MajMom96

I have never booked a HAL pre or post cruise hotel package. Do they usually include breakfast?

We booked a pre-cruise package in Venicevin 2011 and the hotel included breakfast. I’m not sure about the package we have for our cruise in Aug 2018.

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Does anyone know if it is any suite, or just specific suites? I also read on HAL's site that you can add this to any booking. Has anyone tried adding it to a non-suite booking?

It’s probably different pricing for different itineraries, but for our cruise out of Venice on Aug 28th, the Signature Experience cost $999 per person if purchased with any non-suite cabin and it was included if you booked any suite. We did the cost benefit analysis and decided to book the Vista Suite since we were planning to do a few days in Venice anyway and a suite is a much nicer cabin for a 12 day cruise. Plus we got the Explore 4 promo which includes the Signature Beverage Card and a night at the Pinnacle Grill. We’ll be staying in the Hotel Concordia.

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If you purchase the SBP or EBP ahead of your cruise, or it is included with Explore-4, your room key will have SBP or EBP printed on the upper right corner. If you purchase it onboard, with the $5 per day penalty for the SBP, a bartender will place a sticker on your card saying SBP. Yes, you use your room card for all drink purchases. I have never had a problem ordering a 2nd beer in less than 5 minutes. (The first beer always goes down fast after a hot day ashore). I have also ordered doubles (in the same glass) of many cocktails with no problem. Don't even think of slipping a drink to a friend on your card. The bartenders and waiters are alert to this and will cancel your beverage package with NO REFUND. What you paid for the package for the whole cruise is gone. You will be paying as you go for the rest of the cruise. So, don't try to scam the system, you will be caught.

There’s really no need to scam the system since HAL requires all 21+ passengers in the same stateroom to purchase the beverage card if one person buys it. So if you’re traveling with another adult in the same cabin, you’d both have your own card anyway and can get your own drinks.

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Got it. So it's 15 limit counted each day. Is there a different card for the beverage package?

Sorry, but @RuthC is incorrect. Bottled water IS NOT counted in the 15 drink maximum for the HAL beverage packages. The 15 drink limit only applies to alcoholic beverages, so sodas are not counted either.

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We were on the April 30 Oosterdam 12 day Adriatic Dream cruise. We booked a Neptune suite and got the pre cruise signature experience in Venice. We arrived on Saturday, two days before the cruise. We were met in baggage claim by a well marked HAL rep who after we got luggage directed us to three ladies outside. One of the ladies walked us the long trek to the new airport boat dock. There were moving sidewalks but it was a good 20 minute walk. After a short wait we and our luggage were put on a private water taxi and taken to our hotel-Papadopoli near piazza Roma. It was about 25 minutes by boat. The room was not ready at 1130 but promised for 2 but it was actually about 220 before we got our room key. We went out for lunch and a stroll but still had to wait a bit in the lobby. There was a HAL rep in hotel lobby who gave you letter with info about experience and transfer to ship. The hotel was 4 star, well located, very clean and nice staff. Our room was a typical small European hotel room but ample space and nice amenities including a great shower. The buffet breakfast was massive and had many good choices. You were sure to find something to suit your needs. The experience on day 2 was wonderful. We left hotel by water taxi at 530 pm for a 25 minute ride to a doge palace. There we had drinks, heavy appetizers, desserts, entertainment and a talk by a member of the doge family. It was a grand evening weather wise and we thoroughly enjoyed the 2 and half hours. We were returned to the hotel by water taxi by 9 pm. The day of the cruise embarkation we had to put our luggage outside our room by 8 am. It was next seen in our stateroom. We had to checkout at 10 am and the water taxi transfer began about 1050. After a 20 minute ride we got out and had a fairly good walk to the terminal. A shuttle would have been nice esp for some the older follks. Checkin was a breeze and we were in and out of the terminal, on to the ship in about 20 minutes. All in all it was a grand experience and so glad we had it included. Kudos to HAL for all the arrangements and the excellent planning.

Thanks so much for this review. We are doing the Signature Experience in Venice in August. But our hotel is different. We’re staying at the Hotel Concordia. Do you mind sharing what you wore to the evening event at the Doge Palace? Was it a formal evening? Also, the transfer to the ship sounds early. What time did your ship sail on embarkation day? We don’t sail until 9:00PM so we were hoping to do some additional site seeing before we went to the ship but don’t want to miss the HAL provided transportation. Thanks again!

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If you STIFF the STAFF......STAY HOME!!!!!!!!!! otherwise, pre-pay, or let your tips be added during your cruise.

I totally agree! We all know that tipping is part of cruising, just like its part of going to a restaurant when on land. So JUST DO IT!

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After a great night sleep, we woke around 7am, showered, dressed and headed to the dining room for breakfast. We had expedited walk off and they were already calling for us to disembark, but I was going nowhere without my food! Ha!

 

The breakfast menu was great - I wanted it all! Instead, we ordered a bunch of things and shared! We had french toast, bagel with lox, eggs benedict, yogurt, and fruit. It was all excellent! Did I mention that I really liked the food on this ship? After eating, we walked off the ship and straight into the line up at customs! Yuck! It did more relatively quickly and we were in a cab by 8:45am....straight into Seattle rush hour traffic! Yuck! Thankfully, our bus didn't leave until 10am so we had plenty of time to get there - but not something I had really considered as I took my sweet time disembarking!

 

All in all, a very pleasant short trip. I would have loved to have seen the kids area as that was the main reason for us doing this journey. I'm also not sure how much if a true portrayal of the line this trip gave us since there was really nothing going on and no passengers. I guess that's a good reason to sail them again.....

Thank you for your very comprehensive review of your short trip with HAL. I agree that the food is exceptional on HAL, but you are correct that they don’t have a 24/7 venue like the International Cafe on Princess. And the Dive-In Hamburger stand closes at 5:00 when the buffet opens. But the pizza parlor stays open late. But overall, I’m glad you enjoyed most of your trip. Hopefully you’ll give HAL another try for a longer cruise so you can try all the venues.

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I just received a similar email for the Nieuw Amsterdam. HAL is trying to minimize congestion at checkin by staggering checkin times, but they don’t enforce it. If you arrive earlier, you’ll just get into the next available boarding group, unless you’re fortunate enough to be a priority passenger (suite guests and four/five star Mariners). Then you’re in the first boarding group!

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Did you call HAL and ask them if you can get a refund, or st a minimum, see if your payment could be transferred to the “same” cruise at the end of the summer when the ship repositions to points south? I cruise HAL quite a bit and have found them to be very accommodating, especially when the change is driven by them. Good luck! Sorry this happened to you. HAL is actually a great line!

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My first cruise was in 1974! It was on Home Lines (now a defunct cruise line) on the Oceanic! My parents took me with them on their first cruise out of NYC. Our only stop was Nassau, but we loved it! In those days men wore suits to dinner and women wore gowns every night. We saved the tuxes and dressier gowns for formal night. Everyone stayed up until midnight to take pictures and eat at the midnight buffet, and everyone enjoyed afternoon tea at 4:00 every afternoon in the main lounge. The ship didn’t have great stabilizers so it was rough going around Cape Hateras, but we didn’t mind because all the tables in the main lounge were bolted to the floor! The service was incredible and the food even better. Every night in the dining room was a different theme, with the waiters dressed to match the theme and the menu selections matched it too. The servers paraded with actual flaming baked Alaska (not led candles) on formal night, and everyone dressed formally and ate in the dining room, there were no specialty restaurants. It was definitely a luxurious vacation!

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Thank you very much for your detailed account. Very important to know. That is a good point you made about recouping what you can. I made a claim to a standard trip insurance company in 2011. They didn't encourage me to try to recoup. I did get what I could, but didn't go to extraordinary lengths because they didn't encourage it and I had a lot to deal with with my surgery.

 

 

 

A couple of questions:

 

• 
   
  
• Any chance you can share your "valuable list of documentation?
   
  
• Where did you get the physician's form?
   
  

Thanks,

 

Diana

Diana - I’ll be happy to post the list of required documentation when I return from my cruise. I will post it next week. But just be aware that it will be the documentation required by Chase Sapphire Preferred. There may be different documentation required for other insurance or credit card companies. But it will provide a good idea of what would be required. The physician form was obtained from the Chase Sapphire claims website. And finally, I just received the check for the final settlement of my claim yesterday. They reimbursed me 100% of the canceled “non-refundable” hotel!

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Since processing a recent claim, I did some research on the definition of PEC. For the insurance I used associated with my Chase Sapphire CC, they have a pretty extensive definition and I was happy to learn that some things are NOT considered PEC if it is controlled with medication for at least 90 days prior to your trip. I’m sure each insurance company has their own definition so I’d advise you read the definition of the insurance you choose to use prior to selecting the insurance.

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I just processed a trip cancellation/interruption claim through Chase Sapphire and it worked! We had used our points to book a hotel and we had to cancel two days prior to leaving due to medical reasons, but the hotel was non refundable so I processed a claim with Chase.

Originally we simply requested that our points be reinstated, but that wasn’t possible because they use a third party to process their claims so we’re actually getting the cash equivalent of our points! It took about one month to process the claim and there was a lot of paperwork but it was a good test to see if the CC claim would work, and it did. But I do have a few lessons learned:

1) check the details of filing a claim now. There is a long list of documentation you will need and it will be easier if you know that before you’d ever need to process a claim. I printed the list and I keep it in my vacation folder.

2) they will expect you to try and recoup all or a portion of your expenses from any carriers (airlines, hotels, cruise lines); so be sure to make the calls and get documentation on their letterhead or email that specifically says what compensation (or not) they will give you. Since the CC is a secondary payee, they will only compensate you for anything the carriers do not. For example, I needed to obtain an email from Marriott stating that they were not providing me any compensation (I.e. refund or credit towards a future stay) for cancelling my reservation. It’s easier to get this documentation when you decide to cancel.

3) there are specific reasons they will accept, so read the fine print! You can’t cancel for any reason. And if it is medical, you will need their form signed by the physician, so just keep a blank physicians form in your vacation folder in case you ever need it. That will be easier to have handy rather than trying to locate it on line during a medical emergency.

But overall, the process was pretty straight forward and they approved our claim, so I feel more comfortable not purchasing additional travel insurance. Hope this helps others trying to decide. Happy and healthy cruising!