HermanMelville2

We are from Washington State.  We had the crab boil on our way through Alaska from Seattle to Yokohama last Fall.  I really hope they have it on our cruise back from Japan in April. They sid a pretty food job of it.  I like lobster, but nothing beats Dungeness and King crab in my opinion. There is a spot on the North coast of the Olympic Peninsula called Dungeness Spit.  That is the place to get Dungeness crab fresh.

On 2/1/2024 at 10:13 PM, Toad said:

Another. Native and I agree.

8 hours ago, Bill B said:

 

After three cruises I'm still waiting for any of the below:

15% discount at shophollandamerica.com
Mariner Society Welcome Onboard Lunch
Collectible gift
"Mariner Cocktail" voucher to be used anytime during the cruise

11 hours ago, Billthekid said:

This was our first cruise in a long time because of the pandemic, we ventured forth for a 10-day Holiday Caribbean cruise on the Nieuw Statendam.  We are 4* close to moving up to 5*.  We board in the first group at 11 AM, find the cabin, do some exploring, and wait for the announcement about the welcome luncheon for the Mariners.  No announcement ever came, but we stumbled on to the lunch being served.  There are only about 40 individuals having lunch compared to previous cruises where the number was much higher.  Back to the cabin and finally at 5 PM, our luggage shows up.  There is nothing for the Mariners for the next six days.  A one-hour reception is announced at the Lido Deck indoor pool.  A gauntlet of eight uniformed personnel greet us and we have no idea who they are since they don't talk or say hello, just nod their heads.  Sixty minutes later, the place is cleared out.   A Wine tasting (free to Mariners) is held on the last sea day, for anyone who wishes to order a wine package for the one day left, I guess.  On the next to the last sea day we leave laundry on the bed for pick up, but the cabin boy hands it back the next day because the laundry room is overloaded with others they can not get to ours.  And last but not least, the Mariner's Luncheon with awards and meeting the Captain is not held.  There is no mention of why, no apology.  I guess during the 10 days there was no time available.  The good news was the tiles were delivered to the cabins.  The disregard for the Mariners Members is not a deal breaker, but it is more of the reflective attitude towards all the passengers in my opinion.  

 

Tiles delivered.  That is kinda funny to us.  We sorta hate them.  They are stupid heavy.  We give them away as soon as possible to someone who helps us.

Yes, they are playing it a little (possibly a lot) sneaky on the refund of my Japan cruise that they cancelled.  I filled out the form rejecting their offer to simply rebook this same cruise a year later and requesting a refund of my deposit.  Expecting the refund in about a week, I booked and paid the deposit on Vanc. to Hawaii round trip for Oct 8, 2022. Last week because I still had not received a refund of my Japan deposit fee, I phoned my Holland advisor.  He informed me that, of course, they had a lot of refunds to process because of the volume of cancellations, but that I should receive my refund in 5-8 business days now.  Imagine my frustration this morning to find out they not only hadn't issued a refund, but had gone ahead and booked the 2023 Japan cruise against my request and with out my knowledge or permission.  I called my Holland advisor and he told me that they had done that across the board on the cancelled Asia cruises.  That they then intended to go back and refund the deposits from there.  I requested this cruise cancelled and my original deposit refunded. He said OK and that I should see that refund in 5-8 business more days. Apparently even the Hal consultants didn't know about this. Kinda thinking about cancelling my Hawaiian cruise too now, due to the way they wrote their initial notice of all Asia cruises letter and then changed their mind without additional notification except to send an email that I was now booked for next year.