horseymike

the only loyalty any cruise line is concerned with these days is occupancy of the ship at the highest price they can charge and still sell cruises. almost every other business has the same model :

What can you do for me today ?

Thanks for your review.

Would you please describe your dining experience ?

On 11/26/2023 at 8:45 AM, ISLANDFAN said:

2 hours ago, Arubamoose said:

We board on the 18th of January.

I hope that they reinstated the old dining in the MDR.

Can't trust the menus that are listed on the app, considering they only have 6 nights worth.

It's our first time on Equinox and we are without a beverage package. 

We are Elite and have a bit of OBC.

The review is hopeful.

2 hours ago, Arubamoose said:

We board on the 18th of January.

I hope that they reinstated the old dining in the MDR.

Can't trust the menus that are listed on the app, considering they only have 6 nights worth.

It's our first time on Equinox and we are without a beverage package. 

We are Elite and have a bit of OBC.

The review is hopeful.

I hope you have a great cruise .🚢

Just now, ESweets said:

Oh this is awesome! Thanks so much! It sounds like we’ll have plenty to see and do! 

I hope the entertainment is as good or better for your cruise 🚢 

Sometimes they change the lineup.

As long as folks keep purchasing the cruises they will continue to sell them , and at an escalating price. The only thing that gets their attention is loss of $$$$.

2 hours ago, maiaaya said:

Thanks for the review! We were on this ship in July and loved it. Going back in January and can’t wait! Who is the current cruise director?

The current cruise director is a young lady named Crystal.

She is fairly new with regard to the position, she brings a lot of enthusiasm her duties and is very approachable for the passengers. 

I sympathize with Richard @sea.

Once on the Zuiderdam I chose what I thought was a huge inside cabin , it was indeed.

Unfortunately , it was located under BB Kings music venue..

Once the music started , it was impossible for my wife to sleep.

Luckily , when I related our situation to customer service, they were able to relocate us to a quieter location. Problem solved. Lucky for us there was availability. 🍀

When you receive your cruise documents online , go to the bottom of the last page , there you will find a luggage tag. Print as many as you need.

On 12/9/2023 at 7:17 AM, LAFFNVEGAS said:

Greetings and Good Morning HAL Cruisers, Yes, Lisa and Tom are at it again. We are flying today to Florida for our cruise tomorrow. We are flying via American Airlines Non stop to Miami on a very Early flight. From LAS there were no Non Stop to FLL, since I booked Hotel through HAL and they will provide transfers for their hotel from either FLL or MIA this seemed to work out for the best.

This will be our first time on the Nieuw Statendam and will complete us having sailed on all the ships of the current HAL Fleet and it will be our first time cruising since reaching our 5 Star Status. Although I suspect we will see no difference as far as that is concerned. Except I might get a Spa Day in the Thermal Suite 

We are sailing in a Neptune Corner Aft this cruise, while we have cruised Caribbean several time we had not done it in the Corner Aft so this will be a bit different, as well as this is our first time to sail on a ship with a separate Club Orange Restaurant when having a Neptune Suite, No Pinnacle Grill for Breakfast.

 

I will go ahead and continue my recent Live From tradition of What's For Dinner?. I am looking forward to see if there is much change from our recent Koningsdam cruise. I have been watching the current 14 day crossing of the Nieuw Statendam and there has been some interesting menu items as well as it appears they did two Brunch's so I am hoping they will also have one for our cruise. Possibly next Friday our last Sea Day.

 

We have reservations this evening at J. Alexanders that is very close to our hotel for tonight, the menu looks good and I have seen on other reviews it came highly recommended. I will report in on that this evein.

 

Thanks for following along!!

Hope you have a great cruise. 🚢
 

1 hour ago, The Fun Researcher said:

see you on board!

 

OP or others, how is the condition of the ship. Been a while since drydock. In good shape or is there more wear and tear than normal

I think the overall condition of the ship was quite good. The maintenance team can be seen around the ship painting , working on different things,  ventilation system , food preparation equipment,  etc. 

They really stay on top of things from what is visible as a passenger in the public areas.

I heard the ship is doing a TA to Barcelona in April of 2024 , at which point it will undergo a 20 day dry dock.

9 hours ago, ESweets said:

Thanks you for your review! I love hearing some good reviews as we will be onboard 12/19. May I ask about the current entertainment/shows? 

Ashlie Amber did a Whitney Houston tribute one night , Country songs another night.

A comedian , a magician , on different nights.

Elysium , Topper , Life  production shows on three different nights.

There was also a welcome aboard show with the production cast on the first night.

our personal favorite was a female solo violinist who did a high energy violin show with the Celebrity Orchestra.

9 hours ago, The Fun Researcher said:

Thank you for the review!  We’ll be sailing her in 9 days.  Is there still twice a day room turndown?

 

 

Yes . The cabin steward serviced our cabin twice a day.

You may pay less for better service with a taxi from FLL to port Everglades and back.

$ 11.00 per go by taxi website 

I Will be as concise as possible.

Embarkation was efficient and pain less. No long waits , quickly onboard.

Crew was amazing , even when operating in a situation when they appeared to be short handed.

We ate in the MDR all but the last night ( the menu for that night was uninspiring).

The food was very good to excellent. The service was exceptional.

OVC was really good at breakfast , really good at lunch , just fair at dinner. ( minimal choices at dinner )

Cafe Al Baccio was inconsistent, the crew was always busy and trying hard, but the coffee was good at times and weak at others.

Morning of debarkation, one girl was making the coffee for all the orders , open at 6 am , long line, not pleasant.

Bar service was very good around the ship.

Entertainment was good , not great.

Music was very good most of the time.

Cabin steward was exceptional.

Debarkation from the ship was smooth, collecting our luggage was tedious, we were in group 5 , for whatever reason the luggage for this group was 

very late getting off the ship , most of the other groups already had their luggage unloaded. A bit perplexing.

Glad your home safe Roy.

Hope you feel better going forward. Thanks again for keeping us posted. 👍🍀

Hope you have a safe trip home Roy , as well as a good recovery.

🙏🍀

5 hours ago, wrk2cruise said:

Yes there was lava cake one night.  On the Webinar Laura state they would be adding to the desert menus so there was at least 1 chocolate desert each night.  What I was saying there were some nights with no chocolate desert on that menu.

I heard they are bringing a bottle of Bosco to the table every night , so you can pour it on whatever and have a chocolate dessert.

I received the same email a little while ago.

At the very bottom of the e docs. Last page.

3 minutes ago, Sharon in AZ said:

Yes! and I always wait until onboard to upgrade. It’s a good way to use onboard credit. When you first login to the ship’s WiFi you will get a pop up asking if you want to upgrade.  You can also upgrade each passenger or just a single device. I usually wait a day or two since I don’t need it right away. It’s so nice to have. Also, you pay by day so the price goes down each day you wait. We’ve done this for our past five or so cruises. 

Do you remember how much it cost ?

Is it possible to upgrade to premium WiFi from the HIA included WiFi ?

Hi Roy ,

I hope the hospital staff is treating you well and getting you better soon.

Happy to hear that you’re improving.

All The Best . 🙏🍀.

Thanks everyone for your responses.

I have checked. There are some available.

Hi Everyone,

We are scheduled to embark in 2 days. The move up bid we placed still is listed as pending.

Based on the experience of Cruise Critic readers , does this move up bid still have a chance to be accepted ?