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8 minutes ago, jm485 said:

Very relieved if this is true … but I just a couple of hours ago ordered tests for an upcoming trip!! Doh!

Just did the same yesterday! LOL

I went ahead and purchased the "7 day pass." Thanks for the suggestion about printing the details. For our past few cruises, the pass was cheaper if purchased pre-cruise. For our 2 week cruise in Jan/Feb 2022, the two week pass was more than what is listed for our upcoming 2 week cruise. Guess I'll find out when I board!

Was this Oosterdam's first cruise since the start-up? I sure hope they get their act together before we board in a few weeks. Thanks for the report. Sorry you experienced so many issues. 

We are going on a two-week cruise on the Oosterdam later this month. When looking to purchase a thermal suite pass, it lists a 7-day pass and no other options. It's a port-intensive cruise, so having the option to just pick the first or second week would be great, but I don't really think that's what that means. Has anyone else had this happen on their cruise? Thanks!

RuthC, I so agree with this. On our Alaska cruise a few years ago, we booked an excursion that included a 2 mile-ish "hike." That's what the written description said. There were three women near us who were asking the Shore Excursion Rep very specific questions about the walking. She kept telling them it was "just a bit of a stroll." It was not. It was not an intense hike by any means, but one of the women used a cane and another a walker. They enjoyed most of the excursion but stayed back for the hiking portion and said they were disappointed that the rep had made it sound like it was a short, easy walk, but that they weren't going to slow down the rest of the group. HAL needs to make their descriptions realistic. 

Many thanks for the replies. I appreciate the information!!

We did an at-home covid test before our cruise in January 2022 and it was very easy. For our upcoming cruise, we will have to be tested after we arrive in Italy (spending some time there before the cruise). If I purchase the at-home test, can I do the "medically supervised" part on my phone (android). I used my laptop for the previous test because we were at home when we did the test. Not planning to lug my laptop on the cruise, although I do have the option of bringing an old iPad or tablet. Also, does anyone have a link to the HAL page that lists approved tests. I've tried, but I can't seem to locate it. Many thanks!!

We had trouble selecting seats for our return flights (booked through Flight Ease) and got conflicting information from HAL/Flight Ease and the airline. While I was dealing with that, our outgoing flights "disappeared." Called the airline and got that resolved and was finally able to select seat on our return flights as well. Long holds (over an hour for couple and over 2 hours for another) on all calls. Very frustrating!

Just a bit of an update. Once I noticed that our seat selections were gone (and no mention of the extra $$ paid), I knew I had to call the airline. I've tried a few times this week and got a message saying "your wait time is over 45 minutes so we are going to terminate your call." Finally got through tonight and spoke to a very helpful and patient customer service rep. He put me on hold "for a few minutes" and it really was just a couple minutes. He said he could see what had happened and the amount we had paid. The seats I had originally selected weren't available, but he found and reserved similar seats and I had the e-mail confirmation within seconds (and it's updated on the airline website). I guess the long wait times are the 'new normal' but at least it's taken care of. Only a few more weeks to wait!!

That was painful! Well over three hours to solve the problem. When I finally reached a Flight Ease rep, I explained that our flights were no longer there. She found the outgoing flights and, while she put me on hold to check the return flights, I checked the airline website and the outgoing flights were back. She said the problem was just a "schedule change," but I pointed out that applied only to the outgoing flights and we had been notified of that weeks ago. Then she offered me a different return flight. I asked why she was offering me a different flight if the one we originally booked was still ticketed. Arriving 5 hours after the original flight didn't sound very appealing. So ... flights are back on the airline website BUT the seats I selected long ago for the outgoing flights are no longer selected and what happened to the additional fare I paid for "extra legroom" is nowhere to be found. I think that's an issue that's going to have to wait till tomorrow. Flight Ease is a bit of a misnomer, I think. 

Well over 2 hours on the phone at this point. I talked to a HAL rep for approximately 2 minutes. He said it would be a "brief hold" to speak to a Flight Ease rep. 

Flying in 5 days before the cruise and returning a few days after the cruise. After more than 45 minutes on hold (so much for the "wait time is under 5 minutes"), HAL rep confirmed that there are no flights associated with my booking and put me on hold to do some further checking. He returned to say that many flights for Oosterdam cruises are being rebooked. Then he put me back on hold to that we can confer with the flight ease folks. "It'll be a brief hold." Current hold message says wait time is under an hour. Ugh!!!!

We booked flights to Venice for our cruise next month through Flight Ease. I was able to select seats for the flights to Venice easily. I haven't been able to select seats for our return flight (different airline). I was told by the airline and HAL to check back later. Today I went on-line to see if I could select seats. I am getting the message that all of our flights have been canceled. Currently on hold with HAL to ask about this. My "projected wait time" of 5 minutes has already been about 30 minutes. Has this happened to anyone else?

It's the same for our upcoming 14-day cruise. I was wondering the same thing.

Love reading about your trips. When is your next cruise?

Did HAL ever come back with another compensation offer?

I just checked on our June cruise. It now lists Trieste (Venice) as the port. 

We were on Zuiderdam in January/February. We are only 3-star mariners. We got our tiles, but there was no mariner's luncheon that I know of (sort of disappointing). 

How interesting. I kind of hope it's true because we are spending a few days in Trieste before the cruise, and this would work out nicely if we can board in Trieste. 

A bit of an update: I still can't access my flights through Flight-Ease, but I took the advice of other posters and went to the airline website where I was able to access my flight information. BUT, I still couldn't select seats. Then I noticed that my flight is "operated by" a different airline than I have reservations with and different "operated by" airlines for flight to Venice and the flight home. Went to one of the "operated by" airlines websites and was easily able to pick my seats. No such luck with the other airline. So ... progress!! I'll keep trying!!

1 hour ago, Stakeout said:

sign into your HAL account... click on 'My Bookings'... click on 'Manage My Cruise' on the cruise you have booked a Flight Ease flight  on.. click on 'Travel Planning'-- in the drop Down boxes that show up .. on the left click on 'Pre and Post Cruise Travel'.. check 'Flights'  .. click on the green BEGIN button .. click on 'Book and Manage Flights'.. and there it is..  your flight.. 

 

like I've said in other posts-- whoever designs the HAL web pages looks like a high school kid did it..

Alas, I sure wish that worked! I get an error message. I've tried on multiple devices with multiple browsers. I'm beginning to wish a high school kid DID design the website ... they'd probably do a better job than the current experts! 🤪 Thanks for the suggestion though. I'll try again tomorrow ... never know when things will change!!

26 minutes ago, dfish said:

You used to be able to find the flight information on the itinerary page under Manage My Bookings.  For some reason, HAL decided they didn't want to provide that information on the itinerary page even though it is part of your itinerary through HAL.  

Thanks! So I'm not COMPLETELY crazy! I thought I remembered that from previous cruises. I booked the cruise through a big box TA, then selected my flights later on the HAL website and paid for the flights through the TA. I found my confirmation and went on the airline website and discovered that I can't select seats yet anyway! Anyone know how far out one can select flights? 

A few weeks ago, I booked (and paid) for airfare for our upcoming summer cruise. I suspect I may be overlooking something obvious (wouldn't be the first time!), but I cannot find the flight information when I log into HAL and click on my cruise. Summary indicates airfare is paid. How do I access the flight information? I know that I have seen it before, but sure can't find it now! Many thanks!

Same here. We usually book with that big box and I received the same message when I tried to call about our upcoming cruise when I noticed that the price had dropped. When I got the "we can't take your call right now" message, I just kept calling back and eventually got put into the "hold queue." I think I was on hold for about an hour (just kept my phone on speaker mode and went about my day). It is annoying, for sure, to have to wait to long, but our cruise fair went down about $1800, so it was worth it to me. 

Totally agree with you about the Jukebox Rogues shows. They performed multiple shows on our January/February Panama Canal cruise. They are excellent!