ToBe

Just now, ToBe said:

and the Volendam has a 7 day trip to Canada then returns and does a round trip to Iceland. Both ships start July 4 in Boston

sorry July 20 for both cruises

7 minutes ago, Shmoo here said:

And it seems they've mixed them up.  We're doing the 35 day round trip on the ZUIDERDAM starting that day.

 

and the Volendam has a 7 day trip to Canada then returns and does a round trip to Iceland. Both ships start July 4 in Boston

there will be two HAL ships in Boston on July 20.

I have not been following this site since we returned from our Groundhog Day cruise on the Rotterdam March 29-May 6. The ports were wonderful; the cruise was crowded and boring. The entertainment kept repeating and repeating on the 3 five day and 1 seven day legs. We received 5 sets of tiles and 5 chances to see The Origin Store which we had already seen in December. The Origin Story certainly did not replace Lincoln Center. Nothing did. 

I want to know if anyone has had a choice of hearing classical music on board any cruise lately? We have two cruises booked for next year  which will not have  repetition and want to know if HAL has found a new way to have live classical music. 

On 2/12/2023 at 6:38 PM, LVinTennessee said:

I just double checked - it’s all beach villas, cabanas, and butler services.  There is one glass bottom boat excursion and that’s it. 

We went on a small nature cruise that was very interesting. It is listed on our cruise at the end of March.

44 minutes ago, ellbelle said:

I read the boards often but typically wouldn’t click on any HIA threads although I did go back 10 pages to see if this had been addressed. We are thinking of adding this promo onto two upcoming cruises, is bottled/canned water currently part of the HIA package? 
 

Thanks In Advance

It also includes juices like the fresh squeezed juice at the juice  Bar? (can't remember what it is called)

It does not cover fresh orange juice served by breakfast room service.

The Pinnacle serves lunch on sea days. It is a great value!

On 1/7/2023 at 1:06 PM, tupper10 said:

I guess they no longer want us to cruise anymore with them. It was one of the things we liked best about their cruises. The demise of Lincoln Center means that they don't really value their loyal customers and want to change the demographic, oh well.  

I totally agree.  Lincoln Center was the best entertainment we ever have had on a cruise ship. 

On 1/2/2023 at 4:50 PM, RuthC said:

But only if you have a need for the Premium plan. 
The Social and Surf plans are both lower price than the Premium purchased in advance. 

true; we had the surf plan on out recent cruise and could not download some material we needed. We had a broken furnace, and  I needed to download information from our neighbors and sign the permission slip to repair the furnace. We got around the problem but the delay meant that we came home to  10 degrees and a very cold home. The furnace was repaired the next day.  BRRRRRRRR!

This is true. I am not sure if my math is correct but it seems as if we also got some HIA credit too. Internet is cheaper purchased on line.

On 12/14/2022 at 3:41 PM, pirate cruiser said:

This will be our first time eating in the Pinnacle so I definitely don't want to know ahead of time !

just plan to go hungry!!!!!!!!!!!

We also just got off the Rotterdam after 21 days. We never even tried the music walk since few if any wore masks and we avoided large groups. I am sure the noise would have driven us away too. We did go to Lincoln Center and could stay in the balcony area on Deck 3 to hear the concerts. Perhaps the Have It All promotions with the 15 drink a day limit is also trying to attract a young crowd. That may work with a short cruise. I wonder what it will be like on our 19 day crossing in April. How many non retired folk will  be on the cruise?

At one time the piano bar would be a wonderful place to hear all kinds of music. At times it was a huge singalong. 

8 hours ago, hal lover said:

Dear husband and I disembarked the Rotterdam on Wednesday.  He had been sick a few days and we figured it was his COPD acting up and that I was fine.  Well.... driving home from FL to NC we had to go to the emergency room.  A day later, still on our way home, he gets the call that he has tested positive.  Oh NO!  Next day I get a sore throat and cough.  Have tested positive myself this morning!

I am not writing this to say that it is or was anyone thing on the Rotterdam that brought it on but I want my fellow HAL lovers to know that Covid is STILL very much alive and I hope that you all will consider wearing your masks!  

The trip itself was good except for in room dining.  I won't go into that issue except to say that you should look at your order before you tip the room service person.  Three times they got away with very bad food.  (our fault for not checking).  Also, the smell of cigarette smoke was so apparent in the lido, not to mention the casino area.  I was shopping in one of the stores and it was so strong!  HAL needs to restrict the indoor smoking. 

Rotterdam is a beautiful ship!  The best yet, in my opinion.  

We are on the Rotterdam currently and wear our masks but are definitely two of the few. 

On 10/18/2022 at 4:47 PM, Crusin-Suzan said:

We are doing the Amazon river next month!  I heard the children in these towns really love when they are brought treats!   Any suggestions?   I was going to bring my left over Halloween candy!   But will go to dollar store to pick up other things!

dollars but no candy You will have a wonderful time. You can also bring colored pencils and journals/ notebooks  for them. 

I applied for my husband and he received notice that he has the $100 credit. We also had this credit on Princess but we had to submit this discharge papers.Husband is a Vietnam Era vet who served in Korea and his paperwork was done on Thermofax. Thermofax has not held up well for 50+ years and anytime he has to present his paperwork the clerk has no idea what the brittle paper is. It is rather like showing your young family members a rotary dial phone. 

Thank you n whoever originally posted this information. 

On 12/27/2021 at 1:50 PM, Sunflower & The Scientist said:

If we cancel...exactly how do we do that.  I've not had success in getting HAL on the phone recently, or on a chat.  How do we notify them? Any hints about things we should not forget to do besides cancel air?  This is new territory for us...

ask to transfer for a later cruise.

We have traveled on HAL for many years but have never stopped in Half Moon Cay. We were scheduled to do so on a trip to the Amazon, but the weather was not agreeable.  Please  give me some suggestions of what to do there? Years ago we stopped at the Celebrity private beach and we swam and had a picnic. It was not a tender port. We do not spend much time in the sun and prefer to walk and explore. This is our first cruise since we left the Westerdam and  flew home from Cambodia February 21, 2020. I can't wait to be at sea again!

 Thank you for any help!!!!!

On 6/9/2021 at 7:28 AM, Mary229 said:

Indeed.  A night out at the Symphony would be great.   I am fairly particular about classical music but HAL's musicians do far better than most cruise ship entertainers

On 6/9/2021 at 10:18 AM, igraf said:

I prefer that no one is talking while I am listening to music.  I recall a music performance being ruined by a loud group who were so rude that they decided to sit up front next to the musicians, and then try to talk louder than the music.  I finally had to ask them to have their conversation elsewhere.

 

igraf

 

 

Hi Deb,

you know we loved the chamber music and would go to every concert we could.  They had a prescribed concert but they rebelled at times and shared so much other music. Lincoln Center is just wonderful.

2 hours ago, mertziek said:

Has anyone done this?  If so, what are pros and cons?  We are looking at 2023.  If you can’t do the circumnavigation cruise, has anyone combined Northern and Southern routes to essentially do the circumnavigation of Australia that way?  If yes, advantages to booking it that way as B2B cruise.  TIA

1 hour ago, zelker said:

Whenever they offer a Collector's Voyage where they combine B2B cruises, there is some cost-savings built in as opposed to booking each segment separately.

 

Have you seen this posted somewhere for 2023 already and if so, when is it being offered and on which ship?  It's definitely something we'd consider doing depending on the timing.  Thanks!

 

We did this cruise and loved it. It was two segments at the time. 

21 hours ago, tamadig2001 said:

Just wondering if anyone has been reimbursed by Holland America for per diem expenses at the hotel in Cambodia and flight cancellation charges, etc. It's been more than seven months and I haven't received anything, despite emails and queries on their Twitter page. Their social media people keep promising to ask their guest relations staff to follow up, but so far no word.

 We received all our expenses back months ago. We had no expenses at the hotel since HAL covered everything the one night we were there.  United and Delta gave us everything back but Emirates did not so HAL did. HAL paid for our flight home. I sent a copy of the ticket we could not use and the note from the credit card saying that they could not refund the expense since the ticket was nonrefundable. 

We had quite an adventure.  I don't twitter.

On 12/14/2019 at 12:37 AM, mauitravelers said:

Oh boy...can anyone help? We are taking a 28 day cruise in February that embarks in Shanghai and goes to Japan, Taiwan, Manila, Hong Kong, back to Shanghai, Tianjin and Dalian and then back to Japan to disembark. The problem is the visa situation. No one can give us a straight answer - we arrive in Shanghai two days before the cruise - Honolulu through Tokyo to Shanghai. I understand we may be able to get the 144 hour visa at the airport but how does that work for Tianjin? Has anyone done this?

 

Y

18 minutes ago, happyzoey said:

 

 

Thanks for the info Betty! We'll sure to ask for the 72 hr TWOV.  Maybe we'll see you onboard  :)

I don't think you will allowed to board. You need a visa for Tianjin and Dalian. The 144 hr visa has restrictions as to where you can travel in Shanghai but would not cover the other ports. We received a HAL notice for our Feb 15-29 saying that we can not board without a valid China visa. That cruise starts in Shanghai. You need a China visa with multiple entries. It is the same cost as a single entry. 

We have had a few CD's who wrote their own questions and tailored them to the ports and cruise. Ben was wonderful on the Noordam last year  on our AU/NZ cruise. There were some very competitive teams!!! This is not an understatement. Ben would hand out pins to anyone who wanted one and kept the competition fun. Trivia was very well attended.

We had to buy it again for the next twenty days. You will have to buy the 9 days. It is still much less than you buy it per day. 

This year we will buy the 31 days and then another 13. I am not sure what will happen when we are in China. 

The longer the cruise the better the price  We bought the package at the start of the cruise. . The price for 31 days was @ $260 for the middle package, everything but streaming.  We could not be on line the same time but we shared the purchase. We had to buy more because we were on 20 more days and the price was still a good deal.

1 hour ago, sailingdutchy said:

Hi all , we were on the Volendam a couple of years ago and our cruise port in Shanghai was right near The Bund .

For those who have been in Shanghai since on the Westerdam was the ship able and allowed to get to that port or did you have to go to one of the other Cruise Ports near the mouth of the Huangpu river which is a fair distance from the Bund area .

I am contemplating a cruise on her in the spring and could possibly be twice in Shanghai so I think it is important to know . 

I appreciate hearing about your experiences .

Tony 

1 hour ago, sailingdutchy said:

Hi all , we were on the Volendam a couple of years ago and our cruise port in Shanghai was right near The Bund .

For those who have been in Shanghai since on the Westerdam was the ship able and allowed to get to that port or did you have to go to one of the other Cruise Ports near the mouth of the Huangpu river which is a fair distance from the Bund area .

I am contemplating a cruise on her in the spring and could possibly be twice in Shanghai so I think it is important to know . 

I appreciate hearing about your experiences .

Tony 

We are on the Westerdam from Jan 16-Feb 29.  We will not be docking at the Bund. alas.

Temma