rubytue

Just got off this ship, and tend to agree the weather made it a not great cruise. All outside decks, except the sea view pool, were closed for most of the cruise. We only were able to do our post dinner promanade walk twice. One day of Caribbean sun, luckily our beach day in St Thomas. We cruise this week many years (winter solstice week, for the sun), and this was the only time we have had a solid week of bad weather. Even half moon cay day was not a good beach day. Edit to add: my H pointed out the top decks were only open one day. I mean, I get it, 35 knot winds combined with the ship speed made for 50 knots on deck (per my elevator ride with the captain). But yeah. It was disappointing. Recognizing this is no one’s fault, it also made for a very disappointing cruise.

We were on a pinnacle class ship, with a separate club orange dining room. We got club orange for the room upgrade, by we loved the club orange dining room. We ate every dinner there, and we usually do maybe one or two meals in the dining room. It was much less noisy. Not people talking noise, but the clanking of dishes and silverware and those noises that I find intolerable. Just a peaceful dinner experience. My husband, who hates to pay for things, said that made it so worth it.

It was some shipping companies in Seattle wanting a monopoly on the Alaska supply routes, if I recall correctly.

I’m not sure I’ve ever seen it mentioned before on cruise critic, though I’m sure it has. But we noticed the coolest Easter egg with the stairwell are. It told you where you were on the shop! As in, Buildings in the Bow Music in the Middle Animals in the Aft. Now, I’m wondering if I just missed cool mnemonics like this on other HAL ships. Or if someone was having fun here.

Hi! We are on here with you and yes, this has just been so long of rough weather! I’m just so happy we have a balcony because so much of the cruise the outdoor decks have been closed. Oh we love a lap or two around the promenade after dinner, but we haven’t been able to much.

This is about the only think we don’t like about HAL. Sometimes, I need a little 9pm munchie. But we eat dinner really early, even at home it’s like 5pm.

It’s totally preference, although, I would guess if you were in a large party, having a set time and table that you wouldn’t want to wait for would be good. It’s generally just the two of us, and we have never had problems. Fixed dining and reservations are totally a personal preference things. Having reservations anywhere stresses me out, because what if something goes wrong? What if I’m not in the mood or hungry at that time? But, I have a friend who gets stressed out without reservations.

I haven’t seen this part of the question addressed. HMC isn’t like other ports where there are vendors as you exit the ship. I don’t think I’ve ever seen the opportunity to book an excursion as you get on the dock at HMC. You might be able to book something through the shore excursions desk on the ship, but don’t save it until you get off.

Huh… over the summer, we were on the Westerdam. Lots of cabins around us had tiles in the mailbox one day, we asked our steward and he said it was only for 3* and up. We questioned this, mentioning we’ve always gotten them before. He said he would try to get us one, and he did. But, I figured it was some weird thing on that cruise. now, I wonder where I put them. 😂

The current flyer lists the onboard events as: Invitation to a special onboard event chosen by the ship’s Captain, such as a: • Private Greenhouse Spa & Salon® consultation • Complimentaryjewelrycleaning • Coffeechatwithsomeofouronboardentertainers https://www.hollandamerica.com/content/dam/hal/inventory-assets/activity-types/dining/club-orange/Club_Orange_Benefits.pdf Personally, I’d skip any of these even if it was offered. But hey, if that is a special event worth if for you, have at it.

Yup. And GenX and below is still on week cruises because we still have jobs that limit the time off. *sigh* I’m eligible to retire in 9 years. It’s finally actually close enough that it’s not that far away.

That couple is, in my mind, late 50s. At best they are late Gen-Xers. I’m rock solid middle of GenX. I do feel that HAL is trying to win over GenX. But that ain’t it.

If this is the commercial in question, full of millennials as the OP mentioned… I don’t know what to think. If the leads in this were born 1984-2000… what the heck do I look like?! 😂

Well, I can report that, at least on NCL, I was followed around by a guy reminiscent of ghostbusters, who fogged my luggage, my room as I left, and the hallway behind me. Also, while I get the concern. Covid is airborne. There is little support for fomite transmission, at least last I looked into the data. It’s what you breathe, not what you touch.

I know, right?! Hence my original comment that after that experience, the HAL version seems downright tolerable. 😁

Well, in our group, I think I was patient zero. Only 3 people tested positive while on the ship (known because we debarked together). I tested positive on day 4. Based on only the people answering a poll in the group, 4% of the passengers ended up with Covid. But that’s a guaranteed undercount. Based on this post versus my experience on the other line (NCL), well, let’s just say I much prefer HAL in so many ways. But, it’s a whole ship charter, and the charter company is a subsidiary of NCL…

Oh, pretty much everything. 🤣 It was a rock music charter, I went with girlfriends not my husband. Crammed into elevators, shows, etc. Eating indoors. Half of my girlfriend group are MDs or DOs. And, I pretty much looked around at everyone not wearing a mask and acting like nothing to worry about, and decided if they could and be fine, why can’t I? *sigh* Out if 10 of us, 5 got Covid, 1 flu. I’m completely recovered now (thanks paxlovid!). So that’s good.

We did an Alaskan cruise over the summer, and every meal save one Pinnacle Grill, was either outside on the back deck or room service. The dining room food for room service was excellent! We also masked in elevators and the couple shows we went to. No Covid. Just got back from another cruise on another line, where I threw caution to the wind and lost. 3rd cruise post Covid, my 1st case of Covid.

Same thing on mine. There is one line that says Covid negative, but the rest of the notes are clear it’s a Covid diagnosis. I discovered this today, when I was putting things together for insurance. *sigh*.

I think my pricing question got lost in TA vs PCC debate. it’s supposed to be $25/pp/d, which is $350 for a couple on a 7-day trip. in the run around I was getting, pricing was quoted at $280, then $350. And then, the final charge was $280. So, I lucked into $20/pp/d. Anyone have a guess as to how? Some secret CO special? Wooing me because I canceled two cruises?

I asked to have Club Orange added to my reservation. The response was “call Holland for dining reservations.” “trying to get CO. He tried to tell me dinner reservations are made through HAL” I’m confused because this is the same thing I said above, in a thread about Club Orange. So I’m not sure why both you and the TA are thinking “I want to buy Club Orange” means “I want a fixed dining reservation.”

Whew! Or Woo! Took roughly 3 hours on the phone to get this cruise booked. First hour was trying to find my FCCs left over from 2020. Then the CO adding. But it’s done! From VH to V with one of those extended balconies. I’m confused by the pricing. It kept going between $350 and $280. I understood it to be $350 ($25 x 7 x 2). Final charge was $280. Not complaining. But, how did I go from $25 to $20/pp/d?

By the way, AT&T does have a cruise plan that for $50 gives you a month of unlimited texted and a certain number of minutes of calls during cruises. It covers ships cellular and most if the Caribbean (AT&T was fine one land last summer in alaska). That said, I had the AT&T cruise plan last week, and it was vert frustrating. My texts were going out, but I got zero incoming texts. My husband, at home, got lucky I figured out it was a technical issue not him ignoring me 😂 But, confirming a general “WiFi calling” enabling worked for texts, as soon as I got on the paid ship wifi, all my incoming texts came. Days of them. Note, this was not a HAL ship, but just a general functionality comment. fresh in my mind bc it was last week. Also, once you sign up for the cruise plan, you have to cancel when you get back or it will keep billing you monthly.

If you turn on WiFi calling and texting you should be able to text. Should being the word that adds enough flexibility that it might not. But I’m 90% sure I was texting just fine on my cruise last summer and I know I didn’t have cell turned on. another option is to use something like WhatsApp, FB messenger, or Signal. Those are all text-like platforms that are through WiFi. Or, if you have an iPhone and texting other iPhone, iMessage will work.

Whelp… not quite. It took an hour to add it, but by then the people that do the rooms had “been gone for an hour”. So, calling back tomorrow to pay and get the room. my guy on the phone admitted he’d never hear of CO, and had to Google it to see what I was asking for, but said he is really impressed with it and it’s a great deal. So… thank you cruise critic. My H thinks I’m great at cruise hacking. I owe it all the cruise critic 😘 He still gushes about that time I “scanned the passports into your phone and we bypassed all the lines” 😂 RIP mobile passport app. I also told him that my fastest debarkment ever was last week, with Covid, and I had the private customs inspection on the pier.