Infi

This would be so nice to see on Zaandam/Volendam, the Tamarind is the main thing I miss when sailing the smaller ships. I have to wonder if there is a specific reason as to why they don't do the pop-up Tamarind whereas the Sel de Mer is quite common. I wonder if it is because the Tamarind dishes or prep are harder to translate to the Pinnacle/MDR kitchen, especially given the example below from Loreto.

OP's point about Home Depot and bearing the brunt of others using the self-check out reminded me of this anecdote. Several years ago, when the Rotterdam (VI) was based year-round out of Rotterdam, we were told by a crew member in a very high position that the HSC for that ship had to be handled differently. Since most of the Rotterdam passengers removed the HSC as a matter of course, the entire fleet's tips were pooled and divided equally so the Rotterdam crew would get their fair share, despite passenger behavior. An interesting story, and I wonder if that's part of the reason why there hasn't been a HAL ship with an overseas homeport year-round since.

Hi Kazu, can you please add the cruise below? It's our annual holiday cruise and this year a first time cruiser is joining us, too. Very excited! Zaandam - 20-Dec-22 - 16 day Southern Caribbean Holiday

We were lucky enough to sail the Prinsendam 3 times, and she was truly our favorite. Her decor and layout were first class and the service was always impeccable. Such a loss for HAL and her fans when they sold her; her itineraries just can't be replicated anymore. I remember rumors on CC in 2019 that HAL was considering replacing her with another smaller ship. Does anyone else remember those? Now I doubt those will come to pass. For those who are missing the Prinsendam or wish they had a chance to sail her, vote with your feet and let HAL see there is still demand for the smaller ships. We are concentrating all of our future cruising on the remaining R class sisters, as I fear they are not long for this world and I want to enjoy them as long as they are with us. Did the same with the S class and Amsterdam/Rotterdam prior and when we lost them in 2020, I was so glad I had been intentional about only sailing them while they were still in the fleet. I personally refuse to sail the Pinnacle class until the time comes (hopefully many years from now) when there are no other smaller options. They will be around a lot longer than their smaller counterparts, and there will be plenty of time then.

Thanks for the ideas, all. I wish there was an easy way to accomplish this, but it doesn't sound like it. I will try the OBC transfer first, and if that doesn't work, I'll just put everything on my credit card and try the reimbursement route. I was thinking of calling HAL but am not sure if this is more of a ship question due the fact that it concerns onboard accounts or if Seattle will be equipped to answer it.

Thanks. I forgot to mention that I would prefer not to pre-pay the HSC because I have a large amount of OBC on my own account (shareholder etc.) that I'd like to use to pay for the HSC for the both of us. Otherwise, I would just pre-pay the HSC and call it a day, so hoping for advice for this scenario.

I've invited someone to join me on my next cruise and am wondering how to work out our onboard accounts. Because the cruise is a gift, I'd like to cover their HSC charges on my account, and they would like to pay for their own incidentals onboard (drinks etc.). Is there any way I can set up this arrangement, either pre-cruise or onboard? In the past I've shared an account with family where one person was responsible for all the charges on both of our accounts, but I didn't know if one account could cover only the HSC for another guest. Any guidance is much appreciated.

Yes, I am well aware of the layout limitations, hence why I asked the question.

Thank you, this is very helpful. I had been wondering if they had kept the old piano bar style intact and am happy to hear they did. Also glad to her there's music and dancing in the Ocean bar. Looking forward to sailing Zaandam soon!

The mystery is solved! Thanks to all for weighing in. It's a beautiful piece and I'm lucky to have received it as a gift. Now, the question of what to wear it with, as it's a pretty large and bold piece of jewelry...

I haven't been on an R class ship since the pandemic, and I'm curious how the entertainment is now handled on these ships. When we last sailed on the Amsterdam in 2020, they hadn't yet brought the BB King's, Billboard, Lincoln Center, etc. to this class of ship and they still had the old style solo player in the piano bar, Adagio in Explorers, etc. For those who have been on the Volendam or Zaandam post-pandemic, how have the spaces onboard been adapted to the new entertainment style? Do these ships still have the old style piano bar or is it the dueling pianos? Is there BB King's onboard, and if so, where? Is there still a trio in the Ocean Bar for dancing? I'm curious because the R class ship design is more limited and doesn't lend itself as easily to these new entertainment options like the Vista/Signature class does, so am wondering where it all fits. Thanks, all.

Thank you, and that's an interesting suggestion. I don't think so, unless someone was a super HAL fan, but it's certainly possible. I myself am wondering if this was a special giveaway to a select group, like the President's Club or high performing TAs for a particular year.

No, just bars as part of the old HAL logo.

I think it's the people on either extreme (very dressy or very casual) that tend to speak up the most for their respective side. Keep in mind that this board is such a tiny segment of the cruising population at large, and isn't always representative of what the broader cruising public thinks. OP (and others who are curious), I hope on your next cruise you'll dress as fancy as you like, and don't ever get too caught up in what others or this board thinks.

I collect HAL memorabilia, and for my birthday I received a beautiful HAL pin (more like a brooch really), pictured below. It was purchased off eBay and I'm pretty sure it's at least from the last decade or so. I know most of the HAL memorabilia items at this point, but this one has me stumped. Do any of the HAL experts know where it is from?

Actually, reading comprehension would be helpful on your end. In my original post, I referred to Carnival for the turndown policies, Princess for having the room service charges first. Apparently I hit a nerve by saying something negative about Princess, hence the aggressive follow-up. Have a nice day.

Again, if you read my post carefully, I used Carnival as the example of the cruise line who first implemented once daily room cleanings. Did not say anything about Princess and their room cleaning policies.

Waiting with interest to see if/when HAL will drop pre-cruise testing for all cruises. Sailing on a 16 day (not B2B) in December so coming in just over the 15 day no testing requirement. I don't anticipate they'll drop the requirement, but policies have been changing almost daily since summer, so who knows.

Comedians usually do a show in the main theater one night as the "main show" for the evening, then another set in BB King's on a different night, usually when the BB King band has the night off.

What I was trying to say was it was a fleet-wide policy on Carnival at that time. Clearly it also existed, though in a one-off, ship-specific form, on HAL as well. Were it not for the industry shutdown, I would bet money HAL would have fully implemented this by 2020-21 and it would be done and dusted in October 2022.

I wanted to underscore this point about HAL simply following policies or changes that have already been implemented on other CCL brands. This forum likes to joke about the "Testerdam" being the guinea pig, but policies like once daily turndown service and the charges for select room service items were implemented on Carnival and Princess long before HAL adopted them. Carnival had once a day turndown service in 2019, perhaps earlier. Perhaps Carnival corp intrinsically knows these changes would not be as well-received or accepted on HAL, so that's why HAL is last in line to get them. Or perhaps they want to maintain the image that HAL is their premium brand. Who knows for sure? For those who are HAL fans, it's worth it to keep up with news about other Carnival corp lines to see what changes may be afoot. I'm dreading the day HAL tries to implement charges for the majority of room service like Carnival or tries to remove the desk chairs from cabins like Princess. Won't be pretty!

Thank you for sharing. Sailing on Zaandam in December and was wondering about the status of this policy. I'll be requesting service in both the morning and evening like we have always had before.

The Lido market pizza leaves much to be desired IMHO. Tried it on my first HAL cruise in 2008 and never repeated that mistake again. Dried out from sitting all day under a warmer and flavorless. Years later and it still looks the exact same. The dedicated pizzerias are a welcomed upgrade and actual quality pizza.

On our last B2B cruise on Eurodam, we received both the Mariner's cocktail coupons and the invite to the reception each cruise (4 star). Never used the coupons and the drinks at the reception were watered down. Not much to write home about, nor get upset over missing IMHO. One doesn't (or shouldn't) cruise HAL for the perks; they've never been anything special. I cruise for the destinations and the stellar crew and the service they provide.

Thanks for raising this, OP. I had also noticed the dearth of reviews while browsing popular excursions for my December cruise. The most recent reviews for many excursions were from 2017 or 2016 - even given the COVID pause, that's a really long time ago. One surprising workaround I found was having the other person on the booking log into their account. They were able to see a lot more reviews than I could. Some excursions jumped from no reviews on my view to 15 on theirs - very odd! The only potential explanation I could think of is that they've never cruised before while I'm 4 star; maybe they think I need the reviews less? 😂 Either way, definitely a flaw in HAL's online systems - surprise, surprise.