SilvertoGold

57 minutes ago, Niagarawine said:

They sure read the comments in the Navigator app and they respond very effectively. I was very impressed with this.

Not necessarily. On last cruise (39 days) I used the App once to ask one question and make one request. Never received any response.  I thought this very strange. Nothing of huge importance, so I left it.

Attended the Front Desk once and thought the two"team members"  I dealt were average, not truly engaged in the job. Different ships, different "team members" equals different responses. I learned long ago not to generalize or have high expectations. When things go well, I am impressed and appreciative.

One bonus for Alaska in September is your ship will be allowed past Jaw Point at Jojns Hopkins Glacier, so you are much closer to the face of the glacier. It is a lovely sail-in and out with lots of baby seals near the end. 

1 hour ago, Lido deck main said:

Bring layers, gloves, hat, rain jacket/ warm jacket as you might want to spend some time outside on the deck to enjoy scenery and icebergs.  

Icebergs? Calvings?

1 hour ago, Mary229 said:

I looked it up

 

bed, 1 sofa bed for 2 persons & 1 upper bed.
2 bathrooms — one with bathtub, shower, sink
& toilet; one with shower & sink.
Approximately 222–231 sq. ft.

We have actually spent 6 weeks in a Family cabin on the Koningsdam and want to note that the above description is correct.

I found the small bathroom's shower fine but there wasn't much room to towel off once out of the shower.  Mostly we used the main bathroom which was a typical HAL Pinnacle class size, although I used the small bathroom daily for washing up. It was also useful for hanging up my handwashing.

I note that the room stewards do not seem to think anyone uses the small bathroon when there are just 2 occupants since they had to be asked to change towels in it.

9 hours ago, coffee drinker said:

To Silver and Gold poster:

We checked listed prices for this cruise, found lowest price at around $200 more than our

base price of $49 without the tax / port fee charge which doubled the amount.

 

I don't know if the list price on HAL site or Vacations to Go includes those tax etc charges or not.

Then, within a few days, 'our' cruise was no longer listed on the HAL site.

 

True, there's lots about this 'stand-by deal' we don't know about, and questioning HAL reservations didn't provide any answers.  

 

We think we saved some at this time of year.  Later in the season, when better weather is more a sure thing and fares are higher, travelers would save more.  If a specific cabin is desired, this is probably not a good deal for those travelers.

 

Thanks for your info. Glad you saved some money booking Standby. We would think that worth it :) You make a good point about early/late in the season. We noticed some itineraires.ships have quite different per day pricing, so that is a factr, too.  We have a month booked, two 14 day cruises and in Canadian dollars the savings with Standby would have been very small. 

I am wondering if you at any time priced out just booking regular, not standby and if so how much were the savings of booking Stand-by?  I priced out booking Stand-by out of Vancouver and found the savings were minimal (in Canadaian dollars).

I am also wondering if there were any waitlisted pax who would have been given dibs on booking before the Stand-bys. Seems that HAL says s ship is sold out, or at lest takes it off availablilty but has room for more bookings later on (waitlist and stand-by). Hard to tell how this all works.

12 minutes ago, CNSJ said:

HAL does a better job than the local dry cleaners.  The laundry staff is great!

Be sure to mention them in your post cruise feedback.  They will leave a note on your laundry as to who finished it for you.

 

 

Are they still doing the little note? Last year, yes. This year, no, at least for us, so far.

Interesting and informative. Thanks for the info!

Folded in baskets, anything hangable gets a hanger.

Never stuffed into a bag!  Whose bad idea was that?? Did they run out of hangers and baskets?

Depending on your Mariner level the Canadian rate could be more expensive. There are many rates so a TA/PCC is helpful for looking up rate and finding the best one for you. I do not mention the HAL reservation reps as they don't seem to be too aware of all the options.

Is the OP on port or starboard? Whining noise comes from some fans in the ceiling located in every cabin and of course any banging would be typical of being under the kitchen.

19 minutes ago, CruiserBruce said:

We returned to our cabin mid afternoon on embarkation day to discover two suitcases had arrived incorrectly in our cabin. Our cabin stewards were there within minutes after we reported it. Keep in mind the suitcases were in our cabin, so obviously the stewards delivering luggage can go in your cabin.

Your own cabin stewards would have placed them in the cabin as they are left in the hallway outside your door. 

Personally we LOVE the Family Cabins! They are F's and seem to have booked a C - more expensive (but some of which are handicapped or triples). HAL needs to make up difference.Your luggage issue was handled appallingly. HAL really owes you on this. They can claim boarding day is too busy but that is NO excuse. Cabin stewards can be called on their phones to find out what luggage has been delivered. Please let us know what happens next. We are long-time HAL cruisers and are appalled by this treatment.

The Rolling Stones is much the same. Really, the music overlaps, with some of the musicians and vocalists from the various BBKings groups now onboard the Vistas under the Rolling stones name. We saw several on the Noordam over 6 weeks lately: expect this is the same now on the N. Amsterdam. Lots of dance music there and also maybe some ballroom dancing around 4 - 5 pm :)

1 hour ago, POA1 said:

Did you call to see if you can waitlist the advantage fare code? The website only shows you Have It All and the cheapest fare. The cheapest fare for Canadians is probably the Canada Super Saver, whereas the HIA fare is Advantage plus the Canadian equivalent of $55 USD per day.

Least expensive is under our Mariner number. Canada and Advantage are higher

 You likely know that pricing is changing daily if not more often! Very frustrating not to have a more useable HAL website to do research with. Will have to start using the Hold feature instead of just phoning the reservation line!, merely to find out if what we want to book is actually available. Thanks for your ideas! 🙂

5 hours ago, ilv4cruising said:

Hi,

 

Yes that was the same Hafacts review that I mentioned.  It was posted in 2009 though.

 

I was hoping that someone with a more recent stay or even on board now can confirm that it is the same.  However I haven't heard from anyone so I will have to go with that review for our decision.

 

Thanks,

The HALFacts photos look pretty much like any standard V cabin. 

17 minutes ago, Mary229 said:

Did you call them?  How did you discover this?  I agree with @Vmax that people will be disappointed not being able to use the HIA

Phoned HAL,  planning to book two consecutive cruises but the second required wait listing it and buying Have-it-All, so we declined.

BTW: the website is wildly messed up today. Tried to find pricing for six different cruises, soon and far out. Ranging from Alaska to Hawaii, to Europe to Panama. Not one was listed as available to book which I find hard to believe.

2 hours ago, VMax1700 said:

I hope that they have availability on ship's excursions to cover those who are forced to purchase the HIA.

Plus the speicalty dining! That is the one I would wonder about being able to access.

HAL is selling at least two Alaksa cruises at this time as Waitlist only (not Standby) for some categories, but only if you are willing to purchase the add-on Have-It-All. You cannot buy just the cruise alone in some categories.  Interesting pricing plan!

I personally not seen this before. Is this something new, something we can expect in the future?

44 minutes ago, QuattroRomeo said:

The cheese plate is DH's go-to for dessert most times. It has always been good! Neither of us had the lasagna so don't know about that. DH did try a pasta with meat sauce in the Lido one lunch time and said it was a very tasty sauce. The music venues did get crowded, but no worse than on other ships we've been on lately. I tried to find out what would be done with the former Lincoln Centre Stage area but no one knew or would say, other than some kind of reconfiguration involving the casino. The casino is wide open and directly across from the Billboard Onboard, so it could use a re-work in that area. My guess is nothing will change until the drydock in November. The Lincoln stage room was used for Art Auctions a few times. Other times people used it as a quiet reading room.

 

 

THe area of the Explorers Lounge in the above photo was beng used in March and April for the daily at sea Coffee Chat. Surprisingly the seating (about 70 seats?) was never filled.

Thanks for posting the evening's menu, always a bonus to see what is on offer, foodwise :)  Seems to be the standard Alaska one and very similar to the one we had in March/April NZ, Austraila, South Pacific (part was Legendary). Once they run through this standard menu you will surley get some different, upgraded ones. Enjoy!!

3 hours ago, The-Inside-Cabin said:

50pct drop cruise to cruise!!!!

I know!!! How great is that??? We would have jumped on that offer, glad you did.

Phenomenal post, Pete.

 Paring down the luggage must have been fun?  This could be the start of a trend! 

 Have a wonderful time and thanks for taking the time to post for this cruise!

OP: great idea, thanks so much. A great cruise that should make for some excellent reading! Have a wonderful time!

2 hours ago, Iamthesea said:

I am with cruising sister.  I almost always face the hallway when in OC.   Rarely does anyone look our way as they trudge to/from the dining room.  I love the people watching!   Looking out upon the ocean is also a bonus.  Had OC been walled in, it would have felt quite claustrophobic in the long narrow room.  

Having the ocean view is definitely a plus! We went to a wine tasting in CO once, sitting at a hallway side table. We had at least one third of pax walking along looking into the room, at the tables. Didn't feel very comfortable.