cbr663

It must be a relatively new thing as I also checked our statement from our Alaska cruise from May and it wasn't included then. OP, you have a very sharp eye. Perhaps you should look at getting a job as a night auditor on a HAL ship 😉

OP, I just checked our statement from our Nov cruise and yes, we only ordered room service once and it was indeed noted on the statement with a charge of $0.00. I didn't even notice it until you pointed it out. Seems strange to me also. Why even note it on the statement?

You shouldn't lose the OBC from booking onboard. Deposits when booking onboard are refundable and you are simply asking that HAL honour the new price on the same cruise. But, unfortunately, it does sometimes depend on the PCC that you connect with. If they do try and take it away, ask to speak with a pricing specialist. Earlier this year I had to cancel a cruise that I booked while onboard and wanted to use the FCD from that onboard booked cruise to book another cruise. For some reason that no one could explain to me why they reduced the amount of OBC on the new booking.

I would say for me the biggest pro of HIA is not having to think much about how much money I am spending while onboard. The biggest con is that it is costly. HIA is a discounted bundling of amenities that you pre-pay. You and your guest. Like all bundled amenities, it makes sense if you would have purchased those items separately yourself. If there are items in the bundle that don't interest you then you may be further ahead simply paying as you go. We are in this camp - paying as we go makes much more financial sense for us.

I'm a big believer in doing what you want and what makes you most comfortable. I also know though that what makes me most comfortable can make someone else most uncomfortable and some people are not the least bit shy telling me. No one can tell you what the response will be on the ship as no one can predict what a particular person may do or say. Like every other time that you are out in a public space my suggestion is to be prepared should there be some sort of response, whether good or bad.

Lisa, perhaps your ship is the "pilot" ship, as in let's try some changes and see the response? When we were in CO in November on the Koningsdam we indeed had a CO entree every night. Here is a blurb from HAL's CO Benefits that mentions that CO offers Premium Dining with an expanded menu:

I also don’t think it’s sustainable. I don’t know what the future is for the current design of cruise ship. It’s a relic from the past that has a very limited future imo. I recently experienced the frustration of having substantial port changes made to booked HAL cruises, so much so that I no longer trust the advertised itineraries and currently don’t have any future cruises booked. Reviewing other threads and social media sites I see this is occurring across all cruise lines. Read one just a couple days ago of a person frustrated with Regent dropping 6 of the 10 ports on a cruise and adding 3 nights in the disembarkation port instead. It really does seem that the push back has caught the cruise industry by surprise. And yes, this poster cancelled the cruise.

Those chairs do look uncomfortable 😣.

Lisa, I was thinking about your current CO experience and our own recent last night. We are currently enjoying a trip to Quebec City and staying at the Fairmont Chateau Frontenac. Last night we dined in the hotel’s Sam Bistro, it’s more casual dining option. We enjoyed an excellent evening with top notch food and service. The waiter easily handled 5 tables last night with confidence and flare. No rushing around, no taking notes for orders, easily making small talk at every table, and yes, returning after every course to ensure that everything was okay. He handled a table of 6, 4, 4, 2, and 2 effortlessly. Why is it so difficult to get the level of service on a ship?

My guess is the environmental shock that is currently unfolding in the cruise industry has a part to play in deciding if you order a ship, what type and size of ship do you order to ensure a 30 year sailing life? More and more ports are pushing back against the large number of cruise passengers being on loaded in their communities. How much momentum will this continue to pick up and what will its impact be on larger ships? Coupled with this is the move away from fossil fuels to clean energy and does it make sense to continue to build a ship whose lifeline may be very limited? I am glad that I am not the cruise line executive that has to make these decisions.

No CO special again? There is something seriously wrong with CO on the ship. Have you considered visiting the CO Guest Services and letting them know how confused you are that the CO is not offering its nightly special like it does on other ships? And also casually mentioning that the service is lacking?

That is a simply awful dining experience. When we were on the Koningsdam they brought a pot of coffee to each table. Are they not doing that for you?

Wishing you the best of luck. HAL is very transparent explaining cancellation fees when booking and it can be too late to discover after you've booked. Perhaps we all need to start asking what the cancellation fees/conditions are with every cruise we book?

Great catch.

We didn't receive any port information during our cruise last month. I think that's been axed to reduce paper consumption.

I so agree with your comments regarding the service. I don't think that you are harsh at all Lisa. A few days after returning from our cruise on the Koningsdam we were discussing the service we received in CO and we both agreed that we would expect better service from a large land based restaurant chain than we received on the ship. Let alone a fine dining restaurant It has me wondering are cruisers generally more for forgiving or simply blindly loyal? There is no doubt that the crew are working hard. Lots of activity and they are friendly. But this doesn't always result in great service. You expect when a waiter places a plate in front of you that they will be back quickly to ensure that everything is okay. It rarely happens.

That menu seems a little different when we had it on recently on the Koningsdam. I recognize the rack of lamb as that was the dish that was served cold to me twice, but I have shown my DW and neither of us can remember what she ordered but it isn't on the menu right now. Must have been the CO Special. BTW - the beef short ribs we had later in the cruise.

I've always found that there is something magical when sailing under a bridge.

Lisa, try this on your iPhone to reduce the file size of your photos (from Apple support) To enable this format, go to "Settings" > "Camera" > "Formats" and select "High Efficiency" instead of "Most Compatible." This way, your photos will be stored in HEIC format, reducing file size without noticeable quality loss.

Two and a half hours? I would have ordered room service delivered to CO. lol. On the plus side, it can only get better from here.

Wonderful thread. Enjoy your last night aboard.

Great point on how do you prove you had food poisoning. OP is a 3 star Mariner with over 40 years of cruising experience. They have obviously previously had great experiences with HAL. They know the HAL experience and the HAL brand. This one was a dud and OP is clearly visibly upset. The cold food? Easily believable. I experienced last month on our cruise. Even sent a plate back because it was cold and the plate they replaced it with was cold. Dirty tables at the lido? Who hasn't experienced that? Not enough staff? Check your cruise passport and compare the crew count against the crew count that HAL advertises for the ship and don't be surprised to see it down 100+ crew. We had a sailing years ago on the Eurodam where every day something went wrong. It was our first Neptune Suite and the Concierge knew us personally when as soon as we entered the suite we discovered it visibly dirty and heavily soiled and it took 2 attempts to have it cleaned. The cruise never recovered from that point and the on Day 5 the Concierge asked us what could he do to make things better and we simply replied, "stop screwing up." It was unbelievable how many things went wrong, but they did. That cruise I learned that yes, you can have a bad experience on a cruise while others around you are having a great time. Ship happens and when it does, it is frustrating and very disappointing.

They should have given you an extra "free" one for the inconvenience. 🤣

This seems to be a design flaw in the ship. I would be extremely upset if I had to endure pounding whenever there was a show. Seems like HAL should not have placed a cabin in this area and should have placed crew work stations instead.

Priority disembarkation is basically you can disembark whenever you want - from the earliest to the very last time available. The priority access to speciality restaurant reservations is very nice. Upon entering our cabin there was a card in our cabin with a phone number to call to make reservations. So much easier and quicker than dealing with the embarkation crowds around the reservations desk.