amazon for next to nothing and it will assure you of being able to recharge batteries in all your electronic devices.