Cruise4food

1 hour ago, PandaBear62 said:

2 excursions, the thermal  suite, soda package and Blend

Those will count, whether you pay in advance or during the cruise. A small number of items do not count during the cruise, booking a future cruise, a cruise deposit, a cash advance. 

For those boarding Zaandam at Montreal in Aug 24, here is a custom watchface with countdown days till you board. Works on Wear OS watches. 

My new WatchMaker face!
CNE Zaandam

http://dk2dv4ezy246u.cloudfront.net/share/rJn4p8soN.watch

Get WatchMaker now on Google Play or App Store
www.getwatchmaker.com

2 minutes ago, 1of4 said:

 

Oh my goodness time flies!  I’ve been sick since 2015 so I knew it was after that.  Thanks for the correction!

No problem. I live here and originally wrote 2017 (wrong year) but looked it up and found 2016. I notice that the Conveyeur (sp?) pier is now Berth T4 under the cruise port authority. 

34 minutes ago, 1of4 said:

 

Last year the Vieux Montréal port was under renovation and no ships could use it for the season.

Renovation was in year 2016.  Maasdam was first ship at new quay June 10, 2017. The high waters in 2018 did affect the Veendam, but remainder of the season was at the main quay. That berth in the cargo area is  for overflow during busy season and is numbered T3. During 2017 the quay was still restricted access. In 2018, Grand Opening allowed general public access to all areas except inside the terminals.

14 minutes ago, sullyd said:

 

We’re there plans for the embarking people at cruise terminal?

Thanks 

The cruise port website has this message (linked as an image, not text). I realize it is Sunday and passengers should all be on board by now, but, if not, the ship is scheduled to be at Quebec City all day anyway. https://www.port-montreal.com/en/cruise-vessels-schedule.html

For those on the May 18 embarkation, you should watch the Montreal cruise port site.

8 hours ago, Peterson78 said:

I’m a first time (solo) cruiser looking at booking a Canada and Alaska cruise extension for Sept. 2020.

So far, the possibilities I’ve come up with are two, similar travel Calgary to Vancouver and (I think) the same ports of call in Alaska.

The difference is either sailing on Volendam or Nieuw Amsterdam.

 

I’d appreciate advice from seasoned HAL cruisers as to what the main differences might be and any recommendations.

 

tia

Graham

Browse through this table to see if any differences are very important to you. I have sailed Volendam and Eurodam (sister to the NA) and would sail either of your choices with the precise schedule and the ports as basis for my decision. Tamarind Restaurant is one difference, but that might not matter to you. Holland America Ships at a Glance

10 hours ago, MAVIP said:

And you Félix Faure or Dreyfuss?  😁

Most days I would be like the Dreyfus who worked with Inspector Clouseau. 😊

Anyway, I have voyaged on ms Maasdam twice so far and will board in July for a 21 day Northern Pacific Crossing. I am confident that she will deliver a great onboard experience.

3 hours ago, MAVIP said:

That's of course the reason that I noticed and remember 🙂  And after the answer of Cruise4food I know now where alle those keys are: in the pockets of laptopowning ex-passengers 😉 

T’accuse? Who are you? Émile Zola? 🤔👁🧐 😁🚢

9 hours ago, MAVIP said:

The only comment we have on that cabin is that the key of the upper drawer of one of the pedestal cupboards did not work, 🙂but who will ever use it? 🙂

For the S and R class ships on which I have sailed , the room safe is too small to hold a laptop. When I encountered a missing key, or broken lock, on the bed-side drawers, the attendants arranged a repair.  The newer ships have a much larger room safe and, yes, the locking drawers are of less interest.

The HAL Air Notification report links to this section of Flight Ease which only allows viewing and printing of the flight info. Even at that, I find the airline sites to be preferable for their Itinerary printouts. Most airline flight info pages can create a calendar event to load in your smartphone schedule. But, definitely avoid the other section of Flight Ease associated with "Manage My Cruise". (to avoid misunderstanding, I tried to post the text below without a link)

On 4/18/2019 at 4:19 PM, Cajuntraveler said:

We will be flying into Montreal the night before the cruise and staying at the Fairfield near the airport.  Any suggestions or info on transportation to the cruise terminal?  Will language be a problem? (We don't speak French.)

Any other info on the ship or Canadian ports would be appreciated!

Port of Montreal Info is here. Learn the assigned Zaandam terminal number for that day.

https://www.port-montreal.com/en/cruise-vessels-schedule.html

https://www.port-montreal.com/files/PDF/acces-information/2019-04-Information-acces-quais-en.pdf

Either from the hotel or at the airport terminal, book a cab or limo to the cruise terminal. Give them the T or H code for your Zaandam berth at the cruise port. Or at the airport, board the city bus route 747 to downtown. It handles travellers with suitcases. Call for a cab from downtown to the port. Google Montreal STM bus to see route and pricing for the 747 bus. Perhaps the Fairfield concierge can find an affiliated downtown hotel on the 747 bus route. And then switch to a cab at the second hotel.

I did enjoy the rebuilt Fortress of Louisbourg, an excursion when you are at Sydney, Cape Breton Island.

http://www.fortressoflouisbourg.ca

The whole thread is here.

This image is from a CC thread in 2017 about Maasdam outlets. It matches a 2018 video that I have where the desk outlet appears briefly, but is highly pixelated. The rocker switch is for a lighted swivel make-up mirror. Then you get a 115Vac 60 Hz three prong outlet with a European CEE7 220Vac 50 Hz outlet at the end.  On these older HAL ships, as you know, we must bring our own USB cubes.

1 hour ago, suzanneyoung said:

I encourage you NOT TO use the FlightEase WEBSITE to check prices!!!!! Call your TA or HAL and have them check. You don't want this to happen to you.

My FlightEase glitch started similar but was not as bad because I did not have any flight bookings to mess up. I was checking to see about a cruise Montreal to Boston and prices to fly Boston to Seattle for an Alaska cruise. Telling FlightEase to fly me from Boston got the system to set Boston as my home airport and USA as my country of residence (not Canada). My PCC later made the cruise and flight bookings and it seemed good. I guess he worked around the problems. Later, during the actual cruise, the on-board FCC asked me to confirm where I live. All he could get was American prices. We eventually realized what had happened and reset my country of residence.

Question- has anyone used the pass and where they strict on their time? 

I booked a pass on-board Nieuw Statendam on an 11 day cruise. There was no time schedule per person/couple. Just the schedule for the facility being open. As stated in another reply, the new on-line spa booking tool appears to have remnants of booking for dining. The room key was not enough to get in. An attendant was at the door to let you in. If they were away cleaning or whatever, we just visited the front desk and they would hunt them down.

7 hours ago, cwd79 said:

I didn't realize that booking online didn't give the PCC credit. I assumed, incorrectly, that their name would be attached to my mariner # anytime I book something.

I booked my first three cruises online myself without realizing that my assigned PCC is locked out from control of the booking. I finally learned that fact before the third cruise when I asked the PCC to book air travel. Had to sign a paper form (sent via email, sign and scan) that officially transferred control.

As for upgrading by calling in, yes, I did on one cruise. About two weeks after final payment, a Canada/New England cruise had major price drops. I called in and went from inside room to Lanai on the Maasdam for reasonable amount. I could have gone to an ocean view for free. The fresh booking price for that ocean view was actually about CDN$800 less than my payment already, but they would not refund any. I paid a few hundred more and got Lanai, loved the room. 

On 4/4/2019 at 9:38 PM, CruiseMob said:

Sorry, one more question, is the bag deal a one time deal, or can you do multiple bags throughout the cruise. Trying to see what is the better deal for us. If we can do the bag deal more than once per cruise, it would be 5 bags of laundry to exceed the $7 per day.

On earlier cruises I did send out 2 of the twenty dollar bags in a week.

HAL has updated the list of ships offering self-serve laundry. The Know Before you Go PDF download dated March 2019 still has 4 ships but the website today lists only these two.

Onboard self-service launderettes consisting of washers, dryers, irons and ironing boards are available on the ms Amsterdam and Maasdam.

MS Prinsendam is leaving the fleet, but Veendam has also been dropped from the list.

52 minutes ago, kazu said:

 

That looks like the welcome aboard booklet to me.

 

It's been on all my ships for the last couple of years.  

 

The HAL website doesn't have all the stuff that you will find in your cabin.  

The deck plan inside that PDF shows a date with year 2015. And yes, that is clearly a PDF of the welcome booklet in each stateroom.

On 4/3/2019 at 3:19 PM, POA1 said:

OK, disregard my previous post. Apparently there is an actual app that you can download now - as of late February 2019. I'd still recommend saving space on your device, because your standard web browser will be fine. 

 

I hope that this new app can do one thing that the browser- based technique cannot do. Namely, place reminders and appointments directly into my iPhone system.  

If the app cannot do that, I prefer to stay with the browser access. Will test it this July on Maasdam.

Know Before You Go lists the ships with Laundry on page 14. The new version just released for March 2019. Sorry, but dry dock plans are not in KBYG.

https://www.hollandamerica.com/content/dam/hal/marketing-assets/manage-my-cruise-already-booked/faqs/KBYG.pdf

2 hours ago, Maggie North said:

one configuration had the hall doorway located between desk and tv wall. Actually felt slightly roomier than normal configuration of hallway door located between closets and bathroom door.

My experience is the same. A room with a shape that is slightly more square feels more spacious than the long and narrow floorplan. I think it is related to how far away the walls are from your eyes when you move about.

For the 1111 room, it must be that the door to lavatory is just at the left, as you enter from the hallway? Thanks for the pics.

15 hours ago, thyme2go said:

A question for the CC Wisdom monger's........are the inside cabins (L) aft on Lower Promenade deck.......decent in size and sleep quality.   We assumed that under the dining room would be quiet and noises/vibrations from engines would be minimized up on deck 3.   Are these accurate assumptions or not?   Or specifically cabin L 3399?

I had 3414 ocean view on sister ship Zaandam. There was no engine noise and dining room above was quiet. 

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