Infi

You won't find many kids aboard. Last Christmas on Zaandam we did a similar itinerary (16 day Southern Caribbean, just different ports) and there were less than 50 kids under 18.

Just checked my profile on the HAL site and the onboard credits section is blank, even though I have several cruises booked and previous confirmations from HAL that I qualify for both AARP and educator credits. Does anyone know when (or if) these show up in the onboard credits section?

How were you able to get email confirmations for these credits? I qualify for both but unlike the shareholder benefit, have not been able to get a voyage-specific email confirmation for either. (i.e. "your AARP credit has been applied to booking # xxxxxx"). I like to take these emails aboard as proof, in case they are not applied.

Seconding the replies above and adding these: Lots of ship decorations: Christmas trees, garland, gingerbread house village in the atrium Special MDR menus for Christmas eve, Christmas day, and New Year's eve Tree lighting ceremony and caroling in the atrium (last year on Zaandam they also served mulled wine and Christmas cookies) Christmas eve show in the theater: caroling, performances by the crew, and a very beautiful recessional Christmas day visit from Santa with presents for under 18s Christmas movies in the theater and Christmas music throughout the ship Christmas cookies in the Lido, eggnog and stollen on Christmas morning The ships used to have three simultaneous parties for New Year's eve (usually crow's nest or piano bar, theater, and the pool), each with a different ambiance. The one in the theater was the largest and most similar to the balls HAL has on longer voyages with live music and a balloon drop. Since the pandemic, they have only had one party outdoors by the pool. It's most similar to the orange party IMHO.

Have been sailing HAL for Christmas since 2013 and have never seen a ugly sweater contest onboard. May be a roll call thing.

I am a millennial who enjoys technology and my iphone IRL, but I do not carry it around while aboard. I like the paper version of the daily, and simply remember what activities I want to attend (9am coffee chat, 10am port talk, etc.) rather than carry the paper or my phone around all day. I do use the app before bed each evening to check menus and leave positive comments for the crew in the "let us know" section. These are the most useful features of the app IMHO. The main place where I could see this being an issue is for shore excursions. They are much easier to read about and book via the app (once aboard), and they will scan the digital QR code in your app when meeting for tours. I have been told that scanning the cruise card will accomplish the same but have not tried it myself.

Recently returned from a long cruise on HAL (VOV) and dressy night seemed much more casual to me. Maybe it was the fact that it was a cold weather cruise, which requires packing more heavy weight casual clothes like jackets and sweaters, but dressy night was not very dressy at all. A small handful of tuxes, some jacket/sport coats, and many even without jackets or wearing polos that night. Women have more flexibility on dressy night, but even so, saw a lot of black outfits and very few fancy dresses/tops.

Thank you for sharing your experience, and agree wholeheartedly with this statement. With HAL, things often vary greatly from ship to ship, and I can see why it would be more likely to find a medallion ceremony on the Zuiderdam WC vs. the shorter voyages. Like everyone, HAL is still trying to bounce back from COVID as best as they can, and it's nice to see they are making an effort to have these nice events return. Also wanted to take this opportunity to say thanks for your blog - have been referring to it during my planning for VOV and the posts have been very helpful!

Also curious about this. I have shareholder OBC as well, and always take along the confirmation email as a backup in case it doesn't get added. It doesn't seem like there's any proof/confirmation of this OBC, so was hoping others could share their experiences with ensuring it was added onto their account.

Glenn-Michael used to be a Travel Guide (RIP) before the merging of the CD/Travel Director position. His talks were excellent, very informative and entertaining as well. Not surprised his EXC talks are so good, he's had a lot of practice and knows his stuff. Unfortunately, combining the Cruise and Travel Director role asks a lot of those who fill it: some are good at the people-facing piece but not the port knowledge or vice versa. It seems HAL is leaning more into the public speaking part of the role, as most of the newer folks in the role seem to have a lot of presentation experience in their backgrounds as journalists etc.

Related question: are the Mariner receptions (medallion ceremonies) back? Not referring to the MDR brunches or embarkation day cocktail parties, but the ones in the theater where medals are presented. Been on several cruises post COVID and have yet to see one.

Yes, it was. I was surprised that the approval process was an automated scanning and I received a response back within minutes. I submitted a pay stub which clearly has my university name listed.

Thank you for sharing this! I was aware of the military/first responder OBC but had never heard of this one for educators. It is a nice little benefit. I work in administration at a university and it appears I qualify from their description so have submitted my documents - fingers crossed.

For those who have embarked at Ijmuiden, how are the terminal facilities here? For all the money put into the terminal in Amsterdam, I was not impressed with the general disorganization I've experienced there and the rude staff. It seems like their crowd management abilities fall apart when multiple ships are in port.

Some FCC are better than others, for sure. I worked with Annette on the Zaandam earlier this month and she was fantastic: very organized, efficient, and knew her stuff inside and out. She was able to help me navigate a tricky situation with some old FCDs and pandemic credits and got to the bottom of it through working with Seattle and providing me with the resolution over email after my cruise was complete. I'm very grateful my FCD bank is now in order and I have several cruises to look forward to. I think those that have been doing this for a long time are real assets to HAL by selling more cruises and making for happier customers. Others that are less effective may be new to the role or may not be as invested in the work/doing a good job, which is too bad.

Would highly recommend this cruise! I was on a work trip in Alaska last summer and had some free time so took their 26 glacier cruise. I've been on 5 Alaska cruises and I would rate this little boat cruise the best trip to the glaciers I've ever had. We also saw tons of wildlife like eagles and seals. From their site, it seems like they've aligned their schedules with the ships so you can add it on before embarkation or debarkation. This is a must do, IMHO.

Trying to list menu items unique to HAL - obviously, lobster and steak are great anywhere, but these are my HAL must-haves I hope to see on my cruises. Banana bread French toast - MDR breakfast Raisin buns and ensaymada - MDR/Lido breakfast Peanut butter pie - Lido, embarkation day Parmesan crusted chicken - MDR dinner Halibut with prosciutto - MDR dinner Banoffee pie - MDR dinner Watermelon pie - MDR dinner Crab cakes - Pinnacle lunch/dinner Key lime pie - Pinnacle dinner Bitterballen, kaas souffle, veal krokets, etc. - Dutch treats at the Dive In when you sail out of the Netherlands

Taco bar was available on Zaandam earlier this month, so definitely not a post-COVID precaution. On our holiday cruise, we heard from our Maitre D' friend that they are removing the separate taco bars on all the Vista class ships and higher. Not sure why - perhaps those ships have more room at the buffet to accommodate those items?

Sailed Zaandam to Canada/NE at end of June/beginning of July; can confirm that Canaletto was still using the old menu.

Wow, what great news and a breath of fresh air! These are the things I have been missing about HAL for years. Also, what a throwback to the HAL of 2010-2015ish. I remember the entertainment team used to include the Lifestylist (sports, tai chi, etc.) and Party Planner/Culinary Arts Center host/ess (cooking demos, crafts) and it's great to see those roles back. What's old is new again and I'm excited to hear more daytime enrichment is in the works.

The holiday sailings are indeed popular, and attract a lot of families and multi-generational groups. My personal theory is that HAL holds (blocks) most of the early seating tables for the holiday sailings and release them in batches as the cruise approaches and more large groups book. It's the only possible explanation I can think of for early seating consistently not being available when booking ~1.5yrs out.

Agree that booking earlier does improve your chance of getting your desired fixed dining time. However, did want to point out that it's not always guaranteed, even if you do book early. We book our holiday cruises ~1.5years out (usually as soon as the itineraries are released) and have rarely gotten our preferred early dining time. This has always been easily remedied by meeting with the MDR staff on embarkation day, but it's forever a head-scratcher for me that early seating could be unavailable right after HAL releases the itinerary.

Interesting! I knew 5 star Mariners were entitled to a free class, but had always seen the cooking classes offered to the general population as a paid activity. They usually sold out on embarkation day during the "open house" time they used to have in that venue.

Don't get me wrong, I don't like them either and would never attend them. That being said, I know HAL needs to make money and as much as I like enrichment activities, I know there needs to be a balance between the two. Enrichment has sorely been lacking since COVID, but even the infomercials are down, making for a pretty paltry set of offering in the daily program and a lot of empty venues. I miss the cooking classes too. Wish I had signed up for more of them in the past. Classic "you don't know what you've got till it's gone..."

Interesting, I have never heard this theory. I thought HAL ripping out the bars on deck 1 of some of the atriums was a tacit resignation that revenue generation just wasn't going to happen there, so may as well make more usable lounge space. Never considered it could be a nod to safety. I could see how crowd gathering space would be much more needed on the Pinnacle class, especially since there's no mustering area outdoors.