Turtles06

Our reservation in July hasn't been cancelled. What they told me on the phone the other day is that folks with existing reservations for after March 8 will get an update letter. (OTOH, the phone rep pretty much gave me misinformation all around, so who knows what will happen. 🙃) Our dinner is booked under the HIA promo (but shows it would otherwise have been $44.80 for two. Yes, a pretty hefty increase).

We were on the NCL Gem, and sailed past you just after sunset as we were leaving port. I hope you had a great time in San Juan! (This was our first in-person look at an Edge-class ship. We'll be on the Beyond's westbound TA this fall, and we're very excited about it!)

We were on the NCL Gem, following you through the Culebra Cut. (And later docked next to you in Fuerte Amador.) Here are a couple of photos of the Emerald Princess approaching the Centennial Bridge, and one of her approaching the Cocoli Locks. I hope you all had a great time on your Canal transit!

Well, maybe all that's been rolled out so far is the new price, but not exactly the new menu. Still three more days till March 8. Maybe there will be a big reveal. 🙂

On the Gem last month, shows were typically 7pm and 9pm, but there were a few nights with just one 8pm show, and a couple of night with nothing at all.

Update to what I posted above: although my HAL account now shows that Canaletto is again available to reserve, if I actually try to make a reservation (for our July 1-22 cruise), I'm not able to. So maybe HAL is still in the process of rolling it all out, though for sure that higher price is showing. BTW, does the $29.50 include the 18% service charge, or does that get added just before you finalize the purchase? (Either way, a big increase in price.)

Thanks for the alert. The menu now appearing in my account (which does have the lobster-shrimp ravioli, so I'm assuming it's the new menu per your info above) is still showing nightly specials, contrary to information posted earlier in this thread that those were being eliminated. Price is $29.50. Screenshot of menu below. Not sure why HAL had to create all that needless drama by shutting down the reservation system with no explanation.

I saw that too; the calendar is obviously wrong. But for your cruise, go to the same web page to which you linked, and scroll down to "Mooring Plans." Then click July, and go to July 23. You will see the berthing plan showing the Nieuw Statendam docked in Stavanger on July 23, the only ship there that day. I think you'll make it, lucky you!

The mooring plan for July 13, 2023 shows the Rotterdam docked at Somaneset, Sandnes. Scroll down on this web page to Mooring Plans, then select July and then July 13, and see page 2. (A very interesting site, I might add!) https://www.stavangerhavn.no/en/maritim/cruise/

When you return to the ship, you’ll typically see bins on the pier for you to drop your wet towels, and stacks of fresh towels so you can get some dry ones. When we were on the Gem last month, I was happy to see that the towel crew on the pool deck were not requiring people to sign out towels and sign them back in. So nice not to be treated like a criminal.

Except they haven't cancelled the booked shorex for everyone on board on July 13, they only seem to have done that for someone booked on the July 1-15 voyage. Those of us booked on the July 1-22 voyage can still buy the very same shorex that was cancelled. (In fact, I did so, as a test. Maybe HAL will get around to cancelling it for me and tell me there's been an itinerary change. 😂)

On the Gem, it’s all the non-Haven suites. I can’t imagine it’s different on the Jade. Just before the pandemic, it looked like NCL was about to roll out a few changes to those suites, with perhaps some of the aft-facing penthouses not having a butler. I don’t think that’s happened, but if you are looking at a specific itinerary on the NCL website, check the description for that suite.

But the itinerary change HAS already been made here by HAL. Shore excursions for some of the affected people who will be aboard the Rotterdam on July 13 have been cancelled, with a notice plainly stating "Due to a recent itinerary change, the Rotterdam's call to Stavanger, Norway on July 13, 2023 has been canceled and replaced with a call to Sandness [sic] (Stavanger), Norway." We all know that an itinerary change is not made by the Shorex Department. The change isn't "working through the system," the itinerary change has been made by HAL -- the shorex cancellation notice (sent only to a few guests, not all) said so. At that point, and as @3rdGenCunarder recognized, all of the 2500 or so guests who will be aboard the Rotterdam on July 13 should have received an email notification of the itinerary change. Just last month, guests on the voyages aboard the Rotterdam on July 20 received an "ITINERARY CHANGE NOTIFICATION" stating: "Please be advised that due to operational reasons Rotterdam will no longer call to Bergen, Norway on Thursday, July 20, 2023 but will instead call to Nordfjordeid, Norway from 7:00 AM to 2:00 PM on the same date. . . . Holland America Line shore excursions booked for Bergen will be refunded to the original form of payment; updated excursion information will be available online within the next two weeks." Unwelcome news, but at least it was sent out. It's very simple. If things have changed to the point that shore excursions have been cancelled on a certain date due to an "itinerary change," then HAL should be notifying all of the affected guests of that change, not dribbling out the news by telling a few people their shorex has been cancelled. That's the tail wagging the dog. It's absurd. .

Yours is the only ship showing in Stavanger on their mooring plan for May 16, at the link I posted in my comment above. Lucky you! 🙂

I really appreciate your entire post; thank you so much. (I have to say that the "wait your turn" comment, from a HAL PCC no less, was infuriating.) For July 13, two other ships besides the Rotterdam have long been scheduled to call at Stavanger: the behemoth AIDAnova (5,000 pax!) and the relatively small Viking Jupiter (930 pax). According to Cruise Norway, Stavanger can accommodate three ships, even "the biggest," and the photo on this Cruise Norway web page shows that it can: https://cruise-norway.no/destinations/stavanger/#:~:text=The Port of Stavanger offers,smaller ones are also welcome. Maybe it no longer wants to, or it really can't do so when a something as huge as the AIDAnova is in port. In any event, the very interesting "mooring plans" diagram for July 13 on the Stavanger port web site (scroll down on the page linked below after calling up July 13) does not show the third berth in use, just the AIDAnova and the Viking Jupiter at the other two berths: https://www.stavangerhavn.no/en/maritim/cruise/ But HAL has cancelled Stavanger for several other dates this coming summer. I haven't checked how many other ships are calling there on all those dates, but perhaps HAL is getting the short end of the stick. That may not be HAL's fault, but how HAL handles notification of the change to its guests is entirely within HAL's control (as you recognized).

OMG, having just been on the Gem, I think that NCL shopped for those new chairs and sofas in the "World's Most Uncomfortable Furniture" store. I am short, and it wasn't about accessibility of the new furniture, it was that the chairs and sofas were too low, or too deep, or too hard, or all of those things. My wife is taller, and she was equally uncomfortable. One morning early in our cruise, I'd gone up to the empty Spinnaker Lounge to read. I sat down (for the first time) in one of the nice new chairs, and could not believe how uncomfortable it was. So I then sat in every different chair and sofa -- same problem. Terribly uncomfortable. 🙁

Having just been on the Gem for 23 days, I’d like to note that the ship has not been “completely redone.” While public areas were refreshed during the Nov/Dec dry dock, NCL did nothing to the staterooms. I really love the Gem, but NCL really needs to get rid of the dated, dark wood laminate and modernize the cabins. Sadly, they don’t have the money to do it.

My wife and I are booked on the Rotterdam’s 21-day “Voyage of the Midnight Sun & Norse Legends,” July 1-22, 2023. As seems to be common for HAL, there are three other voyages on the Rotterdam with dates that overlap with various weeks of our cruise, each with different voyage names and “numbers" (such that there are four different Cruise Critic Roll Calls spanning all or part of the dates of our cruise). On July 13, our voyage, and two of the other voyages, are scheduled to dock in Stavanger, Norway. That’s been the case since the cruises opened for booking. It seems that HAL has now changed the itinerary so that we won’t call at Stavanger, but instead at Sandnes, about 10 miles away (which will make a difference, especially for certain private shore excursions), yet HAL seems to be dragging its feet telling affected guests about this. Some days ago, a member of our July 1-15 Roll Call posted that they’d just received notice from HAL that a HAL shore excursion they’d booked for Stavanger had been cancelled because of an “itinerary change” on July 13 that replaces Stavanger with a port call to Sandnes. No one else on any of the three Roll Calls covering July 13 reported any notice of an itinerary change, nor has anyone in the days since, and our accounts still show us docking in Stavanger on July 13. In fact, we are still able to book the very same July 13 shore excursion that HAL cancelled for this person. Since that person’s notice came from HAL Shorex, I called HAL Shorex to ask about this. The rep with whom I spoke acknowledged that there was an itinerary change for July 13 on that person’s voyage (July 1-15), but since there was no such change posted for MY differently-numbered voyage (July 1-22), she said I had “nothing to worry about.” She was absolutely unable to grasp the fact that we were all going to be on the same ship on the same date, regardless of the voyage “number.” It was one of the most frustrating conversations I’ve ever had with anyone (and a very poor showing by HAL customer service). I called my HAL PCC (who is new to me since this booking), told them what’s going on, and asked if there’s been an itinerary change. They basically told me to ignore social media and said I would just have to “wait my turn” to find out. What? There are some other facts that folks on the affected voyages have since been able to learn, no thanks to HAL: the Stavanger port web site itself shows us docking in Sandnes and not in Stavanger, and the Bergen port web site (our port prior to Stavanger) shows our next port as Sandnes, not Stavanger. Nonetheless, none of us has gotten any notice from HAL of an itinerary change for July 13. Interestingly, folks booked on the Rotterdam’s later cruise -- July 15-29 -- were informed by HAL almost a week ago that their scheduled July 26 call to Stavanger had been replace by Sandnes. It’s an extremely frustrating situation, and it’s hard to understand why HAL dribbled out a little tidbit to one person in connection with cancelling their July 13 shore excursion (that the rest of us can still book), yet has not given any notice to everyone booked on any of the voyages that are scheduled to call at Stavanger on July 13. Once HAL has taken action to notify some people of an itinerary change, it seems to me it should notify everyone who will be on the same ship on the affected date. We’ve only sailed with HAL once, so I have no idea whether this slow-walking is customary (I hope it's not), but it’s extremely frustrating (nor am I happy with the answers that I received when I called to inquire about this).

I would appreciate knowing this as well. And for those who are in isolation now, I wish you all good health and a speedy negative test.

You're very welcome. I hope you enjoyed your cruise!

Thank you so much!

Thanks! I was happy to have my decades-old memories of Curacao, especially since the synagogue was closed.

Thank you! We love the Gem and the Jewel!

Thank you so much, and thanks for the good wishes. I seem to be fully recovered (unless there's a sneaky long covid thing that hasn't emerged), and enough time has passed (not to mention a negative PCR test) that I can say that my wife has escaped getting it from me. (We're not the only couples I know where this has been the case, and I find it almost miraculous.)

Thanks so much! Not just a Friday -- it was also raining. 🙁 The trick in the Manhattan Cruise Terminal is to get a porter in the baggage claim area. They put all your stuff on their cart, you go through immigration (which was a quick facial recognition process) and then they take you and all your luggage across 12th Avenue to the taxi line and put in you a cab. (And then you give them a very nice tip. 😊) I have no reason to believe it would have been difficult to get an Uber, either, but we just went for a cab. (The advice I've read about getting Uber or Lyft is to walk away from the cab line [turn the corner and walk down the block a bit], so the driver will have a place to find you.) I hope that's helpful.