Boatdrill

This ^^^^^^^ Have been on both lines, and would choose Cunard.

I do miss the classy Explorer's Lounge Bar. Now the LCS area (without the bar) is empty most of the time.

But It's the adults who pay the cruise fare. They're the deciders.

Most paying travelers are smart enough to be able to choose which policy works best for them, and choose their cruise line accordingly. From Travel Weekly Aug 18, 2022: (underlining is theirs) "When cruise lines began announcing that unvaccinated travelers were welcome on their ships and preboarding testing would be a thing of the past for vaccinated guests, family travel advisor DeeAna Archer said that her clients began calling and texting her. They were ready to ditch their previous bookings and switch to a line with the least-restrictive regulations, said the Texas-based agent. Clients abandoned their bookings and quotes for Disney Cruise Line, which still requires children age 12 and older to be vaccinated. Others left Royal Caribbean International, which eased protocols on sailings from some ports but not from Florida. Instead, Archer said, her clients often wanted to book Norwegian Cruise Line, the first of the major family-friendly cruise companies to eliminate vaccination and most testing requirements -- and the brand that a year ago was the most restrictive."

Who's "they" ?

"....alleging the Seattle-based cruise company pressures outside excursion operators to take unnecessary risks to meet cruise schedules and doesn't warn passengers of excursion dangers." I'm curious as to what the unnecessary risks would be to meet schedules. Non-HAL excursion dangers: how much do they want HAL to mention about tours they don't operate ? That there's no air traffic control for those planes...that the weather can change on a dime and suddenly it's not safe to fly in and out of fjords...that tour helicopters have a lower threshold than planes for flying in bad weather and many of those tours are cancelled because of it? If so, then comes the next law suit, by the independent aviation tour operators, against HAL, for maligning their business.

Even with a quick response from the Eurodam, Kdam, Juneau fire and police, Coast Guard..... he was lost. So sad.

Is the alleged list given out before the cruise or after ? I have friends - all 4 star - who remove the tips and pay everyone in cash. One of them is booked on the 90+ day cruise on the Volendam in 2024. Although his fare comes with pre-paid gratuities, he said that perk is meaningless to him, since he removes the gratuities and tips personally in cash.

Mariner Cocktail - prosecco, Elderberry liquer, topped with a splash of club soda.

The OP didn't say she told the medical staff about breathing issues. We don't know what specific heath problems she described to them, other than the husband having another issue.

Meanwhile, back to the OP, the post that started this thread....isn't anyone slightly confused about the story ? Was the husband hospitalized in Europe or in the US ? If it was in Europe, post-cruise, chances are the ship's medical staff made the arrangements for him. If the ship's medical staff DID make the hospital arrangements, then they were very aware of the couple's health issues. Also since the OP wrote that "being in Europe, not knowing the language" was a problem, it makes even more sense that ship's medical staff assisted them. The OP also said they "asked for refund" but were told "no." Asked who ? During the cruise ? After the cruise ? Is she saying that they had travel insurance, and the insurance company turned them down ? That doesn't sound right, given the hospitalization, and trip interruption (not going to Switzerland and Austria post-cruise). I'm not saying the events didn't happen. There are just some puzzling parts to the story that make it difficult to respond in a meaningful way, as well as learn from their experience. I wish them all the best.

My most recent cruise was in June, r/t Vancouver. Pre-cruise, actually months before the cruise, the HAL emails with check-in time changes started arriving. Ignored all of them except for the ones that were 1-2 weeks pre-cruise. Someone at HAL once told me that the times are selected at random by a computer, so I don't pay any attention until the sailing date gets close. I showed up at the terminal within 20 minutes of the assigned time. No one was checking the assigned times, and after check-in, everyone was directed to an area to sit and wait until boarding began. About 30 minutes later, when it was time to board, the staff went row by row; they did a few rows at a time. It didn't matter if you were in a suite, 4-5 star Mariner, or Club Orange. It was all the same*. The process was efficient and went smoothly. * Check-in seemed to be the same way. There were different lanes for suites, etc. but the amount of time spent checking in with the agent was the same, no matter which lane. There was no added perk that I could tell to being in a suite lane, or 4- 5 star Mariner lane, and there was certainly no "Welcome Back" greeting. So not sure what the incentive is to be in the those lanes.

HAL has been using the Broadway dock in Skagway. The rockslide was on the railroad docks.

Thank you so much for this discussion. During a recent Holland America Alaska cruise, a friend was contacted by her credit card company, regarding possible fraudulent charges on her credit card. Two charges, in odd amounts for hundreds of dollars, were from the ship, and the third was a charge for gaming (she knows nothing about gaming). She asked about it at the reception desk. The ship's charges (actual charges made against her credit card) were for the pre-authorization of her card. She was told the gaming charge was not Holland America's. She called her bank with the information, and they immediately cancelled her card. On disembarkation day, while having breakfast, a family sat at a table behind her. Their young boy kept asking his parents if he could do some gaming... the name he used for it was the same name as the gaming charge on her credit card. After reading this thread, it seems that HAL/Princess/Carnival Corp are up to something that many aren't aware of.

Did the ship sail at full capacity ?

The article wasn't written by a company. It was written by a person, who's the editor in chief of Travel Weekly. Did you read paragraphs 3 and 4 in the article ?? The writer addresses exactly what you say is missing.

A good read from Travel Weekly's columnist about the current and future state of cruise lines and the travel industry as a whole. https://www.travelweekly.com/Arnie-Weissmann/With-Crystal-revival-a-major-miracle A snippet: [during the pandemic, and now] "It was particularly hopeful to see votes of confidence in the travel industry come in from every class of investor: private equity, sovereign funds, investment banks, public markets, wealthy individuals, and in many cases, existing financial partners who invested even more money. Money flowed into every industry sector from rental cars to tour operators to cruise to airlines to technology." ..... "Putting money into travel businesses is, in part, a faith-based decision: faith that travel is inherent to the human spirit. In other words, a safe bet."

Does anyone have any concern about booking a future cruise on HAL, and not being able to get your deposit back ?

The cruise industry survived jet air travel, and expanded through the years with additional (and larger) ships. It will survive this as well, as long as the cruise lines continue to offer their guests an exceptional way to travel. JMHO.

All passengers do as well. But a cruise ship is first and foremost a motorized, mechanical sea going vessel. Everything revolves around that. Being a floating hotel is a distant second.

Sitka: If the port call was extended by 2 1/2 hours, and pax and crew were still required to be back on board at the original time, that sounds like an issue where the ship wanted to sure everyone was onboard in case the ship was able to sail before the 2 1/2 extra hours had passed. Of course it could have been something else. Victoria: ".....making a 1 hour port call just to avoid possible Jones Act issues...". HAL stops at Victoria because it's the law. Period. As for safety at sea (which apparently you were reminded of by staff), watch the video of the Viking Sky foundering off the coast of Norway in 2019. The ship lost engine power in high seas because of a maintenance issue: low engine oil levels. Passengers were airlifted off the ship by helicopters. Go to YouTube and look it up. Chances are those passengers would gladly exchange their experiences with you. If the Westerdam, during it's southbound trip back to Seattle, became even more disabled and was then a navigational hazard, what would you say then ? I hope you never have to learn the hard way about the importance of safety at sea. It's the #1 priority on a ship.

Enough with the app. Go to the reception desk and talk to someone in person.

Just did a 7 day roundtrip from Vancouver on the Zuiderdam. While Gala Night was a mixed bag as far as allowed attire in the Main Dining Room (baseball caps, etc. ) the attire on non-dressy nights was still dressy in the Pinnacle Grill. It was nice to see people treating the PG as a fine dining restaurant; it truly added to the ambiance. Also have found that passengers on roundtrip cruises from Vancouver tend to dress less casually than those on cruises departing from Seattle.

Best drink: my first ever Mariner Cocktail in the Pinnacle Bar

From Zuiderdam Daily Program June Alaska 2022... Pools on Deck 9 Lido hours: 7:00 am - 9:00 pm Hot tubs on Deck 9 Lido hours: 9:00 am - 10:00 pm, but the 9am opening didn't always happen.