billbunger

On a recent 28 day cruise we paid $100.00 for 4 devices to be connected. So I would assume $25.00 a device.

We have never had to re-key on B to B cruises before, but today my key stopped working. My wife’s did not. I got a hair cut this morning at 8:00am and when they scanned my card nothing showed up on their charge screen in the spa. I think they thought I was a stowaway. I got a new key at guest services 5 minutes later. As per cruise news our Florida disembarkation letter was sent as a collectors cruise but it was originally sold to us as a 28 day cruise.

The Captain has announced the azipod repairs will be completed shortly and we will sail tomorrow at 8:30am.

It is just the USB ports that loose power the power outlets are still live.

If you want ballroom dancing your best bet is Cunard. Some here may try to convince you there is sort of ballroom dancing on HAL but there just is not and there has not been for years. You can have a wonderful cruise with HAL but if one of your major expectations is ballroom dancing you will be sorely disappointed.

FUN IN THE SUN The repair work has begun on the damaged azipod. There are divers working in the water as I type, going by some of the material on the dock they will be replacing some seals. Walking through the Lido I just saw granny in line for food wearing only her bathing suit and there are some passengers drunk already and others not showing up to their muster stations. Me thinks this will be an interesting three days in Fort Lauderdale. We are skipping out to Miami tomorrow so may miss some of the eye candy and boozing. It’s going to be an interesting seven days.

After dealing with the two cruise consultants that is what we will be doing when we get home. Thanks for the input. I have not needed to call HAL for years. When looking at the contact information on the Hollander America web site they do not list an actual guest services number. They do have a Guest Reservation Services number can any one tell me if that is the group we should be calling? TIA

The HIA package with the cruise is a much better deal than the FCC HAL is giving us. We made the request regarding the FCC based on having booked the cruise a few days before the FCC was offered. It was a way to try to salvage the use of the FCC. Easy come easy go.

THERE’S NO JOY IN MUDVILLE We heard back from the Future Cruise Consultant regard our FCC and this is what we were told. To use the 25% Future Cruise Credit towards the February 2025 cruise, we would have to rebook the cruise, ( we booked it onboard on October 2, 2023) if we rebook we would loose the HIA upgrade with premium internet, elite beverage package and crew appreciation. We would loose the upgrade because that offer expired on September 30, 2023. Note above, the date we booked the cruise. We still have no idea what our cruise credit would be as it has not been posted to our account on the HAL website. If we don’t rebook we will have an FCC on our account for a year. HAL’s logic makes no sense to us on this one. Making us rebook a new booking to loose the perks so we can rebook the new cruise with a likely FCC of a few hundred dollars is just plain silly. We will wait for a few more days to see what dollar amount gets added to our online account before we pursue it any farther.

STUFF TO KNOW The $450.00 per person onboard credit is for passengers like us who booked the 28 day cruise starting in Vancouver on October 1, 2023, for the person that asked if their OBC can be used in specialty restaurants, the answer is yes. Sorry if that question has been answered. I went and talked to one of the Future Cruise Consultants regarding the 25% Future Cruise Credit and what the actual value is as we booked the whole 28 day cruise and not a seven day cruise. We had also booked the 2025 35 day Hawaii Tahiti cruise when we got on board this cruise that we had canceled on us in 2020 due to covid. The terms of this credit stated it had to be used within a year of the letter to us dated yesterday. We are unable to cruise in 2024 and could not book the 2024 H and T voyage so had to book the 2025 date. We want the offer extended the extra four months to cover our cruise. She was not able to give an answer to either question but promised to email her bosses in Seattle and would have an answer within 2 days. She was optimistic that the answer would be positive as she claimed HAL was generally generous with this sort of situation. We shall see, update to follow when we hear back.

We have been offered $450.00 non refundable onboard credit that can’t be used in the casino or redeemed for cash. Can be used in bars (we have HIA) boutiques, photo gallery, spa treatments and shore excursions. We already have had two excursions cancelled because of the other ship that has happened so far. The second part of the offer is a 25% FCC of the cruise fare for the seven day portion of the October 21 - 28 cruise. It needs to be used within a year of today’s date. We can’t cruise in the next year, that is why we booked a February 2025 cruise. We have some enquiring to do tomorrow to see about extending that date. We would most likely use that for cancellation insurance. I’m not all that confident they will move on that.

CRAZY CRUISE We just left the Panama Canal a while ago nice ride through. We have out run a hurricane, missed civil unrest and now have been informed we are heading to Fort Lauderdale and skipping Cartagena. One of the aziopods has mechanical issues and it has to be repaired this work will also disrupt our Caribbean part of the cruise and there will be delays. They are sending us compensation information shortly. Ship happens. Will try to update later.

THINGS I NEVER KNEW. We have cruised a number times and use the Lido Market regularly. I just found out a couple of days ago that the Lido has baked potatoes available. They are never on display and you have to ask for them. They have them stashed in a roaster in one of the ovens to stay warm, they are about the same size as the ones served in the Pinnacle. It’s like Wang Wangs you need to know about them to get them.

Rodger I hope you don’t mind that I posted the two video to this thread.

Inside J-4075 Nieuw Statendam

Inside I-1124 Nieuw Amsterdam

Well fancy that, I-1124 is the cabin we decided to book and I suspect you viewed the video that the Filipino couple posted to you tube. We also viewed the J cabin video they posted from Nieuw Statendam and for us it turned out the choice we made was best for us. We had already booked the cabin before we saw the video but had read a few remarks regarding noise from BB King’s in that area. I contacted them and asked if there were any noise issues and she replied they had none at all so we were good to go.

We were aware that there was no sofa but after looking at the J cabins the I was the choice for us. I have a video of an I cabin but am not sure if I can post it here for people to view or not. I will see if I can find rules about what you can post on this board and if I can I will do it later today.

I lied, we are in an inside K on the Nieuw Amsterdam and will be in an inside I on the Koningsdam.

NEED TO KNOW STUFF Pre-pandemic we had booked the Hawaii/French Polynesia cruise (I think it may have been on the Zuiederdam) that was to sail from San Diego in March 2020 followed up with a 7 day back to back down the Baja Peninsula. It got cancelled because of covid three days before the cruise started and we had not sailed since that cruise. We decided a couple of months ago to re-book the February 15th 2025 cruise as it was a bucket list trip for us. The difference between the two cruises; different and bigger ship MS Koningsdam, fewer ports because of size restrictions, more over nights and no Mexican cruise tacked on the back end. We decided to wait until we got on Nieuw Amsterdam so we could take advantage of the future cruise deposit down payment. We booked a K interior on the main deck and the cruise included $225.00 OBC each, elite beverage package, 3 shore excursions, crew gratuities, 3 nights specialty dining and premium WIFI. Our cost $8,776.00 CA per person. We where curious about the price of a Pinnacle Suite and found that it would cost $62,072.00 CA per person and that the Pinnacle suites on board where wait listed. So me being me, I figure I can go on nearly eight similar cruises for the cost of one Pinnacle cruise. Unless I win El Gordo I will be sticking with my friends in low places.

My wife and I feel the same way, in Guatemala we will get off the ship if there are shops in the dock area as we had no plans for an excursion. The El Salvador Port of Acajutla is an industrial port only and has no tourist facilities so we will stay aboard too. There is still a lot of MS-13 gang activity there and we think that in this case for us, discretion is the better part of valour.

ODDS AND ENDS ON THE CRUISE. Regarding the power outlets Roger mentioned. In our cabin when you turn off the power using your key card it is just the USB ports that go dead the AC outlets stay on. We couldn’t figure out why our devices where not fully charged in the morning thinking the USB ports where just slow charging, once we plugged our chargers into the AC wall sockets instead of the USB plugins all was well. The iteration of BB KIng’s All Stars on the ship is the best we have heard. They have moments where you shake your head and think what are you doing here. They are that good. The Ocean Bar has a three piece (piano, guitar, upright bass) group called Third Avenue West who play some good tunes. Jazz standards and jazz styles pop songs. The slots in the casino are stingier than ever. HOW ENTITLED ARE YOU? My wife went up to the stern on the Lido deck for some sun a drink and lunch, I met her about 30 minutes later. A couple showed up before I got there and set up shop on two loungers with towels and a beach bag. They then proceeded to commandeer a table with an umbrella right beside the loungers. Between my wife and I we where there for at least two hours and they never once used the loungers, their entire time was spent at the table and yes people where walking around looking for loungers. Ya gotta love some people!💩

When was a few years ago?

I think it was about a week before. We actually got two emails. The first was the boarding pass but with no check in time. The second one a few days later had the check in time and boarding group. One thing to remember you have to do your online check in before you will get your digital boarding pass. If you have not checked in yet I suggest you do it sooner than later.

We are on a 28 day cruise as I type. This week we have a dance group, a singing group and a comedian on the MainStage. Show times vary and they have so far been doing two shows most nights. There are also performances by BB Kings Allstars, Third Avenue West and Billboard Onboard through out the evening at different venues on the ship.