JeffElizabeth

Wow! I bought at $40. Ouch. 

Seemed like pretty good earnings I saw this week, but can they keep it up? 

For decades, we booked our own cruises but now find our travel agent to be more than worth it. She is very good at watching if cruise prices fall and gets us good benefits onboard. 

Warning! Greenland visitors might want to bring netting to protect your face and head from bugs.  They weren't biting badly but they did want to get in your eyes and noses. 

British Airways has always treated us well, but Heathrow is a disaster every time we have to use it. 

On 9/19/2023 at 7:04 PM, JFontaine said:

Here are some of my butler disappointments, other than the hidden invitation:

 

Breakfast is always early and both hot and cold food are delivered at room temperature, I've not once received a call before he delivers (he rings once and uses his key to immediately enter) despite me sleeping on a rollaway bed facing the door (senior mom in bedroom), he pressured me to order all of the wine at the first meeting and then said everything had to be delivered to either room or dining room - I couldn't split it up; ignores request for diet Coke and water: as advertised laundry took 3 days (10 pieces), I asked him when the latest I could get disembarkation room service breakfast and he said 6:30, but I just found hidden card and it says 7:30 to 8 (he did say we had to be out by 8).  Never a smile or a warm word or a what are you doing today (I asked him on port day).  Funny thing: randomly he delivered chips, pretzels and nuts, and after a lousy dinner I was so happy to devour the chips.  I told him that he came to my rescue with those chips and thanked him. Never got them again. 

 

I've had lousy butler service before on other lines, but I think this is the worst.  

 

That is bad. So sorry to hear about your bad experience,  our butler complained because we weren't using him enough. Have to love that attitude.  I hope you complained to Oceania. 

Our butler Francis was great in 2022 on the Miami to Venice cruise. He was very good at fulfilling our requests,  even last minute. We had a Holland America cruise last month and the service was OK, but nowhere near as good as that Oceania cruise. 

I have been on three different cruise lines since the pandemic and all have slipped. Cutting corners and pinching pennies. But I find this everywhere,  air travel, land resorts. I will still be cruising with Oceania,  because of the three lines, they had the best post-Corona cruises.

On 8/24/2023 at 6:09 PM, Mareblu said:

I concur.  We were in a Vista Suite last September, and although we were also provided with the in-suite bottles, we rarely touched them.  We also upgraded to the premium package, because we enjoy wine with dinner, and a cocktail prior.  We rarely imbibe in our suite, as we prefer to be out and about aboard, enjoying a drink in company.

I made the same mistake.  I ordered hard liquor,  but barely finished two bottles in 28 days. Next time I will buy wine and take them to dinner. 

2 hours ago, SDARCH said:

I feel the same way.  The thought of being on a Pinnacle class ship w/o CO is a nightmare scenario for me.  I do think HA could GREATLY improve the CO dining situation on the smaller ships by carving out a dedicated section in the Upper Dining Room.  We were on the Zuiderdam w/CO in May and the chaos at the Concierge podium was wild.  The MDR experience on that cruise was so bad we ended up eating in the Lido - which we had never done before.

Princess carved out a suite dining area on the Emerald Princess last September.  Shouldn't be hard to do on a Holland ship. 

5 hours ago, ontheweb said:

We were on the NCL Prima, and for us Reykjavik was not a tender port. However, we did see a Holland America ship in port that was not at the dock, so their passengers would have had to tender.

We were on the Voyage of the Vikings on the Zuiderdam and we did have to tender in Reykjavik.  First time ever tendering on an overnight. I understood why the NCL ship was parked because their cruise was starting from there. Holland America being too cheap? Or didn't apply for a berth soon enough? 

11 hours ago, CruiserBruce said:

Speaking of Koningsdam. Flew into BOS from SFO yesterday. One of the first bags off the conveyer belt had a Koningsdam tag on it. Couldn't help but notice there were about half a dozen ship tags from different ships on luggage. People leave them on forever?

I leave them on until the next cruise. I leave them all on my carry-on. Reminds me of the old steamer trunks. 

We have only gone by late at night. Next time I will set an alarm.  

We had teleprompter lectures from the cruise director about Hawaiian history.  And also flora and fauna speakers. 

11 hours ago, highscar said:

@HappyInVan that’s strange. Our Jan/Feb circle Hawaii has changed Lahaina to Kahului, Maui.  

Our October 2022 cruise on the Koningsdam also went to Kahului. I preferred Lahaina. 

On 8/24/2023 at 2:30 PM, charmed1959 said:

I wouldn’t call Viking and ask.  My husband has an infection in a knee replacement.  They wouldn’t let us postpone the cruise, not would they let us substitute anyone for him.  If he didn’t show up they would charge $8.5K for a singles supplement, though we already paid for the room.

 

So then he said he would go but maybe he could bring a scooter.  They said absolutely not.  Wheelchair? No.  They told us he couldn’t even bring his walker, which they did not ask any dimensions.  We thought perhaps we misunderstood, so we had our Travel agent call and ask again about the walker.  They again said no, and now said he couldn’t board without a note from his doctor saying he could cruise.  Now it was in our records.

 

However, once on the cruise there were indeed folks with walkers, a few wheelchairs, and at least one electric wheelchair.  I asked one of the people with walkers if they had by chance asked about bringing one, and they said no.  

 

So don’t ask.  Just bring what you need.  Once onboard the crew does everything to help out.  They carried his food at the World Cafe and reserved the front seat in the coaches so he could get on.

Better to beg forgiveness than ask for permission? 

Agree.  Cruise ships can afford to pay extra to go through on time of appointment.  

On 8/26/2023 at 6:09 AM, uktog said:

I read that although getting Greenland 😀 Saturn has cancelled L’Anse again today. I don’t think they’ve made it to that Canadian port all season. It’s replaced with a sea day (so 3.5 sea days in a row). By now other lines would have made a tweak to the itinerary to avoid this tender port. Why doesn’t Viking? 

I was just on a cruise with HA and the tendering waves were huge when we parked in St. Anthony a few days ago. 

Thanks. The article with the 83 billion in back orders didn't list any new Dam ships. 

2 hours ago, whogo said:

I assume they take my cabin number to keep me from being seated with more worthy Neptune Suite guests.

Or better cabin number means better seat assignment in the MDR, a table with a view? Question: do people tip the maitre d there? 

Thanks for the correction, I should know that because we drove right past the Fincantieri shipyard April, 2022. 

So will Holland get a new ship? There was scuttlebutt on the VOV that the new Holland ship was currently being built in the Finisterra shipyards. I doubt the story myself.

One more thing,  which two ships left in the Holland fleet are most likely to be sold to another line? Westerdam? Zuiderdam? Another ship?

41 minutes ago, Real NHDOC said:

We typically do what the others have said.  Tip on the last day of the cruise or the last day of a leg of a B2B.  If someone really goes out of their way for a particular request, then giving them a little extra for that is also a nice gesture. 

 

But, if you want to do something especially nice mention the cabana attendants by name in your survey response after the cruise.  Those are seen by their supervisor (the beverage manager) and are used for future promotions too.  While the cash is surely appreciated a merit promotion will last a lot longer.

Great advice. Amazing how fast your comments get to their supervisors. (Also works for bad service or slip-ups.)

There are tours that take you there. Did one last April. Beware. Traffic can get very bad on the route. Is the train faster? 

We did have a nice walk through the town when we visited in April. 

32 minutes ago, Mary229 said:

Did they give a reason?  

No explanation for the deleted stops. The tender ride to Reykjavik is because bigger boats took all the docks. Might just be scuttlebutt on the Iceland change.