HAL Passengers Denied Use of Pool at Amber Cove

I am kind of chuckling at "applauding HAL" for offering a Caribbean season. There are lots of islands in the Caribbean that were unaffected. Kind of wondering if those who choose to applaud would have the same reaction if they were on that cruise?

While I agree there may be bumps, they should be attended to promptly. JMO.

On our recent Veendam cruise from Montreal to FLL we had an interesting situation at our Boston stop. After docking the CD made the port announcement that we were able to get off the ship and that "All EXC tours were cancelled because of a strike of the tour operators". In the plan of the day HAL was offering a paid shuttle from the pier to the center of town. They quickly changed that to a Free shuttle and added several more buses to make the wait only a few minutes. I thought that was a good "save". Never really did hear any more about the "strike". HAL did refund the tour costs. One problem was that the recent re-branding of ship tours calling them EXC was new for a lot of people and caused some confusion. All and all it think the HAL management did a good job on this one.

I am kind of chuckling at "applauding HAL" for offering a Caribbean season. There are lots of islands in the Caribbean that were unaffected. Kind of wondering if those who choose to applaud would have the same reaction if they were on that cruise?

 

While I agree there may be bumps, they should be attended to promptly. JMO.

There are not so many unaffected islands in the Caribbean as would allow ready accommodation for extra cruise ships on short notice. Some Caribbean islands have virtually no facilities for the thousands of passengers coming on every ship - so when a significant number of popular islands are suddenly unavailable those able to accept extra ships are only able to do so by overtaxing the facilities they do have.

The whining on some of these posts would be amusing if it were not so unthinking.

I'm wondering if it's a "sharing the port with another cruise line's passengers"thing to some degree,too.There,I said it.

I applaud they were able to offer us almost a full Caribean sailing season affer all the huricanes the islands suffered this summer/fall. There are bound to be a few bumps and hopefully they will all be as comparatrively small as this. We need to be a little understanding, IMO.

I don't think that we should demean the exasperation of another person regarding their cruise experience. Yes, every passenger is going to have to expect things to be different after the disasters experienced by many islands in the Caribbean but at the end of the day, this is a business arrangement and the passengers have a right to expect a substituted product that is as close to the one they purchased as possible.

It appears as if the chartered group wasn't negatively affected at Amber Cove. It seems as if those on the HAL ship were -- not just at Amber Cove either.

I think HAL should at least have acknowledged the less than ideal situation at Amber Cove and explained how it came to be.

There are not so many unaffected islands in the Caribbean as would allow ready accommodation for extra cruise ships on short notice. Some Caribbean islands have virtually no facilities for the thousands of passengers coming on every ship - so when a significant number of popular islands are suddenly unavailable those able to accept extra ships are only able to do so by overtaxing the facilities they do have.

 

I agree that some islands were devastated (so sad) and their absence from itineraries can put a strain on others for visitors but...

The Caribbean is immense with many islands. Of those many islands, there are 100 port stops that are geared for cruise ships. 85% of them are fully operational and unaffected. (At my last reading).

A bit of creativity by the cruise lines in itineraries and co-ordination could help over taxing certain facilities, I would think ;)

I agree that some islands were devastated (so sad) and their absence from itineraries can put a strain on others for visitors but...

 

The Caribbean is immense with many islands. Of those many islands, there are 100 port stops that are geared for cruise ships. 85% of them are fully operational and unaffected. (At my last reading).

 

A bit of creativity by the cruise lines in itineraries and co-ordination could help over taxing certain facilities, I would think ;)

I would not have thought that there were 100 (attractive) port stops in the Caribbean that are geared for cruising - but, even so: the fact that perhaps a dozen or so of the most attractive have been seriously impacted does add to the load at the others - and, from my experience, in normal times most of the popular stops are operating at peak capacity. Adding one or two more ships, on short notice, with five thousand or more passengers is bound to create problems and grumbling by the less-than-patient.

...

 

bound to create problems and grumbling by the less-than-patient.

I need some clarification on your comment.

Are you saying the problems the cruisers experienced were caused by the cruisers' bad attitude?

I was on the same cruise as the OP. It was frustrating not to be able to go into the pool area; although I was impressed with the rest of the facilities at Amber Cove. I inquired about the Carnival private event. There was a charge for the Carnival guests to enter the pool area. It cost $95 pp or $35 pp without alcohol. So, I imagine some folks on the Victory were a bit unhappy also about their day in AC.

By the way, we did receive credits of $16.49 pp for missing Nassau.

I was on the same cruise as the OP. It was frustrating not to be able to go into the pool area; although I was impressed with the rest of the facilities at Amber Cove. I inquired about the Carnival private event. There was a charge for the Carnival guests to enter the pool area. It cost $95 pp or $35 pp without alcohol. So, I imagine some folks on the Victory were a bit unhappy also about their day in AC.

 

By the way, we did receive credits of $16.49 pp for missing Nassau.

Anyone know if there is normally a charge, and how much? And that $60 Delta for alcohol- how many of those who chose that option would want to have their money’s worth.

I don't think that we should demean the exasperation of another person regarding their cruise experience. Yes, every passenger is going to have to expect things to be different after the disasters experienced by many islands in the Caribbean but at the end of the day, this is a business arrangement and the passengers have a right to expect a substituted product that is as close to the one they purchased as possible.

 

It appears as if the chartered group wasn't negatively affected at Amber Cove. It seems as if those on the HAL ship were -- not just at Amber Cove either.

 

I think HAL should at least have acknowledged the less than ideal situation at Amber Cove and explained how it came to be.

I didn't see the comment as demeaning. I would not want to be in Hal's shoes given what has happened in the Caribbean. Playing Monday morning quarterback seems easy. That said going to the front desk for sympathy or an explanation seems to be an exercise in frustration. I think the op might be better off to contact Hal directly. I've been to this port and did not use the pool and still had a lovely day. That not to say the op should not have had access to the pool. That is not right.

Of those many islands, there are 100 port stops that are geared for cruise ships. 85% of them are fully operational and unaffected. (At my last reading). ;)

It has been said 73.8% of statistics are made up on the spot to support arguments devoid of facts.

Anyone know if there is normally a charge, and how much? And that $60 Delta for alcohol- how many of those who chose that option would want to have their money’s worth.

The sign at the facility stated that pool access is free.

It has been said 73.8% of statistics are made up on the spot to support arguments devoid of facts.

Sorry to have to point out that you are mistaken: recent statistical compilations have shown that it is now said that it is closer to 74.2%.

You should check your facts before posting.

HAL should have checked into the situation and given the passengers an explanation about what happened at Amber Cove.

I was also on this cruise and totally understand that it was an unprecedented hurricane season. But as with anything in life, communication is key. If HAL really did not know about the situation at Amber Cove ahead of time, we would have appreciated some type of announcement or explanation on board. I also think if the original itinerary hadn’t changed so drastically and we hadn’t missed Nassau on top of that, Amber Cove wouldn’t have seemed so frustrating. Thank goodness for beautiful Half Moon Cay and the terrific food, service and surroundings on the Nieuw Amsterdam!

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In this context, I can appreciate your point of view.

igraf

..The Carnival Corporation owns Amber Cove and I would expect they would (or should) know what was going on. HAL should have been made aware of the situation. They were obviously caught off guard but refused to acknowledge the problem or even offer a formal apology....

Just an observation, since this was a charter for the Carnival Victory, Carnival Cruise Lines may not have known that the pool area was reserved. The chartering agency may have booked the Amber Cove pool independantly.

Yes, A real possibility.

Anyone know if there is normally a charge, and how much? And that $60 Delta for alcohol- how many of those who chose that option would want to have their money’s worth.

Our cruise on the Rotterdam stopped at Amber Cove last year and there was no charge to use the pool area.

FYI, below is the price list for Amber Cove, clearly stating that the pool area is free.

Probably could start a new thread, but figured since the captain (or his spokesperson the CD) of NA did not seem to respond with an explanation/apology, thought I would ask this. Are the HAL ship captains/officers less people friendly compared to other cruise lines? Our experience with Celebrity and Princess is that the ship officers and captain seem to enjoy talking, joking, and socializing with the passengers vs HAL officers who seem to be the opposite.

Probably could start a new thread, but figured since the captain (or his spokesperson the CD) of NA did not seem to respond with an explanation/apology, thought I would ask this. Are the HAL ship captains/officers less people friendly compared to other cruise lines? Our experience with Celebrity and Princess is that the ship officers and captain seem to enjoy talking, joking, and socializing with the passengers vs HAL officers who seem to be the opposite.

What an interesting question. I can only compare with one other cruise line, but had a good think about this. I would say, on the whole, that HAL crew is the best and friendliest, but that in general we have found HAL officers and CD's less so, with a couple of exceptions. Tough question to answer though as it all depends on your own interactions.

Probably could start a new thread, but figured since the captain (or his spokesperson the CD) of NA did not seem to respond with an explanation/apology, thought I would ask this. Are the HAL ship captains/officers less people friendly compared to other cruise lines? Our experience with Celebrity and Princess is that the ship officers and captain seem to enjoy talking, joking, and socializing with the passengers vs HAL officers who seem to be the opposite.

Context counts. Given the likelihood that the captain and the cruise director were both inundated by impatient passengers, already upset about itinerary change and having much to complain about they might understandably lost patience with all the carping and displayed a slightly less-than-eager ear for moans and groans. My own experience with HAL and other lines has been just the opposite - captains have been highly approachable.

Unless you have experienced officers and staff of other lines under similar circumstances your speculation is questionable. From many of the posts by people on that sailing of NA, I suspect there might have been a lot of petulance--- and an inability to understand that things do not always flow smoothly.

The Captain on the Maasdam on the South Pacific Crossing in Sept/Oct. was very visible and walked the Lido deck quite often on our 23 day cruise.

There's your explanation of why HAL passengers weren't allowed in the pool. The salsa dancing group charter included the pool.

 

Anytime there is a large group, including charters, you can expect the large group contract will limit access in some areas to passengers not in the group.

My guess is that the Carnival charter was originally scheduled to be the only ship in port that day. When the HAL ship was detoured due to the hurricanes it didn't occur to anyone that there might be a conflict. An oversight to be sure but a problem never encountered before the hurricanes threw the Caribbean islands into disaster zones and scores of itineraries had to be rescheduled into different ports.

The Salsa cruise on Carnival Victory was a charter offered by a private travel company, and they had exclusive use of the Amber Cove area for a "Salsa Island Party" for which they charged $60-$75 per adult charter passenger. All the cabanas were arranged and sold by the travel company for $445 per cabana. It is possible HAL was unaware of the special charter circumstances, and with the impact of weather at various ports, HAL was probably just happy to find a place where they were able to dock on short notice.

I can imagine HAL passengers would be disappointed by these circumstances. That is a pretty unique situation, and one that most cruise passengers will never encounter.

https://www.salsacruise.com/en/activities