SilvertoGold

This year we noticed over several cruises that the waiters and room stewards were not seeming to expect or hint at extra tips as they were pre-pandemic. Maybe they are satisfied with the tipping program now? I wonder if the Black Friday-like promos that include tips in your booking is considered a good thing for them.

Ah , but did she know there used to be chocolates in the Explorer's Lounge in the evenings?

I think you really need to work through a TA. I have been helping a friend book this sale and he was positive he could not get the "gratuities paid" part with his Mariner number pricing. It certainly didn't look like it on the website unless he was willing to pay nearly $2500 more for the Black Friday pricing. My TA looked it up and it was only $150 more for the Mariner number pricing and that did include gratuities (worth USD 600).

My take on this from several cruises on the Koningsdam, Volendam and Noordam this year is that it depends on the ship, the HGM and Captain. However, all the 9 ceremonies we were invited to were limited to 4 and/or 5 stars plus any Gold and higher medallions awardees. Photos limited on some cruises to 1000 + day pax and the new awardees. On other cruises anyone invited to this party could have photos taken with Captain and HGM. I think HAL is moving to recognizing 1000+ day pax only as this was fairly consistent over the 3 ships. Maybe that will be 6 star some day.

In September the Snacks from 4:30 pm to 8 pm were never available. Fries were not the excellent steak fries but regular ones (quite good and very hot, but not as good as the others!). The pea soup was somewhat different, possibly made with more yellow peas than green ones, the traditional recipe. Never saw hot chocolate but do know that on some ships the Explorations Cafe makes it with packaged hot chocolate powder and it is very average.

Is this sale limited to just a few destinations? Alaska and Northern Europe plus Last Minute? That is what I am seeing on the HAL home page. Is there a list of cruises offered for this sale somewhere, or do you have to do trial after trial of individual cruises to see what is offered? We are open to a lot of cruise possibilities for the right bottom-line deal.

Another one here where searches under the Black Friday tab, with and without Mariner number, do not show any reduced fare ("up to 40% off") or the gratuities ("paid"). Same fares as the past week, nothing included. With the Mariner number it is a "Private Fare" and last week included 75 pp OBC, now it includes nothing for the same fare. This is beyond frustrating and is forcing me to go through my TA to see what the real BF deals is/is not. I expect my TA will be up to her eyebrows in calls, no doubt. What a hassle for all.

We have been charged consistently. If package is $100 : 18% of $100 = $18 + 50% of $100 = $50 So $18 + $50 = $68 charged. Never a mistake!

Hmm! We do that all the time! I wonder if the non-casino pax play bingo and/or buy the scratch cards? Both are Casino events, but not actual slots or tables.

I googled the phone number and it shows as a Casino Company number in 2019 and 2020. What this means I have no idea. It IS a casino offer? HAL is using them to do other promos?

Interesting. How much have you sailed HAL lately, though?

Fantastic! Wondering if you could list the "taxes, fees and port expenses" you had to pay. Is this only what HAL charges on their website ("taxes") or more. And was your pricing CND or USD? How is the monsoon out there? Vancouver is getting hit hard!

DH is looking forward to knowing how much weight you are packing in the backpack! I am looking forward to all your posts. Have a marvellous time :)

I am beginning to wonder why HAL isn't adding new upcharges to Tamarind, Canaletto and Sel, too. Either that or increase the pricing of all or some of the specialty restaurants. An upcharge for more than one "appetizer" certainly looks strange.

Loved this wine tasting! Glad to hear HAL is still doing this one. When we have done it pre-Covid it was always the same pricing as the regular wine tasting.

Glad you had Jude, the best we've seen on HAL! He also did the Specialty wine tasting and it was mostly food pairings and very well done.

Koningsdam and Noordam as described above but pricing was $25 and $39 pp

Dave: It is not only you :) According to President's Club members WCB's current blog, they were charged for one of their 10 free Specialty Dining meals in the Pinnacle. Yikes! Everyone's account is available on the computer at the desk of the Specialty Dining venues. If they look you up, see what you are entitled to (including TA gift meals) they can see what you have used, what is left and charge properly.

As of two weeks ago the KODM had the petit fillet. It was actually smaller than usual and unfortunately overcooked. I don't take a scale with me :) so never can tell exactly the size, but this one was tiny!

The ship won't be showing that payment, though. They do like to bring in some money, too.

HAL appetizers are usually quite small: I am thinking of the 2 tiny crab cakes, the 3 medium prawns, the 3 pieces of bacon. However, in talking to the Manager of the Pinnacle on our Noordam cruises we learned that on 7 day cruises a large percentage of the pax dining there are on freebies, mostly Have-it-all and 5 stars, with some TA gifts of a complimentary dinner. I guess the profit doesn't add up to much each night, so limiting the number of appetizers limits the loss.

On a behind the scenes tour on a HAL ship pre-pandemic we saw the Housekeeping Office. On the wall was a many-paged clip board titled "Bed Bugs". Looks like they keep track of which cabins have been affected, and presumably, how they are taken care of.

Water conversation was requested on our Amazon cruise and the Captain said later we saved about 30%. Bugs and moths: up on the top deck is a great place to see them. We had a bat on the lower prom (Veendam) and a cricket or two.

Had upsell for FA on KODM a few days out. Excellent stateroom, by the way, for two!