albingirl

Ok, I have enough tote bags to sink a ship, so to speak. Laundry service, I expect that after a million cruises. It's another example of HAL doing a cash grab in my opinion. Nothing more. And offensive to high star passengers if they are excluded from the "special Club Orange dining experience".

Right, and at the end of the day, who really cares? I've had better food in certain cities in the Italian sections, for sure, but you are a captive audience on a cruise ship. Does it really make or break my cruise? No way.

We were blown away by how nice Canaletto was on 2 cruises lately...staff was exceptional. I'd do that again in a NY moment! Pinnacle leaves me dry lately; maybe it's all the formality and attitude. I just find a friendlier staff in Canalleto and good was very good. I don't get caught up in the upscale restaurants to begin with but nobody loves good attentive staff more than me.

You can get Club Orange just by paying a bit more for your cruise. Better than what 4 and 5* get, honestly. I don't get to eat in their dining room, even though I feel like I've been on a gazillion HAL cruises. I think they even get priority tendering over us lowly 4 and 5* people, but I could be mistaken. Haven't studied this issue thoroughly, probably because it pisses me off.

What does not being an American have anything to do with it?

Any TA who refuses to sell Carnival cruises would be a friend of mine. Last one we cruised, years ago, kids were running up and down the hallways and knocking on doors all night long. I said never again.

The negative comments here are common to these boards. No mariner party doesn't matter to me, since I always find it boring, and I couldn't care less about an Orange Party, but service in DR and bars are areas that are important to me. I've yet to have trouble in that direction. Enjoy your cruise.

I'm always surprised at the comments on food quality on these threads. I have found food to be delicious on all Holland America ships, and I am no cheerleader either. I wonder what people are eating at home to say the food is not good? I think there is room for improvement, particularly in the area of entertainment, but I found the food to be consistently fine.

Most of the time I never get room service because I don't want to look at dirty dishes for a while afterwards. It can take some time for your cabin steward to make up your room to remove them. Of course, you can call someone to retrieve them, but I don't. It's just more clutter in a small room.

It seemed to me that, at least on the Pinnacle class ships, that the NY deli and pizza station is open all day into the evening. If you want something other than that, say a salad or something else, you are going to be out of luck. Lido does close early.

Thirty days.

I've always gotten an opportunity to pay more money for an upsell. Usually it's a good deal. It's always after I call my PCC to request one. Just depends on what it's worth to you.

I'm still waiting for my free cruise. If it's free, it's for me, as the saying goes. I'll let you know when I get the freebie. I did bet $20.00 on my last cruise, so why not?

So disapointing about the libraries fleet wide. I travel with a kindle but it's always nice to see books available. Love browsing in my hometown library just to see something different. It's hard to get the jist of some books online.

Yes, and he said he could do nothing.

true, but can you imagine even guest services can't reach the Seattle office? I would think they'd have a direct line, but they said they don't. There is something wrong when they can't just cancel my cruise in a direct manner from the ship. In this day of tech.

Nobody is keeping track.

Yes, that's about it.

Even Guest Services onboard tried to reach customer service at Holland America in Seattle when I needed to cancel my next leg of the back to back. I think I waited at least an hour standing there while they waited for someone to pick up the phone. It was a total drag. Completely crazy.

You will be on HMC for such a short time that it won't even be happy hour time by the time you catch the last tender. I'm not much of a day drinker and it would be crazy to consume alot that early. But, as usual, I could be wrong.

Well, thank you for posting this information and pictures. It looks pretty rich, and I'm not just talking about the food. Very expensive, but you enjoyed it so that's all that matters. What's up with the poster before me saying everyone is so old? Did I miss something?

I can't remember the last time I ate a pastry. When I saw the offerings at the Dutch Cafe, and the people ordering them, I agree that I don't know how people can eat like that. Nice if you can, but I'm not one of them. Lastly, I'm pretty fine with the breakfast offerings on board. I don't know how they could improve.

The purchase of Club Orange gives people many of the same privileges. Just saying.

I remember a woman on a transatlantic cruise who became very stressed out toward the end of the cruise. I asked her why. She said she understood that the gratuities in place meant that she no longer had to worry about tipping, but since others were talking about how much further they were going with the tipping, it made her feel inadequate. I reminded her that the cruise line put that in place so that crew and others on the ship would receive their tips, and there was no need to tip further if that's what she felt. It really is a personal choice, and every time these threads appear, there is alot of conversation about tipping. I tip extra when I receive extra, but in the case of servers already receiving an 18% gratuity, I don't feel obligated to tip more. My cabin stewards are usually remembered by us for more cash, but it really depends on the service received.

Thank you for that.