Hawaiian Holiday 🎄🍾 LIVE from Koningsdam Dec 21-Jan 6: join me for my 1st solo cruise & 1st inside cabin!

[Niagarawine]

Well here’s the thing. A lot of us view their cruise as a luxury and save up for a while to be able to sail. We want a good experience and no hassles, here for a good time not a long time. The idea of pets in the food areas bothers me along with others on this board and I feel it is selfish for a passenger to impose their pets and I fully support service dogs on  the staff and others sailing. These are not service dogs.it must be extra work for the staff. I am just surprised that this occurred as  know how fussy  Hal  is how excellent .

[Chris-n-Shawn]

Hi Haljo1935 - about post #675 and the mentioned experience at Pearl Harbor; if it was people-caused negative energy, darn and no need to relive it 😕

We’re going to Pearl Harbor via the Kdam next month; if there were any scheduling /transportation/ etc snafus, we’d be interested in hearing.

 

Add our thanks for your fabulous writing and pictures, we’ve enjoyed your stories every morning (with laughing and head-shaking) and looking forward to your next live cruise report.

btw - we say ‘God winks’ meeting lovely Maddie on the way home 🙂

[Chris-n-Shawn]

5 minutes ago, Chris-n-Shawn said:

Hi Haljo1935 - about post #675 and the mentioned experience at Pearl Harbor; if it was people-caused negative energy, darn and no need to relive it 😕

We’re going to Pearl Harbor via the Kdam next month; if there were any scheduling /transportation/ etc snafus, we’d be interested in hearing.

 

Add our thanks for your fabulous writing and pictures, we’ve enjoyed your stories every morning (with laughing and head-shaking) and looking forward to your next live cruise report.

btw - we say ‘God winks’ meeting lovely Maddie on the way home 🙂

Meaning after dealing with the miserable yappers, there’s a service dog. Your sense of humor kept us laughing and HAL’s mistakes…(shaking head)…hopefully improved on everyone’s next cruise. Cheers,

Chris & Shawn

[SusieKIslandGirl]

I think you need to buy a lottery ticket. What are the odds of not only having a service dog on your flight but in your row!  I hope the ship gives the dog cabin a very deep cleaning. You have to wonder if there were any “accidents “ during the long voyage.

[BetsyS.]

I am sorry to tell you that your Stars lost tonight to the Nashville Predators 4-3. Their next game will be Monday, 1/8 at 8 PM Eastern time against the Minnesota Wild.

          I agree that the dog cabin needs a very deep cleaning!

I hope you have a good rest after your travel day.

Take care.

[Haljo1935]

2 hours ago, Chris-n-Shawn said:

Hi Haljo1935 - about post #675 and the mentioned experience at Pearl Harbor; if it was people-caused negative energy, darn and no need to relive it 😕

We’re going to Pearl Harbor via the Kdam next month; if there were any scheduling /transportation/ etc snafus, we’d be interested in hearing.

 

Add our thanks for your fabulous writing and pictures, we’ve enjoyed your stories every morning (with laughing and head-shaking) and looking forward to your next live cruise report.

btw - we say ‘God winks’ meeting lovely Maddie on the way home 🙂

Tomorrow I'll fill you in on the part of the Pearl Harbor excursion that might help you have a better experience. I did book through the ship, so it was a HAL excursion. 

I know your cruise will be fabulous - K'dam is a great ship w/a wonderful crew. The GDC is a fabulous guilty pleasure.🧡

[Foggy Bay]

We were on this cruise too, and I loved reading along!  What a great recap of it all.  My husband saw the little yappers up on the aft pool deck, laying on the couches with owners.  It really makes me angry when people cheat the system.  We have a dear friend who is blind who has an actual, fantastic, very well-trained service dog, and to see the "not service dogs" being passed as such is really disgusting, in my opinion.  I am going to mention it in our survey.

 

Loved this trip--it was so relaxing and nice.  Loved the thermal spa, loved the food, loved sitting on the veranda reading, loved it all.  Reading your blog here is like having a scrapbook of the trip--thank you so much!  I hope everyone had safe travels home--ours was happily uneventful, other than a plethora of crying children on both flights.  

 

Konigsdam ROCKS.  Best cruise we've had.

[[Big Z]]

15 hours ago, Haljo1935 said:

Where are the dogs this morning? They are not in the bag, at least it didn't look like they were.

I know someone jokingly said maybe they're in the Brig but on Friday afternoon, my cabinmate witnessed the aftermath of Meatball leaving "a gift", his owner was desperately trying to get rid of on the Deck 4 forward elevator landing, perhaps they were placed elsewhere. 

 

My cabinmate beelined it to Guest Services to complain about it. 

 

 

Edited January 7 by [Big Z]

[TAW1963]

Thanks @Haljo1935 for the great live updates from your cruise.  It was a delight to follow along with your updates, pictures and experiences (some not so good -- dogs).  

[packercruising]

13 hours ago, jeh10641 said:

We worry about tripping over stuff on our way to and fro. I am going to look into motion sensor night lights that a lot of You Tube Cruisers mention. You can reach me at BOOKSFORLESS@prodigy.net Thanks for the great stories.

Jim

We always bring night lights. I hope the sensors can be turned off. Sure to wake up your spouse.

[jeh10641]

1 hour ago, packercruising said:

We always bring night lights. I hope the sensors can be turned off. Sure to wake up your spouse.

packercruising,

From what I gather from the You tube Cruise Bloggers, the movement activated night lights are off until you move about. I have carried night lights that plug in and are on until you unplug them. We leave the bathroom door slightly open to light the way. There are also night lights that turn on like a sunrise for inside cabin use.

 

Everybody have a great New year.

Jim

[Desert Cruisers]

17 hours ago, Haljo1935 said:

I do not believe they were presented as emotional support dogs - after meeting with 2 different high level crew members, I believe the passengers misrepresented the animals to HAL and had found a way to get documents that would support their "story."

I hope when time permits, you're able to read the thread.

And hope your whale watching was a success!!

I'm sure that the situation was frustrating to the "high level crew members" but what actually was done. The cabin stewards must have been aware of the situation.  Did these stewards report to their supervisor?  Did the Captain get involved?  Were these passengers reported to Corporate and placed on a "no sail" list?  

[Haljo1935]

2 hours ago, Desert Cruisers said:

I'm sure that the situation was frustrating to the "high level crew members" but what actually was done. The cabin stewards must have been aware of the situation.  Did these stewards report to their supervisor?  Did the Captain get involved?  Were these passengers reported to Corporate and placed on a "no sail" list?  

I planned on sharing what I was told by the crew members in my wrap up of the dog topic, but since you asked and I'm unsure if your questions are rhetorical in nature or if you're looking for answers from me, I'll offer this...

I will never know what was actually done and if the passengers were placed on a "no sail" list. At this time, I also don't know if the Captain got involved. I only know what I was told and by whom, including what action they took that involved me and what action they told me they intended to take.

Certainly the cabin stewards, which were the same ones I had until I was moved, knew there were barking dogs in one of the cabins they serviced. Heck, they could have been occupying 2 cabins, I don't know, did not ask and don't know if that would have been disclosed to me. I don't know if they made their supervisor, or anyone in their department, aware as I didn't ask; I eventually learned they'd been contacted by GS. I did not talk with the cabin stewards - ever - about the dogs; I kept my conversations to the Hotel Gen Mgr, Rene Tuinman, and GS Mgr, John. I suppose, had I been trying to build a case, I could have talked to the cabin stewards and other crew members, but my intent for engaging the hotel mngmt dept was to have the barking stop and keep the dogs out of my cabin. The purpose of my second contact was to have them keep animals away from food service areas.

The Hotel Gen Mgr is a senior level position, listed on the "get to know  the officers" section of the "service & information " tab on the TV. 

I believe he was the appropriate person to handle the situation, so that is who I requested to meet with. During our meeting, he mentioned John, GS Mgr, and that is who I spoke with the next time and who came to my cabin.

So, here is what I was told by these two men and what happened next:

As previously reported, Rene told me I was not the 1st passenger to mention the dogs, but I was the 1st to present documentation. Rene said he was in a sticky situation - that he could not disembark "them" (dogs or passengers?), but that he would have a stern conversation about the seriousness of the matter. He offered to move me to create distance from the dogs because my cabin was very close to theirs. That is when he mentioned John's name. Rene told me he would be reviewing the travel documents the passengers had submitted as well as submitting a report to Corporate (did not ask if that was HAL, CCL or both) recommending the animals not be allowed on future sailings. He also told me he would be looping John in on our conversation and I was welcome to talk to him any time.

I did not see or hear the dogs in the hallway after I changed cabins; I was still on same deck and same side, but was now 1 elevator and a couple turns apart. I assume they used the aft elevator that is closest to their cabin (my new cabin was near mid elevator) so the move was a success regarding the noise (barking & loud instructions to the dogs). Check ✔ that one off.

Next day, I called GS requesting Rene call me so I could report that at lunchtime I saw the dogs 🐕 at the Grand Dutch Cafe (I didn't tell GS the purpose of my call, only requested Rene call me or that they let me know what time I could meet w/him). I immediately received a call from John letting me know he'd been made aware of my request to speak with Rene and asked what I needed. I informed him about seeing the dogs at GDC and wanted to show him or Rene the pictures. He was knocking on my cabin door in less than 5 min.

John began by apologizing that my cruise was being negatively impacted by negligent (his word) passengers. He said Rene had shared the details of our conversation as well as the pictures, so I didn't feel I needed to rehash any of that. I pointed to the lunch I'd brought back from GDC (which I'd not even had time to eat, that's how quickly all this happened) then showed him the pictures of the dogs I took while I was waiting for my food. He repeatedly apologized and told me 1) he had seen the documents the passengers had submitted for the dogs and they appeared to be legitimate, 2) he was offended on a personal level as he had worked for an organization that helped place service animals and this minimized the animals' value, 3) based on their appearance and behavior he did not consider these to be service animals and 4) he was angry the passengers were not returning his calls. John took pictures of some of the GDC pictures and said he would review security footage as well. He said he had left them several messages to call him and had now asked the cabin stewards to call him when the passengers were in their cabin planning to immediately go to the cabin when the stewards call. John also said that he was preparing a report for "home office" that would include all the pictures they had as well as his feedback. Thank you John; now to enjoy the awesome pea soup.

Final night I got off ship to go into Ensenada. Officers and Sr Crew were waiting to greet passengers.  John stepped out of line to let me know since our conversation they had been contacted by more passengers reporting additional dog sightings. He said he had reviewed the dogs' documents again and had finally been able to talk with the passengers. This time, he said the report he was preparing would recommend the passengers be banned from the entire CCL fleet so they could not sail on any Carnival owned ship and he hoped I would feel confident my next cruise would not be impacted by these dogs.

The next morning outside CO, while heading from MDR to scan off the ship, I saw the passengers san dogs. In fairness, I don't know the process for debarking animals, so it may be that the dogs were removed apart from their humans and would re-join them landside. (?)

I belive in both transparency and confidentiality; sometimes those are at odds and causes us to find ourselves in awkward situations, as I believe Rene was in when he said he was in a sticky situation. He had the additional difficulty of legal constraints. I get it. That's why I don't ask for or expect certain details. I trust that people holding certain positions/titles are there because they're capable of doing the jobs they've been entrusted to do. Hence, I wouldn't ask to speak to Captain about a dog, but trust the person I did talk with would loop him in. I don't ask for or expect to be told details of conversations or communications nor do I expect follow-up on outcome of said communication; I trust the appropriate level of communication necessary to remedy the situation continues until resolution. Naive? Maybe, but I have to trust the process until I have reason not to.

So, as of today, I hope Rene and John have sent a report to HAL and CCL. I hope that report results in both the passengers and dogs 🐕 are on a "no sail" list. I also hope the people who reported on here that they saw the dogs and were going to contact HAL do so. I don't expect to hear from Rene, John or Captain Arnot that they sent a report, what it said or what Corp response was. I do hope that once HAL receives the report, someone will reach out to me.

I am disappointed that neither Rene nor John contacted me as a simple follow up. I think that had I not gotten off the ship in Ensenada causing me to run into John, I would not have heard from him again. 

I will mention the situation in the post-cruise survey (if I get one) and will email both HAL and CCL with the intent of encouraging them to take a hard look at their onboard animal policy.

 

At our final port, both Rene and John were in the receiving line that greeted passengers. Both greeted me and addressed me by name; that told me they remembered our conversations.

Rene was furthest from the ship, closest to the gate.

Guest Service Mgr John was 3rd closest to the ship

Apologies if this didn't address what you wanted to know. Feel free to ask whatever it is you do want to know and I'll try to answer.

[BetsyS.]

You did a great job of reporting  all of this to the appropriate people! I'm glad that the  passengers will be on the "no sail" list for the fleet. It is shocking to me that the dogs  were not only allowed on board, but they were allowed to be in the dining areas. That is totally inappropriate. I'm glad you spoke up and provided documentation. Good for you! 😊

[tartanmom]

We are just off the Zaandam holiday cruise where there was a passenger with a small sized “service” dog and ironically another one on our flight homes. When the dog sits on a chair in the Crows Nest during the Orange party or on a lounge chair by the pool I question it’s legitimacy and why it is allowed onboard. Thankfully I never heard it bark! I have no issue with true service dogs onboard who are trained for specific purposes and are well behaved but allowing “emotional support” dogs onboard with vests bought from Amazon is ridiculous!  Im sorry you went through what you did but kudos for speaking up and demanding some answers from the higher ups.

[Haljo1935]

14 minutes ago, BetsyS. said:

You did a great job of reporting  all of this to the appropriate people! I'm glad that the  passengers will be on the "no sail" list for the fleet. It is shocking to me that the dogs  were not only allowed on board, but they were allowed to be in the dining areas. That is totally inappropriate. I'm glad you spoke up and provided documentation. Good for you! 😊

I think the dogs being so openly taken to the GDC, the Lido and Seaview Pool area (and wherever else) was a big "up yours" (this is me being polite) by the passengers. My sighting of them at GDC and CC members reports of the Lido & Seaview Pool sightings were AFTER I saw them w/the crew escort and AFTER my meeting w/Rene. So, they were (IMO) snubbing Crew & fellow passengers and saying they were going where they pleased when they pleased and to heck w/policies.

Rene told me the crewmember I saw (when the dog was walking w/nobody holding the leash) was from Housekeeping and was there to ensure the dogs were only going where they were allowed to go. Clearly, the passengers chose not to comply. 

As always, I appreciate your support.

Edited January 7 by Haljo1935
Typo

[storkington]

Thank you for taking us along your cruise! I really enjoyed your updates. We are taking a similar Hawaiian cruise on the Konigsdam in October this year, also in an inside cabin, so it was interesting to read your take on such a cabin, as this is the first time we are travelling inside! My main worry about the inside cabin is the lack of natural light, and I love to look outside, but I guess that means we just have to mingle more on ship, which is not a bad thing.

[canadianbear]

Really appreciate your updates.  I wonder if the owners of the dogs will have an extra cleaning fee charged to their cabin.  I certainly hope so. 

[pmjnh]

24 minutes ago, Haljo1935 said:

I think the dogs being so openly taken to the GDC, the Lido and Seaview Pool area (and wherever else) was a big "up yours" (this is me being polite) by the passengers. My sighting of them at GDC and CC members reports of the Lido & Seaview Pool sightings were AFTER I saw them w/the crew escort and AFTER my meeting w/Rene. So, they were (IMO) snubbing Crew & fellow passengers and saying they were going where they pleased when they pleased and to heck w/policies.

Rene told me the crewmember I saw (when the dog was walking w/nobody holding the leash) was from Housekeeping and was there to ensure the dogs were only going where they were allowed to go. Clearly, the passengers chose not to comply. 

As always, I appreciate your support.

Kudos and thank you for standing up and moving forward for the sake of all passengers, present and future. Hopefully all will be resolved within coprorate and that these dogs and their owners will not meet on any HAL ship again.

 

vacations should not be marred by such issues. Again, thank you.

 

Joan

[Haljo1935]

8 minutes ago, canadianbear said:

Really appreciate your updates.  I wonder if the owners of the dogs will have an extra cleaning fee charged to their cabin.  I certainly hope so. 

Not familiar w/the TOS passengers agree to when they bring an animal onboard, but I do hope it allows for a deep clean at pax expense. Accidents do happen and the next people using that cabin might have allergies. 

[Haljo1935]

26 minutes ago, storkington said:

Thank you for taking us along your cruise! I really enjoyed your updates. We are taking a similar Hawaiian cruise on the Konigsdam in October this year, also in an inside cabin, so it was interesting to read your take on such a cabin, as this is the first time we are travelling inside! My main worry about the inside cabin is the lack of natural light, and I love to look outside, but I guess that means we just have to mingle more on ship, which is not a bad thing.

Inability to enjoy my 1st cup of ☕ (and 🥓) watching the sunrise and ending it w/a glass of wine at sunset each day was my biggest (really only) concern about having an inside cabin.

Honestly, I did miss it; not gonna say I found other places to go instead, cuz I am not a get dressed at crack-thirty and leave my room kind of person. So, my days started a bit later than usual. I had my 1st cup while getting dressed then headed to breakfast to enjoy the morning views.

I spent a lot of time in the library, the spa, the empty bars (Billboard Onboard has a sofa in a corner that was always available) and Crow's Nest enjoying the window views. As planned, rarely was I in the cabin during daylight hours.

Safe travels, enjoy your cruise!

[BetsyS.]

Congratulations on your Cowboys win!! 😊🥂   What a great game! My stepfather and I watched it and we were rooting for the Cowboys! I hope they can have some drinks on the plane to celebrate! I'm sure there will be a big crowd at the airport to welcome the Cowboys home when they get back to Texas. 😊

[SusieKIslandGirl]

Thank you for your detailed report on the dog issue. It was well written and very fair. I hope the person who witnessed the accident by the elevator reported it clearly and it's added to the report. I guess you can say you had a very memorable cruise, just not in the way you'd hope to remember it. Take care and thanks again.

[Blackduck59]

@Haljo1935 Thanks for taking us along on your voyage of firsts. I have to say you handled the arrogant guests with pets issue much better then I would have. While I would have done everything you did meeting with the staff; I'm not sure I would have waited for my food at the RDC without saying something snide and or most definitely rude to the Mutt with the mutts.

[canadianbear]

2 hours ago, Haljo1935 said:

Not familiar w/the TOS passengers agree to when they bring an animal onboard, but I do hope it allows for a deep clean at pax expense. Accidents do happen and the next people using that cabin might have allergies. 

Exactly.