Swelldame

Looking at booking an aft (not wrap) cabin on the Westerdam, and it appears from the deck plans that the balconies get less deep the higher you go. Does anyone know if this in fact the case? I've searched extensively, but can't seem to figure it out.

I am guessing at this but maybe when the power is off the safes are no longer locked

Or security will have a master code so would need to go to each cabin

 

Maybe someone has a definitive answer it would be good to know

Room safes are powered by batteries located on the inside of the door.

Thank you for pointing out my error. If I live long enough to post in excess of 8000 posts, I likely won't make the same error, again. Suffice to say, I'm relatively inexperienced with CC forums, but this old-timer is learning something new everyday.

Aw, don't worry Glenn: you're doing fine. We're all the way on Page 3 of this thread, and it's way past the usual time for nitpicking, arguing and bitchiness to kick in. Don't take it personally. :)

I would be really hacked off with someone refusing to move out of a cabin which they knew they only booked for a certain amount of time. :mad:

 

I, for sure would have knocked on these peoples' door to have a conversation about how they messed up someone else's cruise.

I'd be suspicious of any claim by onboard staff that they "refused" to move. It's very possible that when the passengers approached reception inquiring about staying on, they were told, "We do have availability and would love to have you continue on with us (and continue your onboard spending)! You'd like not to have to move? No problem! All part of our Signature of Excellence Service!". All the while knowing there was a change of crew coming and someone else would have to deal with the fallout.

I'm convinced the onboard staff is solely to blame here, for both creating the problem and being too unorganized and uncaring to fix it. The continuing passengers most likely have no clue and are just going with what they've been told.

We were recently on a Regent cruise, and asked on the first day about upgrading. We were told that moving cabins is not a problem; they have a system whereby the staff takes out all the drawers, and switches them and the whole closet out in one fell swoop. "Takes about 15 minutes, we do it all for you!". Surely HAL has a similar system. Also, a couple decided to extend their cruise by booking the next 30-day segment while on board and said, "But we won't be in the same cabin, of course."

One HAL comedian said he couldn't get over how many passengers were stooped over, taking small, shuffling steps.... he thought they'd all had their shoelaces tied together.

A Regent comedian complimented the new modern art that had just come on board with the recent refurbishment: "Don't you love it? And I noticed all the pictures are signed at the bottom right-hand corner. That's so they know which way to hang it."

I vote for deck 7, aft. A quick sprint up to the lido for "takeout", and right back to the cabin with the goods to enjoy with the view on the verandah.

Find the small pedestrian street called Carrer de Ferran that heads east off La Rambla. (Ironically, Google street view shows it between McDonald's and KFC.) Within a half-block, take the passageway to Placa Reial which is a delight at night with the lights, restaurants in full swing and street performers.

Further along heading east, you'll come to the Catalan government palace fronting a lovely square that is often the venue for protests (we happened upon a couple when there).

Cut diagonally across the square and head east again, keeping an eye to the left for the back of the Cathedral. Definitely worth a stop, and a trip up the teeny elevator to the top for the view to the port and the ship!

Continue east again until you reach Via Liaetana. The Hotel H10 Montcada across the street has a roof-top bar that is a lovely place to have a drink on a nice night.

What a neat story, Kazu! Any pictures?

My instinct would be to wait for the next offer. It's clearly the "first round" of upsells on a cruise that's looking like it has a lot of availability and I'd speculate that at 3.5 weeks out they're leaving time to cut prices further if need be. You would think that if inventory was getting tight, they'd send the upsells out closer to sail date.

See what's offered at two weeks from sail date, and in the meantime keep checking to see if any categories have sold out. If it starts looking like they are, call and see if the upsell is still available.

(Keep in mind too that they may suddenly show nothing's available for about a day when they start assigning the guarantees and shuffling inventory)

You should be ashamed of yourself. The rest of us end up paying for people like you. If you can afford a 14 day cruise, you can afford to follow the rules and pay for what you use,

Meh, you're being baited; read between the lines and don't fall for it. Point #9 should prove that. Why anyone would spend precious vacation time making stuff up to get people agitated is beyond me, but it is a good lesson: consider the source.

Thanks for your pictures, especially the ones of the ship. They make me miss it, and bring back some great memories.

One night on board the comedian commented that all the new art was "signed on the bottom right corner - so they'd know which way to hang it."

Here's something "fun" for your sticky index. In Canada, we have something called a humidex, short for humidity index. It's a formula that uses the relative humidity coupled with the temperature to calculate how hot it really feels. If you can get those numbers, plug them into this website to see what you're really dealing with!

http://www.csgnetwork.com/canhumidexcalc.html

Thanks for posting this. After watching it, I found this interesting January, 2014 flyover:

Has anyone ever heard if there will be any effort made to return the cabins' safe contents to the passengers?

Which kind of brings us back to just rolling the service charge into the basic fare as an unidentified separate charge. You don't pay the fare, you don't cruise. :)

Exactly right. But that won't happen because the published per diem will be higher and seem less competitive. The nickle-and-dime-'em-to-death business model seems to be working too well for HAL thus far.

I asked about this issue over on the HAL page on FB.

A few people responded and then I got an answer from HAL.

Here is what they said in their response.

Take it for what it is worth, one person's response. Maybe it's right and maybe not.

 

" Hi Annemarie, thanks for the great question! A Hotel Service Charge of USD $12.00 per day for suites, and USD $11.50 for other staterooms for dining and stateroom services will be automatically added to your shipboard account on a daily basis. A 15% service charge will be automatically added to bar charges and dining room wine account. We are confident that you will find the service onboard exemplary and, should you wish to make adjustments, you may do so at the end of the cruise by contacting the front desk. If you choose to opt out of the automatic hotel service charge and leave a gratuity with the crew directly the crew is required to keep track of any gratuities. In these cases the crew will turn in their gratuities and then they are divided among the crew as noted above. If no tips are left and the guest opted out of automatic gratuities the cabin stewards are asked if there were any service issues. If a guest leaves the hotel service charge on their bill, and also tips the stateroom steward additional gratuities, then the steward can then keep the additional gratuity. "

This is EXACTLY what should be on HAL's information page for booked guests. And I would even add it should be on everyone's pillow a couple of nights before the end of the cruise. There are many people on board who don't understand it, and I really feel the staff gets the short end of the stick with the confusion.

Nothing you can do about the cheapos anyway; they're gonna do what they're gonna do.

Why, oh why, does HAL continue to let this all be a mystery? If, when someone wants to remove the HSC, the front desk would just explain what happens while asking "why", I'm sure a lot of people would leave it in place. It's the lack of clarity that is causing all this silliness.

Jeeze! :mad:

Do you mean North America, South America, Central America, or the United States of America?

A question for any experienced travelers who may know:

Is proof of vaccination required by the country you wish to return to? I always read that "Regent" or "Brazil" require the vaccinations, but I would think that the US would be more concerned with letting an unprotected person back into the country after exposure. Or, is it both?

There was a discussion on the HAL board a while back about interline cruisers. IIRC, someone was complaining about the onboard services he had expected with his cabin but didn't get. It turned out it he booked an interline rate and wasn't entitled to the extras.

What I gleaned from the discussion (whether it's true or just rumour):

Interline rates are for airline employees.

They're offered on a stand-by type of basis, so they can be bumped, right up until the last minute if the cruise sells out, and often are.

They're "cruise only", and never include airfare. (That's up to the airline employee to arrange.)

You take what you get as far as cabin choice, i.e.: you get what's left over if anything.

It's bare bones, with no extra inclusions.

One cruiser commented that although she can get interline rates she rarely does because it's too hard to plan ahead with them.

I dunno - those rates are so low, I'd love to be able to qualify! Perhaps a pilot or other airline employee is on the board who can confirm or deny any of the above.

Likely also refers to interline rates and employee discounts.

 

As for the new "45 minute rule" my cynical heart wonders if this is a ruse to get people out of the computer room and waiting people in now it's only half it's former size thanks to the new Park West gallery? ;)

Tee hee... could be part of it! Internet on Voyager was pretty good on the DXB-SIN cruise in Dec., until we reached the south of India. After several days of trying and either not getting online or having it so slow as to be useless, I mentioned it to a staff member and was told, "Oh the satellite link's been broken for days."

Something I did notice in advance of that: Most pax had the unlimited internet special, and were online constantly with their smart phones set to wi-fi. No wonder things were slow with everyone downloading Facebook updates and email constantly! Plus, it was easy to forget to log off when there was no financial penalty. I have a feeling these situations are the reason for the 45-minute rule.

I respectfully disagree. We've never had a problem using our Platinum Amex benefits.

Were they tied to an American-issued card? As I said, the benefits programs differ between between the US and Canada. They are not interchangeable. For some reason, (in my experience) the Canadian subsidiary is unorganized and changes the rules at a whim. Several years ago there was a class action lawsuit against AMEX Canada for this very reason. AMEX lost.

Twice we have "upgraded" to a platinum card, and twice we have downgraded again due to hassles with their empty promises. Most recently we were denied an offer put out by Regent and Amex because neither company would acknowledge the offer's existence. After I and my TA both faxed the postcard to them as proof (her husband, a card holder, received the same offer), I was still pretty much called a liar and they denied any knowledge of it.

Just another case of "Bienven-freaking-u au Canada!"

Just to confuse things further, if it's actually a Platinum Amex card with no affiliations, the OP is in Canada, and the points/benefits programs are much different than for cards issued in the US.

Even if the benefits are supposed to apply to Canadian Amex cards, good luck getting them! The confusion between "partner offers" is unbelievable when you actually try to use the promised perks.

cbr,

Great posts.

OP and her DH did not have to prove their innocence.

They have embarkation photos and the bartender certainly could view the photo and recognize whether the person pictured was the offender or not.

 

Agreed, Sail. And even before doing that, the bartender should have just looked at the cabin number that came up on his computer when the card was swiped! Plus: Neptune suite key cards are a different color.

When we sailed in 7047 on the Noordam last year, there were no mistaken room charges. The odd misdirected phone message, yes, but what the OP experienced is ridiculous.

Hope you were joking as this is not done on Regent (or should not be done -- how tacky that would be).:o

No, TC, not joking. In a perfect, egalitarian world this would never work but 'tis a fact of life.

Only a certain percentage of tables in Prime 7 (or any other upscale restaurant, or many other venues that operate on the same kind of system) are actually put out there for open reservations. A large number are held back by management for mistakes, relatives, VIPs, special favors, butlers with pull, front desk requests, frequent cruisers, big tippers and squeaky wheels.

Being nice gets you far, but being nice with grease gets you further.

Have them slip the maitre d' a fifty when they request the table. Done.