Tom O.

I contacted my TA, and discovered that at the time of booking, her agency had a special on free gratuities. I did not realize I had this benefit. I mainly wanted to avoid the Have It All package, because it does not do us any good, since we weren't going to go on any excursions and my wife is a teetotaler, and I am a light drinker.

So, having free gratuities is great, since we never cancel our crew appreciation fees.

A true case of Serendipity.

I just looked at my statement for my cruise that ended Jan 13. I was shocked at how little I was charged. That is when I noticed there were no charges for the auto tip for service. But there were numerous credits for 'Marketing Promos". I was not aware I was going to receive any promotions for this cruise, I had asked my TA at booking time to just give me a bare bones booking, and not take advantage of any of the promotions available.

I am certainly not going to complain about saving money, but I was surprised and I am wondering if they made an error in my favor.

Thanks for the replies. I did think of going to the top and coming back down, but it seemed the elevators going up were full too, people going back to their rooms from the muster station. Nevertheless,  I was going to try that on my last effort, but it turned out not to be necessary, as we were able to get on a down elevator that last time.

By the way, we were midships, and two of the four elevators were not available because of the crew bringing up luggage.

Just got back from our first cruise since Covid. 

We sere on a 7 days Koningsdam cruise of the Sea of Cortez.

First I have to say that we had a great time. The service was excellent the food was too.

This was also our first cruise since my wife needed a wheelchair. That went OK with one negative issue - we had difficulty during the muster drill. HAL has made the muster drill much easier than before, we just had to watch a video on the TV and then report to our muster station to have our cards scanned. The problem was trying to get to the muster station. We were on deck 4 and the muster station was on deck 2. Since we had a wheelchair, we had to take the elevator. But we were in the elevator lobby forever trying to get on a elevator. They were all packed shoulder to shoulder with people with no room for us. We would give up and go back to our room, we did this 4 or 5 times. Finally right at departure time we were able to get an elevator down. This might have been easier if we were higher up on the ship, maybe we could have got in an elevator before it filled up. At any rate we did our muster drill duty.

We had a Vista Suite for the first time. I have always heard that the Vista Suites are not worth the extra money because they are nearly the same size as a Veranda Cabin.  I would say this is true, but we booked very late and there were very few choices, and this Vista Suite had a location we liked.

My only real complaint with the room was the location of the TV. It was in front of the bed. I have never been comfortable sitting up in a bed, and in fact I got a sore back from doing so on this cruise. There was a lovely love seat in the room and it would have been great if the TV was in front of that. I will think twice about booking a room with this TV configuration again.

But overall we had a great time and can't wait for our next cruise on HAL.

1 hour ago, boze9999 said:

Request wheelchair assistance for disembarkation directly from the airline you are traveling on. The wheelchair attendants will bring you from the gangway to the luggage carousel where you will find the HAL sign holders. Between the attendant and HAL, they will coordinate getting you to the transportation bus. 

I think the OP was asking about service at the port, not the airport. We don't even know if he is flying in.

I can't answer his question, because I haven't done this before. But I am looking for answers myself. My wife recently became handicapped, and we are going on our first cruise since she needed she needed a wheelchair. We will also will be going out of San Diego, but we will be driving our own car there,

1 hour ago, kazu said:

 

Assuming you have the same itinerary as the current sailing, the menu you are seeing is the menu for tonight.  At least that is how it has worked for me when I am close to sailing.

 

You can see all the menus for the day on board in the morning usually.  It’s quite handy to plan.

Thanks Kazu, I will be on the Koningsdam on a 7 day Mexican/Baja trip that leaves Jan 6. The Koningsdam is leaving today for Hawaii, so the itineraries will be completely different. That explains why there was a bit of a Hawaiian theme to the menu I saw.

One more question about the app. My cruise is in two weeks, and I looked at the dinner menu.

Is this the menu for the first night? It doesn't say what day it is for. Or is it just a sample menu?

Thanks for the answers, I am still kind of new to smart phones. I resisted getting one for a long time, and then got an Iphone about a year ago. So I am a little behind the times. But now I wonder how I got along without one for so long. 

This may sound like a dumb question, but I will soon be on my first cruise since Covid. On my last cruise I was still using my old flip phone. Now I have a smart phone and have added the Navigator App. Do I need to have an internet package in order to use the app onboard?

All this confusion with the drinks packages, is one of the reasons I never get them. I just pay for each drink. This also helps keep me from over indulging.

I never did a HAL cruise to New England, but I did a Princess one. It was one of my favorite cruises.

It was nice because it stayed overnight in Quebec City and that gave us lots of time to see that incredible city - the highlight of the cruise.

I am a regular visitor to Connecticut, which I have visited every fall for 50 years. I found the fall colors in Canada do not compare to the colors in Southern New England. This is because of the different kind of trees that grow there. The New England cruises spend a lot of time in Canada and when they get to Southern New England you end up spending most of the time in cities like Boston and Bar Harbor. These cruises are not the best way to see fall colors. Also you never know when the colors will start and how intense they will be that year. It is really variable.

7 hours ago, Tampa Girl said:

Currently there are certain charges that are being added for room service.  I believe that the Dive In is one of them, as well as certain alcoholic beverages or prime foods.  I hope that HAL limits these charges to those items.

The charges for room service the Dive In stuff has been going on for years. But there has always been something you could get for free. Hopefully the breakfast is still free, we always have our breakfast in our cabin.

I just checked the "bucket of beer" I had preordered last Sep for our January cruise on the Koningsdam. It hasn't gone up since September, still $36.58 for 5 Coronas. (delivered to our room).

The only port I am aware of where there is problem self exploring, is St. Petersburg, because of visa requirement of Russia. Organized ours include visas.

I had the HAL credit card for quite a while. I only used it for HAL purchases. We didn't go on a HAL cruise for a while and Barclays canceled it because we weren't using it.

It is true that regular veranda rooms and vista suites are not much different from each other. But I think when HAL lays out a deck plan, they pick the better located rooms and make them vista suites. So when you pay extra for a vista suite, you are also paying for a more desirable location.

I just made a reservation at that Best Western! First I called the hotel to make sure this was still their policy, and it was. Also their shuttle does go to the cruise terminal - it does not go to the airport. If there is more time needed it is only $5 per day.

Also I was surprised to see how cheap the room was. Just $109 per night.

What a deal. Thanks for the tip.

1 hour ago, crystalspin said:

If you stay at the Best Western Yacht Harbor, even the one night before, you get the next 7 days FREE! and subsequent days at a reasonable rate. And they have a shuttle!

Thanks Crystal, that is a good idea. We will need to stay in a motel anyway. I will look into it.

Does that shuttle from Best Western go to the cruise terminal?

1 hour ago, Sherry H said:

Hey Tom, where in SW Utah do you live.  We are in St George and find it convenient to fly St George to Phoenix then on to San Diego with American Airlines. 

We are in Cedar City, I have flown out of Cedar City and St. George many times. Flights out of these two airports have recently gone up in price dramatically lately.

For this trip I think we will just drive.

One more question. Does anybody have any tips on parking in San Diego. I found a service that charges $25 per day and has a shuttle to the pier. I seem to remember HAL having an arrangement with some parking lot, and I would book it through HAL This was at least 15 years ago, and probably doesn't exist anymore.

13 hours ago, crystalspin said:

I believe you are the TomO. that helped me so much when choosing a cabin on (I think) the Coral Princess with your database of covered balconies. I only hope to help you as much! 

 

Sorry to hear of your wife's impairment, but happy to hear you are going to cruise again. I think the Vista Suite will be a fine solution: either Aft for the views, if you can get it, or mid-ships for the convenience. 

 

PS we never did cruise on Princess, but I still remember you! Please, ask any questions about the K'dam!

Yes that was me. I sailed on Princess for several years, then switched to HAL.

Thanks for the tip on that aft balcony room. I am waiting for my TA to get back to me. It is strange that when I start to make a faux booking on the HAL website, I find several rooms available on the 4th deck (midships), but she says they are not available when she tries to book them.

It is just the 7 day Sea of Cortez cruise we are looking at. We have done several cruises to Mexico, but have not done the Sea of Cortez option.

We picked this cruise, because San Diego is close enough to drive to, My wife is not ready to try flying quite yet. Also, living in Southwest Utah, means we have to drive a long distance to get to a major airport (Las Vegas) so I might as well keep driving to San Diego.

Times have changed since my last cruise on HAL, I remember standing in the rain on the promenade deck to practice the drill.

Tom

I am booked. My TA called HAL about that aft cabin, but they would not budge - they are holding it aside, hoping someone will reserve it for the combined cruise.

But I did get my first choice for the midships cabin, room 4106.

I realize that the Vista Suite is not a real suite, that it is just a little larger than a regular veranda room. But the price difference was small and I really like the idea of a small couch.

Just curious, what deck is the emergency drill done on the Koningsdam?

Thank you everyone, for your advice.

Tom

8 hours ago, crystalspin said:

I believe you are the TomO. that helped me so much when choosing a cabin on (I think) the Coral Princess with your database of covered balconies. I only hope to help you as much! 

 

Sorry to hear of your wife's impairment, but happy to hear you are going to cruise again. I think the Vista Suite will be a fine solution: either Aft for the views, if you can get it, or mid-ships for the convenience. 

 

PS we never did cruise on Princess, but I still remember you! Please, ask any questions about the K'dam!

Yes that was me. I sailed on Princess for several years, then switched to HAL.

Thanks for the tip on that aft balcony room. I am waiting for my TA to get back to me. It is strange that when I start to make a faux booking on the HAL website, I find several rooms available on the 4th deck (midships), but she says they are not available when she tries to book them.

It is just the 7 day Sea of Cortez cruise we are looking at. We have done several cruises to Mexico, but have not done the Sea of Cortez option.

We picked this cruise, because San Diego is close enough to drive to, My wife is not ready to try flying quite yet. Also, living in Southwest Utah, means we have to drive a long distance to get to a major airport (Las Vegas) so I might as well keep driving to San Diego.

57 minutes ago, HappyInVan said:

I was on the K'dam last year in Alaska. Enjoyed a Vista aft cabin AS7192. Slightly larger room than the basic veranda. But, the sheltered balcony was twice as large. Enough room for two loungers and a wheelchair. At the right price, this stateroom would be comfortable.

 

I would love to have an aft cabin, but this cruise is next January and all aft cabins are booked,