lovelights

2 minutes ago, Turtles06 said:

 

Thanks for your reply.    (BTW, I see that often when you quote and then respond to a comment, you do it in two separate posts. Just an fyi that you don't need to do that -- just hit the "quote" link, which will open a reply box and insert the quoted material, and then just type your reply under the quote. ) 

I know. I noticed that I kept doing it, but I couldn't find this little area here to type at first, so I was hitting "submit reply", and I hadn't replied yet. Sorry about that. I looked to see if I could go back and remove those, but don't know if I can now, because I didn't see a delete button. 😮

We only put our passports and money in the safe. I don't even know if my camera would have fit in it, and I always kept my cell phone out on the night stand. Either there, or I had it with me. We really didn't have to open it much, because we only had Nassau and the private island to go to, and we didn't make it to the private island anyways. My husband was the only one that used it, and he said that when he took the money out to go to Nassau, it didn't seem to feel warm inside.

The mini fridge kept everything ice cold. We had taken 6 Aquafina waters, and 2 bottles of wine. (We ended up only spending $2.00 at Nassau, and that was on 2 bottles of water). I told my husband when we got back on the ship, that I was going to make sure that I never book a cruise again that has the private island and Nassau on it, because if you don't make it to the private island, and you make it to Nassau, you don't get any port fees or taxes credited back.

I can't believe we paid $105.00 per person for taxes and fees just to go to Nassau, yet I seen Holland America itineraries that goes to 4 places, and the total taxes and fees are only like $140 - $160 per person. I have no plans to book a cruise that has Nassau on the itinerary.

Ok, I got off subject..... sorry about that. lol

3 hours ago, Turtles06 said:

OP: thanks very much for adding the lovely photos to your review.  Your beautiful stateroom reminds me very much of a Celebrity S-class ship (my favorite ships to date). 

 

One question for you (or anyone else): I see that the safe is directly above the mini-fridge.  That's how Celebrity does it too, and I've found that the heat generated by the fridge motor makes the interior of the safe pretty hot, far too hot to risk putting any electronics, memory cards, etc. in it.   I'm just curious to know whether you found that the safe in your cabin got hot.  (Not anything I'd base a cruising decision on, I'm just curious.)   

 

Thanks.

4 hours ago, Nymich said:

lol I saw this guy too

LOL

Did you see the service dogs? Or, the potty area on the Promenade deck? I was walking past the desserts, and seen the one dog sniffing at the desserts. His nose was actually on the counter area. As I was passing by, I kept looking and walking, and almost ran in to the back of my husband that was walking in front of me.

We only ate at the buffet. We loved it. They had such a large selection. My husband made the comment several times, that everything he ate was seasoned perfectly. But was kinda worries us is that just because you get good cooked food on one ship, doesn't mean you'll get good food on another ship with the same cruise line.

We've been on Princess, NCL, Carnival, Royal Caribbean, and MSC, and all ships have their good and bad. But it's important for us to be able to eat good food, and I've never heard any complaints about HAL's food before. We went on MSC Divina and loved the food, yet went on MSC Seaside and absolutely hated the food. We went on HAL and did not like the entertainment at the theater, but when on MSC and absolutely loved their production shows.

Shows and food can be a touchy subject IMO. What someone might think as a bad show, someone else might have loved it. There was some food on the Nieuw Statendam that my husband didn't like, but I did, and vice-a-versa.

I'm sure someone on this board could possibly let you know how the specialty restaurants were, or the MDR.

Here's some food photos, and these are all of the buffet.

7 hours ago, Wishing on a star said:

3.  FOOD....   Man, I sure wish you had been on a longer cruise, as I feel your feedback on the food would really be truthful and objective.   We just came from an AWFUL experience with the food and dining cutbacks on Princess.   I mean, it was pretty bad.   (After having a wonderful experience with dining on the Coral Princess a couple years ago).  

My problem was all of the food was over cooked, over 'processed', seemed to have tons of MSG, fillers, etc...    Some was inedible, some was okay, and I am hard pressed to think of one main menu item I had that was well prepared decent quality food.    I am not talking just soups, gravies/sauces....   Even basic potato sides were so salty, MSG, over processed, that I couldn't really eat them.  Think, what would come out of big pre-processed trays from Campbell's soup...

 

I would love to hear if any of the foods you had left you with that kind of impression?

I would appreciate more detailed and honest feedback!!!!

 

He had slippers on. LOL They actually covered up more of his feet than my sandals did. His feet were also more covered up than the guy that we seen walking through the LIdo completely barefooted.

5 hours ago, Vict0riann said:

 

Well, it looks like at least he might have had footwear on!  Remember that sign "No shirt, no shoes, no service"?  Perhaps it would be an idea to have that up in the Lido Market.  We saw bathrobes there on the TA, too, my DH had to be held down.   

Usually when you see the words "getting your panties in a bunch", it's usually followed with something that makes no sense at all. If your luxury hotels, has a restaurant where they allow people to walk around in their pajamas covered up with a bathrobe, let me know what "luxury" hotel this is, so I can let everyone know that this very disrespectful practice is allowed, and looked upon as something that is normal for a dining facility. I'd like to have the names and numbers of these lovely hotels, that you speak so highly of.

I just mentioned that this act of dis-respectfulness surprised me for this cruise line. I never said that it would make me not cruise with HAL again, so my panties or anyone else's panties on this particular board shouldn't be of any of your concern. Matter of fact, we're looking at cruises on HAL right now for next Spring. I was just surprised that they have a stricter dress code to go to shows, etc., compared to other cruise lines I've been on, yet allow the older generation to walk around in their bathrobes, that they must think is a new fashion statement to go out for dinner. To be honest, I don't give a hoot if they walk around wearing just their underwear. But to tell guests that they have to get dressed on Gala night, and then you see someone walking around in their night clothing, is nothing shy of total disrespect. It's disrespect for other guests, and it's also disrespect for the cruise line.

8 hours ago, slidergirl said:

Maybe because I work in the luxury hotel business, seeing people walking around in bathrobes isn't something to get my panties in a bunch.  It is pretty common in all the hotels I've worked in.  It's a piece of clothing, it covers people, it doesn't bother me.   People cross the lobby all the time in robes - to get their morning coffee, to grab a drink at the bar, to pick up food that they've ordered, to go to the Fitness Center, to go to the Spa, go to up to the pool and hot tubs...  I even had some gentlemen come up to our Yule Log celebration Friday night in their robes (coming back from the hot tubs), and some more on Saturday night came out to the fire pit to make S'mores (and it was about 20 degrees out!).   I guess what is common sight for me is abhorrent for others. To each her own...

8 hours ago, slidergirl said:

Maybe because I work in the luxury hotel business, seeing people walking around in bathrobes isn't something to get my panties in a bunch.  It is pretty common in all the hotels I've worked in.  It's a piece of clothing, it covers people, it doesn't bother me.   People cross the lobby all the time in robes - to get their morning coffee, to grab a drink at the bar, to pick up food that they've ordered, to go to the Fitness Center, to go to the Spa, go to up to the pool and hot tubs...  I even had some gentlemen come up to our Yule Log celebration Friday night in their robes (coming back from the hot tubs), and some more on Saturday night came out to the fire pit to make S'mores (and it was about 20 degrees out!).   I guess what is common sight for me is abhorrent for others. To each her own...

12 hours ago, Shmoo here said:

I think there are a number of people who use those robes for swimwear coverups.  

This could be, however, I don't care what they use them for, they shouldn't be worn outside of their stateroom, unless it's the balcony. They certainly shouldn't be worn in any dining area.

Just now, Tennessee Titan said:

+1 on the robes. We noticed the same two women (in their 60s) every day in the lido. Even saw them down on deck 3 in the Grand Dutch/ Guest Services area. Looked silly, totally inappropriate....

I didn't see any women. All the ones we seen were men. I about fell out my chair when my husband and I were sitting in the Lido eating dinner, and this fella walks by. I just happened to have my cell phone with me at the time, and I looked at my husband and said "Oh, no one is going to believe this, I have to take this photo." lol I took 600 photos of this ship, so I pretty much have every picture you can imagine. LOL 😉

13 hours ago, freestyling said:

Did you enjoy the Grand Dutch Cafe? How about any of the specialty restaurants. How was your stateroom? Thanks for posting your review

We passed through the Grand Dutch Cafe area several times and it was always packed. Very little seating inside, and had several seating areas outside, but it was a very busy area. We didn't eat at any of the specialty restaurants. We were only on the 4 day cruise. We love the buffet. I took several photos of the restaurants though. I'll post some photos later.

We absolutely loved our stateroom. That was another surprise. We booked an oceanview down on Deck 1, and when we checked in, we were told that our room was no longer available and they had to check the manifest to see where our room was. They ended up putting us in a beautiful balcony (VA Verandah), on deck 6. It had a nice size balcony, and it had the largest shower on any ship we've ever been on. We absolutely loved our room. We had the largest tv than any other stateroom we've been in, and we actually relaxed while watching some very good movies that were complimentary. I was surprised that we didn't have to pay extra for them. Other cruise lines that we've been on, movies were an extra cost.

Here's some photos of the DUTCH CAFE, and OUR STATEROOM (stateroom 6073)

13 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

How were the evening shows In the main theater?

The first show "Humanity" was fine, but the other one called "Stages", we actually seen people walking out. It was divided into 3 Acts. People started walking out at the beginning of Act 2. To be honest, I wanted to walk out in the middle of Act 2, but felt it would be rude. If my husband had his way, he would have walked out within the first 10 minutes of the show. It consisted of 3 couples dancing. It was about 45 minutes long. The people that remained in the theater seemed to have liked it though. I guess it's just a matter of what you like and what you don't like. 😮

We've been on 20+ cruises, and this was our (husband and myself) first on Holland America. We chose our first cruise on HAL to be on the beautiful Nieuw Statendam, and indeed it was beautiful.

There were a few surprises that we weren't expecting, but that's just because we hadn't seen them on other cruise lines before.

We seen people walking around in their bath robes throughout the ship. Is this a norm for HAL cruises? One night while we were eating dinner in Lido, we seen a man walk by in his bath robe. I was stunned. It just surprises me that you're suppose to wear a collared shirt, and slacks or skirts, or whatever to the theater, yet there's people that walk around with bathrobes on. Guess some people haven't figured out that the word "bath" doesn't mean you wear it in a dining area. And just when I thought that was bad, I watched one of those "special needs" dogs (this one happened to be a golden retriever and I seen 2 of them on this cruise), sniff the desserts at Lido, and once when it walked out the elevator with it's person, it left the elevator smelling of wet dog.

Smokers have very little space to smoke, but the special needs dogs have a special place to poo and pee, located on the promenade deck where people have to walk by it. (Oh, and I'm not a smoker, but my husband vapes, and noticed that there weren't many places to smoke)

The Casino smelled of cigarettes and we only seen one person smoking.

I had heard that the food was very good on Holland America ships, but I was shocked when the 2nd night on the ship, there was lobster served on the buffet. That's a first for us. Not sure if HAL serves lobster on all of their buffets during a course of a cruise, but they did on this particular ship. The food was delicious, and the crew was the best we've ever had the opportunity to meet.

BB King was absolutely amazing. And even with the wet dog elevator, and the older crowd walking around in bath robes, we're planning our next cruise to be with HAL. Just wish they'd build a dock at Half Moon Cay, so everyone didn't miss having the opportunity to visit it so much, because I've heard that it's one of the best private islands, it's just a shame that our ship didn't make it there. 😞

On 12/23/2018 at 5:05 PM, Nymich said:

three 45 min sets and they stagger it with bb kings...…..rolling stone plays and then billboard because they are right next to each other

We just got off the ship today, and when we were strolling on the music walk the other night, both venues were performing at the same time. As we walked away from the Rolling Stones Rock Room, we could start hearing  BB King, however, if you were actually sitting at one of them, you could not hear the other. It was surprising, because they were loud. I felt bad for the guests staying in the rooms beneath the venues. Hopefully they didn't go to bed early. 😮

They have 50% off deposits right now

I believe the 50% off deposits are only for short cruises (5 days or shorter), right? Because we're planning on booking a 7 day cruise eventually, and when I did a mock booking, it did not offer a 50% off deposit.

So, is this now a 5 day cruise, going to Grand Cayman, and Cozumel? If so, I hope they make Grand Cayman. It took us 6 tries before we finally got there. We've been on a 5 day cruise out of Tampa once, on Paradise, and we only ended up going to 1 port. It wasn't fun.

We spent the rest of the day relaxing in Serenity. It's so great there when you can get a good spot. It's been redesigned since we were last on the ship and they have added 2 person beds and hot tubs. I know a lot of people like the hot tubs to be adults only and since Serenity is 21+ we didn't see any kids in the hot tubs at all. We did the slide a few times and that was fun.

On our first night we saw a waiter named Alex in the section beside us who seemed very friendly with his guests. We asked for and got that section on night 2 and ended up getting excellent friendly service for the rest of the cruise.

We went to the live show that night called "Living in America". It was good. The female singer in particular was very good

We went back to the Karaoke bar but it was in the smaller lounge this time and there wasn't much room so we left after 15 minutes or so.

We headed back to the room around 11 and again I sat out on my balcony for my nightly fix.

I forgot to mention cabin service. Our cabin steward Amir did a really good job. He asked us on the first day to fill out a form which asked if we wanted morning, evening or both for service. We chose both and filled out we would like to have bathrobes. we got great service morning and evening.

We were on the same cruise that you were, and we were in Stateroom 6432 (extended balcony), and was given a choice of either morning or evening stateroom service, and we couldn't make up our mind at first, and we were told by our stateroom attendant that it had to be one or another, and we chose morning, and was fine with it. We weren't offered both.

Also, I was glad to see that we docked at Mallory Square, and not the Navy base. I thought Breeze was suppose to pull in at 10:00am, but for some reason, they never showed up. Either way, I was glad that we were the only ship there. It was a very nice visit, and like you, we were also back on the ship around 11:00am.

I have a hard time understanding why some people are so concerned about what other people do on their vacations.

I agree 100%. Some people don't like trying to explain themselves as to why the internet might be suitable for them (like kids at home, or pets at home, or maybe it has to do with your job, etc.)

I'm on that sailing too! :D:D:D

We are on the April 30th sailing, as well.

:cool:

We were told years ago that "copy" means the copy you get from the Bureau of Vital Statistics with a RAISED seal on it. Without the raised seal, they will not accept it. However, this is what we were told when we booked a Royal Caribbean cruise many years ago. I can't believe that Carnival will accept some printed copy from a copier machine. But, maybe times have changed.

I don't know when your cruise is, but we're just off the ship.

 

We never smelled any foul odors except a brief period when we got back on board in Grand Cayman. The smell met us as we boarded and didn't smell like sewer to me. It smelled like trash. This odor was very strong around the elevators when we got off on the 12th floor to go to our room and we smelled it strongly again when we used the elevators to go back down to deck 8 after stopping off in our room to off load our day bags. We didn't smell it anymore a couple hours later when we rode up to the buffet on 16 for a snack to tide us over to dinner.

 

We were quite happy with the buffet. I would say the food we experienced was a solid notch above the buffet fare we've experienced previously on Royal ships but still buffet food. I'd say Royal's buffet food was solidly on par with nice receptions in the US and MSC's was like the couple of European receptions we've experienced. There was lots of choice, even at dinner when it was only the deck 8 buffet.

You had a dinner at the Marketplace Buffet on the lower deck? When we cruised on Seaside, all we had was dinner at a small buffet on the upper deck with limited food choices. We were happy to see the last day of the cruise. This was a first for us to be looking forward to getting off a ship to go home. When I think about our Seaside cruise vacation, it makes me sick of my stomach, because I keep remember the funk that we had to endure during our entire cruise.