Mandalay1903

3 hours ago, cruisinsusin said:

has anyone traveled with this groupTravelrite Australia Group ?

Google shows this is a "bridge cruise" so would guess that its a generally quiet group but I wonder about the usual size of these groups and therefore which venues might be reserved/off limits.thanks

We cruised while a Travelrite Australia Group was aboard last winter. The group was sizeable, maybe 50 or 60, but they were very good as far as groups are concerned. We are happy to have them aboard on this sailing. Sometimes they occupied the meeting rooms, like Stuyvesant, but they were definitely no problem. Also, they often arranged their own independent excursions. We never had a problem using the main public areas, except maybe the Ocean Bar during Happy Hour...😀

Thank you for spotting and posting that a Travelrite Australian Group will be aboard the Nieuw Statendam 21 September 2024 – 05 October 2024 : Med Ancient Mysteries. We'll be sailing on that itinerary as well. We sailed earlier this year with one of their groups aboard and they were a pleasure to have around.

11 hours ago, crystalspin said:

HIA -- actually just the Beverage Package -- will count for a credit per day for two people in a cabin.

See Post #5 above. After our recent cruise, the Mariner Society rep insisted that the HIA value is to be excluded from the formula. My actual previous experience has been quite different and I had always been credited with Days for the HIA value. YMMV, I guess.

16 hours ago, SantaFe1 said:

And I have to say, I would be much more upset if I was trying to book shore ex in the next few weeks.  That is always so fraught anyway, and this new wrinkle just makes it worse.  But our excursions are booked for our Thine River cruise, Viking canceled our Pacific Coast Explorer cruise in April, so I don’t have to book any excursions u til July of 2025 for Malta.  

That would be very stressful. Two weeks ago I was about to book ShoreEx for our China cruise this fall. I was logged in and ready to go, and 15 seconds (yes, 15 seconds) before the noon PST designated time the MVJ system went down. Apparently, no one could get logged in and I ended up calling in to the Viking call center to book my excursions. We got what we wanted, but it was another example of the recent problems Viking has been having with MVJ log-ins.

3 hours ago, NCTribeFan said:

As a solo,  I've tried to figure my Mariner points post-cruise and can never figure out why I've earned what I've earned.  Even when I don't have HIA.  I believe I used crystalspin's method trying to calculate what I've earned.  I think part of the issue is when I've booked B2B, some of the charges appear to go on the one of the weeks other than when the actual spending took place, because one seems high and the next seems low.  It's not very intuitive and, hey, I'm a CPA.  I should be able to figure this out! 😄

 

Everyone always says casino spending doesn't count, but it seems to me that when I put funds in a slot machine that goes to my onboard account that it does count.  That's why I only use cash at the tables, not in the slots.  I'll give it another "test" in November.  

 

I don't expect to make 4* until my January K'dam sailing (24 nights w/HIA).

We purchase our cruises including HIA and pre-book our ShoreEx. In the past, we've received full Mariner Days credit for the HIA package--doing the math each time, our ShoreEx, gratuities & onboard spending wouldn't have been enough. We recently sailed a six-week B2B in a suite booked with HIA (28 days plus 14 days). Onboard, HAL connected our shipboard accounts for the two bookings, and the account didn't need to be settled until the end of the entire voyage. A credit in our favor.

After returning home, we were credited our full Mariner Days (suite plus spending) for the first booking, but were severely shorted on the second booking. Only 3 spending Days were credited for a 14-day HIA sailing. Even the cost of pre-booked HAL ShoreEx were excluded. I called the Mariner Society, and the rep recalculated. She manually added Days to our Mariner accounts for the value of our ShoreEx in the second booking, but she insisted that the value of HIA was to be EXCLUDED from the calculation because it was purchased as part of our original booking. (We're also CPAs... 😉  )

Makes me feel like they may have a different policy for B2Bs...any ideas? Should I call back and try another rep?

Also, we earned 5-Star Mariner status on our previous cruise last winter so I'm not sure whether any of this matters to us anymore. Or does it? Is there future value for 5-Star Mariners to continue to accrue Mariner Days? (I'm not referring to days sailed--Silver Medal, etc.)

Thanks.

15 hours ago, julia said:

Frankly, I would not book a Vista at any price... I do NOT prefer the bed near the balcony, with the sitting area enclosed from the ocean view. No. Nope. Not for me.

Agreed. The floor plan is the main reason we opted to book a VC rather than a Vista for our upcoming NS cruise.

On 1/5/2024 at 12:22 PM, VMax1700 said:

If anyone has any further information, please post it here and I will include it in the next update.

FWIW, we're currently aboard--and enjoying!--the South America & Antarctica cruise on the Oosterdam sailing Santiago to B.A.  There is a fairly large group aboard from Travel Rite (travelrite.com.au). Seems like a great group and everyone is having a good time. Their website indicates that Travel Rite will also have a group on the following Oosterdam cruise departing 1/29/2024 from B.A. back to Santiago.

7 hours ago, cmvikinger said:

(my understanding from looking at the itineraries is that the boat won't be going to Hong Kong... Either they will be chartering a few ferries to take people from SZ to HKIA skypier directly - sensible, quick - like, 45 minutes quick - and no immigration considerations, or they'll be bussing people there)

My itinerary has us docking and disembarking in "Hong Kong (Shenzhen)", which I expect will be a terminal in Shenzhen. We are booked on a post-cruise extension which travels to Guilin (hotel) and then Hong Kong (hotel). From there it is the flights home from HK. So, minimal visa/immigration considerations. Makes sense to me.

1 hour ago, Peregrina651 said:

THANK YOU!!!

Thank you for your additional insights and comments @Peregrina651. You were GREAT in commenting earlier this year on the 2023 Viking Pharaohs & Pyramids river cruise we completed last month--you really helped. I'm glad to see you chiming in here as well!

18 minutes ago, deec said:

but how will they have accommodations for 900 folks on the land portion or the flights? Everyone will arrive at once, unless they are going to divide the ship's passengers into separate groups.   Guess I will ask our cruise consultant next month!

There are three flavors of this cruise: China Discovery (ocean cruise only), Classic China & the Coast (ocean cruise preceded or followed by Xian & Beijing) and Wonders of China (ocean cruise preceded by Beijing and followed by Lhasa, Xian & Beijing). The ship departs on weekly sailings between Shanghai and Hong Kong (Shenzhen) every Saturday.

All three flavors of the cruise are resident on each weekly sailing. So, every week there will be a combination of guests who are only onboard for the ocean-only itinerary plus guests onboard for the itineraries with land portions and possibly pre- or post-cruise extensions. I am sure that Viking will limit the guest counts for the Classic China & the Coast and the Wonders of China itineraries (with the land portions) and the pre- or post-cruise extensions based on hotel, train and [charter] plane capacities. The remainder of the 900 folks on the ship will not have the land features and will transfer from or to the local airports.

We just booked the 15-day Classic China & Coast version + extension for October 2024 using the $25pp deposit promo. We were cancelled out of a China cruise on a different line in March 2020, so we are excited to get this opportunity. The itinerary looks a lot better than what we had originally booked back then. We'll keep an eye on the situation and see how the excursions look when they're released.  Logistics, too.  We have flexibility on this and our other bookings for next fall and we have a few months to finalize before any substantial payments are due.

Some minor improvement, but still the ShoreEx pages sometimes appear blank and kick me out of the booking.  Still need to clear cookies regularly.  Too many workarounds needed for the users.

On 12/3/2023 at 5:00 PM, Mary229 said:

I only buy $100s. Up until now they have allowed me to use a single $100 FCD and charge the remainder to my credit card.  For example if my deposit is $600 I use a $100 FCD and charge $500 to the credit card. 

I do the same as well.

I have found that if we have multiple FCDs in my Mariner account and we book a new cruise, the system automatically applies all of the FCDs to our booking up to the amount of the required (and reduced) deposit. I need to tell my PCC that I only want one FCD applied to the new booking and I'll pay the rest in cash. He will need to either take action to prevent the additional FCDs from being applied, or reverse them later.

16 minutes ago, JG NC said:

I tried a search and got everything but what I searched.   

 

I tried to sign up for a waitlist for a shore excursion - I selected the Add to Waitlist, then it goes to a page to add a 0$ item to a cart so I tried that, nothing happens.  How do I know if I actually got on the waitlist?

Thanks

If the process worked properly, you should have received an email from HAL Shore Excursions confirming your $0 purchase. What might have gone wrong for you? There is a "Terms & Conditions" button to select as you make your purchase from the Shopping Cart. If you don't select the T&Cs button, the purchase won't be made.

Overall, the system works pretty well once you complete the $0 purchase. If you clear the waitlist, you'll get an email notification from HAL ShoreEx and an instruction that you have 72 hours to make you purchase. If you don't make your purchase within the 72 hour time frame, your waitlist place is cancelled and the option goes to the next guest in line.

1 hour ago, crystalspin said:

You need to reach a supervisor at HAL and have them "Manually Apply" your credit(s). Their term. Call your PCC or HAL help (sic) line. Not AARP, once you have your Shear verification they are out of the loop. AFAIK.

Is there a yearly limit to the number of bookings that OBCs can be applied for a verified AARP member? Or is there no limit? My PCC and supervisor says only one per year.

The email address on the form and my pdf attachment worked perfectly late last month. Auto-response arrived promptly and the OBC's were posted timely and accurately. CCL benefit is a good promotional program run by Carnival.

Thank you for the information. Happy to see that it's the Knitting Group on our 9/24 Iberian Adventure cruise on NS...

We recently booked the HAL NS cruise in Sept 2024 because it avoids the Israel ports yet still includes Istanbul. Even so, we believe there is still a probability (a lower probability) of other itinerary changes impacting other nearby ports (say, in Egypt, Cyprus and even Istanbul) if the situation there intensifies. Three of the ports on that itinerary also have no excursion offerings at this time, including Port Said, but that could also be for other operational reasons rather than a contemplated itinerary change.

Glad that we visited Israel and Palestine last spring, and we hope to see peace.  Current course and speed, we fly to Cairo next week for a Nile River cruise. Of course, all pre- and post-cruise extensions to Israel have been cancelled through December 2023. This river cruise line is being less aggressive than NCL, apparently.

2 hours ago, zgscl said:

I have always been able to use for the daily service charge on HAL regardless of what the official terms/policy says.

Same here...

We are also booked on the 1/7/2024 sailing and looking forward to the Antarctic experience. We've previously sailed Santiago to Rio sans Antarctica and had a great time at that. Very impressed with the Chilean fjords, Beagle Channel, etc. But this time anticipating the splendor of the Antarctica scenery and wildlife. We booked a balcony stateroom so we always have a view, but hoping the blackout curtains do their job for the midnight sun! 

Thanks to all for the postings, and safe travels to all on their upcoming journeys!

I personally have not had a problem bringing single use bottles on board (HAL 35-day Australia 11/2022 and 24-day Indonesia 2/2023) when returning from shore excursions. Two things surprise me about the HAL policy and practices.

First, the shoreside shore excursions bus chaperones would give you virtually unlimited supplies of single use water bottles on the buses (and yes, it was very hot in these locations) and you could bring them back on board full or partially consumed. IMO, if the single use water bottles are banned by the cruise line, their use on the HAL-sponsored shore excursions should be banned too.

Second, the HAL ShoreEx team would sell pop-top aluminum cans of water (free under the HIA package) onboard as you depart on excursions. Problem is, after you open the can, on an excursion say, you can't re-close it and it becomes subject to spillage. Alternatively, HAL's Beverage Department would sell you a re-closable twist-top aluminum can of water while supplies lasted, but this was NOT covered by the HIA package despite being under the price limit.  IMO, HAL's ShoreEx department should be selling the twist-top aluminum cans and they should be covered by the HIA package.

Enjoy the crossing. Have a great trip!

Have a great trip. Enjoy Santa Barbara!

Enjoy your trip! Have a great time!!

I'm having a lot of problems with their site, too (Windows 10, Firefox). It will usually work one time after clearing the "Holland America" and "HALW" cookies, then the same problem recurs. It will usually also work if I open the site as a private window, although a number of features don't work. Lots of HAL browsing problems these days...