Petunia1950

I feel like we let you down. At no point in the cruise did we blow through all 15 of our daily SBP+ drinks, yet somehow we failed to get this basic information.

 

I will tell you that the wine steward was responsible for after dinner drinks and he did bring cordials, port and Cognac. I'd feel 80% confident that the answer would be "wine steward." The problem isn't that I was drinking. I just wasn't drinking enough.

The first night, our order for Grey Goose was given to the wine steward (stewardess in our case). After that, whoever happened by the table first (waiter, assistant waiter, wine stewardess, or assistant wine steward) just knew what we wanted and would make sure we got them as quickly as possible. The drinks were usually brought by the assistant wine steward.

What would be a fair or typical price to up sell from a Neptune to a Pinnacle on a 7-day Caribbean cruise mid-Jan? Both are presently available. Thanks in advance for your advice.

bb

We got (and accepted) a Neptune-to-Pinnacle upsell on the November 18 Oosterdam 7-day Western Caribbean out of Tampa for $399 per person.

Dear Guest,

Thank you very much for sailing with Holland America Line aboard the ms Oosterdam.

We are writing regarding your onboard account payment. Regrettably, it appears that due to a system error you may have been charged again for your shipboard expenses on December 16th. If you were impacted by this error, we sincerely apologize for the inconvenience this processing error may have caused and want to assure you that we are in the process of reversing the duplicate charge. Please note that individual bank refund processing procedures differ and this reversal may take up to10 business days to appear on your account.

Should you have any questions or concerns you may contact our Reservations Accounting department by email at reservation_accounting@hollandamerica.com, or by phone at 1-888- 663-5384 (US and Canada) or 1-206-626-7380 (International).

We understand that in some cases this could have caused additional bank fees. If you remain out of pocket following the correction of your transaction, you may submit a claim for reimbursement by emailing guestrelations@hollandamerica.com. Please include your name and booking number in your email, along with a copy of your credit/debit card statement attached showing any fees charged by your financial institution as a result of the transaction. You may black out any areas of the statement that include private information. All we need to see is your name on the statement and the fee charged in relation to the duplicate charge. Once you have submitted your claim, it will promptly be assessed and processed.

Again, we want to extend our most sincere apologies for this error and thank you for your patronage. We hope to be given the opportunity to welcome you aboard again very soon.

Kind regards,

Holland America Line

I spoke with Holland America's accounting office. They can't say how it happened yet -- they are still investigating, but all passengers on the November 18 cruise were affected. Holland America is taking steps to refund the duplicate charges. But since the refund may take up to 10 days, everyone should be sure to notify their credit card companies so that no interest charges will accrue.

Penthouse? Yes, open the door and close it back and turn the handle.

That worked on the left-hand door, but not on the right-hand door.

Last minute shopping question. Are the balcony doors slider style or an actual door? Read that if it is a swing door style, a bungee cord is great for hold door open on comfortable weather days. Starting to pack....so excited to be boarding the Eurodam next week. Karen

The doors, at least on Oosterdam, are sliding doors. And they don't stay closed when the ship is rocky. So a way to keep them closed -- or open, as the case may be -- might actually be helpful.

The primary captain was Robert Jan Kan (Mr. Personality. And, yes, I am being sarcastic.) Wasn't Capt. Albert the traveling overseeing captain who gave the wonderful talk on HAL's history?

I was fortunate to be seated at the Captain's table during dinner the first formal night out of Tampa. Captain Kan was extremely personable, telling us of past ship assignments, family stories, vacation tales, etc. Perhaps his personality doesn't come through when he's working, but it is very apparent when he's "off duty." I, for one, appreciate his professionalism.

The entire cruise was delightful.

Do the Neptune suites on the Westerdam have coffee makers yet?

On the January 2 cruise, we had everything but the coffeemaker -- Bose sound system, mimosas ... but not the thing we most wanted -- the coffee maker.

The way it worked on the Westerdam, from which I just returned, is that you didn't really get "minutes". You got a $55 credit on your account and you then had to buy an Internet package, which would be applied against that credit. You could buy either a daily or weekly package and each offered three plans (social for Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc., only; regular for all access except video conferencing; and premium including video conferencing). My recollection is that all of the weekly packages were well over the $55 credit, so we chose to wait until late in the week and purchased the premium daily package for $29.99. The unused $20 remained on our account.

So the only real reason to sign off each time is to be able to log on using a different device, as only one log on is allowed at any one time. Since we had a 24-hour package, that 24 hours was going to expire exactly 24 hours later, no matter how many "minutes" we used.

I am searching for a current menu and reviews for the m/s Amsterdam's Canaletto restaurant. Can anyone help?

It's found at http://www.hollandamerica.com/assets/cruise-vacation-onboard/Canaletto-menu.pdf. If the link doesn't work for some reason, just Google canaletto menu holland america. It's the first result shown.

Trying to choose between 4164 and 4166 for our next cruise. I know 4166 has a shower only but am wondering if the shower is the same size as other cabins or is it bigger?

 

I hate bumping elbows on those shower walls so usually use the tub to take a shower. Anyone that has had this cabin have any information?

I haven't stayed in this identical room, but was in a suite that had only a shower. It was basically the same size as a bathtub, but had only a two inch lip around the area so that it was easy in and easy out. I loved it. We use only the tub/shower when we have a tub because we end up spraying water around the bathroom when we try to use only the small stand-alone shower.