richwmn

Booked on a 14 day Canada NE on June 6, 2015. Booked in two seperate segments hoping they would join and lower price. Well the did join, but there is no price because it says sold out. Cant believe a cruise a year away is sold out, especially because it is not a cheap cruise. Thinking a charter or an error with the listing online?? Any ideas?

I just looked and the 14 day combination still lists suites - so not a charter. Both segments also show all cabins available. Most likely HAL is still trying to figure out the proper mix for selling cabins for the 14 day combination.

Like others have mentioned, I always check in with the Commander when I arrive. Then just have to wait for him to call numbers that have not.

Check in was actually easier when we had to wear the life vests as they had the cabin number on them. However, I am glad we no longer have to do that.

Just looked at my Veendam card from 21-28June and star level is on it. Perhaps a problem on the Zuiderdam or Crew New's account?

Getting to the hotel should not be a problem, but a taxi to the pier might be (even though it is a short distance). We (and others we talked to) had issues with the taxi driver finding the correct pier (evidently they do not go there very often). You might ask the doorman at your hotel to explain to the driver where you are going (and again have a piece of paper with the address on it). Even once you are at the pier it can be confusing, as the area is not well marked (we finally exited the cab and had to wander around to find the entrance).

Not Montreal but in Quebec City I too had a small language problem with the taxi driver. I asked twice to go to the cruise dock and was told he didn't know where it was. There was another taxi arriving and I was about to go there when I mentioned the name of the ship (Veendam in my case) and he immediately know where I needed to go.

Rich

Just got off the Dream yesterday and we had a great cruise, despite one incident which was our fault. My husband and I had a cove balcony and our boys 13 and 15 (well 16 today:-) had a 1A across the hall. On Friday afternoon we were heading up to lunch when my 13yr old realized he forgot his s&s card, he went back to get it and was going to meet us on Lido.

 

He had the top bunk and his card was on one of those belt clips with the retractable cord. Well apparently he thought it would be a great idea to hang it from the sprinkler head :eek: He couldn't get it off and in the process of trying, set it off! He immediately ran down the hall to a maintenance man and told him what he had done and the man called someone and the water shut off, but of course the damage was done and everything was SOAKED.

 

He came and got us, by the time we got down there they had a whole team working on it. It was loud and disturbed some guests trying to nap so we got a talking to by security, which I understand but it was weird because clearly we weren't going to let it happen again and there was nothing we could do about the noise. It took about an hour to get the water vacuumed up and the room cleaned out and they had blowers going in there for the rest of the cruise.

 

They had us sign a statement saying that it was an accident, nobody was injured, and we would be responsible for him. We weren't sure what to expect. I figured we would get a bill when we got home, but they called Sunday morning and said the cost for repairing the damages and inconveniencing other guests would be added to our account. It was surprisingly small and we had no problem paying of course.

 

Now i'm worried that we are going to get one of those letters saying we are no longer welcome to sail with Carnival. What do you think? We have our next cruise booked and paid for, just hubby and I, no kids this time. If we do get banned, they have to at least refund our cruise right? We can cancel right now with no fee, but only for the next day or 2. Really don't want to do that!

I think the boy should be congratulated for owning his mistake right away and getting the maintenance man. A lot of kids would go about their way and try to blame this on the ship.

A couple of other things I thought of over night.

 

There was no CD on this cruise. There was an "event manager" and a "show host". Neither had the charisma of a good CD or did the full CD job. Maybe another cutback.

 

Folks at the front desk did a good job on the standard things (Card became demagnetized, need a copy of the account, etc.). If you needed help with general information (what time do the tenders start in Bar harbor?) it was more difficult to come by. One person at the desk told me I couldn't get a tender until 10:30 am. We kept going back until we found someone who knew the info (we were off by 8:30).

 

There was also some quality control issues with the daily schedule. When we were in Halifax some Sydney information was there.

As a follow up on the CD issue. That started on the 21-28 Cruise. My understanding was that the previous CD's contract ended on the 21st and he left the ship. The replacement, from what I understand, actually boarded the ship, then got a call with a family emergency. We were first told that he would be joining the ship later during our cruise but found out later that a different CD had been assigned and was to board on the 28th.

During our cruise the entertainers (Julie Barr and Dan?) did the afternoon trivia. The event manager did the announcements and introduced the shows. The show host did the evening trivia and some other things. For having unaccustomed duties thrust on them at the last minute I thought they did a good job.

As far as the daily planner, from what I understand that is part of the CD's job which the event planner and show host might not have been familiar with.

Thanks for your review, especially for the details about the later embark -- much appreciated.

A major reason I wrote it was because of the late embarkation. I was surprised at how smoothly it went. Something I forgot to mention - When I first asked about the cruise port the driver had no idea what I was talking about until I mentioned the ship name. Someone else mentioned the same thing.

Thank you so much for including the entertainment portion of your review! It is much appreciated! :D

Welcome home. Glad you had a nice time.

I thought about you when I was writing the review.

Embarcation:

My reason for this cruise included a visit with some friends in Ottawa ending with a retirement party on the 20th. Therefore, I knew in advance that the 21st would be a travel day. However, since the Veendam overnighted in Quebec City I was assured that I could board any time until the ship sailed on Sunday. With that in mind I booked Via Rail Canada to transfer me from Ottawa to Quebec via Montreal. My hosts dropped me off at the rail station in Ottawa and the train ride was fantastic. I booked business class and was well treated during the entire trip.

I arrived at the Quebec train station on time at 9:30 pm and found a taxi to the ship without too much trouble. Cab fare with tip was $10 (Canadian). I arrived at the port right at 10:00pm. Here I had a little problem. There was little noticeable signage, and the taxi driver directed me around to the right to board the ship. As I walked toward the ship I saw the gangplank from the building and knew I should be there. After a little trouble finding the entrance I found excellent assistance from that point to the ship.

Arriving at the front desk I had a couple of seconds wait then I checked in with no trouble at all. A crew member had taken my bag when I first entered the ship, and it was in my cabin when I arrived.

Cabin:

As I normally do I booked an outside guarantee. In the two weeks prior to sailing I had three emails offering upsells. I declined each one. I ended up with an unobstructed outside on the “A” deck (4). Since I arrived late I didn't meet my cabin stewards, Edward and Mikko, until Sunday morning. They kept good care of me all week. I had no mechanical or plumbing problems with the cabin and it seemed to be well kept.

Meet & Greet:

We had a roll call that was a little slow until the last couple of weeks. Despite late notification the Veendam's crew was able to arrange a M&G for us. We had reasonable attendance, along with the Captain and Hotel Director. The Beverage Manager was around, and provided Champagne and Memosas for those who wished them.

Internet:

It appears that the Veendam has the new system as I had to log into “ICAFE-GUEST-Veendam” instead of mtndsi. The rates remained as they have been in the past except that I had no signon fee.

100 minutes $55

250 minutes $100

500 minutes $175

1000 minutes $250

pay as you go - $0.75 per minute

I did not attempt any speed tests, but it seemed a little more responsive than the old system.

One note on internet access – the port in Halifax had free access. My cabin was close enough to the port building that I had a good signal all day. Someone in a cabin about 5 forward of me did not.

Ports:

I am not much of a port person and had visited each of the ports two years ago so I won't comment other than to say each was nice. Poor weather in Sydney and Halifax prevent people from doing much in those ports.

Entertainment:

Adagio – this was a duo that played each night. I listened to them several nights for a few minutes. To my untrained ear they sounded fine, but a fellow passenger wasn't impressed.

Neptunes – again, my impression is based on just a few minutes but they sounded fine and had a small crowd each evening.

I don't remember seeing a “HalCats” group, and didn't have a group playing around the pool at any point when I was there.

Piano Bar – Barry from Boston – this is where I was Sunday – Thursday evenings between 9pm and midnight. Barry is a very good entertainer and interacts well with his audience. He had a good to very good crowd each evening. He has a good voice and knows the lyrics well. Each night was a very nice time.

Showroom:

The only show I went to was Julie Barr. Pretty good show for an entertainer that interacts with the audience.

Immigration:

As we entered US territory in Bar Harbor, ME we had to go through immigration there. The officials were late boarding the ship, but once they were there the process went quickly and smoothly. When my deck was called I went to the designated area and, although the line was long it never stopped moving. I honestly don't think it was over two or three minutes from the time I got into the line until I passed the official and was done.

Disembarcation:

Saturday morning the Veendam arrived in Boston on time. The officials were late arriving but the ship seemed to catch up. My disembark time was 8:30 and I left right about that time. Once I started moving I continued until I was outside the port and entering the taxi. My flight didn't leave until noon so I let the cab driver show me a bit of Boston. I got to the airport in plenty of time, and the flight home was fine.

That's funny, my DH and I were just discussing whether to take the train when we go to Fort Lauderdale next Spring! I said I thought there should be a Cruise Critic for train travel - or maybe a TrainAdvisor... We could take ViaRail from Vancouver to Toronto, and fly from there, or we could take AmTrak from Seattle to FLL. I'll have to do a lot of research, and look forward to your report. I know rafinmd often takes the train. Perhaps he'll join in.

 

Have a great time sailing! I know it's hard work, but somebody has to do it. Thanks, Father.

A quick vote for Via Rail. I just took it (business class) from Ottawa to Montreal to Quebec City. I was in business class and had a great ride. Service was good, included meal was better than the old airline meals, and trains were pretty close to being on schedule. Ottawa to Montreal started about 15 minutes late but I believe it made up a bit of time. Montreal to Quebec City left and arrived right on time.

Labor day

Mr Peabody and Sherman

About Time

Osage County

The Man Behind the Poster

Grudge Match

The Lego Movie

 

I watched most of them. They also had Silver Linings, Snitch, Oz (the newest one), 123 Pelham, and a few other ones on the other channels.

 

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

Just off the Veendam this morning and those look like the same movies from last week.

Ok, here's a question... If you select cash, can you elect to change to card at the port and utilize the OBC? Or would changing to card revert to the $60/day being held?

My understanding is that they will authorize $60/person/day whenever they get the card. I usually make sure I have enough OBC to cover my needs so I have never run into it. I would guess that if you present the card after the beginning of the cruise they would authorize the $60 for the remaining days plus whatever you owe over the OBC you have

When we boarded Oosterdam last year we had over $1700 OBC on our account. HAL still held $60 p/p per day on our credit card.

If that cruise had been 14 days of less (assuming 2 of you) and you selected cash, you would not have been required to put up anything else unless you exceeded your OBC. As I mentioned in my last post, if you give them a Credit or Debit Card they will authorize $60/person/day no matter how much OBC you have. Having that much credit, I would have just chosen cash and dealt with any overage later.

Hi I spoke with Holland the other day and they said OBC could not be used for the $60.00 per day charge. I thought that was odd so I even called back and spoke to another gal who told me the same thing??

If you give them a credit card they will hold the entire $60/person/day. If you choose to have a cash account, you only have to give them the difference between that amount and the OBC credit you have.

Example - you are doing cash for a 7 day cruise. You have $100 Stockholder credit and $50 future cruise deposit credit. You would then have to provide either $270 gy gifting yourself obc, or by presenting cash or travelers check at check in. If you present a credit / debit card at check in, it would be authorized for the total $60/person/day.

Since CC started limiting the Roll Call section to one-page per ship I've noticed that most of the time my cruises don't even show up, even though I know someone started a thread. I think the only way to find a Roll Call is if it is so active someone is always posting, so the sailing date never leaves the page.

Where are you all seeing only 1 page per roll call? I am on the Zuiderdam one and I can see 20 pages????

 

DaveOKC

It is not limiting to 1 page per roll call. If you look at the bottom of the page it shows "display options" and is most likely set to 1 month. That way only threads that have been active in the last month show up. You can change that to one day or one year if you wish.

In addition to making it a subscribed thread, you also now have (at the top of the roll call page) an option to search for your roll call

Rich

When HAL puts the $60/person/day hold on the card, it is JUST for the $60/person/day (in the case of my Alaska cruise, $420 for me), right? They don't hold slightly over it?

 

Just trying to get my ducks all lined up and make sure there's enough on the card. I'm asking because I know with excursions, they would hold a certain amount over the excursion itself and then go in to get the exact amount for the excursion with the extra hold being returned to usable funds. If they do a percentage over the $60/person/day on a card, I'll probably just get $420 in cash and give them that. (Which would necessitate going to guest services the last night or last morning to get what's not used back, right?)

 

TIA!

AFAIK and what everyone has mentioned it would be exactly $60/person/day ($420 for a 7 day cruise). If you go the route of cash, it would be $420 minus any obc you happen to have. As you mentioned, you can get the remainder after about 9pm on the last night. At whatever point you get the refund your charging rights end.

If you are more that a week from sailing, you could purchase some "gift" onboard credit for yourself. That would put the charge in the earlier billing period.

We're currently on the Veendam right now and having a great time. I plan to write a detailed review after we return. If you have any specific questions then post them here and I'll check as Internet access permits and try to get answers. :) food had been great and so is the service, we haven't had any problems. The beverage manager and another officer came to our scheduled meet and great even though we never told anyone about it since we didn't have a large number of people. They offered each of us a complimentary drink and brought out a tray of snacks for us on the deck just outside the cross nest at all away.

 

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Hi, I will be boarding Veendam in Quebec in 11 days. It looks like you started in Quebec. Which dock did you use? Several people on my roll call are interested.

Thanks

Rich

We are booked on a C/NE cruise on the Veendam embarking and overnighting in Quebec City. I called HAL and the rep said it's okay to embark after the cruise ship terminal closes at 4pm by going directly to the ship, but somehow that makes me a little uneasy. Have you had any experience with this or know anyone who has? Any thoughts on doing something like this?

 

(If the thought is, "Lady, are you crazy!?" no need to post it -- it's already running around in my head ;)

I am doing the same thing and have been assured by my PCC that there will be no problem. I have also seen posts, in the past, about people doing this without incident. Hope it goes well for both of us.

Rich

The convenience of having the bus "sealed" all depends upon the bus driver. Last year the CBP officials weren't out to the bus quick enough for our bus driver. She probably waited all of a minute, certainly no more than two minutes, before opening the bus door. The official came out seconds after she broke the seal. Yep, we and ALL of our luggage had to go inside for inspection and x-rays. :rolleyes: As long as your sister can easily handle her luggage (including lifting all of it up about waist high to go through the x-ray machine) she'll be fine - if she does have to go through the full thing. At least the machine can fit large suitcases.

 

This year we're sticking with the rental car. We're spending time in Seattle post cruise. We're not in a hurry in case there is a long line for cars at the border.

Which cruise are you on this year? We are on the last Alaska on the Zuiderdam, I am going to continue on to Fort Lauderdale.

And yes, she will be able to handle her luggage in case of a problem.

Rich

I agree. Just fly out of Vancouver or cruise out of Seattle.

 

On a similar note, we used to take a "flyaway" bus to get to the Los Angeles airport. It became such a hassle (and not so comfortable) that we decided that there had to be a better way. We now do things like renting a car one-way to the airport.

 

Pay the extra money and enjoy the beginning and end of your vacation.

 

igraf

FWIW - I am asking for my sister. She has checked and the flights arriving at a reasonable hour in Atlanta leave from Seattle the day after the cruise ends. She will have about a 2 hr drive after arriving in Atlanta to get home.

Rich

I would be interested in any comments from those who have taken this shuttle concerning wait time, travel time and comfort.

Also I know the shuttle goes to SEATAC first, then some hotels. Which hotels are included as stops and can you request other hotels?

Thanks

Rich

I think they do that to try and spread out arrivals.

I think it is more likely that no one has bothered to change it. In the early 2000's boarding didn't start until 2:00pm, so checking in at around 1:00pm would have been about right.

It seems to me that HAL credits partial increments as a day's credit. For instance, if you spend $565 on board, you are credited with 2 days. Am I wrong?

In my case they have seemed to be very liberal with their rounding up. Much less than $565 will get you the additional day!

I am attempting to use a Visa gift card to make a purchase on the HAL website for our upcoming cruise. The card has a $100.00 balance. I want to purchase dinner for two at the Pinnacle Grill, which is $58.00 total. My card gets declined. The decline message simply states to use a different card. I wonder if HAL would put a hold on the card over the amount of purchase?

The reason I want to use the Visa gift card it so I can surprise my husband with the reservation. If I use our regular credit card, he will see the charge. Ship Services is open Monday-Friday, so I will call Monday to see if they can help me out. Until then, has anyone experienced this, or do you have any ideas why the card would be declined?

Several years ago I tried to use a gift card to pay toward a cruise with my PCC. It was also declined. I was told that it was because it did not have a name / address associated with it. You may not be able to use the gift card with Ships Services either.

It looks like the Luhn Algorithm. It worked on both my and DH's Mariner numbers.

 

When I was in college, I had a part time job, and one of my job responsibilities was assigning account numbers to customers. The company had a very specific procedure for this, and numbers were assigned manually with a check digit. Yup, no computer involved in the calculation, but if it were incorrect, the computer would reject the entry.

 

When we first got our Mariner numbers, the last digits looked like check digits to me but I never verified it until this thread.

 

Now I'll return to folding the laundry. I've used up my quota of geek for the evening. :D

Looks like he is right. I looked up the Luhn Algorithm and found a calculator here => http://planetcalc.com/2464/

It works for all three Mariner Numbers I know.