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HAL's New Improved!? Website

OldCodger73

By OldCodger73,
in Holland America Line

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OldCodger73

OldCodger73

Posted
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Is anyone else having trouble with HAL's website. Today when I sign on I get a second window that asks for continent and home country and basically won't go away, when you respond it keeps popping back up and won't let you access the rest of the site.

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OVgirl

OVgirl

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Once you tell them you are in Canada, it will not let you see pricing in US$. I also could not access any prices for flights through HAL. I guess it means we have to call their agents for that information. I prefer to be able to get that sort of information before I talk to someone.

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dchip

dchip

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I couldn't get on the site at all with Safari. It is my first time checking out Holland America after 6 cruises with Princess!! Hoping to book a Southern Caribbean cruise in Oct 07 with a good friend.

 

Cheers, Denise

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gophercruiser

gophercruiser

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Masquerading under the title of "New & improved website" Hal has now insisted that you allow "cookies" on your compter ,so that it can feed you only the pricing structure for the country you live in. It is common knowledge that HAL is beating the Canadians badly in the exchange of funds as they now charge 18 % more for the Canadian price over the US$, yet the exchange rate is only 6 to 7 %.In the past (300 plus days on HAL) we were able to have Hal charge us in US funds but now they see fit to make it very difficult for a Canadian to find the US price ,( other than phoning and we know what a time delay that can be) so that we know how badly their exchange rate is. One can delete the HAL cookie every time one wants to switch from Canadian pricing to US but that is a real pain in the rear. The old system of simply allowing one to choose the pricing structure they wanted , worked well and if Hal was sincere about this being an improvement, thay would simply not insist that "cookies" be allowed so that we could take the extra step and decide which pricing structure we wanted to look at. With another 77 days already booked I sure hope they are not thinking of not allowing Canadians to pay in US funds as there is no way we are prepared to pay a 10 % surcharge. (By the way "cookies" are what HAL installs on your computer hard drive without your permission, so that it knows what it wants to send you, if you "block" their cookie, Hal will not allow you to enter their site.).

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LouisV

LouisV

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Masquerading under the title of "New & improved website" Hal has now insisted that you allow "cookies" on your compter ,so that it can feed you only the pricing structure for the country you live in. It is common knowledge that HAL is beating the Canadians badly in the exchange of funds as they now charge 18 % more for the Canadian price over the US$, yet the exchange rate is only 6 to 7 %.In the past (300 plus days on HAL) we were able to have Hal charge us in US funds but now they see fit to make it very difficult for a Canadian to find the US price ,( other than phoning and we know what a time delay that can be) so that we know how badly their exchange rate is. One can delete the HAL cookie every time one wants to switch from Canadian pricing to US but that is a real pain in the rear. The old system of simply allowing one to choose the pricing structure they wanted , worked well and if Hal was sincere about this being an improvement, thay would simply not insist that "cookies" be allowed so that we could take the extra step and decide which pricing structure we wanted to look at. With another 77 days already booked I sure hope they are not thinking of not allowing Canadians to pay in US funds as there is no way we are prepared to pay a 10 % surcharge. (By the way "cookies" are what HAL installs on your computer hard drive without your permission, so that it knows what it wants to send you, if you "block" their cookie, Hal will not allow you to enter their site.).

 

I just booked a tour on Nov 9/08 in US funds. Located in Canada I automatically started researching the trip in Cnd $ but paid for the trip in US$ and even after credit card conversion I saved almost $300 per person!

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LouisV

LouisV

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Posted
Masquerading under the title of "New & improved website" Hal has now insisted that you allow "cookies" on your compter ,so that it can feed you only the pricing structure for the country you live in. It is common knowledge that HAL is beating the Canadians badly in the exchange of funds as they now charge 18 % more for the Canadian price over the US$, yet the exchange rate is only 6 to 7 %.In the past (300 plus days on HAL) we were able to have Hal charge us in US funds but now they see fit to make it very difficult for a Canadian to find the US price ,( other than phoning and we know what a time delay that can be) so that we know how badly their exchange rate is. One can delete the HAL cookie every time one wants to switch from Canadian pricing to US but that is a real pain in the rear. The old system of simply allowing one to choose the pricing structure they wanted , worked well and if Hal was sincere about this being an improvement, thay would simply not insist that "cookies" be allowed so that we could take the extra step and decide which pricing structure we wanted to look at. With another 77 days already booked I sure hope they are not thinking of not allowing Canadians to pay in US funds as there is no way we are prepared to pay a 10 % surcharge. (By the way "cookies" are what HAL installs on your computer hard drive without your permission, so that it knows what it wants to send you, if you "block" their cookie, Hal will not allow you to enter their site.).

 

I just booked a cruise on Nov 9/08 in US funds. Located in Canada I automatically started researching the trip in Cnd $ but paid for the trip in US$ and even after credit card conversion I saved almost $300 per person!

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OldCodger73

OldCodger73

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From what are people are saying in this thread it appears that HAL is having a problem with Safari, the browser I use. I think I have IE somewhere on my computer and will give that a try.

 

Is it time to say "I'll never cruise HAL again [grin]?"

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Atomica

Atomica

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From what are people are saying in this thread it appears that HAL is having a problem with Safari, the browser I use. I think I have IE somewhere on my computer and will give that a try.

 

Is it time to say "I'll never cruise HAL again [grin]?"

 

Try Firefox; much more elegant than IE. HAL's site and Safari don't seem to like each other...

 

http://www.mozilla.com/firefox/

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Bouff

Bouff

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I have just experimented with this 'new' web site.

 

I am a Brit who will be travelling on my second cruise with HAL in October. Both cruises were booked using a US online TA paying in US$. This clearly has worked very well for us with the recent trend in exchange rates. If I get prices from HAL in £ they are charging in the region of 12% surcharge!!

 

I just hope that in future I can get the Agency to quote in US$!

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RevNeal

RevNeal

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HAL's site is not Safari-friendly, which is just nuts ... it used to be. This new pop up, however, gives Safari fits. I've sent their webmaster a warning about this, and another one to Apple so that they can contact HAL's Webmaster. There's a simple fix that needs to be made and it will work with Safari just fine. As it is, it's just an example of sloppy code.

 

Another alternative for Mac users (and for Windows and Linux) is SeaMonkey, which is a Mozilla Application. I love it, and use it as my principle browser about 3/4 of the time.

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fcorey

fcorey

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HAL's site is not Safari-friendly, which is just nuts ... it used to be. This new pop up, however, gives Safari fits. I've sent their webmaster a warning about this, and another one to Apple so that they can contact HAL's Webmaster. There's a simple fix that needs to be made and it will work with Safari just fine. As it is, it's just an example of sloppy code.

 

Another alternative for Mac users (and for Windows and Linux) is SeaMonkey, which is a Mozilla Application. I love it, and use it as my principle browser about 3/4 of the time.

 

Not to mention I like the name :)

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DFD1

DFD1

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I run Vista and cannot get the deck plans for Maasdam or Zaandam. There are also other pages that appear blank with an error message.

 

I found the site "spotty" and contrary today.

 

We're looking at the10 Day Massdam southern Caribbean for Nov or Dec

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OldCodger73

OldCodger73

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Apparently HAL have worked out the kinks and Safari now operates with the "new" website.

 

Thanks for posting this. I gave it a try and yes indeed Safari is now working for me. Hopefully the next time they "improve" their site they will have tested it to make sure it works in all browsers.

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