ChinaShrek

I too am waiting for the 2026 Norway cruises to appear. Do you think the fjords include the Norway Arctic cruises? Do Honningsvag, Tromso, Leknes, and Trandheim have fjords? If so, next year will be the last year to see them on HAL for a while.

Yeah, that was kind of what I was getting at. I like the flat screen TVs with all of the movie options on the Pinnacle ships.

Are the TVs really that small on the Volendam? They do not look like the ones on the Rotterdam.

The rain ponchos are the best! You can be spotted miles away.

And now you have to keep checking for gift cards. They might be emailed to you. Some people have also reported physical gift cards being sent to them.

Bar Harbor did a major impact study of cruise passengers and found out that very few cruisers spend any actual money in the town. Most passengers book a tour and buy a t-shirt. Drive to Bar Harbor, stay a week in a cottage, and eat out every night. Now you are helping the local economy. It is about keeping life in Bar Harbor they way it was 50 years ago. Nothing wrong with that.

Lots of ports are saying no to cruise ships. Norway is a wealthy country and does not cruise money. In fact, the economic benefit of cruise ships on the local is often exaggerated. Bar Harbor is also limiting cruise ships to 1000 passengers per day in total. It is not about changing the cruising industry. It is about how cruising destroys certain communities in the summer. The locals not want this. Venice has also limited cruise ships. If you really want to travel to Norway, people can fly there. Same with Bar Harbor.

I actually wasn't joking. I think if it goes to only a 5% discount then I will not bother to buy them. I keep track of the gift cards and how I use them in case I need a refund on anything. That takes effort. Emailing my TA with gift card numbers takes effort. What if I cancel a Carnival Cruise but have no plans for another Carnival cruise for years to come? Now I have thousands of dollars tied up in gift cards.

It's almost not worth buying now.

Not online. You have to call or have your TA call.

I actually thought you were supposed to just show up and not make reservations with Anytime Dining. Why would I want to make reservations ahead of time? I have no idea when I am hungry.

I am not seeing any standby cruises in Europe. I would consider one of those because I could book flights with miles and easily cancel for a refund if I needed to.

Sigh. I miss the UK being part of the EU. Oh well.

Club Orange gives your priority tendering in tender ports. I don't know if that means you go ahead of HAL tour people, after them, or with them but i think you should be fine.

It's also interesting that the other cruise lines are still 10% off including Carnival, Royal Caribbean, and Celebrity.