First Time on Holland America

[AZNative2000]

HAL loves to take your picture as often as they can so you will buy them. All those you mentioned and more. Don't forget to smile:). You will be doing that alot anyway ... you're cruising ... on HAL!

 

Cheers!

[Love the beach]

On the Zaandam in March they

had a man in uniform with hat

ringing the chimes. It was a

nice touch. Hope there still doing it!

He is known as the Yum Yum Man and he hands out little treats (candied ginger, mints, etc.) He is usually outside of the traditional seating dining room during dinner hours and he was ringing the dinner chimes on our Jan. Noordam cruise.

[PROCRUISE]

On the Zaandam in March they

had a man in uniform with hat

ringing the chimes. It was a

nice touch. Hope there still doing it!

 

Dinner chime ringer was present on The Noordam last March!

[cruzrbachoua]

Yeah, I am getting so excited and still have 460+ days. LOL. I dont know why the bells/chimes are making me soo excited. It is the little things i think..LOL:D

[cruzrbachoua]

Ok I am back!!! LOL. I was just looking at the photo's on Joanies site (love it) and have a question. It looks like the beds have drawers under them?? Is this right? :eek:

[IRL_Joanie]

Ok I am back!!! LOL. I was just looking at the photo's on Joanies site (love it) and have a question. It looks like the beds have drawers under them?? Is this right? :eek:

 

 

Yes they do at the foot of the beds. Big Deep ones:)

 

Usually the stewards keep the excess bedding and suitcase/shoe protectors in there. They will remove those so that you can use the drawers with o hesitation!! Just ask.

 

Photo of end of beds where you can see the drawers showing a bit (they are closed in this photo) http://joanjett2000.topcities.com/HAL/Zuiderdam/DB_IMG_0490.JPG

 

Photo with drawers open at foot of bed http://joanjett2000.topcities.com/HAL/Oosterdam/PenelopeCorelli_2861.jpg

 

Joanie

[cruzrbachoua]

Thanks Joanie.......so where does one put their suitcases? On princess all ours fit under the bed......

[IRL_Joanie]

Thanks Joanie.......so where does one put their suitcases? On princess all ours fit under the bed......

 

 

The suitcase go under the bed more towards where your tummy and bottom will be when laying down.

 

IF you have more luggage than will fit hidden or out of the way in your stateroom, other CC members have stated that you can ask your steward to store the empty suitcase(s) for you. They will take them down to housekeeping where there is room.

 

Joanie

[cruzrbachoua]

SWEET!!! Granted I have quite a bit time, but I will make sure to take a pic of our room from as many angles as it allows (we have a L category and I think it is the standard not the large). Saw a couple of pics and was hard to judge with the mirror and angle. I also will gladly help you in getting pics of all the rooms.......I think that is a great idea! We are leaving from our home city and are hoping to only have 2 or maybe 3 luggages.....swimsuits dont take up that much room! lol

[jeniferlyn]

We just completed our fifth cruise, but it was our first with HAL on the Zuiderdam. I have to agree with several other posts that I had read before our cruise, HAL has the BEST beds!! They were so comfortable, my son wants me to look into ordering one.

 

We had a wonderful time and if the itenerary was right, we would sail with HAL again. It was a quiet cruise but then again we really didn't leave our balcony very often. The Alaska scenery was just too beautiful to pass up!

 

I am sure it was a mistake to sail in a suite the first time on HAL since we are now spoiled.

[KAYEF]

I've been on two Princess cruises and MANY HAL ones (I try to forget the NCL one) and those other lines don't have crew members like the ones on HAL. :) They always smile and greet you and they seem to feel it's their personal responsibility to make sure you have the "perfect" cruise. I believe it's the crew who put the finishing touches on our cruises............

The art aboard is amazing...............some ships have I-Pods in the Library you can check out and they explain many of the art/artifacts as you walk around the ship.

The cabins are larger, the products in the bathrooms are excellent, and the BEDS are SO comfortable...............oh, in three more weeks I'll be on the Amsterdam rocking to sleep.;)

ENJOY!!

[kazu]

I've been on two Princess cruises and MANY HAL ones (I try to forget the NCL one) and those other lines don't have crew members like the ones on HAL. :) They always smile and greet you and they seem to feel it's their personal responsibility to make sure you have the "perfect" cruise. I believe it's the crew who put the finishing touches on our cruises............

The art aboard is amazing...............some ships have I-Pods in the Library you can check out and they explain many of the art/artifacts as you walk around the ship.

The cabins are larger, the products in the bathrooms are excellent, and the BEDS are SO comfortable...............oh, in three more weeks I'll be on the Amsterdam rocking to sleep.;)

ENJOY!!

 

 

have to agree with you 200%. but then I like to sleep well at night and have good service, so what do I know?

[kjfrozen]

Hi,

I'm looking at possibly going on a HAL cruise late November. It'll be my first HAL cruise. I've been on Celebrity & RCL (found out if I owned stock in them, I could get free shipboard credit! :)). I don't drink alcohol as a rule, and usually get a soda package. Do they have those on HAL? Also, do you have to pay to eat in all the different specialty restaurants? On the Mille & the Enchantment they had one specialty restaurant. Are there a lot of extra expenses on board? (More so than the other ships?)

 

Thanks,

Kris

[SwissMyst]

Hi,

I'm looking at possibly going on a HAL cruise late November. It'll be my first HAL cruise. I've been on Celebrity & RCL (found out if I owned stock in them, I could get free shipboard credit! :)). I don't drink alcohol as a rule, and usually get a soda package. Do they have those on HAL? Also, do you have to pay to eat in all the different specialty restaurants? On the Mille & the Enchantment they had one specialty restaurant. Are there a lot of extra expenses on board? (More so than the other ships?)

 

Thanks,

Kris

 

There is only one specialty restaurant on board most ships, except the larger ones (Eurodam and Nieuw Amsterdam) which have two - $20 each (Pinnacle for continental and steak/meat items, and an asian one. There is a free Italian menu restaurant/area on most ships now - Canaletto

 

Some extras that come to mind, which are entirely optional and not intrusive in their onboard offerings are: alcohol, sodas (but you can bring wine and sodas on board to use in your room), ship photos, shore excursions, shuttles to town, casino, some cooking/dinner classes, and deluxe coffees.

 

Lemonade, coffee tea and water available at the Lido for free.

 

The captain "toasts" you on both formal nights with a free glass of champagne.

[kjfrozen]

There is only one specialty restaurant on board most ships, except the larger ones (Eurodam and Nieuw Amsterdam) which have two - $20 each (Pinnacle for continental and steak/meat items, and an asian one. There is a free Italian menu restaurant/area on most ships now - Canaletto

 

Some extras that come to mind, which are entirely optional and not intrusive in their onboard offerings are: alcohol, sodas (but you can bring wine and sodas on board to use in your room), ship photos, shore excursions, shuttles to town, casino, some cooking/dinner classes, and deluxe coffees.

 

Lemonade, coffee tea and water available at the Lido for free.

 

The captain "toasts" you on both formal nights with a free glass of champagne.

 

But... can you buy a soda package? I think it was about $40 a week through RCL & Celebrity to have all you can drink sodas (they gave you an insulated mug and your card was preprinted with a "Coca-cola" which showed the bartenders that you have pre-purchased the sodas.

 

Thanks for the info. We are hoping to sail on the Nieuw Amsterdam.

-Kris

[RuthC]

But... can you buy a soda package?

There is a soda card you can purchase; it's being phased out in favor of an all-inclusive card.

As of right now the soda card is $20.70 (including service charge) for 20 glasses of soda. Each glass is the equavalent of about 1/2 can. If purchased separately, the can costs $2.24 (including service charge). So, the savings is less than $2.00.

There used to be an unlimited soda card, but that was discontinued. The card was supposed to be for one person, but the system was abused when entire families were using one card for all.

[matondo]

Not sure if you were aware but you can bring your own soda aboard if you are a "heavy drinker".

 

Just had to put my 2 cents in about how fabulous HAL is. Our 30th wedding annivesary is this year. Both children are in college, thankfully DS is at the USMA so no expense there but DD not so much. We weren't going to cruise until she was out but decided this was too big of an occasion not to celebrate. I have been shopping best rates for cruises. Finally found something decent, not on HAL. DH decided it was worth spending extra for HAL. Bottom line is I feel my money is well spent with HAL. I have always been pampered from the moment I stepped aboard. Never been a Neptune suite passenger but I have always been treated like one.

 

The room service is wonderful. Hot food hot and cold food cold. Never looking for a tip, if fact if you don't have money in hand for the room service delivery it won't take place. The Yum Yum man with the chimes and then the ginger, mints and dates (or is it figs) afterwards. The option to not have your picture taken if you don't want it. The room stewards who "usually" seem to be psychic knowing just when to make up or turn down your bed. I could go on.

 

All I know is in November I will once again be aboard and I am so excited I can hardly stand it. :D:D:D:D

[cruzrbachoua]

Never looking for a tip, if fact if you don't have money in hand for the room service delivery it won't take place.

 

sorry but i dont understand this quote......sounds like you are saying if you dont have money for the room service in your hand you dont get your food. i thought room service was complimentary....:confused:

[peaches from georgia]

sorry but i dont understand this quote......sounds like you are saying if you dont have money for the room service in your hand you dont get your food. i thought room service was complimentary....:confused:

It means that if you don't have TIP money in your hand you will not get the chance to tip the server because he does not hang around obviously waiting for a tip. He puts the food down, says 'Have a good day' and leaves. If the money is not in your hand you will have to tell him to wait a minute or he will be gone. Romm service is complimentary.

[cruzrbachoua]

ah i see now. ok, that makes sense.

[AZNative2000]

It means that if you don't have TIP money in your hand you will not get the chance to tip the server because he does not hang around obviously waiting for a tip. He puts the food down, says 'Have a good day' and leaves. If the money is not in your hand you will have to tell him to wait a minute or he will be gone.

 

You have to work at getting the tip in their hands but they do remember. Others on this board have mentioned that (if you tip when appropriate). Each day, our breakfast card asked for service between 6 and 6:30. We got ours at 6am every day and we were on the stern.

 

Yes, some will say you don't have to tip at all but I would always give the room service person a couple dollars for exemplary service and it was.

[cruzrbachoua]

we gave extra to our waiters and steward at the end of the cruise when we were on princess. Princess does the per person per day hotel charge to the room, then we gave envelopes to our 2 waiters and steward. now that i think back i dont think we ordered room service when we were on that cruise.....i think. that was a busy cruise and most days we were up early to get breakfast at the buffet so we would be ready to meet our excursions. we do hope to me a bit more relaxed with time on this trip than we did on our caribbean one. we needed a vacay from our cruise.....lol:D

[matondo]

Sorry I was a bit vague about the tip money. Yes, room service is totally free and for sure tips are not even expected.

[countrygal52]

When we sailed on HAL 3 yrs. ago, yes they did boarding pics, formal and dining room and port pics. too. We sailed to Alaska and one of the "port pics" we had one of the staff dressed up like an old time gold panner:).

 

It was fun!

[kazu]

Sorry I was a bit vague about the tip money. Yes, room service is totally free and for sure tips are not even expected.

 

but we always like to give them. it's just a dollar or two and I can tell you our breakfast is the first to arrive. don't know if it because of this, but I do think the big smile and the willingness to put the breakfast wherever it suits you best is well worth it. :D one of the few times you actually bring cash on the ship.