Fire on Oosterdam

[jhannah]

Good deal! Ships, like cars, are subject to parts breaking down from time to time. I'm sure the captain and maintenance people have been doing everything humanly possible to preserve as much of the cruise as they can.

[Sail With Me]

Hi Jim,

 

Bob and I were thrilled to see your post as we have not heard from you guys since our Prinsendam sailing last summer. Hope all is well.

 

Are you on this cruise too? I have a large Culinary Group sailing and we are sailing with them so we hope that the two of you are sailing.

 

Karen

[jhannah]

No, we're not on the cruise. :( Would sure like to be! I'm sure your sailing will go as scheduled, and everyone should have a great time.

[dakrewser]

Because passengers do not always book their shore excursions through HAL and often times have to pre-pay for them before embarking, does HAL offer any compensation to passengers if a tour is missed for reasons like this? I understand the $150 shipboard credit and 25% off, but that should be to compensate for the change of itinerary. Are passengers just out of luck in cases like this?

That's what insurance is for...

[RevNeal]

Word about the Fire on the Oosterdam spread through the Zaandam yesterday. Needless to say, our prayers have been for any who might have been hurt in the fire. I'm also sad to hear that part of the cruise was disrupted, but "stuff" happens.

[tomc]

Word about the Fire on the Oosterdam spread through the Zaandam yesterday.

Like wildfire?

[Grampy]

Word about the Fire on the Oosterdam spread through the Zaandam yesterday. Needless to say, our prayers have been for any who might have been hurt in the fire. I'm also sad to hear that part of the cruise was disrupted, but "stuff" happens.

 

Hi Greg,

 

It wasn't a fire but smoke caused by the equipment failure. This activated the fire alarms and due to the excessive heat they waited awhile before doing an inspection. We were most impressed by the way the Captain handled everything. He gave updates every 15 minutes or so and we weren't left in the dark. James Deering also kept the CC group informed about what HAL upper management decided to do to mitigate the whole situation.

 

On a happy note, this is our first HAL cruise and we love the ship and service. Our cabin 5183 Aft is great. We actually are excited about getting a 25% discount on a future crusie and can't wait to find another vacation to start planning.

 

We hope the Zaandam group are enjoying your cruise, can't imagine having a bad time when sailing.

 

Time for lunch, we do hate to miss any meals.

[KAYEF]

People are very fortunate to be on HAL.........and getting that compensation. :) Made the mistake of sailing on NCL last year when the Dream was having problems all summer................they made NO compensation and were very dishonest before boarding; people didn't even know what they were getting into.................live and learn, I guess. It was not a good time and there was NO compensation and NO listening.:mad:

It was back to the Veendam THIS summer...........and "heavenly.":p

[Randy H]

The latest from my wife, onboard

 

"Weare going at 18 knots, our top speed at the moment, and will hit Mazatlan on Tuesday as scheduled. Then back to Cabo on Wednesday. All tours booked for Monday will happen on Wednesday instead. Unfortnately the only place we had a tour planned was PV, which is a no go. But at least we booked through the cruise line so we will get our money back. If we had booked independently we would be out of luck. The weater is overcast but the seas are extremely calm."

 

I am suprised that they can do 18 knots on only one screw. Not too bad.

[bepsf]

Hi Greg,

We were most impressed by the way the Captain handled everything. He gave updates every 15 minutes or so and we weren't left in the dark. James Deering also kept the CC group informed about what HAL upper management decided to do to mitigate the whole situation.

 

Glad to hear that HAL staff is communicating w/ their passengers -*that makes a big, big difference. * This cannot have been an easy week for them...

 

Certain other lines could learn a thing or two from the way this is being handled.

[jhannah]

Glad to hear that HAL staff is communicating w/ their passengers -*that makes a big, big difference. *

How right you are, Brian! I don't mind bad news ... just don't leave me dangling. When people aren't told, they start making things up. It's just human nature. Much grief and ill-will is spared by good communications. Kudos to Captain Mercer, James Deering, and all the fine staff of the Oosterdam.

[jhannah]

DELETED

 

Invisible post showed up!

[jhannah]

What's up with this board? Very strange things are happening to my posts.

[Grumpy1]

What's up with this board? Very strange things are happening to my posts.

'Tis the season of gremlins and goblins, Jim... what did you do to anger them?:eek:

[hammybee]

Thanks for checking in and keeping us informed. I was thinking about you and your first cruise with HAL. I am glad to hear that you are full of spirits. Oh- oh, I meant good spirits. A plot that creates a bond between passengers, skip a port, another beautiful day at sea, and incentive to book your next HAL cruise sounds darn good to me.

[Copper10-8]

What's up with this board? Very strange things are happening to my posts.

 

T'is the season, dude!:rolleyes:

[Atomica]

Glad to hear everything seems to be OK now on the Oosterdam. I was very worried when I first saw the thread title.

[Copper10-8]

COPPER 10-8 (John)

Off subject here but was wondering since you get messages from the hotel mgr on the Oosterdam if you know how to find out who the Cruise Director is. Any info would be great!! Going on 12/2 and looking forward to it.

Nan

 

Hi Nan;

The C/D is still Michelle Worthley.

[AAAAmerican]

Will they write policies with that and include any OBC for the Cruise Lines too?

 

 

With so many more ships and cruise guest afloat now having problems with those propulsion decvices is bvecoming to common of an occurance...

 

I sure hope they are guaranteed being such a new and now need device on ships.. it does save costs in the tug fees etc...

 

What is the valuation per each pod now?

 

Will the Cruise Lines now find another Revenue Generation source? The Pod Policy....:eek: