Travel The World with Bill & Mary Ann HAL's Grand World Voyage 2007

[OldCodger73]

Mary Ann and Bill, were all the gifts you listed from HAL? Where there any from your Seattle travel agency?

[WCB]

Ruth,

Yes, we did have a pillow chocolate every night. On formal nights, we were given a Leonidas truffle in a small gold box. Yum!

 

OldCodger,

The gifts listed were given to us by HAL. Our Seattle group gave us reversible vests, a neck lanyard, two world cruise bags, magnetic name tags, key card holders, and a Pinnacle Grill dinner. Our agent gave us a box of Sees candy on Valentines Day. And we attended wonderful cocktail parties.

 

Bill & Mary Ann

[mamaofami]

Bill and Mary Ann,

Thanks for taking me along on a trip to places I have only dreamed about. It must be hard for you to come home after so many wonderful days at sea.

 

Kyros, I want to say as a New Yorker, that unspeakable things did happen here on 9/11, but New York is more than the total of what happened that day. It is still a fun and vibrant city, and as a result of what happened, New Yorkers have become more friendly, caring, and sensitive. Ground zero is a reminder to us of unspeakable things, but also of how everyone pulled together to help each other recover. There is no place like New York!

[CruisinTexans]

Bill and Mary Ann,

 

Thanks so much for your in depth reporting of the world cruise. I especially appreciate the details on the excursions you guys took and the comments on the different meals. Unfortunately I am a foodie, which you can tell by looking at me.

 

We were some of the unfortunates who missed our flight out of Fort Lauderdale. We traded our HAL provided first-class seats on the 11:17 flight for two middle seats in economy on the 12:30 flight. We weren't too much later getting home, so we didn't have to re-negotiate our ride from Austin to San Marcos, and that was a good thing.

 

Again, thanks for the time and effort you expended on keeping the journal.

 

Leslie & Handler

 

P.S. As far as the captain hanging out on the 7th floor we never saw him. There were a lot of Dutch passengers on the 7th floor maybe he hung out with them.

[WCB]

Hi Leslie and Handler,

 

Thanks for the compliments! We truely enjoyed writing the reports, and were rewarded with such a terrific response from Cruise Critic members.

 

Sorry about missing your flight. Did HAL get you on the next flight, or did you have to do it on your own?

 

Are you going on the 2008 world cruise? We are not, but have deposited the 2009.

 

Bob and Judi, our tablemates, were on deck seven, and they claimed to see the captain most every day. He was like "Captain Invisible" for the rest of us.

 

Happy traveling,

 

Bill & Mary Ann

[kryos]

Kyros, I want to say as a New Yorker, that unspeakable things did happen here on 9/11, but New York is more than the total of what happened that day. It is still a fun and vibrant city, and as a result of what happened, New Yorkers have become more friendly, caring, and sensitive. Ground zero is a reminder to us of unspeakable things, but also of how everyone pulled together to help each other recover. There is no place like New York!

I agree New York is a wonderful place. I've had a lot of really great times there. It's just a "block" that I have to get over ... and only time will help with that. I lost two business colleagues and friends there on September 11 ... and the emotions are just too strong right now for me to deal with.

 

Maybe someday, though ...

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[WCB]

Report # 90 5-16-07 Really Home!!

 

Well, we are really back now, with all of our 16 bags delivered on Wednesday, May 9th, a little soiled, but nothing broken. This unlimited luggage shipment service was one of the best perks we got with booking our veranda room. By the way, we did see the lady, Mrs.Maui, who shipped the Lazyboy lounge chair. With the extra large box containing that chair, as well as her other numerous bags, we are sure that the porters steered clear of her that last day! As it was, we came back with an extra 121 pounds of luggage! When the 13 bags were brought to our room on the ship, they weighed 734 pounds. When we got back the 16 bags, their total weight was 855 pounds! Good thing it was in our luggage and not on our waistlines!!

 

Speaking of our last day, it was a mess. As we said before, the line for the porters was a mile long. That was not a good way to end the trip. Especially when many passengers ended up missing their flights. In our way of thinking, people with no flights should have gotten off last. We were probably called off of the ship in that order, but who was checking the color and number of our tags?? No one! In hind site, maybe the best dropping off point on this trip would have been New York City, where only 200 people got off. And it is a wise decision to stay a day or more in your debarking city, and unwind a bit before continuing on. That takes the pressure off for missing your plane.

 

Now back to our ship experience. We truely enjoyed our veranda suite, but the closet space was limited, especially for formal wear. The extra cardboard drawers the ship provided helped, as did the two hanging shoe bags we brought. The better solution............bring less! And this is the best time for us to work on the clothes list, while it is still fresh in our minds. Having pre-purchased the laundry-dry cleaning package was also a big help, even though it was slow in the beginning. And sometimes, our white things came back permanently beige. It was obvious that someone in the cleaners had many "oops" with mixing colors with whites. We did notice that some ladies brought their damaged items to the front desk, but we never heard what happened from then on.

 

We did have a new TV with a DVD player in our room. But we never had a chance to watch a movie in our room from the library. Did we mention that these were complimentary for this cruise? We did have four or five movie channels on our stateroom TV, and some were fairly recent. However, one thing that we could not understand, was the fact that the programming was repeated over and over again. They did have Travel, Discovery, and Animal Planet, but it was repeated every segment. This isn't the first trip that we have noticed that, and we do put that in the comment card at the end of the trips. But some things just do not change. And we would love to have had Fox News as well as CNN. Some ships do have both. In some areas of the Pacific and Atlantic, we lost CNN, but maybe Fox would have remained.

 

As for our bathroom, we had problems. It's one thing to have poor water pressure, but another thing to have the toilet not working all the time. You never knew when or why that would happen, but we had to call for the plumber quite often. He was a nice fellow who said we had a sticky float. Then we had an elderly couple who liked to push their flush button seven times in a row at 5am in the morning! We didn't need to set an alarm clock, since they were consistent with the flushes! It became a daily joke at our dinner table, since Woody and Susie were having similar problems. It seemed the whole floor on deck six was shut down for repairs in the beginning. And it did get better as time went on, thank goodness!

 

The over-sized Egyptian cotton towels were nice in the bathroom, but sometimes they were stiff like coarse sandpaper. We bet the towels on deck 7 were newer, but they should be, because they paid a lot more than we did. The bath amenities were nice, such as the shampoos, conditioners, and lotions. They were replaced everyday too.

 

Our room steward, Ukam, was as nice as they come. We sure miss him. He quietly did his work, never complaining, though we are sure he would have liked to! And whatever we asked him, he never said no. When we bought a small bird in a cage that sang unexpectantly when you made a noise, he laughed for days. Then we added another decorative birdcage in Hong Kong with 2 birds. He even offered to take care of them when we went to the Taj Mahal for four days!! He always wondered what we would be coming back with on every tour we took, since we had Javanese masks, a wooden moblie, and two Indian lanterns hanging from our ceiling lights. Luckily for him, we ran out of space to put "stuff"! But he always found room on the coffee table for our vase of fresh flowers.

 

The food was good. The La Fontaine dining room was gorgeous, and the Indonesian staff was the best. These fellows must be carefully chosen for this long voyage, because they were the most gracious, patient, and polite group that we have seen on a ship this size. Once they heard our names, they remembered them for the whole trip. As for food choices, we had eight entrees every evening, with two alternates. If we wanted something that was not on the menu, we asked a day before, and it was there the next night. There was more prime rib, t-bone steaks, and ribeye steaks than we have ever seen before. The fish and poultry entrees were OK, but we felt that the beef was much better. Soups and salads varied every night. If you liked caviar, lobster tails, and smoked salmon, then you would be in heaven on this voyage. The bakery department presented the nicest desserts, as well as jello. Specialty coffees could be ordered at no extra charge at dinner. And our tablemates were happy with their wine packages. They were even happier when an officer joined our table on formal nights, since they always ordered red and white wines for everyone.

 

The Pinnacle Grill always had excellent Sterling Silver steaks, as well as lamb, fish, and poultry entrees. We ate in there nine evenings on this trip, since we had pre-purchased the dinners at $20. a piece. When we boarded in January, the price had gone up to $30. a piece. We doubt that we would have paid that much or gone as often. The wait service in there was just as good, no better than in La Fontaine.

 

We noticed that the new Java Bar had little activity, except for the few passengers who pre-paid for a coffee package. Because it is situated right in the middle of the library and internet room, people don't feel comfortable socializing while drinking coffee. And eventually, the readers and writers get annoyed with the laughing and talking.

 

Speaking of the internet room, the speed of the internet varied from 54 megabytes to 1 megabyte. Sometimes it took forever to receive and send. The manager always blamed our provider for the slowdown. But if anything happened to the ship's service, we would be credited our lost time back. As it was, we were way ahead of the game just by having our own laptop. Now if they could make the internet service available in our rooms, that would be a nice thing.

 

We did not frequent the showlounge often. However, we did question our friends about the shows, and pretty much got the same response. They were OK, but not outstanding. A few comedians, musicians, and singers were reportedly great, but some of the other entertainers were so bad, that people walked out. There were only a few big names on this trip, compared to the world cruise we did in 2005. Perhaps, this is an area that HAL needs to improve. The folkloric shows were usually better than the ship's entertainment.

 

The casino was a place that we walked through to get from the internet room to the Ocean bar couches and chairs. We gambled a little, but found that it was a waste of time and money. And the smoke from cigarettes was overwhelming at times. That was enough reason to avoid staying in there for long. Most of the gambling in there was done by segment passengers, we think. The day before the cruise ended, a whole row of slot machines were taken out. We don't know why. Maybe the newer type, with no coins will replace those old ones.

 

The lounge bars, such as the Crow's Nest and the Ocean Bar, were nice places to visit, but we had a problem with the band music there. They played the same old music night after night, until we couldn't take it anymore. We called the music "merry-go-round" songs, that only a chosen few people liked. The "Grand Dames" of the Amsterdam and the dance hosts must have been the chosen few. The poor hosts had no choice actually! We heard that the dance hosts have been eliminated on the Vista class ships recently, and that the rest may be gone as well in the future. Maybe someday HAL will update their choice of music to the 50's and 60's at least!! And the price of the drinks had gone up a bit. You don't mind if the bartenders poured you a good drink, but most of them did not. The complimentary hors d'oeuvres, hot and cold, were always present in the bars, but if we ate too much of them, then dinner had to be light. And that is hard to do!! Most nights, we enjoyed a quiet drink and snacks with computer music we down-loaded at home.

 

The special Mariner parties were the best. We were able to order our drinks, instead of having the limited choice of wine or champagne. And we rarely had to ask for a second one........they just appeared! The hot and cold hors d'oeuvres were different at every party. The waiters passed them so frequently, that we almost did not need to go to dinner! We were surprised at the medal awarding ceremony, that only the new inductees received a medal. On previous trips, we all got a medal to wear. Guess they are cutting back.

 

This is probably a good time to mention that HAL needs to create an awards programs, such as other cruise lines now have. Give us a real goal to strive for like complimentary internet, clothes pressing and free laundry, or a few hours of telephone time to call home. That would be much more attractive than a pin and a medal. Everyone that we talked to about the lack of incentives, agreed that with all of the competition from other cruise lines, HAL needs to re-access their perks. The ones that get some of these perks are the passengers who paid dearly for a suite on deck seven. That creates a two-class shipboard experience, in our minds.

 

We didn't visit the beauty salon often, but from what we heard from other guests, their services were very expensive. We would guess that most treatments and services were double of what one would pay at home. And in a lot of large cities, many people would get haircuts, manicures, massages,and nail fills on shore. Sydney, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Malaysia,and India were good places for these services.

 

The swimming pool areas do need a facelift, in regards to their furniture. The plastic lounges and small tables around the pool were stained and some were falling apart. There were always plenty of towels, because the number of passengers that actually used the pool area was relatively small. On most cruises with seven to fourteen days, the pools would be filled with kids and parents. We did not have that on this trip. We started out with seven kids, and ended up with five very polite young girls. The majority of their time during seadays was dedicated to school time. What a way to go!! Lucky kids!

 

The bar service at the pools was there, but never intrusive. You may be asked once if you want a drink, then left alone to enjoy the outdoors. On other cruises, we have almost had to wear a t-shirt saying no thank you to the dozens of bar staff selling cocktails.

 

The shore excursions we booked before the trip were pretty good, for the most part. We had some of the best lunch tours in Europe, specifically Turkey, Greece, Italy and France. Local wines were included, and they flowed freely. A few of our tours had been cancelled, so our shipboard account was credited. But we were able to re-book new ones with no problem. Some of the tours, we cancelled, but were not charged a 10% fee, if we re-booked another one in its place. And there were a few places that the tours were below standard. One place that comes to mind is American Samoa. The guides on the local buses knew very little, and left the major explanations up to one woman, who was on bus # one. By the time the other ten buses caught up with bus # one, she was done. Anyway, our complaints were read, and addressed by saying that we got what we paid for, since the tour was cheap. The Israeli tour guides left a lot to be desired also. But that was the luck of the draw. Some of our friends had good guides, we did not. The timing of our visit there was a bad one, since we hit land there at Easter Week. Their resources were already stretched at that point. As for the pricing of the tours, we figured they were double of what you would pay independantly. But in some foreign countries, where we do not speak the language, and where you cannot expect everything to run on schedule, we would never take a chance to do a tour on our own. Remember, if you are late getting back to the ship, the Captain will not wait for your return, unless you are with a HAL tour. And, yes, this did happen occassionally to some passengers who did it on their own. Personally, we do not need the stress!

 

This ship was clean, really clean. The staff was always working cleaning windows, vacuuming, bussing tables in the Lido, polishing brass railings, and cleaning public bathrooms. The added Purell stations, as well as the hydrogen peroxide wipes, helped to keep illnesses down.

 

The Captain ran a tight ship, even though we seldom saw him. His wife, Appolonia, was the friendliest spouse we have met. She tagged along as the backup on most all of the long shore excursions. And if you were lucky enough to have her on the bus, you were guaranteed a good time. We did get to know him a bit more at the Captain's Dinner, when he joined us for cocktails. One thing we noticed about the dinner this year, was that the photo of our group was not complimentary as in 2005. Hmmm, another cutback. Fekko Ebbens, the next in command, was honored on several occassions because this was his last voyage before retiring. The activity staff were a lot of fun. They kept us entertained during sea days with walking, volleyball, basketball, shuffleboard, trivia, bingo, and many other fun activities. Earning Dam Dollars was even more fun!

 

So, there's our 2 cents worth! Would we do a world cruise again??? You betcha! And God willing, we will shoot for 2009!

 

Until then, bye for now!

 

Bill & Mary Ann

[TENNCruisers]

Bill and Mary Ann,

 

We agree with your final comments on the HAL 2007 GWV. They are worth a lot more than the 2 cents you mention.

 

We were on Deck 7 and the towels were soft, but as you say we paid for that luxury.

 

Regarding Ms Maui and her Lazy Boy Chair, that subject came up when we sat at the same table with her and her husband at one of the lunches that HAL put on for Deck 7 passengers. We were impressed when she said that the Lazy Boy came aboard with the rest of her luggage. We were even more impressed when she announced that on the 2008 World Cruise she was bringing two Lazy Boys on board so that both she and her husband could cruise in comfort.

 

We want to thank you for your coverage of the HAL 2007 GWV on www.cruisecritic.com . Your reports showed that you put a lot of thought into what you wrote and we enjoyed reading them as we cruised along with you.

 

Orlin and Barbara:)

[WCB]

Hi Barbara and Orlin,

 

It sure was a wonderful trip wasn't it? We don't remember ever sailing for so many days with such agreeable weather and smooth seas. What luck!

 

You also did a great job on your blog. We enjoyed reading it......it brought back a lot of memories. Great pictures!

 

Hope to see you on another Dam ship someday!!

 

Happy travels,

 

Bill & Mary Ann

[Spinner2]

Thanks to both you "World Cruise Blogger Teams" for your interesting reports. I've enjoyed them both immensely!

[WCB]

Spinner2,

Thanks for your kind words! We hope to do it again!

 

Bill & Mary Ann

[Aussie Gal]

Bill and Mary and Orlin and Barbara,

 

I feel that I know all of you so well as I have been reading both lots of postings since you left way back in January. It has taken me around the world to a lot of places we have visited and to ones we hope to visit in the future.

 

Thanks for the time and effort that has gone into all the writing. It was a marathon job and I know you have all reached out to so many cruisers who want and hope to do either a part or whole world cruise one day in the future.

 

I am as sorry as you that it has come to an end. Best of luck to the four of you and continue to have good health and great cruises.

 

Jennie

[WCB]

Greetings Aussie Gal,

 

Your nice words are most appreciated! And we want to thank you for your ongoing comments along the way. You helped add the personal touch to many of the ports we visited, especially in your backyard, Australia!

 

Yes, we feel that we know you well too!

 

Bill & Mary Ann

[Grumpy1]

Greetings Aussie Gal,

 

Your nice words are most appreciated! And we want to thank you for your ongoing comments along the way. You helped add the personal touch to many of the ports we visited, especially in your backyard, Australia!

 

Yes, we feel that we know you well too!

 

Bill & Mary Ann

One of our favorite memories of the 2005 world cruise was meeting Aussie Gal and being shown around Melbourne by her. We were so fascinated by our conversations that I only took a couple of pictures. I guess we'll have to go back for more pictures.:)

[Love Cruises]

Bill and Mary Ann,

Orlin and Barbara,

 

Thank you so much for both of your great sites. I couldn't wait each day to log on and check them out. You all have a fantastic gift for writing and did a thorough job in keeping us informed and wanting to come back for more. I miss it a lot now but can't wait to look again in the future and find you all summarzing another cruise. Until then...

[KathieKata]

Grumpy.......I was looking around for you on the boards and knew I'd fine you hanging around on a thread about a World Cruise.

How have you been?? How's Slinky?? Bet you can't wait to get on your June Cruise!!

[Grumpy1]

Grumpy.......I was looking around for you on the boards and knew I'd fine you hanging around on a thread about a World Cruise.

 

How have you been?? How's Slinky?? Bet you can't wait to get on your June Cruise!!

Hi Kathie.. Good to hear from you. Yes, we like to check out the World Cruise threads, and especially this one as we got to know Bill and MaryAnn on the 2005 WC.

 

Slinkie and I are both doing well and, yes, we are looking forward to the New England/Canada cruise in June and Western Med in August. Our feet have been on dry land too long already..:D

[WCB]

Hi LoveCruises,

 

Thank you!! We miss being on the ship already! So we have just booked an Alaskan cruise on her for seven days in July. Should be fun seeing everyone again, as our travel group of 418 passengers will be onboard.

 

Grumpy and Slinkie,

 

Glad to hear that you are doing well and are ready to get your feet wet again. Will you be going on a world cruise again in the future? Sure would be nice to see you all!

 

Bill and Mary Ann

[Johnny B]

Bill and Mary Ann,

Are you on the July 27 Amsterdam cruise? The 20th anniversary one?

We are, and are really looking forward to it. We've also begun a thread on it, but it doesn't seem to be going anywhere.

 

If you're on that one, we'll see you at the "Gala Dinner" the night before.

[WCB]

Hi JohnnyB,

 

Yes, we just booked yesterday for the July 27th Alaskan cruise.

 

We will see you at the Gala Dinner in Seattle. We were told that there are 418 in our group! Should be fun!!

 

Bill & Mary Ann

[CruisinTexans]

Mary Ann and Bill,

 

I second what you heard about the entertainment. It was not good, or at least not to our tastes, and not as good as on the 2005 WC. The crew was fantastic as is usual for Holland America. We did get a little homesick when we visited the Prinsendam in Dubrovnik. I really love the size of that ship even though the cabins are more modern on the Amsterdam. I missed the walk-in closet. Our suite on the Amsterdam didn't have nearly as much storage space as or SS on the Prinsendam.

 

We aren't doing the 2008 and have no plans to go on the 2009. We might do a segment or two of a world cruise again, but it takes such a chunk of time out of the year (not to mention the chunk of money), and we have so many other things we want to do that I really doubt we will ever do another full world cruise.

 

By the way the couple with the lazy boy had 36 other pieces of luggage at the end of the cruise. They are really a nice couple. We met them on the 2005 cruise and they were at our table on this cruise. The chief engineer sat at our table one evening and when I made some remark about the lazy boy the officer looked at her and said "oh, so your the one".

 

Mark, the security officer sat at our table during the first half of the cruise before he moved to your table. I am really jealous. He was a nice guy, but I guess he likes living on the edge at a wild table more than being with our cultured, more refined table.

 

Enjoyed getting to know you all a little better on this cruise and hope we sail together again sometime.

 

Leslie & Handler

[Johnny B]

Bill and Mary Ann -

We have some questions that don't seem to have been addressed yet.

I know that our gratuities are included, but what does that mean in terms of what you actually gave your stewards above and beyond? Also, how much good old US cash did you take, and what denominations would you recommend? I'm sure we have more questions, but that will do us for now.

Thanks,

John and Diane

[Grumpy1]

Glad to hear that you are doing well and are ready to get your feet wet again. Will you be going on a world cruise again in the future? Sure would be nice to see you all!

 

Bill and Mary Ann

Nothing planned at the present time, but you never know... I tend to do things on the spur of the moment at times.

[WCB]

HI Leslie and Handler,

We agree.............the closet space was way too small for formal clothes on the Amsterdam. We were surprised to see the same closet configuration when we attended a birthday party in our friend's suite on deck seven. The walk-in closet on the Prinsendam was much better.

Wow! Thirty-six pieces of luggage for Phyllis and her husband? They must have brought their whole house with them, and bought a lot on this trip.

We understand that the officers that joined us for dinner were given table assignments. If they did not choose to attend, they sent wine anyway.

Hope to see you both again!

 

Bill & Mary Ann

[WCB]

Hi Johnny B,

 

We did leave our waiters and room steward extra tips, because they were the best and most attentive fellows we have had.

Our bar bill had the 15% gratuity, and we sat at the bar, and did not feel the need to leave more. Still, this is up to each person to determine the tipping. It depended on how well you were taken care of.

As for bringing money, we found the best solution was travelers checks. The front desk never seemed to run out of money. However, on some trips, we have brought smaller bills with us, just in case.

 

Grumpy,

 

We are like you...........we like to do some trips at the spur of the moment, like the Alaskan trip on July 27th. Never thought we would be going there this summer!

Hope to see you again sometime in the near future!

Bill & Mary Ann