Jump to content
Cruise Critic Community

Specialty Restaurants

Oville

By Oville,
in Holland America Line

 Share

Recommended Posts

Alberta Quilter

Alberta Quilter

Posted
Posted
No -- we are later in the month.

 

Seadrifter -- was able to book Pinnacle for May -- Veendam -- Canada/New England.

 

ansjefitnes -- was able to book Pinnacle for April -- Rotterdam -- Europe.

 

It seems that those of us sailing in the Caribbean can't book.

 

 

That's really weird. One would think that itinerary wouldn't matter, particularly if the original issue was the renewal of the Le Cirque contract. I just booked my Canada/NE cruise for next May yesterday and am able to book the PG. Hopefully, the PG reservations will show soon for your cruise. Maybe call HAL again?

Link to comment
Share on other sites
drgrinch

drgrinch

Posted
Posted
also with the "exp 4" promo..it's just so much easier to book those extra speciality rest nights you want on-line.

 

When we booked with our Explore 4 package, we were told that the reservation times and days would be assigned by HAL and were not subject to our choice. We would be informed of the days and times via reservation cards in our cabin when we embarked. Have you had a different treatment with your reservations?

 

Also, on the possibly losing Le Cirque, I sincerely hope not. Le Cirque night is always a highlight of our cruise. I think my DW might actually be willing to commit murder for an extra serving of the butternut squash soup!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Krazy Kruizers

Krazy Kruizers

Posted
Posted

Just got off the phone with HAL -- again.

They are slowly loading the Pinnacle for each ship. They hope to have all ships done by the end of November.

We told the lady that we will be on a cruise in November and by the time we get home at the end of November, we will probably not be able to get the nights or times that we want.

She basically said "that is too bad".

Now we are thinking of cancelling our spring cruise.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Alberta Quilter

Alberta Quilter

Posted
Posted
Just got off the phone with HAL -- again.

 

They are slowly loading the Pinnacle for each ship. They hope to have all ships done by the end of November.

 

We told the lady that we will be on a cruise in November and by the time we get home at the end of November, we will probably not be able to get the nights or times that we want.

 

She basically said "that is too bad".

 

Now we are thinking of cancelling our spring cruise.

 

I find it hard to believe that it would take 1.5 months to "load" the PG data ship by ship. I'm not saying that's not what you were told, of course, just that it may be she's giving you a worst case scenario.

 

Before you cancel anything, keep checking back. You have a fair bit of time, don't you, before final payment? You could always wait to cancel after your November cruise, if you don't get what you want for your reservations.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Oville

Oville

Posted
  • Author
Posted
I find it hard to believe that it would take 1.5 months to "load" the PG data ship by ship. I'm not saying that's not what you were told, of course, just that it may be she's giving you a worst case scenario.

 

Before you cancel anything, keep checking back. You have a fair bit of time, don't you, before final payment? You could always wait to cancel after your November cruise, if you don't get what you want for your reservations.

 

Not to mention the other restaurants are unavailable. It's very frustrating and HAL certainly isn't impressing us and if something doesn't change in the next week we may cancel. I don't want to make final payment due next week only to be told the restaurants are unavailable sometime in late November.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Krazy Kruizers

Krazy Kruizers

Posted
Posted
I find it hard to believe that it would take 1.5 months to "load" the PG data ship by ship. I'm not saying that's not what you were told, of course, just that it may be she's giving you a worst case scenario.

 

Before you cancel anything, keep checking back. You have a fair bit of time, don't you, before final payment? You could always wait to cancel after your November cruise, if you don't get what you want for your reservations.

 

 

I got the feeling that the new techies working at HAL are not really experts to loading a lot of things at any one time.

We are once again getting disgusted with HAL. We had problems a couple of years on a cruise and were not able to get answers for a few incidents that happened on the ship. Even writing a letter to Seattle did not solve anything. So we cancelled a couple of cruises and just let things ride for awhile.

We do have time once we get home before final payment is due.

I am sure the lady we talked to will report our disgust to her supervisor.

I agree that it should not take 1 1/2 months to load the ability to book the Pinnacle and Canaletto.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Krazy Kruizers

Krazy Kruizers

Posted
Posted

Just posting my thoughts.

So far the following ships can book Pinnacle in 2015:

Rotterdam

Veendam

Zaandam

I have seen a pattern form -- hopefully it will not come true.

Rotterdam -- then 2 ships were skipped -- Ryndam and Statendam.

Next came Veendam -- then 2 ships were skipped -- Volendam and Westeerdam.

Now Zaandam has reported in. So will the Zuiderdam and Amsterdam be skipped?

Could the Eurodam be the next ship to be able to book the specialty restaurants?

Like I said -- right now there is a pattern which I hope gets broken.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Alberta Quilter

Alberta Quilter

Posted
Posted
Just posting my thoughts.

So far the following ships can book Pinnacle in 2015:

Rotterdam

Veendam

Zaandam

I have seen a pattern form -- hopefully it will not come true.

Rotterdam -- then 2 ships were skipped -- Ryndam and Statendam.

Next came Veendam -- then 2 ships were skipped -- Volendam and Westeerdam.

Now Zaandam has reported in. So will the Zuiderdam and Amsterdam be skipped?

Could the Eurodam be the next ship to be able to book the specialty restaurants?

Like I said -- right now there is a pattern which I hope gets broken.

 

You can include the Maasdam in your list, but as I said previously, that's for a May Canada/New England repo cruise.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
oceanmom

oceanmom

Posted
Posted
Just posting my thoughts.

 

So far the following ships can book Pinnacle in 2015:

 

Rotterdam

Veendam

Zaandam

 

I have seen a pattern form -- hopefully it will not come true.

 

Rotterdam -- then 2 ships were skipped -- Ryndam and Statendam.

 

 

 

I posted in this same stream (#8) several days ago that I reserved Pinnacle on the Statendam for June 2015.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
sammiedawg

sammiedawg

Posted
Posted (edited)

I've never prebooked a specialty dinner on HAL but I think their Internet presence is seriously flawed, there is nothing intuitive or user friendly about it. HAL is setting records for inconsistent policies and general confusion. It is sad.

The explore 4 promotion is offered to customers then the booking process stymies. That promotion is not worth much, IMO. The right hand doesn't know what the left hand is doing.

Edited by sammiedawg
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Krazy Kruizers

Krazy Kruizers

Posted
Posted
We just booked a Hal cruise for February. We are in one of the cruises with the explore 4 promotion. How does booking in the PG work for that? Do they make a reservation for you, or do I book it.

 

 

When you get to your cabin -- there will be card there indicating the date and time of your Explore4 reservation.

We have never been able to get the Explore4 package on any of our cruises.

Some people have been successful in getting the reservation changed once they were on the ship -- others no luck.

You can book a night for the Pinnacle and MAYBE the Pinnacle manager will give you credit back on your shipboard account for the dinner you booked when you use the Explore4 dinner.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
 Share
Go to topic listing
  • Forum Jump
    • Categories
      • Welcome to Cruise Critic
      • Hurricane Zone 2024
      • Cruise Insurance Q&A w/ Steve Dasseos of Tripinsurancestore.com June 2024
      • New Cruisers
      • Cruise Lines “A – O”
      • Cruise Lines “P – Z”
      • River Cruising
      • ROLL CALLS
      • Cruise Critic News & Features
      • Digital Photography & Cruise Technology
      • Special Interest Cruising
      • Cruise Discussion Topics
      • UK Cruising
      • Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
      • Canadian Cruisers
      • North American Homeports
      • Ports of Call
      • Cruise Conversations
×
×
  • Create New...