Lights Out at Midnight

[OlsSalt]

1 hour ago, BermudaBound2014 said:

 

This is a good example of what I've been suggesting. HAL's niche is longer cruises with better itineraries when compared to the competition. You are willing to pay a bit more than Princess because the itinerary is better. The fact that HAL offers this itinerary at an attractive price point when compared to luxury lines is another niche for HAL. It's the carbon copy 7 day itineraries that HAL is really struggling to fill. 

 

 

HAL never should have tried to (or were force to) compete with the 7 day mass bus trips, unless they had a unique market like, Bermuda, Mexican Riviera or Alaska.

 

What ever happened to Bermuda, other than hearing it was hard on the crew - numbing sameness, too many at sea days, and the same darn port over and over again for their entire contract. 

[KroozNut]

On 3/9/2023 at 11:16 PM, bdd123 said:

 

Sorry..... can't agree with any of this.

 

I have done 3 Neptune suites.   2001ish, 2006 and 2023.    All cruises have been high quality.    I don't even understand these types of comments.   Bands/music were far, far better this year.    I may try Celebrity but on our Feb cruise it would have been 18k vs 10k.

 

I dont believe a single post about poor food, portions, etc 

 

I rocked 3 music venues for about 4 hours a night.

 

Silent disco is a darned joke.   LMAO.

 

I the 7 days on ms NS I did not meet anyone that shared this opinion.

I 100% agree with all of it... spot on post!

 

[Colorado Klutch]

16 hours ago, BermudaBound2014 said:

 

The discounts are being applied to all categories that have remaing inventory. Lucky for those in the market to book, there is a plethora  of remaining inventory available on May Alaska sailings.  Veranda cabins are selling in the $600 pp range for most May sailings.

 

I'm not convinced. Those discounts are the "illusion of savings". If you actually book, there is no discount. I've been keeping an eye on my cruise since early January. The only discount has been for the Have It All package. That would be nice if HIA made sense for me. It doesn't, so there is no discount. 

 

Edited March 12, 2023 by Colorado Klutch

[RICHARD@SEA]

20 hours ago, OlsSalt said:

 

HAL never should have tried to (or were force to) compete with the 7 day mass bus trips, unless they had a unique market like, Bermuda, Mexican Riviera or Alaska.

 

What ever happened to Bermuda, other than hearing it was hard on the crew - numbing sameness, too many at sea days, and the same darn port over and over again for their entire contract. 

Back in the 1970's through the several years ago a mainstay of holidays were spent on Home lines & HAL on the NYC to Bermuda & Bermuda / Nassau run - it was a wonderful cruise especially when the ships docked in Front street in Hamilton.

As far as I recall the officers & crew liked the Bermuda itin because they loved NYC & the 3.5 days in Bermuda were easy, no tendering and passengers spent a lot of time ashore - as did the crew when they had time off. and customs was minimal & certainly better than dealing w the Bahamas.

 

several years ago Bermuda limited the size & number of ships that could dock in Hamilton / Front Street.

 

Now only a couple of smaller ships dock in Hamiilton & I don;t know of any that spend 3.5 days there.

 

i would gladly do b2b cruises to Bermuda on the NY run if offered - it was a wonderful 7 day itin.

[3rdGenCunarder]

14 minutes ago, RICHARD@SEA said:

Back in the 1970's through the several years ago a mainstay of holidays were spent on Home lines & HAL on the NYC to Bermuda & Bermuda / Nassau run - it was a wonderful cruise especially when the ships docked in Front street in Hamilton.

As far as I recall the officers & crew liked the Bermuda itin because they loved NYC & the 3.5 days in Bermuda were easy, no tendering and passengers spent a lot of time ashore - as did the crew when they had time off. and customs was minimal & certainly better than dealing w the Bahamas.

 

several years ago Bermuda limited the size & number of ships that could dock in Hamilton / Front Street.

 

Now only a couple of smaller ships dock in Hamiilton & I don;t know of any that spend 3.5 days there.

 

i would gladly do b2b cruises to Bermuda on the NY run if offered - it was a wonderful 7 day itin.

 

I loved my HAL cruises from NYC to Bermuda in the 1970s.. I don't know why they gave up the NYC berth. Maybe ports costs were too high. They came back to NYC about 15 years ago, but that lasted only a few years. We were happy that we did a crusie to Bermuda at that time and Veendam took us to Hamilton and not the Dockyard. 

 

Bermuda didn't have to limit the size of ships that could dock in Hamilton. The cruiselines did that by building ships that wouldn't navigate the reefs and rocks to get into Hamilton Harbor. We docked along Front Street on the Statendam and Volendam (previous incarnations of those names). But the Rotterdam of the 1950s-60s was too big to dock in Hamilton and had to anchor out in the Sound and tender passengers to Hamilton. 

Edited March 12, 2023 by 3rdGenCunarder

[BermudaBound2014]

7 hours ago, Colorado Klutch said:

 

I'm not convinced. Those discounts are the "illusion of savings". If you actually book, there is no discount. I've been keeping an eye on my cruise since early January. The only discount has been for the Have It All package. That would be nice if HIA made sense for me. It doesn't, so there is no discount. 

 

 

 

Not sure what you mean by the 'illusion of savings".

 

Here is the exact price at this moment in time (taking it all the way thru to booking, so no illusion at all). This is directly from the HAL web page:

 

$649 pp guarantee veranda cabin on May 13th Koningsdam departure.

$260 pp taxes

= $909 pp total out of pocket.

 

I'm being very careful not to mention any travel agencies since that is against CC rules; but there is a current flash sale being offered by most including prepaid gratuity ($108.50 pp) and $75 in OBC per cabin. 

 

However; those looking for an even deeper discount will find the current rack rates for an interior are $399 and an ocean view are $499 (plus $260 taxes). It seems to me that these prices are discounted, but I have no idea what you paid.

 

I truly hope you did better than the current prices when you booked. I'm always cheering for the consumer to get the best price possible. 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 12, 2023 by BermudaBound2014

[RD64]

3 hours ago, RICHARD@SEA said:

Back in the 1970's through the several years ago a mainstay of holidays were spent on Home lines & HAL on the NYC to Bermuda & Bermuda / Nassau run - it was a wonderful cruise especially when the ships docked in Front street in Hamilton.

As far as I recall the officers & crew liked the Bermuda itin because they loved NYC & the 3.5 days in Bermuda were easy, no tendering and passengers spent a lot of time ashore - as did the crew when they had time off. and customs was minimal & certainly better than dealing w the Bahamas.

 

several years ago Bermuda limited the size & number of ships that could dock in Hamilton / Front Street.

 

Now only a couple of smaller ships dock in Hamiilton & I don;t know of any that spend 3.5 days there.

 

i would gladly do b2b cruises to Bermuda on the NY run if offered - it was a wonderful 7 day itin.

My Veendam Boston to Bermuda in 2017 was one of my all time favourite cruises. In my opinion, a less demanding schedule for the crew. If HAL were to start this again, I would book it in a flash.

[Colorado Klutch]

4 hours ago, BermudaBound2014 said:

 

 

Not sure what you mean by the 'illusion of savings".

 

Here is the exact price at this moment in time (taking it all the way thru to booking, so no illusion at all). This is directly from the HAL web page:

 

$649 pp guarantee veranda cabin on May 13th Koningsdam departure.

$260 pp taxes

= $909 pp total out of pocket.

 

I'm being very careful not to mention any travel agencies since that is against CC rules; but there is a current flash sale being offered by most including prepaid gratuity ($108.50 pp) and $75 in OBC per cabin. 

 

However; those looking for an even deeper discount will find the current rack rates for an interior are $399 and an ocean view are $499 (plus $260 taxes). It seems to me that these prices are discounted, but I have no idea what you paid.

 

I truly hope you did better than the current prices when you booked. I'm always cheering for the consumer to get the best price possible. 

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you for detailing this. My cruise was a lot more because I wanted to choose my own cabin. No discounts there. 

[Homelines]

Ny to BDA cruises were great. SO nice docking on Front Street.  It was not alot of sea days for the crew.  Crew liked these cruises because they got more time off the ship.

[BermudaBound2014]

On 3/12/2023 at 9:42 PM, Colorado Klutch said:

 

Thank you for detailing this. My cruise was a lot more because I wanted to choose my own cabin. No discounts there. 

 

I just got an email alert that the prices for all May Alaska Konningsdam sailings have dropped again. I'm sure they have dropped on all the ships.

 

Inside: $299

Outside: $349

Balcony: $549

Suite: $899

 

Obviously, these fire sales exist because ships aren't selling well. I hope someone can take advantage of these great sales! 

 

Edited March 15, 2023 by BermudaBound2014

[meglet]

On 3/12/2023 at 7:14 PM, RD64 said:

My Veendam Boston to Bermuda in 2017 was one of my all time favourite cruises. In my opinion, a less demanding schedule for the crew. If HAL were to start this again, I would book it in a flash.

Me too! It was a great alternative to NCL.

[Colorado Klutch]

57 minutes ago, BermudaBound2014 said:

 

I just got an email alert that the prices for all May Alaska Konningsdam sailings have dropped again. I'm sure they have dropped on all the ships.

 

Inside: $299

Outside: $349

Balcony: $549

Suite: $899

 

Obviously, these fire sales exist because ships aren't selling well. I hope someone can take advantage of these great sales! 

 

 

Interesting. I signed up on Cruise Watch, but haven't seen any price drops for my cruise. I will keep checking. 

[SweetsugarNL]

On 3/15/2023 at 8:44 PM, BermudaBound2014 said:

 

I just got an email alert that the prices for all May Alaska Konningsdam sailings have dropped again. I'm sure they have dropped on all the ships.

 

Inside: $299

Outside: $349

Balcony: $549

Suite: $899

 

Obviously, these fire sales exist because ships aren't selling well. I hope someone can take advantage of these great sales! 

 

It sucked that we Europeans never get those prices or drops. We paid over 1400 euro Each for a hia inside in june.

[Florida_gal_50]

28 minutes ago, SweetsugarNL said:

It sucked that we Europeans never get those prices or drops. We paid over 1400 euro Each for a hia inside in june.

Canadians aren't either, at least I'm not seeing anything close to those prices.

[Hlitner]

On 3/12/2023 at 7:57 AM, OlsSalt said:

 

HAL never should have tried to (or were force to) compete with the 7 day mass bus trips, unless they had a unique market like, Bermuda, Mexican Riviera or Alaska.

 

What ever happened to Bermuda, other than hearing it was hard on the crew - numbing sameness, too many at sea days, and the same darn port over and over again for their entire contract. 

I will disagree as we cannot imagine a cruise with too many sea days.  As to the crew, a job is a job!  Consider a garbage collector working the same route for their entire career, a factory worker building the same widget, an airline counter clerk doing the same tasks, etc.  We have always been somewhat amused at fellow cruisers who constantly concern themselves with the crew.  I wonder how many take the time to bond with their trash collector, hotel maid, waiter, etc.   All these folks are simply doing the job that they chose.  The crew on ships are not slaves but are trained workers doing their jobs.

 

Hank

[Cruiz'nBaers]

I have finally caught up on the entire thread, and, my oh my how it has changed.  (But then, they always do.). I have opinions on all things HAL.  We cruised for the first time in 2003 on the Zuiderdam, when it was almost brand new, I remember well the Northern Lights Disco.  We fell in love with cruising and HAL on one of those “7 day bus trips” to the Caribbean.  We were still in our early 50’s and working, so 7 day itineraries worked well for us, we could fly into Ft. Lauderdale on a Saturday and return home on a Saturday, allowing Sunday for laundry and getting ready to return to work.  We were amazed at how wonderful a cruise vacation was.  Marvelous food, served by attentive staff, pampering pool and bar personnel and fantastic entertainment, complete with singers and dancers in production shows and unique guests performers.  Not one show was a HAL origin story (while interesting, more of a morning or afternoon talk) or a BBC Earth movie.  We enjoyed ourselves, chatting with new found friends until after midnight (gasp) in the Crow’s Nest or the Piano Bar.  Word of mouth is the best and cheapest advertisement any company can get, and boy, did we give HAL plenty of free advertisement.  We still enjoy cruising on HAL, we tried Royal Caribbean and had a fun cruise, but it was not for us.  We tried Celebrity and love it.  But for longer cruises (since we’re now 69 and 71 and retired) we prefer HAL.  However, we steal ourselves for the less than 2003 and 2004 experience we had in the beginning of our cruise journey.  Our last cruise was the 2022 VOV for 35 days on the Zaandam.  While overall the cruise was amazing, that had to do more with the amazing places we saw and the new friends we made, rather than the ship experience.  We did have a bit of after midnight (gasp) fun in several of the bars, but the entertainment was lackluster.  The guest speakers in the theater in the morning and early afternoon were very good, but aside from them, passengers were pretty much on their own in finding something to do on sea days.  I know that food is subjective, but there again, a bit underwhelming.  The dining staff was way overwhelmed, as were the bar staff.  I often wondered about the “lack of availability” in hiring more workers, my cynical self thinks HAL, along with other lines, is purposely understaffing their ships, thinking we are all expecting it after the pandemic.  All of the Philippine and Indonesian staff I spoke with have very strong work ethics.
 

My thoughts are (and my husband was self employed) is that businesses have to spend money to make money.  Their goal should be to have every passenger who leaves their ships to be raving about the experience they had to every friend and family member.  As I said earlier, word of mouth is the cheapest and best advertising any company can get.  
 

My opinion only, take it or leave it.  Thank you for reading,

Edited March 20, 2023 by Cruiz'nBaers

[OlsSalt]

6 hours ago, Florida_gal_50 said:

Canadians aren't either, at least I'm not seeing anything close to those prices.

 

Oceania would always send out loss-leader pricing, only to learn upon calling that they had already been sold out. But perhaps you would be interested in these cabins ..............at much higher prices. 

[SweetsugarNL]

Last year on the Rotterdam in Norway no bar open after 12 o clock.

i was on the Virtuosa last week… The busiest place on the ship on 1 o clock was the buffet with fresh pizza and live music on the ship everywhere! Also a lot of eldery people.. Also the bar staff was so good and so many! On Hal we need to beg for a drink last summer. So if MSC can get enough bar staff, why hal not?

 

My parents close to 70ers, are night owls and have booked a Hal cruise. I have prepared them to go to bed early😂

 

I have booked a Alaska cruise for this summer on the Koningsdam. Looking forward but i think it will be great if you get a drink after 12 o clock. Not to party but if you have a seaday, why not.