New to Holland America? This is for you...AKA "HAL For Dummies"

[Ready2go11]

And the hydrotherapy pool is a great idea I will look into as well. 
 

thanks!

[deeeeeeem]

Just returned from our first cruise (which was overall fantastic!) but now I'm left with two questions:

 

1. When do they send out the post-cruise surveys? They mentioned it so often I thought we would get them almost immediately after our debarkation, but we haven't got them yet.

 

2. How do they calculate the amount spent on board for the mariner points? We got the maximum 14 points for on board spending, meaning they calculated our on board spending as being at least $4200. I'm not complaining of course since we're almost 2* Mariners now, but even our on board statement and 3 HIA packages rated at $65 per day (what we didn't pay for it) don't add up to $4200. 

[deeeeeeem]

By the way, since there are a lot of first time HAL cruisers in this thread, I thought I might share my own opinion here. I see most people being very positive about the Club Orange upgrade, especially on the Pinnacle Class ships since they have their own CO dining room.

 

We tried to upgrade to CO quite shortly before our departure but it of course was sold out already. Personally, in the end we're glad we weren't able to upgrade at all. We luckily got upgraded from our VH cabin to a V cabin without obstructed view, which was great and also the best we would've got by paying for CO too (this of course isn't true when you book very early, when booking VH with CO seems a very good strategy to get the best verandah cabin). We didn't like the atmosphere and look of the separate CO dining room as far as we could see from the outside. I'm sure the service would be quicker than in the MDR, but overall we loved the atmosphere in the MDR and the service was very good as well. Sometimes not that quick, but always friendly and personal although we did the open seating. Only had to wait one time in two weeks and that was only 5 minutes. 

 

I think CO is a great option when you book very long in advance and are able to pay for a VH cabin and get upgraded to a much better cabin, but in other cases, I would really think about the fact of having a separate dining room and maybe a slight upgrade are worth the cost for you. For us, it wasn't and we we're glad we didn't had CO. 

[kazu]

8 minutes ago, deeeeeeem said:

1. When do they send out the post-cruise surveys? They mentioned it so often I thought we would get them almost immediately after our debarkation, but we haven't got them yet.

 

They come out quite quickly - usually in less than a week.  If you have a spam or junk folder, be sure to check it.

 

 

8 minutes ago, deeeeeeem said:

 

2. How do they calculate the amount spent on board for the mariner points? We got the maximum 14 points for on board spending, meaning they calculated our on board spending as being at least $4200. I'm not complaining of course since we're almost 2* Mariners now, but even our on board statement and 3 HIA packages rated at $65 per day (what we didn't pay for it) don't add up to $4200. 

 

HIA is worth more than the $65 you paid pp and it is calculated at full value based on my experience.  That probably accounts for it.  

[deeeeeeem]

2 hours ago, kazu said:

 

They come out quite quickly - usually in less than a week.  If you have a spam or junk folder, be sure to check it.

 

 

 

HIA is worth more than the $65 you paid pp and it is calculated at full value based on my experience.  That probably accounts for it.  

Ah that would make sense indeed! Thanks for your response! 

[YourWorldWithBill]

2 hours ago, kazu said:

HIA is worth more than the $65 you paid pp and it is calculated at full value based on my experience.  That probably accounts for it.  

Our next cruise is 13 day. We have HIA, so I assume we'll get 26 points. We're 1 point short of 3 stars! Jacqui, do you have any suggestions for that extra star? I spend a little time at the craps table each night, so I wonder if that will do it.

Thanks.

[Mary229]

54 minutes ago, YourWorldWithBill said:

Our next cruise is 13 day. We have HIA, so I assume we'll get 26 points. We're 1 point short of 3 stars! Jacqui, do you have any suggestions for that extra star? I spend a little time at the craps table each night, so I wonder if that will do it.

Thanks.

Your HIA doesn’t double your days, it is treated as an expenditure $300 to 1 day.  The only way to get points is 1:1 for cruise days,

2:1 for cruise days in a suite and $300:1 day for expenditures. Pre and post hotels and flights are not included.  The most you can get as a nonsuite customer is 2x your cruise days

Edited April 2 by Mary229

[happytotravel]

Hi RuthC,

Thank you for you suggestion on using shoe clips.  I've been able to find a great selection on a website and will purchase a few before my cruise.

 

Enjoy the day, happytotravel

[RuthC]

2 hours ago, happytotravel said:

Hi RuthC,

Thank you for you suggestion on using shoe clips.  I've been able to find a great selection on a website and will purchase a few before my cruise.

Hope they work out well for you, and you have a great cruise. 
Packing shoe clips was one of my better ideas over the travel years! A LOT less weight than extra pairs of shoes. 

[YourWorldWithBill]

4 hours ago, Mary229 said:

Your HIA doesn’t double your days, it is treated as an expenditure $300 to 1 day.  The only way to get points is 1:1 for cruise days,

2:1 for cruise days in a suite and $300:1 day for expenditures. Pre and post hotels and flights are not included.  The most you can get as a nonsuite customer is 2x your cruise days

Yes, I'm aware of all that, as we were in suites on our last couple of cruises. But others have posted that the HIA counts toward that daily expenditure.

[KroozNut]

1 hour ago, YourWorldWithBill said:

But others have posted that the HIA counts toward that daily expenditure.

This is a great question, so I'm curious what the answer is to this as well.

[YourWorldWithBill]

2 hours ago, KroozNut said:

This is a great question, so I'm curious what the answer is to this as well.

For example, the price of the specialty dining option(s) you get with the HIA are definitely included as part of daily spending. I seem to remember that there have been postings about other expenses included in the HIA counting.

[islandwoman]

7 hours ago, YourWorldWithBill said:

For example, the price of the specialty dining option(s) you get with the HIA are definitely included as part of daily spending. .

I don't have HIA for my upcoming cruise, but my cruise fare came with two specialty dinings.  Will those be included as part of daily spending?

[kazu]

9 minutes ago, islandwoman said:

I don't have HIA for my upcoming cruise, but my cruise fare came with two specialty dinings.  Will those be included as part of daily spending?

 

I would think these would be treated the same as pre-purchased specialty dining and would think they would be.

[Ileneilene123]

Anyone here familiar with the balconies on the Zaandam? My PCC just told me that we would not be able to open the balcony divider between our Vista cabin and our friends’ Vista cabin next door because they are not connecting cabins. Disappointing. I don’t even see ANY connecting Vista cabins on the Deck 6 floor plan. I guess I’m double checking my PCC’s statement here, w/ hopes that she may be mistaken …? 

[RuthC]

9 minutes ago, Ileneilene123 said:

I guess I’m double checking my PCC’s statement here, w/ hopes that she may be mistaken …? 

She is, IIRC. It's been a long time since I sailed on the Zaandam. 
You don't have to be in connecting cabins to have balconies that open. That's how the cleaning people get through. 

[Ileneilene123]

34 minutes ago, RuthC said:

She is, IIRC. It's been a long time since I sailed on the Zaandam. 
You don't have to be in connecting cabins to have balconies that open. That's how the cleaning people get through. 

Thank you. I asked her again & will see what she says. 

[Ileneilene123]

40 minutes ago, Ileneilene123 said:

Thank you. I asked her again & will see what she says. 

After telling me twice no, they don’t open, I asked her to check again and she told me yes, they can open. Third times a charm. 

Edited April 3 by Ileneilene123

[Ready2go11]

After you board, just ask your room steward to open the divider between the cabins. Never had a problem with the request.
 

It only opens about half way but allows access between balconies and when you are standing or sitting closer to the edge you will easily be able to chat. 

[marco2111]

Has anyone found a work-around for cell phones that are not compatible with the Navigator app.  We leave in a week and it's late to upgrade our phones. Looks like everything is on the app and they don't print excursion tickets.

Any suggestions?

[Mary229]

9 minutes ago, marco2111 said:

Has anyone found a work-around for cell phones that are not compatible with the Navigator app.  We leave in a week and it's late to upgrade our phones. Looks like everything is on the app and they don't print excursion tickets.

Any suggestions?

Your excursion instructions will be on your tv onboard and you can show up with only your room card to get onto the excursion.  Be sure you follow careful attention to your tv instructions.  What kind o pf phone do you have?  Do you have an iPad or similar?

[marco2111]

They are moto g6 phones (android). They are older but this is the first app that hasn't worked.

Thanks for the info that our keycard will let us on excursions. 

Guess it's time to get new phones when we return!

Karen

 

 

 

 

[Cruise Suzy]

31 minutes ago, marco2111 said:

Has anyone found a work-around for cell phones that are not compatible with the Navigator app.

 

We travel with small laptops. We use them to access HAL's Navigator because we don't have smartphones. As @Mary229 posted, your keycard can be scanned in lieu of using a smartphone.

[Toofarfromthesea]

51 minutes ago, marco2111 said:

Has anyone found a work-around for cell phones that are not compatible with the Navigator app.  We leave in a week and it's late to upgrade our phones. Looks like everything is on the app and they don't print excursion tickets.

Any suggestions?

 

When I decided to get a new phone I had a choice to go to (in my case) the Verizon store and get it right then and there or order it from Amazon and get it a day later.  It should be easy to upgrade a phone within a week.  Another alternative is getting a burner smartphone.  For around $30 you can get a no contract burner phone that runs android that you can download the Navigator app to.  Just some thoughts.

[Crew News]

I upgraded my ATT android phone January 31, 2024.  Everything was accomplished, to include moving files to the new phone, in less than one hour from the time I entered the ATT store front door.

Edited April 5 by Crew News