lmentzer

I've found conflicting info in various reviews here on Cruise Critic concerning reservations for anytime dining. I'll copy three such comments, and can anyone tell me exactly how this might work? Is it just up to the maitre-d?

1st comment: "We had anytime dining and after waiting in line for an hour to see the Maitr'd we were assigned a specific table every night by 5:30, no lines, or waiting for us."

2nd comment: "The Maitre-D' absolutely refused to make reservations and/or honor table requests. He insisted that we had to call each day to make reservations. We tried that several times and were always told there were no reservations available until 7:30 pm unless we were willing to share a table."

3rd comment: "I would recommend calling the restaurant EARLY in the morning to book a table (you can only book ON THE DAY)."

It would be great if we could just establish a set time and set table with the same waiters. We booked our cruise late and were put on a wait list for the early formal dining. Anytime dining sounds great, but not if you have to wait in line for a half hour to an hour to get seated.

Does anyone know if it is possible to make arrangements with Princess or the ship to bring guests aboard for dinner at a port of call? If possible, what do they charge for each guest? We'll be docked in Honolulu on Christmas eve, and we have friends there that will be showing us around. He's active duty military based there, and we'd love to bring them aboard for dinner.

Thanks. If we don't go to the PHVC, I think we'll catch a taxi down to the International Market and maybe walk down to Fort Derussey and see the beach and Army museum. I stayed at Derussey on an R&R from Vietnam. I don't think we'll have any problem finding something to do. I'm not sure an $80 tour from the ship along with dozens of others to just the Arizona memorial is worth it and we've already toured the Missouri when it was docked in Bremerton WA back in the 70's.

We'll be docking in Honolulu on Xmas eve (Dec 24) from 7am to 1100pm. We need some suggestions on what to do. We don't particularly want to do any of the ship's tours, but want to do something special. Dinner on the ship should be something very special, so we won't want to be out long into the evening. So much will be closed in town so figuring out what to do is difficult. It looks like getting onto the Arizona Memorial and the Missouri will be a pain getting tickets and even just getting there from the ship. Is there much to see and do in the area where the ship will dock? Does anyone have some suggestions and/or recommendations?

Do they offer a tour of the ship? How much do they charge? We went on a HAL cruise and they were charging $150 per person for a two hour tour. That seemed like an awful lot just to walk through the engine room, bridge, crew quarters and kitchen. Would like to see those areas but not at that price.

I think this is the link to the insurance with Princess Cruises.

http://www.princess.com/learn/answer/pdf/travel_care.pdf

Thanks to you both. We finally found the link. Of course it depends on how much you are paying for your cruise, and ours us $239 per person. Now I can compare with other plans.

I'm frustrated. I can't find anywhere I can find the rates for the Princess Travel Protection Plan. I found that they go through AON Affinity, but NOWHERE can I find rates. We are going on the Ruby Princess 15 day LA to Hawaii cruise over the Christmas holidays. Do they have levels of protection. Since we are basically not going out of the US, do we need anything more than cancellation insurance. We're all over sixty and in good health. I'm sure some of you have used this, so can you give me any info? I'd appreciate the help.

I found the prices on another thread. Like the other cruise lines I've been on, the prices are terrible. I guess I'll do without. It's a shame because we usually like to blog throughout our trips, and that won't be possible at these prices. I would think the cruise lines would appreciate all the free publicity. My buddy is a computer geek (not me for sure) and he says it wouldn't be that expensive to set up free wifi. I know there are lots of people that would find that an attractive perk. It feels a little like the cruise line is just interested in squeezing a bit more money out of their passengers.

Hey Working 2 Cruise, it sounds like you didn't care for so many kids (on that I agree with you), but that didn't stop you from making the Hawaii cruise five times in three years. I must not have been that bad. At least I hope it's not. I'll think positive.

Has anyone been on the 15 day cruise from LA to Hawaii over the holidays? I'm curious what the ship did special on the cruise. We saw a flyer on special Hawaiian activities and Hawaiian menu items, but nothing related to the holidays. Do you know what they did on previous cruises?

Since there are four of us in two staterooms, it wouldn't be good if one of us got upgraded to a mini and not the other, so we'll just stay where we are.

Another quick question which I can post a new thread or just get an answer from you. How much do they charge for internet and if purchased, can it be used throughout the ship or just in their internet room?

Thanks Colo Cruiser. I took advice, and when the booking confirmation came back it showed they could upgrade, so we called back and had it changed to no upgrade. That's what is so great about Trip Advisor. Good info is always provided.

Thank you all. We went in to look and all the Caribe deck aft cabins were already taken. The Caribe deck mid-ship aft cabins only had two left, so without time to waste, we booked them. I see they are also all sold out now. I guess it's true, If you snooze you lose. Hopefully they will be great.

I know there are lots of different opinions, but I'd like some personal ideas on which staterooms (with balcony) we should book or not book and why. We are taking the 15 day LA to Hawaii cruise. We are looking for convenience to the rest of the ship, needs to be fairly quiet, we're a little concerned with the privacy of the stepped balconies, and we like to spend time on the balcony so it needs to be comfortable (four of us in two adjoining or at least side by side cabins so we can open the partition). Is port or starboard better to see the Hawaiian ports we dock at. Suggestions?

I see the last time the Ruby Princess was refurbished was 2011. Does anyone know when it is scheduled for it's next refit?

I agree that cruising with HAL, and particularly the Westerdam, can be very disappointing. We spent two weeks on the same ship a couple of years ago and we were thoroughly dissatisfied with the food. It was bland both in the main dining room as well as the buffet. Also everything was just repeated the second week. That wasn't all we were disappointed with on the ship, but when I wrote a rather scathing review here on TA, I was "beat up" by a host of the "HAL cheerleaders". We have cruised on a couple of other cruise lines, and have found the food consistently better than on our one and last HAL cruise. We did the Alaska cruise on Carnival and thoroughly enjoyed everything about the food, ship, service, and sights we saw. Don't give up cruising, there are some great ships out there.

Summersigh, you're not wrong, we didn't elevate our issues. Maybe we should have concerning the room stewards, but the rest was, as someone else said here, beyond fixing during the cruise. We thought maybe the stewards were told to be "invisible". The run down furniture and carpeting (throughout the ship), and the bland food wasn't something they could fix just for us. I think the food was intentional, and just not to everybody's liking. Our toilet did work - sort of, push the button and it would gurgle for 20 or 30 seconds and then flush. The plumber said he couldn't fix it, and it was the vacum or something. Passengers pay a lot of money for a cruise, and they are expecting a "luxury" vacation. This ship did not meet our expectations. We went primarily for the canal transist, and that was great. The ship was a let down. As I said, it is what it is.

Linda&Vern, My opinion on HAL nickle and dimeing everything remains the same. An example is the wine. They charge 5 to 10 times the purchase price. This is higher than other cruise lines. I expect to pay double for a bottle of wine in a restaurant, but this was ridiculous. And now they are changing their policy on bringing wine aboard, so they can sell more. We would have liked to go on the tour of the ship, but not for $150 a piece. You can't tell me they couldn't have ran more of this tour at a lower price and not made as much money, and it certainly isn't that much of a disruption to their operations. I kind of regret saying that our other cruise ships were glitzier, because that it an individual preference, but the Westerdam was much less striking and plain. Some will prefer that.

janmcn, We cruised three different Carnival ships. They were all in better condition, glitzier (if you will), excellent food, great service, from room stewards and wait staff, and just as good ports of call. We had some of the same complaints on these cruises as this one with HAL. Expensive wine, shops, and spa. We weren't thrilled with the demographic of the other cruisers (opposite demographic as this cruise). I agree that the beds on this cruise were great. We chose this cruise mostly for the Panama Canal transit, and we loved that aspect.

We’re your age, healthy and mobile. We just returned from a two week HAL cruise and found what seemed to be the average age of cruisers at well over 70. There’s good and bad to that demographic. The lines were often longer and slower, there were some of these folks that seemed to think they deserved special service, i.e. rude (I suppose there are those kind at any age), and I feel the food was bland due to catering to this age group. The positives are that there are interesting people with lots of life experience to talk to and get to know, the ship is quiet and peaceful, if that’s your preference, and many of the areas on the ship are less crowded. We’ve cruised with two different cruise lines, and HAL isn’t our preference, but everybody is different. I think you need to focus more on the cruise line and ship you are considering and what it offers, the ship’s condition, the itinerary, and it’s reputation. Average age of the passengers is one thing to consider, but maybe not the most important.

It is what it is. We spoke with the front desk folks but while they were polite, they were no help. We recognize that little could be done during the cruise. But one of the main features of this forum is to advise others that might want to cruise with Holland America, or any other cruise line or ship, on what they could possibly expect. Let the buyer beware.

Wakepatrol is right, my post was all the negatives. There were some good things about this cruise also. The Panama Canal transit was terrific. It made it worth the cruise. Our visits to Puerto Vallarta and Puerto Chipas were fine, Puerto Caldera, Costa Rica was okay, and our visit to Cartagena was great, although we booked a private tour there that allowed us to probably see more and do more than the HAL sponsored tour did. We missed stopping in Huatalco due to a storm, but we didn't have big plans for that port anyway.

The staff on the ship were all very friendly. We got to know a couple of the bartenders and they told us about their lives on the ship with very long hours and 10 month contracts that kept them away from their homes that long. My heart goes out to those Filipino staff who I'm sure are very worried about their families back home that had to go through the typhoon. I hope their family and friends made it through okay.

We found things to do on the ship, such as trivia, cooking demos which could have been better. but were okay, lectures, and some of the entertainment, such as the Blues Band which were great.

We met a number of very nice people. A British couple that we spent some time with, a couple at the next table to us in the MDR celebrating a 85th birthday, and others that we had the chance to sit and talk with.

There were nice areas of the ship like the Crows Nest which was very nice. I guess when you have a ten year old ship that cruises continuously, you should expect lots of wear and tear (which this ship had).

There were other little things that were good, like the comfort of the beds, nice towels, good air conditioning, and good food (although bland). I've already commented on the negatives so I won't go further.

Will we cruise on the Westerdam again - not a chance. Will we cruise with Holland America again - probably not. Will we cruise again - almost for sure. We're not frequent cruisers like many on this forum, but we've traveled much of the world, and the occassional cruise is great.

Legalslave, We've done the Mexican Riviere, Alaska, and the Caribbean. All on different Carnival ships. Our friends that we traveled with, who share my opinion of this cruise, have done six other cruises. The four of us have traveled extensively in Europe, Asia, and North America. We do enjoy the occassiooal cruise.

In reply to a couple of you that responded. More power to the "old" folks still traveling. I'm happy for them, but had I known that the average age on this HAL crusie would be over 70, I might have had second thoughts. I saw one child under the age of 16 on the entire cruise...he must have been lonely for some his own age. Being old does not grant the right to be rude to staff and other passengers, cut in lines, be loud and obnoxious, block aisles and think they deserve special attention. Just consider my post as notice to future cruisers that my experience with HAL is that it is for the very very "mature" traveler and not for all.

I agree that wine prices are high on all cruise lines, but bottles selling for 5 to almost 10 times the grocery store prices is a bit much, and remember these cruise lines probably buy their goods tax free.

And, the comm system on the Westerdam was worse than on any of the other ships I've cruised on. None were great, but this one was worse.

For those commenting on the cleanliness of the ship, I agree, but more than anything, this ship was old and needed a ton of refit (furniture, carpet, painting, etc). Not just in our state room, but most or all of the public areas as well. We didn't have a good steward team, but others told me they did. Could have probably happened on any cruise line, but it was a first for us. We had none of these complaints on our other cruises.

We have cruised a number of times. This was our first on Holland America. Our ship was the Westerdam on the Panama Canal Cruise October 19 – November 2nd.. We chose to cruise with Holland America because it offered the Panama Canal transit cruise, it had a good reputation and we didn't care for all of the children we had experienced on Carnival. We had a balcony room on the Upper Promenade deck of the Westerdam (4035). We really enjoyed the canal transit and our visit to Cartagena Columbia, where we had arranged a private tour with Dora de Explorer. We had considered taking this cruise for a long time and unfortunately we were very dissatisfied with almost every aspect of the Westerdam and disappointed with our Holland America experience.

The room was dirty, stains and hair on vanity, blanket was stained and dirty, TV remote was filthy. Our room had a slow draining shower, and the toilet didn't flush correctly. A plumber was quick to respond, and fix the problem in the shower by removing debris. However, he did not contact the room steward to clean the bathroom and we had to call again to have the steward reclean the bathroom. The plumber could not find the problem with toilet and it never worked correctly throughout the cruise.

We had a stained blanket, which we repeatedly reported to the steward, which was never replaced (just turned over on bed!) The room had dirty worn chairs and couch, nicked and marred tabletops, frayed outdoor furniture, dirty, stained, torn, and frayed curtains, shower curtain was old and dirty, and old worn carpet.

The room was smaller than on other cruises, balcony was deep but narrow. The outside partition between the two balconies had a broken latch that was held shut by stuffing a towel between the partition and rail.

We experienced poor service from our room stewards. We seldom saw the stewards throughout the cruise, they never checked to ask if there were any problems or we needed anything. We had to contact the front desk to request anything. The room did have good air conditioning, the bed was comfortable, and the towels were nice.

Overall the food was good, but certainly not exceptional like we had on our other cruises. The buffet was not really a buffet, with food mostly being served by the staff throughout the cruise. Times of the buffet were too limited and items often not restocked or unavailable.

Ethnic food was bland, different Asian foods all tasted alike and were under seasoned, the pasta/pizza station and Mexican poolside buffet (a real buffet) were good, but again repetitive. The hamburgers were not very good, precooked and no variety over the two weeks.

Wine was extremely over priced for selection.

The Pinnacle Grill food and service was excellent, but the plastic covers on tables were cracked and showed through the tablecloths (so they looked dirty.)

All of the Westerdam staff were very friendly and polite. Unfortunately our service in dining room was sporadic. Room service was mostly on time and the food was hot.

Same as Carnival, tours were expensive and crowded. Both of HAL’s tours we booked were disorganized and lacking substance for the price. HAL's behind the scenes tour of ship cost of $150 per person which was ridiculously priced. The narrative while going through the canal was poor; it lacked information, the speaker was poor, clearly not an expert and it was impossible to hear as the ship’s sound system was terrible.

The Crows Nest (the bow viewing area and bar) was nice and overall the bars were less crowded than other ships we have been on. Alcoholic drinks were heavily pushed starting early in the morning throughout the cruise, promoting excessive drinking.

The casino was very small, tight (low payout) machines, poor selection of slots, no drink service. Like Carnival, the internet was expensive and only offered in select public areas. Ship shopping heavily pushed throughout the cruise, but all very expensive. Like Carnival the spa was very over priced. ..

Demographic of guests was a trade off of too many kids on Carnival with a very elderly crowd on HAL. It's either running screaming kids or very old folks blocking the aisles in walkers and wheelchairs.

Overall we felt that the Westerdam is very old and plain for a cruise ship. The entire ship needed lots of touch-up/repainting. The ship common areas were very run down. Furniture was worn and stained, the carpets were dirty, stained, and frayed. Tables in buffet were often sticky and not sanitized well. The Westerdam needs to be refitted with updated carpets and furniture throughout. The communication system on the Westerdam is very poor and could not be heard in our rooms, on balconies, on decks or on the television.

Entertainmentwas hit or miss, some good, some not so good, for example the "BB King Blues Club" group was excellent, comedian was not so good, magician was very good and professional. Cooking demos were cute, but not to the standards that were advertised by HAL. The Cruise Director was overly condescending at times.

Embarkation was very good. Rooms quickly available, and luggage quickly delivered. The debarkation was not. Organization, signage, and staff support on the disembarkation deck was lacking.

The quality of this cruise was definitely not worth the cost. We had such high expectations and were extremely disappointed with almost everything on the Westerdam and thus our cruise was not the experience we had hoped for.