Cashew14

Thanks Dancer, I printed out everything just to make sure I did not miss anything. 

I was happy to find this thread thinking it meant the policy has changed. But alas, it has not.

 

We are strongly mulling a 49 night itinerary in Asia aboard Volendam for 2016. Between air fare, excursions, pre and post cruise stays, incidentals, and the cruise itself (undecided if balcony or a full suite; inclined to go for a full suite though) we are looking at a budget of roughly $45K, and frankly I think that will come up on the low side.

 

Do you think I am anxious to spend $45K for an experience with a company that can not sufficiently guarantee my comfort? HAL will have to reform their smoking policy to match what is commonly accepted as standard in the hospitality business before I will sign the dotted line, so to speak.

 

We will monitor changes, but if they do not occur soon we will simply choose another cruise line or another type of vacation. We are not loyal to any hospitality business so do not have much in way of loyalty perks, though we often will pay for a suite in order to have the amenities we want at the time we travel. We are more interested in seeing unique places.

 

I had sent an email to HAL asking about this policy and received a canned response that was almost offensive, as if I did not know how to read the current policy.

 

Best-

 

Steve

And we DO spend this sort of money as we CAN smoke on balconies as HAL is the only main stream cruise line which allows smoking on balconies. ;)

Well Cashew14, your post takes the (Christmas) cake!

 

So let me get this straight. Despite personal and first references about Emily and her family, you don't get her message, much less accept it. That's fine, of course. Each to his own. And then there are your own views...

 

Anyway, I will be on the upcoming 40 day cruise on Sojourn. And soon you too will partake of your first Seabourn cruise. So you will be learning something about Seabourn and its regular passengers too, I trust.

 

Maybe we can get together and you can tell me more about how children and young adults should behave, with whom they should travel, whether this particular 14 year old should have access to this cruisecritic board and where your views on "mental capacity" are getting you, pedagogically or otherwise? And I will repeat and elaborate on my views on rudeness and add some insights about gracious behavior, self-doubt and humility- to demonstrate that I will be prepared for our our tete a tete too.

 

Happy sailing!

Merry Christmas.

I don't have a problem with children on board. The problem are parents putting their children in this situation. If they decide to take a child on board of Seabourn, I think they should prepare their child and themselves for possible bad comments.

Is it right that children get verbally abused on board? Of course not. What I am saying is, it is not hard to predict behaviour of some people towards children on board of this particular cruise line. And some of the people who do not wish to see children on Seabourn have voiced this very clearly on here. It can't come as a surprise, surely.

I think Seabourn might do everyone a favour by declaring a minimum age for sailing on their ships.

I don't have a problem with children on board. But others on Seabourn do which is obvious reading several posts regarding this subject on this board. If my children were little I would not dream bringing them on board and being exposed to the "anti children" behaviour on board. Also I believe a 14 year old should hang out with their age group, not adults at all times.

Whether they are "mature" or not is not really the issue. We all think our children and grandchildren are the "best, most intelligent, gifted etc". It does not mean others have to think that way.

Sorry this 14 year old had to encounter some negative experiences but really anyone could see this coming especially since the OP is a member on cruise critic.

If she had written this post, then I assume she has the mental capacity to deal with these issues. If not, then she is not as mature as she or her parents believe. Therefore it was and is the wrong decision to take this child on this particular cruise line but maybe it is time to take her on a more child friendly ship.

I have been following the Seabourn board since we now have booked our first Seabourn cruise.

I believe there is a 14 year old girl on board. I don't believe she wrote this post herself.

Merry Christmas :)

We Brits cannot take a cruise without stating our insurance company and policy number to the cruise line.

 

Allowing it to be optional for American's is foolish on behalf of the cruise lines.

We cruise with Holland America and not once had to state the insurance company or policy number? Is this unique to Royal Caribbean?

I am sure everybody was disappointed. I feel bad most of all for the kids.

 

I don't think its fair to just say "hey that's just the way it is", or how can you screw something up like that.

 

We are all humans and things do happen. I sympathize with your son and family.

 

Even though contractually your son might might not be in a good position, it is my hope that he can convince RCL to let them sail on another cruise. The excuse if true does seem reasonable.

 

Maybe call RCL and tell them you were trying to do the right thing, instead of bringing a sick kid on the cruise and possibly infecting everybody else. Spin it.

 

Hope RCL gives them another cruise. Its not like they arent close by and cant get to another cruise that has openings on short notice.

OP, I really feel the disappointment especially for the children.

As DreamingBig1 said, I would go for the approach that you wanted to avoid to bring a sick child on board.

I would not go for the "2 minutes after boarding" approach as they might put their walls up and might get very defensive.

You posted such a nice post and only wanted advice, I think writing to customer service or speaking to them on the phone might be the best way to do it.

Whatever happens, I wish you and your family a happy xmas. :)

Strange. Normally there is the upgrade option in Manage my bookings. Maybe its sold out.

Did you try to phone them? If this does not work, the only thing I can think off is to upgrade in New York at the airport if they still have seats left in Business class.

They have asked us once in Miami and I think the upgrade was 500 Dollars per person.

Sorry, can't help more than that. :)

Hello JB

We arrive on the 13th so I can pick your brains about the ship over a beer or two.

Cheers

Mike

Looks like my alcohol consumption is rising regarding toasting across the pond. :cool:

Nothing better than a large balcony :) You won't regret it.

Don't feel too bad. If someone recommends something to me, I look into it. I do my own research and if I am happy with it, I will then go for it.

I would never make the other person feel uncomfortable for a recommendation, but rather blame myself for not having it researched enough for myself. :)

Hi, Mike.

Cashew's post got me thinking exactly the same thing.

We all want to visit unspoilt areas but of course by doing so we're all playing our part in spoiling them. Catch 22.

(Yes, Cashew, can't promise a full cruise review, but certainly our experiences in Havana)

 

We're aboard 6th Jan for two weeks. Cabin 5120 if you want to share a beer or two.

 

RollCall (of sorts) at

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2006448

 

JB :)

Thank you very much, John. :)

We are flying out to Gran Canaria on the 5th of January for 4 weeks to escape the winter partially and to play a lot of golf. But I will toast to you across the Atlantic. And who knows, maybe one day we will be able to have a beer or two. In Havana ;)

I read the review out of interest for another cruise line. I found it a balanced review. Yes, he was mad about what happened but I could also clearly see the positives in his review.

Maybe when you are ill on a ship this would dampen the experience and the taste for food also and in general no one is "happy" when they are ill. This could be another factor of the not so great experience.

To the European dining culture. :):o We spend a lot of time on the Canary Islands and I must say, 2 and a half hours is minimum for us. Lets say we go at 7:00 pm. We very often don't leave the restaurant until 10:30 or 11:00 pm. I agree with one of the posters, if you need to leave early, it usually works to let the waiter know.

I hope you have a lovely cruise next time around whichever ship you choose.

Hi there

I think the best way to approach this cruise is to keep expectations low and be happy and enjoy.

Good food to me is also important (hence us having booked with Seabourn for a future cruise), but if you know it won't reach this standard, at least you won't be disappointed. We sailed Princess before and the speciality restaurant was good, but nothing to rave about.

I would also rather take a cruise than fly, no matter which ship. :D

Have a fantastic holiday. :)

I agree with you, I rate freedom as perhaps the most important human right.

I didn't "defend" Cuba because of its healthcare and education, I simply used them as examples of the pros as well as the cons, to get an accurate balanced & non-partisan viewpoint - something which a number of folk on this thread seem incapable of doing. The world ain't as black and white as you or they seem to think, nor as white and black as those subjected to communist propaganda seem to think.

 

Lets take cronyism, or more accurately nepotism, as an example.

I think we can agree that Castro's engineering his brother to be vice-President, and consequently to take over the reins, is an example of nepotism.

But of course no American president would ever appoint his brother to Attorney-General, would he.

Nor would there be any other family dynasties in US politics.

No Indian Prime Minister's wife would succeed him as Prime Minister.

And there was no Marcos dynasty in the Philippine government.

Or 5 members of the Churchill family in the UK parliament.

Here are some examples of cronyism, courtesy of Wiki, but I'd better forewarn you, they're not all communists ;)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cronyism

 

Nepotism & cronyism are an unacceptable part of life. But they're not unique to lefties.

 

Please don't blindly suggest that education & healthcare aren't excellent in Cuba, because every resource will confirm that they are.

But then education ought to, because according to UNESCO 10% of its budget is spent on education, compared to 2% in the US & 4% in the UK.

And the ratio of doctors to population increased five-fold from the end of Batista's government - according to the World Bank only the US & the UK have a higher ratio. Infant mortality is lower than in the US, and Cuba's healthcare is free to all. Is that such a bad record?

 

Do those things make Cuba a better place to live than the US or UK?

Not for me they don't, but life for Cubans ain't all doom & gloom.

As I'm sure my impending cruise will confirm.

 

JB :)

Great response :)

We recently discussed doing a cruise (and land based holiday) to Cuba and it would be lovely if you could do a review after your return as it has been a while since I have been there.

One only can hope that Cuba is careful with promises being made. Not everything is gold that shines. :rolleyes:

Next month we'll be porting (docked, not tendered) in Havana on Thomson Dream :)

55,000 tonnes, 1500 pax.

And I'm pretty certain the port can handle larger.

 

Most CC members will be aware that the US currently has an embargo on ships calling at Cuba - I think the way it's implemented is that any cruise ship (don't know about freighters) which visits Cuba is refused permission to visit US soil (or is it waters?) for the next six months.

 

JB :)

Have a great time, Cuba is beautiful and still not overrun with tourists. At the moment. :)

Do you do each of the four one at a time? I used to do it that way for the two of us but then I discovered that I can do it for both of us at the same time by ticking a little box at the start of the process. After I finish with the info for the first guest, farther down the same page, I fill out the same type of info for the second guest, and then proceed to the next section and so on. Of course, filling out information for four people would take longer...

 

As for highlighting where errors were made or items omitted, I thought they did. I don't remember having to go back to page 1 to try to find out where the issue was. I thought they didn't allow one to continue on to the next section until the error/omission was corrected for the just completed section. It's been a couple of months since I did our last online check-in. And I did skip over the flight information since I haven't booked our flights yet.

 

One would think the process would be similar for everyone than just those in North America. Since it's not, HAL should make it so.

You are correct, you DONT have to necessarily go back to page 1 to correct. But if there is no indication where the mistake was made, this is what I had to do to check absolutely each question and answer. I was I believe on page 5 and had to go back to page 2 where I found the error.

I am usually quite savvy in these things but I just think this is an area which HAL could improve on to speed up the check in procedure online.

I'm Canadian so I can't imagine it being more difficult than yours. For as long as I can remember they have asked for hour and minute details. This is not a new thing.

Well, sorry, but last time they only wanted the flight number and airline. Also last time they only wanted name and location of our post cruise hotels. This time they wanted address, postcode etc

I know what I put in last time and what was new this time.

The excessive amount of drop down menus for flight times, etc are what get me. Rather than just typing in the exact hour and then minute, you have to scroll all the way down. Heaven help us if we have non direct flights that depart or land towards the end of the hour (scrolling down through 50+ numbers!). If I recall correctly, you can't tab between them either which then requires multiple mouse clicks to get to each drop down menu.

 

I had to fill out the info for a non US citizen that was traveling with us, so I feel your pain, Cashew14.

 

Disclaimer, we are a family of four so my frustration with the on-line check in is amplified as I have to complete four of them for each cruise! Out of all the problems in the world, this is a nice one to have;)

I so agree. :):)

I usually do all of our bookings regarding flights, hotels, trips etc. What gets me is how complicated these days any bookings or enquiries are. You spend more time trying to figure out passwords, sign up procedures, pin numbers, retrieving of emails, security questions etc

It seems online technology is getting unnecessarily complicated and takes away a lot of your time. :eek:

Issue could be since you are non-US. I just did mine and found it very easy and quick. They saved alot of information from my last cruise and autofilled it in for me, so I was pleasantly surprised with this.

 

DaveOKC

None of the autofill function here. But interesting. Maybe they should improve it for non US citizens in that case.

It just seems the information required now is getting a bit over the top.

But again, it should be an easy exercise to tell the customer when they fill in wrong information to highlight the box where they made the mistake.

I think it took me maybe 10 minutes for my cruise in November. It wasn't difficult at all. Has hal changed it recently?

Maybe because we travel to the US, it requires more information? I am not sure but I found it to be much more extensive this year than last year.

And the main problem really was when you made an error it did not tell you where you made the error and unless you found it, you could not proceed to the next step. And I had to go back to page 1 and go through each question to trying to find it.

One new thing was with flight details. Instead of just wanting the flight number, they now want the exact details with stop overs and flight times down to even the minute.

I was sitting here looking at the tree and thinking how I wish one year my dh would give me a cruise for Christmas! I know it is never going to happen, but one can hope. Anyone else out there hoping or wishing for a cruise in your stocking this year?

 

If so where would you like your cruise to go?

I would looooooooooooooove to get a cruise for christmas :D:D:D

Funny enough I've thought about this the other day.

And where should it go?

Anywhere!!!!!! :D:D:D

Is it just me or does it seem that online check in takes longer and longer. :confused:

It took me 45 minutes, reason being if one field is not filled in properly you get the error mistake. But! It does not tell you where you made the mistake. So you have to go through each page trying to figure out where the mistake was being made.

I think improvements could be made to make it a little easier for guests to actually do it. I have IT background but I am thinking of new guests and maybe older guests who are not finding this easy.

What I have been seeing are people ignoring the sign, going to the restroom, standing in the aisle, getting things out of their stowed carry-ons. The flight attendants come on the PA, make a comment about the sign being on, but then not doing anything about it. This is on Southwest. We haven't flown any other airline recently.

 

Wearing your seatbelt while seated is the only way to prevent yourself from being thrown around or even hitting the ceiling in the event of unexpected turbulence or an air pocket.

I remember last year flying back from Gran Canaria into London Gatwick. We landed and as you know the fast seat belt signs remain on until the gate.

So the plane was still driving towards the gate when suddenly the pilot had to use the breaks for an emergency stop. We all were thrown forward and it was such a shock how quickly such a massive plane can come to a standstill.

You could hear a needle drop in the plane.

The captain announced after a couple of minutes that one of those cars who transport luggage drove straight across the plane.

This just shows how important it is to leave the seat belt on until it arrives at the gate and as you said unfortunately too many people ignore this warning.

:eek: