LnWG

We pre-paid our gratuity at the end of August 2023 for a Sept 2023 cruise. Our account was in Cdn, and so I paid in Cdn, and paid the total amount of gratuity shown as owing on the account. This was exactly the same amount that had shown on the account from the day we booked the cruise 9 months prior. Our on board account debited at a rate of $16.00 US pp/per day, and it all balanced at the end of the cruise. Whatever exchange rate was used, the conversion appears to have been done at the time our cruise was booked and it never varied. You are well advised to ask Holland America for further explanation.

I will add….we disembarked on Sep 23, which is the day that the ship was held up at the locks and was late arriving at Amsterdam port. Our flight was scheduled to leave at 12:15. We had chosen to disembark independently, the line on F2 was long but once it started to move it moved very quickly. It is a longer walk to the taxis than one might expect. Although we had no pre-booked cab, there was no trouble whatsoever getting one at the terminal. There were people directing you throughout the terminal so you knew where to go for cabs, pre-booked cabs etc. Our driver told us that one of the routes to the airport was closed due to annual maintenance that weekend, and we were somewhat starting to panic at this point. Nonetheless, we pulled up at the airport around 8:40am. It was exceedingly busy. But our good driver had made sure to drive us to the correct entranceway for our airline. The check-in desk was staffed and there was no-one at all lined up in front of us, so our bags were checked within minutes and our boarding passes were printed there for us. Security was busy. We proceeded through ahead of our pre-booked time slot, it took us about 35 minutes until we were cleared and through to the gates. Our gate was a long way off, but we were at the gate by 10:00, having stopped for facilities and a coffee along the way. So even with a few hold-ups, we had no trouble at all making a 12:15 flight. I’m sure you will be fine for your noon flight.

We have recovered, my husband is immunocompromised and so the ships Dr. started him on Paxlovid immediately and all was well. We were able to enjoy the last portion of our second week. We were surprised also that there was no host at the entrance to the buffet areas because as you said, there was some bad behaviour going on. On another cruise line which we frequently sail on - even in the pre Covid era- there was always a host at each entrance to the buffet, welcoming people and encouraging hand washing. Those who chose to bypass the sinks (and before there were sinks) were given a generous squirt of hand sanitizer before getting past the host, who was armed with a big bottle of the stuff. We made sure to mention this lapse to Holland America in our post cruise survey.

I have really enjoyed this review, and especially your photos. We were on the same cruise and continued for the next sailing. I am glad you were able to escape the nasty Covid that was ravaging throughout the ship that week. Unfortunately, and as careful as we were, (we were the two wearing our masks) we were not so lucky. As you were disembarking, we were entering our first days of isolation. It all worked out, the few ports we missed on our next sailing were ports we had been to before in the past. And the wonderful crew on the ship made sure we were well looked after. I suppose if you have to have Covid, make sure to get it in a place with a good Dr., Room Service and a great view! I hope you do get to Panama, that is a very memorable trip.

We contracted Covid while on a HAL cruise in mid Sep 2023. We had taken our own test kits with us, the Medical department did not retest us since their tests were $38US each. My husband was prescribed Paxlovid ($750 US) and a cough syrup. The cost to see the Dr/nurse was $150ish, US. My symptoms were so mild, I didn’t even realize I had Covid until I tested myself. Although I went to medical with my husband and they checked me out (temperature check, oxygen level check and BP check) I was not charged any medical fees whatsoever. We were isolated in our room for five days from the day that we first felt symptoms. In my case, this was the same isolation as my husband, since I’d had no symptoms other than tiredness. Medical called to check on us twice daily as did Guest services and housekeeping. Medical provided us with a thermometer since we had not brought one, they always wanted to know our temperature when they called. We had a shore excursion planned the day our isolation was over and the day before that we had a call from the Shore Excursion folks to make sure we were feeling well enough to go, and still wanted to participate. If we had not wanted to go, we would have been refunded in full. Room service was provided….they were terrific! We could have called as many times as we wanted. We were given as much bottled water as we liked, free of charge and it was delivered with our room service. Housekeeping could not come into our room, but they called every day to ask if we needed anything. If we needed new towels or fresh sheets they were delivered and when we heard a knock on the door we knew they would be waiting outside for us. A bag was provided for our used linens and we called when it was ready to be picked up….same for our used room service trays, they were not to be left out in the hallway for pickup. Always wait for the knock at the door…..then mask up and push the old tray out, someone was there to take it straight away. We were refunded port fees for any missed ports. Luckily, most of our isolation was on sea days, or at ports that we had been to before. We received a letter stating that we would receive FCC based on the pro-rated costs of our cruise for the days we spent in isolation. And at the end of the cruise we were provided with all of the documentation that would be required for our private medical insurance. And the day our isolation ended, our room was cleaned top to bottom with hospital grade disinfectant.

I purchased a very nice compact size lighted mirror through Amazon for $20. Magnifies 15x

I also think you were very wise to take the ship’s train into Berlin, and even wiser to use the time in Berlin to see things on your own. Our story: We had never been to Berlin before, and are not likely to ever go back. So we took a very expensive excursion that included the train and a guided tour of many other sights. Everything was going great until the early afternoon when we were leaving the Brandenburg Gate. The count had been correct when we arrived, it was not correct when they counted people on the bus - one woman was missing. We sat on the bus for a full hour while our guide went looking for her, and when he could not find her our tour eventually resumed. But we had no tour really…our guide was on the phone non-stop, and we were so far behind that we had missed our time slot for a museum. By the time we got to the area where we were to have free time in a “shopping” area we had a full five minutes. Which was no big deal for us, but many were highly upset. The train had to be held back because by then every single tour group arranged by the ship had been searching for this woman. And while we were on the train, our guide came and spoke to everyone in our group to let us know that the woman had been found. She apparently was back at the train before most of the tour groups who had been looking for her arrived. And she’d been spotted stepping out of a cab and she had a bunch of shopping bags. Hmmmmm. Yes, you did things in Berlin the exact right way, in my opinion anyway. I’m glad you are having a great trip.

Miss G, we are wondering ourselves if we will see differences when we next travel. I will make note and if remarkable will be sure to post a thread of observations. Although pandemic precautions are waning, we are essential caregivers for a high risk individual who lives in a congregate living arrangement. So we are still required to mask and have become quite used to it. And only recently had to stop daily testing. My nose has been swabbed so many times I feel as if it must have developed callouses by now. It will be good to get away to the beautiful scenery.

Miss G, I’d like to thank you for such an entertaining series of posts. We are soon taking our first cruise since the fall of 2019, and haven’t been on an HAL ship for quite a number of years before that. We liked our last HAL experience quite a lot and since they have a good back-to-back itinerary for the Norwegian fjords, we chose HAL for this voyage. Although we will be on a different ship, it has the same layout; our cabin will be a little further back than yours was, but on the same deck….we prefer midship and low! So your photos from the balcony of your cabin were great, because we had wondered what our view of the lifeboats would look like. Enjoy all your future travel pursuits!

Miss G, how I miss you. I do hope you have been busy enjoying the last few days of your cruise, and that you have not picked up any kind of a bug from the bad coughing you mentioned that was going on.