Initial (frustrating) impressions of our cruise on the Volendam so far

[jeff74]

We’re currently on a 10 day Panama Canal cruise and unfortunately it’s been a mixed bag at best so far.

 

Negatives:

 We didn’t receive acknowledgement for many internet pre purchases that we made including almost $2500 of casino chips, $50 of onboard credit, 2 specialty dinners and a spa appointment for my wife.  I have gotten the dinners sorted out but I’m still waiting on resolution for the rest.

 

 The room that we booked for my mom is being used as a storage closet and was filled to almost the ceiling with toilet paper.  That issue has since been resolved with her being moved to a different room.  I’ve attached a pic.

 

 Positives:

 The food quality has been good and on par with previous cruises.

 The ship is well maintained in appearance.

 The staff as always has been friendly and helpful.

 

Net/net, I am really hoping that the rest of the issues get resolved today otherwise I’m out several thousand dollars.  I’ve already spent 4 hours with guest services and it feels more like a working vacation to this point.

[Florida_gal_50]

I guess they didn’t know that you were coming with the cabin filled with toilet paper 🙄.  That is crazy about all your missing items.  I hope it all gets resolved soon.  No one needs that on a vacation.  Good luck!

[BetsyS.]

I'm sorry to hear that. I hope this will get straightened out and that you will be compensated for your troubles. You and your family deserve a relaxing vacation.

We all do. Good luck.

 

[SilvertoGold]

Wow! A cabin not made ready for guests.  That is a new one for me and I hope it is the last time that ever happens! 

Please keep us in the loop on the resolution of your pre-purchases. 

Have a great cruise, otherwise:)

[Iamthesea]

Looks like that stateroom was made ready for my husband! 🤣  According to him, one can never have enough toilet paper!

[Lido deck main]

Doesn’t sound like a good start.  Hopefully you can find your email confirmations on your pre purchases.  I pre print mine just in case something like this would happen.  Hope they put your mother in a better cabin category.  How does the ship look, is it all decorated for the holidays, that is one of our bucket cruises to do.

[puppycanducruise]

Not a good start, hope it gets better soon.

[Mike B Landlubber]

On my cruise on Noordam that just ended, two bookings at Canaletto I had made and paid for in advance weren’t listed by the ship when I boarded. Weirdly, pre-bookings for Pinnacle were showing correctly. I went to customer service and it was resolved in five minutes. Sorry your experience has been tougher! It is definitely smart to carefully compare what shows in the Navigator app to what you know you booked!

Edited December 18, 2022 by Mike B Landlubber

[ski ww]

Not a good way to start your vacation, hope it gets sorted out sooner then later. Other wise enjoy your cruise.

[DaveOKC]

Now I know where all the toilet paper was that was missing from our recent cruise!

 

[Florida_gal_50]

38 minutes ago, Mike B Landlubber said:

On my cruise on Noordam that just ended, two bookings at Canaletto I had made and paid for in advance weren’t listed by the ship when I boarded. Weirdly, pre-bookings for Pinnacle were showing correctly. I went to customer service and it was resolved in five minutes. Sorry your experience has been tougher! It is definitely smart to carefully compare what shows in the Navigator app to what you know you booked!

Wow, that’s a first having the front desk resolve anything, especially in 5 minutes.  They must be new 😛.

[The-Inside-Cabin]

7 hours ago, jeff74 said:

We’re currently on a 10 day Panama Canal cruise and unfortunately it’s been a mixed bag at best so far.

 

Negatives:

 We didn’t receive acknowledgement for many internet pre purchases that we made including almost $2500 of casino chips, $50 of onboard credit, 2 specialty dinners and a spa appointment for my wife.  I have gotten the dinners sorted out but I’m still waiting on resolution for the rest.

 

 The room that we booked for my mom is being used as a storage closet and was filled to almost the ceiling with toilet paper.  That issue has since been resolved with her being moved to a different room.  I’ve attached a pic.

 

 Positives:

 The food quality has been good and on par with previous cruises.

 The ship is well maintained in appearance.

 The staff as always has been friendly and helpful.

 

Net/net, I am really hoping that the rest of the issues get resolved today otherwise I’m out several thousand dollars.  I’ve already spent 4 hours with guest services and it feels more like a working vacation to this point.

I presume you got confirmation from HAL via email when you purchased the chips etc a while back.   Was the issue that there wasn't the typical piece of paper in your cabin with the same info?

 

I have ordered "casino chips" before - never get chips, but they simply gave me cash at the casino cage and said = buy the chips at the table.   Let me know if they do it the same way once you get it sorted out.

Edited December 18, 2022 by The-Inside-Cabin

[johnmik1]

I keep verifications of every thing I buy,or am gifted and bring it on every cruise.I have had some sort of issue with them leaving things off on almost all of the HAL cruises,with the error always being it their favor!

[daisy-mae]

1 hour ago, The-Inside-Cabin said:

 

 

I have ordered "casino chips" before - never get chips, but they simply gave me cash at the casino cage and said = buy the chips at the table.   Let me know if they do it the same way once you get it sorted out.

Just wondering if there is any advantage (or discount) when pre-purchasing casino chips? 

[The-Inside-Cabin]

Just now, daisy-mae said:

Just wondering if there is any advantage (or discount) when pre-purchasing casino chips? 

It will appear as a purchase on your credit card rather than a cash advance - so interest won't start immediately as it does with a cash advance.   Also, you typically get your miles or bonus points on a purchase.   So.....It's a way to get some cash on the ship without having to use an ATM.....

 

There isn't any discount.    However, this is based on my ONE experience pre pandemic.   soooo....I was thinking they might  give you actual chips and require you to play them at least once - not the case - at least for me...

 

We got a voucher in our cabin - took it to the casino - and they counted out the cash..

[jeff74]

No resolution as of yet on the casino chips.  The issue was that in addition to there not being a slip of paper in my cabin showing the purchase the records that both guest services and the casino cashier have are showing that I only purchased $2740.  I have all of my emails showing the various transactions purchasing the chips that I can show guest services and I also took a screen shot off my itinerary the day prior to the cruise showing my total purchase of 522 $10 increments of chips that I presented to them.   Guest services had me email them it so that they could send it along to their main office.

 

I assume the issue with them also only seeing $5 of my onboard credit that I purchased, the missing specialty dinners and the missing credit for the spa appointment are all related.  Regarding the last point, guest services told me to talk to the spa then the spa told me that I needed to talk to guest services since any pre purchase should have shown as a credit on my onboard account that the spa would then draw down from.

[LMaxwell]

4 hours w GS is about 4 hours too much. 

[The-Inside-Cabin]

1 hour ago, jeff74 said:

No resolution as of yet on the casino chips.  The issue was that in addition to there not being a slip of paper in my cabin showing the purchase the records that both guest services and the casino cashier have are showing that I only purchased $2740.  I have all of my emails showing the various transactions purchasing the chips that I can show guest services and I also took a screen shot off my itinerary the day prior to the cruise showing my total purchase of 522 $10 increments of chips that I presented to them.   Guest services had me email them it so that they could send it along to their main office.

 

I assume the issue with them also only seeing $5 of my onboard credit that I purchased, the missing specialty dinners and the missing credit for the spa appointment are all related.  Regarding the last point, guest services told me to talk to the spa then the spa told me that I needed to talk to guest services since any pre purchase should have shown as a credit on my onboard account that the spa would then draw down from.

I would also send a note to the Hotel GM.   I am sure that GS is following their "protocol" but it should not take more than a few hours once Seattle opens for business.     Stuff like this is so annoying ...it will get resolved eventually, but its so frustrating to have to deal with it in the first place, let alone have to make repeated followups...

[Florida_gal_50]

I don't know if guest services goes out of its way to be obtuse but they have to make everything so unpleasant.  They made all sorts of accusations about me losing all sorts of information on my last cruise.  I pushed it and it turned out my cabin steward had misplaced all sorts of things.  Once they found out what happened no apology was made to me  for all the accusations they made. Not a good way to do business.

[jeff74]

Good news… The casino manager saw me and said that they got an email that the rest of the chips were available.  I also saw on my statement that the credit for my wife’s spa appointment appeared in the past couple of hours.  We only have the issue with getting charged again last night’s specialty dinner remaining but I consider this a win from where everything stood this am.

[sunviking90]

3 hours ago, jeff74 said:

Good news… The casino manager saw me and said that they got an email that the rest of the chips were available.  I also saw on my statement that the credit for my wife’s spa appointment appeared in the past couple of hours.  We only have the issue with getting charged again last night’s specialty dinner remaining but I consider this a win from where everything stood this am.

In the real world (non cruise) you would be comped a specialty dinner or given “something” to make up for the hassle. Sadly on HAL (and others)  it seems that getting anything resolved at all is the only compensation, and we consider it a “win”.

Edited December 19, 2022 by sunviking90

[REOVA]

6 hours ago, jeff74 said:

Good news… The casino manager saw me and said that they got an email that the rest of the chips were available.  I also saw on my statement that the credit for my wife’s spa appointment appeared in the past couple of hours.  We only have the issue with getting charged again last night’s specialty dinner remaining but I consider this a win from where everything stood this am.

Get the dinner charge taken care of before you get off ship.  Otherwise it's a lost cause. If you havent already, put a comment in Let Us Know /Connect secrion of Navigator app. That usually gets someones attention. Glad you got your chips. I was worried you bought $2k of toilet paper by mistake. 

Edited December 19, 2022 by REOVA
Added

[jeff74]

Thanks for the tip on putting a comment in the app.  I went ahead and took your advice.  Along with the Cannelo double charge I forgot that I’m still missing some OBC.  The total amount I’m still out of pocket is close to $100 but I have to admit I’ve already been doing the math of how much my time is worth to me since these 30-45 minute stretchs of standing in line at guest services have been annoying.  I’ll try to go at an “off peak” time if needed going forward.

[Florida_gal_50]

I hope you get action with the let us know.  I find if it’s a easy fix it gets addressed. If it isn’t, not so much

[Mary229]

Glad it is sorting out.  Use the app too to get your messages out.  
 

I still want to know why they had all of that toilet paper in the room.