jettaleea

Agree Westerdam is great. We have been on since October 2nd and no major issues. The ship is heading to drydock in January so hopefully some of the wear and tear items will be addressed. The crew is awesome! You should have a great time 

Just now, REOVA said:

We also couldn't get correct Info from customer service so didn't want to use it at sea. We have Magenta 55+ and I guess we  could have called someone while onboard or sent a photo and tested and checked if/what they charged, but my understanding is using cellular at sea adds their fees (roaming / data charge) even if T-mobile "works" with the ship. I dIdn't think data is part of their ship plan. 

 

After a few years of good service we just ordered my DW updated phone that was supposed to arrive days ago to the store. Tracking says the address was not found because the sales person typed the store"s address wrong. Phone is in transit and customer service online chat said they need to call courier to reroute phone and callme back (cickets). When I called the dealer/store, they said there is nothing they can do as phone is sent back and we would need to come in and reorder/repay for a phone. Two different responses and no real answers (like my response here 🤷‍♂️)

 

When you turn off airplane mode, does it give you a welcome text (like in Countries) for Cellular At Sea and give rates? I assume adding photos would charge some type of data rate in addition to text cost on ship, even with unlimited data plan at home. 

 

We get a welcome text from the country but nothing about Cellular at Sea. We have unlimited data and texting. No extra charge for uploading photos.

1 minute ago, The-Inside-Cabin said:

I recently switched to T-Mobile from ATT - I will have my first cruise on HAL in Jan with T-Mobile.

 

A few questions:

 

The T-Mobile website lists the following HAL ships as working with T-Mobile

 

 

This is obviously not a current list as the Amsterdam and Prinsendam are no longer with HAL.   I suspect

T Mobile will work with Cellular at Sea on any HAL ship - Please confirm.

 

ATT has no charge for incoming SMS text and charges 50 cents for outgoing without media and $1.30 for a SMS text with a photo attached.   T-mobile says outgoing texts are 50 cents but doesn't address texts with photos.   Does anyone know what T-Mobile charges for outgoing SMS texts using cellular at sea with photos.  I called T- Mobile and they didn't know but assumed it was 50 cents cuz that's what is says  (I know that sending imessages and WhatsApp are different and that's not my question)

 

ATT does not charge for  phone calls that ring on the ship but go to voice mail.   Tmobile is less clear.  Some people on the Tmobile forum - say they have had mixed results - some set their phones to autoforward all calls to voice mail to prevent this possibility.   What are other people experiencing?

 

ATT sells a cruise ship package with unlimited phone calls for $100 a month - T-Mobile doesn't offer any cruise ship packages and charge $5.99 a minute for phone calls.  I know about wifi calling, using airplane mode and turning off data roaming when necessary - don't need any info about those subjects.. 

 

We have the Magenta MAX plan

 

 

 

 

 

We have T mobile and only use our phones while in port. We keep them in airplane mode onboard. We haven't done any international calling 

Just now, Florida_gal_50 said:

If you are a 5 star make sure you take it with you or bookmark it.  The front desk manager argued with me on the koningsdam saying the dining freebies were only for the pinnacle.  She refused even look at what I had but I had it. She said it was old info 🙄.  The week before on the same ship I had no problem.  Funny thing when I go online to a large cruise retailer it somehow knows I am 5 star and says I can use my freebies at the pinnacle, tamarind or Canaletto.

The same happened on the Oosterdam. The front desk had a benefits list from 2019. I printed the 2022 benefits list and gave it to them. Hubby and I had gone to the Canaletto and got charged. We were told it was an 'honest mistake'....this girl doesn't make that kind of mistake and wanted to be sure it didn't happen to someone else.

23 hours ago, Btimmer said:

Our 6:30pm departure has been delayed because certain passengers did not have the required NZ ETA.  6:45pm was the drop dead departure time due to tide conditions needed to pass under the Sydney harbor bridge. The next opportunity to depart is near midnight.  The Captain also indicated this may affect scenic cruising in Milford Sound.  There were audible cries in the Lido to "throw them off the ship".

Tim I agree. They should never have been allowed to board.

We are currently sailing on the Westerdam and will stop in Sydney Nov 23. No excursions listed. We have to wait til Nov 8 to see if HAL will schedule anything. Shore excursion desk can only book per segment.

We just wait and book once we're on the ship. Even then we have to be careful we don't get charged.

We have never brought treats for the locals. Remember their dental care isn't the same as ours. In small villages the children are dressed in costume and ask 'one dollah' for a photo.

On 10/17/2022 at 4:03 PM, FOPMan said:

And if you are having issues getting your device into and out of your cabin because you are having troubles holding the door open, a doorstop or wedge might be helpful. Practice always helps, as well.
 

https://www.amazon.com/Wedge-WEDGE-Ultimate-Door-Green/dp/B00N4M2UCM/ref=pd_aw_fbt_img_sccl_2/143-9737783-2500137?pd_rd_w=ab5Nh&content-id=amzn1.sym.b6e57bf5-2054-445a-8980-1886178987a5&pf_rd_p=b6e57bf5-2054-445a-8980-1886178987a5&pf_rd_r=NGBSB3DE9TTSVNGW8HF6&pd_rd_wg=D0B97&pd_rd_r=9048be09-7831-4402-b81c-3029cf648b3a&pd_rd_i=B00N4M2UCM&psc=1

No issue with door it's getting it around the bed.

HAL has size limits on their site for all handicap equipment. If everyone abides by the rules there is plenty of room in the hallways. I am currently on the Westerdam and the room steward has urged me to leave the scooter out since it is so difficult to get into the cabin. As I said originally it is very small and only weighs 47 pounds.

If I leave it out it is for a short period of time, not hours.

I use a small scooter. We spent 50 days in a small inside cabin. The scooter fit between the desk and foot of the bed with room to get to the bathroom, the beds were together. I know a collapsed wheelchair will fit.

FYI I left the scooter out occasionally during the day with no complaints. Even housekeeping has room for their carts.

Crew is still masked on the Westerdam 

Remember that Gala has been replaced with Dressy. Many people were without their luggage on our Oosterdam cruises this summer so even shorts were seen on dressy night. No more banning people because they weren't dressed appropriately. 

We sail Oct 2 from Seattle to Sydney and the Navigator has us sailing the previous week in Alaska! We don't trust the Navigator until we are on the ship....and even there it has issues.

Can you share the address to get these? Having trouble finding it.

6 hours ago, possum52 said:

Do you mean Adelaide, rather than Auckland? Ships dock right in Auckland CBD (downtown). Outer Harbour is Adelaide, South Australia. The Outer Harbour railway station is about a 250 metre walk from the cruise ship terminal. It is about a 40 minutes train ride into Adelaide CBD. If shuttles are provided they usually drop off and pick up from Rundle Mall, a 30-40 minutes drive. Perhaps contact your cruise ship to see of they are providing shuttles.

Sorry yes. Adelaide. Too much happening! Thanks for the info. It's too hard to get info from HAL so we will try to find out when we board.

We will be visiting Auckland the end of November. Do the ships provide a shuttle to downtown? Outer Harbor is rather remote.

We had a major hassle on the Oosterdam. Hubby got charged for the Canaletto when it should have been a free loyalty dinner. We were told we could only use loyalty dinners at the Pinnacle, the desk tried to show us 2019 benefits. We went to the computer and printed an update so the desk would have the correct info. We were told since it was "an honest mistake" the charge would be removed .....great! Then told we weren't entitled to so many free dinners since we had one booking number....had to go to desk to show our Navigator to prove we were on a b2b2b with 3 booking numbers. So much hassle for a stupid $13 charge!

3 hours ago, terrydtx said:

We board on Aug 21 and are taking a private transport for our group of 4, no way we wanted to be on a crowded bus with 40 strangers before we board. 

I don't know if you have booked any ship tours but they are pushing those to bus capacity. And only a few people are wearing masks. Not sure we will last 50 days without getting Covid.

2 hours ago, kapear said:

Perfect! That’s how I interpreted it, but then started to second guess.  Now I can relax for the next day and a half in Venice.

See you on the ship! Got our test yesterday and waiting for results.

We called Delta today to register my scooter so I can gate check it. The agent changed our seats to as near the front as possible on all 4 of our flights. Really hoping we have no issues when we fly July 15.

God bless 

Lee Ann 

1 hour ago, gailellen12 said:

Yes. A seat assignment had been made  In fact after I purchased the ticket out of my pocket I ended up in the previously assigned seat for the flight 😜

Thank you for your answer.

1 hour ago, gailellen12 said:

My issue was that Flight Ease failed to ticket my Philly to Barcelona flight and I am currently 2500.00 out of pocket since I needed to purchase my own ticket on the spot.  Interestingly they had ticketed my return journey just fine. Needless to say I am currently actively pursuing Holland via my travel agent  Booking and ticketing correctly seems like it should not be all that difficult🥴

Had you checked in on the airline site and received a seat assignment? Just trying to figure out how to minimize issues.

Several questions for those who have had problems with FE.

Did you ask for early ticketing?

Did you sign into the airline to add your information and book seats?

7 minutes ago, Mary229 said:

I received a notice from HAL this morning about my early July cruise. It said due to unprecedented flight changes and high call volume you can now rebook your flights directly with the airline and they will waive the cancellation fees.  Of course getting a good value on a flight is difficult close to the date 

I got the same notice...twice! A little unnerving. There's no way to get reasonable flights ourselves at this point.