yarnsinger

7 hours ago, Real NHDOC said:

In order to use the internet you need to be logged into the account of the guest who has the plan, that is the only "hitch".  So if a husband buys the plan and his wife wants to use it she needs to log into his navigator account and log in then.  After that she can log out of his account and will stay connected until the next device is connected.

We found it wasn't a big deal to be logged on as the primary passenger on both of our devices. The advantage was that we could sign up for a four-device plan, which gave us each two to use (phone and iPad). The disadvantage was that we couldn't communicate individually through Navigator, but since we were able to use text on our phones, that wasn't a big deal. We didn't go on excursions, so we didn't need to have e-tickets available.

On 1/12/2023 at 2:38 PM, FlorenceItaly said:

The offer is legitimate.  It is a casino offer.  If you are interested, do not hesitate.  It is capacity controlled.

I've never been in a casino other than to walk through to somewhere else. When I got one of these offers recently, I asked the HAL rep why, and he told me that he didn't know for sure but thought it had to do with money spent onboard. I tend to use the spa services for hair, nails, and massage when I'm onboard. Maybe that's it? 

FWIW, I didn't upgrade the inside room to another type of room, but I did sign up for Club Orange and chose one of the best inside rooms on the ship. 

On 12/23/2022 at 6:41 AM, The-Inside-Cabin said:

The volume for most cruise ship shows is usually around 90- 100 dB  -  Lot's depend on where you sit etc. 

 

There are apps you can get on your phone to measure this if you are interested.  HERE

 

Appropriate show volume is subjective, but it has to be loud enough to "fill the room", overcome the sound of dancing footsteps and the sound of the drummer - which is harder to modulate in many cases.    What's too loud for you may be "perfect" for someone else...

 

We measured the volume in BB King on the Nieuw Statendam. It was consistently over 100 dbB, which is dangerous. It's too bad, but for us, the music is too loud, even without my hearing aid. It's so loud, actually, that I can't hear the detail of the music. You are absolutely right that what seems loud to some is just right for others, but in my opinion, the volume should never be so loud that it drives people out of the room. We love music - in fact, one of us has made his living making and teaching music since he was in his teens - and we feel cheated that we can't enjoy that part of the trip. The musicians are universally top notch on HAL, something you really notice when you go on another line, but sometimes I want to send the sound techs off the nearest gangplank.

8 minutes ago, rkacruiser said:

 

Yes, I was on Queen Mary 2 in steerage in an in-hull veranda stateroom which was very nice and I was pleased.  Agree, the Britannia Restaurant's dinner menu lacks choices in comparison with HAL; preparation, presentation, and service was as good as HAL.  (A very officious Assistant Maitre d' who was offensive to those of us at our table was told what I thought of his "service", which then improved.  Never had that experience on any HAL vessel)  Breakfast in the MDR provided the most satisfactory meals.  Not impressed with King's Court, but the Queen's Room Teas were delightful.  

 

I agree that the Class system is something that I had not experienced.  But, having sailed on MSC Meraviglia as a Yacht Club guest, there is a difference that I enjoyed.  YC is different than the Cunard Grills in some ways, though.  

So question: We have an obstructed balcony reserved on our TA to get us to Europe next fall. I'm not sure what that means in terms of "class." We figured as long as we were going to be at sea the whole time, the view wasn't as important as it would be otherwise, and the next level up was a whole lot more expensive. Any idea what to expect in comparison to what we see on HAL?

On 11/19/2021 at 8:50 AM, Desdemona01 said:

There was absolutely no indication that this had happened,  Even  during her initial contact with HAL, they could not explain it.

Come to think of it, I don't think we ever received any official notification of the cancelation of the inaugural cruise. I read about it in a post from Seth Wayne on Facebook. Ironically, some people gave him grief for posting it before they'd heard from HAL. Personally, I'm glad he did.

Bottom line, they're short-handed. They're doing the best they can. Things get messed up, and it's a royal pain. The Pollyanna in me hopes that in the end, all will be well and HAL will make things right.

28 minutes ago, taxmantoo said:

Totally agree.  A lot of folks can't get it in their heads that the "free laundry" is worth less than one drink per day! It's not as big a deal as people make it!

Agreed, but it seems to be the thing that four-star mariners talk about the most. For us, stuffing a week's worth of laundry in a bag for $20 or $30 is no big deal. I could get used to larger discounts in the specialty restaurants and not having to wait until 3:00 to board the ship.

9 minutes ago, taxmantoo said:

I admit that I do not know all the circumstances surrounding your cancelled cruise and am not absolving HAL, but will tell you that, regardless, you need a much better travel agent if you lost both your future cruise deposit and associated onboard credits. That can also be viewed as an issue of competence.

This was originally the inaugural cruise for the Rijndam (now Rotterdam), which was delayed and the itinerary changed. Passengers who stayed booked received a significant amount of OBC ($250 each) for sticking with it. That was on top of $200 in OBC that came with the original onboard booking. In the end, the cruise was canceled altogether, and the ship sailed from Trieste to Amsterdam without passengers. All other sailings before the transatlantic last month were eventually canceled also.

As for our travel agent, I couldn't say enough wonderful things about her. She's not only competent, but responsive and pro-active, and was throughout the pandemic when she wasn't getting a dime in commission. This was not an issue she could deal with. She tried, believe me. The future cruise deposit for this trip was converted to future cruise credits with a bonus. We had the option of transferring it to another cruise in 2022 with a sort-of-but-not-quite similar itinerary, but it conflicted with one we already had scheduled, so we declined. HAL told our TA that we could cancel the Future Cruise Credit and repurchase the Future Cruise Deposit, but it's unclear whether any of the extra OBC would have stayed with the repurchase. I talked with the gentleman onboard the Nieuw Amsterdam who was booking cruises, who told me I should write to HAL with the details. I haven't done that yet. My point is that they shouldn't have instituted this policy in the first place. It was an equal opportunity bad policy. 

With everyone working at home, which means they don't have the peek-over-the-cubicle-wall sorts of exchanges of information that working in an office can have, HAL is an equal opportunity messer-up. Honestly, as three-star cruisers who pay full fare, we feel rather like steerage passengers sometimes when four-star and up passengers - some of whom could well be traveling on one of those free casino deals - get special treatment. I reached 100 days on our recent cruise, but wasn't invited to the ceremony honoring medallion recipients. I only knew it was happening because fellow travelers who had reached silver and above mentioned it to me. The bronze medallion was just on my bed with a note. What's the point? 

Everyone on the ship, no matter whether they're new, or seasoned, or in between, deserves to feel special. A new cruiser is much more likely to be put off enough to switch to another line than those who have been with the ship a long time. Seriously, are people used to getting free laundry and other Mariner perks going to switch to another line where they start at the beginning?

Bottom line, I totally get your frustration with your issue (and we were canceled on that transatlantic too and ended up having to - horror upon horrors - fly instead). In the process of cancellation of our booking on the Rotterdam inaugural cruise, we lost not only our future cruise deposit, but also all of the onboard credit that had accrued with it. This isn't an issue of disrespecting four-star mariners, though. It's an issue of competence that affects all of us.

20 hours ago, sansterre said:

Wine tasting yesterday with Sommelier Miquel. 

There are 3 or 4 other sommeliers on board.  In MDR2 we see Miguel occasionally, as well as two

young women who used to serve drinks but recently became sommeliers.

Usually our wonderful waiter Kerta has our wine waiting for us and fills and refills our glasses.  We have had no problems but I imagine as more passengers are on the ship next week, it will be more difficult for the waiters to keep up with the wine orders.

Zilah, who was our sommelier on our Nieuw Statendam Baltic and Midnight Sun cruises, is onboard the Rotterdam, and her name badge still reads "sommelier." We were delighted to see her. I can't help but wonder how much money they're losing because the don't have people promoting wine and wine packages. 

8 hours ago, zgscl said:

I can assure you the slot machines will be on my comment card after my sailing next week! 

They will complement my comments from the TA about how much we loved the jazz band in the Ocean Bar.

On 11/4/2021 at 12:57 PM, Heartgrove said:

Not that I agree with installing them in the Ocean Bar, but it would be a smoke-free environment.

So would the casino if they banned smoking in there. That would also make a good bit of the rest of the ship smoke-free because the smoke from the casino wouldn't spread. If we could smell it with the casino only sparsely occupied, what will it be like when the ship is full? Either shut off the casino area so smoke doesn't spread and people don't have to walk through it to get to to and from the Main Stage, or ban smoking.

21 hours ago, Alphen said:

Statendam is not a city, nor a dam, but a neighbourhood in the Netherlands, near the city of Geertruidenberg! Statendam is most likely named after “de Staten van Holland “ which was the origin of the Netherlands.

On 11/4/2021 at 9:50 PM, Laminator said:

The machines are being installed on the Rotterdam VII as we speak. They may be ready for play on tomorrows cruise.

I guess that's why they sent the wonderful musicians who were playing there during the transatlantic home. Apparently, that wonderful jazz group was supposed to be the response to people who wanted ballroom dancing brought back. 

On 10/30/2021 at 6:30 AM, sansterre said:

Headed to the Pinnacle for lunch.  Seth had a HAL trivia the day we missed Azores and our team won.  The prize is lunch at the Pinnacle.

But first I want to post some of the names of entertainers on board.  We have enjoyed both of these on previous HAL cruises:

Pianist (with the hair) - Julian Gargiulo

Saxophonist - Akos Laki

Working on finding names of other on board entertainers.

I'm glad you won, but our team still maintains that Statendam is not a city. It is actually a dam. We missed the beer question, but still would have won otherwise. Grrr.... (just kidding, really). Maybe extra credit for giving him the tie-breaker question? Bottom line, though, was that it was lots of fun.

On 11/2/2021 at 4:14 PM, sansterre said:

Here is a picture of the outlet in our bathroom.  Our room steward says it works with all shavers. 

So I think it is good for 120 volt.  Maybe others can tell for sure from seeing the photo.

We were able to use it for our Waterpik, but only after inserting its grounded plug into an adapter with European-style prongs. We used it on 120V. The switch on the right, as you know, switches between 120 and the higher European voltage.

5 hours ago, Reagan0712 said:

Is this what you are looking for? There was one on either side of deck 10 aft just outside the Tamarind near the area with the deck chairs.

We sat right behind this guy at the Tamarind. I didn't realize the connection to the art on the previous ship. What a very cool way to blend the two - a delft reproduction.

On 11/3/2021 at 6:11 AM, 0bnxshs said:

I took some photos at Ask the Captain of the engine room.  Not sure if they are all from this ship or the New Statendam.

The captain said the photos were from the Nieuw Amsterdam. They hadn't had a chance to take pictures of the new bridge yet.

On 11/4/2021 at 5:48 AM, sansterre said:

The mug on the right is $15, plus the tax and service charge which brought it to close to $17.  Friends purchased it on board and said it kept their coffee hot for a long time.

I wonder if, once you've purchased one of these, you can bring it on your next cruise and use it and get the discount. 

On 10/21/2021 at 4:01 AM, Caribbean Chris said:

So sorry you missed Zeebruges - Bruges is such a lovely place to visit. Perhaps you’ll stop there on a future cruise. Meanwhile - enjoy Rotterdam VII!

We have spent time in Brugge before, so we were looking forward to taking the coastal train from Zeebrugge to Oostend and back. Oh well, another time.

1 hour ago, Brodysmum said:

Am I reading this right, you have to pay for lobster in the main dining room. I have never heard of this before

That's not really new. They were doing the same thing in 2019 on the Nieuw Statendam. They tried charging for a second entree but got a lot of pushback, so I think this was their other solution. You do pay extra for lobster, but it's a whole lobster, not a small tail.

On 10/20/2021 at 10:56 AM, tjcox9 said:

I just saw a Seth Wayne short video on Facebook. It should have been a sail away party, however, the winds and rain have decided to mess up that and that departure plan. Seth said it'll probably be midnight before they leave.

If you look carefully, you'll see our group waving in the background of his video.

On 8/5/2021 at 6:13 PM, Brentt_M said:

It is a gala night tonight, but none of the 3 of us are in a mood to get dressed up this evening.  Circumstances are different of course but we have personal experience working with the Care Team and just hearing them being activated has us in a somewhat somber mood.  😞

 

They do an amazing job and hopefully they are providing as much support and comfort to the family or families impacted as possible.

I started reading your journal this evening, and when I read about your loss on an earlier cruise, I shuddered, knowing what was coming on this one. My heart is with you and your family. This had to be tough for you.

On 7/31/2021 at 10:10 AM, kam-ky said:

from last week's live report :  Copper10-8 said on 7/28  " "Montezuma's Alaskan cousin's revenge" is prob the best way to put it).

Hmmm..... we were on that trip, and I had a bit of this when I got home. I wonder if it's related. I tried to get a COVID test, but it took so long to get it set up that I just sat it out at home. 

16 minutes ago, timbom said:

RCL cruise that ported with us at one of the stops had over 450 with most not having covid shots. 

I didn't think about this until after we were back onboard. Were the unvaccinated  folks on the Serenade of the Seas allowed off the ship? Since we shared a birth with them, we also shared buses into town. 

16 minutes ago, timbom said:

 

Hated woman servers were not allowed to serve in dining room, McDonald style potato square with all breakfast items.

Now that you mention it, there were no women serving in the Dining Room, but I don't recall seeing many on previous HAL cruises either. Is this deliberate? We certainly had women serving in the specialty dining areas. I don't even remember if there were men. Any idea why?

On 7/26/2021 at 4:43 PM, LAFFNVEGAS said:

Actually no one is wearing masks, although I saw one elderly person in a wheelchair wearing one so suspect they were being extra careful. Other than boarding we have not had our mask on but we are to wear them in port.

I saw a number of people besides crew who were wearing masks, particularly toward the end of the cruise when news of the Delta surge started becoming known. Interestingly,  many of them were younger passengers.

We were, as you know, asked to wear masks onshore, but particularly in Ketchikan, almost none of the locals were wearing them.