cbr663

I would reconsider adding more than just one night. Flight delays and cancellations are common right now. We recently flew with Air Canada domestically from Ottawa to Vancouver for our Alaskan cruise and our original flight was cancelled, our rescheduled flight was cancelled causing us to have to fly the next day. And, all flights had delays of 30 - 45 mins.

My DW and I also contracted COVID on our Alaska cruise last month. Like you it happened at the end and we tested positive when we arrived home. It was our first time with COVID and even though we have had all the recommended vaccine shots, and even had the latest vaccine 3 weeks prior to sailing it still took us more than 3 weeks to fully recover.

No there isn't. I learned about from others on CC posting about their experiences. As I stated earlier, it took me 2 requests to the Concierge to actually obtain it. It's really frustrating that there are amenities available that aren't readily promoted. Edit to add: It was actually presented as a very simple text document on a plain sheet of paper. I have included a pic of it so you can see how simple it was.

We were on the ship May 13th and here are my responses: 1. Temps inside the ship were normal room temps. No problem wearing a t-shirt and shorts or active pants. Balconies were quite cooler and we tended to cover up in a blanket when outside. 2. Some were noticeably dressy, especially on dressy nights. Most people though adhered to casual - pants and collared shirts for men and cocktail dresses and pants/blouses for women. 3. Very few masks at the beginning of the cruise. Elevators were quite crowded with many people making room the squeeze more in. It was very noticeable that people were coughing and sick toward the end of the cruise. We started to feel ill toward the end and did test positive for COVID once home. 4. Lots of quiet spots around the ship. Many of the bars will be empty during the day so very easy to set up there. I also agree with another poster that the line of tables outside of CO is a very quiet spot and we would often have a coffee there. BTW - the lineups at the Dutch Cafe can be long. The Bossche Bol was quite delicious and our our cruise it made an appearance on I think around Day 5 in the Lido as a single serve option. So if you miss out on the Dutch Cafe keep an eye on the Lido.

Here's a pic of our order

Hot and Cold actually: Cold Smoked Salmon, cream cheese, pumpernickel Parma Proscuitto, olive, bread stick, papaya Hot: Shrimps Tempura, sweet chili sauce Vegetarian Mini Samosa, raita Cold Bel Pease cheese, mango, pistachio Poached Shrimp, American Cocktail sauce Hot Veal Polpettini, chunky marinara Vegetarian Spring Rolls, ponzu Cold Roasted beet root, arugula, baguette Graved Salmon, red onion, spa bread Hot Grilled Shrimps Provencal Vegetarian Pot sticker, sesame soy

No, my wife and I have iPhones and it wasn't any better. It was the most frustrating piece of software ever experienced on an iPhone prior to embarking on the ship. Once on the ship it appeared to be fine. The only issue we seemed to encounter while cruising was the option to order from the Dive In was never available. For us, we found it didn't really add much value overall to the cruise experience, even while onboard. It was immediately uninstalled as soon as the cruise ended.

Thank-you. Underwhelming is a great way to describe it. We knew we could have afternoon tea delivered yet chose to have the hot appetizers instead and spent days trying to have those delivered. Seems like your experience with the NL Concierge was similar to ours - she spent way too much time thinking out loud.

Glad to read that you enjoyed L'Hermitage. It will be our go to when visiting Vancouver.

Yes, both my DW and I took our time completing our surveys.

We also had trouble on our recent cruise. The pics would not upload. Two days prior to sailing I went to try again and the photos were indeed there.

I've never understood what happens on embarkation day and why things seem so difficult. Perhaps if I worked on a ship I would understand more. Perhaps all available crew are redirected to embarkation and luggage hence the general sense of confusion? One of the things I always find confusing is the purpose of the Neptune Lounge. I like to think that it is suppose to resemble the executive lounges that so many hotels provide yet it pales in comparison. The food items in the lounge on this ship were very limited and while it changed throughout the day, the same items were offered day in and day out. There were far more and better items offered elsewhere throughout the ship. Yes, we agree that Neptune Suites are incredibly overpriced for what is being offered. The Norway cruise we booked while onboard is $835 CDN, per person, per day for a Neptune Suite. And that is without HIA.

When travelling you have to roll with the punches and to expect perfection is to expect too much. As I wrote earlier, we felt we had a wonderful cruise and we enjoyed it a lot. Will we sail again? Most certainly. Will we sail Neptune Suites again? Only as an upgrade or at a good price. For us, HAL simply does not provide a suite experience that warrants paying the per diem. This was one of the first cruises in which life offered us the opportunity to tack a few days onto the cruise. We spent a few days in Whistler and stayed at the Four Seasons Resort in a Deluxe Four Seasons Executive Suite - a one bedroom suite with two washrooms and balcony. In Vancouver we stayed at the boutique hotel L'Hermitage in a one bedroom Boutique Suite with balcony. Both of these experiences offered a much more elevated and personal experience above the HAL Neptune Suite experience all at a lower price than we paid for the Neptune Suite. Our experience sailing on HAL has shown that HAL provides a wonderful experience at the verandah and lower category and with the ability to add CO to any booking that is most likely where we will concentrate our future sailings. While onboard we booked a Norway cruise for next year in a Neptune Suite and we will be cancelling that booking. As a premium line, HAL really needs to up its offerings to suite guests.

I don’t know whether to call these experiences lows, misses, or opps. I do though want to be as thorough as possible and present these as we experienced them. Some were no big deal for us but may be to others so they warrant mention. Embarkation. Sailing in a Neptune Suite I was expecting priority boarding and yet HAL kept pushing the boarding time later. We simply ignored it and arrived at Canada Place at around 10 am and went through the boarding process. At the end of the process we were directed to a huge holding hall where I shared with the HAL rep that we have priority boarding. He simply smiled and directed us to the regular seating area. Turns out we were not seated in the priority area and this mix up was quickly corrected when I approached another HAL rep. Boarding. Boarding was delayed but once given the go ahead it went quickly. Cabins were not available right away but we didn’t have to wait too long. Upon reaching our cabin we discovered that our cabin cards would not work and we had to go the to the Neptune Lounge to get new cards. Club Orange: There was only one fail with CO and it was the first night. We went to CO for dinner to discover a 40 min wait. We went to the MDR instead. The next morning at breakfast the staff apologized profusely and we didn’t have to wait for any meal at CO for the rest of the cruise. HAL really should consider reservations for CO. I also think that CO would benefit with having its own menu. MDR & Lido. It may have been because the ship was at full capacity that we found both the MDR and Lido very busy, loud and not very enjoyable. As mentioned, we had dinner in the MDR on the first night and were seated at a wonderful 2 top overlooking the ship’s wake. We were, unfortunately , also very close to a very loud and boisterous table of 6. This table was so loud that when they left one of the passengers leaned over and said, “you can enjoy your dinner in peace and quiet now that we are leaving.” The food and service were excellent, it’s just the atmosphere that leaves so much to be desired. The Lido was often very crowded and we had trouble finding clean tables. We also tried the MDR for lunch when it was serving fish and chips. It was a very poor experience with the quality resembling that of an elementary school cafeteria. My wife and I looked at each other and said let’s get out of here and find something else to eat. Of course, that’s no problem on a cruise ship and we headed to the Grand Dutch Cafe. My DW ordered Rudi’s Face to Face Chocolate Fruit Creation for dessert and it was an absolute fail. When it was placed in front of her we both looked at it and wondered if it was some kind of joke. Swooshes of white and marbled chocolate on a plate of mismatched items with way too much emphasis on white chocolate. We both tried some of the items and instead shared my Profiteroles. On reflection we really should have sent the plate back. Casino. We simply quickly walked through them as the smell of cigarette smoke was very noticeable. Service. We found it took a long time to get served at the bars. There always seemed to be lots of crew behind the bars and yet it seemed like they were more focused on other duties than actually serving passengers. We also found service at the Grand Dutch Cafe to be very slow. We had lunch one day and were told to sit and they would bring us our drip coffees. Fifteen minutes later I went looking for them and still had another 5 min wait for 2 drip coffees. If there was a line up at the Grand Dutch Cafe, you can expect a very long wait. The chairs at the Grand Dutch Cafe also have to be some of the hardest and most uncomfortable on the ship. Navigator App. Without a doubt one of the most frustrating pieces of software ever created. Trying to get it to work properly prior to boarding was a daily exercise of lots of spinning and error messages. It did work well on the ship though. There was a long lineup at the Navigator App Help Desk for most of the cruise. Neptune Suite Experience. As I mentioned earlier, I first experience with the Neptune Lounge was needing to have our cabin keys replaced. I noticed right away that on this trip gone was the friendly greeting by name from the Concierge. The first night of sailing I noticed that there was water on the floor of our suite. Turns out we had a leaky bathroom faucet. It took us two service calls to get the issue resolved. The first call said it was fixed and yet a couple of hours later the leak was back. I went to the Neptune Lounge to inform the Concierge and was met with a, “,,hmm, do you mind if I take a look?” I replied not at this moment as my wife is in the shower. The next day the plumber arrived again while we were there and it was indeed repaired. While the plumber was there I mentioned that the floor tile in the shower was cracked and that I had stepped on a jagged edge of broken tile while showering. His response was to let the cabin steward know. My thought was if the cabin steward was cleaning the shower every day then they were well aware of the cracked and loose tile. Knowing the cruise was at full capacity and fearing we could be without a working shower for a repair I simply used the bath mat to cover the broken tiles. I also was interested in ordering some hot and cold snacks for our Glacier Bay day and it took me two trips to the NL to request that the Concierge provide me with a list as the Concierge admitted that she had forgotten my first request. One of my most disappointing Suite amenities was the provided lap blanket. The last time we sailed Alaska was in a Vista Suite on the Volendam and oh how we enjoyed those 100% wool lap blankets while on our balcony. For Neptune Suites, HAL has “upgraded” the wool blankets to a branded polyester fleece lap blanket that is of low quality and useless for providing any warmth. I mentioned this to our cabin steward who explained how HAL thought this was an upgrade for NS. I explained that I felt it wasn’t and asked if it was possible for him to get us a couple of the wool blankets. He couldn’t do that and instead brought us 2 of the fleece blankets used on the beds. I appreciated that he tried to help, but a bigger fleece blanket still didn’t provide us with the warmth and comfort that we were seeking on our balcony. We also noticed that as the cruise progressed our suite wasn’t kept as clean as expected. Coffee stains on counters were left behind and we noticed a layer of dust on certain areas and visible stains on the cabin chairs from previous sailings.

Sailed to Alaska on the Koningsdam May 13th and here’s my thoughts on the experience. Overall, we had a wonderful cruise. HIGHS The itinerary. The Alaska Inside Passage is a wonderful cruise with spectacular sight seeing for most of the cruise. This itinerary is verandah required. The Ship. The ship is recently out of dry dock and is in great shape. We last sailed on the K in Norway in 2017 and it was wonderful to step foot on her again. The Weather. Excellent with sunshine every day. We last sailed to Alaska in 2014 and had 7 days of sunshine then and my DW reminded me not to expect that again. Well, Mother Nature blessed us with 7 days of glorious weather. Great weather makes a difference on every cruise and especially this scenic cruise. The Food. Overall the food was great. I would describe most meals as elevated home style and most meals were hot, seasoned well and tasty. The burgers at Dive IN were really good and a trip to NY Pizza for lunch was quick and easy. I was expecting the Bossche Bol at the Grand Dutch Cafe to be too sweet and was so happy that it wasn’t. It’s so large though that it is definitely meant to be shared. We dined at the Pinnacle Grill for dinner and the Shrimp Cocktail, Crab Cakes, Pork Chop and Jumbo Scallops were excellent. The cheese plate and chocolate soufflé were a wonderful end to a great meal. It was also our first time dining at Rudi’s and we also enjoyed it. The escargot were delicious with the perfect amount of garlic and the calamari were crisply fried without being tough. DW’s Catch of the Day Halibut was excellent and the rack of lamb was served a perfect medium with a delicious rosemary jus. The Proiteroles were delicious and served with ice cream and hot chocolate sauce and can easily be shared. As a side note, when I was a young fart I was the lead baker at a scratch bakery in a gourmet food store. I made more croissants by hand than I ever care to remember. While the crossiants on this cruise were not up to the quality of a hand made croissant, they were delicious enough for this pastry snob to enjoy every day with breakfast. The Cabin. We sailed in a Neptune Suite and booked mid-ship at the bump out so we had a really large and much used and enjoyed balcony. The extra space of the suite is really nice as is the larger washroom. More storage space than we could fill for a 7 day cruise. The bed was really comfortable. Club Orange. The Neptune Suite allowed us to dine in Club Orange for breakfast and dinner and what a difference the smaller venue makes. All meals were served hot and the service was outstanding. We never felt rushed and were made to feel welcomed with every visit. It was truly one of the very best dining room service experiences that we have every experienced on a HAL cruise. I definitely recommend that you try it at least once. Entertainment. We took in the Rolling Stone Rock Group one evening and it was enjoyable. The band got lots of people up and dancing and we knew all of the songs that they played. I was surprised with how much we enjoyed the Step One Dance Company. I am not normally interested in dance at all and thoroughly enjoyed the show. We also enjoyed a couple of the Game Shows. A fun time to enjoy a beverage. Internet Speed. The ship’s internet was upgrades to Starlink during its recent dry dock and the internet was indeed very fast. For those who love their connections, the internet speed will be a welcomed improvement. And finally, O Happy Day. The moment that so many of us are waiting for. It was a cruise without any accounting and billing errors. I thought that an error free account on a HAL ship was akin to finding a mermaid, but it can and does happen. The Lows to come….

Exactly. Any of us travel know full well that the industry struggles to meet their customers needs. For our Alaskan cruise in May we had to fly to the port. I spent a lot of time searching for the best direct flight on the best plane that I could find. Air Canada cancelled that flight and then we had to deal with the hassle of rebooking a flight with a layover in Toronto. After checking in online Air Canada cancelled the flight again and we were back to scrambling to get a flight with a layover to arrive a day later in Vancouver. Luckily we had made plans to arrange early as you basically know you have to today when you travel. Imagine never having to deal with this issue again? Never having to worry about bad weather and rough seas. Never having to worry about getting ill or having an accident. Never having to worry about norovirus or covid. Never having to sit through another poor show performance or sales presentation. Never having to deal with rude and rowdy passengers. Never having to deal with over tourism and the environmental impact of large ships. While watching WWDC I said to my wife, "Imagine what upgrades and technology Apple will pack into that device in the next 10 years."

I see the cruise industry being substantially smaller. Much, much smaller as people elect to travel virtually rather than in real life. While watching Apple's recent WWDC and its soon to be introduced Apple Vision Pro one of my thoughts was how this device has the potential to completely upset the travel industry. I think that this device has the potential to be an even bigger game changer than the iPhone.

I think HAL has certainly lost its ability to visit smaller ports with its increasing ship sizes. Your recent experience on the Westerdam with docking in industrial ports and having to incur charges to shuttle out of them illustrates for me that while HAL is trying to find a work around, it isn't always a great one. We've recently returned from an Alaska cruise on the Koningsdam and faced head on the impact of many larger ships in port at the same time. We last sailed to Alaska in 2014 on the Volendam at the beginning of the season mid-week. We were the only ship in port and the ship wasn't at capacity. It was a wonderful cruise. This past May the Koningsdam sailed the traditional weekend route. The ship was at full capacity and in every port we tied up beside 3 - 4 other large ships from Princess, HAL and X. It was a marketably different port experience and the whole experience has me now reevaluating how we will cruise moving forward. DW and I have had lots of discussion on it since returning. We haven't come to a consensus yet, but we have agreed that the cruise we booked onboard for Norway next year on another Pinnacle Class ship will be cancelled.

We sailed a couple of weeks ago in a Neptune Suite on the Koningsdam and while the mini-bar is available, it isn't free. We did grab a couple of cans of soda from the Neptune Lounge and we weren't charged for them. There was an alcohol section set up in the Lounge and the honour system sheet was there. As for snacks, you can of course grab snacks anywhere on the ship and return to your cabin to enjoy. You can avail of the snacks in the Neptune Lounge. A heads up though - we didn't find the Lounge snacks much appealing and there were far better options in the Lido. You can also order off the room service. Finally, although this isn't widely publicized, you can also ask the Lounge Concierge for a list of available hot and cold snacks. These have to be ordered 24 hours in advance and can be delivered to your suite. Here is the list from our cruise. It may differ on your cruise: Cold Smoked Salmon, cream cheese, pumpernickel Parma Proscuitto, olive, bread stick, papaya Hot: Shrimps Tempura, sweet chili sauce Vegetarian Mini Samosa, raita Cold Bel Pease cheese, mango, pistachio Poached Shrimp, American Cocktail sauce Hot Veal Polpettini, chunky marinara Vegetarian Spring Rolls, ponzu Cold Roasted beet root, arugula, baguette Graved Salmon, red onion, spa bread Hot Grilled Shrimps Provencal Vegetarian Pot sticker, sesame soy BTW - When we inquired about daily fruit in our suite we were told that HAL had eliminated that over a year ago. A quick search online shows it is no longer included in the suite amenities. Our cabin steward told us he would take care of it for us and provided us with fresh berries (our ask) once only.

Passenger rudeness is one of the joys of putting yourself in public places today. On our recent Alaskan cruise we dined in the MDR on the first night. We were seated at a wonderful 2-top table overlooking the ship's wake. MDR tables are very close and we were next to a table of 6. A very, very noisy table of 6. I am hearing impaired and have to wear my hearing aid when dining simply to hear and understand a server and this party was quite the challenge. Fortunately, the table left about 15 mins after we sat down and surprisingly, when leaving, one of the passengers actually leaned over to us, smiled and commented that we should be able to enjoy our meal now with less noise as they were leaving. They knew they were loud, they knew they were annoying other people and yet, they simply didn't care.

During our recent Alaska cruise I gave feedback on the great service and wonderful dining experience we were receiving in the Club Orange Dining room. No way was I going to mention everyone there - there's just too many names for me, the one who can't remember names, to remember. There was only one waiter whose name I remembered as one day he saw us at the Dive In and immediately smiled and came over to chat with us. Wanted to make sure that everything was great for us for lunch and asked if we would be dining in CO that evening.

Cruise lines are only required to report to the CDC when known outbreaks reach 3% or more of passengers or crew. The challenge is passengers and crew have to report their symptoms to the medical centre in order for the ship to compile accurate numbers. Not everyone reports. Sometimes your best source if information for this type of information is CC and other social media sites.

Oh my. We noticed the same thing toward the end of our recent Alaskan cruise and started to feel ill also. You guessed it - when we returned home we tested positive for COVID. DW and I booked a cruise to Norway for next year while on the ship and catching COVID on the ship (our first time with COVID) has us seriously considering just cancelling it. We really enjoyed our cruise and seeing this beautiful pics of yours reinforced that we want to return to Norway. We just don't want to get sick. Best of luck. I believe that once it is on the ship it is like so many other viruses and difficult to get rid of.

We were on the Koningsdam in May and for the most part we signed. Early in the cruise we went to Grand Dutch Cafe and had to sign yet later in the cruise when we went we didn't. All Speciality dining required signatures. Almost all beverages required tips until later in the cruise when we grabbed a couple of sodas and didn't require it. Personally I think it is an attempt to add an extra tip, as the line to add a tip is on every slip. On the plus side, this was our very first cruise when there weren't any billing errors in our onboard account. Yay!

Depends on the ship. Please verify this as it has been a long time since I have sailed on these - the Vista, Signature and I believe R class ships all have an oval coffee table in the regular verandah cabins that is height adjustable. When we've previously sailed on the Nieuw Amsterdam we would simply move that table to the balcony, raise it up and use it as a dining table. It worked well for 2 people. The Pinnacle class ships don't have this coffee table and we have found the only way to eat in the verandah cabins in this class is with your plate on your lap. Not very enjoyable at all.