LAFFNVEGAS

I totally agree that HAL really needs to do a better job describing tours and possible problems. One that should be added is winding roads. I do not have a mobility issue but do get very motion sick on a bus or van, (oddly rarely have problems on the ship) I always take motion sickness pills for every excursion but I think they need to advise when there will be issues like this. I agree Princess does do a bit better job in explaining. Something else Princess does that I don't think HAL does which is odd since they tend to do everything the same. But with Princess if a tour is easy but is a long tour over 4 hours they move it to Moderate. Also basically anything that is a walking tour they list as Moderate to Strenuous. HAL's desciptions are not quite as good as Princess.

Not just Lufthansa this is also the case with British Airways. We are also on the Rotterdam July 10th, no eDocs here either our flights are also not ticketed. We have 3 airlines to worry about, United going and British Airways /American returning. All seats assigned British Airways is the problem and wanting to charge a fee to assign Business Class Seats. Hopefully soon since in 30 days are when ur flights start. lso would like to see eDocs soon too.

I agree a bit of a Red Flag warning but I do not consider it as serious as I felt about Crystal Cruises 8 months into the pandemic and was not at all surprised what happened with them. But I will say if HAL and Princess (yes I lump them together, they have the exact same problesm and managed by the same group and people) do not get a Handle on their current problems it could be some serious problems down the road.

It looks like it was a lovely ceremony and that they did it up nicely having guest on board also watch in the Lido Pool area screen. It was unfortunate that Gus Antorcha was not in attendance, but just like what can happen to passengers I heard he tested positive for Covid prior so was unable to attend. Which goes to show anyone can test positive at any time.

We will board 6 weeks from today July 10th and still no eDocs for us.

Unfortunately, No not till Tuesday this wee. I totally forgot about Monday being a Holiday.

@Freckles1983 I really wonder if you spoke to the right department today. I personally have had move over offers as well as know of many others that have also with Holland America. I few years ago I was offered a lower category for an Alaska cruise because of being over sold. With that being said it is definitely not the regular HAL agents that handle this. It is the revenue department also known as the Upsell Department. This department is not open on Saturday or Sunday and is only open from 8am till 5pm Pacific time Monday through Friday. Any agent answering today would not be able to do what was offered in the email. Nor would they even be able to answer your questions correctly. At this point I would wait till Monday if you are interested or just delete the email and continue with your planned cruise. As for the cruise not being what you had hoped for, There are a few cruise lines that have stepped up their game or kept things consistent with how cruising was prior to the pause. Unfortunately my two cruises with HAL they were not one of these cruise lines.....But with that being said.... a Cruise Vacation is what you make of it. There are differences in what has changed with HAL but it is still a very good cruise experience. Alaska is truly stunning if you go this year or move it to next year you will most likely have the same experience. I do not forseen HAL being any different next year. The difference I do see is the pricing will continue to go up.

The line below says what they are doing, they are offering you to sail a different date for the Cruisetour AND receive 100% Future Cruise Credit equal to the base cruise tour fare plus reimbursement of expenses on travel changes. But question...when did you get the offer. Offers like these sometimes go quickly so this may all be lots of talk for nothing. You may call and find out they have had enought volunteers to move to a different date. we are pleased to offer you the opportunity to sail at a later date and receive a 100% Future Cruise Credit equal to the base cruisetour fare paid, as well as a refund of all pre-paid services booked through Holland America Line. Additionally, all reasonable expenses incurred as a result of accepting this offer may be reimbursed.

They are offering to move you to a different date for this year, no additional money from you PLUS give you the same dolar amount you paid for a Future Cruise Credit. So by moving you get two cruises for what you have paid. If you plans are open this summer and you want to cruise some more it sounds like a great deal. If you plans for this date are pretty much set in stone and hard to change then choose to pass. You should at least call them to see what date they can move you to.

Thanks for the mention. Actually I had to do some figuring of dates but it was around late February/ Early March of 2006 when I started the "Where's The Fleet" Interesting story on how this came about. At time time we were cruising Oosterdam out of San Diego fairly frequently, I was already doing the Web Cam Wave to CCers from the San Diego Web Cam that unfortunately no longer exists but for it's time was quite good. With doing that I had gotten to know the Hotel Manager of the Oosterdam, James Deering very well. (We are still friends and keep in contact today) In Febrary 2006 we were talking about Cruise Critic and he was a fan of CC HAL Board and was very supportive of it's members. He actually suggested that he could get me a PDF file of where the Fleet would be everyday and I could post that on CC. So I just started to post daily where those Dam ships would be for the next day. It evolved from there, I did have to pass the torch in posting this about 8 years ago I believe and I passed this down to David (sorry I cannot remember his CC handle) I kept up the Where's the Fleet for about 8 years.

Just my opinion if you planned to book 3 in your stateroom you should not have booked a guarantee with two of you. So many things an happen when it gets assinged, one they give you a category/stateroom that does not accomodate 3. Second there are restrictions for number of passengers in areas for Life Boats, if the ship is full even a stateroom that might accomodate 3 you will not be able to add that 3rd person. I personally do not think that was a wise decision if you absolutely plan to have your daughter travel with you. Now if it is not a big deal if she goes or not, then yes you could do this as long as you except there is a good chance she will not be able to be added on. There is a reason that HAL does not sell guarantee staterooms for 3 passengers.

I will be sailing Rotterdam July 10th and we were to have eDocs July 26th. I am accessing my eDocs via a Desktop using Chrome and it is also greyed out. But I will state that it states eDocs will be available approximately May 26, 2022. I think the approximately is the key word here. HAL will have it available when they have it available.

Actually there is an agreement in most cases with the Airlines and cruiselines and that your reservation is technically still on reserve but just not showing. Part of the problem with the long wait times and agents not getting to fixing everything is handling all the numerous constant phone calls with upset people and when these reservations are in limbo, that person at Flight Ease most likely cannot help you because of the status it is in. While if you think there are only 2 Business Class seats remaining many are probably in a hold status including your reservation.

Not to get into specifics but I agree with you that this definitely did happen. I have read and know of several with both HAL and Princess (as I mentioned before one in the same department that handles the air) they are dropping the ball. Again right had does not know what the left is doing, extremely disorangized and overwhelmed. A lot of what is triggering this is if there is an itinerary/schedule change, most are due to canceled flights by the airline and if these changes are happening close to when that 30 day mark is. The reservation once there is a change goes into a different queue to work on fixing the schedule change but they unfortunately get missed out of the queue to pay the dollar amount to the airline. Often they have not fixed the new air in time for payment. Most are getting caught and fixed and you need to give them a week to 10 days after the 30 day mark. But if you are within 2 weeks from travel then you need to be proactive. This I am sure is costing HAL and Princess Big money to fix this problem. Right now my suggestion is if your air dissappears from the airline website or app around 30 days to be patient, most are reappearing in about 5 days to a week.

I think you need to try booking a restricted fare.....you will have to attest to the fact that you are purchasing a totally NON-Refundable Fare. When booking it you are paying for it right away. Yes they do give equal help if you reserve flex fare. But you need to read the requirements for Restricted Air. Only the Air Carrier may give credit for cancellations. WHAT ARE FLEXIBLE FARES AND RESTRICTED FARES? We've negotiated new, lower competitive air fares. Many times, you'll find our Exclusive flexible fares are even lower than our Restricted fares and include these great benefits: Full payment for air reservation is required at the time of air booking. Prices and availability are not guaranteed until the air booking is paid in full. Tickets are nonrefundable. Any changes will result in the cancellation of the air booking. Cancellation of Restricted Air will incur cancellation fees of the full cost of the ticket. The air carrier may generate a Future Air Credit (FAC) memo. FACs are notations in the booking that show the guest has an outstanding credit with the cancelled airline which can be applied to a future Holland America Line air booking with the same airline or redeemed directly with the airline, typically within 365 days. FACs are non-transferable and non-refundable. Tickets are nontransferable and name changes are not allowed. Prices are for e-tickets, per person, and include all flight taxes and fees. Prices do not include baggage fees or other fees of up to $200 for the first or second checked bag. Please contact the airline for further details. After ticketed departure time, no changes are permitted and ticket has no value if the ticketed flight reservation was not cancelled prior to flight time. Documentation including passport and visas may be necessary for this trip. Reconfirming flights prior to flight time is the responsibility of the guest. Cancelling your cruise/Land + Sea Journey booking for any reason will cancel any air bookings associated with the cruise/Land + Sea Journey booking, and fees will be applied if applicable. Benefits Flexible Restricted Pay Later Book now, pay for flights when your final cruise payment is due. No Change Fee There is no fee to change a flight prior to cruise final payment. Full Refund No fees for cancellations made prior to cruise final payment. Pay Now Flights are paid at time of flight booking. Non-Refundable Tickets are non-refundable.

If you purchase restricted fares and HAL cancels your cruise or you cancel you are out of luck, it is NON-Refundable. You have to pay restricted up front and it goes directly to the airline although you are paying through HAL. As a side note HAL also will not help you with flight changes or last minute flight cancellations on restricted fares, you are totally on your own but my understanding HAL is not doing that or at least not doing a very good job of doing it if you have Flexible Fares.

Thanks for the update. I appreceiate your updated info of hwat is happening on board. Enjoy your next leg with Norway.

Roz, there was a time when the prices were much better with one way air on Flight Ease, in recent months it has changed drastically with little to no price difference. Depending on how far out the cruise is depends on if it is worth the booking with HAL. Booking Flex Air with HAL the price will not change but you may or may not be able to select your seat, (this is becoming more and more common) with any airline if you book directly or with HAL, flights are changing frequently. In the past there would be flight time changes but now there are just plain cancellations. While these changes are happening the flight may dissappear from the sign-on to the airline. There was a time when HAL often would pay and ticket the air tickets before you even paid final especially if they were Business or First Class. That is not happening very often now, what is happening is they are set to be paid and ticketed at the 30 day mark but HAL's Flight Ease/Princess EZ Air (same office/same people working it) are running behind. Don't be alarmed if your flight does disappears but keep watching it. If after 5 days it does not reappear then you do need to try to contact Flight Ease but plan on a 4+ hour hold time. Then keep watching it all the way up to when you leave.

As a follow up comment to the OP, DH and I and friends are cruising the Rotterdam July 10th, which is 8 weeks from tomorrow. If you take a look at what has happened in the last 12 weeks for cruising you will have seen a lot of changes, first everyone was wearing masks, then they dropped the masks, now going back to masks. The numbers of positive cases go up and down like the currents of the ocean. What is happening right this minute more than likely will not be happening 4 weeks from now, let alone 8 weeks from now. I do not have a crystal ball and by all the constant changes neither do the cruises lines. I truly do understand peoples concerns and worries. If you are one that it bothers you too much to not know and want to know exacts I suggest canceling and not traveling at this time. Stress can cause illness and can make you sick for no reason. I am not trying to be nasty here but right now travel is not for the type that worry. One must be ready to just go with the flow and that flow could change numerous times before one steps over the gangway. Many of the reasons we are not getting Answers and Transparency is because the cruise lines honestly do not know. What they might tell you today will not be the same tomorrow. If they give you numbers of covid on board today those number will not be the same tomorrow let lone in July. I have had 4 different answers now for testing in Amsterdam all within 15 days. I honestly am not going to be concerned as to what I need to do till about 10 days before we leave. My only concern is that HAL keeps my flights in tact and does not drop the ball there.

Thanks 🙂 Hmmm we will be on the Rotterdam in July but their Canaletto appears to be in the Lido like the rest. I may try it but DH says he has tried 3 times over the past years and won't do it again. But I do agree if HAL is anything it is to not be consistant especially when it comes to dining/food 😉

You are not going to get an aswer prior to the cruise and if you do it will not be favorable. I actually have two Canaletto for per person for our upcoming cruise and yes we did Canaletto last September and was not impressed. DH refuses to go, I might go just because friends are also going but there is not a whole lot on the menu I will order and what I had last time was not that great. But I know from asking previously the answer on board will also be NO. which is quite unfortunate. But it is what it is.... Knowing in advance it is not worth getting upset and trying to work this out with HAL.

Have a question for you, did they test passengers that were continuing on to the 7 day sailing out of Amsterdam?

I doubt they would even consider it. Actually it would totally confuse them lol I do not beleive there is anyway in their system to even place your name as a passenger twice. Unfortunately it is not like a land based hotel where one person can purchase several hotel rooms.