trishbk

Can we please add passengers who save lounge chairs? We are currently on the Rotterdam for 3 cruises for a total of 4 weeks. By 8am everyday, every lounge chair has been saved. Sometimes, they save up to 6 lounge chairs with one “watchdog” passenger saving them. Now with 3 weeks under our belt, we have never been able to sit on a lounge chair — seriously! And yes, we have been hermits retreating to our inside cabin. Right now with over 300 kids on the ship, it peeves me to see a family early in the morning saving 4 chairs and an adjacent lido pool dining table the whole day. The Hotel Manager and Assistant Hotel Manager were standing around the Lido pool area at 8:30am after all the chairs had been saved. We took the opportunity to speak to them face-to-face about the issue and letting them know we have not even had the opportunity to enjoy a lounge chair for weeks. His response was… they can’t do anything about it because “Corporate” says they can’t move passengers’ belongings for fear of being accused of personal belongings being stolen. I told them that last week there was a confrontation between two groups of passengers because someone had saved 6 lounge chairs. I also told him about the issue with the non-service dogs and he just diffused it as “Corporate” has their hands tied. I am pretty fed up! HAL has put in the daily program at the beginning of each cruise about the 30 min rule. I told the Hotel Mgr that I may choose to move someone’s stuff off a chair if it has been empty for 30 min and confront the person if they come after me as they touted in the daily program at the beginning of each cruise. The Hotel Manager insinuated that I may be asked to leave the cruise as he said they warned the passengers the prior week when there was the the prior confrontation. This is frustrating just like the fake service dogs. When will Holland America WAKE-UP and address these issues instead of putting their heads in the sand????!!!!!

We also had to deal with a so called “service dog” on our Kdam cruise, just after your Hawaii cruise. Spoke to some others irritated by the dog in the stroller, and also questioning what function the dog was providing to the passenger. The couple claimed that the small Yorkshire Silkie Terrier was brought on board for the husband’s Type 2 diabetes. As a nurse that pointed this out to us and other passengers, you do not need a service dog for Type 2 diabetes. So many times I saw the dog, the husband was not even present. Please people, leave your emotional support dogs at home! And pay for a dog sitter when you decide to go on a longer cruise. No, don’t treat them like they are your grandchildren! The HAL rules are very clear. Sadly folks get an “expert” to say their dog is a service dog. This is hurting the real service dogs that are really helping their owners.

OK I’ll join the list of skepticism as well. As I was getting off the ship today in Kona, I’ve noticed that the guest services were coddling these so-called service dog. It was sitting happily in its stroller and the two guest services women were petting it again I doubt that it’s a service animal.

I agree. By the way this is the current so called service dog in the stroller. Not the best photo.

An update as promised in regards to those 2 dogs that the two women brought on to your cruise. I spoke to Rene the Hotel Manager in person after I boarded the current Jan 30 Hawaiian Cruise. He informed me that those women are now banned from Holland America. Per Rene, they did not have the correct paperwork for those so called “service dogs”. On the current cruise, there is another so called service dog. Rene says it has the right paperwork, however as a former dog trainer, I highly doubt this small dog is a service dog either. Service dogs do not travel in baby strollers and as per the HAL policy, bringing a comfort or emotional support animal is not allowed on HAL ships.

TRUE

Thank you. Excellent analysis.

I was on the Kdam in December and returning on the 18 day Hawaii cruise at the end of January. I do know Rene, the Hotel Manager. He arranged for us to get our same MDR table on our January cruise. If I have an opportunity to chat with him, I may ask what follow up was done re the dogs. I do agree the dog issue needs to be addressed. Real service dogs play an essential role and these dogs are not service dogs.

HAL’s policies extend Mariner benefits to the passenger with the highest status so long as they are sharing a cabin. A little while back, when my husband was 4 star and I was 5 star, he would also get the complementary day in the thermal suite and 2 specialty dining benefits.

Thank you again for the food porn. Looking forward to our Jan 30 Hawaii cruise

I have been a 4-H Dog Leader for 6 yrs where I taught 9-18 yrs old kids how to train their dogs in obedience training. Before that I showed AKC Obedience. I have young kids in 4-H whose dogs are more well behaved than these little dogs on your cruise, even their very young puppies! I also have neighbors who train puppies for Guide Dogs for the Blind for more than 20 yrs. If the dogs cannot make the “cut” to advance for Guide Dogs for the Blind, they typically are trained to become therapy dogs for individuals who are at risk for seizures or military warriors who are paraplegics. The dogs on your cruise are not service dogs! One hint for me is the woman wearing high heeled sandals. If your dog is for a disabled person, they do not wear heeled shoes. One of the things that disgusts those who train puppies for the blind is that anybody can get their dog listed as a service dog. I am on the Jan 30 Hawaii cruise, and if someone brings a dog on a cruise that disrupts my experience on the cruise, I will report it immediately. I will try Guest Services first and then will go to Rene the Hotel Manager.

I meant the bus will work or pay a few dollars for a taxi. I despise auto correct!

We hope you enjoyed Hilo and perhaps got to downtown old Hilo today. They also have a daily Farmer’s Market downtown with more than just produce. The bus to downtown from the Hilo port is only $1 or if you are over 55, it is FREE. Only runs once an hour but we’ll work or pay a few dollars for a taxi.

Sorry to hear you are without an excursion. You might want to consider grabbing Uber to Waikiki. Here is a copy/paste of our upcoming Jan 30 Hawaii cruise info that I put together: Ride city bus that stops directly in front of terminal. Bus 20 or 42.26 min bus ride to Halekulani Hotel. It is 1 hr 15 min to walk. Taxi is 7 min and approx. $15-$19. Bus website: TheBus New , lots of buses go past the cruise ship terminal, which is called the Aloha Tower on the maps. You can go up the Aloha Tower for free for a bird's eye view. From Aloha Tower you can catch free shuttle buses to Walmart and Hilo Hattie if you need anything.Also great inexpensive place to purchase souvenirs.

There are 2 cold water bucket drops located in the thermal suite near the 2 steam rooms. One of them is between the non-functional horizontal shower and steam room. The other is inside the door to the left of the steam room that has a sea view. Just look up alongside the wall and you should see a bucket with a chain. Just get under it and give the chain a long, hard pull for a refreshing wake up. I just recommend doing this immediately upon leaving the steam room.

Bummer. I wonder how long it will take to fix it.

Have they fixed the horizontal shower in the thermal suite yet? We were on the Dec 5 Mexico sailing and it was out of order. Also have you tried the cold water bucket drop. It was invigorating right after the steam room. We are sailing on the Jan 30 18 day Hawaii cruise.

Insides and Verandahs. Oh and by the way, as I was typing this, we just got assigned our VE verandah cabin for the Dec 5 sailing on Kdam. Fortunately, when the price dropped right after final payment,I was able to nudge our TA to get us moved from a regular guaranteed verandah (which could have been obstructed) to a VE guarantee. Our cabin assignment for next week is a VD on deck 5. I am ok with it albeit only a one category upgrade for a Mariner with just shy of 500 actual days on HAL.

Just to give a more recent update to the guarantee cabin assignment with HAL, they have been very late to assign us a cabin on the last few cruises. So while we booked our cruise month's ago, we are one week + one day from sailing on the Kdam and we still have no assignment. We are 5 star Mariners although I don't believe that has anything to do with our cabin assignment, our friends who are joining us on their very first HAL cruise are also in the same predicament. On our last HAL cruise, we didn't get assigned until 3 days before embarkation. We were hopeful they would put us in an upgraded cabin since the price we paid for the cruise was more than they were charging a couple weeks before sail dare. Sadly, on our last cruise after paying more the empty cabins that they were trying to sell, we were assigned the lowest cabin category. Was a real insult, especially since we are loyal 5 star Mariners and paid more then the going rate. To top it off, our cabin had all sorts of problems which inevitably got us moved after 3 hrs at Guest Services over the course of 2 days.

I totally agree put all the taxes, port charges, and even gratuities in the fare so we really know what we are paying for a cruise.

While the Panama Canal price at $699 for a 12 day cruise may sound tempting, it is hard to say it is almost free with the port charges at a whopping $560. But they probably need to fill that ship given that the canal transit costs that HAL must pay to the authorities is based on ship tonnage not the number of passengers.

Enjoy your cruise out of Ft Lauderdale. I feel your frustration with HAL’s pricing policies. Because there are so many cruise options out of Ft Lauderdale, prices can surely drop last minute. Because of this, we did an 11 week “cruisearama”. Although we booked the first 2 cruises before leaving home on the west coast, we booked the rest of the 9 weeks of cruises as we were sailing, usually one week before sail date. We would just get off one ship, drag our luggage to the next ship and hop on. Sometimes the price for the ship that we were currently on was worth staying on another week and it was alternating between western and eastern itineraries so most ports were not repeat. That is with the exception of Half Moon Cay (their private island) which never gets old. We were able to take advantage of last minute price drops plus we would get extra OBC by getting a future cruise deposit right before booking the next cruise. Speaking of Half Moon Cay, please keep in mind that you do not get free drinks on the island with your Have it All package.

HAL doesn’t offer price guarantees. Of course you can cancel and rebook at a lower price if you are still in the 100% refund period which is usually at least 90 days before sailing. I have personally found that prices tend to drop at least once after the cancellation period has passed. If you are not too choosy on your cabin and have some flexibility in your travel dates, I would consider booking 3-4 weeks before sail date. If that is not an option, then wait until after the final payment date is due + 1 week before you book. Having sailed with HAL for over 30 years, I have seen their policy change. Many years ago if the price dropped after booking, they would give you the difference in OBC. Then that changed to 1/2 the difference in onboard credit. Now, you get nothing. If you are lucky, you can ask for them to upgrade you to a cabin category of the same price that you originally paid, but you may forego any promo onboard credit or other perks like paid gratuities.

Last time I sailed with HAL the same thing happened. Price dropped, TA said there was nothing he could do to get us an assigned cabin except go to the front desk at embarkation. Sadly even though we paid a significant amount more for a guaranteed inside cabin, we did not get any category upgrade. In fact, we didn’t get a cabin assignment until 4 days before sailing. On top of everything, the cabin had some significant operational issues. I sure would like to know HAL’s computer algorithm for cabin assignments. Obviously being a loyal 5 star Mariner does not factor into the equation.

We are 5-Star Mariners on HAL and have been sailing with them for over 30 years. We recently booked a new cruise and the base price of the cruise dropped about a week after final payment. We didn’t book a “Have it All” or a gratuities included package, just the base. We booked a guaranteed balcony (VH guarantee). With the price drop the nicer balconies are less than what we paid and gratuities are now included. We reached out to HAL and asked if they could simply assign us a balcony, we were not asking for a cash refund or to have the gratuities included. We were told by HAL that we need to work through our TA which is a large volume cruise agency. Our TA said the only way he could assign us a cabin is to forfeit some of our shipboard credit. We don’t understand why we would have to forfeit our shipboard credit simply to get an assigned cabin. Interested to hear from my fellow Cruise Critics if this has happened to you and what you were able to accomplish when the price drops.