A new HAL Blog! (Yes, I'm a HAL employee!)

[legalslave]

DBA-happy to hear you had a good cruise-even though it was probably too short! Please thank Steve for taking the photos. I've visited his website many times. Thanks for the report on the new pier. I am more at ease now knowing it's not as crazy as everyone thought it would be. Welcome home!

 

Diane

[legalslave]

Forgot to ask--A friend of mine will be traveling with her mother who is in a wheelchair. When they get to Pier 91 for the Westerdam, will they have to stand in the line to check in or will they be allowed to just check in without waiting in the line? Appreciate your help!

 

Diane

[RuthC]

Forgot to ask--A friend of mine will be traveling with her mother who is in a wheelchair. When they get to Pier 91 for the Westerdam, will they have to stand in the line to check in or will they be allowed to just check in without waiting in the line?

I don't know how it's done in Seattle, but I can say that HAL makes every effort to make check-in as easy as possible for those in a wheelchair.

I have two recent experiences in Ft. Lauderdale and Tampa. In each case there was a separate line for the disabled. I was wheeled up, checked in, and pushed along very quickly.

[Old As Dirt Mom]

From my observation this past weekend at Pier 91: In Seattle, for those needing extra assistance and/or in wheelchairs, there is an elevator from the ground floor entrance to the second floor security and check-in desks, as well as a separate, designated check-in once you are on the second floor.

[brewster007]

The Noordam Coordinator is Jeff Beck. Contact Ship Services at: 800-541-1576

 

Thank you!

 

Brewster

[legalslave]

Thanks much for the quick replies!

 

Diane

[Kween Karen]

I hear the Amsterdam is in a short dry dock. What will be done to her? Maybe she will be nice and fresh by the time I board in September!

[Old As Dirt Mom]

Dutch, I want to say a big "thank you" for your excellent coverage on your blog of the 3-day Amsterdam cruise you (and I) were just on. Great photos! They will really help folks to visualize Pier 91.

 

Dank u wel! Thanks much, Dutch!:)

[DutchByAssociation]

From my observation this past weekend at Pier 91: In Seattle, for those needing extra assistance and/or in wheelchairs, there is an elevator from the ground floor entrance to the second floor security and check-in desks, as well as a separate, designated check-in once you are on the second floor.

 

Ditto :)

[DutchByAssociation]

I hear the Amsterdam is in a short dry dock. What will be done to her? Maybe she will be nice and fresh by the time I board in September!

 

The main things I am aware of are:

Addition of Canaletto

Rearrangement and some new equipment for the Casino

New decking around the aft pool

 

Of course, all of the standard dry dock stuff (carpets, any necessary AC/plumbing work, etc) will take place too.

[DutchByAssociation]

Dutch, I want to say a big "thank you" for your excellent coverage on your blog of the 3-day Amsterdam cruise you (and I) were just on. Great photos! They will really help folks to visualize Pier 91.

 

Dank u wel! Thanks much, Dutch!:)

 

My pleasure.

 

I've now made it through to Vancouver morning which I will post about in detail in a few hours.

[Himself]

Sir:

Please pardon my ignorance but what is a "canaletto"?

[kjw869]

Sir:

Please pardon my ignorance but what is a "canaletto"?

 

 

 

 

 

Per HAL's Website:

 

Canaletto Restaurant

Named for the famous 18th-century Venetian artist, the award winning Canaletto Restaurant, adjacent to the Lido Restaurant dining area, serves classic Italian fare with tableside service for dinners only. Deputing on Holland America Line's first Signature-class ship, ms Eurodam, this popular restaurant is now being added to the following ships:

 

• ms Oosterdam – Apr 2009
  
• ms Veendam – Apr. 2009
  
• ms Amsterdam – May 2009
  
• ms Noordam – May 2009
  
• ms Rotterdam – Dec. 2009
  
• ms Ryndam – Feb. 2010
  
• ms Statendam – Apr. 2010
  

[GeriatricNurse]

The main things I am aware of are:

Addition of Canaletto

Rearrangement and some new equipment for the Casino

New decking around the aft pool

 

Of course, all of the standard dry dock stuff (carpets, any necessary AC/plumbing work, etc) will take place too.

 

 

 

Was any consideration/thought given to ENCLOSING the casino so the drifting of smoke from same would be eliminated, (as was done on X M-Class ships)?

[DutchByAssociation]

Was any consideration/thought given to ENCLOSING the casino so the drifting of smoke from same would be eliminated, (as was done on X M-Class ships)?

 

I'm providing the information I know geriatric nurse. I'm unaware of any type of "enclosing" but I am also not in the planning decisions for such things.

[sail7seas]

Per HAL's Website:

 

Canaletto Restaurant

Named for the famous 18th-century Venetian artist, the award winning Canaletto Restaurant, adjacent to the Lido Restaurant dining area, serves classic Italian fare with tableside service for dinners only. Deputing on Holland America Line's first Signature-class ship, ms Eurodam, this popular restaurant is now being added to the following ships:

 

• ms Oosterdam – Apr 2009
  
• ms Veendam – Apr. 2009
  
• ms Amsterdam – May 2009
  
• ms Noordam – May 2009
  
• ms Rotterdam – Dec. 2009
  
• ms Ryndam – Feb. 2010
  
• ms Statendam – Apr. 2010
  

 

 

Maasdam isn't getting Canaletto but her sisters all are? I would think she gets one also at her 2011 dry dock??

[DutchByAssociation]

Maasdam isn't getting Canaletto but her sisters all are? I would think she gets one also at her 2011 dry dock??

 

Correct. These are being put in during drydocks.

[Copper10-8]

Maasdam isn't getting Canaletto but her sisters all are? I would think she gets one also at her 2011 dry dock??

 

Maybe she's been left off that list because there are plans to put her up for sail, I mean 'sale', S7S:eek:

Sorry j/k, couldn't help myself:p

[Chelly]

Dutch, Do you know if the Oosterdam got a movie theater during dry dock or are movies still shown in Queen's Lounge? Thanks for all you do for CC. We're lucky to have you onboard. C

[Pettifogger]

DBA:

 

Another question about fixed dining, but for many of us, getting or not getting fixed dining makes or breaks our cruise.

 

It seems to me that As You Wish Dining was a wonderful idea that's not working out as well as we might have hoped. To give passengers the choice between flexible and fixed dining seems like a stroke of genius until one learns that for many passengers the choice is frequently illusory. Somehow a cruise line that seems to have done the impossible in most respects, like providing premium dining and premium service at an affordable price when most other cruise lines do not, seems strangely unable to provide fixed dining for all of the passengers who desire it.

 

We Cruise Critic people know that if we beg, plead, cajole and, if necessary, whine our way up the chain of command, we're likely to get fixed dining, but newcomers to cruising don't and may go away from their cruise thinking that they mistakenly booked a mass market cruise when they didn't. Anyone who thinks the no one would walk away from superior food and service, just because they were unwilling to take the risk that a number of their evening meals would be spoiled by insufferable chance dinner companions, is wrong, because I would and I expect that there are others like me.

 

In trying to figure out how this could happen, it occurred to me that fixed dining might be being reserved as a perk for suite passengers, early bookers, and a few other preferred passengers, but I discarded that notion because it would surely cause more problems than it would solve. The suite passengers deserve the other perks they get, because they probably subsidize the cruises of the rest of us to some extent, and most of those perks are just harmless additional treats. But excluding other passengers from fixed dining would have a negative effect on those excluded which those other perks do not.

 

It's not even a matter of distributing a limited number of fixed dining places. Providing more places for those who want them would cost nothing because all the headwaiter has to do is change the designation of one or more tables on his chart from flexible to fixed and immediately eight or more passengers are delighted. To provide a superior cruise experience to many passengers at no added cost seems like something any cruise line would want to do. The dining room manager doesn't even have to risk offending any of the preferred fixed dining passengers by contaminating their dining room with ordinary folk, since the re-designated tables would still be located in the flexible dining area

 

All of which is a rather long preamble to a short question; why can't an otherwise exceptionally well run cruise line provide fixed dining for all of the passengers who want it?

[DutchByAssociation]

Dutch, Do you know if the Oosterdam got a movie theater during dry dock or are movies still shown in Queen's Lounge? Thanks for all you do for CC. We're lucky to have you onboard. C

 

Yes, Oosterdam has a Screening Room. Just like Zuiderdam and Eurodam

[mariner]

Isn't it really CanaLIDO?

[GeriatricNurse]

Yes, Oosterdam has a Screening Room. Just like Zuiderdam and Eurodam

 

 

Some "Screening Room"! All of 36 seats on the Eurodam, on one level, so that one can watch the movies looking through (or around) someone's head! Reminds me of watching movies in the "Wajang Theatre" Plus, many folding chairs were carried into the back of the "Screening Room" on the Eurodam to accommodate all the people in the room! Must have been comfortable seating for them through the movie!!!

[m steve]

i read that it is non smoking. My partner smokes and we enjoyed the bartenders there who not only remembered our favorites but made little gifts for us and others from champagne lids, origami with our names and theirs on it as well as joining others at the bar. Are there going to be other places where you can get a drink, have music and a smoke before and after dinner or will we just have to stay on our balcony until it's time for dinner? The recent cruises we took had a survey that was so weighted against smokers that it was a joke and we expected further limitations. We have stopped sailing with Celebrity because of their new rules.

[GeriatricNurse]

i read that it is non smoking. My partner smokes and we enjoyed the bartenders there who not only remembered our favorites but made little gifts for us and others from champagne lids, origami with our names and theirs on it as well as joining others at the bar. Are there going to be other places where you can get a drink, have music and a smoke before and after dinner or will we just have to stay on our balcony until it's time for dinner? The recent cruises we took had a survey that was so weighted against smokers that it was a joke and we expected further limitations. We have stopped sailing with Celebrity because of their new rules.

 

 

 

Crow's Nest starboard side, perhaps?