TheJester

As first timers on HAL I have to remark that their IT is the worst of any of the multiple lines we have traveled with. I thought nothing could be worse than MSC but HAL is the worst by far. We had to call to get our excursion list and book excursions. Apparently there are no speciality restaurants on Oosterdam according to our cruise planner. Honestly puts me off booking with them again.

Give it an hour. If they are still not back put their belongings into the towel. Clip it up with the pegs or clingfilm they have used to secure the towel to the lounger with and then deposit it in the pool. I’d wager they won’t do it again.

Thank you to everyone who took the time to reply, most appreciated. I had no joy booking shore excursions on the website, the error persisted. I ended up having to telephone them and they emailed me the shore excursion brochure for our cruise and I telephoned back to book the excursions. So we got there in the end! In terms of drinks, we’ve decided to upgrade to the Elite package as soon as we board. Again, thank you for the tips everyone. Happy sailing all. Andy

Thank you. I’ll give that a go in the morning. We have $200 shore excursion credit each and I want to see what’s available.

Thank you, First job onboard then! I appreciate your help.

Thank you but I still get the same error, Will leave it to nearer the time.

Thank you. Do we have to do that onboard? I don’t see an upgrade option on the website.

Thank you for coming back to me. We have the signature package,is there any way to upgrade it? I tried your suggestion and still got an error. Hopefully will resolve soon!

Good afternoon. We are joining Oosterdam on the 25th of August for a 7 night cruise. We have done many cruises but this is our first time on HAL. Looking forward to it! I have a couple of questions, apologies if these have been answered elsewhere, I did a search but didn’t find the answers. We have the ‘have it all’ package which seems to have a fixed number of drinks per day, including soft drinks, coffee and water. Is there any package which includes the non-alcoholic drinks that we could subscribe to to enable us to enjoy more adult drinks per day? I’ve looked at shore excursions for our cruise but the website comes up with an error. Is this because I am looking too far in advance of our cruise? Thank you in advance for your help. Andy

Hello. We’re joining this ship next week and have a couple of questions please. (1) Which port was Gala night? (2) We’ve been assigned a check in time of 1pm. Our tickets imply that we can’t check in before this time and will be made to wait outside the terminal in Barcelona if we arrive before this time. Is this true? Thank-you!!

Thank you both for replying. Looking forward to trying the SPA on World Europa in 3 weeks!

Hi Surfrider34. We’re joining on the 29th from Barcelona. See you in Masters of the Sea!!

Ahoy mates! Good afternoon. Our Gold voyager status entitles us to a 1 hour thermal session. How do I go about redeeming this? On the last cruise I was expecting them to put a ticket or something in our room but it never happened. Do I need to need to go to reception, or the Spa? All input appreciated, thank=you!!

On a related note. We’re on the same cruise with an 11am check-in. The ticket says that we should check in within an hour of our check-in time. I’m sure they’ll let you on if you arrive later but just FYI. Last time we were on Virtuosa we both caught Covid, so hoping for better luck this time! J

I’d give Hola a miss. We found it very average and not worth the additional charge.

Hamburg: totally *not* walkable. MSC Shuttle bus cost is probably slightly more that the cost of an UBER to and from the port, and less convenient. No public transport to/from the port on Sunday. Zeebrugge: Best plan, although Blankenburg is just a tram ride from the port and is quite interesting if you don’t fancy Bruges (I do recommend watching the film “In Bruges: before you go!) Rotterdam: Not done, but we’re intending to walk it in Feb when we go. I J

It’s happened a couple of times to us with MSC. Checked boarding documents online, noted check-in time and then when I went to print them the time had changed. Once cruising from the UK and once from Italy.

I concur with your assessment. On our last cruise we found the food in both was of good quality (although who could eat all that bread in Butcher’s Cut?) but the service was notably better in Indochine. We tried the Hola Mexican place but it was quite underwhelming.

Thank you. We have Butcher’s cut and Indochine booked for a couple of nights but will be in the MDR for the rest.

Did you eat in the main dining room? Last time we were on Virtuosa I think that and the bar service were our only criticisms, The MDR food was rather bland and unambiguous. Thank you!

We’ve just printed our cruise tickets today. It says on the ticket that if we arrive before the check-in time we won’t be admitted to the terminal. Unsure if this is true or not.