YYC F/A

What an unreasonable comment!  "Shame on your TA for not knowing the requirements" - well actually the requirements are still not even known... Historically Japan has offered a visa-waiver for most of Europe, Canada, US etc. but they have suspended the Visa Waiver program because officially the border is still closed to tourism visits.  How is their TA supposed to know of what the Japanese government may or may not decide in the weeks and months to come with respect of border closures and visas versus visa-waivers?  

International Travel Restrictions - borders closed to individual travelers

Japan reopened its borders to travelers on guided tours from June 10, but remains closed to individual travelers. It remains unknown when individual travelers will be able to enter the country again.

I believe Devils Island, Venezuela also counts as a far foreign port, however other than the ABC islands I believe this is the only Caribbean island stop that qualifies for the PVSA exception.

1 hour ago, Heidi13 said:

 

Even if Viking relax their quarantine policy, the final decision rests with the local authorities of the ports you visit.

The ports of call have no over riding right to demand that the line offloads those with a suspected positive test.

Certainly the ports / local jurisdictions have the right to refuse the vessel visitation or allow anyone off, but they don’t have a right to demand people get offloaded (nor I think would they really want to!).

As other lines such as Silversea are doing on their longer itineraries and world cruise, there is the option for the line to isolate onboard and retest later, and only offload those to accepting ports/medical facilities ashore that have more severe symptoms / illness rather than those asymptomatic or mild cold symptoms. 

Our group on Koningsdam last week were given our PCR tests on the day before disembarkation around 8am in the Medical Centre onboard. We got our results and the official certificate under our stateroom door about lunchtime and was able to continue with the ArriveCAN and get all that done 24 hours prior.

There was no charge for the test, it was done by appointment onboard with no waiting, and it was quick and efficient. Overall a thumbs up to HAL for handling this so well for the Canadian travellers in our contingent. 

15 hours ago, Hlitner said:

 

One problem with HAL is that the amenities that come with the top suites is terribly lacking when compared to many other lines such as MSC, Celebrity, NCL, and even RCI.

 

Hank

I completely agree. After experiencing Celebrity Apex, and seeing the amazing Retreat for suites and the fantastic offering, the HAL Neptune Lounge offering hasn’t really evolved in over two decades and pretty much every other cruise line - even mass market lines - have a superior offering for suite guests these days.

The value in Club Orange is clearly for the stateroom upgrade and ironically the cost of the CO daily charge is often less than just paying for those higher categories outright.  So from that perspective I guess one could argue that all the other benefits are just gravy. Because we were using FCCs from a previously suspended voyage, none of our group got any upgrade benefit, but to be honest I don’t think any of us will sail again on HAL anyway - certainly not in next couple of years, so we will just be forfeiting the rest of our credits anyway I think. 
 

The Club Orange skip the line for Guest Relations was probably the benefit I used most, largely because it took 3 days of multiple visits to finally straighten out all the errors HAL had made with not assigning prepaid grats, not applying beverage packages correctly, for one person in our group they were overcharged over $700 in first 3 days of cruise alone. So I guess that was something! 😒🧐

One thing I really did appreciate on HAL however (and I still don’t know if this is an exclusive for Club Orange?) was being able to retain the stateroom until 10am on disembarkation day. We all had afternoon flights and the extra 2 hours relaxing and packing up final things and going out for breakfast was a much more civilized end to our trip than being booted out the room at 7.30am-8am like the other lines 🙂

We just returned from Koningsdam as a group of 5 cabins all in Club Orange.

We already had selected and paid in full for the highest Veranda categories and received no adjustment on pricing or any benefit for the upgrade.

Overall I felt the experience was oversold and under delivered.  Some specific examples from the benefits list:

Premium Room Service Breakfast: Club Orange and Neptune Suites now get the exact same significantly cut back breakfast menu as everyone else, including having to pay for Eggs Benny and only one complimentary hot breakfast option which is limited. The only singular difference is that you can order a mimosa. This is poor. The fact that even Neptune Suites and Club Orange can’t even order egg dishes without a la carte fees is tacky and up selling gone too far.

Dedicated Club Orange Concierge: while the marketing speak says they can assist with any and all needs, the reality is different.  When my mother (whom is legally blind) asked the “concierge “ for assistance booking either a taxi or car service for an early morning pick up from port to get to a certain address in the city, she was abruptly told that unless you’ve purchased a HAL excursion that day, they have been told they cannot provide any assistance for ground transportation, car service bookings etc and would not assist her. This is lame, and what exactly is the Concierge benefit when it applies only when booking a HAL tour that day?? HAL needs to read up on what the definition of a Concierge is, this was just poor.

Club Orange robes and slippers etc: Despite three requests because some of the cabins were getting the “normal” breakfast menu and being charged for the mimosas, and some were not given the “Premium plush robes”, two cabins out of our five never did get the robes or slippers in the end. 
 

Club Orange Restaurant: I have mixed feelings on this. We dined here for dinner on two occasions and on both at our table for four they didn’t get our orders correct and some dishes just never came and we gave up on that. I did prefer the more intimate environment but staffing is a big issue. The decision to have bar team members have to run back and forth to a bar to order tiny 250ml bottles of Perrier one at a time for those that prefer sparkling water was absurd as it could take 20 minutes to get another 250ml of water at dinner. Poor processes onboard that are inefficient and impact guest experience.

The monetization and nickel and diming of guests more generally has gone too far on what’s supposed to be a premium line, not MSC or Carnival.  When we saw the poor beleaguered bar staff having to hawk bingo cards around the pool and open decks, my friend remarked “wow, HAL has actually become the Ryanair of the cruise world!” (referencing how flight attendants on Ryanair also have to hawk bingo and scratch cards to a captive audience).  Hardly the moniker I think HAL would like, but someone in the ivory Seattle towers is making poor decisions here that don’t align with the Holland America brand and experience guests expect. 

5 hours ago, Laminator said:

The Rotterdam has a huge slot tournament coming up on what I believe is the Dec 1st cruise. From what I am hearing from a very reliable source is the machines have been installed for that tournament. If you have ever sailed on a cruise where they have these VIP tournaments it is very hard to get near a slot machine as the casino is packed.

So is that why they’re also on Koningsdam then as well?

I should add that to get 2 litres of water similar to a large bottle on the Celebrity Premium package - that will count as four of your 15 drinks on the SBP.

Coffee Baileys from the Dutch Cafe, or any mixed drink requiring a canned mixer, will also count as two drinks. 
 

if you like to stay hydrated and start your morning with a coffee baileys or two, that will be as much as 8 of your 15 drink limits before lunch. 

They’re busy installing even more banks of slots as we speak.

The Ocean Bar has been destroyed, it’s really sad, we sat there hidden in a banquet - not able to see anyone or anything other than annoying slots dinging and flashing loudly. It would be like putting a bunch of random isolated seating arrangements among a casino slot section and calling it a lounge. What a shame. 
 

Just one of many disappointments on boarding HAL. The Suite and Club Orange offerings have also been downgraded, even for suites and club orange with the “enhanced room service menu”, there is only one complimentary hot breakfast dish and everything else (including the only Eggs Benedict) has an additional per dish fee. Even for Neptune suites! So tacky, and for those paying for the Club Orange or SBP etc there is so much overpromising and walk backs or cut backs that don’t match the marketing or advertised inclusions…  as for the all the negative changes to the beverage packages, don’t even get me started. 
 

The F&B manager was very upfront about it, he said their costs have gone up 40-60% for F&B provisioning and guest fares have not gone up (debatable) and so the beverage packages have to be downgraded and the crew have targets to upsell including food items at dinner - whether shrimp cocktail at dinner or hot items on room service etc. 

The packages don’t even work properly as we’ve all been getting charged per drink in our group to our folios, and despite multiple guest relations visits all five cabins still have many incorrect charges. 

It’s been several years since I last sailed HAL but it’s disappointing (and irritating) to be constantly nickel and dimed at every turn.

On 3/30/2020 at 9:49 PM, beach spring said:

Has there been any discussion of consideration of housing, for the purpose of quarantine, these passengers on the empty HAL ships just sitting at anchor offshore?  Yes, they will need crews and medical personnel, supplies, etc. but the whole operation could be kept in-house, so to speak.  No need to bring anyone ashore until either past their quarantine time or beyond the level of care that can be provided on a ship.  If crew members have been used to take meals to staterooms, why not use crew to ferry whatever or whoever is needed to these ships?  Use maybe more than one idle ship in order to spread out the numbers, social distancing.

Ships are far from ideal environments to mitigate infections. That's been demonstrated with Diamond Princess that pretty much did some variant of what you propose, and the ship was an astounding incubator of the virus. Additionally, ships limited numbers of nurses and doctors (I believe 8 and 6 respectively on Z now after transfer from R) and the ship's onboard medical center are not built to house a 2+ week coronavirus treatment hospital.

5 minutes ago, Just_Westy said:

 

So what happens when some passengers returns a positive for Covid19 ?

Given the ship has been in defacto quarantine seeing as she's been out at sea for 12 days now with no stops, no new passengers boarding, no one getting sick - I think given they've almost done the 14-day quarantine period, that this possibility is remote.  HAL is temperature checking guests onboard, and no fevers, no flu-like symptoms have been reported, and further checks will be done once again once they are anchored off-shore before they are permitted to pull alongside and finally disembark.

Kudos to the Westerdam crew in this challenging time, as well as - for the most part - the great spirit of the guests aboard.

ms Westerdam will be escorted to a military base near Laem Chabang to allow for refuelling and re-provisioning of the vessel only, and while negotiations between authorities including Canada, US, Netherlands and WHO continue with Thailand. This has been announced onboard to all guests and the ship is expected to arrive at the base tomorrow morning. 

To provide a quick update: 

The issues apparently impacted all the guests that bought the package on this cruise, I believe this is only the first cruise with this new package.  The Asst Bar Manager called all guests and he gave a very comprehensive overview of the package, the 2 x bottle of wines are apparently at discretion of the Cellarmaster Sommelier up to a value of $60/bottle.  The wine tasting event will be held later in the week in the MDR.

Overall, the package is a good value if you'd normally by the Premium package.  There is however no way to upgrade from a complimentary package at this time.

Day one on Millennium and this package has had it's share of hiccups.  Refused anything alcoholic from any bar onboard until we finally got it resolved at 6pm, it showed we had the Classic Non Alcoholic Package on our seapass cards and in the onboard system - so we had to wait for Guest Relations to check into it and get it finally corrected. 

No one knows how the bottles of wine works but guest relations told us we'd get the wine from Cellarmasters delivered (no choice, not even if you want red or white) - so we're going to go to Cellarmasters and see if we can't just make a selection of some kind.  

Housekeeping insist the minibar isn't included but finally the Captain's Club hostess (of all people) confirmed 100% it's included for us and won't be charged.  The minibar is the limited new menu as previously posted, just vodka minis and coke, 2 beers and 2 wines- no juices, sodas, mixers, other spirits. 

Will see how we get on with the Casino credit later :D

1 hour ago, cruisezone said:

Would anybody know why they aren't putting the 20% service charge on the Premium Plus beverage package?  Will I then have to sign a slip every time I get a drink onboard??

That is strange as I definitely had the service charge bill on my one for 7-days ($140)

I hardly think that a passenger reporting informally from onboard is the same as Celebrity being open and up front about the recent significant reduction in mini bar offering.

Now if Celebrity had posted that, I'd agree. But they haven't and there is still a ton of misinformation posted as to what's included (164 vintage wines??).

5 minutes ago, ghstudio said:

This is what you bought:

 

• Enjoy all the benefits of the Premium beverage package, which includes all the top-shelf spirits (89 options), vintage wine (161 options), liqueurs & cognacs (24 options), beer (44 options) and champagne, plus the following:

 

That text is very clear...ALL.....so you should be able to enjoy johnny walker blue, Dom Perignon, etc.   Clearly, they are included.  Oh and you might as well order some outstanding wine because ALL of the vintage wines are included.

 

Nothing about a $15 limit or any other limit.  All means All......

And herein is another discrepancy.  I certainly don't recall 161 "Vintage Wines" being included on the Premium Package.  And the wording implies that the standard Premium Package also includes all of those!  I believe there's about 24 different wines by the glass on the Premium Package in total, certainly not 161.

3 minutes ago, DebInAntigua said:

Sneaky! They say minibar is included but then they remove most of the selection.

"Offerings may vary" blah blah legal cover-their-a$$ language naturally protects them from being accused of false advertising. But boy, this sure seems underhanded to me.

I agree.  What kind of a mini-bar only offers vodka & coke and no other spirits or soda or mixer selections?!  No wonder they're ok to include it now that it's been reduced by 2/3rds of its contents!

Interesting, Celebrity has significantly downgraded/reduced the minibar offering it looks like based on the post above.  Only vodka now and no other spirits, and only coke/diet coke - so it's "vodka & coke" for the only cocktail selection.  Weak!

Here is the previous bar list that had several spirits, multiple mixers and sodas, and multiple beer selections.

1 hour ago, Gambler458 said:

Hi there... hope I r enjoying your cruise. Both my mom and I purchased the premium plus package for our Equinox cruise this Saturday.  Anything we should know? Did u get Vueve champagne? Did they replenish ur mini bar in the cabin daily? 

Thx...

French champagne is included in the Premium (and PPlus) packages, it is not Veuve Clicquot but it is a true French champagne, it is available by the glass from Cellarmasters or equivalent.  I found it very acceptable.  As noted above, there's also the option to choose more expensive wines/champagne by glass and just pay the extra amount over $15 (I believe Veuve was a $5 upcharge per glass).

I have purchased PremiumPlus package for cruise next week.  It should definitely include 2 bottles of wine PER PACKAGE purchased (i.e. 4 bottles if both pax in stateroom purchase it) and they should be from a decent selection and not just assigned.

The package clearly states it includes 2 bottles of wine per package purchased, then over and above this, if both guests in stateroom purchase it, unlimited mini-bar is also then included.

Given that the minibar has a retail value of $320 if you tally all the items in it when fully stocked, I guess feasibly one could go through $2k worth of minibar items in a 7-day cruise    

For me it was only $70/pp more than the Premium package, and the $50/pp in Casino Credit essentially brought the cost down to $20/pp additional.  Not bad for 4 bottles of wine and $2k of minibar items hehe.

Add me to those surprised that VV isn't planning a beverage package offering.  Of course there will be the usual CC contingent whom bemoan beverage packages, sloppy drunks etc. or whom pre-judge folks whom value craft cocktails and decent wine as part of the vacation experience.  VV isn't Carnival and the guest demographic will be very different - I don't see it as a "booze cruise".

But add me into the contingent that prefers to have an upfront price, and then relax and enjoy onboard, not wondering how much your bar bill will be at the end of the trip.  It's not about drinking to excess, so much as a mindset - one that All Inclusive resorts fostered, and which has been highly successful for lines like Celebrity and NCL.  Budget and pay up front, relax onboard, no hidden costs or surprises later.

If "mixology inspired craft cocktails" are priced at hip & trendy New York pricing, it wouldn't take many $15-$18 USD (+ gratuity?) cocktails, a few glasses of wine at dinner, and a few espresso to quickly have something clost to $150/day bar tab per person. Hardly an excessive amount of alcohol, but a significant daily cost that could easily put VV total pricing per diems well above brands like Celebrity - and perhaps higher even than some of the true luxury players like Seabourn.

Most of the larger cruise specialist agencies or the higher end luxury consortiums will have group block pricing for their member agencies on several voyages throughout the season.

On Edge in Med 2019, the group rates can be $4k per stateroom lower than prevailing rates, and TA group rates still combine with perk offer.

If you have the time, check with a good cruise specialist agency that is aligned with one of the larger networks on any dates they may have group block pricing set up.

What bar? Any bar?

Pool bars are always slammed and I've never been able to get fresh lime or lemon juice. But the Ensemble Lounge and Martini Bar should both be able to get fresh juice on request if they don't already have it.

To the OP: I hate the powdered sweet and sour mixes that are used. Some bars have pre-mix that is a blend of fresh lemon/lime juice and syrup but it's still not great.

If I find a "good" bartender, I have a friendly conversation and give a little expression of thanks for their troubles and make a special request to have fresh lemon juice/lime juice for both Patron Margarita's - made with Grand Marnier - and Lemon Drops with Grey Goose Citron and Cointreau :)

They may not always be able to do it immediately but usually they'll get in a supply of fresh squeezed lemon/lime juice - or extra fruit to hand muddle for rest of cruise.