CruisinHarvey

Sorry if this is old news...but in the aftermath of my Bliss-booking excitement, I ordered the Norwegian brochure for 2017-2019. It came today with a letter talking about recent news and I was surprised to see this:

 

"We would also like to inform you that after a successful two-year partnership, we will no longer be working with the Pubbelly Restaurant Group or Jose Garces, effective October 21, 2017. Though the partnerships are not continuing, Norwegian Escape will still offer Food Republic, Bayamo, and Pinchos Tapas Bar dining venues."

 

I didn't make it to Food Republic on the Escape but always heard good things about it so I thought I would get another chance this time around. Don't the Bliss deck plans show Food Republic being in the same place it is on the Escape?

Very sad. We love Food Republic and Pincho's all 5 times we've been aboard the Escape. I have no idea what NCL will do to them. I can only guess they won't be trying to improve them. Most likely they'll be reducing their cost. Very Sad. Just one less reason to reserve the Bliss.

Hi.

 

We just booked a trip on the Bliss - adjoining rooms on Deck 9 - above Waterfront Dining. Has anyone heard of whether or not thats loud or an annoying spot to be? I did a search but found nothing. We spend a lot of time on our balcony and want it to be peaceful. Thanks!

LOL. That's a pretty hard question to answer since the ship doesn't exist yet.

We are in our late 50's and just booked a 24 day on the Koningsdam for next October. We heard the new ship was designed to attract a younger demographic. We have stayed away from Holland for the very reasons you stated.

They talk like they made the Koningsdam for a younger crowd. We didn't see any evidence of that. Unless you think that changing the piano bar to a 2 piano bar, or creating a new venue specifically for chamber music is a game changer. You will be a couple of the youngest passengers on board, for sure. Not many working people or families with children can cruise for 24 days in October. I'm sure you'll have a good cruise though. Adjust to the really slow pace, and you'll be fine.

This is the slowest time of year at most all resorts. You can get a room in Vegas for almost nothing. They even shut down a lot of the shows, since the town is pretty empty. 300 cabins is only 15% of the cabins on board. I'm sure Vegas would love to have that occupancy rate during this season. By the cruise, most of those will be sold too( at a discount).

Makes no difference. There's not one person who will your check the time on your edocs at the port. Get there when you want. That being said, unless you really need Vibe passes( IMO, no one NEEDS them) why get there any earlier than noon? You can't get on the ship earlier anyway. You can sit around for a few hours if you like. At noon though, you can check in, and board within 30 minutes or so. Have a nice lunch at Taste. By the time you're finished with lunch the cabins should ready. Easy Peasy.

I've got really good one, but I know I was slow to response. Sorry.

Since February, not only do the haven passengers have an advantage, but all the platinum, platinum plus and ambassador members will be boarding before you. So, based on the passengers, passes could be gone early. That being the case, if they're not available when you board, ask to be put on a waiting list.

We've been on the Escape 5 times. All have had the $20 laundry sometime during each cruise. For those who think they notify passengers when they're not going to have it, you have to ask yourself, when did they ever notify you that they had one in the first place? They didn't set that expectation. You just found out about then here or on Facebook. NCL doesn't advertise those prior to a cruise.

we just sailed on the Koningsdam - 11 day, in October and we felt like we were on a Senior Citizen/Assisted Living cruise. We know HAL is known for a older crowd, but this was ridiculous. We probably saw a total of 10 children on board. And as far as entertainment....forget it. They had one comedian, one singer, one sax player on the World Stage. So disappointing

We just got off the Koningsdam Wednesday. I think we had about the same number of children on board that we did. Most of those were infants, with grandparents. Only saw a couple of a kids of school age. So, they had no else to play with. It was a good break for us. We usually cruise NCL, which is a family line, and there's children everywhere, just any time of year. Parents have no problem taking them out of school anymore.

There's a stark difference in the demographic on Holland America compared lines that attract families. The activities and entertainment are also geared to that demographic, as you would expect. I'm not sure how many other HAL cruises you've been on, but the entertainment on the Koningsdam was the best we've seen on that line. Most of it was below average, as usual. HAL is not known for it's entertainment, unless you count the chamber music. They don't have Broadway shows like some other lines. But, there were some good points. The BB King band was good, although after a few days, they started to repeat sets. One World was one of the best HAL productions we've seen. I will say the billboard entertainers were the worst we've seen. They act like it's a dueling piano's venue, but they don't duel, and neither could sing. If you've ever been to a real dueling piano's venue, you'll know the difference immediately.

All that said, every age group needs an atmosphere they feel comfortable in. Holland has created that atmosphere for the older age group. As long you know the target market going in, you know what to expect. We go on HAL cruises for the itinerary and the catch up on rest.

Can someone tell me the process by which you get priority boarding? My wife and I are platinum (have been for our last 3 cruises) and I still don't know how we can take advantage of this. Do we ask for this option when we get our key cards? :confused:

If you're cruising out of Miami there is a separate waiting area once you go upstairs. You don't need to get a boarding group card anymore. Just show them your keycard, which has your latitudes status on it, and they'll direct you to the waiting area.

To clarify previous comments, there are multiple shows in the supper club. "Wine lovers, the musical" is a lunch show, and normally run twice each cruise. There's a charge for it. It includes wine tasting that goes along with the show, and lunch. There is one evening show dinner show, on Thursday if remember correctly, that charges also. That's the one evening show that you can reserve online. It's a 5 course prix fixe meal, with one of the cast members from After Midnight, that performed on Broadway, singing. All the other shows, which vary throughout the week are free. It's a cabaret, so shows change frequently. Most evening shows include a 3 course meal, but some don't. You need to check your daily, or check at the box office early in the cruise, to reserve your table.

We had to mark the number of items, as well on our very recent trip. I think it's to prove that they returned all your items in case of a dispute.

We always fill out slip. Why Not? It's both your way and their way to verify they give everything back. Never even thought about just throwing the slip in without filling it in. It has nothing to do with a platinum benefit. It's just common sense.

Seems to me that if you're that dissatisfied, you should should look elsewhere. Just know that the grass is always on the other side. It seems, every cruise line is in a constant state of change. Maybe seeing what others have to offer will either send you right back to NCL, or to land based vacations.

For our money, it's still a good value and a great time. We're platinum plus with NCL and 3 star with HAL. We cruise each line for a different reason. HAL still has lobster, btw, but you need a steak knife to cut it.

You're the only one who can decide for yourself. Good luck.

To each his/her own,I suppose....Nothing against those other lines,but contrary to what seems the stereotype,there aren't nearly as many kids running around the halls on HAL ships..doesn't mean it hasn't happened though;p

Our last cruise on the Nieuw Amsterdam, we had a woman complaining about all the kids on board, the first day. We made a point to count during the entire cruise. We counted 6. LOL Honestly, HAL and HAL cruisers are not as kid friendly as a number of other mass market cruise lines. Can they have a good time. Sure. Will they have the time of their lives? Maybe. As long as somebody doesn't tell them about what the other cruise lines have to offer.

New here(but not new to HAL).

 

I think there's an assumption that kids will only be entertained by rock walls and flow riders. etc. IMO that's a bit unfair. From what I know about Club HAL, the kids I know who have been in there loved it..hardly saw them.

 

Unpopular opinion perhaps but parents would do better to take their kids on a HAL ship than on a ship with all the bells and whistles. YMMV.

As you can see from post #6, people who have gone other cruise lines, like Disney, have different experiences. Those other lines have kids club too. But, they also have the other whistles and bells. The question really is, is it better to have options for your children, or no options?

Koningsdam!

We're cruising on her in a couple of weeks. Just curious as why the Koningsdam is the best for kids. The facilities appear to be exactly the same as the Eurodam and Nieuw Amsterdam.. So is it the staff?

Kids aren't HALs strong point. They have kids club, like every other line. Other lines like Disney, RCCL and NCL have a bunch of venues for especially for kids, or adults that want to act like kids. It's not that HAL will be terrible for them. It just comes down to whether the kids are the top priority. If so, there you'd want a line that really caters to them.

All casinos in Ontario and Quebec (Canada), as well as most other casinos in other Canadian provinces, are non-smoking. I can assure you they are all doing quite well ;)

If there's little or no competition that allows smoking, it's an easy decision. The gamblers have little option. Since most cruise lines still allow smoking, they can choose other lines, just as easily as HAL. The paradigm is different.

Seems to me that HAL is between a rock and hard place. I read so many complaints when they stopped smoking on the verandas. Although.they weren't taking too much of a risk with on that decision, since one other lines allow it either, that I'm aware of. They're walking a fine line on the smoking policy. Having some ships with no smoking, and others with it is an interesting experiment. I can see where it's hard to eliminate smoking in their casinos. The casino is the number one profit center of the ship. It's also been proven that if you open a non smoking casino it will fail in a very short period of time. There have been multiple attempts on land. All have failed. I think HAL is doing there best to accommodate all their passengers. If you want non smoking, they ships for that. If want smoking, they have ships for that. I don't know of another cruise line that offers that option.

Traditionally, HAL passengers are an older demographic. It stands to reason since HAL has more longer itineraries than most mass market lines. Most working age travelers can't book those extended cruises. As a result they build an older base of repeat passengers. I haven't been on in March, so I don't know if there's a difference at that time. I can't believe many spring breakers cruise HAL though. I remember someone responding to this type of question before, when asked if an older group cruised HAL. .They said "Older passengers cruise on Celebrity Cruise line. Their parents cruise on HAL". We like HAL, and will be on the Koningsdam in 4 weeks. But, we find the quote not too far off an accurate description.

Yes...so at the moment Cuban's cannot obtain US Visas anymore. Cuba has not yet reciprocated.

 

NCL said (this morning) that they will continue Cuba sailings, until further notice.

 

*fingers crossed*

 

 

Stephen

 

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Cuba surely won't stop cruises and the money, unless the US changes it's regulations about travel there. This change doesn't effect cruise going there.

Everyone comments, and no one knows what the OP was complaining about, since he/she never confirmed the problems. Hilarious! Welcome to cruise critic.

Thanks everyone for your responses. We're thinking a couple of days of the $20 a bag service will do nicely, since we can pick what days we use it. Thanks again. .

The way customers feel or act/shop quite often changes the practices of a business. In this case, I feel much better knowing I can give cash directly to those employees rather then NCL pocketing 1/2 of the money.

 

If even 1/4 of customers demanded refunds for their service charges I bet NCL would change how they did things.

As you probably know, they don't have gratuities on promo's in the UK. You're correct in that NCL changed the way they do business there. They just increased fares. Not sure that's the result you're hoping for. They don't pay the crew members anymore cruising out of the UK than anywhere else. And the UK people, for the most part, don't believe in tipping, since it's not part of their culture. So are the crew members better off?

While honesty and transparency might not mean much to you, it does to me and many others. A good amount of people don't tip on the ship because they think the service charge is a "tip" to the workers when in fact it's just NCL pocketing it.

 

That's why I encourage everyone to get your service charge back at the end of the cruis and instead bring $100 per person to hand out to staff on the cruise. Usually I reserve $30 for the room attendant and always give the people in the restaurants and bars a few bucks at a time. Including those at the buffet.

Everyone should tip as they like. Cruising seems to be the only business where everyone questions how much people get paid. We cruise a lot, know a number of NCL crew members. Do they want more? Sure, who doesn't. But none of them has any plans to go other lines. A couple of crew members we know came from other lines, and are happier on NCL than they were before. Don't fool yourselves into thinking you're going the change the way NCL does business. If you irritates you that much, you'll need to go elsewhere, just like every other company you choose to do business with.