HAL website question

[Not-My-Real-Name]

Don't know if this will help, but if you go to the advanced search and, for example, pick a date first without clicking the search button, then click on the destination button, it has "filtered" the destinations for that time period. For example, if I select May 2014, then look at the destinations drop down list, it has changed from all destinations to Alaska, Canada/England and Europe.

[jtl513]

Don't know if this will help, but if you go to the advanced search and, for example, pick a date first without clicking the search button, then click on the destination button, it has "filtered" the destinations for that time period. For example, if I select May 2014, then look at the destinations drop down list, it has changed from all destinations to Alaska, Canada/England and Europe.

Good point!

 

LOVE your screen name! :)

[BlueLadyBlue]

Thanks everyone, I appreciate your responses and now have a few new methods to try.

[sail7seas]

This isn't a "hardcopy" but it is HAL's Cruise Atlas 2013-2014......I think.....:)

 

http://www.hollandamerica.com/cruise-destinations/EBrochures.action

 

 

It is 209 pages.......

 

 

Thanks for the link. :)

 

Nice of HAL to expect us to print 209 pages...... sure saves them money. :rolleyes:

 

I think that could be the last Atlas they published that some of us have. It only goes through April?

 

[sail7seas]

Well, for example, a while back you said you were interested in trying the Prinsendam, but all the itineraries were too long for your DH. I went and simply specified "Prinsendam" and "9-16 days" (or some such period) and it came up with about 8 or 10 choices in Europe, Caribbean (Christmas/New Years) and Trans Atlantic. But that doesn't work now that you have to pick a destination.

 

There should be no reason to pick a destination. Every field should be a search key, such that you could say only "1 to 6 days" and find all the Pacific coastal repo segments and fillers like the Eurodam 4 day this December. Or specify just a month, or just a ship. More keys should give better refinement, but any one key should be sufficient.

 

Not for me. When I first click Plan&Book I get a pop-up box with Advanced Search below the orange Search button.

I agree with that 100%! I long ago decided that I generally don't like change unless I initiated it! Why learn something new if you're happy with old and the new is no better, or worse?

 

 

 

Sigh.......

It all confuses me. :(

 

 

My point is:

 

Veendam is doing a one week cruise one time in 2013. The ship is going Boston to Boston for a Canada/NE cruise.

 

We always book Maasdam for our Boston to Montreal to Boston b-to-b.

I would have had no clue to even look for a Veendam, one time, one week cruise. I never would have known it existed but learned of it by accident.

 

I would have had no reason to be searching at all and would not have learned about it. "Our" Canda/NE is Maasdam and is Boston to Montreal to Boston and I didn't need to search to know that.

 

[jtl513]

I would have had no clue to even look for a Veendam, one time, one week cruise. I never would have known it existed but learned of it by accident.

So what would you have them do? Make "suggestions" of things you might be interested in when you're looking at something else like Amazon or ebay do? Or just send you suggestions out of the blue based on your past history? Both of those are possible, but a little complicated for HAL website builders it would seem to me! :D:D

 

p.s. Even with the way it is now, a simple search for a destination of Canada/NE with nothing else specified (no date, length, port, etc) does find the Veendam cruise Aug 24.

[sail7seas]

So what would you have them do? Make "suggestions" of things you might be interested in when you're looking at something else like Amazon or ebay do? Or just send you suggestions out of the blue based on your past history? Both of those are possible, but a little complicated for HAL website builders it would seem to me! :D:D

 

p.s. Even with the way it is now, a simple search for a destination of Canada/NE with nothing else specified (no date, length, port, etc) does find the Veendam cruise Aug 24.

 

 

I would like them to continue printing and distributing cruise planners or atlases. We can turn page by page and read what they are offering, what they are sellilng. We don't have to know the right combination to enter in search engines, we don't have to guess and we don't miss out of learning about cruises that might really interest us.

 

A company really ought to tell their customers what they can buy without the onus being on the customer to figure out how to navigate and hunt and peck in the hope they will find things they have no idea exist.

 

Marketing is rather important in any business. Tempt us. Dazzle us. Get us interested and excited and let us know our choices.

 

 

 

 

<snip>

 

p.s. Even with the way it is now, a simple search for a destination of Canada/NE with nothing else specified (no date, length, port, etc) does find the Veendam cruise Aug 24

 

I'm still not expressing myself well enough to make it understood there was no reason for me to think of searching Canada/NE. We book Maasdam. We do the b-to-b annually (most years). I had no reason to do a search for a cruise we already know. I never went to the site to search for something I have done again and again.

 

But, yes....... for someone who DID search the August 17 cruise would appear. But what would have led me to have any notion to do that search? A cruise planner/atlas would have indicated it was thrown in for that one week and we would have known about it. We read the cruise atlas/planner page by page and would have found that cruise. I had no reason to do a search on the website for something like that anomaly cruise.

[jtl513]

I would like them to continue printing and distributing cruise planners or atlases.

We picked up a Cruise Planner Apr 2013-Apr 2014 while we were on the Prinsendam, but I can't send it to you because DW still looks at it once in a while. I'm sure your PCC can send you one.

 

p.s. It does show the Veendam Aug 17. It does not show the Eurodam 4-day in Dec.

[sail7seas]

I have that one. Thanks. :) I did not have it until after we learned about that Veendam cruise.

That is the latest issue and doesn't go out as far as we would like.

[RuthC]

That issue came out very late, as I recall; it was sometime in the summer, I think. The Planner came out in the fall.

As it was, I learned of the Atlas on this board, called Seattle to request one, and had to jump through many hoops to get them to agree to send me one. :eek:

So much for marketing.

Now the schedule is out into 2015, but where is the Atlas/Planner to go along with it??? Will one be coming out later this year? If so, will people requesting one be given a hard time?

So much for marketing. :rolleyes:

[Irish Eyes Are Sailing]

Maybe the 4 and 5 star Mariners can get an Atlas but I can tell you this, a "1-star-going-to-be-2-star-really-soon" can't get one.

 

(The last one I got was from a TA who had a leftover one that was approaching expiration)

[rafinmd]

I agree, HAL's current web site is the pits for this. It's hard to do things exactly right but HAL is doing this pretty much wrong. I think the best thing to do is go to the Destination Calendar, and find a few things that look vaguely interesting, and that will give some clues to what destination to put into the search. Clunky, but relatively possible. It really irks me that you can decide on the ship and dates, and HAL will say something like "4 cruises found", but still won't display them until you choose a single destination.

 

It really stinks, particularly where you can choose MANY options (including selecting the equivalent of all the "S-Class" ships, and whatever options you put in you will get a responsive listing of cruises.

 

Get with it, HAL

 

Roy

[rafinmd]

It really seems penny wise and pound foolish for HAL not to have brochures for those who want them. I just got an email from Cunard, one of HAL's partners, offering me a wide range of brochures for the upcoming year. I'm World Club Platinum with them, roughly equivalent to a 3-star. Seems like if Cunard can do it, HAL should be able to do as well.

 

Roy

[buckirj1]

Hmmm, let's see how discreet I can be. If you go to that "going on vacation" (VTG) website, and click the "custom search" button, you can enter a period of time (it wouldn't let me enter a whole year, but I was able to do six-months worth) and also specify a cruiseline. It will list cruises available by date and geographic area. I still think it's pretty clunky, and requires a whole lot more clicking around than I'd like. But I'm mentioning it in case somebody finds it more user-friendly than I do.

 

Only a couple of cruiseline websites allow a range of dates in its search gizmo: I know you can do it on NCL, and I think you can still search that way on Celebrity's website.

[sail7seas]

Hmmm, let's see how discreet I can be. If you go to that "going on vacation" (VTG) website, and click the "custom search" button, you can enter a period of time (it wouldn't let me enter a whole year, but I was able to do six-months worth) and also specify a cruiseline. It will list cruises available by date and geographic area. I still think it's pretty clunky, and requires a whole lot more clicking around than I'd like. But I'm mentioning it in case somebody finds it more user-friendly than I do.

 

Only a couple of cruiseline websites allow a range of dates in its search gizmo: I know you can do it on NCL, and I think you can still search that way on Celebrity's website.

 

 

Do you know if Celebrity and NCL print and distribute paper brochures?

 

[buckirj1]

[quote name='sail7seas'][B] Do you know if Celebrity and NCL print and distribute paper brochures?

[/B][/quote]

I've probably sailed NCL as much as any cruiseline, but I don't think I've ever received anything paper. At all. Everything I've ever received from NCL has been via email.

I've never received anything from Celebrity in any form, so I don't know whether or not they print brochures.I just looked on the website because someone asked about finding a cruise website where you could search by a date range instead of a specific date/month.