Lesliealbert

I’ve bought them at Albertson’s in Scottsdale and we also have them here in Oakville, Ontario, at our Super Store.  My husband loves them after discovering them while in NZ.

I’m just getting over having Covid and am sailing to Alaska on September 10th.  What if I’m still testing positive for Covid then, even though I am perfectly fine.  I’m fully vaxed with 3 shots.  I’m Canadian.  What are my options? TIA

I have to agree with Kirk on many of his points.  We were on for the 51 day cruise.  The food in the MDR was not up to par.  Many nights I couldn’t eat my meal.  The chicken especially, I found horrible.  Tasted like processed.  The only good thing was our terrific waiters but we had to move around before finding them.  We found the waiters at lunch in the MDR were rude if you questioned them.  Stopped going there but the Lido food wasn’t much better.  Our last breakfast in the dining room, I ordered eggs Benedict and the eggs were not fully cooked.  Had to send then back and no apologies at all.  Almost were mad at me.

i was sitting in the Lido one day when it was basically empty on a port day and the Captain walked by.  Not even a hello or nod.  We found the officers to be extremely unfriendly.

Crew were great.  Went out of their way to make you happy and always with a smile.  Kay was also super nice, always a hello and smile.

We will definitely think twice before we sail HAL again.  We are almost 4 star.

I’m enjoying your blog Tim.  We are going to be boarding in Sydney as you leave.  We’re doing the 51 day Australia/NZ.

I'm planning an informal Meet & Greet after muster drill.  Still trying to figure out when muster drill will be but I’m told it will be at 4, even though we leave at 7pm.  I’ve never been on the Maasdam so not sure where would be a good spot for it.  I’m wondering if you could suggest a good bar to meet at?  There will probably be 18-20 of us.  Thanks so much.  Helen

Thanks veryone.  Looks like there is really no right answer for this scenario.  It is not a formal M&G, just for whoever wants to show up.  Can't do it the next day as we are in a new port.  Will get a concenus from everyone as to what time works for them and go with the majority.  There are only about 16 people so not a big deal.  Very quiet roll call.

I am trying to plan an informal Meet & Greet on our Maasdam cruise, Sept. 26th, for our sailaway out of Sydney.  We leave Sydney at 7pm.  Someone at HAL told me the muster drill would be around 6pm since that is the time everyone has to be on board.  I called ship services and they got in touch with the staff captain and emailed me that the muster drill will be at 4pm.  Totally confused now as to when to plan it.  Has anyone else had at late sailaway the first day and remember what time muster drill was?

We have the beverage pkg. and free gratuities so don't need the OBC to cover those.  I would like to buy the Premium Internet pkg which is much cheaper if you buy it before boarding.  The OBC would help to cover the shore excursions we have purchased.  

We have received an OBC from our TA.  We have already booked our shore excursions.  Can we cancel the shore excursions when we get on the ship and rebook with our OBC?

We will be on the Maasdam in the fall for 51 days doing Australia/NZ.  Does anyone know the cost of a bag of laundry down under.  Someone mentioned the detergent but not if there was a charge for it.  Thx

What I’m understanding from our TA is, we would have to rebook to get this promotion and the fare for our cruise has gone up $450pp. Certainly not worth it to us.

We are booked on a cruise, September 2019, on which we have the Explorer 4 pkg. I saw this thread and asked my TA to contact HAL to see if we could get the OBC. They told her we were not elible as our fare had increased since we booked. ☹️