OlsSalt

We loved visiting the private museum in town with the mock-ups of Magellen's ship and Charles Dawin's Beagle. Now also including Shackleton's small rescue craft and others. Getting the true feel of size and scale of those early exploration ships ...that did change the world ..... is humbling. Particularly when we return to our own cozy HAL abode and reflect what life was like during those early ages of exploration. Seeing these fragile ships before one "rounds the horn" today on a passenger vessel, with bars and swimming pools, is even more humbling.

We recently got caught up in that for a "private sale" price on a cruise we had been looking at. The T&C button did not work on that offer, so we just continued to book it anyway online since the offer was just for a lower price and for a short time only. Then pow, the full price was put on our credit card the next day. A phone call to HAL straightened this out and we were back to our originally expected and normal payment terms. So the additional warning if booking online and the T&C button does not work ....... make sure you find out before you book. And move fast if you got into something you did not expect. I believe they do have a 24 hour grace period on all reservations?

Old way, not that long ago, was a drop box at least at the Shorex Desk and hard copy reservation forms. Once we submitted a shore excursion request on the hard copy form after hours the night before in that drop box, only hoping on the outside chance it would work. But the next morning the tickets had been delivered to our cabin. I assumed the shorex persons were all working the midnight oil, in order to deliver that level of last minute service. I was impressed. But it is a business, and they make their money delivering their product. Of course now they make money being able to ignore last minute cancellation requests too. Fair enough - they had to contract for the service up front so they do deserve to have those costs covered by the cancellation policies - I believe that is 48 hours now? However, one big issue is complaints about the cost of onboard shore excursions versus private company offerings often arranged online. Yet the prior level of onboard shorex personal service and cabin delivery of individual tickets and notices, did add to their fixed costs, compared to the ease of online private group reservations. Let's hope they take some of these suggestions to heart and continue to work on their online reservation and communications model. And still offer the after-hours drop box at their shorex desk.

Mongolian Airlines in flight meal was tongue - sliced length-wise in one tin tray compartment and sliced cross-wise in another compartment on the tin tray.. My seat mate also looking incredulous leaned over and in a dignified voice asked ....do you have the Grey Poupon? Competing only with Malawi Airlines - one marmite sandwich with four cubes of fruit floating in the juice from a tin of fruit cocktail. Honorable mention goes to a 1970s' British Airways breakfast - when England did have a reputation for pretty bad food - well earned at that time. (no longer)

If this was supposed to be dessert, I would guess its rice pudding and a gluten free brownie with sprinkles on top, with a side of marzipan made to look like vegetables? 🤢

Old saying: punish what you want less of, and reward what you want more of. What role should/could the waiting passengers play? Talk to the guide; dirty looks; noisy grumbles; shout out the departure time; seethe in silence?

Sorry, thanks for pointing this out. Need to pay more attention to the "quote" feature when responding directly to another poster.

I appreciate these suggestions and will do this differently next time (which I hope does not need to happen). We tried to contact the night before and even leave a note at the shore excursion desk that evening, but everything was locked up tight and there was no drop box slot, like they offered in the past at the shore excursion desk. Navigator was a total dead end at this point in time. Did not even think front desk would be in communication with this separate Shore Excursion operation, but in the future I will put at least something into the system and hope it catches up with the right person at Shore Excursions. I also wanted them to be able to re-sell our seats to anyone on the waiting list too - so I hope offering more direct communication with Shore Excursions does get tweaked. Proves if one is on a waiting list, it might pay to hang around the boarding area because openings may show up after all.

I have been on a few HAL tours in Asia were we over-rode guides attempts to "include a shopping opportunity " not on the schedule. Group grumbles nosily made our point.

I appreciate your frustration. I share it. My quibble was your claim this "always" happens on HAL tours. I hope this discussion encourages HAL to impose stricter guidelines and encourage guides to give a little "talk" up front about lateness impacts on other passengers, because it appears some did not get it. Please let the tour guide know via cell phone if you are delayed, otherwise we will assume you are rejoining the ship on your own.

Navigator allows no direct communications with the shore excursion staff. That was a problem we had when we last minute decided to not go on some paid-for excursions, due to being under the weather. We knew we would lose the payments, but we were sorry we could not communicate with the staff at the dock on the Navigator to tell them not to wait for us.

Sea View Pool is not "adults only" on major holiday cruises - very loud and busy, with lots of shouting pool games going on. Those are the highest number of children impact cruises, so choose them with that expectation in mind. There are other reports from other times of the year the adults-only aft pool is only a recommendation, since it is not enforced should anyone choose to ignore the signage.

No, that is not always the case at all. We have taken many, many HAL excursions for over 15 years and I do not recall a single one where we were delayed or had to wait for tardy passengers. I have long been impressed with the mutual courtesies shown by fellow HAL passengers on ship shore excursions - respectful and courteous of other people's rights. Only once when there were a lot of Russian passengers on board a number of years ago, was their loud talking and rudeness displayed mainly due to language problems I think. I assume they were bored during the English language-only tour presentations. I have however been on several private group tours where this has happened and we finally told the guide to just leave them behind, much to the guides distress. But those people on the group tour were never late again. Presumption was after a short delay (5-10 minute max) assume they are choosing not to join the excursion. Used to be the rule in college too - if the instructor was 15 minutes late, assume the class was cancelled.

This is now a switch; but no longer the bait and switch that it was in the past. Glad they set the terms out with more specificity. Caveat emptor for anyone still expecting a "retreat" private cabana to mean quiet adults only zone.

Children allowed in the Lido cabanas are probably a given since this location already is high-traffic and noise. The irony is the upper "retreat" deck surrounding the pool deck on the Konigsdam had many loungers, that always seemed to be available, which were free. And no kids in this area since the pool activity itself was one deck down. And only a few steps away from getting your own food on your own timing, rather than waiting forever for it to get "delivered" in the cabana. Turning the Retreat Cabanas into a Club Hal Annex must have made sense to HAL bean counters and if they are successful, I am happy for them. HAL does have a lot of debt to crawl out from under. And they did want to attract younger clientele who find a lot of noise more appealing, than just silently watching the sea pass by. Or it could be that the Retreats overall turned into a white elephant loss for HAL, and they needed to tweak up a new customer base.

If you want a retreat cabana for peace and quiet, take a pass. There is no sound proofing between the cabanas, which can make being next to 4-6 person "family" cabana problematic. There was no room for anything more than two persons in the regular retreat cabana (Konigsdam) which most likely means the extra members now allowed in the two person cabanas will need to "recreate" in the open central spaces impacting everyone else. Interesting official response to the noisy chaos created on our Konigsdam cruise, when HAL allowed two adults and six children into a two-person cabana. (8 total) Prior designations were "adults only" even in the family cabana. Stick with the Lido cabanas if you are happy with a lot of noise. But don't book a retreat cabana is you want to get away from the noise. Bad move, HAL.

Lamb chops at recent Noordam Pinnacle were great. Best ever. As long as we have cruised HAL (2009) - Pinnacle has always been up and down. Hit or miss. So inconsistency is consistent, not a factor due to anything recent. Setting is nice and pick and choose carefully and one can come away with a happy special evening. But it did move from really pedestrian and quite awful, to an over the top from-frou dinner theatrics stage, back to more basics and always up and down depending on ship and nature of dining room staffing. The steaks surprisingly have never been their strong suit (for a steak restaurant) - used to be "Silver Label" beef (a hotel industry grade) back when they made no claims it was USDA graded anything.

It was okay and easy to use. Agree, the Lounge itself has the best variety coffee product. But no complaints for the Neptune in-suite option.

If you google broiled lobster images, this looks like lobster to me - just minus any colorful seasonings on top. A rather naked presentation to say the least, but at least you don't have to go digging for it.. Definitely not lobster thermidor, which could have been quite wonderful. Lobster Thermidor is a French dish of lobster meat cooked in a rich wine sauce, stuffed back into a lobster shell, and browned. The sauce is often a mixture of egg yolks and brandy (such as Cognac), served with an oven-browned cheese crust, typically Gruyère. The sauce originally contained mustard (typically powdered mustard).

HarbourFront Cruise Terminal website claims they have a "Left Luggage" facility - so you can drop off your bags early there, if they are not collecting them for the ship itself. Then enjoy your free time in Vivo City next door, or the very accessible metro system into the downtown area a short distance away. Always love exploring Singapore and visiting their always interesting food courts. Even if just for a few "extra" hours. The ship will not leave without processing their last boarding group. https://singaporecruise.com.sg/terminal/harbourfront-passenger-terminal/

Where did you go. Was that of any interest for you?

Positioning HAL for those who cruise to travel and explore the world, is a good niche -somewhere between the bare bones and the high-end luxury ships.

There was a time when the HAL bathrooms had flexible tube attached directly to the wall, that kind of blew out some tepid air. That was the in cabin "hair dryer". At least it was in the bathroom. May have been in the old "S" class ships. But they are no more.

Well, you could always follow our own tried and true packing rule - over pack everything! No matter how many days we have cruised, I still succumb to ....what if .. and in it goes into the suitcase. 🙃 Welcome to HAL -hope you have a wonderful cruise.

IMHO: Crime in the Caribbean has made these now over-impacted ports problematic for cruise ships. To cruise the Caribbean today, it is mainly for sand and sun, on-board ship activities, use of protected shore recreation and shopping sites, or carefully curated shore excursions. Little is safe or available for DIY tourism in far too many Caribbean ports today. YMMV.