Jade13

As suite passengers we find Luminae to mostly be terrific. We have occasionally tried Blu too but have not sailed Aqua, as a suite guest can dine there if not too crowded. So not as much Blu experience. Overall we find Luminae to be a step above Blu in food and service. Of course this is very subjective. In particular the breakfast and lunch in Luminae are much better. Dinner is just somewhat better although Blu has a better menu selection. We do order items (like escargot) off the MDR menu in Luminae all the time.

What breakfast items can you get in Luminae that you can’t get or order in BLU?

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Is it just me or are the post attributions when replying all screwed up on this thread?

It seems so.

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groan :D

Agree. Some people just want to argue.

Many other lines give double credit for solo travelers.

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I would switch unless you need the space. We have stayed in both.

You do get the double points.

My DH prefers breakfast in the lido so he can pick what he wants.

As far as the laundry perk you can purchase an unlimited laundry package (no dry cleaning).

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What rules? No one told us we couldn't take sandwiches on excursions ashore.

What ports did you visit where you took food off of the ship?

Caribbean, Europe, Asia????

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Sorry Jade13, i ranted in your area.....ps. i love jade. i bet you look fabulous wearing the green tones :)

Not a problem! My favorite too.

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My simple point, sadly not as simple as I assumed, was that it might behoove cabin stewards, as a group, to encourage the general behavior and practice of tipping in any way they can, as the one steward did with his gracious three-word note. Do you think that a passenger that receives a note from him is more likely or less likely to tip a steward on the next cruise? A simple greasing of the skids for next time, as a self-serving benefit to themselves as a group. How this notion got torqued into a thread of "needy, overbearing passenger makes outrageous, unconscionable demands of cabin steward", was truly a wonder to behold.

 

 

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Just WOW.

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Wow...thought I had written this. This is exactly how it went down on my last cruise.

 

As a couple, neither of us expect any recognition, thats why we have always agreed to auto tipping. But for whatever reason this time, the little bit extra was acknowledged with rudeness. (We chalked it up to short staff, in a hurry, cultural.) Never the less it left a bad taste for future extra tipping.......don’t flame the poster....he’s only being honest....it happens[emoji41]

Is it possible they thought you didn’t also auto tip? I know they have the records of who has left auto-tips.

We have always left any extra tips in person the morning we disembark, and told the steward or waiter something like, “this is extra for exceptional service, we left the auto tips in place”,

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It sounds to me like someone skimmed through your correspondence far too quickly and missed the fact that it was multiple dinners, not just the one. Hopefully your follow up will do the trick.(yn)

Agree.

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The “standard plan” is not insurance. It is cruise protection provided by the cruise line up until the cruise departs.

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The CD got wind of the scam so when we got to the next tender port the first numbers they gave out were very high numbers :). Those that had kept the low number tags to beat the system found themselves among the last to be called :). We did hear one lady actually complain to the CD about them changing the order of the number. Talk about nerve :).

 

 

 

Hank

Funny!

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Deleted

Bread pudding in the lido.

Cheese platter from room service

Ginger from the yum yum station

I think they still have Alaska king crab legs on some cruises.

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Glad HAL did the right thing for you! But I’m curious as to why you would transfer over to a TA and risk losing your ability to communicate directly with HAL if there are any future issues. Especially since they fixed the error. [emoji848]

 

 

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Why wouldn’t they transfer for a 6-10% savings.....

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JADE13,

 

 

 

We are sailing on the new EXC Oct 28, Polynesia Idyll. I am already disapointed, as I was entirely sold on using the zodiacs at each port for these wonderful adventures they advertised. NOT!! All I got was sorry for the inconvience from our TA from HAl. They will not begin using them she was told till Nov 11, our end date. Had I know this before we would have chose another line. They offered such a unique iteneriary and promoted their EXC prgm very well. They are not even offering excursions at every port. I was sold on the zodiacs getting up and personal to new locations in the Freench Polynesia, and totally planned on using HAl for each excursion. Now I am searching for private excursions on our role call.

 

[emoji4]

 

Or first time with Holland and we are in the Lanai, hope we like it!:):) I am over this now, just excited to be going here.

 

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The Lanai cabins are nice. Small but nice.

Are you sure there are no zodiac excursions on your cruise? There is an entire article on this and the 14th and 28th dates are shown. Makes no sense.

Have you spoken to the shore excursion department? You can do that without going through your travel agent.

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While on board the Niew Amsterdam in Feb we took advantage of the $300 OBC offered to plan a cruise for late fall. Believed our on board cruise consultant's name was "Joey". At the time of the on board booking, we were told / assured that the $200 deposit was fully refundable before final payment was due. AND also if the rates went down, that we could get the lower rate - as long as it was before final payment was due. Sounded like a good deal, so we gave the $200 deposit. So it was a win/win situation, or so we thought....

 

So, now several months later, I start checking fares on our future sailing, and see that the rates have come down. No problem, I will just request the lower rate as we are well before final payment, which is due in September. WRONG. Cannot do this. I was planning on transferring my booking to a TA, and when the travel agent called Holland America to confirm the transfer I was told that it was originally booked on the ship with a "Rate Code" that has a Non Refundable Deposit. Therefore, as it is a non refundable deposit, the booking cannot be re-booked at a LOWER rate. WOW! This is NOT what we were told on the ship with the consultant. We were told it was a fully refundable deposit & we could get a lower rate if the rates went down (as long as before final payment). Other wise we would have never made the reservation that far out, as we know the rates fluctuate wildly sometimes before final payment is due. In addition that far out for us in particular, there is always the possibility of a health issue so we booked on board knowing that we could cancel with no penalty. Or so we were told.

 

The Travel Agent spoke with the HA agent, who then inquired with her re-booking desk, and she came back to confirm that this could not be rebooked at the lower rate. I am stuck with the higher rate. The booking can be transferred to the TA, but the booking will remain exactly the same (same rate, same OBC, etc). The new fare rates are about $400 total less than our originally booking price that we did on the ship. But we cannot re-book at the lower price. This is crazy, and makes no sense.

 

Why would you book 9 months prior to sailing, yet be locked into a price? This is not at all what we were told on the ship when we agreed to the booking. And I am very upset that the Cruise Consultant on the ship mislead us. This is not our first cruise, nor our first time pre-booking a cruise on a ship in order to get the benefit of the OBC. BUT it is our first time doing this with Holland America and it will be the last. Not happy at all with this information that I just received about our booking. I feel very mislead.

 

Has this situation ever happened to anyone else? Totally misrepresented what was stated to us on the ship at time of booking.

 

I am just very upset by this information, and I guess I am stuck.

- If I cancel the cruise, I loose the $200 deposit and the $300 OBC

- I cannot re-book at the lower rate, so the only advantage to transfer booking to the TA is the additional $190 OBC

Not happy about this........

I would fight it. If you were told on board it was a refundable deposit that is what you should have. Where is your paperwork? It should have been given to you at time of booking. HAL also has records of the onboard agent whom you worked with.

Ask them to provide onboard booking paper stating this is a nonrefundable deposit.

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Trying to position her as a new "Elegant Explorer" would probably not be a popular move from a marketing point of view. But perhaps they could develop a different personality for Maasdam -- something like the "Amazing Adventurer".

 

 

 

I haven't sailed on Maasdam so have little to offer in terms of changes. However, what would motivate me to try her would be 1) great itineraries 2) enrichment lecturers onboard and 3) a decrease in the negative reports of physical/mechanical issues onboard. That trifecta would be enough to get me on what I'd consider a "larger" ship. :')

We have been on Maasdam multiple times and like the ship. Last trip we were dealing with Noro (not us, but the prior itinerary) so boarding was late and lunch was missed. Issue wasn’t the ship but it could have been handled better. They didn’t even offer a complimentary drink which they could have done at dinner that evening.

Anyway, the new Enrichment, in depth zodiac tours and lecturers sound great but I think there is bound to be a lot of negative reviews.

The reason is that this is an approx 1,200 passenger ship and they have already stated that those excursions will be extremely limited, perhaps to 75-85 people per excursion. The advice given in the new mariner magazine is to “ book early”. They will be first come, first served.

Most people will be shut out of the tours and complain.

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i completed a two week cruise with celebrity to Alaska. Upon arrival I couldnt find my bag. I spend over one hour and finally had to lodge a missing bag complain. This entire exercise took 2 hours extra from my time.

 

 

 

 

 

I communicated with Celebrity cruise head office and was told that they will try to locate it. After ten days they told me they had it in Vancouver, BC. After making several attempts to have it delivered, they sent it to a different address than I was staying and I had to collect it. My bag came after exactly two weeks.

 

 

 

 

 

I had to go through many difficulties since I was in transit and without my personal belongings, that was in the main suitecase, I had to buy many items. I spent over $2000 in the two weeks that I was missing my main bag.

 

 

 

I wrote to Celebrity cruises to compensate me for the extra expenses I had incurred.

 

 

 

 

 

I had to send them reminders and after several attempts I received a reply that they will not compensate me for anything.

 

 

 

 

 

I feel really terrible that if they had lost the bag why should they not take the responsibility to compensate the passenger. My bag was received in a horrible condition and I had to broken items inside.

 

 

 

 

 

Has anyone else experienced similar experience?

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks

Trip insurance

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Maybe someone can clarify for me...I have read that the TA's cannot undercut the actual price of the cruise posted by the cruiseline. I know they can give you back OBC from their commissions but can they actually cut the price? I have always booked with a PCC. Thanks for the info.

 

 

 

Helen

Mine has.

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When numerous passengers have been advised by email several days earlier that their cruises have been cancelled, the OP's expectation that the Redeployment Department should also be aware of the cancellation is eminently reasonable.

Agree!

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Come on Celebrity..........looking at a sv cabin 12 night med cruise in Sept 2019. $6640 OR £5000.

 

 

 

This is for the same old same old med cruise to the usual ports, nothing out the ordinary.

 

 

 

I mean really...........

Per person? With taxes and port fees?

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I have several friends who are taking care of ailing parents. They are sharing rooms with other friends. What happens if one person cancels in a shared cabin and the other ones still wants to go? They haven’t bought trip cancellation insurance yet, is there one you’d recommend that you can cancel for any reason? Does is matter if you cancel before or after final payment?

 

Thank you!

 

 

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The cancelation for any reason (cruise protection) offered by HAL does not protect the second passenger. Otherwise people would book two people with the intention of canceling one to get a better rate for a solo passenger.

But other insurance will protect for medical type cancelations.

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Explore4 will be starting July 18th [emoji6]

beginning July 18 and running through November 19. During this promotion, your clients can choose from 600+ cruises and receive all FOUR of the offers below on ANY stateroom:*

Signature Beverage Package

• Dinner in the Pinnacle Grill
  
• Free or reduced fares for 3rd/4th guests
  (taxes, fees and port expenses are additional)
  
• 50% reduced deposit
  

Suites additionally receive US$200 onboard spending money!

This year’s sailing list will include summer 2019 — winter/spring 2020 PLUS holiday 2018 and winter/spring 2019 for Caribbean and Mexico.*

*Excludes Grand Voyages and Grand Voyage Segments

And how much will the fares increase? That is the question. The perks are never free.

Right now we have “included’ gratuities.

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[quote name=

Also all 3 of us will have to be airlifted to the hospital if my daughter ingests even one bite of a nut,ease.[/quote]

What about being around people eating nuts, or people that have nuts in your next door cabin?

We often travel with a bag of nuts.

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While I'm happy to see that HAL corrected its mistake, I don't think that HAL deserves any kudos. There never should have been a problem to begin with, and any customer should expect a business to correct its own mistakes. Have our expectations of HAL sunk so low that when they do the right thing we stand up and applaud?

Agree! Was going to post the exact same thing. All they did was correct their own mistake, which should have been done immediately. Kudus would be if they did something else without your asking because of the stress caused when half of your cruise was canceled, and than rebooked at a higher price. Pinnacle dinner? OBC?....

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