Kynana

A few years ago we were on a cruise that included two segments, either the Voyage of the Vikings or the round trip Med cruise out of Fort Lauderdale (which sadly has been discontinued). We asked and after the first segment we were upgraded to 4 star and free laundry! 

Another reason to wait until one goes to the dining room the first night to purchase a wine package is that the wine steward gets credit for what you purchase, and they appreciate that, of course. We've ordered ours online before the cruise and then realized that wasn't the best idea.  

HAL has absolutely the worse website. I always wonder if someone at the top has a son-in-law with a degree in anthropology running the department. 

It's so frustrating....and embarrassing. I would never recommend the site to any of my family or friends. 

I received from an email from HAL offering special fares. I clicked on it, went to the site and got the message that said "These special fares, not open to the general public, are available on select sailings. For a limited time book a suite and receive prepaid gratuities! To receive these offers, please login. Offers expire April 26, 2019."
The page shows page 1 of 1155 cruises but nowhere to log in to see the "select sailings for the special fares!!!! 
The HAL site is terrible. I sent a feedback message, but it never helps. 
 

I don't book online, but I like to peruse the HAL itineraries and costs on their website. I want to have a good idea what I want before calling her. Doesn't seem like too much to ask to be able to do that......

38 minutes ago, Roz said:

I've found no correlation between the hard to use website and the onboard experience.  I wouldn't judge the ship, service, cabin, and food based on the website.

 

Roz

I agree completely, Roz. But they don't make it easy to get to the point where someone can enjoy the ship, the service, cabin and food! 

An acquaintance of mine in his 70s asked on Facebook for cruise line suggestions for an Alaskan cruise not long ago, and I was too embarrassed to suggest checking the options on the Holland America website. Thankfully, the experience on their cruises is nothing like the website! 

My husband and I are 4-star Mariners with HAL, but we continue to be frustrated with the terrible website. The situation should be an embarrassment to the company. I like to do my searches online before calling our TA. I've sent endless negative comments on the site but to no avail. 

We were disappointed with the Promenade on the Koningsdam, so for those who find a place to walk with a view important, check out deck plans first. Also, we've found that with the new staterooms that open out onto the Promenade, the deck chairs are mostly reserved for those staterooms. 

However.... we still sail exclusively with Holland. My husband won't let me book with any other line! 

36 minutes ago, Djptcp said:

 A continuing issue I've had lately is selecting a cruise from my list and going back to the list to look at the rest of my list  - took me back to all the HAL cruise listings instead so I had to start over. Frustrating.

Yes, that's another issue. Don't dare go back and change anything or add anything. The site reminds me of someone with a terrible case of absentmindedness! It gets all confused and can't operate unless I go back the the very beginning, log in again and begin my query all over again. 

2 hours ago, ottahand7 said:

Had the same problem with the dummy booking yesterday.  Even when it doesn't spin just trying to choose another deck or section of the ship is a puzzle.  I ended up going to a pdf of the deck plan and found the cabin I wanted and then entered it in.  Only way I could get a quote for a cabin I wanted.   

I can't even get that far. As soon as I click on the option to change/select a new stateroom, the ball starts spinning and will continue for forever and a day. I just tried again. So frustrating. 

This same problem with the website has been going on for a long time. It gets better and then reverts again to a high frustration level. I can't understand why Holland America continues to employ the same inept website managers. I don't see how it could not be costing them money to lose potential customers who search their cruise itineraries on the Internet........or should I say try to search their cruise itineraries. 

Is anyone besides me having a problem with the HAL website? Sometimes the headings for the cruises will show conflicting itineraries. Sometimes not the correct search criterion, such as specific ship, month, etc. Today I tried to go through the process of trial booking a cruise and then changing the guarantee cabin to one of my choice to find out what the price would be. Yesterday I got a message telling me to try another time, and today all I am getting is a spinning spinning spinning ball. This is not the first time the site has given me fits. 

19 hours ago, Kynana said:

We are just off the Rotterdam. We had a wonderful 21 days. Nothing is perfect, of course.

I meant to add that we received the news onboard that HAL is leaving the Port of Tampa next year. We were told that cruises out of Florida will be sailing from Lauderdale after the Rotterdam sails out of Tampa in April. 

8 hours ago, KAKcruiser said:

I was surprised by the comment that there were no singers or dancers on the Rotterdam.  Was this a change in policy or just some emergency situation that prevented them from joining the cruise?

I don't know the answer to your question. I should have asked the Cruise Director. I hope someone who has sailed on another HAL ship lately will comment on the singers and dancers and the other entertainment. 

2 hours ago, avian777 said:

 

Please elaborate - other than (allegedly) cancelling the wine package discount, what other Mariner "perks" has HAL started and then taken away?

If you read the prior posts, HAL didn't "allegedly" cancel the wine package discount. They cancelled it and then reinstated it. I'm not going to argue the point any further, but I felt the need to point this out. 

This

1 hour ago, avian777 said:

 

Kynana, are you serious or is this Post a joke?

This post is from last month when the information from HAL was that the Mariner wine package benefit had been cancelled. Why are you asking if it is a joke?

We are just off the Rotterdam. We had a wonderful 21 days. Nothing is perfect, of course. The entertainment quality has gone down, and there was no ship singers and dancers group.

A number of ocean view rooms have moisture inside the glass which makes viewing the outside clearly a problem. Our stateroom (1836 on Dolphin) had one cloudy window. If you have an ocean view room booked on the Rotterdam, you might want to check on that. 

I am attaching the wine package info that was in our room. On the back it says "3 Star and above Mariner Loyalty discounts apply." We received our 50% discount, but since we purchased the package before the cruise, we had to ask for it. Also note that it also says a 15% service charge is applied to all beverage purchases, so that price you see for each package will be 15% more. 

I have a feeling that changes are coming, but just what they are remains a mystery.  Any other questions, feel free to ask. 

We are on the Rotterdam for 21 days. We purchased 2 wine packages and received credit for the 50% discount onboard after we asked for it. It appears that it's still in effect but there are new wine pkg brochures being distributed with a 25%  discount plus additional 15% gratuity. But the small print says Mariners receive additional off. It's not clear what the future holds but now all seems well on this cruise.  

2 minutes ago, POA1 said:

I cleaned this letter up to protect the identities of the people involved, but this is from someone I know personally who cruises HAL frequently - and usually gets the wine packages. It's from Wednesday.

 

 

 

 

Thanks. I feel vindicated. I didn't want to cause an unnecessary uproar, but when I was told by my TA and the Mariners' Desk and the Customer Service Rep, I thought others should be made aware. Thanks to all who contacted HAL. It will be interesting to see what the next surprise will be. 

If true, and they follow through, this is very good news. And thanks to all who took the time to contact HAL concerning this. I'm sure they know by now that they have a large and growing group of unhappy loyal customers whose loyalty was wearing thin! 

We'll be in Key West on the second day of our cruise (the 29th of this month), and by then we hope to know the status of the wine packages. I'll post what we find out. Hope we have good news to report. 

For what it's worth I received an email this morning from the TA. He said this about the wine package my husband purchased on the HAL site ahead of time:

I did get an email from our sales rep as she is currently on a HAL trip at this time.  She thinks you will receive the refund on the package purchased and most likely they will honor the 50% if you speak with the purser's desk. No promises, but that was her thought.

All I can report is what I was told today. If it's true, this may be a blessing in disguise. My husband and I, who have been totally loyal to HAL so as to attain the 4-Star Mariner status, will likely branch out to experience other cruise lines. We have been very disappointed to hear that our favorite area on the ship, the Crow's Nest, is being taken over by the Excursion group, disappointed that the libraries seem to be in the process of being eliminated, disappointed in the HAL website and other areas that have experienced changes. Now the wine packages, which we have greatly appreciated and made our dinners every evening a special occasion. I hope that the 21 day cruise we are beginning this Sunday will not be our last. 

I hate to keep saying the sa

2 minutes ago, POA1 said:

That makes perfect sense. All of your discount adjustments are made onboard once the charge hots your folio. The only exception I know of is if you have a promo code for excursions.

I hate to keep repeating myself, but I was told by the three different HAL employees that the discount was not available online or onboard. One even said that the employees were blindsided when the notice came through.

My agent emailed me the following after speaking to his HAL contact. "Unfortunately, the information you received is correct and they do not know why it has not been deleted from the website. The wine package is the only benefit which has been deleted and it's been deleted across the board, even up to their 5 star folks."

We will be sailing this coming Saturday for 21 days, so I can give an update after we're on the ship. I'll leave it at that and hope that I and my travel agent were given incorrect or incomplete information by the HAL people. 

I was told point blank by three people that the discounts for the wine packages are no longer available. Period. I hope that's not true, but I can only go by what I was told. It makes no sense to do away with the discounts on the old packages before having the new ones available, but lately with the condition of the website, I can imagine that there is not a lot of organization at HAL these days! 

My husband bought a couple of the wine packages that they offer online for purchase ahead of time for our Oct. 28th cruise. It will be interesting to see how they handle that.