Veendam 'too big' to get into St Georges, Bermuda

[Guest LoveMyBoxer]

Stephen,

 

That's great and others have posted that they stayed in st George on other ships in the past. With no problem. A few pages back someone posted that theygot the impression from HAL customer service that staying in st George was discouraged. Unless you got written preclearance. Which seems a bit unneccesary.

 

According to the itinerary you leave St. G at 2:00 pm and arrive Hamilton at 4:00 p.m., that gives you two hours to enjoy the Island. We have stayed on the Island numerous times in the past when the ships have switched from St. G to Hamilton and no one has ever said anything. One time, DH rode our rented moped from St. G to Hamilton and I waved from the ship to him on shore, it was really cool! It's not like you are going from one Island to another. It takes you less time to go from St. G to Hamilton than it takes the ship. PLEASE!

[RalphWiggum]

Peaches of GA,

 

I have no problem signing a release and will willing do so for the added time in Bermuda. I just called HAL customer service to confirm that we could meet the ship in Hamilton and the rep I spoke to said that no, you have to tender back to the ship and that there is no release. She was unable to get her manager on the line as they were getting ready to close for the day, but told me that she hadn't had this request before. I'm going to call back in the A.M.

[RareBird]

Neither HAL nor Bermuda Government has confirm the story in the Bermuda Sun, but the facts are true. As far as I know the ship will anchor in Murray's Anchorage and passengers will be tendered into St George's on the large tender BERMUDIAN, not the ship's own tenders. It is about a 30 minute run for the ship, round St Catherine's and into St George's. Not the greatest way to get about and as the tender carries a max of 750 it will be interesting to see who decides who gets ashore first! My guess is those on tour and suit pax.

 

Homestly, I would prefer for the ship to be berthed alongside in Hamilton for four days. This will give the passengers so many options. No rush to do St Geo on the first day. No waiting for tenders. No getting stranded ashore... or aboard. It will just be much easier for everyone if the ship spends the entire visit in Hamilton. Of course the 'two port' concept is what sells, but the alternative ain't bad. There is always a bus or fast ferry service to St Geo from Hamilton.

 

Stephen

 

I like Bermudian. BIG ferry, gets tons of people in, very comfortable. MUCH better than tenders, I'd be OK with this solution.

 

Just remember, sit up front because of # of pax on board of this ferry, you'll wait 15-30min to disembark.

[peaches from georgia]

Peaches of GA,

 

just called HAL customer service to confirm that we could meet the ship in Hamilton and the rep I spoke to said that no, you have to tender back to the ship and that there is no release. ....I'm going to call back in the A.M.

If you get the same answer ask the rep what exactly will happen when many pax do NOT go back to the ship but go straight to Hamilton on their own, because that is going to happen no matter what HAL says you HAVE to do. No matter what she says I think the truth will be that absolutely nothing will happen. HAL can't deny you reboarding the ship and strand you on Bermuda; you paid for the cruise and the publicity would ruin them if there was even 1 person or 500 denied reaccess to the ship. It is ridiculous. Seattle is a master at customer no-service.

 

A release would cover HAL so that no one can go back to StG after the ship has left for Hamilton, claim they didn't know the ship was leaving and then demand transportation at HAL's expense for a cab to Hamilton.

[Cinema15]

Recently booked the 5/9/10 Veendam cruise and could not care less about tenders, ports, 2 hour gaps etc. It's Bermuda for crying out loud and will enjoy every moment. Til then...;)

[Guest LoveMyBoxer]

I personally don't care if we tender or not, love going back to Bermuda. However, instead of calling HAL, has someone thought of calling the Bermuda Dept of Tourism or the Bermuda Consul? HAL probably has no clue since they haven't sailed to Bermuda in years.

[MERIDIAN]

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[MERIDIAN]

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[MERIDIAN]

On top of that, if passengers are going to be penalized for failing to reboard the ship before Hamilton,

quote]

 

 

I cannot think of a single way that HAL can 'penalize' a passenger for not being aboard when the vessel sails from St Geo Anchorage to Hamilton.

 

Fact: There is no legal requirement or regulation in Bermuda that required passengers to be aboard for port to port shift.

 

Stephen

 

I for one believe you to be correct Sir. We've been aboard the last regular callers to STG. and Hamilton (Norwegian Crown) and there were NEVER any directives towards passengers missing movement.Gangplank postings are made as to the time the passengers must be on board before the ship will depart.

Once a vessel has cleared customs,it's passengers are FREE to roam the island providing they be aboard when the vessel makes her depature for the next foreign port.

I can assure all that crew members will be amongst the M.I.A. as they are allowed to have time off and let off some steam.

Although I love St.George,You might want to be back in your comfort top bed with room service at night.

[Bermudamal]

I personally have no intention of running back to the ship when it moves to Hamilton. What a nightmare it would be to tender into St. George (700 people at a time, which I imagine will take at least an hour) then try to get back on board for a 2:00 sailing. What's the point? :confused: Normally, most of the shops in St. George don't open until 10:00 AM (hopefully they'll open at 9:00 AM instead since there will be a ship in the vicinity), and if you want to go to the beach, it doesn't give you much time since you'd have to rush back to the town square to catch the tender back to the ship. I imagine the last tender would need to leave for the ship around 12:30 for a 2:00 sailing. If I do get off the ship on Wednesday, which I plan to do, I'll reboard in Hamilton later on in the day/evening. If they want me to sign a release, I'll be happy to do so.

 

Another solution that HAL could consider, with the approval of Bermuda of course, would be to move to Hamilton first thing in the morning on Wednesday instead of waiting around for 2:00 PM. That way we can all sleep in and wake up in Hamilton and there would be no issue about tendering back to the ship on that 1/2 day (term used very lightly since it's really only a couple of hours :rolleyes:) in St. George. We would all then have a full day to spend at our hearts content without any worries about getting back to the ship. It should make HAL happy too since there won't be any passengers "missing in action".

 

Oh well, time will tell. I'm sure we'll all be waiting to hear the comments from the first passengers who return from the Veedam this spring. We are not going until October, so we have plenty of time to mull it over before our final payment is due.

[AlexandNessa]

We are also booked on a Veendam Bermuda cruise. I am disappointed as we booked before the dock v. tender unwelcome change, but not disappointed enough to cancel.

 

I am assuming that the Bermudian will be used exclusively for HAL's guests while the Veendam is tendered outside of St. George's, is that correct? Probably a dumb question, but I'm just checking.

[Alliea]

Don't forget about the mutiny they are going to have when they inform the guests about the tendering into St. George. Probably 90% or more of the passengers aren't even aware of the tendering issue and expect to be docked. It seems like HAL isn't going to notify passengers of the change and leave it up to the crew to take the brunt of it.

To be honest if I wasn't looking at these boards reguarly.. I would never noticed that they were going to tender , instead of docking. It would make no difference to me. And I would bet alot of people going on this trip would feel that same way. So maybe the people up in arms are mainly on this board?

[peaches from georgia]

To be honest if I wasn't looking at these boards reguarly.. I would never noticed that they were going to tender , instead of docking. It would make no difference to me. And I would bet alot of people going on this trip would feel that same way. So maybe the people up in arms are mainly on this board?

I think it would make a big difference to pax who have been to Bermuda before and docked at StG. That is a real attraction for those who know how great it is to be docked at Hamilton and StG. The ship will be anchored out in the Atlantic and it is a long tender in. For most of those who are making a return trip to Bermuda, like most here on CC, I think it will make a difference.

[iheartbda]

To be honest if I wasn't looking at these boards reguarly.. I would never noticed that they were going to tender , instead of docking. It would make no difference to me. And I would bet alot of people going on this trip would feel that same way. So maybe the people up in arms are mainly on this board?

Although it does seem like the people on this board are mainly the ones up in arms, CC makes up a very small percentage of the cruising population. If more of the outside world was, or is, aware of the tendering it could be a very large number who are also upset.;)

 

Like peaches said, the big attraction for many who have been there before is the docking in both St. George and Hamilton. We have perks from 3 other cruise lines that we would give up to go on HAL because the itinerary, IMO, is the best of all the lines.:)

[Milaandra]

A few pages back someone posted that theygot the impression from HAL customer service that staying in st George was discouraged. Unless you got written preclearance.

 

It wasn't just an impression. It was very clearly stated, then confirmed by my TA speaking with HAL customer service again.

 

I haven't heard back yet. If I don't get official permission to stay in Bermuda and reboard in Hamilton before final payment, I just may go with a cheaper cruise. Hamilton isn't my port of choice, actually. I booked the cruise based on the St. George docking. I always intended to spend two days in St. George, and if that becomes impossible and the second day of Bermuda has to be spent boating about, I might as well save money and put that into more public transportation/taxis on the island.

[ziggypup]

To be honest if I wasn't looking at these boards reguarly.. I would never noticed that they were going to tender , instead of docking. It would make no difference to me. And I would bet alot of people going on this trip would feel that same way. So maybe the people up in arms are mainly on this board?

 

That's the whole point. You and I are aware of the situation becuase of Cruise Critic. If I were to board a ship and then were to find out about the tendering issue, well I'd be pretty annoyed. One of the selling points of this cruise was the fact that the ship was going to be docked and we could come and go as we please. And then if I were to find out that HAL knew about this for roughly six months and didn't notify the passengers regarding the change. I personally would never cruise with them again because of their sneaky tactics. It would be very easy for them to send out a mass email to everybody that has a booking to Bermuda regarding the change. They may not have a legal obligation to do so, but I'd say at the very least they have a moral obligation.

[RalphWiggum]

It wasn't just an impression. It was very clearly stated, then confirmed by my TA speaking with HAL customer service again.

 

I haven't heard back yet. If I don't get official permission to stay in Bermuda and reboard in Hamilton before final payment, I just may go with a cheaper cruise. Hamilton isn't my port of choice, actually. I booked the cruise based on the St. George docking. I always intended to spend two days in St. George, and if that becomes impossible and the second day of Bermuda has to be spent boating about, I might as well save money and put that into more public transportation/taxis on the island.

 

Milandra, please let us know when you get final word from HAL. I'm not trying to disagree with you, but HAL has not clearly stated it's position regarding meeting the ship in Hamilton to everyone. When I called on Saturday, I was told that all passengers who tendered had to tender back and there was no release available. I asked the rep to confirm this with her boss but s/he'd left for the evening and I wasn't able to call back yesterday but plan to call tonight.

[Alliea]

That's the whole point. You and I are aware of the situation becuase of Cruise Critic. If I were to board a ship and then were to find out about the tendering issue, well I'd be pretty annoyed. One of the selling points of this cruise was the fact that the ship was going to be docked and we could come and go as we please. And then if I were to find out that HAL knew about this for roughly six months and didn't notify the passengers regarding the change. I personally would never cruise with them again because of their sneaky tactics. It would be very easy for them to send out a mass email to everybody that has a booking to Bermuda regarding the change. They may not have a legal obligation to do so, but I'd say at the very least they have a moral obligation.

I thought about it more, and you are right..

[Charles4515]

Milandra, please let us know when you get final word from HAL. I'm not trying to disagree with you, but HAL has not clearly stated it's position regarding meeting the ship in Hamilton to everyone. When I called on Saturday, I was told that all passengers who tendered had to tender back and there was no release available. I asked the rep to confirm this with her boss but s/he'd left for the evening and I wasn't able to call back yesterday but plan to call tonight.

 

I would not be calling HAL or be concerned about this. I have been to Bermuda a bunch of times on cruises on other cruise lines and was not on board for the reposition several times on Princess and Celebrity. Both those lines had a position, they did not care, it was okay with them but even if HAL has a position that you have to be onboard they can't enforce it or make you tender back and be on board for the repositioning no matter what their position on it. All they could do is give you the evil eye. I have to think that the ones who answer the telephone don't understand Bermuda since this will be the first time in years that HAL has Bermuda cruises.

[RalphWiggum]

I would not be calling HAL or be concerned about this. I have been to Bermuda a bunch of times on cruises on other cruise lines and was not on board for the reposition several times on Princess and Celebrity. Both those lines had a position, they did not care, it was okay with them but even if HAL has a position that you have to be onboard they can't enforce it or make you tender back and be on board for the repositioning no matter what their position on it. All they could do is give you the evil eye. I have to think that the ones who answer the telephone don't understand Bermuda since this will be the first time in years that HAL has Bermuda cruises.

 

Charles, I really do hear you and the others who say that what is HAL going to do if half of the passengers don't tender back. What you are saying makes sense. That said, I am a wuss. I have a problem with breaking rules (even the dumb inconsequential ones). And always have. Even as a little kid. Luckily I'll be traveling with my mom who has more of a rebel spirit.

 

I just wish I could sign a dumb release and avoid any stink-eyed stares or lectures on what should be a vacation. I wasn't going to book until this issue was revolved by HAL. Based on your arguments and those by others, I think this issue will be resolved to make clear that no tendering back is required, so I'm ready to book now. I just don't see why HAL doesn't see things your way too.

[Flyingfish]

It's been mentioned that people on this board are the ones "making a fuss" regarding tendering. Duh, If I didn't read this board, as of this time, I still wouldn't have been aware of this disappointing change.

[GeriatricNurse]

It's been mentioned that people on this board are the ones "making a fuss" regarding tendering. Duh, If I didn't read this board, as of this time, I still wouldn't have been aware of this disappointing change.

 

 

If you looked at the cruise itineraries for the HAL Veendam cruises to Bermuda on the HAL website, you would have seen that there is a posted code TR (Tender Required) for St. George's!;)

[TPKeller]

If you looked at the cruise itineraries for the HAL Veendam cruises to Bermuda on the HAL website, you would have seen that there is a posted code TR (Tender Required) for St. George's!;)

In spite of that, given the long history of simply docking there, and considering there are no other ships to crowd them out, I suspect the majority of folks who might even notice that code, would suspect it was an error.

 

JMO, but I see large amounts of customer dissatisfaction on the horizon for HAL over this. And not taking the simple courtesy to tell people while they can still change their plans without penalty will just make them angrier.

 

Theron

[Guest LoveMyBoxer]

Just had a "conspiracy theory" moment! I wonder if HAL is telling people this so that everyone is back on board for those two hours spending $$$ on the ship and not on land!

[AtomixNYC]

If you looked at the cruise itineraries for the HAL Veendam cruises to Bermuda on the HAL website, you would have seen that there is a posted code TR (Tender Required) for St. George's!;)

 

That wasn't always there. It's added late December. For those who'd booked prior, and for those who don't revisit the site to look at a simple itin, this could very well be a surprise when the time comes.

 

Even if ppl note tender's required, from my prior cruise experience, though limited, tendering to me meant a 5-10 min ride, with nearly the same turn around time.

 

I'd certainly be disappointed to find out it's 1 ginormous tender, with over 30min ride, and a couple of hours turnaround time.

 

It's been beat to death, but I agree there will be a lot of unhappy folks onboard caught off guard. I almost want to wait till the first few sailings are done/reviewed before booking. That'll be tough to hold out for the June sailings.

 

Certainly I doubt HAL will change anything at this point. Oh well.