What is your pet peeve(s) with Holland America ?

[Mary229]

1 hour ago, Oceansaway17 said:

All other cruise lines allow for adding vacation protection at time of final payment just NOT HAL.

fact is HAL is difficult on this one issue and I should know since I sail on others lines more.

It depends on refund-ability of moneys put down.  This is an underwriter requirement not a cruise line issue.   The cruise lines don’t actually insure you they use an insurance company to take care of this.  
 

once you have paid one dime of non-refundable money you can’t buy insurance.  On the other hand if you put down 75% yet if it is refundable then you can buy insurance 

Edited August 8, 2023 by Mary229

[OBX-Cruisers]

My pet peeve with HAL is their extremely stingy repeat cruiser awards program.  With fewer cruises on RCI vs HAL we have reached Diamond class.   RCI has a special lounge for Diamond  passengers (comparable to 3 star cruise requirement on HAL) , 3 drinks per person per night at any lounge or bar throughout the day and there have been perks for backstage and galley tours as well.  Before COVID RCI also had special check in lines for Diamond and above class (e.g., suites) but I read that some of those amenities have changed post covid.

   Because of many differences in quality of shows and other ship features, we now go on RCI as our main choice and only use HAL for itineraries we want.  HAL drove us away.

[Destiny0315]

3 minutes ago, OBX-Cruisers said:

My pet peeve with HAL is their extremely stingy repeat cruiser awards program

I would have to agree with that one for sure as HAL has done very little with it's Mariner program in recent years to improve it and make it more desirable even pre-covid. 

[albingirl]

1 hour ago, Destiny0315 said:

I would have to agree with that one for sure as HAL has done very little with it's Mariner program in recent years to improve it and make it more desirable even pre-covid. 

Yeah, I can't even get  a free drink which is like who cares. I get laundry. That's it. Who ya gonna call? A gazillion cruises and you are getting nuttin. Ha! Just book the cruise and let the chips fall. I'm not one to complain...just go with the flow .  

[CruiserBruce]

6 minutes ago, albingirl said:

Yeah, I can't even get  a free drink which is like who cares. I get laundry. That's it. Who ya gonna call? A gazillion cruises and you are getting nuttin. Ha! Just book the cruise and let the chips fall. I'm not one to complain...just go with the flow .  

So what level Mariner are you?

[albingirl]

7 minutes ago, CruiserBruce said:

So what level Mariner are you?

4 just about 5

[albingirl]

Just now, albingirl said:

4 just about 5

So why did you ask

[CruiserBruce]

2 minutes ago, albingirl said:

So why did you ask

When you said you got nothing after a gazillion cruises...just curious.

[albingirl]

23 minutes ago, CruiserBruce said:

When you said you got nothing after a gazillion cruises...just curious.

It's pretty accurate. I'm pretty sure I  said to go with the flow. People seem to expect alot.  I  don't. That's all. I am happy to pay for what we receive and nothing more. This is getting complicated! End of my foolish comments 

[crystalspin]

3 hours ago, OBX-Cruisers said:

Because of many differences in quality of shows and other ship features, we now go on RCI as our main choice and only use HAL for itineraries we want.  HAL drove us away.

RCI drove us away with their VERY VISIBLE loyalty classes, parading by us first Royal cruisers to their exclusive cocktail hours. We are happy to be among the invisible HAL 4*'ers gettin our invisible free laundry.

[TheMichael]

15 hours ago, deliver42 said:

My pet peeve is looking at an Alaska cruise on the Eurodam next year. It goes to all the ports we're interested in, but 2 of them are late arrivals that deem them useless for us. Icy Strait Point, 6P.M. and Victoria, 8P.M. We'll stick with RCCL Ovation that gets to Victoria at 1 P.M. and doesn't leave till 10P.M. Plenty of time to see the gardens.

A tiny, late window of time in Victoria is pretty standard for all Alaska cruises out of Seattle - they have to make a stop in a foreign country for legal purposes (combination of vessels flagged in other countries and an 1886 law), so they do it almost as an afterthought, often arriving late for even less time there.

 

If you want to do Victoria (and it's a great place to spend at least a weekend), I'd either recommend flying to Vancouver, renting a car, and taking a BC Ferry, or taking the Victoria Clipper from Seattle.

[Despegue]

One irritating thing is the complete confusion regarding the Signature Drink Package and its 15 drinks limit.

it has always heem 15 ALCOHOLIC drinks and unlimited non-alcoholic, but it seems that recently, Corporate has decided that it is 15 drinks total, which is completely ridiculous. ESPECIALLY knowing that Parent Carnival has the same package, Cheers!, onboard their Carnival ships, where for  around the same price, you have a limit of indeed 15 alcoholic drinks but UNLIMITED non-alcoholic, just as originally designed.

 

 

[LouChamp]

Aloha. No more Yum Yum man!

[BetsyS.]

albingirl - I agree with you. When I am on a cruise, I am not cooking or doing dishes or laundry or grocery shopping, etc. In my opinion, HAL's crew go above and beyond. I think the food is great and there is a big variety with something for everyone.

I like the HAL itineraries and that I can go roundtrip from Boston.

[CruiserBruce]

5 hours ago, Despegue said:

One irritating thing is the complete confusion regarding the Signature Drink Package and its 15 drinks limit.

it has always heem 15 ALCOHOLIC drinks and unlimited non-alcoholic, but it seems that recently, Corporate has decided that it is 15 drinks total, which is completely ridiculous. ESPECIALLY knowing that Parent Carnival has the same package, Cheers!, onboard their Carnival ships, where for  around the same price, you have a limit of indeed 15 alcoholic drinks but UNLIMITED non-alcoholic, just as originally designed.

 

 

Carnival Cruise Line is not HAL's parent. Carnival Corp is.

 

The 15 drink issue started after Covid.

[BetsyS.]

crystalspin- I agree with you. I'm happy to get free laundry. HAL does an excellent job and I get my laundry back the next day. 

[albingirl]

16 minutes ago, BetsyS. said:

crystalspin- I agree with you. I'm happy to get free laundry. HAL does an excellent job and I get my laundry back the next day. 

It's all pressed so nicely!  Not the job I do at home, that's for sure. It's worth bringing all my linen clothes onboard for the pressing!

[BetsyS.]

albingirl - I don't do any ironing at home, so I appreciate having clothes pressed so nicely by HAL.

[albingirl]

38 minutes ago, BetsyS. said:

albingirl - I don't do any ironing at home, so I appreciate having clothes pressed so nicely by HAL.

Me too. Lol 

[electro]

for me it is that they end their entertainment too early. sometimes as early as 10 PM and alway by 11.

 

my other pet peeve is that they have their trivia games during dinner time. It should be a day time event, there is often nothing to do in the morning and between 2 and 6 and then they do trivia at 7 and 8. makes no sense.

 

[SeaCapt]

23 minutes ago, electro said:

for me it is that they end their entertainment too early. sometimes as early as 10 PM and alway by 11.

 

my other pet peeve is that they have their trivia games during dinner time. It should be a day time event, there is often nothing to do in the morning and between 2 and 6 and then they do trivia at 7 and 8. makes no sense.

 

I guess it must depend on your ship or itinerary.

We just got off 24 days aboard N. Statendam, so I looked through the daily programs again.

 

The rock band started their last set at either 11:15pm or 11:30pm each night, playing till after midnight.

 

BB King started their last set at 10:15pm, playing till 11pm, then a DJ came on till midnight or later if people were dancing.

 

Trivia was at 4:30pm, and they had a variety of arts and crafts, bridge, line dancing, wine tasting, mixology, outdoor sports, art sales, etc., all in the afternoon hours.

[mcrcruiser]

HAL needs to   improve the priority boarding procedures at the San Diego pier   . Until it is done they have handicap boarding with all others ,at the same time depending on your boarding time

[scubacruiserx2]

On 8/8/2023 at 8:24 AM, panther61 said:

#1 peeve (and reason why I’m now considering another line for my next cruise) - the elimination of Lincoln Center Stage and the classical quartet.  My cruise this past June on the Eurodam was lack-luster without it. Bad cutback HAL! You may have just lost a very loyal customer. 

 

Here's a LCS performance clip that we heard going to dinner so we stopped for a quick video . Consider ( Enchanted ) Princess and the next post below that we will answer and include 2 longer videos from them in the atrium .

 

 

 

[Oceansaway17]

22 hours ago, Mary229 said:

It depends on refund-ability of moneys put down.  This is an underwriter requirement not a cruise line issue.   The cruise lines don’t actually insure you they use an insurance company to take care of this.  
 

once you have paid one dime of non-refundable money you can’t buy insurance.  On the other hand if you put down 75% yet if it is refundable then you can buy insurance 

Not true as I have done this on other lines.

again the insurance is for trip not the deposit.

At one time protection had to be prepaid by now one can add on at time of final pymt just NOT on HAL.

As for Carnival I book deposit then wait a month and call back to add protection.

Folks at CCL were amazed how sister company handled this issue differently 

[Linaeve]

9 hours ago, Despegue said:

One irritating thing is the complete confusion regarding the Signature Drink Package and its 15 drinks limit.

it has always heem 15 ALCOHOLIC drinks and unlimited non-alcoholic, but it seems that recently, Corporate has decided that it is 15 drinks total, which is completely ridiculous. ESPECIALLY knowing that Parent Carnival has the same package, Cheers!, onboard their Carnival ships, where for  around the same price, you have a limit of indeed 15 alcoholic drinks but UNLIMITED non-alcoholic, just as originally designed.

 

 

 

This isn't true. When I cruised in 2009 it was 15 drinks total (alcoholic and non included in the total). Was the same in 2017. It's a big reason when my folks went in 2010 and 2017 they took a ton of soda with them (was allowed at the time) in addition to the drink package so they knew they had enough. Perhaps prior to 2009? Which doesn't feel like recent to me.