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AUGUST 2016 update: HAL charters, groups and dry docks

CJcruzer

By CJcruzer,
in Holland America Line

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kb4683

kb4683

Posted
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Can you please explain what and who the Inspirations Group is. I can't find much info on them. A 14 day cruise we would like to book has them on for 1 week.

Thank you.

 

Follow this link http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2374877&highlight=inspirations for a lengthy discussion on this subject. Post #14 has a link posted to Inspirations website. Perhaps you could call them and find out how many will be involved on your particular cruise.

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jhsocal

jhsocal

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We called Inspirations Group couple months prior to our July cruise this year. All they would tell me is that they had the option of booking up to half the ship. The only impact involved the MDR. There were 700 of them on our cruise. As you will read on those earlier posts, two cruise had 900 which limited open seating to 6:45PM. The groups took over late set seating completely.

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Alwayshome

Alwayshome

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The Amsterdam sailing for 7/23/17 (14 day) has been moved up to 7/17/17. I believe that the cruise below will probably move to the 7/16 sailing on the Oosterdam as it is now sailing the Amsterdam's 7 day itineraries:

 

Amsterdam : 16 July 2017 - 23 July 2017 : Alaska : Christian group WAY-FM, Inspiration cruises

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m134

m134

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Hi all,

 

According to this thread, there will be a "Road Scholars" group onboard Zuiderdam for our cruise starting on Nov, 30, 2016.

 

(I guess I should be grateful it is not a "Cigar Lovers" group.)

 

Do you know how the presence of this group may affect the rest of the passengers? How large is this "Road Scholars" group going to be anyway?

 

I remember reading stories about whole sections of the ship or entire lounges being reserved for group use only, severely (negatively) affecting the enjoyment of the cruise by independent passengers. Are there any such concerns in this case?

 

Thanks for any insight and/or reassurance.

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Fouremco

Fouremco

Posted
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Hi all,

 

According to this thread, there will be a "Road Scholars" group onboard Zuiderdam for our cruise starting on Nov, 30, 2016.

 

(I guess I should be grateful it is not a "Cigar Lovers" group.)

 

Do you know how the presence of this group may affect the rest of the passengers? How large is this "Road Scholars" group going to be anyway?

 

I remember reading stories about whole sections of the ship or entire lounges being reserved for group use only, severely (negatively) affecting the enjoyment of the cruise by independent passengers. Are there any such concerns in this case?

 

Thanks for any insight and/or reassurance.

The Roads Scholars are typically small, unobtrusive groups having little or no impact on other passengers. Originally known a Elderhostel, their programs combine travel and education to provide experiential learning opportunities.

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m134

m134

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The Roads Scholars are typically small, unobtrusive groups having little or no impact on other passengers. Originally known a Elderhostel, their programs combine travel and education to provide experiential learning opportunities.

 

Thank you! The kind of reply I was hoping for.

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OVgirl

OVgirl

Posted
Posted (edited)
i am booked on the koningsdam for 2/4-2/14, 2018 (10 days) and the LRBC Blues cruise is listed here for February 4 to 11 2018. Is the charter confirmed or am I okay? Thanks for any info you have.

 

Once HAL confirms this charter, they will contact those who have already booked and hopefully offer some sort of compensation and options to rebook. There's no need to take any action now. Just wait and see. But, yes, expect there to be some changes.

 

Not sure what they will do with the following 11 day cruise either. Might be some shuffling around at some point.

 

This is one reason that this thread is so helpful. Gives us a heads up for changes to come.

Edited by OVgirl
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Globaliser

Globaliser

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Not sure what they will do with the following 11 day cruise either. Might be some shuffling around at some point.
The remaining time would seem to be ideal for splitting into two more 7-day cruises (11-18 February, 18-25 February) before picking up the previous schedule from 25 February. And of course many charters are for 7-day cruises.
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Fouremco

Fouremco

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NEW LRBC charter, the blues cruise Koningsdam February 4 to 11 2018. Pre book is Sept. 28/16.

 

Sent from my ASUS_Z00TD using Forums mobile app

 

i am booked on the koningsdam for 2/4-2/14, 2018 (10 days) and the LRBC Blues cruise is listed here for February 4 to 11 2018. Is the charter confirmed or am I okay? Thanks for any info you have.

I'd wait until September 28 and check the full details on the LRBC Blues website then. Although their website certainly suggests that they'll be using the Koningsdam, that would result in the ship being out of service for three days, until the next scheduled cruise on the 14th.

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GrammieK

GrammieK

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Thanks for all the answers and advice. I did call HAL and spoke to a random rep. He also checked the LRBC website where it clearly states koningsdam February 4-11. His answer was maybe they listed the wrong ship because my cruise is listed as 10 day and 21 day, when combining the 10 day cruise and the 11 day cruise following it. We'll see...ill really be bummed if it changes because I scored a family cabana. Oh well time will tell.

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Globaliser

Globaliser

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I'd wait until September 28 and check the full details on the LRBC Blues website then. Although their website certainly suggests that they'll be using the Koningsdam, that would result in the ship being out of service for three days, until the next scheduled cruise on the 14th.
I did call HAL and spoke to a random rep. He also checked the LRBC website where it clearly states koningsdam February 4-11. His answer was maybe they listed the wrong ship because my cruise is listed as 10 day and 21 day, when combining the 10 day cruise and the 11 day cruise following it.
I think it's very unlikely that the LRBC website has named the wrong ship. Nor would HAL take the ship out of service for three days after the charter. Like OVgirl, I suspect that there could yet be more changes around this time.

 

Looking at the list a bit more plus some of the other posts about charters, I would be prepared to put a small wager on the currently-scheduled 14 February 2018 cruise also being cancelled, with RSVP taking either the 11 February or 18 February week, and another charter (possibly Olivia?) taking the other week. Normal service can then be resumed on 25 February.

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sun~

sun~

Posted
Posted
Thanks for all the answers and advice. I did call HAL and spoke to a random rep. He also checked the LRBC website where it clearly states koningsdam February 4-11. His answer was maybe they listed the wrong ship because my cruise is listed as 10 day and 21 day, when combining the 10 day cruise and the 11 day cruise following it. We'll see...ill really be bummed if it changes because I scored a family cabana. Oh well time will tell.

 

We will be on the LRBC this January. Since this is a new ship, LRBC will have stages made to accommodate the configuration of the ship. This is costly. So, I would think the February date and ship are correct.

 

The LRBC cruises are loved by HAL. The pre-book will sell out about 90% on Septembef 28/16. The balance will be sold from the October and January cruises. Usually none are left to public sale. So HAL is not taking a gamble with the Blues Cruise. This January's cruise sold immediately.

 

It has been mentioned many times on the forum that a cruiseline prefers charters to regular cruises. They get lots of money upfront and folks who spend money on board.

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GrammieK

GrammieK

Posted
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Thanks for the info. Unfortunately, I believe you are right. I am bummed. I did a lot of research picking my cabin and cabana. I guess I'm lucky though, because there are many people who don't read cruise critic and will have no clue until much later.

 

By the way, I called HAL yesterday and the rep I spoke to said he highly doubted the blues cruise scenario, BUT, I shouldn't cancel because if I am bumped I would get a SBC. DONT NEED THE SBC....WANT A CRUISE!

 

It's really unethical that the cruise is still on sale on the HAL website when someone knows it ain't gonna happen!

 

Thanks again!

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Globaliser

Globaliser

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It's really unethical that the cruise is still on sale on the HAL website when someone knows it ain't gonna happen!
I think that the real question is whether HAL knows it's not going to happen. And my impression is that that point is not usually reached until closer to the date of the cruise. I don't know exactly what happens, but my guess has always been that there comes a point when the charterer is bound to take the ship and/or the cruise line is bound to get the money for the charter period, and that this is when the cruise is taken off sale. If HAL were to take the cruise off sale before that date and the charter then cancels for some reason, HAL will have more difficulty selling the whole cruise from scratch.

 

You can see an analogy arising from the fact that many booked passengers can and do cancel without penalty even quite a short time before the sailing date. For this reason, cruise lines have to overbook. This is usually more manageable because we're talking about large numbers of individuals making individual decisions. But the overbooking process does sometimes go wrong, and the cruise line ends up having to bump people off their cruises at a late stage.

 

No solution is perfect, but you can see that there are different aspects to the problem from different points of view.

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