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

[Crew News]

On 11/29/2019 at 2:43 PM, lvz2cruz said:

How many gala nights are on an 11 night Caribbean cruise?  Our sea days are days  2, 3, and 10.

 

Last year on the 11-day Konigsdam Gala Nights were Day 2 and 10 (just two nights).

[SeagoingMom]

2 hours ago, kazu said:

 

If you go to halfacts.com and the different classes of ships for the one you are sailing on, you will see the dining room layouts

Thanks so much!  We’ve been sailing with HAL for over a decade and never knew of that website!  
And that’s why I love Cruise Critic 😁

[SeagoingMom]

On 11/22/2019 at 5:31 PM, KroozNut said:

 

We prefer to take the guesswork out of this process. Prior to our sailing we review the MDR diagrams (available online) for the particular ship we're sailing, then select a few (3-5) specific tables that we'd be happy with.

 

Next we contact the ship's coordinator for our ship at HAL's ship services via email and provide the table numbers we selected requesting to be assigned to one of those tables. The ship's coordinator will communicate your preferences to the ship's dining room staff, and confirm your assigned table back to you via email.

 

This method has worked every time for us, and we have always been assigned to one of the tables requested.

 

As an example, we already have our table assignment for our next cruise in March 2020. 🙂  

I have checked HAL’s website for evidence of email addresses for Ship Coordinators and found nothing. Can you tell me where these addresses can be found?

Thanks!

[KroozNut]

3 hours ago, SeagoingMom said:

I have checked HAL’s website for evidence of email addresses for Ship Coordinators and found nothing. Can you tell me where these addresses can be found?

Thanks!

 

Suggest calling Ship Services and asking for the name/email address of a specific ship coordinator. Refer to HAL's 'know before you go' for Ship Service contact info..

 

[SeagoingMom]

On 12/4/2019 at 9:13 PM, KroozNut said:

 

Suggest calling Ship Services and asking for the name/email address of a specific ship coordinator. Refer to HAL's 'know before you go' for Ship Service contact info..

 

Thanks - I’ll try that! 👍🏼

[eculmone]

On 7/12/2018 at 9:08 PM, Judie said:

Our doctor who has been on over 60cruises says the average weight gain is this: for a 10 day cruise, you’ll gain 5 pounds, but you’ll lose half of that within a couple days at home. So that leaves 2.5 pounds that you’ll need to lose after your cruise.

 

For a 7 day cruise, you’ll gain 3.5pounds, but you’ll lose 1.75pounds quickly. That leaves 1.75 pounds you’ll need to lose.

 

I agree that taking the stairs and walking as much as possible is key!

 

It takes 3,200 calories to gain or lose a pound.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

😂 knife/fork - check; napkin - check 🍴

[eculmone]

On 11/19/2019 at 11:12 AM, kazu said:

 

We’ve always had the menus delivered for the evening meal in the MDR - they are left that morning after the room has been attended to by the stewards.

 

This may be changing with the Navigator app, but it was still the case on our last two cruises and the Navigator was working and in play at the time.

I'm having trouble logging into Navigator app 😕 Could it be I have to wait until my trip? We board in 6 days 😊

[terrydtx]

10 minutes ago, eculmone said:

I'm having trouble logging into Navigator app 😕 Could it be I have to wait until my trip? We board in 6 days 😊

The Navigator app for onboard things like menus will not work until you are onboard. In July on the Noordam most days the MDR menu was not available on the app until around 8am of the day for the menu. We could not see MDR dinner menus for future days, this was disappointing since it made choosing what nights to do specialty dinning harder. I found the app to be pretty much worthless and disappointing.

Edited December 15, 2019 by terrydtx

[eculmone]

Good to know thank you

 

[KroozNut]

31 minutes ago, terrydtx said:

The Navigator app for onboard things like menus will not work until you are onboard. I found the app to be pretty much worthless and disappointing.

 

Hmmmm, interesting. I loved it and found it very useful. Used it every day, especially for things like reviewing our onboard account, making specialty dining reservations, booking shore excursions, planning daily onboard activities and more!

Edited December 15, 2019 by KroozNut

[T8NCruise]

10 minutes ago, KroozNut said:

 

Hmmmm, interesting. I loved it and found it very useful. Used it every day, especially for things like reviewing our onboard account, making specialty dining reservations, booking shore excursions, planning daily onboard activities and more!

 

Me too.  Over several cruises I found it really useful, especially keeping an eye on our account.  It is probably one of the best new things HAL has brought in the past few years,

 

[Btimmer]

Me, three!  We use it all the time to book dining and shore excursions, view daily events, read The NY Times and connect to the internet.

[eculmone]

On 11/22/2019 at 5:31 PM, KroozNut said:

 

We prefer to take the guesswork out of this process. Prior to our sailing we review the MDR diagrams (available online) for the particular ship we're sailing, then select a few (3-5) specific tables that we'd be happy with.

 

Next we contact the ship's coordinator for our ship at HAL's ship services via email and provide the table numbers we selected requesting to be assigned to one of those tables. The ship's coordinator will communicate your preferences to the ship's dining room staff, and confirm your assigned table back to you via email.

 

This method has worked every time for us, and we have always been assigned to one of the tables requested.

 

As an example, we already have our table assignment for our next cruise in March 2020. 🙂  

I'm curious as to why people want/need to know their seat assignments? I've never been on Holland and now I'm worried I will have horrible seating if I don't pick something? Is there a suggestion or preferred seating? Thanks 

[eculmone]

Also someone stated Coffee was 'horrible'. Tell me this isn't so? I do need a good cup of java to kick start my day 😳

[jonyboy]

3 minutes ago, eculmone said:

I'm curious as to why people want/need to know their seat assignments? I've never been on Holland and now I'm worried I will have horrible seating if I don't pick something? Is there a suggestion or preferred seating? Thanks 

It's not so much as good vs bad seating, but what you prefer.  I like a table at a window so there is a nice view during dinner

[PaulineW]

You’ll be fine. Some people get immured in the detail. Don’t worry about seat assignments unless as Jonyboy has indicated you want a window.

[eculmone]

2 minutes ago, jonyboy said:

It's not so much as good vs bad seating, but what you prefer.  I like a table at a window so there is a nice view during dinner

Thanks - another crazy question, we requested late seating and said table of 8 even though we are a party of 4 - we were hoping to mingle with other guests. Will we be seated with others? Or should I amend our table request to just 4 instead of 8? Not really sure what I'm doing... 😜

[RuthC]

45 minutes ago, eculmone said:

I'm curious as to why people want/need to know their seat assignments?

One reason can be that someone has mobility difficulties, so wants a table that's not far from the entrance. Or, wants to be sure there are no stairs to climb to get to their table. There are a few places on some ships that have a couple of stairs. 

39 minutes ago, eculmone said:

Thanks - another crazy question, we requested late seating and said table of 8 even though we are a party of 4 - we were hoping to mingle with other guests. Will we be seated with others? Or should I amend our table request to just 4 instead of 8?

Late seating tends not to get filled, so it's possible you will be seated with others, and also possible you won't. All you can do is leave your request as is, and hope for the best. 
At my table for 6, both last spring and again last summer, my tables for 6 ended up being tables for four. 

[ljgordon54]

3 hours ago, eculmone said:

Also someone stated Coffee was 'horrible'. Tell me this isn't so? I do need a good cup of java to kick start my day 😳

It isn’t unique to HAL, we have been on Princess and Carnival and the coffee is awful! Specialty coffee is pretty good, if you get a beverage card that helps. I don’t know if HAL has coffee card still. The brewed coffee at the speciality is pretty good too. BUT—we take our own (from Amazon, it’s a Chulux Single serve coffee maker cost $39.99) and our fav K-cups. (And you have to borrow 2 mugs from the lido deck, be sure to return them!) It makes our cruise more wonderful because we can enjoy our morning coffee. The stuff they deliver (free to the room) isn’t very good. HAL steward told us he was told to take it once, but we just hid it under the bed when we left the room. It truly makes our vacation better. I really don’t understand why cruise ship coffee has to be awful. 

We just came back from a short 5-day and we only had carry-ons and it fit fine along with 20 k-cups! 

 

[terrydtx]

5 minutes ago, ljgordon54 said:

I really don’t understand why cruise ship coffee has to be awful. 

Because it is cheap and works in the big coffee brewers in the dinning venues.

[rboysinmt]

3 hours ago, eculmone said:

Also someone stated Coffee was 'horrible'. Tell me this isn't so? I do need a good cup of java to kick start my day 😳

It's all a matter of opinion, and choices.  My husband likes the coffee, he puts cream in it.  I think it's horrible, they make it overly strong, it's good with a little Bailey's though.  If you're a coffee snob, you can go to the coffee cafe' which isn't bad.  If you K-cup, be sure to hide it because it's unauthorized. (could start a fire, like an iron, etc) 

 

[terrydtx]

22 minutes ago, rboysinmt said:

It's all a matter of opinion, and choices.  My husband likes the coffee, he puts cream in it.  I think it's horrible

I like good strong coffee and I drink it black. I find HAL MDR and Lido coffee to not be much better than dishwater, I go to the specialty coffee places for a good cup of coffee, When I am in Italy I enjoy have an expresso shot several times a day, it also allows me a place to use a restroom. I also have an expresso in the MDR after dinner.

[KroozNut]

6 hours ago, PaulineW said:

Don’t worry about seat assignments unless as Jonyboy has indicated you want a window.

 

Or you want a specific size table (i.e., 6 or 8-top), or to be assigned to a table located in a specific area of the dining room, or want a table away from the main entrance, or noisy bussing stations... etc, etc. 😉

[eculmone]

4 hours ago, rboysinmt said:

It's all a matter of opinion, and choices.  My husband likes the coffee, he puts cream in it.  I think it's horrible, they make it overly strong, it's good with a little Bailey's though.  If you're a coffee snob, you can go to the coffee cafe' which isn't bad.  If you K-cup, be sure to hide it because it's unauthorized. (could start a fire, like an iron, etc) 

 

Well, I don't think I'm a coffee snob 😂 BUT I do enjoy an exceptional cup of coffee and an espresso and latte too... so it looks like I AM A COFFEE SNOB 😳😂 Its the little things that make me happy and an excellent cup of coffee is one of the little things 💝 See you all soon xo

[Ljc132]

Does anyone here know how many outlets are in an inside stateroom on the Zuiderdam.