Live from Mv Rotterdam

[hawkeye3d]

This is supposed to bea cruise to Spain and Portugal, somehow it has become the cruise scheduled in jelly, it just keeps moving. Upon embarkation there was a report from those on the previous segment that the Portugal ports may be canceled. There was nothing “official” until day 2 when it was announced that we would be bypassing Lisbon due to the harbor pilots having a dispute with the government. We would proceed directly to Gibraltar, they would try and reschedule Lisbon on the way back to Rotterdam.

Upon returning to the ship in Gibraltar we were informed that the ship would be skipping all ports in Portugal and that all ports for the balance of the cruise would be changing, either rescheduled or replaced. Having spent 4 months planning tours DW was “delighted” with this change. HAL did give us a free glass of champagne at dinner, my joy overflowith

Now on day 4 in Cartagena we confirmed the floating rumor that we would not be in Barcelona tomorrow as rescheduled but we would be in Palma de Mallorca with Barcelona the day after. Wonder what we will get at dinner tonight. The first reschedule we can hold HAL blameless the second would be stretching that point, at this point I think.

The effect of this jelly scheduling is having an adverse effect on DW, the tour guides, my internet minutes, not to mention my bar bill

Stay tuned, more later. To say the least this should be a great review in the making.

Bob :D

[kazu]

Oh my heavens - I so feel for the two of you - I do a lot of planning too and we lost two planned ports last cruise. I hear you on the internet minutes. Mind you, our captain made up for it by giving us an overnight in Barcelona which was very nice.

 

This seems like a real mish mash:confused: I do hope they come on and do some explaining that makes sense to you.

 

What a real shame:( So sorry to hear this:(

[CtheW0rld]

such a shame. unfortunately, without pilots there isn't anything hal can do. this is one reason i never pay up-front for private tours.

[Sbilko]

This is one of the main reasons that we only book shore excursions with the cruise line.

 

I feel for you, but you must realize that it is not the cruise lines fault that you cannot get into a port, due to a labor problem. If you had booked your shore excursions with the cruise line you would have gotten a refund.

 

We have also seen people on Private Shore Excursions, arrive back at the dock, with binoculars, after the ship had sailed, reason 2.

 

Too many travellers do not do their research prior to travelling,:eek: and then complain on travel boards.

[Sea42]

Whether they had ship or private excursions, it's still a disappointment.

Most private tours do not require payment up front, although HAL does. I wonder if HAL refunds to the credit card you used or gives your money back as OBC, hoping you still spend it onboard?

[3rdGenCunarder]

This is one of the main reasons that we only book shore excursions with the cruise line.

 

I feel for you, but you must realize that it is not the cruise lines fault that you cannot get into a port, due to a labor problem. If you had booked your shore excursions with the cruise line you would have gotten a refund.

 

We have also seen people on Private Shore Excursions, arrive back at the dock, with binoculars, after the ship had sailed, reason 2.

 

Too many travellers do not do their research prior to travelling,:eek: and then complain on travel boards.

 

I agree with you on the advantages of ship's tours. But OP's wife had done her research. And no amount of research can predict how labor actions can affect ports.

 

I've been on a cruise with jelly scheduling. Totally mismanaged by the home office. At first, we defended the decisions when we talked to other cruisers (bad weather kept us out of a port, not much you can do about that), but after a while, the cascade of changes had me upset, too. You can hear only so much "We'll to to xx tomorrow, oops make that day after tomorrow, oops, not arriving in the morning..." before you get disgusted.

[Roz]

Sea42,

 

When my HAL-booked excursions have been canceled, it was refunded to my onboard account, which means I had less of a bill at the end. If the refunds and OBC result in a surplus, you get a check.

 

Roz

[whorunewayz]

With all of the unrest in Europe I suppose we're lucky to be cruising at all. Keeping my fingers crossed for our Lisbon stop next month...I have a friend meeting us for lunch and sightseeing!

[Sea42]

Sea42,

 

When my HAL-booked excursions have been canceled, it was refunded to my onboard account, which means I had less of a bill at the end. If the refunds and OBC result in a surplus, you get a check.

 

Roz

Thanks for the information.

[Sbilko]

"But OP's wife had done her research. And no amount of research can predict how labor actions can affect ports."

 

How could they have done their research? The Euro Zone crisis has been in the news for months. Lots of labor unrest in Greece, Italy, Spain, and Portugal, due to government cut backs.

 

We are about to spend a week in Paris, and a week in Rome before our TA on the Noordam. I read the English version of the news from the countries we will be visiting at least every second day. Do not expect to see this information on CNN, use the internet. When travelling you must be aware of what is going on in the countries you are planning to visit.

 

Also, read your cruise contract.

[hawkeye3d]

Just before we were to leave Cartagena the Captain announced that the last flip flop of Barcelona and Palma de Mallorca was at the direction of Seattle. So anyway no finger pointing needed.

Fortunately our tour company in Barcelona couldn’t accommodate us tomorrow but could Saturday when with the flip flopped schedule we will be there so all worked out in the end.

As to the comments by previous posters, yes ship booked tours were refunded. But we met one lady that had 6 of these cancelled before any of this jelly started so there are no assurances that ship tours will happen or are better, to each his own. In all of a dozen years I have never had a private tour canceled though. We did book most of the remaining ports tours through the ship.

My DW spent several months in research, places guides, references etc. and we are well aware of the situation in the EU. There are some cival servants near Gibraltar that haven't been paid for 8 months.

Just to add to the excitement as we were sailing away from Cartagena off goes the ship’s fire alarm seems there was something amiss in the crew’s galley, but the Captain came back on the horn to say that all was under control.

Lets hope that’s all for this trip

Bob

[Krazy Kruizers]

I feel so sorry that your cruise is having so many port problems.

Hopefully the ports you get to visit you will have great excursions.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Whether they had ship or private excursions, it's still a disappointment.

Most private tours do not require payment up front, although HAL does. I wonder if HAL refunds to the credit card you used or gives your money back as OBC, hoping you still spend it onboard?

 

We had quite a few excursions cancelled on one of our cruises. We got shipboard credit.

As a rule you will be called down to the front desk on disembarkation morning and 99% of the time they give you any leftover shipboard credit back in cash.

[Typhoon1]

Alway book excursions with Hal. At least you have some recourse if things don't go as planned.

[Taxguy77]

No amount of research can predict many of the strikes in Europe. Some are only half-day and called at the last minute. Flip a coin.

 

Some of our best times in ports were just meeting someone on the ship and going somewhere, no planning or reservations to worry about, but some research beforehand helps, of course.

[kazu]

Just before we were to leave Cartagena the Captain announced that the last flip flop of Barcelona and Palma de Mallorca was at the direction of Seattle. So anyway no finger pointing needed.

Fortunately our tour company in Barcelona couldn’t accommodate us tomorrow but could Saturday when with the flip flopped schedule we will be there so all worked out in the end.

As to the comments by previous posters, yes ship booked tours were refunded. But we met one lady that had 6 of these cancelled before any of this jelly started so there are no assurances that ship tours will happen or are better, to each his own. In all of a dozen years I have never had a private tour canceled though. We did book most of the remaining ports tours through the ship.

My DW spent several months in research, places guides, references etc. and we are well aware of the situation in the EU. There are some cival servants near Gibraltar that haven't been paid for 8 months.

Just to add to the excitement as we were sailing away from Cartagena off goes the ship’s fire alarm seems there was something amiss in the crew’s galley, but the Captain came back on the horn to say that all was under control.

Lets hope that’s all for this trip

 

Bob

 

Thanks for the update Bob - I'm glad you were at least able to get on tour fixed:D Your DW and I are cut with the same cloth. I research very hard and choose very carefully. and yes, we stay on top of things.

 

speaking for us (and us only), we prefer a private tour any day of the week. Much more flexibility and no waiting for 40 people to get on and off a bus and on and off for the 'pit' stop. I don't blame you one bit for what you opted to do.

 

I hope the rest goes smoothly and your tours are absolutely fabulous:)

 

smooth seas to you both :D

[CtheW0rld]

This is one of the main reasons that we only book shore excursions with the cruise line.

 

I feel for you, but you must realize that it is not the cruise lines fault that you cannot get into a port, due to a labor problem. If you had booked your shore excursions with the cruise line you would have gotten a refund.

 

We have also seen people on Private Shore Excursions, arrive back at the dock, with binoculars, after the ship had sailed, reason 2.

 

Too many travellers do not do their research prior to travelling,:eek: and then complain on travel boards.

 

not my experience. i almost never take a ship's tour. i have never pre-paid (although i have ben asked to, in which case i move on to the next vendor) and i have never even come close to missing the ship.

[hawkeye3d]

The latest scuttlebutt on the flip flop of Palma de Mallorca and Barcelona is that there were several crew scheduled to get off in Lisbon Sept 18th. When we sailed right by the thought was to put the crew ashore in the return trip to Rotterdam. But the next port with a major airport is Barcelona so they reconsidered and decided to let the crew off there

What ties my knots is that all of this was/is known by Seattle and they could have scheduled Palma de Mallorca for tomorrow and Barcelona the next day rather than scheduling Barcelona first and then flip flopping the 2 days around. The flip flop after trashing the entire remaining schedule was unnecessary if Seattle only had done their homework, but to be fair the only folks that don’t make mistakes are those that don’t do anything and in truth there are enough of them rattling around.

The ship is wonderful, friendly crew more so than Westerdam last year. Rotterdam’s interior is lighter with some nice artwork. Food in Pinnacle the first night was great. MDR food and service are good. Ate in Lido tonight, almost the same menu as MDR, and we liked it as we were in and out in an hour. Internet connectivity and speed have been pretty good except for one night. I tend to logon after 11PM so maybe that’s what causes my favorable comment. On the cruise before this Canaletto was free this cruise its $10 each. As previously posted my feeling is with some folks that said that Canaletto was a break from the MDR/Lido but not worth the $10

Without adding my feelings, formal night was mostly dark suits a few Tuxes, some sport coats no ties, and 2 or so no jackets.

The mix of PX is heavily European, Dutch mostly.

I don’t know if I will post to many more of this or “live from” but either I or DW will do a review

Bob

[iflyrc5]

I wonder if HAL refunds to the credit card you used or gives your money back as OBC, hoping you still spend it onboard?

 

This happened to us a few years ago - they put the money back as OBC - we ended up not using it all so they gave us a cash refund of the balance on the last morning of the cruise.

[lj77346]

Thank you for the reports hawkeye3d. We're sailing on the Rotterdam on September 29 and information about the ship on the boards has been scarce this summer. It's good to hear that with the exception of the itinerary change the rest of the cruise experience is good. Again, thank you for the report.

[mollyanne]

It happens on land tours as well. A few years ago we took a trip to Spain. We left Bilbao and headed to the beautiful seaside village of San Sebastian. Imagine our shock when we arrived to find the ENTIRE VILLAGE ON STRIKE! We may have secured the ONLY cab working and made our way from the bus station to the hotel.

 

Upon checking into the Maria Cristina we were upgraded to the most glorious suite you ever saw - think Eva Peron balconies. I'm sure this was done to make us feel better when we saw what wasn't happening in town!

 

We ventured out and absolutely NOTHING was open...no shops, no restaurants, no cafes, no bars. We walked through streets littered with strike fliers and trash. Well, nothing to see here so we headed back to the hotel - where they, too, were short on staff. Those that were working had major attitudes and the bar tender let it be known he was not happy as he slammed our drinks down.

 

Dinner was at a Vietnamese restaurant in the hotel! And we came to one of the great food capitals of Europe for THIS?

 

The next day everything was cleaned up and everything was open - just like it never happened. We had to cram a whole day into a few hours and left us always wanting to go back...we do have great memories but not the kind we had hoped to make. :(

[Beejay4016]

With all of the unrest in Europe I suppose we're lucky to be cruising at all. Keeping my fingers crossed for our Lisbon stop next month...I have a friend meeting us for lunch and sightseeing!

 

I think you have the best attitude. With so much political and economic unrest in Europe (strikes in so many places, large ships being targeted by locals in Venice), North Africa and the Middle East, this must be a terrible time for cruise companies.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Thank you for your updates.

It isn't easy to reschedule ports.

In 2009 when we were on the Noordam, Martinique had a strike and between our Captain and Seattle, they were able to substitute Dominica. Other ships were also affected and tried to get Dominica -- but we were lucky and got a spot there before they did.

It was a different situation for the Westerdam repositioning cruise - all the Mexican ports were closed to us because of the swine flu. Again, the Captain worked with Seattle and they were able to get us into Corinto before we started several days at sea to get to San Diego.

It is not easy to get ports rescheduled or to get new ones.

[Hlitner]

OMG! We do feel for all those on that cruise. But have to add our comment which is "This is why we do not generally schedule any tours" but prefer DIY. Since DW and I love to do our own thing (we like to compare most excursions with Cattle Drives) we can usually adjust to any schedule change without any hassles. The only minor problem is when we have reserved rental cars (for which we generally do not need any deposit) in which case we simply e-mail or telephone the rental car company and change the reservation.

 

Hank

[bobpell]

When you do your review Bob let us know where you stayed precruise and which method of transportation to the ship

thanks

Bobpell