FlaMariner

Similar frustration with two of our HAL Caribbean cruises since the unpleasantness. Key West stayed on the itinerary until after final payment then we got to experience Bimini on one cruise and Freeport on the other.....yuck. But according to our contract we all know that ports are not guaranteed.

Kaki pants and a long sleeve collared sports shirt and I meet the "dressy" requirement. In fact, that is my attire for every evening in the MDR. The "dressy night" menu is the same amount of courses but the menu is kicked up a notch. That's the filet beef night for us. We rarely go to specialty restaurants but "dressy" night would, in our opinion, not be the night to miss the MDR. We enjoy 5 courses every evening in the MDR. Appetizer, soup, salad, entree, dessert. Love it! Tea is at 3 on sea days and usually in the MDR. Lots of fun especially when we bring Mother with us as it is a favorite of hers. They place a three tier plate of goodies on your table and all the tea you can drink. No surcharge. No reservation required. Show up and enjoy. The time/place will be in your daily program/navigator. Enjoy Holland American Line........

We cruised out of Port Everglades in November and no-one checked, verified, requested, reprimanded, kicked us to the curb or did anything to verify whatever boarding time was printed on the boarding pass...........and we booked steerage (inside guarantee). Based on our experience boarding HAL ships in Amsterdam and Port Everglades since the unpleasantness, boarding times did not matter and we were onboard before noon in time for lunch. Also, check-in is quick. As fast as you can walk and flash your passport on the magic iPad, you are done. Then grab a seat and wait until your boarding position is called. Easy peasy.

I've never known the staffing levels on any ship I've ever sailed.......but...... We've sailed on 4 HAL cruises since the unpleasantness (October 2021 to December 2022) and we have not experienced any issues regarding lack or quality of staffing.....All great cruises. One was a maiden TA voyage (Rotterdam) and one was a Thanksgiving cruise full of folks (dinner in the MDR did take a little longer though on Thanksgiving because everybody showed up in the MDR for their turkey). The other two were Caribbean jaunts. And the staff is just as great as usual. Looking forward to our next cruise next month....no matter the staffing level. Enjoy the journey.....

We are responsible for 3 cruises we booked in January. None w/$1 deposits. Anecdotaley, the agent at the big online TA we use also said she had been busier than ever this January with all cruise bookings. This is nothing but good news for the cruise lines and those of us who enjoy them..... Go book a cruise!

Agree! Plus, I can only do so many Caribbean islands........but 32% is certainly higher.

Can someone explain this to me? (I'm thinking this was not meant to be derogatory to anyone as that is not allowed on cc and would have been deleted by now)

So CA coastal cruise is 32% more in taxes? That seems much higher. Government taxes seem to be all over the place.

That's 13% and seems reasonable. I hope that holds and not the horrific 61% number!

Wow. The government gets 61% of the cruise fare cost????......That's enough to put a dent in bookings....and seems excessive. Folks can fly from the west coast to the east coast and still cruise with less $$$. Yet another reason to love cruising from Florida.

in the past, we've tossed a few dollars in the bag.....We love the laundry service. We pack with a carry on bag and a backpack and we are good to go for any amount of time. And if you have to pay for checked bags, the business case turns positive quickly. And if you'd rather take the train in Europe and travel pre-or-post cruise, the business case turns positive quickly! And we turn 4* next cruise and it becomes FREE....that's when the business case really looks good!

Not sure about this......This is dated (2016/17) but as far as passenger counts, California is way on down the list for cruise ship passenger count. Florida looks like the volume winner and I have not heard of sky high port taxes/fees there. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_busiest_cruise_ports_by_passengers

This is my understanding/experience/opinion and others much brighter than me will come along and help you (and correct me, which is fine): VQ is considered an upgrade because it is promoted as a Spa category. It means you are near the spa...and it is on deck 10 tucked away. There might be some special water or a yoga mat. I forgot but it seemed minimal to us. VF is considered a low level balcony category (not the lowest but near the bottom) because of location...near the front/back of the ship. We like VF's because of their price point and we like the VF's in the front of the ship on deck 8 because we also head to the spa/gym often and it is only one flight up and cabins are above and below me. I'm not familiar with a VQ Juliet balcony but we consider the VF and the VQ regular balcony cabins to be the same. We've moved up from VF to VQ when we found a price drop but we would not pay $$$ to go there.

Also, the Rotterdam has a retractable roof so that it can be closed in cold/inclement weather and the swimming can continue.....again, an individual decision.

I've never experienced different prices for different cruise lengths....It's always been a price per bag and a price per cabin/day.

We disembarked the Nieuw Statendam 12/3/22 and we did not see any Christmas decorations.

https://cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/2023/01/record-january-bookings-for-holland-america-line/ This was posted on the "new to HAL forum"....so I am not taking credit for finding this article......but looking like HAL has done good w/bookings in January. Based on this thread topic...."who is booking with HAL today......" seems the answer is that it is lots of us. Good news for HAL and all of us who enjoy sailing with HAL.

good info folks. thanks for passing it along.

Maybe research roll calls?

It did not work on our "one and done" Princess cruise in March 2022 for drinks/ordering.

LOL. no hand slapping...I understand and glad we all have choices. All good and enjoy Princess!

MDR ....the crew will direct you to the lido buffet but go to the MDR and see if it is open......sometimes it is reported on here that it is not open....We were onboard in November and it was....It's our preferred way to begin our cruise.

Keeping Holland America far away from Princess is always considered a positive for me. I am hoping that the Princess "medallion" (and many other "experiences" we had with our "one and done" Princess cruise is never mentioned as an option for Holland America Line.

We used unlimited laundry (no express) on the Nieuw Statendam in November on a sold out Thanksgiving cruise and we would have the laundry bag on the bed in the morning and we would see it back the next day (usually afternoon). All good as always.

Same for Port Canaveral......Our first HAL sailing was the Zaandam out of Port Canaveral in 2003.