Unusual Experiences on HAL?

[kenphy]

Hope someone reads this, as the experience just never, ever will be forgotten. We were on our third HAL cruise and still were so excited about it, a feeling we haven't lost. For the first time, one of HAL's newest ships, the Statendam, was sailing from Ft. Lauderdale, and we were to come within a very short distance of her. Both ships slowed, and both had bands saluting each other -- playing the National Anthems of several countries -- and I won't ever, ever forget the magic of so many people standing (in bathingsuits!) with their hands over their hearts singing the American national anthem. Still brings tears to my eyes to remember it.

[avian777]

Thank you to all of you who posted your memorable HAL experiences. We have enjoyed the St Lucia surprise and a few less spectacular surprises as well, all of which serve to confirm our perspicacity in choosing HAL as our cruise line those many years ago. We are unabashed HAL Cheerleaders because we have never been disappointed by any of our dozens of HAL cruises and have been overwhelmed by a few of them.

 

Thank you, HAL, for making our cruising so enjoyable and memorable.

 

Smooth sailing ...

[OlsSalt]

I wasn't on a HAL ship at the time but we had on a three day layover stop in the fairly remote port on the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius. And who comes into port on our last morning but the world-crusiing Amsterdam. It felt like seeing a close family member.

 

Our ship (the VOD Discovery) and the Amsterdam left this remote port at the same time and tooted to each other as the Amsterdam headed north and we headed south out across the open seas.

 

Two ships passing in the night, except it was a lovely afternoon and we could see and wave to each other, both a long way from home. Agree, those are touching moments of shared maritime camaraderie.

Edited July 20, 2016 by OlsSalt

[Sequim88]

Another case of "Captain's Choice" but in College Fjord the Captain decided it was OK to get real close (or so it seemed) to Harvard Glacier. In his announcement he did mention he had to go slow due to so much ice in the water and something about Seattle not liking it if he scratched the paint. Close enough so when a city bus sized chunk calved the wave rocked the ship pretty good. We were far closer than other ships at Glacier Bay too.

[kevingastreich]

My most unusual experience on HAL involved being seated at lunch in the MDR with an adult woman and her husband along with their "child" who was a doll. The "child" occupied one of the chairs. Very bizarre.

 

Roz

 

Did they order food for the doll?

[Cruiser Andi]

On our first cruise, we were on the lido deck of the Zaandam enjoying the nacho bar. The roof top was open and it was a beautiful stormy night. Out of nowhere a big clap of lightning struck the ship. It was incredible.

 

 

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[OlsSalt]

On our first cruise, we were on the lido deck of the Zaandam enjoying the nacho bar. The roof top was open and it was a beautiful stormy night. Out of nowhere a big clap of lightning struck the ship. It was incredible.

 

 

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Please, can you tell us more. That was some hot sauce, eh?

Edited July 20, 2016 by OlsSalt

[Shih-tzu]

Enjoying the stories...especially the contemplation of calling 911 and "is there something wrong?" That would so be my DH. :)

[TiogaCruiser]

My most unusual experience on HAL involved being seated at lunch in the MDR with an adult woman and her husband along with their "child" who was a doll. The "child" occupied one of the chairs. Very bizarre.

 

Roz

 

Many years ago, my folks used to have friends (a couple) where the wife brought Thaddeus (her stuffed bear) wherever she went. She dressed him up. At restaurants she asked for a high chair for him. Not sure if she ordered for him.... And he cruised HAL and "ate" in the MDR too. :eek:

Edited July 21, 2016 by TiogaCruiser

[Alberta Quilter]

Sorry, duplicate post.

Edited July 21, 2016 by Alberta Quilter

[Alberta Quilter]

Please, can you tell us more. That was some hot sauce, eh?

 

Bolding mine. You said earlier you were a native Californian; you must have some Canadian blood in you!!:D

[estebofarr]

I was on the Volendam in 2013. We were delayed departing Busan, Korea waiting for passengers. The traffic was horrible. Finally we pulled away from the pier. A couple came running and screaming. The ship slowly continued to pull away then stopped. The captain came on and announced he was lowering a lifeboat because the couple had no passports and we were headed for Japan and he didn't want them stranded in Korea. The crew said the previous captain would have just continued but this new captain was a kind and wonderful man. I was impressed.

[G&G]

Several years ago on an Alaska cruise, we were sailing the inside passage, at 7:00 in the evening. We had just finished dinner and headed to the Crow's Nest. On our arrival we immediately spotted a group of whales approximately 1 mile in front of the ship. It appeared the whales were in a circle feeding.

 

The Captain came on the intercom and stated that there were whales feeding 1000 meters in front of the ship, that we would be slowing down to 7 knots and will steer to avoid the whales on our port side.

 

When the whales were less than 100 meters off the port side, two whales breached almost totally out of the water. What a sight.

 

I can not imagine what the MDR looked like when we passed the whales

[SandRaven]

I have had excellent experiences with HAL, and was really surprised when I saw a staff member on Maasdam that recognized me from our prior cruise on Westerdam! Incredible.

 

On the Maasdam cruise, which was spectacular, we were returning home to Norfolk VA, and the captain had gotten bad directions from the harbor master. We were on a collision course with the Chesapeake Bay bridge tunnel! Around 4am, Maasdam made a sharp turn, causing the ship to list to a 30 degree angle. I woke up with my feet over my head, and everything crashing off the desk. We didn't hit the bridge, though! The upper decks took it the worst...The Lido pool emptied into the elevator bank, and the band equipment washed into the Lido doors. :eek:

 

Still, it was the best cruise ever!

[JimAOk1945]

Many thanks to the OP who started this thread! What a great idea and wonderful collection of memories!

 

We will be on our first HAL cruise very soon. I'm hoping we will also have a remarkable experience on our cruise as well, but just being on an Alaskan cruise with my wife will make it special to me.

 

Happy sailing everyone!

Edited July 21, 2016 by JimAOk1945

[jaxonboy]

During the 2012 World Cruise, we had to stay in Punta Arenas a day extra to stay out of a major storm in the South Pacific. The itinerary had to be adjusted to get back on schedule, leaving out New Caledonia, a nice stop. Captain Jonathan deviated from the efficient track to show us Ball's Pyramid, and Lord Howe island. Spectacular.

 

During the 2016 Grand Med, safety considerations eliminated our overnight in Istanbul. Captain Tim took us on a grand tour of the Bosporus, making a U turn at the Black Sea. I think it took three hours. we enjoyed the palaces and other sights along the way.

[rafinmd]

I was on the Volendam in 2013. We were delayed departing Busan, Korea waiting for passengers. The traffic was horrible. Finally we pulled away from the pier. A couple came running and screaming. The ship slowly continued to pull away then stopped. The captain came on and announced he was lowering a lifeboat because the couple had no passports and we were headed for Japan and he didn't want them stranded in Korea. The crew said the previous captain would have just continued but this new captain was a kind and wonderful man. I was impressed.

 

Not quite the same but similar. I was on the Prinsendam in Foynes, Ireland. It's on a river and the sailaway is tricky depending on a combination of river flow, tides, and winds. Sailaway was posted but after people had started leaving Captain Tim came on the PA and announced that due to changing winds the pilots said we needed to leave at 4.

 

We had some long tours and they were not back in time. Captain waited as long as he and the pilots said we could but shoved off just as the tours were driving up to the dock. They watched us leave as they disembarked their vehicles. A shorex manager was waiting for them on the pier. We sailed about 2 miles downstream until we reached a safe place to anchor and sent a tender back to retrieve them. Made a dramatic sailaway.

 

Roy

[SoCal Cruiser78]

My story is not as dramatic as many of yours, but still quite memorable. We were on the Maasdam docked in Nassau about 10 or 12 years ago. We had one of the monster ships (RCCL?) docked alongside us.

 

That evening, as we were preparing to sail, our ship held a poolside BBQ with a great Caribbean-style steel band playing. We could see passengers lined up on the deck of the other ship that was towering over us. They were looking down at us and listening to the music. And, I suspect, a bit envious.

[Cruiser Andi]

Please, can you tell us more. That was some hot sauce, eh?

 

 

Sure[emoji4]. It was May of 2010 and we were thoroughly enjoying our cruise. We love storm watching and thought it would be fun to lie on the loungers and watch the sky. I was at the nacho bar and the lightning hit the top of the ship only about 20 feet away. It was the craziest thing I've seen. The captain made an announcement and said that all was well. It didn't deter us from cruising again and we went back to Alaska in September of 2012 and hit a super huge storm that rocked the ship all night long.

 

 

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[OlsSalt]

Sure[emoji4]. It was May of 2010 and we were thoroughly enjoying our cruise. We love storm watching and thought it would be fun to lie on the loungers and watch the sky. I was at the nacho bar and the lightning hit the top of the ship only about 20 feet away. It was the craziest thing I've seen. The captain made an announcement and said that all was well. It didn't deter us from cruising again and we went back to Alaska in September of 2012 and hit a super huge storm that rocked the ship all night long.

 

 

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Were their sparks, jolts, burn marks, smoke .... ??????

 

Did you feel it as well as see it. Assume there are "lightning rods" on a ship but being a coastal Californian we really don't know how they look or work. Thanks for your follow-up. More please!

[Cruiser Andi]

Were their sparks, jolts, burn marks, smoke .... ??????

 

 

 

Did you feel it as well as see it. Assume there are "lightning rods" on a ship but being a coastal Californian we really don't know how they look or work. Thanks for your follow-up. More please!

 

 

We could feel it but didn't see any sparks. It was quite the impact. It made the lido deck vibrate. And yes, you are correct, there is a lightning rod and it went right for it.

 

I forgot to mention that on the 2012 cruise where we hit the bad weather, we had a stop in Skagway. We were the last cruise of the season and the town kids came out and mooned the ship. There had to be at least 30 of them. It was quite the scene.

 

 

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[ON cruiser]

In May 2013 we were on the Nieuw Amsterdam's trans-Atlantic crossing from Florida heading to Barcelona. On about the third sea day, so, out in what seemed to us to be the middle of the ocean, just as we were sitting down to 8PM dinner, the "announcement chimes" went off.

 

Nobody expects a routine announcement at the dinner hour and when the Captain identified himself, it became very quiet, very quickly.

 

The Captain informed all that he had received a message from the Rescue Center (apparently located in Norfolk, if I recall correctly) that there was a yacht in distress, and we were the closest ship to it. So he deviated course to rescue the passengers, which rescue was being undertaken at that time.

 

A Tender was lowered and the two passengers were taken off this small, yet elegant looking yacht, that was heeled way over. There were swells so no doubt it was not easy or straight-forward, yet the team that accomplished this rescue did it quickly and successfully. As you can imagine, many folks hurried through dinner that night to go out on deck 3 and watch the proceedings (thankfully, it was casual night!).

 

The "rest of the story", per Paul Harvey, we learned the next night. The yacht was being taken by two paid staff from the Caribbean to a European port for the summer when its keel (if that is the right word, I am not nautical, alas) became damaged so the boat could not be steered or controlled. As I noted, it was pretty badly heeled over when we saw it, and I am sure the two men rescued were grateful to be off it--albeit they likely had some 'splaining to do to the owner when they reached port (I can just imagine how that conversation went, especially if the yacht was owned by some oligarch).

 

The yacht itself was not rescued--as the Captain said, his duty is to save lives, not property. When I asked him if the insurer would send someone for it, he said likely not as it would be too expensive and it likely would sink within the next 48 hours, anyway.

 

We were most impressed that the Captain and crew without hesitation honoured the duty to rescue, and that the task was done so well. All those drills and exercises are obviously done for good reason. Certainly it was an unusual situation for us to have experienced.

[IRL_Joanie]

We could feel it but didn't see any sparks. It was quite the impact. It made the lido deck vibrate. And yes, you are correct, there is a lightning rod and it went right for it.

 

I forgot to mention that on the 2012 cruise where we hit the bad weather, we had a stop in Skagway. We were the last cruise of the season and the town kids came out and mooned the ship. There had to be at least 30 of them. It was quite the scene.

 

 

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Similar Lightning striker to our cruise on either Nieuw Amsterdam or Westerdam Nov or Dec 2012 (we were on B2B (1st week was Nieuw Amsterdam and On Turnaround day we went across the the pier and boarded Westerdam for the 2nd week) anyway it happened as we left Half Moon Cay headed back to Ft Lauderdale. Ship took a direct hit to one of the Smoke Stacks. I was in the Sports Bar having a smoke (all outside decks were closed so Ron Botenbels, the HD, made a decision to open it for the day to smoking (this was way back in the very first week of No Smoking there) anyway, there I was on my knees with my face glued to the port hole watching the waves when the lightning hit. MAN that was the loudest reverb I've ever heard in my life. I swear the ship shuddered for a split second.

 

Was I scared, Heck no!! I knew we had lightning rods and that we were safe.

 

Loved it:)

 

Joanie

[donaldsc]

 

The "rest of the story", per Paul Harvey, we learned the next night. The yacht was being taken by two paid staff from the Caribbean to a European port for the summer when its keel (if that is the right word, I am not nautical, alas) became damaged so the boat could not be steered or controlled. As I noted, it was pretty badly heeled over when we saw it, and I am sure the two men rescued were grateful to be off it--albeit they likely had some 'splaining to do to the owner when they reached port (I can just imagine how that conversation went, especially if the yacht was owned by some oligarch).

 

d.

 

The thing that steers the boat is called a rudder. The keel is the really heavy bit of metal at the bottom of the boat that keeps it stable and keeps it from tipping over.

 

DON

[1ANGELCAT]

At the Mariner ceremony on the Koningsdam Premier sailing they awarded a 100 Day Medallion to a service dog.

I got some great pictures of the dog with his medallion[emoji2]

 

 

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