Infi

Thank you all for the kind wishes, I appreciate them. Hope to do this live from justice (especially considering all the great ones we have had lately!)

Thank you, all! Really looking forward to next week and being "home for the HALidays".

On 12/5/2021 at 12:54 PM, FlaMariner said:

When they were running free gratuities on xmas cruises in a few weeks with low fares, I knew something not good was going on.....

 

We need folks back on these ships if we want them to be around.....kind of scary.

Agreed - the kids sail free promotions for the holidays also had me concerned. 

2 minutes ago, Crew News said:

The Embarkation Day MDR lunch is open from 12:00 to 1:00 PM.the times I asked this week.   I will check my When & Where to verify the time for the Embarkation Day tomorrow.

Thank you for this info. That's not a lot of time, especially considering the staggered boarding groups. In pre-COVID times, I remember it being open on embarkation day until 1:30pm.

2 hours ago, Florida_gal_50 said:

If you have an upcoming cruise fairly soon you can take a look at navigator under the dining room and see the lunch menu.  It no longer changes.  As much as I love the mdr for lunch the choices have limited appeal to me.

Thank you! Just checked and there they were. Usually the Navigator crashes and is generally pretty useless, so it was a pleasant surprise to see the menus posted there already.

9 hours ago, sherryf said:

Thank you!  We are on NS for Christmas, but it is the last full day of the cruise.  Christmas Eve is formal night.  Will it be the standard formal night menu on Christmas Eve and this Christmas menu actually on the last night?

Not Crew News, but we have sailed HAL over the holidays since 2013. There are special Christmas Eve and Christmas day menus; the one posted here will be served the night of 12/25. Christmas day is usually a gala night for dress code. It is likely you will only see one of the typical gala night menus earlier in the cruise and 12/24 and 25 will be the special menus for the holidays. I hope this is helpful.

Thank you for sharing the Christmas dinner menus - it's nice to see them again. They are identical to the ones HAL has had for years, most recently for Christmas 2019. 

Regarding the MDR, does the lunch menu change daily when the venue is open for lunch? Have seen some indications that it's a larger set menu that does not vary every day like in the past. Also wondering if the MDR was open for lunch on embarkation day (and its operating hours), as this also seems to vary by ship.

We were contemplating going to a CVS for our tests, but after reading this thread, I looked into our local health department and they are providing free tests. Was thinking it would be good to get one as a backup for the CVS test, but the results are only available via text. I'm thinking a text result won't be sufficient for HAL, but does anyone have any experience with providing a text as a test result? (Either way, we will have the CVS result, but was curious.)

Can any recent Eurodam cruisers share if the MDR has been open for lunch during boarding? We look forward to the embarkation lunch on all our cruises and are hoping it will be available on our cruise later this month. 

1 hour ago, rkacruiser said:

 

Good to learn this.  He is a quality person as well as being excellent as part of the MDR staff.  I last met him as an AMDR.  I am glad that he has received a promotion.  

Agree, we remember him from back then too and he was fantastic in that role also. He has also been doing the GWVs as Maitre D' for awhile now. A well-deserved promotion; HAL has a gem with him onboard. 

Looking forward to this thread, and thank you in advance for sharing your observations of the Nieuw Statendam's second sailing with us. You are in for a treat in the MDR, as Presty is the Maitre D' onboard NS right now and he runs a fantastic operation there. Bon voyage!

20 hours ago, NCTribeFan said:

If I must be assaulted with blaring music, I'll take classical over bad pop.  But, yes, it was absurdly loud in the Explorer's Lounge.

 

Someone said our capacity was about 800.  I loved it.  There's no such thing as "creepy quiet" for me.

 

The crew seemed very happy.  I don't think I ever passed a single crew/staff member who didn't say hello or good morning.  Sat and chatted with a delightful young woman who was on Deck 2, cleaning up and down the deck seemingly every day, all day.  Name is Devi.

 

Also a delight was Predrag (sp?) the Club Orange host in the MDR on Deck 2.  Met him on the first afternoon and he quizzed me about my seating preference and made sure I had a 2-top, a bit secluded (I don't like to sit in the main traffic areas) each evening.  He was in Lido one day at the specialty dining reservation table and booked me for Tamarind that night.  The next night when I went to the MDR, he said he had gone up to check on me but since I had passed on dessert and left, he'd just missed me.  How thoughtful! 

Thank you for sharing this. Happy to hear about the limited capacity, and fingers crossed it will stay the same for our trip. Christmas cruises are usually packed, but you never know with the pandemic. I've been checking and it looks like many cabins are still available for our sailings. 

Also glad to hear about the superb service and that the crew is still in good spirits. With the Eurodam now in service for 4 months, I had been wondering if the novelty of returning to cruising had worn off for them. HAL's crew are the highlight of the trip and I'm very much looking forward to seeing them again. 

Hi Kazu,

If you could please add the following, it would be much appreciated:

Eurodam - 22-Dec-21 - 14 day Eastern/Southern Caribbean (B2B and first cruise in 24 months!)

Volendam - 3-July-22 - 14-Day Voyage Of The Midnight Sun

As always, thank you for maintaining this for us! It's nice to have something to look forward to. 

We have sailed over Christmas/New Years for the last 13 years, with the notable exception of 2020. HAL does a lovely job with the holidays, and your kids are in for a treat. We are eagerly looking forward to Christmas at sea again this year and are curious to see what the traditions will look like during COVID-times. Our favorite program is the Christmas eve event in the theater, with caroling from the Indonesian, Filipino, and International choirs - very beautiful and moving, a must see. The Christmas tree lighting and caroling on the first or second night of the cruise is also nice with its "snowfall", as is the Christmas morning program in the theater with Santa. In the past, Christmas cookies and eggnog or hot chocolate are served at the latter two events. 

The ships feel very festive, and the atriums especially are decorated to the nines with trees and gingerbread houses. We also like to bring a small (fake) tree for the cabin and decorate our door with garland and other holiday décor. The holiday meals are very good, too: Christmas eve dinner is an "international" themed meal, with dishes labeled by country, and Christmas day will feature the usual holiday entrees like turkey, ham, and beef. 

Lastly, regarding presents - we always wrap our Christmas presents before leaving home and have never had an issue, either at the pier or through TSA. Our gifts are usually smaller (jewelry, small electronics), so YMMV especially with larger gifts and TSA, but the ship should not be an issue. Hope you enjoy your Christmas at sea - we always have, and once you celebrate the holidays this way it's hard to go back!

Thank you for sharing this review and your thoughts on Eurodam; it's great to hear what the ship is like now that she's on her Caribbean sailings. How were the crew onboard? Was the ship at half capacity or more? We're sailing on a B2B over Christmas and New Years, so any Eurodam-specific tips/insights would be much appreciated!

The Indonesian and Royal Dutch teas. Was just having a conversation today about how nice and special those events were.

Count me in as another who had their holiday cruise on Zaandam canceled with a mediocre replacement (2 7 days on Eurodam as B2B) offered. We are very disappointed here. 

I'd like to hope for the best for Volendam and Zaandam and do note that they are scheduled for their respective GVs in January 2022.  I see above that only 6 of the 11 ships will return to service this year, but why wouldn't you stress test Volendam and Zaandam with a few small cruises before such big, marquee voyages? Either the writing is on the wall for the last of the R class, or they're really going to proceed ahead with two huge January GVs without a dry run first. 

After last summer's unceremonious sale of 4 of our favorite ships, I am very wary of HAL and what may be going on behind the scenes.

On 3/12/2021 at 7:29 AM, kazu said:

Zaandam - 20-Dec-21 - 14 day Caribbean Holiday
Infi - 1st annual Christmas cruise

Hi Kazu, minor edit here: we are still on this sailing, but it will not be our first Christmas cruise. (In fact, far from it...we have been lucky enough to sail at the holidays every year since 2008 - except 2020 of course!) Would you mind deleting this part? Thank you!

Have done 5 full transits, the last in January 2020, and seconding the suggestions above. HAL will also open the bow (access is through the showroom and up a flight of stairs) for a great viewing space. Though everyone wants to be there for the first set of locks, the crowd will wane significantly afterwards, leaving a great viewing space. I also like to be at the back of the ship on the promenade deck. At that level, one can truly appreciate the height increase or decrease while in the lock. Gatun Lake takes awhile to sail through, so it makes for a nice mid-day break to refuel with food or water and rest. It is a very long day - a marathon, not a sprint! - so be sure to rest when you can.

Also, try the Panama rolls - little sweet buns filled with custard, only served on Panama Canal day, both outside at serving stations and in the Lido. 

3 hours ago, Sharon in AZ said:

We are on this as well. Nice to have someone on the Future Cruise list with us. 

Agreed! I'm surprised to see so few folks signed up for the holiday cruises; they are usually quite popular. Fingers crossed we will sail as planned when December comes. 🤞

Stryker was always our favorite piano bar entertainer - so talented and also hilarious, he really knew how to work a crowd. We last saw him on the Rotterdam in August 2019. Sorry to hear he is no longer with HAL, but understandable given the circumstances. They lost a great one. 

For those interested, his website is here: http://sirstryker.com/

Hi Kazu - as always, thank you for maintaining this for us. Gives us all something to look forward to and dream of better days ahead. We booked these two cruises awhile ago, but just am getting around to adding them to the list:

Infi - Zaandam - 20-Dec-21 - 14 day Caribbean Holiday

Infi - Volendam - 3-July-22 - 14-Day Voyage Of The Midnight Sun

One is our annual Christmas cruise and the Norway/Midnight Sun cruise is a do-over of our July 2020 Rotterdam cruise that was canceled. Fingers crossed that we will all get back to sailing soon! 

Hopeful that the next two ships to go will be the Imagination and Fascination. HAL has taken a disproportionate hit to their fleet, especially compared to Carnival and Princess' substantially larger fleets. The majority of Carnival's Fantasy class is older than at least the Veendam/Rotterdam/Amsterdam, and the transferring of the two Princess ships seems like just more CCL's shell games that they like to play with their various international brands rather than an actual sale/loss of ships. 

I understand HAL's ships are smaller and some may be less profitable, but for one line to lose 20% of its fleet overnight while the others to remain relatively untouched doesn't sit right with me. 

Realistically, I'm thinking summer 2021 will be the earliest for us. With no vaccine, crew and ships scattered to the four winds, and the tentative start or cruising we have seen in Europe thus far, I can't imagine HAL or any line will be ready anytime for even a limited return to operations soon. We are booked on a holiday cruise in December, but given Princess and Crystal's recent cancellations through December, it feels like it is only a matter of time before HAL pulls the plug on 2020 cruises altogether, sadly.