Mary229

There must be changes occurring. Last week we discussed that HIA was being offered at $50 a day on booked cruises - now that has disappeared from my bookings

No they won’t confront and even if confronted a person can walk around with a bottle of water to sip on and be compliant. I am personally ok with that but if I don’t have a bottle of water I mask up

That sounds like the south rim of the Grand Canyon. All of those tourists on their burros create urine puddles. It is disgusting. I left and went to hike the North Rim

Then be warned.

Not necessarily. There were some individuals who were on the open corridor. It did not bother me, I am vaccinated with no outstanding comorbidities and not squeamish about disease

Sounds like a fair change of policy. I think HIA has not been the outstanding success they envisioned. I look forward to seeing other adjustments

Spiking can occur after the 30 day limit. Again it is a Covid policy and their hands are bound by this as long as they persist in having Covid regulations

Further, the longer the cruise lines continue to extend various mandates the longer they are going to have to have these Covid cancellation policies. It is a catch 22 for them

@grammi. The Covid policy also allows cancellation for any reason up to 30 days prior for a full FCC, no questions asked .

It is a bit disingenuous for those applauding the mask mandate saying “it is not a big deal” when some of these same people were saying how juvenile others were for welcoming the ending of air testing and masking. It is a company policy. If you don’t like it, either way, walk with your wallet

They used to sponsor some PBS shows such as America’s Test Kitchen. That was the only place I have seen the ads in the past but that may say more about me then them

Actually you are allowed to cancel up to 30 days before the cruise for a FCC

I love marketplace solutions in business. HAL is a business, let them live or die by their decisions

The etiquette is leave them in your cabin, gathered on the tray. Hallway dishes are not welcome except you will see them in front of quarantine cabins.

That is just a term. It refers to when someone sees others buying they come over to see what is up. It will entice the available buyers in the room. Granted that may not be a “crowd”. It is the same phenomenon as standing on a busy corner and staring up, soon a crowd (group) will gather all looking up. Many will see something even though there is nothing to see. At my most recent trade show a young woman came over and spent considerable time to buy my items. She brought over a friend. Soon everyone in the room under the age of 30 was at my booth lining up to buy. I overheard comments like: this is the place to buy, this is the great booth. All bought and were down right gleeful as they walked away. It was classic “crowd behavior”. What was bought was adequate but the social experience provided confirmation and that social confirmation resulted in deep satisfaction.

I am with you on that but having owned a business for 30 years I cannot stress enough how important crowd behavior is to sales and satisfaction. It acts as confirmation

Found videos here https://www.ispot.tv/brands/ooE/holland-america-line

I think their modeling, rightly or wrongly, is telling them they aren’t going to sell the offered cabins, therefore no further loss. There are good reasons not to have too many empty cabins, one is appearances - people are happier when they think they made a wise decision, an empty ship would have passengers question that decision the other is it can be used for promotions. As I said in my response whether the promotion used is the best possibility is up for argument. As a cruiser that someone took advantage of any promotion does not bother me. Lots of us “score” a deal somewhere in the process, many of those deals require immediacy.

I was just offering a suggestion for any reader, sorry

Them giving away a cruise does not harm me and as was said earlier they only give away cruises that they assume based on historical modeling is not going to sell. It is a sweet deal for those with the offer, enjoy the cruise I have often counseled micro business owners online and when they comment on someone else’s “bad” business decisions my response is everyone is welcome to destroy their own business as they see fit. I agree freebies only serve one customer, other promotions serve a wider audience. As a business owner I prefer to serve the wider audience, I could be wrong

I think someone else got between my original posting of the link and now. I only made that one response plus gave you another link as the website is a bit difficult to maneuver

I know you had the breakfast package. Were the hotel breakfasts part of the package, paid at the counter or part of the hotel stay. Thank you for a great review and so much information

I tried the flexible option on one cruise, it is not for me. I don’t want to wait, I like that my waiters know me and I know them. It is just so much easier even though my preferred dining time is later than early and earlier than late. I will be sure to mention it on my next survey.

It is not required. You can just show up and get on the list. Usually there will not be a substantial delay but that can vary by cruise. On my most recent cruise there were no delays. The most popular times are 5:30 to 6:30. After that you will probably walk right in. If you find there are delays then you can make your reservations for the following nights