cbr663

You are not responsible for how others respond. As another has posted, HAL has lots of experience with these matters and it will know exactly what to do. Have a wonderful cruise.

Yes, we tried the 360 tour of our cabin. Unfortunately, the tours aren't available for all the ships. For instance, we all sailing on the Vista and the tour is for the sister ship Envision. This is an example of where on the Envision the shower stack in the PS is on the shower's narrow wall whereas on the Vista it's on the shower's longer wall. Took us a while and paying very close attention to find that. Our TA asked why we changed from the RS to PS and this is feedback that she is providing to Avalon on our behalf.

We decided against the Royal Suite and booked a Panorama Suite for 2 reasons: 1. Avalon prides itself on the cabin layout with the bed facing the wall of windows so you can lie on your bed and watch the river as you are sailing. The Royal Suite actually has a large wall in the front of the bed that severely blocks your view. The best view is from the PS. 2. Our other concern was the shower size in the PS. After watching many videos online we finally found a video where one of the guys filming actually went into the shower and spread out so I could see that the shower would work. I also discovered that not all the ships are the same in that some ships have the shower stack in the PS on the short side of the shower while others have it on the longer side. We booked with it on the longer side as we think it will make a difference. 3. We also noticed that the show in the RS has a bench that is located close to the shower stack which we thought would make showering awkward.

We won a free cruise while onboard and it was when we went to book the free cruise that we discovered that a free cruise from HAL does not equal zero dollars. Ship math. 😉

If I may offer a suggestion. I too have previously experienced a bad cruise. The number of things that went wrong every day were simply astounding. And while we received the typical free bottle of wine and even a free tour of the bridge as symbols of goodwill, it did very little to prevent further things from going wrong. We were sailing in a Neptune Suite at the time and the Concierge came to us and asked what he could do to make it better for us and our only response was to stop with the poor service. I can tell you that as a result of that experience it was a long time before we sailed in a Neptune Suite again and we have never sailed on that ship again, and won't. What I did do though was after the cruise I sent a detailed letter to HAL outlining my concerns with the poor service. I stuck to the facts and presented everything as we experienced it. I received a written response back apologizing for the poor service and an acknowledgment that it didn't meet their standards. Like you, at the time I felt why would I ever leave a gratuity for such poor service. I kept them in place though and paid them. As a sign of goodwill, HAL offered me $300 OBC for any future sailing. Satisfied with the response we sailed again and were glad that we did as it was obviously a one off experience on that ship. The $300 OBC exceeded the crew appreciation amount. I suggest that you write the Office of the President and share with them your experiences and your disappointment with the cruise. I don't know if you would get the same response from HAL as we did as your situation is obviously different. If I may, I wouldn't mention that you contracted food poisoning after dining in the PG as unless you had it verified by the medical centre onboard, that is your opinion and not a fact. Simply share that you became ill after dining there. Stick to the facts, state where service was poor and don't make it about tipping the crew and see how HAL responds.

It's HAL assuming a "winback" approach to customers who it thinks are no longer sailing. Lots of companies take this approach. With telecommunications, for instance, you will only get your best offer once you leave the company and they try and win you back. HAL's reward for current customers who continue to book is its Marnier Program. If you want discounted cruise offers (as these "free" cruises are not free in the sense that you pay $0), you may want to consider stop sailing and hope that HAL notices and wants to win you back with an attractive offer.

There was a post about this yesterday.

Anyone else thinking this is foreshadowing another HIA price increase when it gets bundled with HIA?

I have noticed when sailing on HAL a refund of port charges shows up quite often in our onboard account.

Is this HAL's attempt to solve the problem of the poor entertainment? Charge passengers more to stream on their own devices and hope they not notice the lack of entertainment onboard?

One of the things that I like about HAL is the details, especially surrounding the "premium" offerings and it's a thing that I notice. On our Alaska cruise on the Koningsdam we had this served on the Delft Blue Dinnerware.

I've found CDN pricing all over the map in the past also. Cruise companies are reporting to shareholders that per passenger spend is way up right now due passengers widely accepting package deals like HIA. I think there is even more room for price increases as it seems more and more people are willing to pay a bundled price to not have to think about their spending while onboard.

I was thinking the same thing. I would gladly give it a try but I am not living close to a port and then I realized, what am I thinking? I am only a 2 hour drive from Montreal. Must keep my eyes on the Standby list when the Canada/NE cruise lists show up.

Just wanted to add that several posters keep posting that this program is for Inside Cabins. No where in the T&Cs does it state any type of stateroom at all. The only mention of stateroom is this statement, "Guests shall have no ability to select or request a certain room type on the Cruise and, if a stateroom is available, guest will automatically be assigned to such stateroom; no upgrades available." I understand fully that if you want to participate you should do so with the understanding that you may indeed receive an inside cabin, but let's not forget this program is to fill unsold staterooms. Unsold staterooms can be at any stateroom category.

You didn't indicate what month you are hoping to sail. My first cruise to Alaska was in 2014 and it was the first cruise of the season out of Vancouver on the Volendam. We had a wonderful cruise. Sunshine every day. The smaller ship was great and the best part was that the ship sailed midweek so we were the only ship in port. Last year we again sailed to Alaska on the Koningsdam. This time the ship sailed on the weekend and we shared every port stop with 3 - 4 other ships as large as and larger than our ship. Over tourism in the ports was a challenge and it negatively affected our enjoyment. For this reason, I suggest you have a look at the Zaandam sailings on May 1st and 8th from Vancouver.

I thought I had taken a pic of inside but sadly when I checked just the outside. It's filled with Chantilly cream which is sweetened whipped cream with vanilla. Whipped cream on the inside, chocolate on the outside. I was expecting it to be quite sweet and was happy that it wasn't.

The current CDN pricing is a bit of a rip off also. I just checked and for '24 cruises the HIA with 1 Speciality Dining, $100 Shore Excursion, Signature Beverage Package, Surf Wifi and $200 OBC is about $80 pp/pd. The Early Booking Bonus for cruises in '25 the HIA with 1 Speciality Dining, $100 Shore Excursion, Elite Beverage Package, Premium Wi-Fi and Pre-Paid Crew Appreciation is about $90 pp/pd.

The HIA pricing is tied to the prices of the Beverage Packages. Not surprising at all that HIA is $10 pp/pd more onboard as that is the cost of the beverage packages also. HIA pricing will most likely decrease when the beverage packages decrease. That will most likely happen when passengers stop buying them and HAL needs to discount them in order to sell them.

When we sailed in Nov, we also had a Disney ship in port. The crowds are definitely an issue. My advice - don't show up early. Lots of people do and there will be line ups everywhere. Cruise passengers love to line up and wait. A HAL rep told me that the lineup at 9:00 am (no one is boarding at 9:00 am) extended down to the USS Regan. We had CO with priority embarkation like you will have with a Neptune Suite. We waited to arrive at the end of our boarding time window and we moved quite quickly through the outside lines. There were long lines outside for all those early birds for each of the subsequent boarding times. I found entry to the security clearance area to be a somewhat confusing choke point as you enter on the side at the same time everyone disembarking the ships are basically in the same area. There were lots of people basically in the same area all trying to go in different directions. Once inside, there is the typical weaving of long lines and while secuirty staff did a great job of trying to move everyone through, there seemed to be some confusion in the lines regarding priority access. Once through security it was a quick stop at actual check in and on to the ship. My advice is don't arrive early if you are trying to avoid line ups. If you want to avoid lineups as much as possible, you may want to consider arriving later in the day. I have never needed assistance boarding yet I wonder if you need assistance do you request that with HAL or with the port itself?

Isn't it amazing how the internet has evolved? I have 4 web browsers on my laptop cause I have to find the right browser for the right web page. It is frustrating. One option is to delete the cookies for the website and then restart your computer. A mis-behaving cookie can often be the issue. Deleting your cache files can often help. I completed a deep maintenance clean up of 2 of my computers and it has helped address most issues. When all else fails, I use a basic install of a different web browser. My choice is Chrome. I used it without any add-ons, ad blockers or trackers. If successful, once done I always clear all browsing data so as to have a clean browser for the next incident.

Thanks everyone for the wonderful replies. Lots more reading to do. We went ahead and got our TA to book it. We are doing the Rhine Northbound with the add-on of 3 days Lake Como and 1 day Lucerne. We are so looking forward to it.

We are about to book an Avalon River cruise and have a couple of questions about the onboard experience: 1. How much is laundry service? 2. How much is the service charge for room service? 3. Any special perks/amenities for Royal Suite passengers? 4. Are breakfast and lunch options a combination of buffet and made to order items? 5. Any advice on someone's first river cruise? 6. Any thing you were surprised with onboard?

So appreciate your review. The largest ship we have sailed is the Koningsdam and my concern with the larger ships is noise and crowds. We are looking for smaller, not larger. There are 2 things that HAL needs to do to win us back: improve both its onshore and onboard service and improve its onboard entertainment. Until then, we will continue looking elsewhere. If everything aligns we will booking a European River cruise this week. 🤞

HAL has a cruise waitlist for passengers who want the flexibility to remove themselves from the program prior to sailing. This program seems to be targeting people who are willing to live with the uncertainty of getting a cabin at a very short notice for a reduced fare.

I think not well implemented. We are seeing the implementation pains of a new program. I don't think HAL even ran a pilot for this program. Most likely just dusted off its old program of selling unsold cabins on sail away at deeply discounted prices, but made some changes to it so as it could be presented as new and different. The old business practice of recycling the old by making a slight difference and change the name and hope no one remembers the old. I used the term "early adopters" a couple of posts back as anyone partaking of any new program should expect some hiccups. Early Adopters are generally seen as risk takers and tend to use new products and services before the majority of people do. The Standby Program may very well get to approximately 7 days notification (as this seems to be the sticking point for a lot of people), but it obviously isn't there yet. Or it may not.