Hlitner

Back in our cabin at 10:45, as all the live entertainment has ended. Today, as predicted, our first crossing sea day brought us some nasty seas (perhaps as high as 15 foot). The ship has been rocking and rolling and we have heard many passengers are sea sick. Even our favorite Rolling Stone Band, had to stop their third set due to some seasickness within the group. There are some predictions that the rough seas might be an issue for the next several days, so we hope many of these folks can adjust to the conditions. Tonight was a dressy night with a decent MDR menu. We had our usual pre dinner cocktails and weaved our way to the MDR about 7:30. As usual, we asked to share a table and we’re led to one of the center aft tables (for 6) that are difficult because there is no room to get into several of the seats. With the MDR only about 1/2 full we rebelled and finally said no to these aft tables where the Azipod noise is loud and seating difficult. We were quickly offered a much nicer table for 4 and were joined with by a delightful couple from Lake Tahoe. After an enjoyable 2 hour dinner, the other couple headed to the Main Stage for the 9:30 Contare Show. Since DW and I had already seen that show (twice) we. Went to the Rolling Stone Lounge where the audience of about 10 got to hear a wonderful Blues set (before the band lost some members due to mal de mer). We expect another rough day tomorrow, and DW and I will do what we do best which is to relax in the Crows Nest with our Kindles, phones, and drinks. There are the usual sea day activities (for those who like activities) and a new lecturer who will be talking about Albert Einstein. This may be a very long week for those that do not tolerate moving ships. That is always a risk (especially with any crossing) and it is part of cruising. Regarding cuisine, the menu items are quite repetitive and eatable. Since embarkation on 3/27, DW and I have never had to send a meal back. I think the galley does a pretty good job, given the raw ingredients and company policy regarding quality. That being said, I do eat a lot better at home :). It all fits into my basic description of today’s HAL as being “OK.” Hank

Belinda King Productions has handled Seabourn shows for several years. They hire lots of amazing talent, rehearse them in England, and send them off to the ships. Not sure we would view their productions as a step down, even if they utilize a smaller group of dancers. Sometimes quality trumps quantity. Hank

If you are going to be constantly obsessed by negative thoughts such as unannounced train strikes, taxi accidents, pestilence, etc., than perhaps you need to stick to the Cruise line excursions. For those of us who are long time DIYers, it is simply about doing your homework, having a Plan B,C, etc. Also think about worst case scenarios such as “is it possible to catch up to the ship the following day?” If not possible, than you need to be a little more careful in planning. Perhaps you need to be back to the area near the port, somewhat earlier. Much of DIY planning is just using common sense. When it comes to Rome, do not rely on the last possible train and have enough Euros to cover the cost of a return taxi, if this becomes necessary. Hank

While I I understand that much can be subjective, we have been very pleased with both Seabourn and MSCs Yacht Club. While Princess has also had its own cut-back issues, we thought our most recent Enchanted Princess experience was far better than what we are now experiencing here on the Westerdam. We have also had good reports ( from reliable friends) that Oceania, Viking and Azamara continue to offer decent products. Our only future bookings for this year include both Princess and the new Explora Journeys. No more HAL in our future, nor will there be until they get their act together. Hank

The bottom line is that, when booking any HAL cruise, you are rolling the dice on whether there will be any classical music. any cooking demos, or just about anything. Heck of a way to run a cruise line. It is even the same with alternate restaurants. Here on the Westerdam, Canoletto has offered their usual menu every other week with a truncated Tarimind menu on the other weeks. Those that booked in advance had no way to know what they were booking. When we started this cruise in March, we had a decent LC group. Their contract ended and they left the ship in early April. LC has remained dark and there has been zero classical music since that group departs. Kind of a waste of space to see the LC Stage unused and the adjacent Explorers Lounge generally empty. Just reading the various blogs here in CC makes it pretty clear that when you book HAL, there is no telling what you will or will not get on a particular cruise.

Here on the Westerdam, water has been the typical plastic bottles. No problem if you want water or soft drink cans unopened.

Welcome to the world of HAL where customers have little clue as to what they get on any specific cruise. Consider we had a terrific Lincoln Center group in March but have had nothing but a dark room for the past 3 weeks. No cooking demos on this ship, no crew shows. Little entertainment, etc. We will be sticking to cruise lines that deliver a more predictable product

We have a week of sea days until we get to Kodiak. Unless somebody learns how to make decent pizza dough, we are in trouble 🤧

This evening was special and let me explain. Went to,dinner at 7:30 and shared a decent table with an English couple and a couple from Singapore. It was another delightful dinner, not because of the mediocre food, but our interesting table mates. After dinner we went to the main stage for the 9:30 Step One show only to discover it was cancelled due to ship movement. No surprise to us since this was the third Step One show cancelled on our cruise. What a job! DW and I then walked over to Billboard to catch the end of the set performed by the two players/singers who were having a good night. At 10, we went to the Rolling Stone Lounge to catch the last set (which ends at 11) of the excellent Rolling Stone Lounge Group. They did a terrific third set to about 20 awake passengers. But then the magic happened. About 10:50, they played their last song which was a request for Purple Rain. A couple ( he in his 70s and she a bit younger) got up to dance and put on a show that would have shamed the Step One dancers. This older couple had no problem with the seas, and put on one of the best dance performances I have ever seen on any ship. They danced, did lifts, and moves beyond description, all, on a night when the young healthy professional dancers could not perform. It was the best entertainment we have seen on this cruise, and happy that DW and I were among the few awake to see it. As to the Step One dancers, we wonder if we will even see them again on this voyage. We only have 13 remaining nights, and the ship is likely to move on many nights. Perhaps HAL has a dozen BBC documentaries to fill those evenings. They are a good dance group, but since boarding the ship in March, they have cancelled 3 out of 6 shows (at 9:30). I suspect that the folks in Seattle who decided to rely on small group,dance companies were not aware that ships,move upon the sea and dancing on a moving ship is a tough business. Leave it to 70+ dancer to show the way. This has me thinking about a solution to the lack of entertainment. Perhaps HAL should solicit acts from among the passengers who could work for free lobster tails. Yesterday I mentioned that we were again overcharged for drinks. HAL, following a message from me, again corrected the errors without comment. The onboard staff seems competent at correcting errors (only after pointed out by passengers). But the question that remains is why we keep seeing these accounting errors. I sometimes think we are in a contest with HAL called , “find the billing errors!” Those that spot the errors are rewarded, but others simply pay the extra price without having a clue. Hank

Sounds like HAL is “looking” at many things and delivering next to nothing. We are living in the now, and the “now” on this particular ship at this particular time is nowhere near the standard we have expected from HAL or any other line that we cruise. Perhaps the new HAL marketing campaign should be entitled “Promises, Promises.” As stated in an earlier post, what we have here is, at best, just OK. If and when HAL delivers on what you forecast, we might return. For now, based on what we have experienced in the past 4 weeks on this vessel, we would not recommend that any of our friends book HAL until there is tangible proof of improvements in entertainment and cuisine.

Getting back to this specific cruise, the Captain just informed us to expect a pretty rough crossing to Kodiak, with forecasted 5 meter seas. There is a major storm developing to our north, that is expected to move east and stay with us as we cross the Pacific. A good chance we will have plenty of Rock and Roll onboard. This all ties in with the cancelation of Kushiro, as the Captain is planning on a more southern route to avid the worst of the forecasted storm. We appear to have increased our inventory of booze, so I guess we will be well “fortified” in the event of rough seas 🤯 Hank

You do realize there are no more cooking demos, Lincoln Center Stage performances are either gone, or on their way to gone, and the show might by the “HAL Story” or a BBC documentary? Also no more crew shows. Hank

That is what we see today on the Westerdam. However, there are also add-ons in both restaurants. Fir example, just ordering a soup starter and salad, in the PG, will result in an extra $7 + 18%. And you will get a bill with a place to add an extra tip 👟😐

ROFL. I do not see anymore HAL in our future, although anything is possible. If we tried to sum up the current HAL in a word it would be “OK.” But, we can get better than “OK” so future cruises on HAL make little sense. If HAL ever returns to its previous quality than we would also return. We just returned to the ship from a wonderful few hours in Yokohama along with some decent food in Chinatown. We are now looking forward to 6 consecutive relaxing sea days. Upon returning to the ship terminal, we quickly passed through Japan’s exit processing. For those planning to cruise in this land we would suggest having a few empty Passport pages. The entrance/exit process can take a page for each cycle. Hank

Our Signature Suite is serviced twice a day by truly excellent stewards. Funny how all the billing errors are in HALs favor.

Yes or at least Maybe. The onboard accounting system is so flawed that one must carefully monitor credits and debits. We did have 1 shuttle covered by HIA credits which is correct since the shuttles are sold as an Excursion. Hank

68-70 on The Hill. I was part of USAFSS, but think that entire operation was shut down years ago. We used to do some Camping near Lake Towada.

Greetings All, Loved Cruisemom’s photos and we have similar photos on our phone as we did go to Kamakura today. it cost us about $4.00 pp for the train from Yokohama and another $3 in admission fees. DW thought it the most amazing Buddha she has seen (I still favor the one in Nara), but we had a fantastic day…until we returned to the ship. So now starts our third 14 day segment and we are welcomed with $28.28 in drink overcharges on the first evening. Folks, I believe this now the 7th time we have been overcharged. My patience with HAL is growing thin. To make matters worse, since our itinerary was changed and our excursion cancelled (by HAL) we reluctantly booked another $200+ excursion (in Alaska). We have already been charged for the excursion which should be covered by our $200 HIA credit. But alas, the shore excursion folks admit they still do not have their own cancellation information and it “might” all get fixed in the next few days. Bottom line is that lesser mortals would be jailed for such an awful and lax accounting system. One wonders how much money is lost to those who do not carefully monitor their accounts. This evening we dined in the PG. Our dinners were pretty good, but it would have been nice to have a Caesar Salad without having to pay an extra $7 + 18% on top of the $39 + 18%. To be honest, we did not pay anything because the PG dinner was a loyalty perk and we did not dare order a salad, I wish we had the nerve to follow our hearts and bring in a free Caesar Salad from the Lido! So back to my pet peeve which is HAL entertainment. Several hundred new voyagers boarded today and were welcomed with a single 7:30 main show of the History of HAL. The Lincoln Stage remains dark since there is no Lincoln Stage Group on the ship. The excellent Rolling Stone Group was off tonight, although there was some recorded music in that near empty venue. Our onboard light jazz trio did play a few sets in the Ocean Bar. The only entertainment after 8:15, was the Billboard duel piano players (they are OK, but not better than OK) which had an audience of about 30. The Casino is closed (because we are in port) so we assume nearly all the remaining 2000 passengers went to bed by 9…..out of sheer boredom. In the past, some posters have referred to HAL as a floating nursing home (I prefer assisted living center). But I now think this would be insulting to many nursing homes who probably have more activities and entertainment, By the way, I finally broke down and grabbed some pizza, at the Lido, this afternoon. To say it is the worst pizza at sea would be insulting bad pizza. HAL knows how to make acceptable pizza (they do it on some other ships) but here we get partially cooked, too thick dough, with OK toppings. Fortunately, the Dive-In burgers, fries and dogs are decent. DW and I are suffering “pizza withdrawal” and happen to be in one of the few countries where it is difficult to find decent pizza. Finally, we send our best wishes to all of our new found friends who debarked today, and wish them all a safe journey and long healthy lives :). Hank

If you simply want a med evac policy, check out medjetsssist.com. Hank

It looks like there is availability for some of the Alaska excursions, so we will either need to book something we do not want or kiss the credit goodbye. This last minute itinerary change does give us another day here in Yokohama which is a fabulous port because of its location. It is about a 10 min stroll to the subway which links to both the JR train system and regional subways. We are relaxing in the Crows Nest trying to develop a plan. We are thinking of taking the train to Kamakura and suffering through a few more Temples. Just a matter of getting out of our comfy chairs and leaving the ship. Hank

We do hope you are wrong. But we shall play their games..for now.

We were told today, that our April 26 visit to Kushiro has been cancelled due to forecasted high winds/seas. Hank

I will try to explain how things are now working in Japan. They do not have a zero out process similar to the USA. Instead, they do a face to face every time you enter and leave Japan. But if a cruise ship is simply moving between Japanese ports, there are no further immigration procedures until such time as the ship is leaving Japan (I.e. going to Korea, Taiwan, USA, etc). So a turn around day in Yokohama, may or may not involve immigration procedures depending on the previous and following ports. And finally, Passport checks can happen at any Japanese port, so folks are required to carry Passports when going ashore. If there is a routine Passport check it usually happens in a terminal as is a fast procedure. But the face to face immigration procedures (when entering or leaving the country) can take 3+ hours to handle all the passengers. But once you have had the face to face you are free to go ashore or return to the ship. Hank

Today is a sea day with sunny skies and cool temps in the mid to upper 50s. The Captain announced that he had cancelled the April 26 port day in Kushiro due to forecasted high winds and rough seas. Since they can night find a substitute port we will spend overnight April 24-25 in Yokohama. This means that those boarding tomorrow will get no Japanese ports. I am interested to see how HAL handles those with HIA packages. We got $200 pp in shore excursion credit and used it to book a $220 excursion in Kushiro. So now, we will have that credit with no decent option to spend it (most decent tours in our few AK stops are already booked. At this point we do not even have any access to AK tour info on the Navigator app. I should mention that onboard supply issues have been changing. This morning, Earl Gray tea was available for the first time in over 3 weeks. Beer selection has been constantly waning as has the wine selection. We are hoping to get resupplied in Yokohama, but only time will tell. Hank