Once upon a time on HAL, story not review.

Once upon my first time on Holland America I came away with more than a great vacation, but a learning experience as well. I've thought a lot about how to word and write this review. I listed some thoughts on my other thread but those short lists don't tell the story quite like I wanted. I want to share it all. So here's a story.

My husband and I were stressed the entire time on the way to Florida, stressed a good bit on the cruise, and definitely stressed on the way home. That is not HAL's fault. I made the mistake of booking during the anniversary of two family member's deaths including my fathers, and of course right before we left there was quite a fight within all of our families. Tensions were high, we were tired, we hardly slept, but what happened within our own personal circumstance did not have anything to do with HAL. Sometimes I read reviews and really wonder if people make that great distinction. How was my first time with HAL? Incredible. How was my first time planning a cruise? I as in - VALLYD- - MYSELF - could use a lot of improvement.

I don't want it all to sound like rainbows and sunshine, because it wasn't, sometimes literally sometimes not. I also do not want it to sound like we had a bad time because we didn't. We had an amazing time. In reflection on how to write this I think it needed to be said first and foremost that BEST parts of our cruise happened OUTSIDE of our stateroom. The best part of our cruise was Holland America. Staring off into the wake of the ship on our balcony after no sleep and so much turmoil within the family, it hit us like a ton of bricks... people take themselves entirely too seriously, including ourselves. We didn't have that Honeymoon everyone thinks of, where everything is perfectly calm, because we got married months ago and we have had plenty of time for the difficulty of blending families to come into play and plenty of arguments on how to deal with the pressures of it all. We didn't end up "forgetting about it" ... we actually ended up learning how useless it is to try and please everyone, and how much strain it had been putting on us. Our room basically became "The Situation Room" at times, finally able to sit down and talk about these

things. Other times.... it was exactly how a Honeymoon should be, however belated

I would have to say that our adjacent neighbors probably couldn't figure out if we were Newlyweds or going to sign divorce papers on a nice beach in Half Moon Cay. I'm not sure if they heard anything at all ( be it a "situation" day or a "honeymoon" day or a combination -those seemed to have been the best days..- ) because we never heard them (ok maybe a couple of times they were having a "honeymoon" day but it was so quiet it could have been the hangers in the closet creaking lol). However, when we ventured out of our stateroom we ran in to situations that became direct reflections of ourselves inside and out, but in different ways. Good and Bad.

I have to say right here my husband just walked up to me and said "Ma'am that'll be 55$ for 100 minutes" to which we both burst out laughing and that is a prime example of the story I am telling here.

It all started right here on the Holland America boards. I read and poured and stressed (everyone knows that!) myself to death. The wonderful people right here on this board really helped me to learn about everything, from dress codes to smoking (hehe), but most importantly to not sweat the small stuff. When the TWO (yes literally TWO) undesireable things that were directly related to Holland America happened, the words from all the members on this board came back to me instantly. Make lemonade, ship happens. Most importantly, take what you read here (even what I am writing) with a grain of salt.

We rushed to get our things together, we left, neither of us had slept in 24 hours, and we had an 8 hour drive ahead that turned into 9. We sat in traffic, me clutching the steering wheel, husband on the phone with the Hotel ( The Westin corporate drive) to drop the bomb we wouldn't be checking in until 3-4 AM. They were wonderful, they have 3 stars on the site we booked through but they deserve 6. The morning we left to go to the pier, I decided to re-pack. Thanks to this wonderful decision I managed to leave out some very important things and we were late again. The line from Alice in Wonderland "I'm late I'm late I'm very very late" went through my mind many many mannnnnnnnnnny times.

We got lost. My lovely GPS lady's voice began to grind on me after the 100th "RECALCULATING" in what was once a funny thing to hear every time because I made her accent Australian but eventually I just said "SHUTUP LADY" and turned her off. I almost threw her out the window when out of nowhere as we pulled up to the right terminal she said "Traffic Ahead".

Husband dropped me off with the bags that I couldn't carry to move to sit down so I plopped down on top of the garment bag in a lovely dress that I later realized was completely see thru, much... much too late. I sat there waiting...waiting....waiting.... then WHAM. The garment back slid out from under me and I fell flat on my behind in front of everyone. All I could do is sit there and laugh sprawled out on the concrete surrounded by luggage. Turns out we went to the wrong place, to where people were leaving the ship? I still don't understand that place. So we ran along, got to the right place, and were greeted by so many smiling HAL faces all around.

While in the line, a HAL employee opened the little gate strap for some Priority Boarding People to come through. This little old man and woman just followed them right in I guess thinking that the line had just changed. I know they didn't do it intentionally because I heard the woman tap the Priority Boarding Guy on the shoulder and ask what it was lmbo.

We were quickly on the Ship, greeting by smiling faces Hello's wecome back's and beautiful decor. An elevator was held for us and a staff member told us to come on in because we were turned around. Walking down the hall to our stateroom we saw our luggage on it's way to our door before we were. We walked in to a beautiful and pristine room with a perfect boquet of flowers we had ordered and a view to die for. All I wanted at this point was food and a glass of wine. I kept telling husband I would feel bad for ordering that soon because they were all so busy but he assured me it would be fine, room service was incredible and quick, but the wine couldn't be delivered until much later so I just grabbed a glass out of the mini-bar and opened it, at the sound husband perked up and turned around to say something (we agreed not to touch the mini bar) but thought better and we enjoyed the rest of that evening in the room exhausted.

I didn't notice the vibrating for a while, then I did, and I remembered the threads about it on CC. I asked husband if it bothered him, he said no. I said "It's like getting one of those coin operated vibrating beds for free" and that was the end of caring about it lol.. like I said tho, putting on liquid eyeliner looking into those mirrors that hang off the wall is a hilarious challenge. Husband swears it caused me to take an hour more to get ready.

We met our steward, Yoga, incredible. I kept wanting to call him Yoda, I really had to fight that. We went to muster which was quick and then back to the room, I think we may have gone to get a couple of things we forgot from the shop after we unpacked, that day is a huge blur. Room service after 10 (the 24 hour room service) was a totally different story than earlier. The cheese and fruit tray (forget what it is called) had four tiny pieces of cheese, four grapes, and a stack of crackers a mile high... I couldn't help it... I complained. Maybe I shouldn't have. I don't know...

Okay the rest of this is not going to necessarily be in the right order, I meant to take notes but I forgot, like I forgot a lot of things lol.

The first formal night was wonderful. The minute we sat down the Food and Beverage Manager (I think?) brought a bottle of wine because of the room service issue and I was so so so impressed. Food was delicious. Our server was always shocked when I would only order an entree and SOMETIMES split a dessert with husband. I didn't understand this, I could hardly eat the entree and dessert! I guess you are supposed to order several courses? I'm not sure, but I wasn't going to order a bunch of food I couldn't eat so I never did lol.

In the piano bar that evening like I said in the other post I met our wonderful CC friends, great people! The Piano Bar was my second favorite place on the ship after our balcony. Michael was hilarious and amazing. Everyone on the ship (MOST everyone) was very friendly and easy to talk to. I saw a few children but not many, on formal night I saw an 8-9 year old boy in a tux. We were stopped by several people who commented how nice it was to see young people dressed formally on formal nights, and it felt great to see so many others do the same. Not one flip flop did I see on the formal nights or anything comparably casual.I unfortunately ordered a 2AM cheeseburger from room service every night. This would come back to bite me on the second formal night.

We had dinner one evening at The Pinnacle Grill. Best mushroom ravioli I ever had, I couldn't eat it all and unfortunately had already ordered the creme brulee which was AMAZING and I couldn't eat all of that either. Our server Bond was hilarious and had great stories, none of the waitstaff ever seemed late or too busy, we never waited too long for anything, and we never had to wait to be seated.

In San Juan I realized that I get land sick. In retrospect I should have just taken Bonine instead of staying on the Ship most of the time. When we got off in San Juan we walked into a huge almost empty warehouse type thing with shops... no one was in the wine/liquer store and we waited and looked but couldn't find anyone so we didn't buy anything. I had decided to wear another cute dress but the second we walked off the ship I realized this was a horrible idea, see picture.

I ended up walking around clutching my dress like that until I finally went up and changed and came back. We went to the CVS and I was still feeling ill, I was starting to think it was the dreaded noro but I found out later it really is just land sickness (and I'm not arguing that with anyone else btw ). We had no idea where to go in San Juan, we were really confused and I felt bad so we stayed on the ship.

It was easy to make friends, with the staff and with most people. Because of my 2AM cheeseburger habit by the second formal night my other dress would not zip. I spent a good hour trying to alter it by removing boning and stuffing and anything else that would prevent it from zipping. It finally zipped lol, another night the server was shocked I didn't order much ha! Needless to say I had to get out of that dress fast, I felt like Scarlett O'hara in the scene in Gone With The Wind when she is trying to get her corset to make her waiste 17 inches lol.

We discovered the buffet entirely too late. The food there was awesome! We always found a table by the windows easily, no big deal.

The biggest issue we had was in St. Thomas we pulled out some cash from an ATM and saw that we had way more money in the account than we thought............. I asked before we left on HAL's website chat if the "hold" on our card would be charged at the pier and it was my understanding that yes, it would. We got a preliminary bill when we got back on the ship. Seemed too good to be true, so we called Guest Services to be sure. The lady said yes, the 860 fee had been charged. Yay! Right? (You are all thinking NO!! NOOOOoooo ). We didn't go on a spending spree after this but we did buy a few extra things we probably wouldn't have. I reserved a night at the Tamarind but just could not shake this feeling something was wrong. We called again. Something was definitely wrong... that amount had NOT been charged yet. When we asked why we were told differently the answer was "We are sorry (Employees Name) did not understand the question, she doesn't speak English very well" .... Okay I got mad. Husband went to Guest Services to talk to them about it, same story "She didn't understand the question" "She doesn't speak English well" and eventually the comment that drove the nail in the coffin "It is not our fault that you over-spent". Wait, what? We did not over spend anything, we simply had a budget we planned to adhere to. I found this more than mildly insulting. Let's just say guest services knew us by name at the end of it all and we made it clear that we were not angry with

HAL we were angry that we were insulted and that if an employee is asked a question and does not understand because of a language barrier that should get someone else on the phone who does. We did not get an apology for the insult. I really try not to complain without good reason, I REALLY DO, but when I asked if I could get a copy of the cruise contract so I could read it myself (I left mine at home) I was told I could go buy internet minutes and print them myself in the cafe. I really couldn't believe that statement either. That's all we wanted. We gave up.

The night before Half Moon Cay husband went to sit out my seizure medication for the next day and found out... I had none. I can feasably go 36 hours without it, I don't know HOW I miscounted my medication, I was sure I had packed enough for a week and a half. There was nothing we could do.

The weather was incredibly choppy at Half Moon Cay, it took the AMAZING Captain about an hour to get permission to go there. They weren't going to tender but he said "The staff is going to try it anyway so give them a big hug when you see them!" and later we found out the Captain had tendered MUCH further out than usual because of the weather and did not anchor, he kept the ship in position with the Azipods (?) and he did an incredible job. Luckily the sea calmed for those tendering ( I watched a few of the first ones, they were really rockin) but the sun never really came out and I was freezing cold on the balcony so we didn't bother tendering. Cruising back to Florida we hit a storm, 54mph winds, lightning, thunder, it was quite a beautiful sight. I woke up in the middle of the night to clanging and realized it was the clothes hangers sliding back and forth in the closet so I just put them on the floor and went back to bed.

We chose to carry our luggage off ourselves after realizing the medicine situation. This went pretty quickly, we got in the car and started to floor it to South Carolina to grab my perscription off the table at home. Half-way out the port husband says "Hey where is your purse?" .. "I thought you packed it" ... "I thought you packed it..." ... "I left it on the table". I almost died. Turned around, went back to the ship, grabbed the first HAL employee I saw and after a short radio call I had my purse in my hands in 15 minutes. Amazing! Back to hauling butt to SC.......... we sat in four hours of bumper to bumper traffick. The 8 hour drive took 12. We got home, grabbed the perscription, and had to drive an hour to a 24/7 pharmacy to get it and then back.

Finally home, going to sleep, I think about some things I saw and what I learned.

- One afternoon we were eating lunch in the Lido behind a man and wife. The buffet was about an hour from closing. I asked for the same thing he ordered. They ended up sitting in front of us and as I totally enjoyed my meal practically drooling over how goo it was, this man complained LOUDLY about the quality of the dish, how it was OLD and going to make people SICK, how the CHEF had said it was old but not old enough to make anyone sick (come on really?). This man continued to go back and order the same thing and eat it all while complaining, we finally moved. We went out to the pool for a second to smoke and walked back in to find him eating yet another

plate of this food. I had felt horrible about complaining to room service about the food that first night, I had felt horrible about the back and forth between Guest Services, I REALLY hate complaining because I worked in customer service for so incredibly long I know how it is to get a complaint and I know how much it can hurt you as an employee...but this guy put it all in perspective. He could eat something else, he could stop eating it (the dish I got from room service that was a problem I just sent back without eating it), he could take up the issue quietly with whoever handles that, or he could just go eat in the Main Dining Room.

Our complaints were personal to us, maybe not everyone else got that same room service dish that was quickly fixed for us. Maybe not everyone else experienced a problem with the language barrier and bill questions to guest services, maybe everyone else had crystal clear plexiglass balcony's that were cleaned every day, maybe everyone else was having a fine and dandy times during those events, so yelling loudly about it in front of everyone else about it was totally unnecessary.

Husband LOVES the Eurodam

- Another afternoon in the Lido we were sitting behind a couple complaining loudly about the smokers by the pool. You can smoke by the pool on one side of the aft pool.... but there is another pool.... with no smokers...... didn't ruin our day, we went outside to eat and smoke!

- Talking with two couples in their fifties we asked how they were enjoying their cruise, they remarked "This crowd is entirely too old for us". Husband and I just looked at each other. I would say most people on the Ship were 40-50... and they were talking to us, a 27 and 34 year old couple. We just chuckled about it in the room later that we were too old for them

- Husband and I were having a laugh at the Windows 8 class on how to use Windows 8 and that must be because of the supposed "geriatric crowd".... when later that day I went to turn on my lap top which runs Windows 8 and I couldn't get to my desktop and I yelled at it "DESKTOP TURN ON" ... a few quiet seconds later Husband piped "Shoulda gone to that Windows 8 class..." I laughed until I cried.

Learned:

- Bring Bonine even if you don't get SEA sick.

- Leave early.

- Just because it's the Caribbean does NOT MEAN you shouldn't bring more than one pair of pants and a sweater.

- I brought three pairs of shoes, I wore two.

- The difference between a hold, a charge, something pending, and to verify information about your bill with someone who speaks English very well (I guess...).

- You can't please everyone all of the time, not even us, so don't even try.

- A perfect vacation is different than a perfect situation and you can have a perfect vacation and a terrible situation at home at the SAME TIME if you keep the two

seperate.

- You can complain about a lot of things if you really want to. I could have complained about the "mystery stain" on our balcony that was no bigger than two fingers

and husband was about to ask them to come clean it but it eventually turned into a running joke between us and was no big deal in the grand scheme of things.

- HAL staff is top notch A+, one insult from one employee does change the fact the rest of our treatment was incredible.

- Bring twice as much medication as you need, and check to make sure you have it before you leave home, before you leave the hotel, and before you get on the ship.

- Learn enough about the ports to be able to see SOMETHING even if it's just a nice place to walk or have a drink.

- Complain quietly and don't ruin everyone elses dinner if you -must- complain.

- Life without phones and Facebook (which I wasn't allowed to touch by myself or husband due to personal at home situations) is good.

- Holland America is our kinda cruiseline, and we are planning our next cruise already.

- Trolls exist on Ships just like they do on the internet.

- Eating a Cheeseburger every night at 2 AM will cause you to pick up your cell phone when you get home at 2 AM and press 92.

- Save your tight dress for the last formal night.

- Most importantly.... The entire 2014 HAL itinerary isn't out yet so we can decide where we are going with them next!

Bravo! A wonderful, detailed review complete with pictures. Glad you enjoyed your cruise and are ready for your next! It is really addictive.

Thanks so much for sharing your 'story' with us.

It was great reading.

Happy you found so much about your cruise to like well enough to book again.

Welcome Back!! :)

Oh, by the way, for future reference:

 

<snip>

 

I REALLY DO, but when I asked if I could get a copy of the cruise contract so I could read it myself (I left mine at home) I was told I could go buy internet minutes and print them myself in the cafe. I really couldn't believe that statement either. That's all we wanted. We gave up.

 

<snip>

You can go to the HAL website on either your own laptop/device or the ship's computers in Exploration Cafe for no charge. Use the HAL site as long as you wish for no charge...... also New York Times.

Enjoyed your review and insight in making a vacation memorable.

Thanks so much for sharing your 'story' with us.

It was great reading.

Happy you found so much about your cruise to like well enough to book again.

Welcome Back!! :)

 

Oh, by the way, for future reference:

 

 

 

You can go to the HAL website on either your own laptop/device or the ship's computers in Exploration Cafe for no charge. Use the HAL site as long as you wish for no charge...... also New York Times.

 

 

Ah THANK YOU! Live n learn

Thanks for sharing your thoughts. Not a review, but close to it.

Well goodness. I'd just like to say, IMO, you are a delightful addition to the Cruise Critic membership - and that was a fabulous report.:)

Well goodness. I'd just like to say, IMO, you are a delightful addition to the Cruise Critic membership - and that was a fabulous report.:)

Thank you so much :)

Best review I've ever read on Cruise Critic. Love the pictures.

Welcome home.

Gail and I were on the same cruise and even so, we really enjoyed your review, laughing in places.

Loved your "story"...thank you so much for reporting it!

You have some really pretty dresses. Love the green formal.

Best review I've ever read on Cruise Critic. Love the pictures.

Welcome home.

Thank you! I have a ton more I will share.

In St. Thomas this hilarious boat came by while we were leaving. They were bumping music and all doing hilarious dancing, I couldn't help but shout out my trademarked "OW OWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW" holler at them probably ticking off everyone on their aft balconies quietly enjoying the sail away hehehehehe

Waving goodbye to the huge Allure of the Seas and her GAZILLION PEOPLE we shared the port with that day

I have no idea what I was thinking here but it must have been pretty profound.

This is THE COOLEST THING I HAVE EVER SEEN and I have a million pictures of it!

Nice clean shot of the Eurodam

I forgot another funny in retrospect moment. Late at night on the way to Half Moon Cay I was having a glass of wine on the balcony. Husband went in and came out later to find me asleep. He went in to "read a little" and "let me relax". I woke up in the morning freezing cold and wet from rain incredibly confused to go in and see my husband asleep with the book on his chest fully clothed :D Key phrase, funny in retrospect lmbo

You have some really pretty dresses. Love the green formal.

Thank you! I got my gowns back from the seamstress the day before we left. She asked if I wanted to try them on, I just laughed and said "Girl if they don't work there is nothing we can do about it now". Well my fav one was way too big to wear but you can see it to the left in this picture.

I am so happy to say that I read your non review of your cruise and came away with a huge grin and a few chuckle:)

I am glad that you did not let the small things mar your overall view.

And I am most happy to hear that you and hubby loved the experience so much that you are going back for more!!!

Joanie

I really , really enjoyed your review. Traveling is so good for the soul and it makes marriages stronger...learning to get through tough times and overcome big ( and little glitches) is all part of the journey.

Again , thanks for the story.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

Thank you! I got my gowns back from the seamstress the day before we left. She asked if I wanted to try them on, I just laughed and said "Girl if they don't work there is nothing we can do about it now". Well my fav one was way too big to wear but you can see it to the left in this picture.

 

Ooooooo! Cute shoes! I love them!

Wish I could still wear cute shoes like that. :(

Yes, from what I can see of the dress, it's gorgeous, too. I like the one you're wearing, too.

You have some lovely clothes. Got to book some more cruises so you can get full use out of them!

Ooooooo! Cute shoes! I love them!

Wish I could still wear cute shoes like that. :(

 

Yes, from what I can see of the dress, it's gorgeous, too. I like the one you're wearing, too.

You have some lovely clothes. Got to book some more cruises so you can get full use out of them!

That is exactly what I told Husband :D

Thank you for the wonderful "story"..."review"! I appreciated your honesty and perspective. Very enjoyable! You are absolutely right about taking everything with a "grain of salt" - so true! Thank you for the reminder as I read and digest various comments and reviews in preparation for my upcoming cruise.

C

Smoking on the balcony is a violation...

Smoking on the balcony is a violation...

That's exactly why they provided us an ashtray, man do they go above and beyond!!! :D

Smoking on the balcony is a violation...

Oh, now we have the "Rules by Sir PMP" to obey?

Thanks for telling it like it is! Especially about the debit card hold issues.... Boy do I hate that! And of course if we kept meticulous records and had a calculator out to add all our receipts- yeah right :rolleyes:.... Anyway, thanks for the welcome dose of reality on this forum. Love ya.

Smoking on the balcony is a violation...

So not only are you a troll, you're an ignorant-of-rules troll. Nice.

Wonderful "story" - as two 31 year olds my wife and I too love HAL. :)

What a great "story" Thanks so much for making me laugh..Loved it when you said you took 3 pairs of shoes & only wore two..I Love shoes & took 9 pairs on our Grand Cruse (68 days) & only wore 6 of them..:eek: DH wants me to throw some of my shoes out, but I can't part with them even though I know I won't be wearing some of them any more..

Welcome back & hope you have many more enjoyable years on HAL....

Now I must go & balance our checking account instead of wasting tonight on this forum..

Cheers...:):).Betty