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joekerstef

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    Debarkation in Seattle, WA

    in Holland America Line

    Posted

    3 hours ago, Peckishpixie said:

    Our airport is the worst for lines! You  need at least 2 hours at the airport even if you check in on line. Depending on the time of day the traffic from the port to the airport can take up to 90 minutes. It is always a time saver to take light rail from down town. 

    The Seattle folks are not kidding here. SEATAC has the absolute worst TSA lines I've ever seen, just twisting all over the place. We had Pre-Check and I'm not sure we would've even found our line if we didn't have an employee pushing my mother in a wheelchair to get us around everyone. I would not even try to cut it remotely close at this airport.

    • Like 1

    Beverage Card Question

    in Holland America Line

    Posted

    On 4/4/2019 at 12:37 PM, TrolleyGirl said:

    We had the EXACT same issues off/ on for our entire 11 day sailing on the Zuiderdam last December!  Frustrating!!

    Huh, I was on Zuidy in December as well and had no problem other than my not very good beverage steward at dinner usually did not bring me my receipt. Otherwise for me it's always been as Kazu described, get your bevvie card activated the first time you use it, and then get a receipt each time showing remaining balance. Very surprised to hear of the problems you've described and that HAL couldn't figure it out easily. I'd be frustrated too.

    OBC card purchase?

    in Holland America Line

    Posted

    16 hours ago, kantonburg said:

    When you say beverage card do you mean soda or alcohol or both?

    For example my wife was looking into the SBC but we have 3 people over 21 in our cabin. Since we would have to buy 3 and say only one was used is the other two refundable? Or is this the prepaid beverage cards only?

    Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk
     

    First, don't confuse beverage packages with beverage cards. The signature beverage package is not a separate card and you either use it or you don't. You won't get a refund for not hitting 15 drinks a day or not using it at all if you have it. In your example, if you have three people over 21 in your cabin, then all three must purchase the package, and no one will be getting a refund for whatever level of use/non-use there is. Keep that in mind before you buy.

     

    There is a difference between the regular beverage cards and the soda fountain card. For the soda card, you pay $25 but that buys you $50 in soda. I have never purchased this card, but my understanding from the board is that if you've purchased more than $25 in soda but still less than $50, the difference will NOT be refunded to you. If you use less than $25, you *might* be refunded the difference up to the $25 purchase value. (I'd confirm that with someone who's actually used the soda card.)

     

    For the regular beverage cards (which can be used for any kind of beverage except they offer one for $50 for non-alcoholic beverages only), you pay $100**, you can then buy up to $100 in beverages on the ship. If you purchase less than $100 in beverages using your card (which is a separate card from your cabin keycard), whatever the difference is will be credited to your onboard account when they close the books at the end of the last night. As I noted above, I'm not sure what happens if you don't activate the card and have used none of it, especially if it's given to you as a perk rather than a purchase you made. (The first time you use your beverage card, you need to also present your cabin keycard, presumably so they can link the bevvie card with your account.)

     

    ** Note: there are several denominations of beverage card ($250, $100, $50; non-alcoholic is $50). Just using $100 as example here. 

    • Like 1
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    OBC card purchase?

    in Holland America Line

    Posted

    5 hours ago, OVgirl said:

    No. At the end of the cruise they will refund any balance on your drink card to the credit card used for purchasing it. You cannot use the balance directly to pay for anything else on your final bill. Only if you purchase onboard credit can it be used to cover your final bill.

    Unused balance for beverage card is subtracted from your bill at the end of the cruise. It is not refunded to your credit card. If you did not use the beverage card at all, that may be another matter.

    New to Holland America? This is for you...AKA "HAL For Dummies"

    in Holland America Line

    Posted

    On 4/1/2019 at 6:11 PM, kazu said:

     

    Just wondering if that is because of the short duration of the 7 day cruises?

     

    We have certainly benefited from them on our cruises but they are longer.

     

    It really depends on the ship for your experience with the Adagio.  Not all ships have Lincoln Stage centre.

    We had the Indonesian crew show on our 20 day cruise on Maasdam last year. But 11 days on Zuiderdam in December, no crew show. 

    Hubbard Glacier Last Week Of May

    in Holland America Line

    Posted

    Was at Hubbard second week of June in 2016. The bay was not choked with ice and we were pretty close to the glacier face, no binoculars required for wonderful views. As the previous commenter said, Hubbard is huge and beautiful, and she was calving fairly frequently when we were there. I haven't been to Glacier Bay so cannot compare, but I highly recommend Hubbard. Looking forward to going back there again myself this june.

    How is Zuiderdam doing?

    in Holland America Line

    Posted

    Was on Zuidy for 11 days in December. Very attractive ship, good crew. The service was fine but definitely better on Maasdam earlier last year. Our poor cabin stewards had 30 cabins, seemed to be working constantly, and understandably had some trouble keeping up. We were in a regular oceanview and had the interactive tv. Sad that they did not replay the talks at night on the tv though. Having said that,  I would sail on her again in a second.

    HAL Cancelled My Cruise!! Options?

    in Holland America Line

    Posted

    We had a cruise planned on Veendam in August 2018, a unique I think 11 day Canada itinerary. HAL cancelled this a month or two after we booked (May 2017). They offered us $50 OBC each and four substitute itineraries, none of which we liked. We had as I recall two months to let them know what we wanted to do. We finally decided that we'd like to try the 11 day partial PanCan on Zuiderdam in December 2018, not one of the substitutes. HAL still gave us the $50 "sorry for screwing up your plans" OBC as well as the OBC they had given us for booking the original cruise while on board. We use a HAL PCC not a TA. Still would love to do the Canada itinerary if it ever comes up again but the change of plans worked out pretty well for us.

    Chilled Soup

    in Holland America Line

    Posted

    1 hour ago, kwb101 said:

    When we were on Maasdam on a 20-day Panama Canal voyage from San Diego to Boston last May and June, there was at least one chilled fruit soup on the menu every day. Yum! 

    Was on same cruise and can confirm this. However, there was not one single chilled fruit soup offering on our December cruise on Zuiderdam, much to our disappointment. Hope they bring them back by the time we're back on Maasdam in May.

    Stateroom Door Decorations

    in Holland America Line

    Posted

    Quite a few cabin decorations on Zuiderdam in December. Was surprised because I had heard of the supposed prohibition before. I recall that the folks in the cabin next to us in April/May on Maasdam had their door decorated with postcards from the ports of call too. 

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