loveheart

It's straightforward to get to the train station and cheap to buy a return ticket yourself. We always used to take the ships excursions but we're more adventurous these days and try out stuff on our own sometimes. 

We always make sure we leave plenty of time to return to the ship.

I'm from the UK and we always leave the gratuities on and we do tip extra if we feel it's deserved although we have met lots of British cruisers who remove the gratuities at the start of the cruise and hand an envelope over at the end to waiting staff and cabin stewards. I expect there are some who don't tip at all.

We found the food on Noordam to be good but not great. We had breakfast and lunch in the lido and dinner in the MDR  on our 13 night cruise. Most of the time the food wasn't hot and the portions in the MDT on the small side but we always found something we liked on the menu most nights. I have to say the MDR was only half full at the 2nd sitting but the service was incredibly slow. We didn't mind too much but it would have been a problem if we wanted to go elsewhere after dinner.

The orange juice from the machine at breakfast time in the Lido is really awful  and weak and the peach iced tea isn't much better. I found the iced tea at the Dive In much better nine times out of ten. 

I emailed HAL today and they have confirmed all my perks are on my booking. 

I can relax now 

While RC ships are usually lager than HAL ships they tend to cater for a much younger crowd with lots of activities for kids and they can be quite noisy.  We love RC and the majority of our cruises have been with them but unless you can find one of the smaller older ships you may find sailing with them overwhelming. 

Our last cruise before Covid was on Independence of the Seas which was great but we didn't want to sail on any more ships with water slides and amusements so we opted for the more sedate HAL in January and we loved it.

3 minutes ago, firsttimer1971 said:

 

These other perks (apart from Dining, Shore Excursion credits and, if applicable, crew appreciation) are never shown on the HAL website, only on the confirmation you should have received by email from HAL or your TA. 

 

On the HAL website (and the Navigator App) you will only see the Dining, Shore Excursion and, if applicable, the Crew Gratuity. 

Thank you. I will print out my copy of the confirmation of these extra perks and hopefully there won't be a problem when aboard.

17 minutes ago, Cruise Suzy said:

 

The other perks, except for pre-paid crew appreciation (gratuities), will not show on the HAL Website. The pre-paid crew appreciation and any remaining credits for excursions and dining will show at the top of your itinerary. The other perks only show on your confirmation. If they are not shown, you need to contact whomever you booked with. 

On my HAL booking  on the website I can see the dining and shore excursion perks and no upon looking closer there is a mention of crew grats as well. There are 3 perks not shown including Elite drinks package.

I booked through a TA and on the HAL web site Shore excursion credit and complimentary dining are shown but  none of the other perks however they are listed on my booking confirmation from my TA but not from HAL. When will they show up on the my booking?

We used it for embarkation in Sydney. We had to upload our Covid test results and found it really helped speed up the process.  We went straight to check in on arrival and the whole process took no more than 20 minutes.

14 hours ago, Bick53 said:

I am no expert on the self administered Covid Test but on the HAL website it states that self tests must be witnessed by a medical individual via teleconference. I'm paraphrasing but it also wants a receipt with the date and passport number for the individual tested. 

I am cruising on the Koningsdam on January 7th for the 24 day Mexico and Hawaii Itinerary and I  wouldn't want to be turned away at the port and trying to find a place to get it done before the ship sails.

For my cruise from Sydney a self administered test does not have to be witnessed.

5 minutes ago, Cruise Suzy said:

But only if your camera settings allow. I purposely do NOT have the date/time show in photos. If need be, I can adjust the settings to have them included.

It would appear that HAL are  also accepting a note with your name and date next to your test results in a photo from what  I've read. If you can get through to CS it's probably best to get this confirmed.

6 minutes ago, LizzGo said:

You've done this and they accept it?

Not yet but I will do in January. I have read reports on here from people who have done this.

Take a photo of your test next to your passport. The time and date will appear on the photo

For some reason I can't load my booking reference on to the Verifly app. It says error every time. We are sailing out of Sydney and need to test before we go and show our documents for entry. Not sailing until January so maybe that could be a reason.

We had bed bugs on our RCI cruise a few years ago. We were moved immediately, had all our clothes laundered, were given wine and 50% off a future cruise each

Can anyone give me an idea about Australian and New Zealand Gala nights. Are they very formal or slightly more laid back

In June we booked a few shows on the App but the majority we just turned up. Some nights there are 3 shows, 6.30, 8.30 and 10.30. We went to the late shows and there were always plenty of seats available.

We are very reserved Brits and started out on our first 2 cruises always asking for a table for 2 but on our 3rd cruise we were put on a table of 8 and we've never looked back and have made some wonderful friends over the years. I would highly recommend fixed late sitting dining.

We've sailed with both lines and although we Love RCL we find P&O is perfect  as a cheaper and convenient alternative when we want a more sedate cruise.

16 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

The canopies which were meant to help with soot have apparently made the upper deck aft balconies be completely shaded. I  not sure how far down is affected but met a very disgruntled lady at Christmas.

We had one such balcony. It wasn't the best if you love the sun like I do but my OH doesn't so he sat on the balcony a lot.

I can't find any information on them anywhere. What are the advantages of having one? 

2 minutes ago, emam said:

 

That's strange, charging to sit on the deck. When we were on the serenity area was always packed, it was easier finding somewhere else.

You don't pay any extra for Serenity. 

None of the shows on Britannia a few weeks ago were any where near fully booked. After booking for the first week we just turned up the second week with no problems. 

Dining was hit and miss. We were told just to turn up a couple of times when we asked earlier in the evening but had to wait a while so we joined the virtual queue after that and were usually directed straight to the dining room.

25 minutes ago, Camberley said:

I don’t mind the formal nights - actually quite like them from time to time - but with all the other cutbacks and arguably misleading advertising, these currently come off a little like diversionary tactics! They don’t cut it in terms of making things feel special.

I like formal nights but not 4 of them with 2 on the last 3 nights. The fact there were no photographers around made it feel like any other night  but with smarter clothes and the food was nothing to write home about either. OK they threw a lobster tail in on one of the nights but it wasn't really noteworthy.