trident

Sorry -I just answered my own question. It was not a pause in operations but a redeployment to MEXICO!Even with ASHFORD  gone the lies continue to come from seattle

Does anybody know why the JAN &FEB 2021 HAWAII cruises were cancelled but not the OCT&NOV 2020 HAWAII? -TRIDENT

We sailed on the HOMERIC for our honeymoon .Also sailed on the OCEANIC  AND DORIC  before HAL  brought  HOME LINES .Do  you remember that on home lines you would pay for reserved deck chairs? STEVE&FRAN

7 hours ago, rotjeknor said:

It is more or less in line with the opinions vented in this thread . HAL lovers, defenders, cheerleaders on one side and people who want to see blood on the other side. For those in the first categorie, anything about HAL' s history is worthwhile digging into . In the meantime I'm waiting patiently for my refund 😉

 

We are not cheerleaders for HAL, just maritime history enthusiasts.  We were ready for Ashford to be fired after he changed the logo.  Not a fan of his leadership.  However, I feel HAL is doing as well or as badly as most other cruise lines.   

I have read the insider version of what happened on the Prinsendam I, the book is called "The' Prinsendam' Disaster, an Officer's Account" by Mathieu J. Oosterwijk.  I found it in a maritime book store in Amsterdam in 2019.  It was originally published in Dutch but was able to order it in English.  It is a fascinating account of the disaster.

1 hour ago, DWAliaschief said:

Hi Trident - followed you and Carol on the Maasdam.  You say you'll be on the Rotterdam in 10 days - are you on the Amsterdam-Rome and then Rome-Rome to Holylands?

We are on the Rotterdam Rome to Rome and Rome to Ft Lauderdale.

We are on the two CC boards for them.

Fran

We will back on the Rotterdam in 10 days for a month and will ask about drydock while we are on board.  We have been looking at the cruise you mentioned but it’s a bit early for us to book yet.

Hi Carol,

We were told by an officer on the Rotterdam that she will be going into dry dock in November 2020.  This unofficial, but we think this is why they switched our November South Pacific cruise to the Zaandam from the Rotterdam.

BTW, we cruised with you on the Maasdam with you in the beginning of this year.

Fran

21 hours ago, Copper10-8 said:

 

The other big question with NODM is whether, as the only one of her four Vista-class sisters, she will keep her Explorations Cafe/full Library on Deck 3 fwd starboard side where it is now, post dry-dock. The alternative is to move it up to the Crow's Nest as EXC Central like Zuiderdam, Oosterdam and Westerdam which have the combo Digital workshop/Merabella/Screening Room where NODM's Explorations Cafe is now. Of course, NODM already has Merabella and the digital workshop elsewhere, but doesn't have a screening room which, btw, is no longer used as such on her bigger half-sister Nieuw Amsterdam. The plot thickens! We need Clouseau and/or Colonel Mustard to figure this one out 

Hi Copper10-8,

Any idea when the Rotterdam is going into drydock?  We were told on our last cruise aboard her that she would be going in November 2020.  Asking because we are booked on the November 17, 2020  cruise that ends in San Diego on December 19, 2020.  However, HAL shows on the website that she sails from Ft. Lauderdale on December 20, 2020.  

Any idea what's going on?

Thanks.

Did you notice in the video that the ship's announcements were made in German and ENGLISH !!  The Royal Viking Sun model is still there but did not see the Prinsendam model.

Wednesday, October 3, 2018, At sea, headed for Hawaii

 

At 6:30 AM we were headed southwest, 226° at 17.2 knts at position 38°01.69' N, 141°46.59W. The skies have been mostly overcast the entire cruise, there was just enough break in the clouds to redden the eastern sky a little this morning. We are missing glorious sunsets at home in the Midwest, the harvest dust brings on sunsets that color the whole western sky. We also miss the fall colors and cooler temperatures.

 

On the plus side, we will see no political television ads, receive no robocalls from candidates, receive no calls from pollsters, receive no political mail. It is a great time to cruise. Those of you at home are inundated with political stuff and I am not. Neener, neener.

 

The plot of a number from last night's program “All for Love” by the singers and dancers was that three men tried to pick up three women oafishly. Not a subtle number, the men formed a football huddle twice. At one point a man is rebuffed after groping a woman's thigh up her skirt. I had a #MeToo moment.

 

This was finally a lazy day at sea. I read on the promenade deck, attended Phil's 11:00 geology lecture, ate and played trivia. Lunch fell together nicely in the Lido, no trouble getting food or drink. I tried three items from the Asian station, found them all good. For the first time ever a steward poured drinks for me. Halibut looked great, I had a nice slab of rare prime rib for dinner with excellent company.

 

I distributed this official looking note to a few tender view staterooms:

 

“Holland America's Emergency Muster procedures have been revised on the Noordam cruise departing September 20, 2018 and effective October 4, 2018. Steps 1 and 2 are the same. Step 3 has changed for your Ocean View cabin on Deck 4. When other cruisers are told to proceed to their muster station on Deck 3 in their life vests in warm clothing with their medicine, you will be directed to remain in your cabin similarly prepared. In the unlikely event that evacuation by lifeboat is ordered, you are to break your cabin window, climb on the catwalk outside, and remove the canvas from the lifeboat door. This will speed up evacuation of the ship. In return for performing these duties, you have first choice of seats in the lifeboat and will receive 30% off your next Holland America cruise. If you are unable to understand spoken and written English or are unable or unwilling to perform these duties, please contact your cabin steward immediately. Thank you.”

Really enjoyed your notice about Emergency Muster. We had one of these cabins and that's what I always told my husband we could do! It is quite a shock to come into your cabin after a day ashore and all you want to do is fall on the bed, but, there are men staring into your cabin from the tenders.

We did not like the lanai cabin we had at all. It was under a tender and when we had a tender port, the crew was outside of our cabin two hours before we arrived in port getting the boat ready. They were not quiet!

 

 

What number cabin was this? Thanks

We were in 341. But really just look at the floor plan and avoid those cabins under tenders.

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We did not like the lanai cabin we had at all. It was under a tender and when we had a tender port, the crew was outside of our cabin two hours before we arrived in port getting the boat ready. They were not quiet!

Also lost use of the chairs and deck outside of our cabin on tender days.

We could hear conversations of passengers walking by.

The door rattled when the wind came from a certain direction as well.

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HAL has scheduled a 6 day cruise for the PRISENDAM DEC 15,2018

The chairs are on dry ground now. The area is VERY popular. There is a small waterfall and three people can sit under the waterfall. There are usually three women there as they are smart. There is still a lot of finishing work to do and there was a crew of ten workers there until very late into the night. They seem to be working around the clock on this ship and it needs t.

Thanks so much! Very helpful.

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Are the deck chairs out on the aft pool area still in the water or are the on dry deck now?

Any photos of the new design out there? Thank you so much for all this great information.

We want to cruise on the Rotterdam to the Caribbean but never booked it because of the aft pool area.

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ESPN on HAL ships is ESPNU. This is old college games, not real ESPN.

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Can anyone tell me who will be the cruise director and officers for this cruise in November?

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Hi Carol,

Have you seen that HAL has changed the Eurodam February 2018 itineraries? Instead of a 7 day cruise on February 18, it is now an 11 day sailing on February 14. Any idea if the group Spiritual Spa is still on?

Thanks for all your research, we all really appreciate your hard work.

Fran

Thanks for your replies. Now to decide which itinerary!

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Thinking of trying a cruise with Oceania but we are dedicated daily walkers. Are there walking decks on their ships?

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On this cruise the whales were playing all around the ship while we were anchored off of Lahaina, Maui and were there all day. Not that many people onboard at any one time.

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We did enjoy this cruise to the South Pacific very much.

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My husband and I have been on well over 100 cruise on various cruise lines. Most recent cruises have with Holland America Line.

On our recent cruise on the Maasdam, we received an upsell offer for a lanai cabin.

This is my review of that cabin.

The first day on board while unpacking we noticed that the desk/vanity is smaller than most other outside cabins. There are no drawers for cosmetics. The couch is a very small two seater.

No explanation was provided on how to get into the cabin from the deck. A fellow passenger told us that we would be getting keys from the front desk. The key card did not arrive until the following day and then only one was provided.

The first night we heard a very strange knocking noise and finally discovered that it was the lanai door rattling with the wind. In addition, when the wind was high, it whistled over the top of the lanai door and out the hallway. I reported the loose door to the front desk on the second day of the cruise and they promised to have maintenance tighten the door. The door was finally fixed two days before the end of our 28 day cruise.

Voices of everyone passing on the deck can be heard clearly in the cabin as well as footsteps of the walkers on the deck. We have previously sailed in cabins on lower promenade without lanai doors and there was never a noise issue.

Our cabin happened to be under a tender. ( I know, I know, big tactical error.) On days when we were using tenders we were awakened at 6 AM by the screeching of the davits and the voices of the crewmen calling to each other and using the the walkie talkies at full volume. During the lowering to water level, (which occurred a full hour or more after waking us) and raising of the tenders we were not allowed out on deck. This is, of course, for safety, however, our boat had mechanical issues in two ports and remained in a partially lowered position all day, thus not allowing us to use our deck chairs. One of these days was in Lahaina, Maui, where the whales were all around the ship. It would have been nice to be able to sit on deck in our deck chairs and watch them.

Every morning the deck crew washes down the deck at 5:30 AM! One morning, they sprayed our lanai door three separate times with the hose on full spray mode. I would just be falling back to sleep when they would start spraying the door again. I notified the front desk and they said this was a one time special cleaning operation. They gave us a gift for our inconvenience.

The routine spraying continued at 5:30 AM throughout the cruise and we had two more episodes of window spraying. I finally was so annoyed one morning when the crewman was outside the cabin spraying a metal drain for 10 straight minutes, that I opened the lanai door and told the crewman that people were trying to sleep. He went away.

The beds in these cabins are located on the side walls rather than on the outside wall like other cabins on this deck and as a result, every time a toilet nearby flushes, you hear it. This can make sleeping soundly difficult.

I would NEVER pay for this type of cabin again. The private deck chairs are very underutilized and not worth all the inconvenience and lack of privacy.

In my opinion, these cabins are not worth the substantial premium they put on them and are no larger than any other cabin on lower promenade deck. Category EE, E and D cabins are much less expensive and offer the same views without all the noise.

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We are currently on the Prinsendam and have been notified that only the suite passengers with gold colored key cards will be given priority tender service. The 4 and 5 star Mariner's must go to the showroom and get a special red card and will be called to the gangway with "priority consideration".

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