BVsmurfette

If you have one of the HAL promotions where HAL pays your HSC for you (i think "ready set sail," or something similar), how does that work with the mariner credit for onboard spending?

I know that normally HSC does count towards the mariner onboarding spending, but is that case even if HAL is crediting you for the HSC? I couldn't find an answer to this on HAL's site, but i figure someone here would know for sure!

Those cabins are HUGE and GREAT....I loved them! I was initially in one of the "original" inside cabins on the Prinsendam. Worst cabin I have ever had and when I expressed this sentiment to a crew member was told that they were never intended to be passenger cabins.....when she was the Royal Viking all passenger cabins were outside cabins and that these spaces were for "trunks, nannies and small children."

Fortunately Prinsendam moved me to one of the newer cabins. Even the location was excellent.

 

If you cannot get one of these inside cabins you should consider booking an ocean view rather than an "original" inside.

Enjoy the Prinsendam! Best "dam" ship of the fleet...:-)

Thank you so much Corliss, that makes me feel better about that room, and the fact that we won't have one of those coveted "walk in closets" ;p

I know this thread is a year old now, but i didn't see anything more recent, so figured i'd add to this one -

We just booked our first Prinsendam cruise for one of the newly released summer 2019 europe cruises, very excited! Our budget can only do an inside cabin, and the FCC suggested we take one of the K cabins on the promenade deck AFT, she said these were some of the biggest inside cabins on the ship. I wanted to ask all the p-dam lovers on this board for advice on if this was a good choice? i see there is no walk in closet... but we've never had one on HAL before, so i guess we won't miss it?? ;) Is there another inside cabin that would be better? thanks in advance.

Hello Cooper, thanks for all the great info you provide! Can you tell me who the staff will be for the Zuiderdam on the Sept 10th cruise (next week!) heading to the northeast US & Canada? Thank you!

NYC'er here... Both Newark (EWR) or LGA are options. However, given the recent construction around LGA, it's been a nightmare of late to get to the airport. Also, I'm going to assume the ship is arriving in the morning and so you'd be heading to the airport around rush hour timing... if that's the case, going outbound from manhattan to NJ would also be better as you'll be going in the opposite direction of all the commuters! So my best bet would be Newark/EWR.

(one last thing - not sure where you'd be flying to, but if you are still leaning towards LGA, i hope it's a domestic flight! LGA is not an international airport)

It's being reported on other CC forums that the web site link to add this offer to your card (if it's not there already) appears to be working for them. Those here that did not find it on their Amex card(s) may want to try this and see if they can make the offer available to their card now:

 

www.americanexpress.com/wlcl

This worked for me today on all 3 of our starwood amex cards, so a big thank you!

Previously, i've never been served this offer, and the old links never worked for me, so i'm very happy to see it work this time! My only problem now is that we've already paid for our upcoming cruise in full... and so now i guess i just "have" to book another before the 12/31 deadline! :)

sorry, can someone explain how those various credits worked?

what i've been used to doing is buying our future cruise deposit and at the same time booking my next cruise while onboard - which resulted in getting "double" the OBC for doing that.

Was the ZPM credit something additional on top of that?

thanks in advance for explaining!

Is anyone familiar with the table #24? I'm wondering if it is next to a window so you get a view? it's the only 2-top in the back of the ship so was wondering if that was a good one? Thanks in advance.

(edited to add that I'm looking specifically at the layout of the ZUIDERDAM, upper level)

Best = chocolate souffle (so good that i had 2 last month when i was on board! SO good!)

Runner up = blueberry muffins (fresh baked every day, with a crumbly top - so good!)

Thank you epixx (and your husband) for all the responses!

Thanks for responding, appreciate the info.

Did they happen to mention approx how long the bike tour was? miles or km?

also, was it on bike trails/paths? or on roads? or was it more "off-roading"?

Has anyone been to Corfu and tried a biking excursion? Trying to figure out how hard/easy it is (we enjoy biking but on mostly flat bike paths... but really do not want any hard mountain biking or road biking!)

I was looking at the one HAL offers and it doesn't go into much detail. if anyone has been on a bike excursion/seen one in corfu, would appreciate some advice. Thanks in advance.

Field and Selects! how could i forget?! (actually it was awful so maybe i shut it out of my memory! thanks for the reminder, that was the brand i was trying to remember and couldn't! Glad to hear it's gone!

I'm a PG tips fan, so if they can make that avail in the MDR as well as the Lido, I'll be happy. For course if they want to serve me fancy Harney and Sons, i won't complain either :) we sail in less than a month, so we can compare "tea notes"!

Did HAL bring back PG Tips/other brands to the MDR?

When we were last on a ship (march 2015 Caribbean), they were serving a new brand of tea, their own brand i guess... and we found it to be terrible! much too weak and no flavor. There was PG Tips avail in the Lido upstairs, but not in the MDR.

I know a lot of people complained about this (our waiter told us he had heard grumblings), so i'm wondering if HAL did anything to address it.

Any recent cruisers out there who can share their experience?

this is why i love CC - so much useful info! i didn't realize that power strips would be a problem!

I have power strip that has a circuit breaker, but no surge protector. Would that be acceptable? https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B000F9YN2M/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s00

Would you advise i put it in my carry on so that if there's a problem at checkin, i will know about it/discuss with them? or should i put it in my luggage?

Thank you for posting pictures, much appreciated! We'll be on this ship in about 40 days and are a little bummed that we couldn't afford to stay in one of the newly renovated suites, but so glad that the upgrades in the rest of the ship are nice ones we can enjoy :)

Did this change to Gala nights happen recently? i was on a carribean cruise in March 2015, and am pretty sure it was formal nights. i remember pretty much every guy n the MDR wearing at least a shirt and jacket. (but not tie)

Since the change, are people dressing more casually on gala nights than before?

Saw this today:

http://www.travelagentcentral.com/cruises/holland-america-cancels-all-istanbul-calls-through-end-year-57275

Looks like July and August Turkey ports are definitely all cancelled.

And they will reassess Kusadasi for Sept and beyond at a later date...

Istanbul cancelled for the rest of year

We're on a Sept sailing to kusadasi so guess we have to stay tuned.

Hi there,

NYC local here... your best bet from the airports is Uber or Lyft. They are pretty plentiful in this area. Regular NYC cabs are also available at LGA, and they are metered, BUT there is often a long queue waiting for taxis - you can check out the taxi stand and if it's too long, just do Uber/Lyft.

Carmel or Dial 9 is also good, but i've had a few folks tell me Uber/Lyft is cheaper (can't attest to that myself b/c even tho i live in the area, the closest airport for me is actual Newark Int'l). Guess it depends on whatever you are most comfortable with, if u want a fixed rate - get the car service. If u are ok with a metered/varied rate = Uber/Lyft.

What time are you arriving? I'm assuming its on Sept 7th as u are going right to the pier - so that's a Wednesday. time of day can influence the duration of the trip greatly. If it's during rush hour, i'd plan for a full hour. If it's off peak, you could do it in 30-40 mins, but that's pretty rare these days ;)

Finally, it might be worth checking to see if anything big is going on in NYC that day ... eg. parades, United Nations meeting, etc. Because once you get across the river and into Manhattan, the car/cab will need to travel across town from East to West - and if there's something going on that has caused streets to get shut down, there's often major gridlock and you could be better off exiting the cab and walking the last few blocks!

Let me know if u need anymore NYC info. I'll have to remember to wave at the Zuiderdam on the Sept 7 - you can see the manhattan pier from my apartment! ;)

Actually, I just took a fresh look at the new Oosterdam deck plans this morning, and realized there is A LOT of stuff directly above the J cabins!

Casino, Galley Bar, and Queens Lounge on the Port side!

Casino Bar, Billboard Onboard on the Starboard side!

Yikes.

Really hoping there is somewhere here who has stayed in the J cabins since the dry dock who can share how noisy it was on deck 1? (i'm thinking we'll be better off picking a K cabin in the back!)

Thanks for responding RuthC!

i had wondered if b/c departure was 6pm in rome vs 4pm in FLL, maybe boarding would also be pushed back, but so glad that is NOT the case :) means we can enjoy lunch on board as usual!

Doing our first cruise in europe soon, and wondering if embarkation process is any different than what we're used to in FLL/Seattle.

For example, looks like we're schedule to leave Rome at 6pm. What time do they start letting you onboard? would it still be around 11am/11:30? Thanks in advance.

Wondering if anyone has stayed in one of the inside J or K cabins on deck 1, POST the Oosterdam's recent dry dock?

I know that these used to be some of the best inside cabins around, but with the recent dry dock improvements the layout of deck 2 was changed quite a bit. Wondering if the J cabins on the starboard side are still quiet? (looks like casino and billboard might be directly above now?)

Or would the K cabins in the back of deck 1 now be a better bet for a quiet inside cabin?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

I just booked a cruise a few days ago with my HAL PCC, and she gave me the email address for World reservations and told me I could email my proof of stock ownership to them. I *just* shot an email to them tonight (after biz hours), will report back tomorrow to let you know if it works/if i get a response!

if it doesn't work, i guess i'll have to resort to the old fashioned fax machine ;)

 

FYI, the email address my PCC gave me was: worldcruisereservations(at)hollandameria(dot)com

UPDATE Jun 28th - Heard back from World Reservations this morning at 944am EST via email, and they accepted my proof of stock ownership that i had E-MAILED last night (per what my PCC told me).

OBC has been already added to my reservations.

So in summary - HAL has joined the 21st century and will accept emails for this! lol... No need to fax anymore! :p

For the more seasoned HAL cruisers out there: on the HAL laundry forms, is there a way to indicate that you do NOT want them to use any sort of fabric softner on your clothes/certain clothes? i have lots of tshirts/shorts that can't have washed with any softner.

 

i know i'm getting really particular here, but would hate to pay for unlimited service and then find out i can't really use it!

 

Also - anyone have a photo of the laundry bag that you guys are mentioning you can do the "per bag" rate with? Thanks in advance.

wrong post sorry! editing to delete what i wrote! sorry for the double post