Holland America first timers questions

[formula1]

We usually cruise on Princess/Celebrity but have chosen Holland America (Volendam) for an Alaska cruise next June.

Could you please answer a couple of questions....

1. Can we expect Wi-Fi in the cabins, and at what sort of price.
2. Does anyone know the corkage fee for bringing wine to the dining room?

Thanks very much.

[Kamloops Cruiser]

Originally Posted by formula1

We usually cruise on Princess/Celebrity but have chosen Holland America (Volendam) for an Alaska cruise next June.

Could you please answer a couple of questions....


1. Can we expect Wi-Fi in the cabins, and at what sort of price.

WiFi doesn't necessary exist in the cabin. Most ships have

some WI-FI in public areas . The cost for WiFi is the same as using there

internet cafe

2. Does anyone know the corkage fee for bringing wine to the dining room?

The last time we heard that the fee to bring your own bottle to the

dining room is $15 . If you buy wine for delivery to your room.

Then take the bottle to the dining room , there is no charge


Thanks very much.

[flyball]

We just got off the Oosterdam. Wifi generally worked all over the ship. It worked fine in our room. Cost is outrageous. I got the best plan of 250 minutes for $ 100. .40 a minute. Speed can be sluggish at times.

Corkage fee was $ 18 per bottle plus a 15% gratuity.

David

[formula1]

Very helpful. We get free internet on Princess because of the number of times we have sailed with them so those HAL rates hurt. Corkage rates seem to be about the going rate now. Thanks.

[richstacy]

Formula 1,
I have always been disappointed in the speed of Internet service on ships especially at the outrageous rates they charge. I find it does help to go for off peak hours when the usage is not so heavy. You are very lucky to have free internet with Princess.

That aside, we are big fans of Princess, but I think you will be very pleasantly surprised by HAL
Bon Voyage!

[sail7seas]

Originally Posted by humpedu

I booked a 15 night Asian Cruise on Holland America with a travel agent that went AWOL for months. I couldn't get a response by phone or email. I gather that he has had some personal issues. We are traveling with friends that recommended the agent. My friends admitted that his behavior seemed pretty lax and unusual over the last 6 months.

Do you have a question we can try to help you with?

[billbelt]

Internet cost on the HAL chips will be the same whether you use their PCs of yours. I use my laptop and found that internet connection aboard the ship depended a lot upon the location of your cabin. We have just come off of two 30 plus days on HAL and the service on one cruise where we had a balcony cabin was fairly good however on the other we had a lower floor cabin and the service was almost non-existant. The PC manager confirmned that I should not expect good service in all areas of the ship and in soem areas no service at all. Surely HAL will address this soon if they have not already addressed. We finally gave up using the laptop on one cruise and just went to the ship's internet area and used their PCs.