Jalex63

I am not sure I understand what you are talking about. We passed 100 days on Hal about two years ago and have never received anything in the way of a reward other than the upgrading of our number of stars rating along the way.:confused:

IMHO HALs rewards program is pretty lousy to begin with and the only level that provides any real reward is four stars when you get free laundry:)

That aside, we still prefer to cruise on HAL.

We are on the roll call for this year's Atlantic Adventure (Maasdam), and someone cancelled, saying that next year's similar cruise (but 3 days longer), was less expensive than this year's, in her category. So, who knows what is going on.

Actually, next years Atlantic Adventure is 8 days longer than this years, coming in at 50 days vs 42 and going all the way to Malta. The price is higher than this years but reasonably so. In fact, since we want to make this cruise we are thinking of waiting until next year to get the additional ports.

On our Holiday cruise aboard the Prinsendam this year there was no late night snack. Everything but room service was closed down by 9:00 pm. Don't know if that is just common to the Prinsendam or is a thing of the future as I have never seen more than a hand full of people at any of the late night snacks aboard other HAL ships. Another thing of note on that cruise was that the Lido lunch closed down earlier than other HAL ships we have been on.

Unless things have changed in the past couple of months, yes you can purchase alcohol by the bottle for your room.

Ok, I'll pile on. Have been considering an X cruise for quite a while now and your excellent review nails it. We are definitely going to give them a look next time we book a cruise.;)

I only upgrade when they can give me a specific and well positioned room in a category. Both times I upgraded, I called very early the morning after the upgrade email and got great room locations.

 

 

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I think you are confusing "upsell" with upgrade?:)

Having been on only one "Upscale" cruise, that being on Seabourn, hard to apply my feeling to all upscale lines, but having said that, good as HAL is if I could afford it I would go with the upscale all the time. Better food, much better service, smaller ship and lots more on the plus side.:)

This forum is probably not the best place to be commenting on Disney World dining, but it did strike a chord with me. We spent our anniversary at Disney in February and dined at Chefs de France to celebrate. While I did not expect five star, I will say that it was not any better than most meals in HALs dining room, but when the brought the check it was the highest dining check I have ever had in my life, partly due to the wine we consumed at $10 a glass. Anyway, to top it off, the service was HORRIBLE, about the same as currently in HALs MDR so I left only a 10% tip. I could not believe it when I saw my credit card statement, they actually altered and changed the tip to 20%. I called them and they denied that they would do that. It would have been so much hassle to try to get it reversed I just dropped it, but needless to say I will NEVER return.:mad:

First, let me start by saying that winter is my favorite time to visit Italy. I will gladly, gladly trade off the cooler weather for the relatively uncrowded sites. My favorite times in Rome are from late October through February/early March.

 

Yes, it can sometimes rain. But unless you really hit horrid weather, it doesn't tend to pour all day. (You can get that in Venice, though....)

 

 

 

 

 

Since Rome is so important to you, had you considered doing what someone else suggested -- booking this cruise as far as Rome, then getting off and spending a few days and sailing back on a different ship? They are all doing their repositionings from Europe to warmer ports (e.g., Caribbean, South America) at that time.

 

Another option -- depending on what other ports along western Italy that you're visiting -- would be to stay more time in Rome and rejoin the ship at another port. If you are visiting Sorrento for an overnight, you can easily get to Rome, overnight there, and rejoin the ship at Civitavecchia (the port for Rome).

 

Edited to add: I see the ship is going the other direction, but the same idea applies -- get off in Rome, stay there for at least one night, then take a train to Naples/Sorrento and join back up with the ship.

I had not thought about the idea of getting off the ship in Rome and rejoining, might be more of a hassle than I would want to get involved in. As far as getting off and coming back on a different ship? HAL has no other ship returning from Rome at or after that time.

I suppose what we would do with regard to Rome is hire a private car and driver/guide so that we could take maximum advantage of the one day. That appears to run about $700.00, but if you are only going to make it there once in your lifetime it is a small price to pay?

The itinerary for 2015 has been changed nicely, goes as far as Athens, we are thinking about repeating the trip. Very tempting!

I was not aware of this change, significant and for only a little more $$. We may just wait a year on this one.:)

I have never seen the fees to dock at a port but that may be it. If they dock for two or three days in Rome (or anywhere else) they (you) would have to pay the extra port fees. The only number I have heard for fees is some ungodly amount to transit the Panama Canal.

Yes, I don't know that you can take it as gospel, but my TA told me a while back that the fees associated with the Panama Canal are the highest of all cruises, like a couple hundred bucks or more per passenger just for the canal.

Of course I can only speak for myself, but I would be more than willing to pay extra for a day or two longer in Rome on this particular cruise. On the other hand, we have been to St. Martin so many times that we don't even bother to get off the ship anymore.:o

The responses to my original post are very encouraging and perhaps the time of the year may be more favorable than I had been led to believe. I still think the Carib stops are strange for a cruise to Europe, but then I have been to the Carib so many times that I am pretty tired of it. However, I do want to get to Europe, especially Rome and I absolutely hate flying so this is likely the only way I would ever be able to do it.:)

We have been eyeballing a cruise on the Maasdam this fall that sails to Italy and back from Ft Lauderdale. This is a 42 day cruise. What seems strange to me is that they begin this cruise with 4 days in the Caribbean, going first to San Juan and then to St. Martin before starting the trek across the Atlantic. For the life of me I cannot reason out why they would do this vs heading straight for Europe? I mean as it ends up they spend only one single day at Civitavecchia to allow for getting over to see Rome. Would seem better to me to drop the Caribbean from this and spend a couple of days in Civitavecchia in order that one would have what would still be not enough time to really see all of Rome.

Of course another short-coming of this cruise is that this is the rainy season for Rome, according to wx it rains more than 50% of the days in November and it is also a bit nippy as the avg temps are only low 50's that time of year.

Am I alone in thinking this is a strange Itinerary or is there some unknown reason they might do this?

Here is another strange thing. I have started getting email solicitations from Royal Caribbean and I haven't been on a RC cruise since 1989.

The e-mail we received from HAL last year encouraged us to buy excursions at Ports NOT included on our itinerary.:(

Well now, that is certainly strange!:eek:

The only one that can tell you for sure is Hal. Why not contact them? What might be true in your case might not be the same for me. I get plenty of snail and email. Personally I'd like a break from it.

I feel your pain:) Sometimes there is just too much email. However, I do pay attention to HAL email, often hoping to find a cruise I am really interested in at a special price.

Guess I will have to look in to it:rolleyes:

Interesting responses, but I cannot agree with everything stated. First off, at present I have no cruises booked, although we are considering one and I have been on HAL's site browsing. Secondly, last fall I had two cruises booked with them and continued to be pummeled with emails, which I usually browse through just checking the offers. My email hasn't changed in a couple of years, so I know that is not it. Just seemed odd that we are not receiving anything suddenly.

Is it just me or has anyone else noticed the lack of emails from HAL lately. I used to get an email offering deals at least every week or two and I don't think I have had an email from HAL in 3-4 weeks now. I did receive a flyer in the mail I think last week. But otherwise nothing. Wonder what's up with this?

I appreciate you taking the time for this comparison. Seabourn is a line that I have considered and have wondered if it really is worth the additional expense. Your comparison gives me more food for thought. Thank you!

Keep in mind that we sailed Seabourn at a pretty low rate for them, which is what made this trip doable for us and I was hoping to be able to get a similar deal next year, but not to be as I stated, they have no sailings out and back from Ft. Lauderdale on their Schedule for 2014. In reality, unless you have very deep pockets and don't mind the air travel, Seabourn cruises can be very expensive compared to main lines. However, like all lines I am sure that if you sign up for their newsletter you will find that there will deals to be had throughout the year.

Had we had to pay the full rate for the November cruise, originally advertised at $3999. pp for the 10 day cruise, then I would be at a different level of thought and I don't think it would be worth another $2,000. making for a total difference of around $3500.00 for the 10 day cruise. But, that is to me based upon what my travel budget allows. I would rather take 2-3 cruises a year than just one. On the other hand, if price were no object then the pendulum would swing back to Seabourn.:)

We also have been sailing on Seabourn, on the Sojourn class, not the 'lil sisters. I also was taken aback by OP's description of encountering snobbishness. Our experience has been exactly the opposite. We have found the atmosphere, with the fewer number of pax on each cruise than on a mass market ship (max of 450 on the larger ships) to be much more friendly on Seabourn. Pax mix very easily and friendliness to other pax is apparent whatever we are doing, there are no class/cabin category distinctions on the ship at all, everyone gets the same amenities and perks, and we never have known whether a pax has saved up for years for this one cruise or is CEO of a Fortune 500 company. Same with the crew- they all are friendly, the pax are all treated the same and the officers invite pax to dine at their tables nightly. OP may have had a different experience than we, but I was surprised with the snobbishness comment.

I may have overstated the case a bit as we ran into only a few "snobs", but they were to found on board. One Lady, who we had the misfortune to dine with twice at hosted tables went on and on about the cost of her jewelery. We also ran onto her at the coffee bar one day and I commented about how nice it was not to have to sign for it (pay additional for it) and she said something like "Oh yes, some lines charge extra for this don't they? I responded that it was only a Nominal fee on HAL upon which she stated by literally looking down her nose at me " We don't sail those lines" implying they were not up to her qualifications.

On the other hand, I will say that while some folks on HAL are not overly friendly, the vast majority are and I have never ran into anyone I would classify as snobbish.:)

Well.............doesn't look like I will be cruising Seabourn again anytime soon. Just to see what might be coming up next year I just checked and there are no Seabourn cruises scheduled to embark and debark in Florida next year. None, Nada, Zero! Cost of airfare in conjunction with a cruise would definitely put it out of reach on our budget and besides like I said in my original post, we hate to fly. We'll do short distance flights when we have to, but none of the 6-8 hour or longer international flights that would be needed to be used in this case.

I am guessing that the fact that Seabourn has sold it's three smallest ships has something to do with this.

:confused:Following what we and many others agree has been a continual reduction in quality and service on HAL, my wife and I finally upped the ante and took a cruise aboard Seabourn's Soujourn. This was a Southern Carib., 10 day cruise that embarked and debarked in Ft. Lauderdale. We wanted to determine if the much higher cost of Seabourn was worth the money. We booked the cruise during a special, Veranda for the price of an OV, of $2999.00 pp. +Taxes and Port charges. This compares to a similar cruise itinerary and length to a cruise on the Noordam where a Veranda starts at about $1600. pp, plus the added expense of tips, totaling $220. for the 10 days bringing the total to approximately $1820.00 pp + taxes and port charges. There is no tipping on Seabourn, so that is not a factor in the equation. Thus the total expense of the cruise came to about $6000. on Seabourn vs $3640 on HAL. However, depending upon on board expenses for drinks, tips for room service, Pinnacle, etc., much of that gap of $2360. can be closed. We typically end up spending $600. to $800 on those items. So, I figure in our case the true cost differential of the two cruises was around $1500. However, had we not booked the special, the cruise expense for a starting Veranda would have been $3499. pp raising the cost difference to about $2500. A significant increase. That is the cost part of this investigation.

Stateroom: Frankly, the "living area" of the cabin was not much larger than a standard Veranda on a HAL ship, but there was enough difference to allow for a small dining table which made room service meals much more enjoyable. The rest of the larger stateroom, as advertised, is taken up by a small walk in closet and a much larger bath. In our opinion, while the walk in closet was nice, it was really no larger than the closet space on HAL and the larger bath incorporated a stall shower and tub, plus double sinks. Not a big deal to us as we primarily shower and have never used a tub on a cruise ship. The Veranda itself was only slightly larger than on HAL, not enough to make much difference and the lounge chairs were really kind of funky being in two pieces and hard to situate. Other things about the cabin were pretty similar to HAL except instead of drawers they had shelves with touch latch doors. I did not care for this arrangement as I had to practically get down on my hands and knees to get things out. Of course there was a refrigerator and being all inclusive even a small bar stocked with the alcohol of your choice, in our case a bottle of Gin and one of Vodka. Overall rating? With the exception of the included mini bar and dining table, almost a draw.

Room Service: While we did not have any dinner meals in the room, we did have breakfast and some lunch in the room. The "service" part of the room service was outstanding! Orders left on the door at night were delivered on time and even orders placed over the telephone were delivered at lightning speed compared to any other cruise ship I have been on. Usually in less than 10 minutes. The really special part was that when the service was delivered, the dining table was set up by the steward complete with table cloth, flatware, etc. almost as in the dining rooms on the ship. As to the food quality, it was good, but IMHO the pastry was not as good as HAL and a Club Sandwich that I ordered one time was not nearly as good as the ones I have had on HAL. Rating vs HAL, superior.

Ship and on board dining experiences. The ship, being much smaller than even the Prinsendam, passenger total about 450, obviously lacked much of the public space that HAL has to offer. But, what I would compare to the Explorer Lounge and Library were quite comparable and again while the ship was much smaller there was never a crowded feeling and I never had to get in line for anything! There were basically three restaurant choices with open seating, main dining room, colonnade dining room and the patio grill in the pool area and three bars, two in the mid-ship pool area and one up in an observation lounge similar to the Eagles Nest on HAL ships. Food quality and service in the dining rooms was far, FAR superior to HAL. Maybe what HAL was like 30 years ago. Also, we were invited to dine with either Ships Officers, cruise director and even one of the comedians on the ship for dinner about six times, we accepted about four of the invitations and the "hosted" dinners were exceptional. Entertainment aboard was far better than what we have experienced aboard HAL the last few years, even a Concert Pianist one night that I considered the best entertainment I have ever had on a cruise ship.

The only downside we saw with Seabourn besides the cost differential is that they don't cruise often out of Florida, basically only three months a year, Oct. Nov and first week of Dec. ( we no longer desire to fly and can drive to Ft. Lauderdale in about two hours ) and while we met some wonderful people on the cruise there were also some of the biggest "snobs" I have ever met. Also ship dress codes are a little more upscale, requiring men to wear Jackets most evenings, etc. But I liked there formal policy as it was formal "optional" with only the main dining room requiring formal wear or suit and tie on one night of the cruise.

I could go on quite a bit longer in detailing the differences that we experienced, but I think I have given enough to give you our impressions of the cruise, YMMV. IMHO, if price is not a factor to you, then Seabourn (or other upscale cruise lines ) may be the way to go. At present we take about 2-3 cruises a year and for us to switch would mean we would have to cut at least one cruise a year in order to stay within our travel budget.

We are sailing again on the Prinsendam this week end for the Holiday cruise and as I have always heard that the Prinsendam is so much better it will be interesting to compare the smaller HAL ship to the Soujourn.

This much I can tell you, I am already watching for a special on Seabourn out of Ft. Lauderdale next season as we do intend to do it again! We think that when you boil it down, it was worth the price difference.:) Quite frankly, I believe that were Seabourn to offer round trip sailings from Florida more often that just the three fall months, you would likely never get me on any other cruise line again. However, since HAL has some itineraries out of Florida that I still want to do, I will probably be around on HAL for a while longer.:D

We prefer the PG on the last night. Do not care for the "International Menu" on the last night. We usually book PG on sea days but' date=' really, any night is usually fine![/quote']

 

AMEN! Could not agree more, the "international Menu" is horrible!

Well knowing what I do know about cruise lines, it doesn't really surprise me, but I will say that it indeed does bother me.:eek: