Spanieleyes

Update on our HAL transfer to Schipol Airport - horrendous!! Our flight was at 1pm and HAL booked us on the transfer which met INSIDE the ship at 9.15am so we asked to be swapped to the earliest transfer at 8am. Very disorganised assistance and unhelpful getting off ship and onto coach. Just about to get to airport when the driver announced that since January, buses now have to drop off at Arrivals and not Departures! We discovered that there are no Assistance in Arrivals and the only advice the airport staff gave my husband was to direct him to Departures. All the while he was running about trying to sort this out, we were stranded on the path (a fair walk from the terminal) with our luggage and no seats for our elderly parents to sit on. Fortunately the driver was a saviour and he manage to find an abandoned airport wheelchair for my 92 year old father in law. After about 20 minutes my husband found his way back through the thousands and thousands of poor people who had clearly been queuing for hours!! The driver then showed us where the lifts etc were so we could get to Departures, as Assistance wouldn’t come out to where we were dropped in Arrivals!! We will never beable to thank the driver enough for his help.
 

My frustration at all of this was that I point blank asked the Guest Services lady if the HAL transfer drops passengers off at their correct Terminal Departures, (so we could access Assistance), and she looked me in the eye and said ‘yes madam all passengers are dropped off at the same place’. 
 

Had we known how poor HAL are at helping passengers with assistance, we would have booked a private transfer. But when we booked our trip, we stupidly believed HAL’s assurances that this was the best and safest way to travel with family who needed assistance. Lesson Learned!!
 

Thanks for all the replies. We are from the U.K. and our booking is a full package whereby HAL booked everything, and are responsible for everything from us departing from U.K. airport to arriving back to U.K. airport, including transfers (Atol certified and protected). Everything is actually through HAL’s U.K. offices, and part of the incentive to book the whole package with them, was the assurance from them that they deal with everything. (I even had to complete a form from them with wheelchair dimensions etc for the transfer.) The airport assistance when actually at Schipol is organised and has been double checked by my TA, it’s just  getting from the ship to the Airport has me worried and I would be interested to know if where they drop you, is near to Schipol Special Assistance Kiosks? Thanks

Has anyone had any experience of disembarking ship at Amsterdam and going to Schipol please, using special assistance? We had booked transfers with HAL and our arrival transfer to the ship was a horrid nightmare! We complained to Guest Services and they just seem to want to blame our TA, even though we have full paper records of all communications between our TA, ourselves and HAL. (Our TA has also spoken to HAL head office, whilst we are still on the cruise and they have apologised and accepted their error.)

We now leave our ship on Sunday morning and they have given us 9.15am disembarking and our flight leaves at 1pm!! I have tried to find out where the coach will drop us as we need to find the airport Special Assistance kiosks, but all I can get from Guest Services is that we all get dropped in the same place and the rest is not their problem. Absolutely dreading it now. Thanks for any advice or information on here.

Thanks for all your replies, and good to know it’s ok. Also interesting how different cruise companies do things in different ways. Thanks again 😁.

We are currently on our first cruise with HAL, but have previously cruised with Royal Caribbean, Celebrity and Princess. After registering our credit card against our onboard account, HAL have done a preauthorisation in excess of $750 on our 2nd day of a 7 day cruise. Our current onboard account stands at only -$30. All the previous cruises we have done have done a daily authorisation of whatever our account stood at, at the end of each day. Can I ask regular HAL cruisers, does this sounds normal please? Thanks for any guidance. 

A huge thank you for everyone's advice as each post was extremely helpful, and covered things I hadn't even thought of.  We have decided to buy a lightweight wheelchair to take with us, and organise airport assistance.  At least that way, we are covered for the days that he is not mobile and they can both thoroughly enjoy their first cruise.  Thank you again.

We have cruised with several other companies in the past, and this year we will be going on our first cruise with HAL to the Norwegian Fjords, leaving from Amsterdam.  My in-laws will be coming with us and my father-in-law has recently started having some mobility issues, so we will organise airport assistance.  However, we just wondered if anyone knows if HAL offer a service of hiring a wheelchair or mobility scooter whilst onboard ship, should it become necessary. Many thanks.    

I have been looking at the Holland America 7 Day Norse Legends for either 24th May 2020 or 21st June 2020 sailings.  Ideally we would do a 14 night cruise, but my inlaws preference is a 7 night cruise for their first one so we are happy to do that.  This one goes to Geiranger, Alesund, Bergen and Eidfjord, but there doesn't seem to be one that goes to Flam and Geiranger on the 7 night cruise.  I'm hoping that I'll be able to find out if the new regulations will affect this cruise.

Thank you for all your advice, it is greatly appreciated.  

We are taking my in-laws on what will be their first ever cruise, and I would appreciate any suggestions please.  They would like to visit the Norwegian Fjords, and after researching the various itineraries and cruise companies, I am still a little unsure which would be best??  Is there a particular cruise line or itinerary that is recommended for the Fjords?  My mother in law is also a bit worried about sea sickness, so from our own personal experience of cruising (and sickness), we think the very small ships are to be avoided.  We have cruised with Royal Caribbean, Celebrity and Princess so far, and for this one have been leaning towards Holland America a little, but would definitely appreciate any advice before we book.

I have also read somewhere that the regulations are changing for the Fjord cruises, so is it likely that there will be last minute itinerary changes?  Many thanks.  

Everyone knows prices differ all over the world and it can work in your favour or against you, and yes that's life. But that's very different to non-refundable deposits, charges for making changes and not being able to access any price drops. Why should we have to try find a reputable T/A in another country to avoid this? Personally, we like to sit face to face with a t/a, and if there are any problems later on, we can go sit back in front of them again until it's resolved. (Believe me, spending months speaking to the Customer Services in India, of one of the largest holiday companies, trying to correct an error of their making, really makes you think twice about booking online or over the phone again. :()

We personally aren't complaining about possible price differences between countries, it's just about having the same administrative system as others that's all. I would be curious to know how many US cruisers use UK based travel agents?

Bit of a random question but we've recently been wondering if we should have booked 2 cruises instead of just the 1, whilst onboard. Would that take away any issues of whether you can get the price adjustments or not? I realise that you wouldn't necessarily be able to keep the same cabin number and it's reliant on there being availability in the same category, but would it be better to have half a chance than no chance of getting any price drops? Hope my questions makes sense :D.

I'm not so sure UK bookings are as complex as is being made out. What I suspect is that some members are confused and their posts are causing a lot more confusion than you'd get if talking with Celebrity directly. There's clearly some misunderstanding on this thread.

 

Maybe a stickied guide to UK vs US bookings would be beneficial if administered and updated by a reliable member would be of great benefit to those who don't understand the fairly involved differences between the two. :)

Respectfully, I'm afraid I don't agree with saying "some members are confused and their posts are causing a lot more confusion" especially without having first hand knowledge of their situations. There was certainly no confusion with our price drop experience and our invoices etc. prove that. What I will say is that X are not always consistent.

When our t/a initially contacted X about "unlimited free changes if booked onboard ship" Celebrity UK didn't know what she was talking about and insisted any alterations to a booking (no matter where it was booked) would cost £75pp. She had to send them a copy of the T's&C's we got whilst booking onboard. So before we booked our cruise onboard this time, I did ask the sales staff about this and they said that sometimes when the terms and conditions alter, it takes a little while for those changes to filter to the UK offices and into their staff training. Maybe this is why there are inconsistencies in peoples' experiences?

So after the price drop, you kept the same reservation number for the onboard booking and then X sent a new invoice with the lower price and all your previous perks, correct? Was your booking for a suite?

 

What usually happens is that you move the onboard reservation to a future cruise and then obtain a new booking at the lower rate - thus resulting, in effect, having 2 bookings.

 

So basically we have, just on this thread, a wide range of replies for UK price drops: OBC, refunds in the form of cheques, upgrades and now (it appears) reduced invoices - and that’s only a very small percentage of UK pax. This is another reason why I prefer booking in the US: at least I know exactly where I stand regarding reservations - unlike the complete hash that appears to be happening over here now :rolleyes:.

Yes we kept the exact same booking reference and the 2 perks from the original booking. They adjusted the price down and issued an updated invoice.

I can totally understand why you would book in the US and we’ve considered doing the same thing. Nothing about booking in the UK is consistent is it and it’s so frustrating. :(

Suggest you read Section 10 Future Cruises (Onboard Booking ) - UK Terms & Conditions

"Guests who wish to take advantage of a new UK market promotion/benefits at a later date, whilst keeping the same ship and sail date will have to cancel (at loss of deposit or applicable cancellation charges) and rebook to access the benefits of the new promotion. The unlimited free changes apply to changing ship and/or sail date only"

 

I equally have received a concessionary benefit when a large price drop occurred but it was in the form of obc not a reduction in the cruise fare, maybe that is what you received. These T&C are current and readily accessible via the Celebrity website.

As I said previously, I have read the T's & C's and I have several copies, which where give to me by the cruise sales staff whilst onboard ship. They also came with the documentation of the new booking. Several months after we returned home there was huge price drop so our t/a spoke to Celebrity. Our invoice was then adjusted to the new lower price and and no it was definitely not in the form of obc.

That is incorrect. You are allowed to change sail date or cruise as many times as you wish without charge. You can’t retain a booking and benefit from a price drop on that sailing. Read the U.K. terms and conditions for onboard bookings.

Believe me, I have read the T&C's thoroughly, and I can only speak from our experience. Last year there was a large price drop on our cruise, and we were allowed to do it.

We have found that the only way to definitely benefit from price drops and unlimited free changes (before final payment date), is by booking the cruise whilst onboard doing another cruise. Even if we aren't sure where we want to go, we book a cruise that we think we MAY like to do, and can relax knowing that if we do change our minds when we get home, then we can change it as many times as we like, and have nothing to pay. When booking in the UK there is a £75 per person charge every time we make a change to the booking which has always made us think twice before booking. The staff on the ships seem very well aware of the frustrations.

Do Celebrity release cabins for sale at different stages in the year? We are looking at a cruise in late 2019 and I was surprised at how many cabins are not available for booking already. I understand that some destinations are more popular than others, and so it may actually be booked up so far in advance. I am also booking on the UK website and wondered if we see the same cabin availability as the US websites does?

Thanks for all of your thoughts and info, they've been very helpful :D. We have just arrived home from 10 days on the Constellation and loved it!! The crew were fantastic and so friendly, and although the ship is also looking a little tired, it didn't stop us from having a great holiday. We booked the Canada & New England sailing 09/08/19 whilst onboard, which looks to have a good itinerary. The only question mark hanging over it now is whether to move it to the later sailing? Quite a few of the US and Canadian passengers said that going a little later will give us more of a chance of seeing it at its most beautiful.

Lucky you SpanielEyes! I just checked Vacations to Go for this itinerary with Celebrity, since it allows searching by portstop which most CL websites do not. Not sure I have found the same thing going forward.... Have your cruises originated in Barcelona?

We sailed out of Venice and we end there as well. It’s been a great itinerary and would definitely recommend it. Celebrity do have similar itineraries on some later cruises, with the exception of the overnight in Dubrovnik. There is one on 27th Sept 2018, also 31st May 2019 and 28 June 2019. Hope that helps :D Can you tell I’ve been looking at all the future cruises so that I can book our next one whilst still onboard!

We are currently onboard the Constellation, and looking to book our next cruise. We are considering a cruise out of Cape Liberty upto Canada on the Summit and wondered what she is like? We have also been told she is having a re-fit next year and wondered if that was true?

Spanieleyes, I am curious to know which cruise you are doing that spends two days in Dubrovnik, and also Zadar and Kotor. I might want to do that one day myself!

We are actually on the cruise now, (Celebrity Constellation) and coincidently are just about to port in Dubrovnik for 2 days. We left Venice on the 28th May. The other cruise we did, which overnighted in Dunbrovnik, was also Celebrity. It’s been a great cruise so far and excellent Itinerary so would definitely recommend it.

Whilst on our cruise later this month, we will be in Dubrovnik for 2 days. We have spent a similar time on a previous cruise here as well, and had a lovely time exploring the city, walking the wall, the cable car and also took a boat trip. This time we are considering travelling outside the city and wondered about Cavtat, or Mostar? Or does anyone have any recommendations? (We are also porting in Zadar and Kotor on the days either side of Dubrovnik)

Any advice would be appreciated, many thanks.

I just wondered if anyone has any recent experience with tendering on the Constellation? Are they still issuing tender tickets on the morning of the tendered port, and if so, where are they issued? We were on the Millennium last year and we had to queue for tickets in the shopping area, and just wondered if it's the same on the Constellation? Thanks.

Thank you for all the great replies, they have been a great help :D. I really appreciate it.

We have ported in Koper before and did a fantastic tour that included Vintgar Gorge, Lake Bled and Ljubljana. We are now wondering which trip to do on or cruise next year, and wondered if anyone has any recommendations. Many thanks.