Jade13

On 12/29/2018 at 1:19 PM, sammiedawg said:

I would book another cruise line for Cuba that actually docks in the ports and offers more days in Cuba.

Also, Holland America takes things too far against independent travelers.  Other cruise lines do not treat independents like second class citizens.  I would never sail with any cruise line telling me I might not get a seat on a tender back to the ship.  

So I say look around at other cruise lines, 

This is so different than my experience years ago on Noordam tendering in Santorini.  The Captain went out of his way to get those going on their own or on a private tour off of the ship FIRST.  He announced as soon as they got there it was early but encouraged those going on their own to get off BEFORE the shore excursions that weren't leaving until later.  Yes it was early but we didn't care.  He made multiple announcements.  If I recall we were dropped in one spot and than shore excursions in another area of the Island before going back to the first spot for independent travelers leaving later.

This is all dependent on the Captain.

On 12/2/2018 at 2:06 PM, ronbe65 said:

 

 

Although I underline it wherever possible that we compare ships, not mythical "HAL" vs "Celebrity", I have to underline another thing: HAL philosophy and ethical values have been far ahead of Celebrity. They are a century ahead now.

 

Happy cruising!

 

Can you please explain the HAL philosophy and ethical values that you mention?

On 12/29/2018 at 1:25 PM, ChinaShrek said:

 

I was not really trying to criticize Holland America although it came out that way.  I just wanted to let people know, who book the Veendam and want to go to Cienfuegos, what they should expect.  The captain announced that the Veendam will be sailing to Cuba for 2019 and 2020, so I think many people will experience what I did for Cienfuegos.  The captain seemed very worried about leaving the port by 5pm.  Ironically, I had booked a RC cruise to Cuba for February 2019 but that was cancelled. So, I decided to book the Veendam cruise.  

Who is/was your Captain on this trip?

This might be enough for me to consider another ship to Cuba.

On 12/20/2018 at 9:31 PM, chill6x6 said:

I wonder if Club Orange will be on the Nieuw Amsterdam Spring 2020?  I'm certainly willing to give it a try!

I believe what I read on HAL’s web site is that it will be a sectioned off portion of the MDR on most ships.

On 10/30/2018 at 12:21 AM, ellieanne said:

I have actually had 5* Mariners try to cut in front of me in the Lido lines, and argue with other passengers that they have priority in the Dive-In Line and at the Front Desk.

Seriously?

Delete

First time cruiser here, It’s only 4 nights to the Bahamas, stop in Key West, so I can use my own data there.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you for your patience with a newbie!:o[emoji5]

$300.00 OBC

It’s the same OBC given to two people in the same cabin on a 14, 28 night or longer cruise. This is only a 4 night cruise.

I don’t even understand the other recommendations, especially if you don’t drink that much. You can still use some of your OBC to purchase drinks, such as specialty coffees.

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I'm contemplating this for 2020 but cannot do the entire round trip. Is there any consensus as to which "half" is the better itinerary? I'm leaning toward the first part -- from Boston to Amsterdam.

We did Boston to Amsterdam in 2011. It’s still the best HAL cruise we have ever taken. They had the best of everyone (officers and crew) onboard.

That year we liked the itinerary better, and dates worked better. It included the overnight in Amsterdam on that leg as well as the opportunity to go to the Military Tattoo in Edinburgh. It also had more stops in Iceland (although one of the tender ports was skipped after an unsuccessful attempt at safely being able to tender people to shore).

That year the first leg was a couple of days shorter for us because it was already a day shorter than the second leg, plus with the overnight in Amsterdam we did not need a hotel since we were not staying there.

You have to decide after viewing the itinerary. That cruise is all about the ports due to the steep pricing.

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I am just surprised that HAL's perks are not as generous.

 

 

 

Annie

They are very poor in comparison to Celebrity. You need a lot of sea days and points to get any worthwhile benefit and they still are not that great. No free internet, evening cocktail party with included drinks, or breakfast in a private restaurant with Mimosas.

Also note, even though HAL gives unlimited laundry when you reach 4 star, you can actually pay for unlimited laundry (last time we used it, it was $7.00 per day for both people in the cabin paid for the entire cruise (so $70.00 for a 10 night cruise, $98.00 for a 14 night, etc.).

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On our recent cruise from Sydney in April of this year I handed Porter a couple of dollars and he refused so tipping is not expected and oftentimes refused

 

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Thank you for the follow up on what happened. Hope your cruise was great.

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No.

You would need to be a 4 star and have 200 points to have any worthwhile benefits. And even at 4 star, there is no “free”/included internet.

There are no daily cocktail parties with free drinks like on Celebrity.

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We pretty much agree with your HAL vs X ratings.

HAL has much better itineraries. Celebrity has better past passenger benefits including some free internet.

We remember our cruise on HAL on Veendam to Alaska in 2006. Food wise it was better than any other HAL or Celebrity cruise in the past 12 years.

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Why are you asking passengers to forgive those who in this case aggressively, intentionally and with full pre-meditatation "broke the rules" in total disregard to everyone's sensibilities? It was far more of an offense than just the unwelcome nudity. There are so many other ways to getting to a win-win on this issue than unilaterally shoving bare breasts in other people's faces. They maliciously took over an entire public deck, along with materially impacting those two unique "aft-wrap" cabins on this ship. Why didn't they just ask upfront if they could arrange a mutually satisfactory location for their chosen personal agenda?

“Aggressively”, Maliciously took over”, “broke the rules”

My question is whether you would book one of these cabins again?

It seems it has taken a lot of time from your vacation to resolve.

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The excursion was from the TA and we could not choose the port. The price (on the tour company website) is $83.00 pp so I was quite happy to accept it, plus the free glass of champagne that comes with it!

It sounds like an Ensemble Travel Group consortium tour (I checked with CC years ago and they can be mentioned as they are not a specific travel agent but consortium agents belong too (American Express has another one)We have been on a number of cruises and the tours were top notch with a smaller group of people, good food (not a big buffet).

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Note that HAL’s protection plans do not protect additional passengers in the same cabin from the single passenger supplement if their travel companion cancels.

There was a long thread from a TA years ago who had booked multiple older single passengers and put strangers together. One women canceled and her traveling companion got charged a single supplement after she got home.

The agent never came back to say what happened, just that he would never use HAL again. The only argument I gave him was that I thought HAL had the responsibility to collect the additional fee at the port, not ask for money after the cruise ended.

This of course is so people don’t book phantom people into a cabin intending to cancel and not pay a single supplement.

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And close to departure is converted to a travel insurance plan to cover exposures on the road.

I don’t think so unless the policy has changed. You would need to purchase the Platinum to get actual insurance during your cruise. The Standard has just been a cancel for any reason policy up until the cruise departs - it isn’t insurance.

Actually, it covers flights and hotels if booked through HAL. Unless there has been a change, the cancellation has to be prior to 24 hours before your tour starts.

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I used to have a TA when I first started, now I book directly. Why:

 

Our Celebrity Best Price Guarantee ensures that you will enjoy the lowest advertised rate on your cruise fare and your preferred promotional offer. If a lower cruise fare or different promotional offer advertised to the general public is found and your booking meets certain requirements, you may request to have that savings or promotion applied to your booking (savings options vary by whether the request is submitted before or after the final payment due date).

To apply for your onboard credit call: 1-888-751-7804

Have you ever tried to use this? Last time I looked it was only good for 48 hours.

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Unless this was your first cruise with Celebrity (they are known for treating first timers better than anyone except perhaps Zenith and high end suite folks), I suspect that your TA might have absorbed some of the cost. Either that or they needed that room for some reason (bulk reservation, connecting room request, etc..). No way to know for sure. I am just saying this because I don't want new cruisers to get their hopes up that this kind of thing is likely to happen. It is about as rare as my odds of winning Megamillions.

Nowhere near our first cruise and our agent did not absorb any costs. It was for a cruise leaving from Puerto Rico after the hurricane last year where they also allowed clients to “cancel” (move to a different date and trip) without penalty since airlines were being canceled left and right as well as hotel rooms. We met lots of folks on CC who were moved up at no cost. We were moved from an OV to AQU and our friends (3 cabins) were moved from AQU to Suites. The prices were plummeting, people were allowed to cancel, so why not ask. Some on our cruise said they paid a small fee. We did not pay any additional fee. Our agent negotiated with Celebrity telling them that our hotel was canceled (used for first responders) and Celebrity had no hotel room for us either. The trip did cost us more since we had to pay for an overpriced (price gauging) hotel when we had had the Sheraton booked on points.

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Such a typical CC thread, I asked earlier specifically for Sydney if tipping is expected or appropriate there. It seems many Aussies make it known that tipping is not expected or in many cases appreciated in Australia. I always tip porters in the ports I have visited. This is our first trip down under and just want to do what is expected. So looking forward to enjoying Sydney and our cruise. Thanks in advance for any help

We did not notice anyone tipping in Sydney, Australia. But it was also a port where we could pull our luggage right up to where it needs to be dropped off. We walked with our luggage from hotel across the street and wheeled our own luggage.

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This question was asked of the InDepth coordinator today at a coffee chat on the Maasdam - he stated there were no plans for zodiacs on the Zaandam. I think these new programs suffer from confused terminology at this time. Hopefully this will mellow out a bit after these first few dry runs. EXC just got thrust upon us a year or so ago.

 

 

 

Then this additional EXC inDepth package never got sufficient distinction up front either but that will now dramatically change once other can report on the experience as well as HAL marketing having better answers in the future?

 

 

 

The expectation according to the coordinator is this Maasdam In Depth alternative will continue well into the future for a few years and plans for ports and itineraries are already underway. Will it find a permanent market niche - time will tell? We already signed up for another one to Alaska-Russian and Japan for next year.

 

 

 

He also explained how, when and why they will be used - a total of 8, with one more for back-up use only. Many areas do not allow Zodiacs which is why they will not be put into use until they leave French Polynesia - but will get used in Fiji.

So, you are on a ship doing the zodiac EXC landings? How is that going? How many people can they take per day and in which ports or islands?

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Celebrity,

Have cruised for 2, 3, 4, 5 nights

We really liked the smaller, older Summit and would recommend deck 11 AQU class if not staying in a suite.

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To update this thread: The Maasdam does not and has never had a topless deck. The signs were not placed by the ship and have been removed.

This is the craziest thread I have seen.

Thank you for posting!

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I have not even gotten on a Celebrity ship and already I am disgusted. A month ago they charged my credit card over $7,000 that was not authorized. I immediately had our travel agent cancel everything we had done that day and here it is, a month later and still do not have all our money back. I had to get my credit card involved now since I refuse to pay money I did not authorize them to take. I want my money back!

It seems your issue is with your travel agent. If you are working with an agent, they would have put your charges through.

What did your agent tell you?

Was the $7,000 the cost of the cruise?

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