Photos & Journals

[taxmantoo]

Have never cruised on HAL before but are going in April on the Eurodam and just found this web link...

 

http://www.panraven.com/hal/

 

It already contains your itinerary, daily summaries, background text and professional photos.

 

Has anyone ever used their services before? Any comments?

[dawnprincess]

Wow! This looks so neat. I'm very interested too.

[Spender Nui]

Interesting but I'll just watch and be a friendly skeptic.

[ElginEve]

Thanks for posting this!

 

I've used Snapfish to create books from our travels but really like the idea of having the pre-printed info re the ship & HAL

 

Thanks again! :D

[dawnprincess]

I sent an inquiry email to the website listed and got this reply:

 

Hi Nancy ,

 

 

Thanks for writing! We are thrilled to hear your interest in our service!

 

 

While we have primarily deployed the product for onboard purchase, we are providing the opportunity to purchase your book before or after your cruise. At the moment, we are building out our provided content so that we may successfully advertise prior to each trip! T his should be completed quite soon. As it is now, we are trying to make storyboards for voyages that depart within six weeks.

 

 

Therefore, while we do not have a template available for your trip in J uly, it should be coming soon, so stay tuned!

 

 

Regarding pricing - the books are sold onboard within the range of $90 to $120. T he pricing depends on the package selected. There is a package that allows you to personalize your story online with your personal photos, or your photos from the onboard gallery! Another package allows the traveler to select up to five gallery photos, and then we’ll place them in their book for them! They will not need to touch a computer!

 

 

I hope that this helps clear everything up! We are here if you have ANY questions!

 

 

Charlotte Maher

Panraven, Inc.

[Just4You]

We recently sailed Zaandam with HAL in April to Hawaii 15 days and had a wonderful time. The only sore point was the photo gallery, and later Panraven website. We purchased the Signature Plus photo album, which is a photo album that you can add your own pictures on the panraven website to create a memorable 100-page photo album. We were supposed to get 5 free Gallery Photos to include in the album, 100 pages total to the album, a leather bound album with dust jacket, 4 Formal pics, 4 Fun pics (but these 8 weren't included in the album that you have to finish online), all for around $255. We paid this amount up front. The photographer really ripped us off. Not only did we pay $255 for the album, we also paid around $270 after we picked out our 4 "free" Formal, 4 "free" Fun and the 5 Gallery Photos the last day of our cruise. The photographer made us sign a receipt but told us, "Don't worry, it will all balance out in the end." Well, it didn't, and we were charged the extra $270. To make matters worse, the 5 photos I selected to be included in our album were NOT the photos I told the photographer to use. Since you don't get these photos to take home, I'm completely out of luck in getting them added since they don't keep the photos.

 

There is ABSOLUTELY NO SUPPORT FROM PANRAVEN, whatsoever. I looked up their telephone number from a web address but it is no longer in service. In fact, after spending 2 weeks finishing up our photo album on line, now we are asked to pay by credit card an additional $219.15!!!!! I am having to go to the Better Business Bureau and trying to fight it out with Holland America Line. In the meantime, I wasted 2 weeks trying to put together, what I thought, would be a memorable photo album of our otherwise perfect vacation.

DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY OR YOUR TIME WITH THE PHOTO GALLERY ON HOLLAND AMERICA LINE AND STAY AWAY FROM PANRAVEN!