LAFFNVEGAS

Btw captain Albert blog discusses Tamarind today says it overlooks Seaview deck aft, which differs to other ships which overlook the dome/lido pool.

This doesn't mean much to me, not sure if it's a good thing or not.

He also confirms above that the bar is gone

 

 

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Today's Captain Albert Blog was quite good, I am excited because we have dinner reservations for 6:30 on April 8th for Tamarind :D Should still be light enough for good views after sail away. BTW I think it will be a very good thing of the location :)

I am extremely excited about the Sushi Bar. That could be where all my SBC goes :D

It's just my opinion, I have no statistical data. I have watched these promotions and prices for years and years and they always are significantly more than a cruise price without them included.

The number one thing to remember it is still Business 101. With Supply and Demand being what pushes prices to rise and drop as well as anything a company is giving you, you are paying for it one way or another ;)

I have gone through about 20 different sailings for 2016 and found most to have gone up with the new promotion but about 20% did stay about the same as they were and added the promotion.

In my up coming October Westerdam cruise the price went up $200.00 per person which was the same price I paid for the Explore4 that had the extra ship board credit for Suites and the CLIA promo of extra SBC so this current offer is not nearly as good as I had for Explore4.

HAL is still offering their Advantage Fares, you do not have to purchase with the Anniversary Sale. Over all I think it is cheaper just to purchase the drinks rather than a drink package especially for those that are 4 star or higher.

The NL also has an honor bar late afternoon- early evening that's not covered by the package, but does have top shelf liquor. If your brand isn't there, they'll try to accommodate, but I don't think they'll scare you up a bottle of Louis XIII or the like.

:confused::confused: Since when has the Neptune Lounge had an Honor Bar:confused::confused: I know I have not cruised HAL nearly as frequently as I use to and the last two times I was not in a Neptune Suite.

It's fixed!!:):):)

I had been so busy this evening that I had not had time to check my email but saw, that i heard back from Jonathan about two hours ago, and he said he had just found out and was working on it as he was writing me :)

Glad it is up and working!!

I needed to email Jonathan, so I just did and told him everyone is getting errors. So may get fixed soon, depending on what the problem is. :confused:

Captain Albert's blog has helped me keep sane :)

Me Too :D

Yes, I too cannot access the blog, I get the email and can read what he wrote but cannot access the pictures or the actual blog.

This is the first part of the blog today

Angkor Wat

by Jonathan

I mentioned to you that K1, (my Karen) and K2, left the "Amsterdam" in Phu My, Vietnam on the 9th of March for a tour to Angkor Wat, Cambodia. Flying on Angkor Air, she, (they) landed at Siem Reap, Cambodia and took a bus to the Sofitel Hotel in Angkor Phokeethra.

Day 2 found them up and about early, sunrise over Angkor Wat is a sight one does not want to miss and thence the tour continued.

(You should be able to open a larger photo by 'clicking' on it).

The last sentence makes me think that he may have done something or he was aware of people having problems opening the photos. Non of the photos were visible in today's email.

LOL. A most attractive area. Thankfully at least the deck 'pretends' to be teak.

You made me Laugh on this one :D

This is the Crew's tub and area. Immediately below is the Officer's Lounge and Crew Meeting Room and Crew Promenade around the bow.

In Today's Update from Captain Albert he did state that the Crew had their own Jacuzzi forward. I agree that this area is for Crew Only.

That is the way it is for other lines such as NCL.

http://www.hollandamericablog.com/2016/03/20/20-march-2016-marghera-italy/

On the Lower categories, you can get an offer from Inside to Ovstructed OV, Unobstructed OV and Lanai, or Inside to OV and obstructed OV and even once in a while an offer to Balcony. Often time these offers show all three with pricing differences to move up depending on the category. An OV will get an Upsell to balcony, Lanai's can get an upsell off to a Vista Suite, Signature Suite or Vista Suite to Neptune. The Koningsdam brings in a whole new level that I am not sure HAL knows how they will deal with since there is Signature Suite and Vista Suites. Vista Suite being the lessor priced. There are actually Less Neptune Suites and Signature Suites than on the Vistas so I am think they think there will be less opportunity for Upsells and if there are they will not be cheap.

Is it Inventory Control working with Revenue Department?

 

Yes, they are a linked department. Inventory Control works with moving cabins around when there are numerous segments and Collectors series. A cabin may be offer for a 14 day but not on the 2 seven day. They watch which segments are selling and can move cabins where they need to be to sell. Inventory Control also watches with numbers of Guarantee cabins sold. But sometimes this gets slipped through the crack and they have an Over Sold Situation. Inventory also does the assignment of those Guarantee cabins.

Often times the department that sells Upsell offers is called Inventory and it sounds better than Revenue. But in fact it is Revenue trying to make the most money for HAL on unsold cabins.

After reading so many posts about upsells and ugrades with HAL, I was at a dinner party with a tour agent who seemed to know how its done. Here's what he said.

 

UPSELLS(several rounds offered depending on space)

4 stars

3 stars

2 stars

1 star

 

After all the upsells have run the course, 5 star mariners get the first complimentary upgrades.

 

If there is anything left.

 

Then the rest of the get the complimentary upgrades 4,3,2,1.

 

I do know that I was offered three rounds of upsells on my first cruise as a four star mariner last October.

 

His logic made sense, but only HAL knows. Just thought I would share.

 

My opinion is its the luck of the draw!!!!!!!!!!!

In theory this is how it is suppose to work, in reality this is not how it works;) The days of Free Upgrades are a rarity and not to be counted on. HAL has actually gone to the point for Neptune or Pinnacle Suite to leave them empty. They would rather have an empty cabin to move someone to if there is a need to last minute or problem with a cabin. Now if there are more than two then the Upsell offers can occur.

Upsell offers are NOT sent out based on your Mariner Status, if an Upsell offer goes out then it goes to EVERYONE that is eligible.(see below on what makes you eligible)

If you are wanting an Upsell offer first you must not have your reservation linked with another cabin for dining or traveling together because in the first round of offers for those reservations are NOT included. Depending on the number of cabins being offered they might be included in the second round of offers but often not till the third round.

If there are just a small number of cabins available there may not even be an offer sent. Numerous agents know the drill and know timing and keep contacting HAL. Often Upsells are gone before notices go out.

Pricing is also based on percentage of remaining cabins. It is the revenue department that handles this, and YES Revenue is seeing how much MORE money they can make the company, NOT how many they can GIVE AWAY to 4 and 5 star Mariners. One has to remember HAL is still a company that needs to make a profit. Pricing for these Upsells and been increasing over the past few years and if you see a crazy low price you will know that this is the 3rd of 4th round :D

The likelihood of an offer grows by the size of the ship, the smaller the ship is not nearly as likely unless it is Interior to OV. Vista Class and higher get the most offered Upsells.

The other thing is that offers do not come very frequently if you are on a Collectors Series or a Segment that is linked with other segments. The cabins availability gets quite complicated at that point.

 

Interesting post, Lisa. Thanks.

 

Do you find European across the various brands are selling well or are bookings a little slow? I have read too many comments about fears of terror attacks, worries about economy, unease in general to not wonder if some people are choosing to stay close to home.

 

Actually I think Europe is selling pretty well this year, a lot has to do with the US dollar being strong. I think a few travelers are a bit worried but not like you would think. There are some good deals out there for Europe but overall I think they are about the same as last year. Cruise lines had anticipated stronger sales this year so the prices started out high but with some of the threats of recent the cruise lines have started to reduce pricing. But they also did this last year. So far not seeing the prices dip as low as last year but time will tell, it is still early ;)

Overall I think travel is way up and spending much higher this year for US citizens. A bit of a drop in Canadian but not as much as expected.

I know of more people traveling to Europe this year than in the past two years. The Spring TA cruises have sold very well with not nearly the giveaway pricing.

Thought I would report in that I just had my GE Interview this afternoon. WOW talk about fast. My appointment was for 1:30, I arrived and walked in the door at 1:14. I barely had the chance to read the sign that stated someone will come out and call your name, and this guy steps out of the closed door and calls my name. Now there were about 8 others sitting there waiting. I said in shock "that's me" he whisked me back, sat down said let me take your picture. He asked for my passport and drivers licence. Then said do you have any upcoming travel, I told him our flight to Rome. He said, OK let's take your finger prints. Placed my hand in the little box that was lit up green. Then he told me I would receive an email shortly and the number that starts with 98 is my Known Passenger number and to record that with my airlines. Told me to have a good trip and exit to the door on the left and I was done. Took a whole 4 minutes :)

It is possible they are held back for contractors to do finishing work, or people avoiding the first sailing due to potential for unfinished work. Personally I would never risk thousands, let alone spend a premium, to be first to sail a ship. let someone else beta test the kinks out of the system. Another possibility is travel agents holding blocks of rooms; they are unsold but could go back into general inventory shortly.

While I agree there could be some cabins held back for invited guests and contractors. Contrary to popular belief Travel Agents DO NOT hold blocks of cabins unless they have an extremely Large group and put down a deposit for what they feel they could sell. But this is all finalized and released prior to final payment . At 22 days from sailing No Travel agency could possibly hold cabins.

What I believe happened is Hal was holding out cabins for possible guests of vendors and others and after confirmation of those they found they could release these cabins because of not as many sailing. But it was only a few weeks ago that suddenly many categories had more cabins.

But for the most part Koningsdam is selling quite well so Hal has no reason to drop prices.

I stumbled across a few pictures of some art that was just installed on the ship. It's gorgeous. Now the question just becomes where is it going? My guess is Tamarind.

 

 

 

 

With depicting water/ocean I am leaning toward Sel de Mer for the artwork :)

We would prefer to sit together at a table for 4 (not share). What is our best chance to get this: specified time or open seating?

Requesting a set dining time table for 4 will definitely get you that but I also do not see a problem with always getting a table for 4 in Open dining. Quite a few 4 tops in the dining room.

Wonder if HAL is kicking itself for pushing back the dates when they could have her completed by this weekend it sounds like?

The original sailing was February so no they did need to push back the sailing :D There were also other things involved in moving back the date, I am thinking it had to do with the Christening of the Ship. Plus I did not take it at all that they would be completed by this weekend. I think they will be pushing it to have it ready by the third when I know some of the first guests come on board.

Captain Albert said in his latest blog that guests would be coming aboard on April 4. We are on the "Premier Voyage" that leaves April 8. Who will be on board from the 4th until the 8th?

HAL Business Development Team( sales team)

 

 

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They also opened it up to HAL Employees and Vendors and their families. Basically a Shake Down cruise with one port or Croatia. Actually I know of a Business Dev. Rep that will be boarding on the 3rd, they are coming on board for their Annual Meeting. They board in the ship yard. The Koningsdam will actually arrive in Civitavecchia on the 7th and dock over night and the HAL Employees and invited guests will disembark the morning of the 8th. My understanding for the pre-cruise it will be a full ship. The Premier Cruise on the 8th is the first revenue cruise.

I have to admit the Coffee maker in the Suite will probably be the only reason I will reconsider doing a Neptune again and now changes my thinking of what I may book in the future. In all honesty I was never that impressed with the coffee in the Neptune and to have to get dressed and look presentable to get descent coffee was not my idea of a relaxing morning. personally I think the Lido coffee was undrinkable :( Having the Neptune Lounge it self did absolutely nothing for me. If I need the concierge I can call them. I also seldom go to the Pinnacle for Breakfast except on debarkation morning. The coffee maker in the Suite is one of the main reasons I love NCL but then I also really like the Lavazza coffee and coffee maker they have on most of their ships but the newest one went to Nespresso (unknown how that compares with Lavazza). One of my favorite coffees for my Keurig is Lavazza which is a very good Italian Medium to Dark Roast like on NCL.

We are currently in a Vista Suite for the Koningsdam and wished now I would have sprang for the Neptune. I will most likely jump if there is an upsell offer :D Although I would miss the aft view I currently have my morning coffee is important ;)

Stunning!

 

I agree!!!, I am so enjoying reading Captain Albert's daily blog :)

Quite frankly I found the interview to be a joke. I was asked a couple of questions like birthdate and such. They then took what turned out to be a very poor picture and that was it.

I guess I will find out how they do it here in Las Vegas this next Thursday, my appointment is at 1:30 during my lunch. It is in a completely out of the way obscure place at Mccarran Airport at our fairly new International terminal so last weekend I did a trial run of parking and finding the office so there was no delays since I am doing it on my lunch hour from work.

Thank you. Also, would you please define, what is ZPM and ZPN

These are promotion codes for the Welcome Home Promotion that designates additional ship board for a booking made after you return home from a cruise. The ZPM is for any cruise booked within 60 days from returning from a HAL cruise and the ZPN is for any Land and Sea Tour aka Alaska Cruise Tours giving ship board credit for booking after returning home from a cruise.

Actually the 60 days starts from when the email is sent and that normally goes out about 7 to 10 days after your cruise ends.

I'm looking at this change as a positive one. If I know what I want to book ahead of time I can book on board and then when the price drops I'll keep the extra OBC. When using ZPM it can be lost if outside the welcome home time.

:o I would not be so sure of this, I can tell you of two instances I am aware of, one was a price drop right before final. They had one of the first Future Cruise Bookings with the double ship board credit. They lost that double ship board credit because it was not the same rate code when booked, since they repriced it during the View and Verandah Sale they did get a lower price and ship board credit the the Future Cruise Deposit ship board credit was reduced. Another instance was a change in dates of voyage and the same thing happened they lost the double ship board credit. So not sure I would count on the double if you make any changes.

Yes, HAL is going to continue offering ZPM and ZPN promotions, there is small print in the offer for the ZPM that states it is NOT Combinable with all Rate codes and offers. There is a specific rate code that is combined with current offers when you book a cruise on board. This actually just started because the Future Cruise Consultants were getting fewer and fewer new bookings and only selling Future Cruise Deposits. Many regular Mariners caught on quickly that it was an advantage to just get the Future Cruise Deposit rather than book a cruise on board. So now both are equal but buying the Future Cruise deposit gives you more time once you get home from the cruise to think about what cruise you want to take next. The ship board credit is the same with the ZPM. It just helps the Future Cruise Consultant to attempt to sell a cruise to you. About a year ago they took away any commission or bonus they made on selling Future Cruise Certificates. To them it is work with no pay so they really only want to sell you a cruise.