Infi

Just to add an update to this thread: I checked with the front desk onboard our cruise, and it turned out ALL of the OBC was non-refundable. A lot of it came from HAL (price drops, FCDs, shareholder, etc.) so I expected that, but they also lumped in what our TA gave us, so I'm not sure about the truth behind that one. As expected, we weren't able to make a dent in even half of the OBC we had, so on the last night, we tried the casino tip to withdraw it and it worked like a charm. Thanks, all!

I always love reading your world cruise reports, but am especially enjoying this report as our friends are on the Amsterdam for their first Christmas cruise. We did the Amsterdam last year and raved about it so much that they booked it for this year, so I am eager to hear their thoughts when they return. On that note, I'm sorry to hear the holiday decorations are more limited this year. We so loved and appreciated all of the gorgeous trees and sparkle on the Amsterdam last year. Seems to be the trend, though - we just got back from the Prinsendam's holiday cruise yesterday and were also surprised by the limited decorations onboard.

Thank you for taking us along on your cruises - your writing style is a pleasure to read and makes it feel like we're right there with you both.

Just disembarked the Prinsendam this morning, so we're watching her sail away tonight on the webcam. Wish we were still there!

I will do my best to remember to post your Bon Voyage.

 

This is the newest thread - so you have posted on the newest one.

 

I just ask that people post earlier so they are in the listing as I do the Bon voyages from there.

 

Will do my very best:D

Thank you, kazu, I appreciate it. Sorry about that - I'll remember to post earlier next time :o

Thank you for the casino info, superoma. Princess has something similar in their casinos yet we have never had to use it, as they usually refund our unused OBC back to us via check a few weeks after the cruise.

Again, I hear all the suggestions that it is not hard to use the OBC, but I know myself and my daughter and I know we would be hard pressed to spend all of this money. We don't drink wine, do the spa, etc. - not because we deny ourselves, but because it's just not our cruising style. We have had less OBC than this on other cruises and still failed to spend it all, so I'm pretty sure the same will happen here.

I'll be checking with the front desk, double checking our account printouts, and keeping the casino tip in my back pocket just in case. Thanks to all for their input.

Given the mixed responses on here, I will definitely ask the question for myself at the front desk to be certain. It seems like at very least, we will get the price drop money back, which is the largest chunk of the OBC, so that's good to know.

As for all of those saying to spend it, I would try but it will be very difficult for us to spend $1000 worth of OBC in 16 days. We're not extravagant people and have been to all of these ports many times, so spending on excursions or other luxuries doesn't hold much appeal for us. The most I can see us doing to spend the money is increasing the HSC, or treating ourselves to an extra cocktail in the evening or something from the shops, and that won't make too much of a dent.

Special note on this. The Bon Voyage is due before the new listing comes out. Infi, I hope you'll enjoy the Elegant Explorer as much as many of us do.

 

Roy

Sorry, I wasn't sure where to place this as a new one hasn't come out yet. Thanks for the wishes - we are very much looking forward to the Prinsendam as well.

Hi Kazu, please add: Infi - Dec 18th - Prinsendam 16 day Southern Caribbean Holiday cruise to the list. Thanks for keeping up with the Bon Voyage lists for us all! :)

The OBC is a combination - a big chunk from a price drop that our TA negotiated from HAL post final payment, some from FCCs, some from TA, and $250 from DD's shareholder benefit. From the replies, it seems like only the price drop OBC will be refundable? Does HAL have a pecking order in which OBC is spent? (I only ask because Princess claims to spend non-refundable OBC first, then refundable.) Does anyone have any experience with this?

As a result of some big price drops and other incentives, we'll be receiving a large amount of OBC on our upcoming Prinsendam cruise. Even though we'll apply it to the HSC and other onboard spending, I still doubt we will spend it all. Does HAL refund unspent OBC, and if so, how does one go about getting the refund? Thanks in advance, all!

We celebrated Christmas and NYE on our holiday cruise last year on the Amsterdam and were really impressed. There were parties in the piano bar, Crow's Nest, and the main showroom, which was the biggest of the three. If you've ever been on one of the longer cruises where they have a ball on the formal nights, it was very similar to that. The Queen's Lounge was decorated, officers danced with passengers, champagne (sparkling wine) was flowing, and there was a balloon drop at midnight. In the atrium, they had a buffet with international fare prior to and after the party. There was also a special dinner that night, with a special NYE menu, similar to formal night offerings. The MDR was decorated, and there were hats and noisemakers at each place setting. I believe there was champagne (sparkling wine) served at dinner also.

We've also celebrated NYE on Princess and it wasn't nearly as nice as it was on HAL IMHO. Some of the same elements were there - balloon drop, party in the atrium, etc. - but HAL's just felt a little classier with nicer touches. We're looking forward to celebrating Christmas and NYE onboard the Prinsendam this December, too. :)

I would still expect kids on the 14 day Amsterdam; it's still to the Caribbean, after all, and beaches will always draw families. We had about 50-60 kids on a 15 day Panama Canal on the Amsterdam last Christmas. They were all incredibly well behaved and quiet so it wasn't an issue.

OP, I understand your concern - we did 7 days on Princess over Christmas one year and all I can say is never again! We now search for the longest and most exotic cruises possible over the holiday time to guarantee that situation won't happen again.

Thanks for the quick replies. So, HAL doesn't charge your credit card for the reservation made online, it's just added to your shipboard account? And then it looks like the Mariner discount is applied after dining there.

And yes - I agree about the Pinnacle lunch. We found it to be outstanding and much preferred it to the dinner we had there on the Amsterdam. We're going to give dinner another try on this cruise, hoping it will live up to the high expectations set by the lunch!

I recently became a 3 star Mariner on my last HAL cruise. I know one of the perks is 25% off in specialty restaurants but am unsure how this works. I recently booked a Pinnacle reservation online for the last night of our upcoming cruise, namely because I know how popular the last night is in the Pinnacle and I was worried about getting a reservation onboard. Will I be able to get the discount applied once I'm onboard? And second, does the 25% off apply for lunch in the Pinnacle also? Thanks in advance, all!

Maybe I'm in the minority, but we sailed on the Westerdam and Nieuw Amsterdam before their drydocks and didn't have a single problem. The main thing we noticed was on the Westerdam, all of the loungers were being removed from the aft pool on disembarkation morning. Other than that, neither ship had any signs of the upcoming drydock. We also sailed on the Amsterdam this past December after her most recent drydock and the ship was in impeccable condition with no remaining construction being done. While I don't discount the serious issues others have had on pre and post-drydock cruises, I did want to share our experiences to let you know that these cruises aren't always a bad experience.

We did a full transit on the Coral for Christmas/NYE in 2011, and also on the Amsterdam over this past Christmas/NYE. I have also been through the Canal 4 other times on other cruise lines (most of which no longer exist). I would say without a doubt, the HAL transit was the best I have been on. The small attention to detail made all the difference: the hot coffee and Panama rolls in the morning, and ice water during the heat of the day was much appreciated. Both cruise lines will do the Canal history lectures leading up to the transit, and both have wraparound promenade decks for viewing, so that's a wash. If you wish to travel around the ship during the transit for different viewing angles, HAL was superior in that aspect. The two little viewing decks at the front of the Coral/Island get crowded very early and pale in comparison to having that whole big bow of the ship open in front of you and feeling up close and personal with the action. Lastly, HAL brought on local crafts people while we were in Gatun lake if you wanted Panamanian souvenirs, and had a little Panama Canal "swim" activity in the pool at midday and gave out certificates to all those who participated. Just nice little touches like that made the experience a little more special.

We like the Coral/Island very much and they're our favorite Princess ships, but overall, the HAL transit was far better and I would book it again in a heartbeat. If I were you, I would look at itinerary and see which one you prefer. But, itineraries being equal, I would go with HAL.

Karen, count me in as another who has so enjoyed your blogs, especially the World Cruise last year. Loved all of the photos and how your entries were always so well done and thoughtful, but I understand how much time it takes. You've inspired us to put the grand voyages on our list, just waiting for DD to be done with school so we can start cruising! Enjoy the Grand Asia, and thank you for taking the time to share your adventures with us in the past.

I suppose I will be the one point of dissent on this thread. We chose to do this cruise as a B2B on the Veendam last summer. By the time we got around to planning our summer cruise, flights to Europe were cost prohibitive, so we chose Canada/NE because we had never been to the area and we enjoy sailing on the S-class ships. Honestly, it was one of most dull cruises we have ever been on. The Veendam was great and we very much enjoyed the ship, but we found there was nothing to write home about in any of the ports we visited. We went to Peggy's Cove, Anne of Green Gables house, etc. - all the major sights - and were left feeling underwhelmed. The weather was incredibly chilly, overcast, and miserable the entire trip, which didn't help matters either. The one port we enjoyed was Bar Harbor, very cute little town and Acadia was nice as well. But other than that, we were pretty let down by this cruise and would not repeat it again.

Thank you for sharing, OP. It's helpful to see the new schedule and different deployments for the fleet.

Thanks for the helpful responses, all. Looks like I'll check out the rooms on the upper decks for more spacious insides. From looking at the deck plans, it seemed like the Cat Ms on Dolphin looked smaller, but we all know deck plans can be misleading. USN59 - agree completely that HAL's deck plans and photos are unhelpful especially when you know there's a range of square footage yet all the photos are the same. It's a little frustrating, to say the least. Jacqui and Ruth - I know you two are experts on the Prinsendam and inside cabins, so I appreciate your chiming in on this one. Special thanks to Ruth - if it wasn't for you, we never would have discovered that large insides exist in the first place! As you can see, we've been enjoying them ever since :)

If anyone else has any input on inside cabins on the Prinsendam, I'd appreciate hearing it!

We're considering booking a cruise on the Prinsendam for later this year. We usually choose an inside cabin on other HAL ships, and have grown fond of the Cat K/J large insides on the Vistas and Signatures, and the sideways inside cabins on the S-class ships and were hoping to book something similar for this cruise.

For those who have sailed the Prinsendam, what categories/locations are the larger inside cabins on this ship? I checked HAL facts and there was only one photo of an inside, a Cat K on promenade deck that looked to be pretty large, but I was hoping to hear more from those who have sailed the Prinsendam before making the decision. We would also need a shower only cabin, if that has any impact. Thanks, all! :)

That only works okay for maybe the first 10 or 15 minutes of the seating start time. Even when using a table not occupied by anyone else (who may have already ordered and possibly been served something) it still is difficult for the waiters, because the upper level is not set up to handle a continuous stream of people at different stages.

Bring people upstairs to fixed dining from open seating is one of my biggest pet peeves about HAL. We have been at tables with open seats and for whatever reason, our table is always the "lucky one" who gets guests from downstairs.

I'm not opposed to meeting new people (we always share tables for both breakfast and lunch in the MDR), it's just that invariably these people are always brought up to our table halfway through our meal. This is so unfair to the server and his assistant, who already have far too many tables to cover and don't need to be thrown off by having to start all over again in the middle of a meal. This was especially an issue for us on the Veendam last summer, when dinners began at 5:15pm and new people would join us at 6 or 6:15, long after we had began our meal. It really upset us to have to watch the servers play catch-up through the meal. We complained to the dining manager, who stopped it for half of the cruise (a B2B) but it happened again on the final night. This one really gets me, and I wish HAL would find some better way to handle it. :mad:

We did this cruise last summer on the Veendam and stayed at the Westin Boston Waterfront, a stone's throw from the pier and we were able to see the Veendam sail in in the morning too, which was a nice bonus. (We have been to Boston many times before so it was not a priority for us to be in the heart of downtown.) The hotel was brand new, gorgeous, and had incredibly spacious rooms. We got this hotel for $70/night on Priceline - shop around, there are deals to be had!

We are sailing the Amsterdam in June and curious if the Pinnacle has any windows as we couldnt tell from the deck plans. If not it seems a shame to sit in a windowless room while cruising in Alaska.

Don't know why I wasn't able to reply to this in my last post, but yes, there are no windows in the Amsterdam's PG. The only windows are ones to the hallway outside, and we were seated at one of those tables. We thought it was strange for a specialty restaurant not to have any windows, too. :confused:

Thanks all, for reading and all the kind comments on my review. I'm glad to hear it was balanced, because upon rereading I was a little surprised to see I had commented on so many negatives. Honestly, I would rate this cruise as one of our best. We are very go-with-the-flow people and the little minuses we encountered on this cruise barely made a dent in the whole experience, despite the fact I noted them here in such detail. Just wanted to add that to make sure I represented our experience accurately. If the normal HAL ships provide a 100% experience, the Amsterdam gave us a 110%. :)

Thank you for the review. I do have a question, could explain what a "Panama Canal “swim” at midday" is?

Trikeman, it was an activity in the aft pool where everyone who jumped in and swam got a certificate for "swimming" the Panama Canal. A little silly, but cute and a nice touch.

Thank you for an excellent review. I have wanted to cruise on the Amsterdam for some time - probably because it's the World Cruise ship:o. I am quite surprised to read your comments about Sam in the PG. He was the PG Manager on our last cruise, and was very pleasant, though sometimes a little condescending.

 

It sounds like the Amsterdam has way more activities during a canal transit than I experienced on the Zuiderdam. And how lovely, all the Christmas celebrations you had onboard.:)

I can definitely believe the condescending part, that was the attitude I got from him as well. Sam was very rude to us from the moment we arrived in the PG: he barely acknowledged our presence when we walked in and made a huge production out of making sure we had a reservation (which we did, DD had made one the first day of the cruise). He escorted us to our table like it was a bother and told us to "just sit down already". He also checked on all the other tables in the PG during their meals but ours. At that point, neither of us wanted anything to do with him, but still, that's bad practice. The next day, we saw him off to the side yelling at the PG waitresses when they were helping with the handicapped passengers for disembarkation - clearly a moment when he thought others weren't looking. Just left a very bad impression.

Interesting that the Amsterdam had more Panama Canal activities than the Zuiderdam, considering it doesn't do this route very often. I found myself wondering how the Zuiderdam and other HAL ships handled this itinerary, so thanks for sharing.