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

[Sea42]

6 minutes ago, Cruise Suzy said:

Has not been available for several years.

Yeah, we missed it in 2023 but did have it in 2021

 

[MaisonRose]

4 hours ago, Sea42 said:

 

That is one service cut that really is unfortunate! We enjoyed having a quiet last morning.

I’ve watched videos on YouTube that show what TurnAround Day is like, once I saw that it made me realize that we would be lucky to get a bowl of cereal and cold milk: so 😇👨🏽‍🍳👨🏽‍🔬HATS OFF to that fabulous crew who are handling rapid tasks with Herculean strength!  
Bises!💋

[Moriah]

22 hours ago, AMOttawa said:

I'm good with being part of a pack getting off. I just want to make sure I have enough time to get to the airport for our 1:45pm flight.

Well, depending on WHERE you are disembarking, 1:45 should be no problem at all even if you don't get off right away... but ... what port of disembarkation are we talking about? 

[IPB4IGO]

7 hours ago, AMOttawa said:

Vancouver, I should have mentioned that. We are actually thinking of taking the train to the airport.

We did that on our last cruise out of Vancouver. It's a short walk from the pier to the train station.

 

We had driven to Vancouver from home and parked in the long-term lot at the airport, which is adjacent to the airport train station.

[AMOttawa]

19 minutes ago, Moriah said:

Well, depending on WHERE you are disembarking, 1:45 should be no problem at all even if you don't get off right away... but ... what port of disembarkation are we talking about? 

Vancouver

[Haljo1935]

9 hours ago, Sea42 said:

I have read here on CC that room service is no longer offered on the final morning.

That is correct.

[Ileneilene123]

I am wondering if anyone has had any recent luck with emailing the Mariner Society and actually receiving a reply? 
I emailed them on August 26 and have not heard back yet except for receiving their auto reply acknowledging my email — it will be 2 weeks on Monday.
 

Maybe I’ll just call at this point but I thought email would be better. I questioned why we were awarded only 2 credits for an onboard spend of $2327.25 on our recent first cruise? I included calculations for all of the amounts that we spent. Hope to hear back soon. 
 

 

[Mary229]

25 minutes ago, Ileneilene123 said:

I am wondering if anyone has had any recent luck with emailing the Mariner Society and actually receiving a reply? 
I emailed them on August 26 and have not heard back yet except for receiving their auto reply acknowledging my email — it will be 2 weeks on Monday.
 

Maybe I’ll just call at this point but I thought email would be better. I questioned why we were awarded only 2 credits for an onboard spend of $2327.25 on our recent first cruise? I included calculations for all of the amounts that we spent. Hope to hear back soon. 
 

 

First check your spam folder.  NEXT I disembarked on August 20 and just yesterday received my points for my cruise.  Your accounting is probably not finalized.   It calling would be your next step

[Ileneilene123]

17 minutes ago, Mary229 said:

First check your spam folder.  NEXT I disembarked on August 20 and just yesterday received my points for my cruise.  Your accounting is probably not finalized.   It calling would be your next step

Thank you. Yep, my account was actually finalized with the Mariner Society award days pretty quickly after our July cruise — within a week. Our award days for onboard spending were just not calculated correctly. 
 

Nothing in my SPAM from the Mariner Society since I wrote to them. I will call, but I guess I’m just surprised that the Mariner Society did not reply. But perhaps this is usual. Thx. 

Edited September 7 by Ileneilene123

[Steerpike58]

On 9/5/2024 at 2:24 PM, Steerpike58 said:

We are very disappointed overall with the lido, so we are probably going to start using the main dining room for breakfast. We only want the most basic things like toast and fresh fruit, so didn't really want to have to go to the trouble of sitting at a table and being waited on, but the lido is an absolute zoo pretty much all the time, and it is stressing us out. There are never any clean, empty tables to sit at. We have to scour the area and find a dirty table that's no longer occupied, and then try to flag down a server to clear it off, then hope you can get a place setting, then wait for someone to deliver coffee, or get it yourself from the dispensers. If you get your food and beverage first, then you end up carrying it around with you doing the hunt for tables. (yesterday at lunch, my salad ended up all over the floor as someone bumped into me while we were waiting for a table to be cleared off!)

 

The food itself is not bad, but the selection is limited. We just got off a Viking Ocean Cruise last month and the difference between Viking's buffet (world cafe) and the lido is truly night and day (Holland America's main dining room was good for dinner I have to say - club orange meant we got seated quickly and the quality was comparable to Viking's restaurant). We had 12 meals at Viking world Cafe and thoroughly enjoyed every one, not bothering to go to the dining room at all.

 

The big plus, so far, for this Holland America cruise is that we were able to upgrade to a signature suite and still not pay more than Viking. Having a bigger room is a very big plus. It is however almost a necessity, because there are far fewer peaceful seating areas around the ship so we find ourselves spending much more time in our room. Viking ocean ships have an absolute abundance of spacious, quiet, relaxing areas where it's a real pleasure to just sit around and read or relax. But the cruise is still young, and we may find better places to hang out!

Since I was so negative about the lido, I need to provide an update! We have now had four dinners in the main dining room, and one at canaletto, and I have to say, they have all been extremely good. We have club Orange, so our seating has been very fast every time - really proving it's worth.

 

I've also started going to the explorations Cafe in the morning before breakfast to pick up a specialty coffee and I must say the service is fast and the line relatively short. So my new routine is to leave 15 minutes before my partner, grab a coffee, then swing by and join my partner on the way to the lido. I'm really not looking forward to having any dinners in the lido at all, but unfortunately my partner really wants to control the amount of food on her plate and she can do that better at the lido, so we'll probably have a few more lido dinners in our future.  It does make me wonder why so many people choose to go to the lido when you can go to the main dining room and have a first rate meal.

 

Edited September 8 by Steerpike58

[Steerpike58]

On 9/5/2024 at 4:58 PM, 0106 said:

You can order this from room service. It is complimentary.  Hang the tag on the door before you go to bed and it will be delivered at the time you request.

It may seem weird, but I have never used room service in my entire life at any hotel and I don't plan to start now (I've also never had food delivered to my home, not even Pizza, not even during covid!). As long as I have two functioning legs, I really do prefer to go get my own food.

 

The biggest problem is, as discussed above, you can't get specialty coffees through room service. But on top of that, I really like my food freshly prepared and hot. I can't imagine how they could prepare a cart full of meals and deliver them to all the passengers in a timely manner.  Most mornings, on a cruise, we're in a time crunch trying to get breakfast before taking off on an excursion and that's why the lido is pretty much the only option.

[SUESEABE]

55 minutes ago, Steerpike58 said:

unfortunately my partner really wants to control the amount of food on her plate and she can do that better at the lido, so we'll probably have a few more lido dinners in our future.  

She can order 'half a portion' in the MDR.

[islander47]

Do you know if Holland America gives onboard credit for both military and educators? In other words $200 for the room instead of just $100 for one or the other?

Edited September 8 by islander47
error

[SUESEABE]

@islander47 They are stackable.

[newfietravel]

What type of lanyard do I need for my room key on Nieuw Amsterdam?  One with a plastic slot, or one that clips, or is it a card that has a hole in it so as I can attach my card?  Thanks

[Stpatsirish]

I have an aluminum holder like this. Easy to slide the card out to give to the bartender or to pop into the door.

[Haljo1935]

1 hour ago, newfietravel said:

What type of lanyard do I need for my room key on Nieuw Amsterdam?  One with a plastic slot, or one that clips, or is it a card that has a hole in it so as I can attach my card?  Thanks

Card will likely have a hole already punched in it.

Edited September 9 by Haljo1935
Typo

[Stpatsirish]

There was no hole in my Nieuw Amsterdam card in July

[SUESEABE]

@Stpatsirish Guest Services will punch hole in key card.

[islandwoman]

Just put it in your pocket. Mine worked perfectly well from there, or could be pulled out quickly. With so many people carrying phones, all clothing should have pockets.  I haven't bought any pants or skirts without pockets since I taught school when I needed them for pens, pencils, and chalk.

[EtaC]

4 hours ago, islandwoman said:

Just put it in your pocket. Mine worked perfectly well from there, or could be pulled out quickly. With so many people carrying phones, all clothing should have pockets.  I haven't bought any pants or skirts without pockets since I taught school when I needed them for pens, pencils, and chalk.

Indeed. I wore an ID on a lanyard for years at work. Don't need it on vacation. 😁

[jeh10641]

I, too, just put my card in a shirt pocket. I never buy a shirt without a pocket. I spent most of my working years as a sales rep so needed a place for pens, business cards, etc. Even in retirement I still need a pen for writing and sometimes business cards.

Jim

[terrydtx]

1 hour ago, EtaC said:

Indeed. I wore an ID on a lanyard for years at work. Don't need it on vacation. 😁

The comedian on the Volendam last month made fun of passengers with their accessorized lanyards worn on the ship. BTW our sail cards did not have a hole punched on the Volendam. 

[ExArkie]

1 hour ago, EtaC said:

Indeed. I wore an ID on a lanyard for years at work. Don't need it on vacation. 😁

I worked in Washington, DC, for a while, with an office in a building on the National Mall. If you went out to lunch in the area, you would think the country had a requirement that everyone wear an ID lanyard around their necks.

[D Lee]

Front desk will punch hole in key card for you. I had card punch on last my cruise. My son kept for getting his key, but I always had mine.