REOVA

Check with your stock broker if you own mutual funds in your name with CCL shares. HAL told us that will count if you can show detail of at least 100 shares. Then you don't have to worry about buying more and insolvency.

29 minutes ago, KAKcruiser said:

I think it's the Koningsdam.

Koningsdam has the commode and a sink in a separate private WC from the full bathroom so its still 1 bathroom but with 3 sinks and allows dual access from hall or bathroom which is nice for guests or family in the room. Similar to the old Prinsendam Neptune suites. For some reason they did not build the NS and Rotterdam with the same design Neptune Suites. 

8 hours ago, Tampa Girl said:

 

Sorry, off topic:  Did HAL require removal of the Covid partner to quarantine in a separate cabin, and did the high number of cases affect admission to any ports?  (We are  booked on the '23 VOV.)

they ran out of empty cabins so we quarantined for 6 days together even though I was negative the whole trip. The only issue in a port was Ireland did not allow those that were positive 10 days prior to port from disembarking but the ship was able to dock and others were able to get off. 

Contact HAL ahead of time for wheel chair to see if they can provide . They book up early. 

Probably no better group to have on hand if medical needs assistance. 😉 There are much larger groups (TA's) that have private events and meetings and you would never know if you were not part of the group. Its still the same number of cabins/passengers. If it was on a Pinnacle Class ship, I'd be more concerned as the larger dining room seems to be more challenging for the crew (and noisier). You could find out your first night at dinner how it goes and change to anytime dining if they are also late diners and you see a problem. 

2 hours ago, whogo said:

Asked for cocktail sauce instead of aioli and what I received was short on horseradish.

We had same problem with prime rib and horseradish sauce, eh mayonnaise. I asked 4 different servers for horseradish sauce and got 4 ramekins of mayo. I asked for straight horseradish and they told me it was bought premixed. Supervisor came over with another ramekin and tasted it with tears in his eyes. Said they probably added wasabi. 😅 Agree with you on the Pavlova - almost raw inside. Over the years I've tried to ignore the "old" days and find appreciation of the good things about being on a ship (familiar crew, ole friends, etc). The scales definitely are tipping towards the best thing at least still being able to get on a ship. Will take years to tip the other way.  The Halifax HOHO was actually a better tour than any of HALs. Driver stopped at locations to let us off to wander and take photos for a few minutes and gave a great commentary. He was a history teacher so that helped. Just don't get off permanently if you want to get back on another bus, they over sell them and pass you by. It rained while we were there but hope you had an enjoyable day. 

25 minutes ago, cwd79 said:

Thanks for the info. So to make sure my brain is understanding this 🙂 I should wait to book these cruises until I am on board next week because I will get the HIA and the Mariner Early Booking Bonus as well as additional OBC based on length of cruise and cabin choice? 

You really have to look at what each offers. The benefit of booking on board is usually lower deposit and possibly cabin selection (but not always) on popular itineraries.  I found the OBC was minimal (Like $100 for short cruise) and depends on length of cruise. HIA promos seem to change with specific promotions (some with wifi, some with crew appreciation, etc) so you have to watch which is better for you. I don't know that you will necessary get early booking on some cruising booked online. 

6 hours ago, brovol said:

I have two Holland America cruises booked; one on Nieuw Amsterdam during Christmas week, and another on Nieuw Statendam the first week of April.  I find Holland America's app to be schizophrenic, not user friendly at all, and the worst of all the cruise lines we've been on.  

 

The excursions do not pop up for me. Dinner reservations won't allow me to reserve for all the people in my party (My wife and two children).  I am planning on calling customer service Monday morning and hope they can assist with the reservations.

 

Kind of surprising that with all the technology available that Holland America can't get this right. Princess does an amazing job with technology in general, and has a great, very user-friendly, app. Surprises me that other cruise lines don't just mock what they are doing.

I wasn't aware that the app worked before you got onboard. Have you tried on the website? But yes even onboard I had the wrong dinner times come up and the correct times not showing on the app. 

Supposedly the new TVs were loaded in Boston. Are they installing them while you are there so you have on demand system or do you still only have the 4 channels to choose from? Enjoy the trip. 

AH the COVID ship (Reading "Cabin Fever" right now. A interesting perspective from our experience on a different ship at the beginning of the pandemic, even with their creative liberties included). We had over 200 cases a few weeks aqo on the VoV so mask up. It will hide your grouchy snarl as well when they ask you to sanitize  🤣 Probably more cases were onboard but many people rather spread the "love" than get tested and quarantine for 6 days. (We elected the later). Glenn Michael used to be the HAL piano payer and has moved up over the many years. He did treat everyone to a sing along one night when the piano player was out. Fernanda was our Music Trivia host and it was funny to hear her pronounce the songs and artists from the 60's and 70's, as if they were from a fairy tale (long ago and far far away). We only had to show our card at deck 3 and watch safety video on TV, are they back to full muster? Speaking of TVs, supposedly the new TVs were on the dock waiting for installation (Supply chain delay) so you may get a choice of more than 4 channels now. Enjoy and safe travels.

On 8/27/2022 at 9:58 AM, bozemanman said:

I booked through a TA and have HIA....I tried to book the shorex online at HAL and it does not credit the HIA and asks to pay by CC. I have gobs of onboard credit so don't really want to pay upfront but then risk the excursions I want to be sold out by cruise time.....ohhh the dilemma!

If you have specific excursion allowance then you have to select to use that before you go to payment page. If its not specific for excursion ($200 per person) and its just onboard credit you can't book it prior to boarding (not being onboard). Once onboard you have 2 accounts, onboard credits which must be used by end of cruise or you lose it, and your credit card which you get any unused balance back. I booked everything prior to boarding on my credit card so it won't be sold out and then was able to go onboard and check which tours were not waitlisted or close to full (sitting with the excursion desk) and they could cancel the prepaid booking and rebook it from the onboard account. (You also need to look at what you paid and current onboard prices as they may have increased). The cancelled booking went back to credit card account (which I got back end of cruise) and I was able to use all of my onboard credits. 

4 hours ago, ChinaShrek said:

Can the HIA credit be applied when booking the shore excursion ahead of time or will I get a credit on the ship for the amount I paid? 

If you go to your booking and find an excursion, it should give you an option to use your HIA credit. If you have some left over it will show the balance of credit remaining. 

Sadly for the Casino workers, the tables (Blackjack, Poker, Roulette, Craps) where empty most of the VoV cruise. Black Jack did have some players at night but they couldn't get enough signed up for tournaments. I remember years ago a dealer telling me he couldn't wait for his next contract on Carnival because HAL doesn't have the players. I think it depends on the itinerary and specific passengers on that cruise. I've seen standing room only crowds and also ghost town. 

2 minutes ago, ACorgan said:

We’re all checked in to the Residence Inn Boston Seaport and are happy with the room and the location. We walked about 12 min to the Legal Seafoods Harborside for dinner and we’re only about a mile from the port, so should make tomorrow morning very straightforward 

Great location and plenty to eat/see within walking distance. Sounds like you are off to a great start.

Just off the VoV a few weeks ago so its really a T/A both ways. Masks were not required initially but many people still wore them (Crew required) and then COVID cases with about 200 out of 1100 passengers so masks were required most of the trip until cases went down about a week at the end (many people don't get tested, just like to cough, for fear of quarantine, We ended up in quarantine for 6 days. The decision to mask supposedly is Captain and Medical but Captain said it was CCL Corp directive in this case. We were about 80% capacity so they ran out of quarantine rooms and people quarantined in their cabins, but VoV is a popular cruise.  Ship had many crew down with COVID as well and were moving crew around to cover open positions (and training). 

57 minutes ago, cwd79 said:

We disembark in Boston on Sept 17th a Saturday... We have an 11AM flight, but now wondering if I should be looking for something later. We have no problem taking an Uber and disembarking with our bags during the first group of self-disembarking. 

We had a 10:55 flight a few weeks ago and went with the HAL airport shuttle. It was about $35/pp but was very smooth and got to Airport 2 hours early with 4 bags to check plus carry on. No hassle or worry about timing or construction in the tunnel on weekends. 

Was just on VoV for 35 days and cost pre board was quoted at $319.99 for premium wifi and went up to $399.99 onboard. 

31 minutes ago, ACorgan said:

Every time they try to complete it, it gives an error. We’re going to give it a break and try again later. If still an issue, might need to reach out to VeriFLY tech support

Had the same issue with VeriFly. Called and they said to delete the app and download it again. Same thing happened and they said they could not help me since it was so close to departure (2 days) and to bring hard copies to embarkation. So we ended up doing the slow line in Boston to get on board while Verifly passengers whizzed through. Good luck as it does speed up boarding process if it works. 

17 minutes ago, oakridger said:

Price for CO is based on number of days in the cruise, not cabin category.

So price for CO would be the same for an ocean view as for a V category for same  #days of sailing and your upgrade cabin would just be in the same meta category?  (Unless you wanted to pay upgrade to next cabin category which I believe would be discounted if you already paid for CO...so OP might ask for a discount if staying in booked cabin). We've never needed to use the CO program but it's interesting to see how they price it.

Club Orange is just an add on pricewise so you can keep your cabin but I think the price is different depending on your cabin, unless someone can correct me. 

If not you can always go to excursion desk once on board and cancel excursions and rebook. They will credit back to pre-board card (or how you prepaid for them) and deduct from onboard credit. Just make sure they are not waitlisted so you don't lose them and check that prices onboard haven't increased from prepaid price. 

13 minutes ago, CruiserBruce said:

All of the openings, on all the balconies I have seen, are small and at the railing. 

Depends on ship and balcony. The newer ships Neptune, Signature and Vista balconies have smaller end openings which leaves a little privacy still but the older ships open in center, closer to the cabin wall. Was just on Zaandam and the door wasn't locked and started banging the chairs into the wall in the middle of the night until they locked it the next morning. Depends on how open/connected you want to be to decide which ship and balcony to choose. Once @reposado gets confirmation HAL will still allow it, its easy to see photos and videos of different cabin balconies to see how the layout is. 

They did before COVID and I believe someone asked on this board and its was yes. However not sure how that would work if you have to Quarantine in the room. We had to for 6 days together last month even though I tested negative because of "close contact". Depending on the ship and cabin size it may be just 1 small panel opened at the railing. You can either contact your TA or HAL to get confirmation. 

6 hours ago, SharonN said:

We're on the ship now and have a Neptune Suite. The bathroom layout in the diagram is wrong. The bathroom is all one room with a very nice large shower at the back. 

 

 

Thanks Sharon. That's what I see but I wonder if they have specific rooms/locations for the other layouts like on Koningsdam. I know Aft and Forward and Accessible cabins are slightly different. Who is in the Concierge Lounge, maybe they know if any cabins have the 3 sinks. I cannot get any answers from HAL or online and the FC Consultant is new and is going by the diagram so a bit hesitant.

Just now, *Miss G* said:

 

That diagram is from the Koningsdam.  I have that booked next week.

I pulled it from NS on the HAL website. Is your cabin going to have the third sink area? Thanks.