New to Holland America? This is for you...AKA "HAL For Dummies"

[kazu]

13 hours ago, true45 said:

Pardon me if I didn’t go back far enough to catch the answer to Why not now promotion.

 

If we are local and do not need air, is there still a credit through OBC or on cruisefare?

The rules online were vague.

 

Thanks

 

Not in my experience.  

 

When we had a flight air promo, it was use it or lose it.

 

 

[true45]

Thanks kazu

[bea555]

After I used Flight Ease to book my  Air Canada flights, I went on Air  Canada's website to look at my booking and  fill out my information (gender and birth date) but the boxes was grayed out. Do you know when I'm able to fill this part out- I'm assuming after I pay for the ticket?

 

I'm a bit confused with the free upgrades part of the Why Not Now promotion. So Holland America will just upgrade everyone who did not mark "No Upgrade" on their reservation?

[kazu]

22 minutes ago, bea555 said:

After I used Flight Ease to book my  Air Canada flights, I went on Air  Canada's website to look at my booking and  fill out my information (gender and birth date) but the boxes was grayed out. Do you know when I'm able to fill this part out- I'm assuming after I pay for the ticket?

 

I'm a bit confused with the free upgrades part of the Why Not Now promotion. So Holland America will just upgrade everyone who did not mark "No Upgrade" on their reservation?

the greyed out part is not necessary to fill in.  They already know your birth date and gender, etc.

It’s just the passport, etc that you need to complete.  Anything in white if it applies.

 

 

[Dismomx5]

This is the first time that I will be booking Flight Ease. Is it possible to arrange a date a few days before the cruise? We're doing a Mediterranean in the fall and want to have a few days in Rome (get over the jet lag) before the cruise.  Thanks for your experience. 

[*Miss G*]

4 hours ago, bea555 said:

I'm a bit confused with the free upgrades part of the Why Not Now promotion. So Holland America will just upgrade everyone who did not mark "No Upgrade" on their reservation?

 

If you look at the pricing you will see, for example, that both the Outside View and Verandah rooms have the same price.  That is the “upgrade”.

[*Miss G*]

10 minutes ago, Dismomx5 said:

This is the first time that I will be booking Flight Ease. Is it possible to arrange a date a few days before the cruise? We're doing a Mediterranean in the fall and want to have a few days in Rome (get over the jet lag) before the cruise.  Thanks for your experience. 

 

Yes, you can choose your dates and your airports.

[bea555]

Ughs, it's not really an upgrade if they inflated the oceanview price.

[richwmn]

8 hours ago, Dismomx5 said:

This is the first time that I will be booking Flight Ease. Is it possible to arrange a date a few days before the cruise? We're doing a Mediterranean in the fall and want to have a few days in Rome (get over the jet lag) before the cruise.  Thanks for your experience. 

On a Flight Ease reservation I have booked for a future cruise I was even able to arrange a couple of days at a connectiong point.

[Cajuntraveler]

Rookie Disembarkation question.

Our upcoming cruise on the Nieuw Statendam out of FLL will be our second HAL cruise (1 other on Princess) so we are not experienced with the disembarkation procedures.   The "know before you go" booklet says to put your luggage out side your cabin door the night before returning to port, but I remember that you had the option to carry your own luggage off the ship.  Those "self disembarking" were in the first group to leave the ship. We are packing light this time and would like to keep our one suitcase with us, but we have a 2PM flight and don't want to leave the ship until we absolutely have to. 

 

Am I correct that you don't have to put your luggage out the night before?  Can we keep our suitcase and overnight bags with us and still disembark at "last call"? (Last cruise we were assigned to the last group to disembark which worked well for us, but finding our suitcase in the terminal and transferring items from our carry on bags  to our suitcase for the flight home was a hassle.)

 

P.S. All the great info in this forum has really helped in planning our cruise.  Thanks to all of you who participate!

[Aloha3]

On 2/8/2019 at 3:39 PM, cruises42 said:

Thanks. I know that is the rule for Carnival cruises but I couldn't find it on the website. I just wanted to make sure HAL followed that rule too before I mentioned it my by brother and sister-in-law (our passports are good for a couple more years). 

I traveled on HAL 2 years ago with out my passport having 6 months to go. The airline questioned it when I flew but found I was correct in that for Sth America I didn't need 6 mths but HAL never questioned.

[RuthC]

2 hours ago, Cajuntraveler said:

Rookie Disembarkation question.

Our upcoming cruise on the Nieuw Statendam out of FLL will be our second HAL cruise (1 other on Princess) so we are not experienced with the disembarkation procedures.   The "know before you go" booklet says to put your luggage out side your cabin door the night before returning to port, but I remember that you had the option to carry your own luggage off the ship.  Those "self disembarking" were in the first group to leave the ship. We are packing light this time and would like to keep our one suitcase with us, but we have a 2PM flight and don't want to leave the ship until we absolutely have to. 

 

Am I correct that you don't have to put your luggage out the night before?  Can we keep our suitcase and overnight bags with us and still disembark at "last call"? (Last cruise we were assigned to the last group to disembark which worked well for us, but finding our suitcase in the terminal and transferring items from our carry on bags  to our suitcase for the flight home was a hassle.)

 

 

You can keep your luggage, and be in the first group to disembark, or you can put your luggage out the night before, and disembark later. Those are your choices.
You cannot do self-disembark later in the morning. For one thing, carrying luggage interferes with those trying to disembark with assistance.

Pick your poison.

[cruises42]

2 hours ago, Aloha3 said:

I traveled on HAL 2 years ago with out my passport having 6 months to go. The airline questioned it when I flew but found I was correct in that for Sth America I didn't need 6 mths but HAL never questioned.

Thanks. 

[Cajuntraveler]

14 hours ago, RuthC said:

You can keep your luggage, and be in the first group to disembark, or you can put your luggage out the night before, and disembark later. Those are your choices.
You cannot do self-disembark later in the morning. For one thing, carrying luggage interferes with those trying to disembark with assistance.

Pick your poison.

That makes sense.  Thanks for the info!

[ljgordon54]

Good coffee solutions!

DH’s idea of a vacation is coffee in bed. The coffee on HAL delivered to the room when we were on in 2017 was AWFUL! We took our own Keurig and had it confiscated last cruise. Does anyone have suggestions for good coffee besides wandering down to the specialty coffee place? Can you get good coffee delivered to your room for extra money?

[Mtngirl2]

Bring your own coffee and a French press.  Order a pot of hot water from room service then make your own coffee.  Pack your French press in your carryon.

[*Miss G*]

When I asked one of our servers how to get the good coffee as opposed to the one that they pour from the pot she told me to ask for an Americano.  I have no experience with requesting it for the room but it’s always worth a shot.  And, after the first day, I always had good coffee.  🙂 

[Fouremco]

DW and I usually won't drink HAL's regular coffee, but last week aboard the Nieuw Amsterdam, we found it to be better than past offerings. Whether they've changed the coffee or our taste buds are just getting old and tired we haven't quite decided.  

[LynnTTT]

Cruise starts Sunday!!  Question: will guest services punch a hole  in our cruise card so we can attach to a lanyard?  

[boards]

12 minutes ago, LynnTTT said:

Cruise starts Sunday!!  Question: will guest services punch a hole  in our cruise card so we can attach to a lanyard?  

yes - we have that done on all our (15) cruises with Hal.

[boards]

Question for experienced mariners concerning rebooking a 26 day cruise to a 40 day cruise to Australia.  We presently have an OBC, paid gratuities and a beverage card.  The question is, do you think it is possible to move those perks from the 26 day to the 40 day cruise, same destination and ship (Noordam)?   Has anyone tried to do something like that and succeeded?  Thought I would test the waters (so to speak) here before attempting to ask Hal.

[ski ww]

I can't see why not,  I have never done it but it doesn't hurt to ask. Enjoy your cruise.

[RuthC]

20 hours ago, boards said:

Question for experienced mariners concerning rebooking a 26 day cruise to a 40 day cruise to Australia.  We presently have an OBC, paid gratuities and a beverage card.  The question is, do you think it is possible to move those perks from the 26 day to the 40 day cruise, same destination and ship (Noordam)?   Has anyone tried to do something like that and succeeded?  Thought I would test the waters (so to speak) here before attempting to ask Hal.

Are you talking about adding a 14-day cruise to the existing cruise? Or are you talking about sailing on a different date entirely?

If the first, you may be able to switch to the longer cruise without losing benefits---or you may not. Doesn't hurt to ask. If they say 'no', you can still book the second cruise separately, without losing anything from the first booking. It would be necessary to see what the total price is for the two ways of doing it. It might still cost less to lose the perqs for the longer trip.

If it's the second, a totally different date, then you would be canceling one cruise, losing those benefits, and booking a new cruise. You would qualify for whatever benefits are being offered now.

[boards]

No - we were thinking of asking the cruise to be changed to a 40 day cruise.   There is two cruises a 26 day Vancouver to Sydney or it could be 40 days Vancouver to Auckland.   It is the Noordam in Oct. 2019.  We have booked time to stay in Sydney after the 26 day cruise now, so I was thinking instead if we could, we would change it to a 40 day and then return home from Auckland.   Did I say that right?  Thank you for helping..

[RuthC]

1 hour ago, boards said:

No - we were thinking of asking the cruise to be changed to a 40 day cruise.   There is two cruises a 26 day Vancouver to Sydney or it could be 40 days Vancouver to Auckland.

That sounds easy, then. You can ask what would happen to all those goodies if you rebooked for the Collector's cruise, then compare the overall price to merely adding the second cruise as a new booking after the first cruise.
Just be sure you can get the same cabin, saving you the trouble of moving on turn-around day. Moving isn't hard, but it would be one more thing to do that could possibly be avoided.

Have a great time! I LOVE New Zealand, especially the south island.