Hhagatha

On 12/26/2022 at 8:22 PM, JeffSinPDX said:

I would post a review under their review page, but I feel like that is a space for people who need to create an account and vent about issues they have. I used these boards and asked many questions with this community prior to going on my PoA cruise, so thought I'd give a summary here and allow anyone who had any follow-up questions to post those and I would respond as best I could since I did a lot of research and took a lot of notes. 

 

General Info - Our cruise was 12/17 to 12/24, we had nine of us with six of us (wife and I and 4 of our kids) in a suite in 13522 and my mother-in-law and two other kids in a regular cabin on the 9th floor.

 

First I should note that because one of my rooms was a suite, I (unexpectedly) was treated to a handful of suite features that I wasn't expecting and likely wouldn't be available to all. To that point, embarkation was really quick and easy as we were shuttled into a VIP roped off area and given drinks and snacks while we got all of our room details and room cards prepared. That's where we also met our Concierge Chris, who told us all of our suite advantages we'd receive. The main one that was legit compared to my other room was having access to go to Cagney's for breakfast and lunch, and only suite folks were allowed in there, so there was no wait and the food was like an all-star list of best of the best foods you'd want to eat for breakfast or lunch. And you only need one suite key card to get your whole group seated, even though we had non-suite guests with us. So it was nice they didn't micromanage which family members were actually in the suite or not. But we ate at Cagney's immediately upon getting on the boat and by the time we were done, our rooms were ready for us to go into.

 

I'll also mention up front that because we had a suite, we had our own butler, Peter, and he was amazing. Peter found the teens in my room and asked them what drinks they like, and next thing you know our fridge was filled with coke, ginger ale, root beer, sierra mist, orange crush, etc. that my kids all wanted. So he was great for info and for keeping us stocked up on treats. 

 

The rooms were very clean and staff did a great job in swooping in when all six of us happened to be out of our suite and would suddenly make it up and keep it from turning into a pigsty. Was a very comfortable bed, extremely quiet bathroom as we were expecting one bathroom for six people in our room to be an issue, but it was really quiet and never had smells come into the cabin. So that was an unexpected bonus. 

 

We were only able to pre-reserve our 2 free premium dinner reservations at Jefferson's Bistro or Cagney's prior to the flight. But once on the ship, we were able to get additional reservations for La Cucina (Italian) and we heard the Brazilian restaurant was open on day on Friday, but it was booked solid by the time we realized they had opened it for one evening. And note we never had a chance to pre-book either the Italian or Brazilian places online or on our app, but were only allowed on the ship down on the 5th floor. Food was fantastic in general. Admittedly I only ate at the regular sit down dining 3-4 times as Cagney's was open to me for Breakfast and Lunch, and I took them up on that offer most days given how good that option is. But I did Cagney's for dinner as one meal and it was incredible, and then did La Cucina for our second free meal and it was incredible as well. Kids said their highlight of the cruise was being able to go to the buffet and get endless options at any moment they were hungry. So the buffet was a hit for my party, I only ate there a few times and it was good when I went. The one side-note I'll mention is that the 2 free dining  meals were only available to 4 of our 9 family members between the two rooms. Just know that you need to have a room card with that 2D on it when you appear to get your free meal. So if #2 in your room with a free 2D on their card doesn't want fine dining, but the 3rd person in your room does, just have them swap cards as that works perfect and was what the staff recommended since they don't name-check people using those cards, only making sure each card only gets 2 free meals. 

 

The features with all of my family were the excursions. Maui had a torrential downpour that made the national news, so our Luau got cancelled, but were able to rent a car and see some sites around town. But wasn't quite as exciting given the downpour of rains for both days. Hilo was beautiful and we did a farm and waterfall tour that was fantastic, and the weather was nice all day. Kona was cancelled due to the fact it doesn't dock in Kona, but instead tenders to shore, and they said the swells from the previous storm were so large that they couldn't tender passengers safely to Kona. So we didn't get to go on our Kona Mocha tour, but got the dollars refunded to our online accounts. Instead, we spent our Kona day as a day at sea, and the captain took us to see Molokai, and then took us into a bay where there were a bunch of whales that people could watch come breach from the water near the ship. Disappointing, but not their fault. Would have rather seen Kona than some whales spouting water in the air. Next we went to Kauai and that was incredible. It was beautiful again, and we went on an ATV tour and saved $500 by just booking it direct and using Turo to get a car that could seat 8 of us delivered to the pier terminal directly without walking, and then just drove the Turo car out there to the ATV place and had a great time. Also went to Poipu Beach near our ATV spot and was able to spend some time at a world class beach that had a bunch of sea turtles hanging out on the shore with us for photo ops, etc. Last day was a day at sea with a tour of Napali Coast and the huge cliffs and views from the port side of the deck. So that was nice to see and a fun day to hang out on the sun deck and get our free drinks that. Still not sure why they give you an envelope and a receipt to sign off on when you've already paid for the service fees and the 20% gratuities for getting a drink. But I'm guessing they just use that opportunity to try and pressure folks into more tips above what they've already paid for. 

 

Entertaining was traditional cruise ship entertainment. Comedian was so-so during family night, but actually pretty funny during the adult show on Friday. Ukulele Group was what I'd expect to get for free and not pay money to see, but then 3 of the folks in my party thought they were the best entertainment on the cruise, so to each their own. 

 

Other thing I noted was that the boat had more movement than I recall most of my previous cruise ships having. It is a bit of a small and simple cruise ship, so I'm guessing it has something to do with the size and how close it was to the Hawaiian shoreline most of the time when moving, but luckily it spent half of the time docked in a port, so it really only rocked when moving from port to port during the evenings. Only one of my nine people in my group really was impacted by the movement, and he took some Dramamine and was fine for the rest of the evening trips. So it wasn't like it's a guarantee to make you seasick since eight of us didn't' take anything and didn't run into any issues there. 

 

Overall, I feel there were a lot of poor reviews, so I was pleasantly surprised at how friendly everyone was, how good the food was, how easy the lines were to manage and never really had to wait for anything, the only things closed where the Shave Ice/Gelato place by the pool, and some hot dog/hamburger stand next to the pool was only open on our days at sea. The Liberty regular dining area was closed and instead just had the Skyline dining for the regular sit-down dining area, so maybe that was a 10-15 minute wait with a little buzzer disk they give you to tell you when your table is ready, so even though they were only using half of their main dining area, the waits were short and you could go take your disk to some comfortable wine bar or something and just wait while getting free drinks. So it was all good.

 

I think that covers the main points. If you have any specific questions. Post a reply and I'll check back in and answer as best I can. 

We were in this same room Nov 26 to Dec 3.  Agree, Christopher and Peter were very helpful.  We didn't have any of the weather issues you had, and we were able to see the erupting volcano from the ship - it was an awesome once-in-a-lifetime experience.  We had no wait at any of the dining venues so maybe they have increased capacity, which was only 40% when we went.

4 hours ago, kazu said:

For those that were on the Japan cruises that have now been cancelled, please post with your new details if you are accepting the replacement cruise.

 

For those on the Rotterdam 4 day & 3 night Bahama cruises those are now changed to November 5th and a 5 day cruise.

 

@Caribbean Chris@weirdo0521@shipshapegirl I have transferred you to that cruise.  Please let me know if this is no longer accurate and you will not proceeding.  Thanks 🙂 

4 hours ago, kazu said:

For those that were on the Japan cruises that have now been cancelled, please post with your new details if you are accepting the replacement cruise.

 

For those on the Rotterdam 4 day & 3 night Bahama cruises those are now changed to November 5th and a 5 day cruise.

 

@Caribbean Chris@weirdo0521@shipshapegirl I have transferred you to that cruise.  Please let me know if this is no longer accurate and you will not proceeding.  Thanks 🙂 

We were told the rebooked Japan cruises on the Noordam (March 25 to April 25, and April 25 to May 8.) Will be moved to the Westerdam in 2023. We should have details by the end of October.

That Gnocchi recipe looks good, and I just happened to also receive today a recipe for keto gnocchi (using only egg yolks and mozzarella cheese) from a blog I follow, kirbiecravings.com.  Might have  to see if I can merge the two recipes into something for dinner!  Thanks Debbie.

Can't wait until we start seeing some Bon Voyages!

2 hours ago, summer slope said:

We were at that Sanctuary last March between cruises. 

 

Wow! We lived in Cayucos for 20+ years before retiring and escaping from California. That's about half-way between San Simeon and Santa Barbara on Highway 1. These pictures bring back memories.  

We've had 8 cruises cancelled now, so hoping this one is far enough out that it will actually go!  We are on the Noordam 28 day Southern Japan and Russia Collector departing March 28, 2022. Someone already listed this as "Japan Explorer and Russia Collector", but the Japan Explorer segment is the previous 14 day cruise departing on March 14 and doesn't connect with the Russia Collector segment that departs on April 11th.

My husband has played golf in Mexico, New Zealand, Alaska, Ireland, Scotland, England and Hawaii while we were on a cruise.  These were non-cruise line excursions that I was able to arrange for him while on the ship via email, phone or the course web site.  Since they rarely offer golf excursions, he says cruising will be over for him if the cruise line will not let you do private excursions.

We can deal with all the restrictions except having to participate in cruise-sponsored excursions.  The prices are way too high for many of them for starters.  If it's a port we've been to before, we like to just get off the ship and do our own thing.  We get our 2nd shot on Monday so that isn't an issue, and although we are used to wearing masks we don't find it enjoyable. 

We are booked on Azamara for July 2022.  DH is a golfer and they were offering a 13 night British Isles sailing that includes golf in several ports and attendance at the 150th British Open, in conjunction with Perry Golf.  Did a similar cruise on Celebrity a few years ago and DH wanted to do it again.  Azamara was the only one offering the cruise and excursions we wanted.  We choose cruises by itinerary and are 5 star on HAL for that reason, but they don't offer this cruise.  As long as the food is decent and the rooms comfortable we are happy.  Hope Ashford doesn't screw it up.

4 hours ago, rafinmd said:

Today's sunrise is from my 2019 Grand South America voyage and is taken from MS Prinsendam's anchorage outside Panama City:

 

 

Roy

We were on this cruise, too. Enjoying reliving the voyage with your posts and pictures. We ended up with one of those stuffed penguins, had to buy a suitcase to get it home!

I used "Pinnacle" instead of  "Pinnacle Grill".  Suite passengers can eat there for breakfast, but that is no longer available, you eat in CO.  I confused the two (it was late).  If you are 5 Star, what would you gain by the CO package? Don't you already get most of those benefits, except for eating in the CO?  For $50 a day (what it was selling at on that trip) I wouldn't buy it.  We could eat every night in Tamarind, Pinnacle Grill, or Cannoletto for less.  Sorry for confusion.

4 minutes ago, oaktreerb said:

I hope that HAL will take the feedback seriously.  From some reports I have read Club Orange sounds like eating in a diner which I would not consider an upgrade from the dining room.  

Exactly as we felt.  Maybe the other perks make it worthwhile for new cruisers, but for 5 star the trade-off of losing the Pinnacle is not worth it.

Just tried to look up flights through Flight Ease for a June Cruise.  Website just took me  in a circle back to my itinerary.  Is it still up and running?  Have credits to use up through airlines, but still like to compare, as have often found great bargains there.

On the Koningsdam last December,  Club Orange was given to the suite passengers and they were not given a MDR assignment.  Our key card only said Club Orange. We enjoy getting to know new people and always ask for a large table for dinner, which there were none offered in CO.  If you had a group of people you wanted to eat with they would accommodate you.  The CO is like eating in a fish bowl, the wall between you and the hallway is glass, and everyone walking by looks right in. After the first night we decided it wasn't for us and asked for an assignment in the MDR.   The meal was nothing special.  The service was attentive and not as harried as in the MDR.  We always enjoyed a quiet breakfast in the Pinnacle Grill, which was no longer offered, you had to eat in CO if you wanted a quieter venue.  The environment  was more like a cafeteria.  Food was NOT cooked there - as an earlier poster stated, it is still cooked in the MDR kitchen and brought to the "chefs" in the CO who add whatever to the plate.   At night they had table cloths, but for breakfast it was just the plain table.   They were really looking for feedback on what people did or did not like about the experience so maybe some of the issues will have been taken care of.  Apparently the "fish bowl" experience was a major complaint.  As we are 5 star, the other benefits were already available to us.  I would not pay to eat there, but for someone else the other benefits may make it worthwhile to them.

We have used Flight Ease many times. I always check flights on line so I know if I'm getting a good deal. No money tied up til final payment date, and don't have to mess with airline cancellation fees and fighting to get your money back from airline if cruise is cancelled. Always go to embarkation port a few days early, use HAL transfer to ship. Have stayed a few days after cruise, but never tried adding another stop and layover. 

Love the "sniff test"!

November 2020

Zaandam

Hawaii, Tahiti and Marquesas

32 days

November 17, 2020

Don and Terry

Just boarded the Koningsdam today in a Neptune Suite. We, too, always ask for fixed dining. We enjoy meeting new people. You know how your key card usually has your table number? Ours only said club orange. Also, a letter in our cabin said club orange was for suite passengers only. Apparently we were being forced to be snobs and eat only with suite passengers at dinner. We had to insist on a fixed table in the main dining room. And no more pinnacle for breakfast. That was my favorite perk! I am not a morning person and dislike the crowded noisy Lido on this ship.  I'll try Club Orange for breakfast, but it does not look inviting.

50 minutes ago, RuthC said:

When I ordered in September the jug was much more than one gallon; I think it was closer to 2 gallons. I can lift one gallon, and it was impossible for me to lift this. I had to have the cabin steward open it for me, and lift it to fill my reservoir for a few days.

I had the same problem, too heavy to lift. Called ships services and they reconfigured my water order so I receive only one gallon every 10 days. They we're very helpful.

The part of this that makes no sense is why don't they just start boarding times at 11 or so, and stagger them from there, instead of starting at 1? Rooms may not be ready but even later passengers would have some time to explore public areas and ship layout before the muster drill.

This trailed all the way back to page 5.

Have they announced when this horrible idea is moving to the other ships? It would be good to know before I book my next cruise. We enjoy the quiet, hassle free breakfast in the Pinnacle, doesn't look like this is a good substitute. If all they wanted was a way to sell this package why not just keep it in the Pinnacle? When we were on the Koningsdam last year, we went to the Lido for breakfast but there were NO seats available, even around the pool. We were left standing, with our breakfast getting cold, for about a half hour. We finally took it back to our room. It was like they added passengers but forgot to increase the seating area. After the first day we ate in the Pinnacle or room service every day. I'm  on vacation. I don't  want to be seated in the "kitchen", which is what this Club Orange looks like.

Even though I am on this same voyage, I will be following along to make sure I don't miss anything!  Thank you for doing this, I can only imagine how time consuming it is.

I thought the Prinsendam was only on a week long dry dock?  I believe there is a roll call for Dec. 15th or so.