HAL secrets

[rjsams]

Hi we're on the Noordam on 17th August. Does anyone have any up to date tips for us please?:D

 

Me, too. I'm on the Rotterdam August 23. Can't wait!!

[juliecat]

You get a blue lapel pin for 25 days. Ours were left on the bed by the steward the night before the Mariner's party. On our last cruise our red 50-day pins were left several days before the Mariner brunch. That's it. I think the first "ceremony' of any sort is for the 100-day copper pin and medallion.

 

If you hit 25 days during a voyage, do you get the pin during that voyage, or during your next trip?

 

J

[dandro]

Here are a few of our favorite things (some may be a repeat of previous posts)

 

Having a specialty coffee from the Explorations Cafe and sitting in the loungers in the Crows Nest.

 

Pre-order a bottle of champagne and have it waiting for you in your cabin, and toast to your cruise while standing on your balcony!

 

Listening to the string quartet with a pre-dinner cocktail.

 

Room service hot breakfast.

 

The large bathroom with double sinks in the Superior Suite.

 

The drink of the day...whatever it may be.:D

 

The towel animals! The choklits!! :)

[EmmaN]

Wow what a massive amount of great information! :D

 

I'd love to know how much is still current and if there are any new tips, we are looking at cruising with HAL next year. :D

[Crazy Gramps]

In the Ocean Bar or whatever they call the martini bar.

 

2 for 1 between 6 and 7. Most waiters can't tell time.

 

Gramps

[Watson's aunt]

Hi Does Hal do Pepso or coke? I drink Pepsi

 

 

thanks

 

Mary

[Two@Sea]

Hi Does Hal do Pepso or coke? I drink Pepsi

 

 

thanks

 

Mary

 

So do I... therefore, I bring my own. :)

[sail7seas]

Hi Does Hal do Pepso or coke? I drink Pepsi

 

 

thanks

 

Mary

 

 

Sorry.....HAL serves coke products.

You can bring your own Pepsi if you wish.

[Halgirl1278]

In the Ocean Bar or whatever they call the martini bar.

 

2 for 1 between 6 and 7. Most waiters can't tell time.

 

Gramps

 

 

oooooooh GREAT tip...never knew this, after all these years!

[northernphoenix]

Just last evening DH an I were trying to remember the schedule for the two for one cocktails. We are early diners, and wondered if the special was avaialble after early seating,

 

thanks,

Marilyn

[mconthehighseas]

If you hit 25 days during a voyage, do you get the pin during that voyage, or during your next trip?

 

J

 

I don't think they do these pins any more now that they are on the new points program. We have 40 days at sea, and have not received a 25 day pin.

http://www.hollandamerica.com/marinerSociety/Main.action

In the FAQ's, they do say that you do not advance to the next level until the end of your cruise: https://www.hollandamerica.com/myAccount/MarinerProgram.action

 

I have seen medals for 100 Mariner days at sea though.

Edited March 6, 2011 by mconthehighseas

[NMLady]

I don't think they do these pins any more now that they are on the new points program. We have 40 days at sea, and have not received a 25 day pin. ....

 

HAL doesn't do 25 day pins, but after 30 days you become a 2-star mariner.

We became 2-star Mariners last May during our Alaska cruise on the Amsterdam, and a 2-star pin was mailed to each of us after the completion of our cruise.

I think the new Mariner program started in September 2009.

[spacepotatoes]

I'm so glad this thread was revived, what great information! DH and I are planning our first HAL cruise for next summer and my parents will be going on their first one this summer. Reading all these "secrets" makes it so much more exciting!

 

Do they still give out the canvas tote bags for the port days? I haven't seen any recent comments about those. And can you still ask for recipes? I'm sure there will be lots of things we'll fall in love with!

 

Thanks again for all the great, helpful info :)

[kazu]

I'm so glad this thread was revived, what great information! DH and I are planning our first HAL cruise for next summer and my parents will be going on their first one this summer. Reading all these "secrets" makes it so much more exciting!

 

Do they still give out the canvas tote bags for the port days? I haven't seen any recent comments about those. And can you still ask for recipes? I'm sure there will be lots of things we'll fall in love with!

 

Thanks again for all the great, helpful info :)

 

They still give out the cotton tote bags for port days (I am assuming you are referring to these?). I've never asked for a recipe - they normally have a cook book you can buy.

[sansterre]

Some great recipes are available at the cooking shows which they have on sea days.

On our last cruise in December we noticed the tote bags were a slightly different and better style:-)

[Adirondack Gypsy]

We were suppose to be on the Eurodam this past week for a 7 day cruise to the Eastern Carribean. We had to cancel 24 hours in advance after we already flew to Florida and then drive back home, no flights to be had, made it in 24 hours. We got all the way down there and got the dreaded call from back home that my father in law had a heart attack. He's doing fine but it's been a tough week dealing with this huge disappointment.

 

Have any of you folks had to deal with this after looking forward to this trip all winter long? I don't think it would be quite so bad if I was able to reschedule....

[Adirondack Gypsy]

Here are a few of our favorite things (some may be a repeat of previous posts)

 

Having a specialty coffee from the Explorations Cafe and sitting in the loungers in the Crows Nest.

 

Pre-order a bottle of champagne and have it waiting for you in your cabin, and toast to your cruise while standing on your balcony!

 

Listening to the string quartet with a pre-dinner cocktail.

 

Room service hot breakfast.

 

The large bathroom with double sinks in the Superior Suite.

 

The drink of the day...whatever it may be.:D

 

The towel animals! The choklits!! :)

Is there an extra charge for breakfast room service?

[Cygneagile]

What wonderful news. 2 for 1 drinks and the infamous bread pudding. A visit to the Crows nest is a must now. I can hardly wait.

We are booked on Zuiderdam April 12 and I will have to copy these tid bits so I can take advantage of them. Breakfast in the cabin is a must for us. We tip the waiter 2 dollars. We are three in the cabin so we believe that is just. If we order a hot breakfast we will tip 3. Most of the time we just order coffee, cream and fresh fruit. I am so looking forward to this.

I rained all day yesterday (Toronto) and then we were hit with another 3-4 inches of snow during the night. Where is spring? Even the birds are tired of the snow.

[catl331]

I don't think they do these pins any more now that they are on the new points program. We have 40 days at sea, and have not received a 25 day pin.

 

I have seen medals for 100 Mariner days at sea though.

You should have gotten a 2-star pin at 30 days. This 3-star pin comes at 75 days. Most ships have stopped giving out the 100-day medals, but we got ours on The Nieuw Amsterdam.

 

Is there an extra charge for breakfast room service?

NO! :)

[mconthehighseas]

We were suppose to be on the Eurodam this past week for a 7 day cruise to the Eastern Carribean. We had to cancel 24 hours in advance after we already flew to Florida and then drive back home, no flights to be had, made it in 24 hours. We got all the way down there and got the dreaded call from back home that my father in law had a heart attack. He's doing fine but it's been a tough week dealing with this huge disappointment.

 

Have any of you folks had to deal with this after looking forward to this trip all winter long? I don't think it would be quite so bad if I was able to reschedule....

 

My SIL is dealing with something like this right now. She was supposed to cruise today, but she had an attack of vertigo, and had to cancel on Friday. It was terrible for her, but she had to tell her children as well. They had travel insurance, so they are being reimbursed, but they can't reschedule either.

 

I'm glad your FIL is doing much better, and sorry that you are missing a cruise, I hope that you will find a great way to make up for it in the near future.

[moonjelly]

Here's a secret no one has mentioned yet. Access to the bow-deck.

 

On an S-class ship you go forward on the lower promenade deck, to where you can cross over from one side of the ship to the other (port to starboard, or visa versa). There are two closet like chambers, glass walled, with doors facing inward. Open the door on one of them and climb the stairs you'll find inside. Those stairs will lead you up one deck, then turn and -- if the door isn't open -- push the water-tight door open and step through (carefully) and out onto the forward bow deck.

 

Here's a deck plan showing where to access it:

 

 

^^^

 

On an R-class ship you go forward on the lower promenade deck, to where you can cross over from one side of the ship to the other (port to starboard, or visa versa). Facing forward there's a set of double doors on port and starboard. No signs. Open either and climb the stairs you'll find right in front of you. Turn and push open the water tight door and step (carefully) out onto the forward bow deck.

 

 

This deck is one of my favorite places on the ship ... it's especially a great place for Alaska.

 

Any instructions like this for getting to the bow area on the Vista Class ships? Oosterdam in particular?

 

(I am only on page 2 and have to go, so if it is posted later in the thread, I will find it later tonight!) Thanks

Edited April 25, 2011 by moonjelly

[MICHARCH]

If you are on a Panama Canal transit they have a nice toast on the bow ( and also sea-view pool) by the Captain and staff to say good by to the Pacific and hello to the Atlantic (or visa-versa I guess). Free Champagne for all. If you arrive early enough and like to drink you can wrangle multiple flutes of the bubbly. I think that I had 4 or 5 glasses.:D Also had free champagne offered to us a couple of times while dining at Lido as well as the Captain's toast one night in the showroom. They must go thru a lot of bubbly on these cruises.

 

More champagne chat~ Also when we were cruising from Seward to Vancouver in 2007 they had art auctions on board and they offered free bubbly to those present. I often arrived, but never bought.

[MICHARCH]

One of the nicest keep-sakes on our recent cruise thru the P/C was the "Cruise Log" that you get at the end. It contains great info that you would not normally think about.

 

Example~

"TUESDAY March 22, 2011 At sea.

6:28 am Vessel undocked, departing Puerto Vallarta

12:00 nn Position 19 (degrees)41.0N 105 (degrees)24.1W

12:00nn NW Light air, Partly Cloudy Skies, Slight seas, low swell, 23 (degrees)C/86F."

[GetOnABoat]

And here I've just been using the Sky Deck for stargazing! :o It's also good for getting away from all the people at night if you're someone who needs some alone time and/or you're tired of the person back at the cabin ;)

 

Still free tote bags in your cabin.

 

There's no automatic fruit bowl, but there's a bowl with a form to check off whatever fruit you want and they'll fill it for you. Less waste and you get what you want!

 

The Lido serves the same food as the dining room at dinner, so if you want to skip out, you don't have to miss it. It never looks as good when served out of various trays than made up plate by plate, though, and there was always a little something that didn't seem quite as good as the dining room.

 

If you've got late seating dinner, grab an appetizer or two from the Lido to hold you until dinner ;) Don't automatically go for Early seating either. Late seating usually is less busy and faster as a result, plus you don't have to rush back from port if you want dinner in the dining room. Also, late night diners tend to be more interesting and adventurous from my experiences

 

They still do appetizers in the Crow's Nest before dinner. Happy hour is 4-5pm and 11pm-12am - your second drink is $1, and that includes all drinks on the bar menu, except for top shelf liquors. If you're good to the bar staff, they're good to you, and that's all I'm gonna say on that subject :D

 

Breakfast and lunch in the dining room are highly recommended, but only if you're ok being there for at least an hour. Always sit with other people. The people are the best part of the dining room. My 2 favourite breakfasts were the Eggs Royale (Eggs Benny with smoked salmon instead of ham) and the Japanese Breakfast (rice, a filet of salmon, eggs Japanese-style and silky smooth, and a bowl of Miso soup), since I'm not fond of bready breakfasts.

 

In the dining room, they do their best to accommodate anything you like. If you want 3 appetizers, order them! If you want 3x the sashimi in your appetizer, ask for it! If you don't eat beef, ask for Surf & Surf instead of Surf & Turf! If you really, really like a particular dessert, tell your steward and he'll try his best to get it again for you on another night. If you order the chicken but think the swordfish also sounds good, ask them to put a filet of swordfish on your plate too ;) Almost anything goes, so long as they have the ability to do it.

 

The afternoon tea in the dining room is also highly recommended. There are themed late night snacks between 11-12 too. Dutch, Indonesian, Japanese, Mexican, different every night.

 

Some days for BBQs on deck or special parties in the Crow's Nest they do an all you can drink for a set price. If you've got the choice between blended or on the rocks, on the rocks gets you your money's worth without brain freeze ;) If they really have to screw up the itinerary because of weather or mechanical probs, they sometimes have a free all you can drink for a couple hours to help appease the masses. If there's a big lineup to get whatever drink you want, there's usually a table with a bunch of glasses of "rum punch" or beer or whatever they set up that you can just come up and take without waiting.

 

At the Mariner's Brunch and the Medallion ceremony before, they just kept handing out and refilling drinks. We had 6 people at an 8 person table, and a couple of us had 2-3 glasses in front of us - all of them kept getting filled! (This seems like a Drinking For Dummies HAL Secrets now...)

 

The Mariners tiles don't have the ship name on them anymore - they're all just generic Holland America ones, but they've got different designs on them at least. We were told 1 tile per couple this time, but that could be because we had 1200 Mariners on board out of 1400 passengers. (We had to have 2 brunches!)

 

Someone's been going around telling people they don't do Copper/Silver/Gold/Platinum medallions anymore, but they are. If you've crossed a 100/300/500/700 day landmark and haven't gotten a medallion, hunt down the cruise director and tell them at the beginning of your next cruise, and they'll make sure you get included in the ceremony - my mom finally got hers this trip.

 

Fridges are still $2/day if you don't get one in your room. Cut flowers seem to be a suite thing.

 

They're still doing $7/day all-you-can-laundry, but I think you need to pay the $7/day your whole trip to get that deal. Otherwise, there's still the one time use fee and self service laundry too. If you have the choice of paying $50 extra for another bag of luggage on the airline or bringing fewer clothes and laundering them, I'd do laundry.

 

The Cafe in the Library serves Starbucks for a small fee. There's still the take a book leave a book in the corner, too. There's always a puzzle going, which is great for those small chunks of time where there's nothing going on. They also have cupboards full of board games that you can borrow. If you want to leave a note asking people to play a game, leave it around the Daily Quiz papers and ask people to call your cabin. You're sure to get a bite from a few people.

 

To get to the bow on the Zaandam, you don't have to go through the theatre and feel all suspicious. You can go through one of two sets of double doors at the front of the Lower Promenade deck. They're not marked, but if you open them, you'll see stairs and a sign that says "Deck 3" and you know you're at the right door. Go up the stairs and you get to the same locking doors as going through the theatre. Don't try going out unless you're in port, though. It gets seriously windy out there, and you might not be able to stand it, nor open the door again to get back inside!

 

 

All in all, it's really the people on the cruise that make a trip absolutely great. HAL's crew tries the hardest to make you happy and get you everything you need. The staff is so friendly and make all the activities a blast. But most of all, HAL has an outstanding group of passengers who are very well traveled and love talking about their lives and their voyages throughout the world. If you haven't been sucked in by all the secrets, the people will do it.

 

Geez, it's like I wrote a novel haha

Edited April 26, 2011 by GetOnABoat

[Nisky411]

check out this tip video they brought a blender :-)