Check the Holland America Roll Call Boards

[Host Walt]

The Roll Call boards are designed to permit Cruise Critic members who are planning (or just thinking about) a future cruise to congregate on line and discuss the cruise and other matters.

Have a look at the Roll Call boards (http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=86) and check out how they work. If you are planning a future HAL cruise and you don't see your cruise listed, start a new thread following the suggestions appearing in a "sticky" post at the top of your ship specific board.

[Cruiseoften]

Scroll all the way down to "FORUM JUMP" then scroll slowly until you find your cruise line.........I've missed it a few times: :(

[Host Walt]

Hi, just wondering why there are only 3 of us listed on the official ROLL
CALL. It's Ika1012, jagsfan and NextOne. I thought maybe it would be
like on RCCL where there's a get together hosted by the cruise line if you
reach a certain number. Not knowing anything about HAL, I'm probably
100pct wrong......
Only RCCL and Celebrity officially host CC get togethers, but HAL has frequently done the same thing when the get together is arranged on board.

As for responses to Roll Call threads make sure you haven't started a duplicate thread. Folks on your sailing may already be involved in a separate thread.

[emma06]

Walt - (or anyone) I'm a bit confused about the Roll Call boards. How do you actually communicate with the other names listed for your cruise?

Thanks so much - I am loving Cruise Critic!

Emma06

[SteveinPhilly]

Walt - (or anyone) I'm a bit confused about the Roll Call boards. How do you actually communicate with the other names listed for your cruise?

Thanks so much - I am loving Cruise Critic!

Emma06

Hi Emma! I'm not Walt but I used the Roll Call for our HAL Cruise in May.

The Roll Call board is specific for your cruise. Others sign on and you use the Board like this one to post a message. When you post your message, an email goes to all those signed on that there is a new message there. IF they go in to retrieve it, they continue to receive email alerts, but if they don't they don't get more. We had 43 people on our 1200 passenger cruise on our roll call. (then again 18 was one family - 3 generations). A bunch of the folks arranged to get together in their hotel the night before departure and two couples found they were near each other in Calif. and arranged dinner there a month before the cruise. Most of us hooked up on the ship. The idea is to spread the word about Cruise CRitic among folks.

Now, you can get peoples personal email addresses but only if they provide them in the message. This is to avoid spam.

IF you do include your email address in a post, it's best to fortmat it as follows: (IF your email address was Emma@yahoo.com:


"Emmaatyahoo.com (substitute the @ for the word "at")"

That stops software that culls email addresses for spammers.

I'm sure Walt will add additional comments if I missed something.

SteveinPhilly

[Host Walt]

Walt,

Hopefully you will be able to help me.

As I recall, HAL And or Westours chartered the then new Tropicale from Carnival Cruise Line for HAl's Alaska sailings in 1981, to replace HAL's Prisendam that had caught fire in 1980.

This is important to me because we sailed on the Tropicale to Alaska in July of 1981 and I am certain that we booked our Alaska cruise through HAL, and I want the record to show that my wife and I are in fact past passengers of HAL. I have no direct proof because it has been 26 years since that cruise. Further, while we have not been back on HAL (it seems that we wanted to go places they didn't sail to or the timing wasn't right but we will on the Ryndam's 3/23/2007 to Mexico from San Diego.

Is there any way that you could check this for me, or steer me in the right direction.

Much appreciate whatever help you can give me.

Fred
My experience is that HAL has good records of passenger history, even in your situation. There are two ways to check on this.

The best way is to have your TA contact HAL and inquire. Be sure to provide as many specifics as you can including dates, itinerary and booking info (TA name, booking number, etc.)

The alternative is to go to the Mariner Society (http://hollandamerica.com/mariner/mariner.do) web site and apply for membership. The circumstances of your 1981 cruise may make that approach a bit more complex, however.