MajMom96

I totally agree you got a great deal on upgrading to a Signature Suite! The extra space will be well worth it for three people! Enjoy!🍸

That’s so true Hank! Priority boarding is not a perk worth paying for and you’re so right that so many Holland America clientele are 4 and 5 star Mariners with the priority boarding perk anyway. Signature suites are great for the extra space and larger balconies, especially for those itineraries with beautiful coastlines to view.  That’s the best reason to book them. 

All I can do is speak from experience and we have always received priority checkin when we book a Vista, Signature or Neptune Suite. Even before we reached 4-star status. But to be perfectly honest, priority checkin is the least important perk when booking a suite, so if that’s the only perk someone cares about, I’d advise saving your money, chill in the terminal to board,  and book a Verandah. 

I disagree with one point made concerning Signature Suites. You do get priority boarding as an amenity.  We have also benefitted with Signature Suite bookings when HAL offers any “Suite Deals”.  We got free pre-cruise hotel and excursions in Venice last year by booking a Signature suite. The price worked out cheaper by booking the SS and getting the free two-night stay in Venice than it would have cost us to book a Verandah and the hotel stay on our own. So the SS is actually one of our favorite cabin selections. 

Excellent point! 

Disposable plastic straws have just become one of my essential packing items.  If the cruise lines won’t provide them, I’ll just bring them myself. It’s hard to drink a frozen drink or a Bloody Mary with no straw or a paper straw.  

I cruise both Princess (platinum) and Holland America (4-star Mariner) and find them both very comparable. But I actually give a slight edge to Holland America for the little touches .... closet doors, cloth towels in public restrooms, and fresh flowers and plants throughout the ship! Minor touches to be sure, but they definitely feel more luxurious.  And we have booked flights at time of booking and have always been impressed with how competitive the pricing through HAL has been compared to booking direct through the airline.  And we’ve been fortunate that our flights through HAL have never increased after booking even though we track it increasing through the airline.  I don’t think you’ll be disappointed in HAL if you like Princess. 

I cruise Holland America a lot (4 star Mariner) and I’m a non smoker.  I’ve never had an issue with people smoking on their balconies and I’ve been very impressed with how courteous the smokers are in the casino and smoking areas. No problem at all. 

But there were times between 3:00pm and 5:00pm that the lido was completely closed for anything other than drinks. It made it hard to find something when returning from excursions.

Maybe the Lido was closed, but the Dive In, NY Deli, and Dutch Cafe are all open at that time. Our favorite “after excursion” stop was the Dutch Cafe for split pea soup or cheese and meat platter. But the French fries at the Dive In are also a great afternoon snack!

Sent from my iPad using Forums

Thanks, but I am looking for a place where a group of friends could gather together after an evening of entertainment. Is the Lido buffet open late? Can't seem to get info from the HAL web page about the hours there or any other non DR options.

Many of the food venues close by 11:00, but we have several approaches to that. We cruise through Lido early in the evening when they’re first set up for dinner and collect “small plates’ of cheese and crackers, sushi, cookies, whatever looks good and just save them in our cabins. After dinner and evening entertainment, we sit out on our balconies or (wherever we want) to enjoy our “midnight snacks”. Another option is to go to the pizza parlor and order full pizzas before they close. That’s a nice snack too. And of course there is room service. I’ve never tried it, but I’m guessing they would deliver to a venue other than your cabin. But I’m not sure. The good news is, you won’t have any problem finding a venue to use late at night.

Sent from my iPad using Forums

On the Koningsdam the Sel de Mer is an ala carte restaurant, not a “pay one price” which is different than most specialty restaurants.

Sel de Mer is being offered twice on our upcoming Mediterranean cruise - once when we're in Toulon. Seems odd to me that HAL is offering a $50 upsell French restaurant on the evening when passengers will have had the opportunity to have the real deal during the day.

That would be the Sel de Mer “pop up” which is slightly different than the Sel de Mer on the Koningsdam which is a permanent restaurant in addition to the Pinnacle Grill. But I understand your comment and we initially felt the same way, but we were so pleased that we went to the Sel de Mer pop-up on our recent Mediterranean cruise. It was excellent! And in conversations with the Matre’d, they get the freshest seafood when we’re in port, so you are getting the “real deal” on board.

Sent from my iPad using Forums

What are the hours for the Lincoln Center shows?

It varies every day. You’ll need to check your daily program for the specifics each day.

Sent from my iPad using Forums

Definitely dine at the Tamarind. It’s a small upcharge, but well worth it. I would recommend making reservations around sunset. It has beautiful views, awesome service, and exceptional food. You won’t be disappointed! And take time to walk around the ship and check out the artwork. They have some incredible pieces.

Sent from my iPad using Forums

Will be sailing on the Konigsdam and trying to decide between the Pinnacle and Sel de Mer for our anniversary dinner. Have dined in the Pinnacle many times but the Sel de Mer will be new to us. Thoughts, please.

The Sel De Mer on the Koningsdam is an ala carte menu and can be quite pricey. I would recommend the Pinnacle where you can get a lobster tail or king crab legs (if seafood is your preference). Although the 12oz lobster tail is an additional $20 upcharge. But my favorite restaurant is actually the Tamarind! I would recommend that over both Sel De Mer and Pinnacle! Great views, great service, and incredible food!

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Not powdered eggs. Pasteurized liquid eggs.

Regardless, they were inedible, so it doesn’t matter whether they are powdered or liquid eggs. It’s splitting hairs here. The room service scrambled eggs just aren’t as good as fresh eggs in the dining room or Lido. Period.

Sent from my iPad using Forums

Would love to know more about the ship! We will be sailing at the end of November. We are booked in the signature suite and I keep hearing that the air-conditioner is broken. Do you have any feedback about this? And what did you think of the renovations? Did the ship look good?[emoji41]

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

I was on the same Venice - Barcelona cruise on the Oosterdam. We were in a Signature Suite and the A/C worked great. The cabin was a perfect size and well maintained. Overall we thought the ship looked great. We didn’t do the unlimited laundry service, but we did do the flat rate $30 per laundry bag. It’s amazing how much you can get into that laundry bag when you really try! [emoji23][emoji23]

Sent from my iPad using Forums

This made me laugh and reminded me how much my attitude has changed since becoming a parent. I have lots of examples but one in particular I used to see kids in cars watching DVD’s while travelling. I always said “no way my kids are doing that! They can have proper conversation with their parents and play games like I spy”

 

Now I have 2 kids I will not entertain a car ride without a DVD [emoji23][emoji23][emoji23][emoji23][emoji23]

 

Easy to judge when you have never been in that situation but it all changes when you have your own

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Well said, and so true! 🤣🤣🤣

Sent from my iPad using Forums

We are a family very negatively affected by this sudden change. We have used sitters many times on cruises (always in Celebrity, this is our first cruise on RCI) and they always send two lovely young women, usually either from the kids clubs or once we even had the captain’s secretary. While my sons are now old enough to stay in the kids clubs until 11 pm, my niece is not and now my brother in law or sister in law will be stuck in the cabin every evening while the rest of us have dinner. Our kids were usually asleep when the sitters came and both of our families always have our own sets of adjoining cabins so the sitters were actually in the adjoining cabins while the babies slept. We are sailing on the New Year’s cruise we booked over a year ago. Such a bummer.

Sorry you’re impacted by this decision, but I am curious why your sister and brother-in-law will be stuck in their room for dinner? Why can’t they bring their daughter with them to dinner? I’m assuming she knows how to behave in a restaurant. When my daughter was young, she always came to dinner with us and the waiters loved her and went out of their way to spoil her.

Sent from my iPad using Forums

I had to look up powdered eggs! I’d never heard of them. :') I guess it saves space in the pantry area over fresh. Is this fleet wide? We will be on Oosterdam in November. I love a good egg— my husband is severely allergic so when we travel I tend to order and eat a lot of eggs, lol!

I ordered the scrambled eggs from the room service menu on the Oosterdam and they were inedible. It was obvious they were made from powdered eggs....no texture and they disintegrated in your mouth. But the good news is, the ham and cheese omelet from the same menu was quite good. So stick to the ham and cheese omelet if you want protein, or order cereal. And as others have noted, reasonable write-in requests are usually accommodated. I requested bananas as a write-in and I received one each time I requested it. And another tip, if you like coffee, indicate that you want coffee for 4, even though you’re only 2 in the cabin. They will bring you a larger pot! Coffee for 2 only gets you a small pot which is only two cups of coffee. Enjoy!

Sent from my iPad using Forums

I've not been on HAL, but I read some info elsewhere in this forums that said on HAL you're welcomed and even encouraged to stay in your stateroom until your disembarkation group is called. That info was from like 3 years ago. Has it changed since then?

Policy has not changed. That’s one of the advantages of HAL. You are allowed to stay in your cabin until your number is called to disembark. And we’ve never been bothered by the cabin steward if he sees us in there. He just moved onto another cabin until we leave. It’s more comfortable than waiting in a public lounge and the stairwells, hallways, and elevators stay clear. It worked great on our recent cruise on the Oosterdam.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

What’s the typical return time for bag o’ laundry? Also, do they have access to “allergen free” detergent, or just the usual Tide-quality stuff? And is it sent back ironed and hung?

We just returned from a 12 day Mediterranean on the Oosterdam and did the “$30 a bag” laundry option. It was amazing how much we fit into that bag by rolling! I did a “per item” comparison just to see if it was a savings and it was. Individual items would have cast $55. We sent out t-shirts, underwear, shorts, and washable pants. Everything came back great and even though I indicated “fold”, the shirts and pants came back on hangers. Everything came back in great condition. We left the bag on our bed in the morning, and received it back by 2:00 the next day. They had an “unlimited laundry” option as well but it was $10 per day ($120 for the entire cruise).

Sent from my iPad using Forums

Thanks everyone! Sound good to me. We disembark on the day of our 40th anniversary and didn’t want to rush off the ship at o'dark thirty. Room service breakfast at 8, depart 9:30, better than having to get up before sunrise and wait in a crowded lounge. Then we're off to enjoy our Vancouver stay.

The dining room will be open for breakfast too. We usually leave our carryons in the cabin and hangout in the dining room. It’s a nicer breakfast than room service. But as everyone said, they don’t monitor when people get off so it doesn’t matter what group you’re assigned to, just leave when they make the call for the last group. Happy Anniversary! Enjoy!

Sent from my iPad using Forums

No offense but for those who are saying HAL still uses liquid eggs from a carton for scrambled eggs, crepes and/or omelets, was the HAL cruise you experienced this on before or after Jan 2018, especially since freestyling heard HAL went fleet-wide with powdered eggs while on a Mar 2018 cruise?

 

 

 

The reason I ask is we were on HAL cruises in Mar 2017 on the Koningsdam and again in Jul 2017 on the Amsterdam and the eggs tasted "normal". They only tasted like powdered eggs when we were on our Jan 2018 cruise.

I agree Ken! I ordered scrambled eggs on the Oosterdam through room service recently and they were inedible! Just as you previously described, no texture, and disintegrated in your mouth. But when we went to the dining room for breakfast, there was an obvious difference (i.e. real eggs) for the scrambled eggs.

Sent from my iPad using Forums

(y)(y)(y) Spot on, MajMom96! Pity that some folks just can't see the forest for the trees ... guess they're the ones who've never made a mistake! :rolleyes:

Thanks for your comments A. It is sad that some people are so angry that they look for negative intent in anything that happens to them. I like to give people (and companies) the benefit of the doubt that they just made an honest mistake, and did not Intend to impact me in any way.

Sent from my iPad using Forums