joeyillinois

I guess I was surprised since I did book with HAL online in March and this was the first interest they have shown. I did go to the online question on HAL website (can't remember name) before we left. I wasn't happy that the price was 499 for new people with beverage package and we paid over 700, plus the port taxes.. The computer person said they'd check, but I was "timed out" and lost HAL web connection and basically then just gave up.

We had an enjoyable time, but too expensive.

And since the first e-mail appeared like I'd never cruised to Alaska it was strange.

Appears like this is some marketing tool. thanks

We returned from a 7 day Alaska Cruise on the Volendam on the 4th of June. I received a e-mail from a personal consultant from Holland America offering to help with a cruise. I'm assuming that it's a scam and deleted it -- but got a few now since we returned.

From the title, all I could think was it looks classier to swirl your wine around a glass than drinking it straight from the bottle.

...sorry...

 

 

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Did get a chuckle from your response :)

Finding a wine list from a year ago - it seems to me at the cost of a glass of wine - for 2 people you could probably just buy the the bottle of wine - however, we wouldn't drink the entire bottle at one sitting - are you allowed to take the bottle back to the room to use another day? Or what?

That corkage fee is only added to wine the customer brings into the MDR correct?

We got an offer to upgrade (day ago) to I believe this from our G, $499.00 per person for the 7 day cruise -- didn't take us long to delete that offer -- way to expensive.

Good advice - Thanks

If we are scheduled for MDR and feel like eating at 6 pm on a particular night in the MDR area == is there a problem with making a reservation for 6 p.m. and just not show up at 8 MDR regular eating time??

Last cruise 5 yr ago always ate in Main dining room with our group. But, if we don't eat in the MDR what are our other choices (that we wouldn't have to pay extra)??

We are scheduled for 8 PM seating in MDR - assigned that at time of booking in March. If we can't get this changed may want to try some other options so we can eat early -- what are they - and where on the ship?? Volendam sailing - Alaska

Skagway -- round trip white pass excursion -- doing this on our own. Ordering tickets and walking to train from dock (short walk?).

Question - the train leaves 8:15 *I think or 8:30 a.m.

Ship scheduled in Skagway 7 am - 9 pm Will I have enough time to get off the ship and get to the train to make the 8:15 (8:30 a.m.) train or should I schedule for the second one that leaves after 12 (noon).

ah... another thing to add to the list, a clock.. Thanks for the info.

Volendam, I was reading another thread about what to pack and several wrote about bringing a clock...Seemed strange as most hotel rooms have a clock or clock radio. Am I understanding right, that most of the staterooms don't have a clock?

Thanks for the info. We were on Carnival (don't remember the ship) and don't remember seeing anything about fruit, but that was about 4, maybe 5 years ago.

I just noticed that the room info for the room states - complimentary fruit upon request. Is this something we will have to do when we arrive. Ask the steward or did I miss something when we booked?

Thanks for the great information!!

Will be traveling via train to get to Vancouver. Then 7 day Alaska then 3 days back home via train. Since The train will take several days by mid week i will need laundry -- unless, of course, I want to pack a "ton of clothes". Do they have a laundry I could use?

I appreciate knowing that the Pinnacle Grill costs extra for lunch rather than included in the cruise price. :)

All sounds like good ideas. I thought about one cruise line excursion, but really couldn't decide for the money which we'd want to do. We're taking the train from Chicago to Vancouver - so even though scenery would be different thought we might have had enough of trains and not want to do the train trip.

7 day Alaska RT Vancouver Juneau, Skagway & Ketchican -- Wondering if to save some money - there may be some walking tours we could do on our own and see some interesting, scenic, historic things. Just wondering - walking is no problem. Read about some totems in ? Don't know if that would be within walking distance of the cruise ship.

Not into the "touristy" go see this or that shop. Like more nature and history and of course the scenery.

I just came upon this post -- I'm on a May cruise with HAL and hadn't even thought about excursions. :)

Will find out right away, I can live with 8 p.m., but coming from midwest will be like eating at 10 p.m.. Will check dining room manager when we board. Thanks.

Sounds good, It's just the 2 of us. So basically approach the dining room manager at the 5:45 p.m. time and see if they can fit us in then instead of the 8 p.m.? Or, ask earlier?

After doing some checking I decided we wanted fixed seating rather than making reservations every night. So... chatted with HAL and according to the chat line the early seating was filled up over a couple of months ago when I booked -- that's why I got the late 8 p.m. seating.

I could be put on a wait list -- for early, but then I would lose my confirmed late seating. so.. if I didn't get the early seating I would be put in open seating. After thinking about it, I don't want to make reservations every day for eating.

So... right now I let it sit. Maybe I can get it changed when I get on board ship.

I made my reservations online directly with Holland America.

They never asked which seating just whether flexible or can't remember the other :) I would have opted for first seating anyway. How do I change that? And how do I change to flexible.

Ok, I must be getting old, but I can't remember if I went with flexible dining or not when I reserved. The last time I sailed I only remember having to chose a time. The reservation says Confirmed main, request table of 6. After thinking about it - it might be interesting to be seated at tables with different people through the 7 day cruise. (though I was fine with the same group when we went 4 or 5 years ago. Last time I sailed I think breakfast wasn't assigned & maybe not even lunch.

Question - Do I have a specfic time dining and will be assigned or flexible time (can't tell). And, is there any pros/cons to the flexible?