Spire2000

54 minutes ago, 1ANGELCAT said:

No it did not, weather was too bad.

Thanks for your response. I suppose that still leaves our port call in doubt.

Sorry, can’t recall the ship name. We’re on Rotterdam and scheduled for next Sat and I’m curious if we’re going to get in or not. 

2 hours ago, JBCall said:

Hi all,

 

We are looking at one of the triple or quad VB rooms on the Koningsdam.  I was wondering if someone could tell me if there is a curtain that can be drawn across the room to divide the area between the bed and the sofa?    Once the sofa bed is made up is there much room to get past it to the verandah?

 

Thanks.

No, there are no curtains to draw.

You can get past the bed but it is a very tight squeeze.

Or am I crazy? Everything I see now is two days but I was sure that was changed/changing to three.

2 hours ago, Clarabella_Baby said:

 

It looks like we will be on the same cruise!  March 20 on the Koningsdam!

 

Actually we'll be disembarking the Rotterdam on the 20th. My sig down below is years 🙂

37 minutes ago, Clarabella_Baby said:

Thank you so much.  I'll have to check with my insurance company as I'm not sure much will be covered as our government is advising against cruise ship travel at this time and I wonder if that will nullify any insurance.  But I'll check.  I so so so desperately need a cruise.  

Also a Canadian so I can put your mind to rest for a few things.

1. Canada will drop the non-essential travel advisory as of March 1st.

2. HAL covers your quarantine hotel. Insurance is good to cover flight changes or hospital stays if you get sick, but the hotel and food there is covered.

People have noted that these quarantine hotels are not quite what you think. You have freedom to walk the grounds and are just advised to mask up when around others.

I asked my HAL PCC earlier about HAL's plan given these changes today and she said:

"I keep hearing about this yesterday and today. We have not announced any changes yet"

Literally just sent my PCC some questions and got a response in 10 minutes.

UPDATE

Royal has now announced that they are also dropping their mask mandate as of Monday, on the vaccinated areas of their ships. 

https://www.ncl.com/ca/en/cruise-faq/are-face-coverings-required

Today's announcement removes mandatory masking on NCL cruises as of March 1st (also a few details about children in there).

Do we think this is an industry-wide change coming, or an experiment by a line that needs customers?

It was suggested on another board that I re-post this here.

I know there is a treasure trove of info already published, but searching has led to some outdated info in some cases. Therefore, please indulge me as I work through my plan, step-by-step.

1. Flying from Canada in March to Orlando. I have booked travel antigen COVID tests for the family at Shopper's the evening before we leave. These are necessary to enter the US via air.
2. Staying for a few days in the Orlando area, then driving to Ft Lauderdale. Somewhere, somehow, we need to get another antigen test before we board. I'm struggling on how and where we do this. Can I drive through a Wal-Mart on the way to Ft Lauderdale? Do they test Canadians?
3. Following the cruise, we need negative PCR tests to return to Canada via air. I understand HAL is performing these tests for passengers. Anyone have any first hand experience with this?

I understand the possibility of a positive test at any stage can result in trouble. I have COVID travel insurance so I'm not so much concerned about the money, more so the actual logistics and procedures.

Thanks in advance.

13 minutes ago, leerathje said:

This is the FAQ:

 

https://www.hollandamerica.com/en_US/worry-free-promise/travel-well/frequently-asked-questions/faq-for-cruises-from-usa.html

 

And this is the "what happesn if I test positive" answer:

 

"Guests who test positive for COVID-19 will not be permitted to board, together with their family members and close contacts, and should not travel to the ship.

 

If you, your family members, travelling companions or other close contacts are suspected of having COVID-19 and are not permitted to board, you are entitled to a 100% Future Cruise Credit as defined in our COVID-19 Protection Policy."

 

Unless your flights are booked through Flight Ease, you'll have to see what the remedies are through your airline.  AND if you do test positve, in Florida, you should quarantine in Florida.  Being a Canadian, I don't know what their quarantine reuqirements are.  I believe 5 days?

 

L.

 

Thanks. The FAQ has some answers, but not others. Appreciate the info though.

I know there is a treasure trove of info already published, but searching has led to some outdated info in some cases. Therefore, please indulge me as I work through my plan, step-by-step.

1. Flying from Canada in March to Orlando. I have booked travel antigen COVID tests for the family at Shopper's the evening before we leave. These are necessary to enter the US via air.
   1. If these tests are positive and we cannot travel, what does HAL offer?
2. Staying for a few days in the Orlando area, then driving to Ft Lauderdale. Somewhere, somehow, we need to get another antigen test before we board. I'm struggling on how and where we do this. Can I drive through a Wal-Mart on the way to Ft Lauderdale? Do they test Canadians?
   1. Is these tests are positive and we can't board the ship, what does HAL offer?
3. Following the cruise, we need negative PCR tests to return to Canada via air. I understand HAL is performing these tests for passengers. Can anyone confirm?
   1. If these tests are positive, what does HAL do with you?

I understand the possibility of a positive test at any stage can result in trouble. I have COVID travel insurance so I'm not so much concerned about the money, more so the actual logistics and procedures.

Thanks in advance.

53 minutes ago, Laminator said:

It must be sold out then because I can't find it online. 

Interesting. It’s March Break, at least it is here. Must be a popular cruise.

Just want to add that my parents booked on the Rotterdam from Jan through April. I just called them and they’re also cancelled. We suspect this is a charter.

On 12/8/2021 at 1:00 PM, Laminator said:

There does not appear to be a cruise on the Rotterdam from Mar 13th to the 20th so they either have a charter or something needs to be repaired.

Sure there is. We're on it.

The CDC has decided to recognize all WHO-approved vaccines (https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/travellers-us-who-approved-vaccines-1.6205865), meaning that those of us who received Astra-Zeneca are now considered fully vaccinated.

Only a matter of time before we hear new policy from the cruise lines.

I have a cruise for March 2022 booked. Since we currently run afoul of HAL’s silly “mixed vaccination” ban, we’re hoping a change is made before late December or we’ll have to cancel and either switch to another cruise line or head to Mexico for an AI.

The answer is a whole lot simpler:

Make prices cheaper for the first little while. People won't be able to help themselves.

2 minutes ago, 2ndhoney said:

My parents were on this cruise as well. They are 82 & 79 and went with another couple. They cruise a lot and have gone on HAL many times. She agreed that during the day there wasn't much to do and the shows weren't up to par. She said she wan't fond of the ship in that there were so many places with music at the same time that sometimes you couldn't go anywhere without hearing it (loudly). She also wears hearing aids which did not help with the loud music.

 

Other than that she had a good time and is now hunkering down in West Palm Beach.

 

While the three music areas (Rolling Stone Rock Room, Billboard Onboard and the BB Kings/Lincoln Center Stage shared space) are all right next to each other, they are never active simultaneously. Each group has 45 minutes and then they hand over to another room, who picks up instantly.

I can completely understand how someone might feel the Rolling Stone venue is loud. It is. While perfect for me (I have been to many, many live performances where this is the norm), it is the loudest venue I've ever attended at sea.

Recently got off the Konigsdam and thought I would share some details an opinions. We are a family of three, my wife and I (mid 40's) with an 11 year old daughter. We were also with my parents who had been on the ship since early January. This was an 11-day cruise, scheduled to hit Barbados, St Kitts, St Lucia, St Thomas, HMC, St Maarten and Martinique.

Of course, it was on this cruise that all the craziness began with the Coronavirus. We were impacted, but only minimally. We missed St Kitts (and scheduled dolphin swim), but no one was too upset as we understood.

I'll break this into sections but I don't want to do a day-by-day as I want this to be a quick-ish post.

The Ship

Beautiful. Very well appointed and I enjoyed the music theme for the art and decor. Things seemed to be laid out well and it was easy to get everywhere. Everything was clean and well-looked after. I can't think of a single thing I noticed that I wasn't happy with.

The Room

We had upgraded our room to a Verandah with an obstructed view (#4139). This was a very nice stateroom, with plenty of storage space. Normally, we are not ones to spend time in the cabin but I did spend a fair amount of time on the verandah itself. The obstructed view was exactly that. We had very little to look at other than a lifeboat, but I didn't really mind.

Our stewards were good, though our cabin was not vacuumed when we arrived and had sand everywhere. We also asked for a broken glass to be cleaned up but had to go back after the steward and finish the job.

TVs are a big improvement with the new on-demand movies and such.

Dining

We dined in the MDR 8 times, and once each in the Pinnacle, Tamarind and Canaletto. The MDR was fine, nothing really special. I found the starters and deserts to be quite good but the main courses to be light on flavour, sometimes undercooked and always lacking in amount of side dishes. Vegetables seemed to be a luxury. Seafood items fared better than beef or chicken. One night we had to send my daughter's chicken dish back twice due to it being shockingly pink. The supervisor stepped in and comped the whole table Tamarind dinners and was extremely attentive toward us the rest of the trip.

Canaletto was ok, as it always is. Pinnacle was a step down for me this time. My filet was unseasoned and had no sear on it. Tamarind was fantastic though, the best meal I've ever personally had on a cruise. Staff were excellent, atmosphere was great and the food top notch.

The Lido was of course a mixed bag. We had breakfast here ever day and also had a few lunches. I never found we waiting in line much, and the variety of choice was good. Odd that lemonade seems to be both hard to get a hold of and very watered down now. Used to be there were machines with lemonade, water and iced tea. They've limited that to just iced tea and water now.

Had the Dine-In a few times, fine for what it is. The pizza was good as was the Ruben at the pizza place.

We had room service for breakfast one morning and had no complaints.

Activities

Never a strong suit on HAL so I'll be kind. Honestly, we found it a struggle on sea days. 

Good stuff: Rolling Stone Rock Room was fantastic. Best thing on board. Wish they had a main stage show. BB King's was good too but this group a little lighter in energy from others we've seen. The EXC presentations can be good, but I wish they has more variety. On the main stage, the comedians were good and the dancers were fine too. The BBC Earth show was great

No-so-good stuff: A few of the main stage shows seemed like someone was making a parody of cruise ship entertainment. The clarinetist was embarrassing enough that a good number stood up and left in the first 10 minutes. The pianist put folks to sleep. The real problem here though isn't what they are offering but what they aren't. During sea days, the whole ship falls asleep. On deck, people are sleeping. In public rooms, people are sleeping. In bars, folks are sawing logs. If people cruise to sleep, well I'm not going to tell them they can't, but that doesn't mean some activities couldn't be drummed up for those of us conscious during the hours the sun is up. Perhaps some of the great music performers could play on deck? Maybe some informational lectures? What happened to the cooking demonstrations, the steel drums, etc?

Casino: I'm not a casino guy, but I'd heard that on day one, the odds on the slots are good. Curious, I tried it. Deposited $40 in a one cent machine and quickly hit a $100 jackpot. Cashed out $147 and didn't look back.

Ports

Generally, we'll pick an itinerary based on the ports and the lack of sea days. This cruise had an extreme number of sea days (3) for us, but the ports were all interesting. 

St Maarten - Took the ships Top 10 Sights tour. It was rainy for the first part of the day and the bus leaked on some passengers. We couldn't hear the driver over the audio system. Overall, not a good tour.

Martinique - First time here. A Sunday, when everything other than McDonalds is closed. Why HAL would schedule us on a day when everything was shuttered, I don't understand. We overheard some people getting hot at the front desk about this while we were retrieving a forgotten room key. I made a strong statement about this on the post-cruise survey.

Barbados - Went to the Boatyard beach club. Fantastic day! Don't miss snorkeling over the shipwreck!

St Kitts/Antigua/Nowhere - St Kitts said no, so did Antigua, so it was another sea day! (yay...)

St Lucia - One our first visit here, we loved this island. Had a great private tour that I'll never forget. This time we walked around port for a bit then got back on the ship. I feel like we wasted this day.

St Thomas - Over to Magen's Bay of course! Being the only ship in port this day, the beach was much less crowded than usual. Love this beach

HMC - Excellent beach and water as always. Bit chillier water than normal, but whatever. I will take a minute to call out the BBQ here though. In our 4 visits to HMC, we've never been happy with the food at the BBQ. The burgers are ALWAYS raw. They need to rethink whatever it is they're doing there.

Coronavirus Issues

Obviously, we missed a port due to concerns. A few days into the cruise, we went into the state where you cannot serve yourself and must wash and sanitize everywhere. There was a lot of concerns with the passengers day-to-day, wondering if we would be allowed to get to each port. Each day it seemed dicey was there delays each morning. Then of course everyone began to wonder what would happen in Ft Lauderdale.

Other Items

Navigator app - Interesting new tool. Daily schedule, Shore Excursions, Daily News, My Account, Ship Location - all great tools. Would recommend that the Chat feature enable phone notifications though, because its pointless without it.

HAL Club - With so few kids on board, my daughter abandoned this after day 2. No real feedback here.

Evacuations- We learned during our bridge tour that there were no fewer than 3 helicopter evacuations on this cruise. We actually learned a great deal about the evacuation procedure from the watch officer. He told us most cruise lines see these very rarely but HAL has them more often than anyone else

Debarkation

Shockingly simple. Customs officers wanted nothing to do with anyone. A quick glance at the passport and no questions. Clearly they didn't want to be there.

That's it! Overall, a relaxing cruise with great weather and smooth sailing. Not sure HAL is in our immediate future though. Its a little puzzling how HAL makes strides with the Rolling Stone Band, which suggests they are trying to attract a younger group, but they don't seem to be ready to go all in yet. I suppose they are simply preparing for inevitable replacement of Baby Boomers with Gen X-ers as clients

6 minutes ago, Wehwalt said:

Koningsdam was an hour late this morning being cleared in St. Thomas. But we were cleared. 

And we’re the only ship today so we have the island to ourselves. 

Speaking with an an officer in the Lido this morning, the upcoming K’dam cruise could be interesting. Seems they are already planning on missing multiple ports

Antigua being our replacement port for a last minute cancellation of St Kitts. We’re told the local authorities are concerned about the health of passenger but the Capt has said over and over that we are all healthy.

This is both concerning and disappointing obviously. There’s been a lot of changes in the service since the start of the ship with people being stopped and told to wash hands, no serving themselves with anything and constant reminders to stay healthy.

the cruise director, captain and medical staff are holding a briefing for all in the main theatre at 10:00am.

While I feel that we are indeed healthy here, this new wrinkle of ports being denied opens a new consideration for those thinking about cancelling upcoming cruises.

There are an awful lot of people posting things as absolute facts without any sources to back any of it up. Much of it is contradictory too.

Tipping culture is weird.

People who were staying on for back-to-backs today were all told they had to disembark for the day for a deep clean. $100 OBC for each affected cruiser.