Time For Dreaming

Was this one of those non-refundable fares I've been reading about that you have to pay up front?

 

Roz

As soon as the HAL representative brought it up, I kinda dozed off when I heard the "non-refundable" fare option. Think the savings would have been $200 something each. Don't understand how it works but declined.

Just booked ours today!

Just saw today that HAL has Full Transit Panama Canal cruises for early 2020 open for bookings.

Does anyone know if this means they will be releasing the 10 & 11 night Partial Transits soon for early 2020?

Thank you.

We are sailing for the first time on HAL next year. In our 10 cruises on other lines, we've never received an upsell call. We've always booked balcony or higher, except for our first cruise on Princess. Have you ever received an upsell call? Was it a good deal (good being subjective) Did you take it?

We've taken 3 HAL cruises and were offered upsells to a Neptune on all 3. We always book cruises directly with the cruise line.

We declined the offer for the Nieuw Amsterdam because they could only tell us the Neptune would be in the far front or far back of the ship on an unknown deck. We declined and stayed with our Signature Suite.

We accepted the offer for the Volendam from a Vista Stateroom to the Neptune portside directly across the hall from the Neptune Lounge.

We declined offers for Koningsdam. Each upsell offer (when added to what we initially paid for a Signature Suite) exceeded the cost of a Neptune had we booked one in the first place.

Doubt we will get an offer for 2017's cruise because it is the one we won while on Koningsdam. We did a self upgrade from the inside we won to a Signature Suite on deck 6 but would take a Neptune if the location and price were right.

We had Signature Suite 7100 on the Koningsdam last March and the balcony was fully covered. Remember standing on a dock looking up to see the Signatures and the balconies all looked identical to us.

Can't seem to copy and paste from Word 2013 to anything. Probably messed up the review trying. multiple times. Any suggestions?

Thanks.

I thought adding the countdown clock from cruise critic's list was easy but I can't find them or instructions on how to set one up again.

Also how do I change the print color on my signature? I've got black, red, and grey now???

Thanks.

Lots of good information from everyone. We'll check out the deck plans very carefully and have a few stateroom choices in mind. Thanks for the water side question...I meant when docked which was answered.

Sounds like a really nice ship. We've taken this cruise on another line and have done land only trips. Nowadays we're concerned about safety in these ports. That's why we were thinking about just staying on board. But we'll see. Never been on a cruise when we didn't get off at a port. We'll want to do that at least once on this cruise.

Gotta love that Koningsdam!

On the very last day of our 11-night March 22 - April 1 Cruise I decided to buy a chance to win a free 7-night cruise to either the Caribbean or Mexican Riviera. This is for an inside cabin for two. I won!!! Thank you Koningsdam. The perfect "gift" for two elderly people celebrating their anniversary while onboard. Gotta love that Koningsdam!

We'd prefer the Caribbean but it wouldn't be a "free cruise" what with airfare (from Southern California), transfers, pre-night hotel, cabin upgrade, and shore excursions. So we decided to drive to San Diego for the Mexico cruise on the Oosterdam in February 2018 and not get off the ship.

Will be posting a separate message but if anyone reading this knows the answer to these questions, we'd appreciate it.

Is there any worthwhile difference between a standard balcony stateroom vs. a vista "suite?" If vista, we'd be interested in the bumped out section on either deck 5 or 6 (unless someone knows a better location) to get the double whatever it is towards our Mariner status.

Has the Oosterdam been dry docked lately? What condition is it in?

Which side faces the water - port for starboard?

Did we love that Koningsdam? Our review will be coming once we get settled in from our return. Hint: Gotta love that Koningsdam, but it's not problem-free.

Thank you all.

Just because there are no (or few) Neptunes showing on the HAL website I would not assume that none are available. HAL often "freezes" the category while they are in the midst of doing upsells, so as to better control the inventory I assume.

 

I would call the upsell number you received before and inquire as to your options. You just might get lucky.

 

Also, from what I experienced and have seen, HAL seems to be asking more for Koningsdam Neptune upsells (could be due to the lower numbers of them available vs the Vista class ships).

Thanks for the information. The upsell department is closed until 7:00 AM on Monday. I'll give them a call then and keep checking my email. Wonder if there's any negotiating. We're in 7100 now.

Someone asked about the upsell phone number. I think you have to receive an upsell offer via email lin order to get that number.

HAL's website was down this morning but went up early. Checked our Koningsdam cruise and there are no more Neptunes available except the ones way in the front of the ship. There had been several before the website went down Friday so I guess they sold them all one way or the other. That's that. Wasn't meant for us. I had called the upsell number on Friday and they were still quoting us $1.099/person. Wonder if anyone got a super deal on one at this late date. Going to start figuring out what to pack and print the boarding documents.

Getting excited!!! Will post a review.

I am also on this cruise. The inside guarantee cabins were being sold at a great price for solo occupancy so I grabbed it hoping to get an upsell offer to an outside. When upsells were being offered to people on my roll-call, I quickly called my TA to see what was available. I was told by my TA that there were no upsells being offered at this time by HAL to guarantee cabins and I could get an outside cabin at double the current price. I found this unusual since only the insides are currently sold out. Oh well, maybe something will turn up in the next 2 weeks and if not, maybe the upgrade fairy will be good to me.

 

Question: If you book with HAL directly, are you more likely to be offered an upsell by direct email from HAL than going through a TA and waiting for her to contact you when receives an email HAL?

 

Whatever cabin I end up with on the K-Dam, I will still be a happy cruiser as I didn't expect to have a second K-Dam cruise in less than 4 months.:D I usually end up spending 90% of my awake hours out of my cabin.

Hi there, fellow K-dam cruiser, will have to check out our roll call. We always book early and directly with a cruise line. This has been our limited (3-cruises ) experience with HAL:

1.Declined an upsell from SS Signature Suite to SB Neptune in 2011 for Nieuw Amsterdam without asking the price or staterooms available. Never received a second offer.

2.Accepted a terrific first upsell offer from a deck 7 Vista ("suite") Stateroom to the portside Neptune directly across from the lounge on the Volendam.

3.And although the two upsells for Koningsdam are not upsells for us, we did get them.

We too are happy with what we have which is why we booked it in the first place. But happy could be happier for the right price.

Good luck to you too, and happy cruising!!!

Here we go again! Received another upsell offer to a SA Neptune Suite for our Koningsdam 3-22-17 sailing.

The first upsell offer to shake us out of our SS Signature Suite was for $1,449/person more.

The second offer was for $1,099.00/person more.

During our initial booking a SA Neptune would have been 1,200.00/person more.

We declined the second offer. Don't think HAL can go low enough to benefit us. But it would have been nice.

I agrew that wasn't much of a savingfcrom what you could have originally booked the c abin.

In case anyone is interested:

Initial fares (June 18, 2015) when we booked:

SS Signature Suite ($3,399/person)

SA Neptune Suite ($4,599/person)

We like to book early with the category and stateroom number we want. And then wait to see if we are offered an upsell. Doubt they will better the $1,449.00/person extra upsell offer. They've had to go way low. And for those who don't know, if you take out HAL's insurance, the price of any upsell will increase what you already paid for that insurance.

Found an email today from Holland America in our spam email from 5 days ago.

We were offered an upsell (for 3-22-17 Koningsdam cruise) from our Signature Suite to a SA Neptune Suite for $1.449.00 per person. I asked the representative to repeat that again and once more.

Then I told him that when we booked the cruise on the first day bookings became available, I checked the price of a SA Neptune Suite along the corridor near the Neptune Lounge and it would have cost us $1,200.00/person.

We declined this ridiculous upsell offer for someone in a Signature Suite.

We're looking to book one of the following HAL shore excursions and wonder if anyone has been on any of these and what they think. Thank you.

Barbados Coast to Coast

Best of Barbados

Natural Wonders of Barbados

The 3/22/17 Koningsdam sailing on HAL's site has $2,799/person for a Vista "Suite" and also for a Neptune (category SC, limited time).

Many cruisers like the SC category but there must be something wrong with them on this ship or am I missing something? Just curious. Thanks.

We are currently enjoying our room at the Fort Lauderdale Plantation Hotel. We paid HAL $340.00 CDN , which included our transfer to the Hotel from the airport, and the transfer to the cruise tomorrow. This hotel is in wonderful condition; our room is immaculate. We walked over to the Publix this morning, and purchased our wine, water and soft drinks for the cruise. Just returned from visiting the Sawgrass Milll mall.

 

 

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Wishing you good weather and smooth sailing on tomorrow's cruise. I feel like we're almost there for ours.

Any good places to eat within walking distance from the F.L. Plantation Hotel?

Has anyone used the HAL pre cruise Hotel package before a cruise out of Port Everglades.

 

I checked the HAL site but didn't see prices and also wondered about the transfer from airport to hotel - is it a big bus and do you have to wait a long time before it goes to hotel.

 

I'm on the Eurodam April 1st and thinking about it for 1 night and the hotel prices are really high.

We paid HAL $303.82 for 1 night at the Renaissance Fort Lauderdale Plantation Hotel. Included in that amount are the transfer costs from airport to hotel to ship and from ship back to airport. They didn't separate the cost of the transfers from the cost of the hotel on the billing statement and we don't know what kind of room we are getting. This will be for March 21, 2017.

Another way to draw people's attention to a machine and away from people, oblivious to the physical world around them, unable to do simple things without the help of technology. Pretty soon technology will be able to wipe our nose. We prefer to wipe our own and we'll know how to do it.

I have stayed in Nieuw Amsterdam Signature Suites twice and feel like the layout of the Koningsdam is awkward. The wall between the vanity area and bed makes for a lot of wasted space behind the vanity chair and makes the bed area look cramped. If the wall were removed, the space would be much more usable. The "couch" near the bed looks like a chaise/daybed and not at all comfortable as a sitting place. The bathroom is gorgeous though!

 

Can someone who has traveled in Signature Suites on both ships offer their comparison?

A few more months and that'll be us. We too had a Signature Suite (7080) on the Nieuw Amsterdam. We loved opening the door to our sanctuary and spending time in it. Large area with an open concept. The Koningsdam SS looks vastly different. Will definitely report back on the comparison.

Thanks for the Alaska 2018 alert. Going to check it out to see what HAL is offering. We plan on an Alaska return in 2019. It's just never too early to start cruise dreaming.

I googled "Koningsdam Signature Suite" and got lots of entries. Here is a page of photos: http://www.cruisecritic.com/photos/ships/koningsdam-986/signature-suite-275241/

 

The layout is quite different, although the bathroom is similar. I think the biggest difference is in the perks of the Neptune suites. Descriptions of those are on the HAL website and in numerous posts on Cruise Critic. I've come to think the perks are worth the extra money, particularly if you get an upsell.

Thanks to everyone who responded. And special thanks for the link above because 7100 is the SS we got!!! The couch opposite the bed doesn't look like the typical couch we've seen in any stateroom. Doesn't even look like a couch.

Good point about the price of a possible upsell. We booked in June 2015 (might have been the first day bookings opened) and at that time, we checked the price of a SA along the corridor where the Neptune Lounge is and they were $1,200/person more. At least we'll know if we get an offer, if it'll be a good one.

But the Signature Suite looks really nice. Either way, we're going to be happy.

Has anyone stayed in a Koningsdam Signature Suite (category SS) or had the chance to see one? There was a lot of speculation about what they actually look like after HAL posted it's one picture on their website.

We have one booked but just in case an upsell offer is made, it would be nice to know what we'd be giving up to get a Neptune.

Thank you.

We're trying to finalize shore excursions for our upcoming cruise but nothing offered through HAL is appealing to us for St. Kitts, and we prefer booking excursions through the cruise line rather than a private company.

Is there something to see/do (other than shopping) within walking distance once off the ship? Is the town of Basseterre close and is there anything there for us to see?

Thank you.