Mary229

It is unfortunate that the spa is ramping up their aggressive sales tactics again.  For a few years it was a pleasant experience and I was happy to have many of their stylist primp my hair.  My last cruise was too much of a struggle and I won’t be going back 

Just now, QuattroRomeo said:

Just on board. You can reserve when you embark, at the specialty dining kiosk. Also at the  Pinnacle Grill when it is open. Lunch is only available on sea days. Most times we just went at noon and walked in without a reservation!

I have never made a reservation for lunch and I do like the Pinnacle lunch. 

10 minutes ago, Tonopah said:

A sheltered balcony has an area with large window but the balcony isn’t open. There are pictures of sheltered balcony rooms at the top of the Cunard page.

 

We bought travel insurance through Cunard (we had a dedicated Cunard travel agent. I highly recommend it) 

 

We bought our flights and hotel through Cunard and arrived the night before. 

 

To find the Internet and Drinks packages, on the main page of the Cunard site, click on the search button and put in “internet” or “drinks package” and it will take you exactly where you want to go. But again, I highly recommend an agent. Makes it so easy and someone else gets the headaches. 

 

 

 

 

When you book hotels with Cunard do they include airport to hotel transfers and hotel to ship transfers?  Thank you for your response 

19 minutes ago, steve4031 said:

Those dance hosts are the consummate professionals at making anyone feel comfortable.  I have two left feet and not the best social skills.  The lady who danced with me matched my level and made sure I enjoyed the experience.  

That’s wonderful.  After 45 years of marriage to a non-dancer I would love to put my dancing shoes to good use. 

1 hour ago, a.madruga said:

Mary we've read that if due to weather conditions no refunds and this was on HAL excursions.

surprised us, so we've held back to get more informed from those who have been affected or not

thanks for your time in replying

I think what they are saying is the excursion will go even if weather is not optimal.  HAL ALWAYS refunds if they cancel an excursion 

In the description of each excursion you are given the cancellation fees.  Mostly you need to cancel a full 48 hours prior for a refund, a full refund.   Do check. If you buy beforehand with a credit card and cancel on ship it will be refunded as a refundable OBC.  At the end of the cruise any remaining refundable OBC is credited to your card OR you can walk down to guest services and ask for cash.  If you cancel up to 3 days before you sail your credit card will be credited 

There are some dancers on every cruise but it really is luck of the draw.  Most often I have seen dancers at happy hour if there is a live band. But no, I don’t think you will find a venue set aside for ballroom dancing, nor will you likely see it as an announced activity. 

7 minutes ago, steve4031 said:

I enjoyed my crossing last summer.  That was my first time on Cunard.   I have been on Carnival, HAL, and NCL.  I am not big on dressing up, but I did enjoy doing it on Cunard.  The service was excellent.  They even have female dance hosts.  I discovered this when I got up to participate in a line dance.  She helped me with the steps and gave me a brisk workout on the dance floor.  The male dance host paired up with my GF, and she enjoyed that, too.  The dance hosts showed class and precision in their interactions with us.  

That’s fun.  I never considered this advantage of dance hosts. I had always considered them for solos but now I know I can dance and leave DH to his peace.  Another Cunard bonus. 

As to speed HAL has a contractual relationship with Park West and likely, as a business decision and to prevent real legal action, they needed to solve that before dealing with customer non-contractual preferences.   I am just glad they heard that HAL customers were not happy with this intrusion. 

24 minutes ago, Wehwalt said:

We got a plate of chocolate covered strawberries. But we had considerable plumbing problems, which affected us specifically. That may be different than the situation complained of regarding the Crow's Nest

 

That is different and I think there should be compensation if one is driven from the cabin which is an integral part of the contract.  

11 minutes ago, poffles said:

 

As I read this thread, this is what speaks the loudest to me.  It seems to not just be impacting an area but impacting a service.  I have not sailed HAL yet but looking at one in my future and I was already trying to convince myself that the Signature class ship with the specialty coffee venue being in this area (unlike what I see for the Pinnacle class) would be totally fine.  Reading stuff like this is a bit off putting.  I am looking at a Panama full transit so I ease my mind that it might be less likely on the longer cruise.

Actually you can also get coffee in the library on the Oosterdam.

as to belittling everyone that simply is not true.  Having to be compensated for every small miss is a bit entitled (to use the modern vernacular).  Customers should note the response time, it was quick. It did not drag on.  
 

Private groups using public spaces happens on every single sailing, this one just happened to be in a space that HAL specific cruisers particularly love,  please remember this was an evening event when the crow’s nest usage is light.  

Just now, CNSJ said:

Everyone looks for their own best "deal" 

 

My strategy is based on hotel points being more useful than airmiles.  That's because airlines fly specific routes and the availability of reward flight reductions is so hit and miss.  With major hotel chains (Hilton/Marriott/Hyatt/IHG) as examples, you can usually find a hotel in most cities around the world, and then use points for the room.  

 

I find very good value in booking travel related (cruises/tours/parking/car rentals) with Chase Sapphire Reserve.  At 3 points per "travel" dollar, which I convert to Hyatt points (worth about 1.7 cents each per many websites)  I get more than a five percent return. (also, when you book Hyatt rooms with points you don't pay 'resort fees'.

 

If I buy AARP gift cards to pay for HAL items, I use another no fee Chase card that nets 1.25 points per dollar, using the same plan to convert tot Hyatt points (1.25 x 1.7 = 2.125% return), plus the 10% (now only 8%) savings from AARP gift cards.  I pay a portion of cruise fare with Chase Sapphire for the travel insurance protection.

 

With the cost of cruising going up, we need to find ways to save when we can.

 

 

 

 

I find the hotel points requirements on Chase are usually lower than converting.  I do like the Chase cards.  

4 hours ago, dockman said:

If you checked into a hotel and then found that a large group had blocked the pool and gym for their private use during your stay seems that at minimum you should be advised at time of booking that certain facilities would not be available so you can cancel or book elsewhere it you want. 

 

Did HAL advise at time of booking about crows nest being closed?  If not, then they need to do better as not fair to buy a "six pack of beer" then get home to find two beers missing.

In this case the pool is not being blocked for the duration of your stay.  Reread the thread.  Of course if this would cause you to not want to cruise/stay then you can vote with your wallet.  I do believe people should be outspoken when there is a change they disagree with and they should try to enlist other customers to make those statements also - as was does in this thread. On the other hand expecting compensation for every eventuality is unrealistic.  If it bothers people so much then yes, they should not use the product, cruise, hotel.  But it is hardly actionable requiring compensation 

3 minutes ago, oaktreerb said:

Do you remember the name of your rail car?  Did you have a guide and a bar tender and a dining car?  That does not sound like our experience unless for some reason you were not on a HAL rail car.  Maybe the rail car was an older Princess rail car.  HAL and Princess work together in Alaska and some of the older Princess rail cars are not very nice.  We were in one between Anchorage and Seward a few years ago.  I would not have wanted to travel to Denali in that rail car!

Again my tour was Anchorage to Denali which is not a long ride and it was HAL and yes there was a dining car. I don’t recall about beverage service as I don’t drink .  Yes, I had a guide 

we were late in the year and our group was small

8 minutes ago, oaktreerb said:

Did you take the Holland America or Princess rail cars?  Seats are assigned and they are very comfy with lots of room between seats.  Because of the dome viewing there is no overhead storage.  The HAL busses are also very nice.  We’ve been traveling in Alaska and the Yukon with HAL since 2005.  The least comfortable seats were when we were put on the Princess rail car but otherwise the experience was pretty much the same as HAL.

This is the Anchorage to Denali train, not the Whittier train. It was the HAL train and no seats were not assigned.  

9 minutes ago, Horizon chaser 1957 said:

So I just got off the phone with HAL at 24 hrs 10 minutes before sailing.

WE ARE CONFIRMED! And for $69 CDN per person, we’ve upgraded to a veranda cabin. Now to finish packing and water the plants! 🎉🎉🎉🎉
  @rj59, my fingers are crossed for you!

Let me understand.  At 48 hours you could have canceled but chose to wait longer, right?

oh and have a great cruise!!!

Let me add, if a couple splits up so they can each have a window seat there is absolutely nothing wrong with that.  Each paid a full fare and each deserves the equal status.  What is not allowed is spreading all of your junk into the seat next to you.  Spouses are not attached at the hip. 

1 hour ago, Haljo1935 said:

Hey @Mary229 when was your train w/assigned cars & open seating?

Ours was May 2022.  @Wehwalt indicated they also had assigned seating.

Curious when a change might have been made.

First I am talking only about the train to Denali.  I was on the Yukon Denali tour.  We were assigned a car but not a specific seat.  The car was fairly small. It was September 2022.  This was for the train Anchorage to Denali, not the train from Whittier 

4 minutes ago, Petronillus said:

Assigning seats seems like the sensible way to avoid the chair hog problem. 

For the train to Denali the cars are small.  Until there is a problem no solution is needed. 

My best advice is don’t do it.  Call now and pay to pick.  I just got off the phone with my own niece and her agent and did just this.  She was assigned a terrible location 

Customs was a mess when I disembarked in March.  I too wanted to take that early flight but was glad I settled on the afternoon flight 

17 minutes ago, Petronillus said:

That being the case, does one experience something comparable to the poolside chair hogs? Do couples split up so as to each claim a window seat and thereby block another DW & DH from sitting together?

I did not have that experience.  It was a civil, likable group with the exception of the person who was sick and refused to excuse themselves.  They were sick enough to harm others. 

6 minutes ago, ontheweb said:

Let me go even further with my analysis and say that it is something they need to apologize for even more than backed up sewage.

 

The did not intend for there to be backed up sewage. In fact it is probably due to one or more passengers flushing things down the toilet that they are expressly told not to flush down the toilet. OTOH, closing off an area important to passenger for the benefit of Park West was a conscious decision that they made. Apologize for it, which NCL did but it seems HAL did not, and then move on from it hopefully having learned your lesson.

That’s NCL.  I will not be convinced it was a mistake, it was simply a poor business decision.  The point of the complaint is to voice one’s opinion not to receive a judgement whether that judgement is verbal or monetary.  Ultimately businesses have a right to make their own decisions and your recourse is to buy from them or not.  This is not an actionable complaint. 

6 minutes ago, ontheweb said:

👌 that I am right. All I can say is NCL did the right thing in a similar situation. OTOH, I understand that they also apologized. If HAL did not, that is not a good sign.

 

When cruisers react with their pocketbook instead of just threats, I think they will have to take notice.

I don’t see the need to apologize nor compensate.  They made a business decision, saw that it was not optimal and chose to try it a different way. Businesses make choices but those choices are not failures they simply were not a good fit for the customer.  Ask Coca Cola about this.  (The New Coke fiasco)
 

Let’s be clear the Crow’s nest only seats 200 or so people.  I think it was a bad decision but it does not rise to the level of backed up sewage.  

The train to Denali is assigned car but sit where you want.