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Crazy For Cats

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Posts posted by Crazy For Cats

    Embarkation day lunch

    in Holland America Line

    Posted

    I have found the MDR a nice way to start our vacation. There are no long lines and the food and service are wonderful. This last cruise we even did MDR for most of our breakfasts and it was smoother than the lido.

     

     

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    Nieuw Amsterdam 12/8 Review

    in Holland America Line

    Posted

    I should also note that we tried laundry service this trip. We gave our cabin steward a bag of clothes before 8 am and we received our clothes back by 7 pm the same day. Another reason why we think this crew is aiming for superstar status. I know not to expect service this quick on our next trip.

     

     

     

     

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    Nieuw Amsterdam 12/8 Review

    in Holland America Line

    Posted

    Thank you for your review.

    Our TA always gives us a copy of all shipboard credits that we are due. And I make extra copies. About day #3 I always ask for a copy of our bill so that I can see if we have been credited with all shipboard credit.

     

    My TA did give me a copy of all perks, including OBC. Next time I'll ask her to print out the page from the HAL web site instead of handwriting the amount on the paper. This might have caught it before I left.

     

     

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    Nieuw Amsterdam 12/8 Review

    in Holland America Line

    Posted

    Thank you for the heads up regarding this trick of the ships photographers to (try) to entice those who are boarding that they need to take your pic for "ship identification"! :mad:

     

    When I wrote up my review for HAL I suggested a line for those of us who don't want that photo. It would speed up the process. May still write a letter to the office.

     

     

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    Nieuw Amsterdam 12/8 Review

    in Holland America Line

    Posted

    Great reading about your cruise, Jake. I'm glad you had such a good time. Thanks for taking the time to comment about it and let us know how things went. Also, I'm glad you did the Pinnacle Grill again. Did you do the last night? Sue and I think it is a great way to celebrate a great cruise.

     

    Debbie

     

    Hi Debbie, yes we did it the last night. I really liked your idea last time and adopted for us as well. It was nice talking with the manager as he was on the Veendam.

     

     

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    Nieuw Amsterdam 12/8 Review

    in Holland America Line

    Posted · Edited by Crazy For Cats
    typo

    This was our second sailing on the Nieuw Amsterdam this year. I had reservations about the ship since the first sailing while not bad didn't stand up to other HAL ships. I am happy to report that the December voyage was much better than expected and I wish I could have stayed on for another week.

     

    We flew down the day before and took a hotel shuttle to the port. The embarkation process went fairly smoothly but did take longer than necessary. It would seem that the need to try and get everyone's picture trumped speed. I heard one of the ship photographers tell the couple ahead of me that this picture was for ship identification. Never mind that everyone's photo is taken when you check in. This did not bode well for the start of the cruise. Once we got past this hurdle, picture not taken, we took our bags to the room and proceeded to the embarkation lunch.

     

    Typically we stay away from the MDR except for the lunch the first day to avoid the crowds on the lido deck. This trip we tried breakfast in the MDR and the service was quick and the food was good. Once the waitstaff realized that I liked more than one cup of coffee they made sure to keep the coffee cup full. It seems like a much easier way to start the day if you are not in a rush to get to port.

     

    We did enjoy a night at the Pinnacle Grill. Service was wonderful and the food was even better.

     

    In many ways this trip was almost like a homecoming. We ran into several crew members that we meet on previous HAL sailings. This may have added to our enjoyment but the crew on this trip was outstanding. (They are giving the Westerdam crew a good run for top honors) Far better than what we received on our earlier NA sailing. At the first happy hour we meet a wonderful bar person who remembered our names after one order and said hello throughout the cruise whenever we saw him.

     

    Interestingly we even had the same cabin stewards as our first sailing on the NA. Here too the service was improved. On the first day they stopped and asked us when we wanted ice delivered to the room. They followed through at the requested time. They kept the fresh fruit filled, the room cleaned and always checked throughout the cruise to see what, if anything, they could do for us.

     

    Getting off ship in port was no problem was seemed to go well. The biggest surprise was at disembarkation. I was fully prepared for an hour or more wait to go through customs and much to our delight we walked right through. Less than five minutes from end of line to getting our taxi to the airport.

     

    Regrettably there was one flaw and that was with the front office. When we filled out our boarding documents online we each provided separate credit cards. The front office in their infinite wisdom decided that only one card would be billed and it would be their choice. When I complained I got a blank stare from the woman behind the counter as if to say why is this a problem? In the end they did correct and provided separate statements and billed correctly. Another mistake was that we did not get our full OBC and that is under review with our TA. In the future, if we use a TA, I will request better documentation from them.

    Personal cruise consultant question

    in Holland America Line

    Posted

    They absolutely cover for each other.

    When our PCC is on vacation, there is a specific person (or persons) who check his e-mail and voice mail and handle issues that arise. Of coure, he does the same in return.

     

    However, the PCC's don't usually work weekends, do they?

     

     

    I have called on weekends and got someone to take care of an issue. They let my PCC know and they followed up later to make sure I was taken care of properly.

     

     

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    Personal cruise consultant question

    in Holland America Line

    Posted

    While price watching for the Veendam's August sailing my PCC was on vacation. A different PCC saw my email and got in touch with me to take care of the issue. He also told me to give my regular PCC name while on ship if I booked another cruise. Seemed like they were working as a team. Really shouldn't matter as customer service should come first.

     

     

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    Coincidence or What?

    in Holland America Line

    Posted

    Well the Explore 4 "Special Offer" finished yesterday and this morning I see that the price of our VD cabin has dropped $360pp. Seems very strange to me and certainly makes the value of the Explore 4 very questionable.:rolleyes:

     

    I expected the prices to drop after the promotion ended. My b2b on the Maasdam didn't see a price drop but it may be too early as that is in June.

     

     

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