schauki

Hi!

 

Yes I think we will change the TA for the next cruise.

 

And of course not forget the "no upgrade" button.

 

 

The TA told us that they will ask HAL to change back to the MM. No answer until now.

But why we have to explain the TA to forward our wishes. The job of the TA is to fulfill our wishes with as less as possible work for us.

 

I will keep you up to date!

 

Best,

Richard

Hi!

 

First feedback from TA:

 

"HAL doesn't make mistake. So no roomchange anymore."

 

 

But they forward our wishes not to HAL.

I think it is no big problem to go back to the first assigned MM, because it's possible to book the room now.

 

Im quiet sure that the TA never forwarded our wishes to HAL. And HAL is doing that what most of the people want - cabins next to each other.

And HAL doesn't know our - in my opinion not "exorbitant" - wishes.

 

We told the TA now to forward our mail to HAL, and we also want to read the answer from HAL, because I think it's no (big) problem for HAL.

Just a "click" in HALs Computer Hotel System. And I think a pleased customer is worth the "click".

 

Think this was the last time our TA.

 

Best,

Richard

Hi!

....

Hopefully your TA can help you by either sweet talking HAL into giving you a different cabin assignment, or you can pay a little extra and get the cabin you want. Best of luck!

We just want to have this what we paid for.

The MM 8149 was the cabin we want.

And who can gurantee that we get the cabin we want if we pay a little extra?

 

And when you book two cabins together, they are linked and are often assigned close to each other.

Or as has been stated you must indicate "do not upgrade ".

Yes I think moste of the people want cabnis close to each other.

 

For the next time we will indicate "do not upgrade", but I'm not sure if it helps, because we also indicated "please not next to each other", "late dining" during booking process.

 

I think that the TA doesn't communicate it in a proper way to HAL.

But we are not allowed to communicate directly to HAL.

 

Best,

Richard

I am curious how you found you have GTY assignment 10 months in advance of your cruise?

I'm not sure what you mean.

The cruise starts on 15.02.2015 - this is in about 10 days not months.

 

 

 

Dear Schauki -

Honestly, I think these are a lot of first world problems and I would suggest to just roll with it. ;)

Yes I know, but I think we don't want more (in case of service or price) that we paid for.

 

A "request" by definition is just that - you're asking for an accomodation and that does not mean you are promised anything. I suppose that I do not understand why it would have been OK for your two MM cabins to end up possibly next to each other (with one of them being a GTY), but now in the K cabins that is horrible?

Of course we could end up with rooms to each other in the MM.

But now it seems that they (TA or HAL) do it with intent.

They changed the room to have them next to each other!

 

Why is the door next to the bed an issue? Late Dining is very often booked up, but then available once on board. See what the DRM can do for you.

We like some "distance", my girlfriend always want to sleep away as far as possible from doors.

 

Late dining issue ist not that big problem. But in addition to the cabin issues...

 

I don't think anybody maliciously tried to mess with your ideal cabin situation or disregarded your wishes. Just enjoy your travels and don't sweat the small stuff! :)

 

Gute Reise!

I think they changed the room to do us a favor.

And they had mor work with this than let the assigned MM and put the GTY anywhere.

They just should read our "requests".

 

 

I hope we will get good news from the TA tomorrow.

 

Best

Richard

Yes email to TA is out.

But I think we will get the answer tomorrow, it's 11:15 here in Austria.

 

Best,

Richard

I'm sorry you have had problems with your booking and cabins. I hope you can move beyond it and enjoy your cruise. Maybe you can get it rectified before you sail but I hope you enjoy it anyway. Next time you will know to request "no upgrade".

The problem ist that our request seems to be ignored.

We told them, the cabin number, that we want to have late dining and cabins not next to each other.

 

Now we have other cabins than selected, other dinig time and cabins next to each other.

 

I think we should have requested "please not a suite" :D

 

 

We had the privilege to be your very beautiful part of the world last fall. Loved it. m--

I'm glad to here that you liked it!

 

 

Would you have cancellation penalties were you to cancel and rebook?

No cancellation options.

 

But if we have the option, and book again - what will be the difference?

We will choose a cabin and they give us an other.

 

 

Best,

Richard

It sounds like you have taken a QTY and complained about it before. You need to be happy with any cabin they give you if you book a QTY for the lowest price.

We booked 2 rooms.

1 MM where we can choose the room number - 8149

1 MM QTY

 

Of course the QTY could be anything, we know that, but the one where we choose the room on the deckplan?

Why they give us the choice?

Why they told us that if we want a specific room we have to book this, no QTY?

 

Especially because during the communication during the last cruise the told us if we want "special" rooms we have to book it. Now we have done it an get the same like a QTY.

 

 

Let's see what the TA will say. I'll post it here.

 

Best,

Richard

Hi!

 

The cruise is on 15.02.2015 so just 11 days away - :D

Its not that big problem if we get these K rooms. And an upgrade is also good.

 

But in that case it looks like an "downgrade" to us.

And we felt a litte bit kidded because they do it exactly that way we we don't want it, and we have placed our wishes long before.

 

Especially because on the last cruise they told us (in a not very friendly way) that if we want to have a special room we have to book no guarantee.

Now we have booked an special room and get the same like we have booked a guarantee.

 

 

Cancel politics here ist that 90days befor cruise you can change or cancel your booking. This means you have lowest price guarantee 90day befor the cruise. After that you have to pay a percentage of the cruise price in case of cancelling.

For example 40 day befor teh cruise the cancel fee is 60% (not sure).

After final payment I think it's 100%.

 

Best,

Richard

Yes I think so too, they want to do us a favor!

I think that the TA doesn't communicate it to HAL.

 

 

I'm completey fine with any room in or above the booked categorie if it was a guarantee, but I'm not fine with "any" room when I choose a room number during the booking process.

 

If they always can change my room assignment, why to the give us the choice for a room number?

 

I'm on the HAL website and looking at the NA deck plans. HAL is describing these cabins as identical, I don't see any difference other than location on different decks. I don't see this as an Upgrade or downgrade. They appear identical based on the official site I'm looking on???

On the TAs site there is a difference. 15-18m² for MM, 13-18m² for K - so more than 10% difference on the lower end.

Also the layout looks different, it looks like the door is on the "long" side on K, on the former MM the door was on the "short" side of the room.

My girlfriend doesn't like a door next to the bed.

 

Best,

Richard

Hi!

 

We have booked two staterooms on the Nieuw Amsterdam.

One MM with assigned number and one MM guarantee, there was no more MM to choose.

 

We told our TA that if it is possible we don't want to have rooms next to each other.

They told us that this can't be guaranteed. We said okay, but please forward it to HAL.

 

Today we get the info that the room with the assigned MM number was upgraded to a K(5162), and the guarantee now is K(5168) - next to each other!

 

In the TAs site the MM room size is 15-18m², the K is 13-18m².

So the minimum possible size is smaller on K than MM.

 

I can't find pictures of these rooms, so I'm a little bit afraid to get one with the minimum size of 13m².

Does anybody know the size of these K staterooms?

 

And of course I'm (a little bit) angry that the (re)assigned a room number so that we now have rooms next to each other.

Okay if the guaranteed MM is next to the assigned MM, but it looks like the upgrade both to have it next to each other.

Why do they do this - against our wish?

Who is responsible for this TA or HAL?

 

I'm not sure what to do now?

Is it our "right" that we get the one former MM assigned stateroom?

 

 

Next to this issue, we want to have late seating, this is also not possible.

I'm not sure if it is missunderstanding because of language because our TA is german, but we just have 2 wishes and it is not possible to arrange that...

 

 

I'll be happy to read your comments!

 

 

Best,

Richard

Hi!

 

Sorry, there was a "doesn't" too much.

So no problem with the in transit procedure.

 

Best,

Richard

Thank you very much!

This sounds good now.

 

It's not a problem that some things repeat - absolutly no problem in case of Half Moon Cay :D

But on X there was exactly the same menu, the same shows, same jokes by the cruise director (when not :rolleyes:),... and this was not so fine for us.

 

And the in transit procedure doesn't looks okay too.

 

Best,

Richard

Hi!

 

Thanks!

The concern cruise is the Nieuw Amsterdam from 14.02.2015-01.03.2015 from Ft. Lauderdale.

 

I think they do this 2x7 day cruise all the season.

 

Best,

Richard

Hi!

 

Thank you!

Thats not so good news to us.

 

On X there were 2 seperate 7 days, and so I can understand it that there is just a 7 day program that repeats, but if they sell a 14 day cruise I thought that they have a 14 day program that repeats, with 2 master chef dinner and 2 crew shows for the 7 day cruisers.

 

But okay, now we know it that there can be a deja vu the second 7 days.

 

Best,

Richard

Hi!

 

We had done a 2x7 days back to back cruise with celebrity 2011, but booked as 2 seperate cruises.

Now we are looking for a 14 day HAL cruise. 2x7 day back to back from Ft. Lauderdale.

 

On celebrity we had 2 times the same shows, menu,... this was a little disappointment to us.

But we doesn't had to do the drill and new check in, no entry-customs in San Juan,..

 

Now I'm wondering if this is the same on HAL, or if this cruise (booked as one) will have a full 14 day program.

It is possible to book the 7 day cruise seperate, and there is also an other 14day cruise that starts after the first 7 days of the last 14day crusise and so on,...

 

I'll be happy to hear some comments about this. And what points of the program will double, wich not.

 

Thank you!

 

Best,

Richard

 

sorry for my bad english :o

Hi!

I'm not 100% sure, but the price drop was ~50%. We booked later so we had not that big drop.

The main problem is not the price drop itself.
Because when I buy a TV, a camera,... I get that what I paid for also if the price drops the next day. The remote control is already there, the display on the camera is the same size,...

But on the Ryndam, there was no crab legs, no soft-ice, no chocolate buffet, no ice-sculptures, some details on the ship itself and not that 100% Service like on the Noordam.

So I'm wondering if this is general policity from HAL and also on the other ships, or that was only on this particular cruise. Perhaps it was a "flop" (too less bookings) for HAL and so they reduce in this points to keep the hurt in border?

We were on X 2008, 2010 and 2011 and we saw a general quality decline.
So I really hope that this in not the case with HAL.


[quote name='KirkNC']Thanks for the report! No the steward should not just walk in.[/QUOTE]
It wasn't our usual steward. It was a woman not seen before. But in the moment she saw me she had to apologize and turn around. And came later after our disembarkation time!

[quote name='PatsyAnne']Richard, you said "Geiranger was my favourite port. Also the weahter was good this day." What did you do in Geiranger that made it your favorite? We'll be there in August and I haven't decided what to do there yet.
[/QUOTE]
Because of the very impressive landscape itself. We prebooked a RIB Boat Tour ~45min (2 minutes walk from tender pier) at 13:00.
But we also want to go to the viewpoints.
So we go to the tourist information, we could change the time of the RIB Boat to 16:00 and took a bus tour ~1,5h (combiticket with 10% discount) to the viewpoints.
Summary ~83 Euro.

The RIB boat tour shows how big these waterfalls are, that you also see from the ship.
And the bus tour gives you the typical views over the Fjord.

Between the bus tour and the RIB boat we went up the stairways over a river/waterfall, also nice and you can feel the power of the water.

Best,
Richard

Hi!

First of all, please excuse my english :o.

Back from the Voyage of the Midnight Sun with the Ryndam.
It was our 9th cruise, 3rd with HAL (2x Noordam in 2012)

So I can compare it with other lines also with HAL.

We booked an inside J early this year. After many emails with our TA, we ended up in an outside E and additional onboard credit.
It was okay, but such big price drops doesn't feel right - I'll come back later to this topic.


We had a HAL transfer Heathrow -> Dover.
Flight arrived 8:30. Bus leaves Heathrow ~10:30, and ~13:00 we were in Dover.
Could be shorter!

[b]Embarkation:[/b]
It was okay. Luggage was fast in the room.

[b]Ports:[/b]
We don't do any HAL shore excursion.
But our private tours were nice, in Honningsvag we rent a car because we want to see the midnight sun on the nordcape. But the weather wasn't good.
We never saw the midnight sun this cruise, just behind clouds.

In Flam we want to take the flamsbana. A shore excursion staff member explained us that the train will not stop at the kjosfossen waterfall if we take the tour without guide, we told him that on the flamsbana site there is always a stop for 5-10 minutes described... but "no stop without tour guide" was his answer.
So we booked our tickets online, and of course there was a stop at the waterfall.
It makes us feel that the staff member want to sell the more expensive shore excursion, and doesn't want to sell us that what we want.
Okay so we paid ~50US$ less per person.

Geiranger was my favourite port. Also the weahter was good this day.

In Trondheim we had to tender.
Thre was a very steep and slippery ramp on the pier. It was okay for me (32yrs) but there were not just young people on the ship, so I thought that this is quiet dangerous and stairs would be a much better solution.

[b]The Ship:[/b]
Looks good for its age. It feels like a smaller sister of the Noordam.
And we loved the Noordam.

Stateroom was always very clean.
Public rooms, except Lido also.
I would say the Ryndam is in good shape but with some details you can see her age. And some things could only be repaired in dry dock I think.

But there were also things that could be fixed, or just cleaned during the cruise.
In the Lido Buffet they had water, iced tea and lemonade in big glass bins, but they had no fitting cap, so they used plates. That looks not very nice.

Also many times the Lido beverage stations wasn't clean.
Small dustbins often more than full, loose tea bags, wet spots under the glass bins,...
But there where always crew members in the Lido, but no one feels responsible to make the stations look nice.

[b]Food:[/b]
It was compareable to the Noordam but we missed some highlights.
There was no crab legs, no buffet extravaganza, chocolate fountain, nerver get my loved soft-ice cream,...

Pinnacle Grill was good as on the Noordam.

Here some points that we have noticed:

pros:
- cruise Director John
- Sax Player from the HALcats
- productions shows, with very good singers
- bread and butter pudding (more than a good replacement for soft-ice cream)
- elemis products
- fresh flowers
- art
- very fast elevators, nearly no time waiting for a lift
- very good captain


cons:
- big distortions in some Speakers in the showroom
- atrium fountain doesn't work all the time
- atrium ground (deck 5??) is empty space
- no nice card room (I think the conference room was used)
- lido buffet midnight snack: They always closed the beverage station near to the food, so you always had to walk to the other side
- on the disembarkation day our time was 9:15-9:30. At ~9:00 I was in bed, GF was in bathroom a crew member opens our stateroom door and came in to control the minibar. We had the "PRIVATE PLEASE" sign in the lock.
Is that usual?


[b]Conclusion[/b]
All in all it was a very nice cruise.
But there where some points that we know from the Noordam that we missed.

Is it the size of the ship? Is it because the Ryndam went to P&O?
For us there is a litte bad taste because of the very big price drop the last weeks before the cruise.

I want to pay more for HAL than NCL or RCI for example, because of the benefits I get from HAL.
So I hope the difference to prior HAL cruises is just a particular case and not fleetwide policy.

I hope you enjoyed my review even it contains some negative points.
If you have any questions, I'll be happy to answer them.

Best,
Richard