bcscot

Very sorry to hear of your discomfort and hope your next cruise on whichever line is more to your expectation.

 

If you go ahead and write to Mr. Kruse, you may wish to spell his name with a "K" as he does.

Worry not, I did spell his name correctly in my first letter. The second letter was addressed to the person who answered the first one, on his behalf. ;)

Don't know what time it will be but, yes, you will definitely have to attend.

Thank you. It is a full day and evening in port, before departure, so I wondered if transit passengers would have to return for the boat drill before going out for any planned evening activities.

I was under Michael's Club on Infinity for a long cruise in December. I think the cabin was 3051. Precruise, I also wondered about noise from above, but we heard nothing. It was a quiet and convenient location. I'd happily book there again.

Great news! Thank you very much for your reply. :)

We have just reached 4 star Mariner status, but all celebrations have been cancelled! We are cancelling our booked Zaandam Antarctic cruise and are not making any plans to sail with HAL again in the near future. Why?

For the 5th HAL cruise in a row, we have had our cruise experience spoiled by their recent habit of cutting the cabin airflow during the night. The A/C is working well when we go to bed. We then awake at about 2 or 3 AM, in a hot, stuffy cabin, feeling like we cannot breath, throats sore and noses stuffed up. Between 4 and 5 AM, we can feel the flow of cool air resume. No amount of complaint or discussion makes any difference. Many people are not sensitive to this problem, so it does not matter to them. It does to us, but presumably there are few enough of us that HAL think that our loss as customers is worth the savings from this policy.

We are convinced that this is a cost saving measure, even though HAL deny it. We discussed it recently with a friend who is an international shipping expert, who agreed that this is probably what is going on. Well we have had enough. We have just returned from an Oosterdam cruise to New Zealand, which was to be HAL's last chance. They failed. We had uncomfortable nights, poor sleep and developed sinus and chest infections. We have sailed with HAL for 11 years, but have only experienced this with them during the last 3 years. We have not experienced this on other cruise lines during that time.

If you are not sensitive to this problem, then you can happily continue to sail with HAL. They are otherwise a great cruise line and we will miss them. If you are sensitive to this, then consider carefully. I wanted to share our experiences and feelings with you before we go. I have also written another letter to Mr Cruse's office. I have now given vent to my feelings on the subject and will close the door quietly on my way out. I hope that other cruise lines will allow us to breath well at night and sleep peacefully.

I have another question which I would like to ask you experienced Celebrity cruisers. On the changeover day between B2B cruises, do the passengers who are continuing on the 2nd cruise, have to go to the boat drill and when is it, if the ship is not due to depart until after midnight?

Thanks again for your help. :)

Did you check the "sticky" at the top?

There are spreadsheets for the s and m class ships that list cabin by cabin what people experienced. Also try a google search of your cabin and the ship name.

 

 

enjoy your cruise

Thanks for the suggestion, I hadn't noticed the 'sticky'. Cabin not there though. I will try Google.

Thank you for BOTH responses! :)

Thank you for your response. This is what I was hoping to hear but would like to hear the views of those with Celebrity experience. We are UNDER Michael' Club.

We have just booked a B2B on the Infinity. The only ocean view cabin that we could get for both sailings, is on deck 3, below Michael's Club. Can anyone tell us if this might be a problem for noise, later in the evenings?

Thank you for your help.

Colin's experience is a hard act to follow! Although I had long known of her, my first sight of her was from the HAL Westerdam, in Ocho Rios, Jamaica, in 2005 when she was on her maiden voyage as Saga Ruby. I fell in love with her at once. As Captain Alasdair Mclundie once said of the Saga Rose, it was like appreciating a beautiful old Bentley, next to all the new monsters. She later left port first and I watched, bedazzled, as she sailed out to sea, the rays from the setting sun radiating off her shiny new dark blue paintwork. She gleamed in the evening light. I watched her sail away into the distance and then turn and sail all the way back to port. I suppose that she must have had some sort of emergency on board.

I got my chance to sail on her in 2009, during what we called our 'four ship relay.' Having taken the chance to sail on QE2 during her final days with Cunard in 2008, we planned another classic voyage in 2009. We crossed to Southampton on QM2, changed ship to Black Watch for a Norway cruise, a couple of days ashore and onto Saga Rose for her final cruise around Ireland, one of her last, before we joined Saga Ruby for the crossing from Southampton back to New York. I had only just made it to 50 in time!

Sailing up the Hudson to dock in Manhattan, was special. We were accompanied on board, by Stephen Payne, designer of QM2, who was one of the lecturers. He wasn't wearing his Blue Peter badge though! The Captain was Philip Rentell, a great character, who had been on QE2 in the Falklands Campaign along with Commodore Ronald Warwick. We had the pleasure of dining with Captain Rentell and he was great fun. We were allowed to visit the bridge and I had a laugh getting the Canadian First Officer to teach the captain how to say 'Newfoundland'. Whenever the captain saw us after that, he would always say 'Newfinland'!

That little ship is so classic and so beautiful. I loved the beautiful wood panelling and marvelled at how it creaked at night as we crossed the Atlantic. I also loved the 50s style twisted seat in the lobby.

I feel privileged to have sailed on that ship and her older sister. She certainly is one of the last of her breed.

P.S. Happy new year to you P.D. ;)

It certainly was; never ending traffic lights (and traffic). The new route is quite interesting too, what with ships on the river and it's route under the Alex Fraser, Patullo and Port Mann Bridges. The new Port Mann Bridge was shining in the sun, through a blanket of fog, a photographer's paradise!

Yesterday, for the first time, I drove on the new Highway 17 connector between Tsawwassen and Highway 1. It was great, knocking about 25 minutes off the journey up the Fraser Valley. It was fast, smooth and fairly quiet, with few stops. This is a big improvement for those who drive between Tsawwassen and the Fraser valley. :)

Yes I do believe PD that you are right it is the third version of our local forum.

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

Hello, Dennis. Third version = second reincarnation. No? :)

I think the dryers suck on Hal.

A hair drier that sucks! :eek: That could cause a few problems. :D

I suppose that they had to do something to sweeten the deal. :o

I thought that this thread was about wireless computer access, not your good lady! :D

I crossed on Monday too, but I didn't get a candy cane! :(

Well, hello! A merry Christmas and a happy New Year to you all. It is nice to see that my old 'Coastal Renaissance' thread lives on in this, it's second reincarnation! I have not been around here for quite a while.

I was looking up the history of the 'Black Ball Line' the other day and came up with some interesting stuff. It seems that the original 'Black Ball Line' was the first to start a regular, scheduled transatlantic service, over 20 years before Samuel Cunard. This link to history survives with our trusty old M.V. Coho. It is quite a story, involving Folger's Coffee, Robert Dunsmuir, BC Ferries and all sorts. Have a look at this interesting article:

http://www.tacomascene.com/kalakala/black_ball_line/black_ball_line.html

I also found this one on the Canadian Black Ball Ferries:

http://www.garylittle.ca/history/blackball.html

It seems that the Black Ball Line was immortalised in the words of some of the old sea shanties, such as:

I couldn't find a shanty that mentioned BC Ferries though! :D

I read about all of the disappointments suffered by pax on HAL ships and I just shake my head. I am simply an ordinary cruiser who usually stays in an inside cabin on a lower deck and I have no major complaints about HAL.

 

Yes, there are commonly some ship’s problems, but they have always been solved quickly and professionally.

 

Yes, the ships excursions are expensive, so I go on several private excursions instead of only the ships excursions.

 

Yes, there may be some cost cutting involved, but that’s the way things are in our economy.

 

Yes, there are smokers, complainers, and others with whom I choose not to socialize, so I find other friends.

 

As far as I’m concerned, HAL ships and particularly HAL crews, offer an enjoyable product at a reasonable price. This is why I intend to continue cruising with HAL.

 

Scott & Karen

I agree up to a point. We all have things that we will accept (all be it, reluctantly in some cases) but we also all have our limits. To pay for a cruise where we cannot sleep well at night, due to poor ventilation or lack of A/C, is a deal breaker for us. Now others may be able to sleep regardless, or do well without sleep, but for us, sleep is very important. We will try continuing to cruise with HAL (we have 2 cruises booked), but if we continue to experience this problem on such a regular basis, we will have to spend our cruise dollars elsewhere. The reason we complain is that we are so frustrated, because we like HAL so much, for many different reasons.

Ruth, you would prefer chocolate to a sable? :D

Here's a Christmas song for you:

Sorry if I am getting off topic, but it IS Christmas (well, almost). :)

Speaking of bratty kids, reminds me of a recent mystery. We have had the experience before, on Visa ships during school holidays, of kids thinking it is fun to remove or swap the 'do not disturb' cards on cabin doors or breakfast order cards, (annoying). However, recently on the Rotterdam, our 'do not disturb' card disappeared about six or seven times. We had to ask our steward for a new one each time. Now I can understand some selfish person stealing one to replace their missing card, but seven times in one 21day cruise! There were no kids around, bratty or otherwise. Bratty adults? Kleptomaniacs? :confused:

You need to consider a Canada/New England cruise. Fresh lobster in every port. :) Boston, Bar Harbor, Halifax..... fabulous fresh lobster. Be sure to have PEI mussels in Charlottetown. They are the best anywhere ! :)

 

Have done. Didn't try them. Have to go back! :D

I just made a 'lobster comment' on another thread and then noticed this one! The food was great on our recent Rotterdam cruise, with the exception of the lobster, which was even worse than usual; really nasty! I have yet to experience really good fresh lobster, the price usually putting me off (I am not a great seafood eater), but I must make the effort sometime.

My head really knows this, and I eat a lot of fish when on board, but somehow seeing it in print makes it feel unappetizing. I'll still eat it anyway, because it's healthier than some of the other choices.When Innlady was talking about freezing her fresh lobsters to eat at another time, I wanted to shout out that she should freeze something else and eat those yummy lobsters before freezing them.

I have never found the lobster on HAL ships to be all that great, although it is sometimes quite nice, however, on our recent Rotterdam cruise, having found the MDR food to be as good as on any previous cruise, the exception was the lobster, which was really very unpleasant (the steak was good though!).