FredZiffle

Has anybody ever brough a large beach umbrella with them to Half Moon Cay. One of our friends is planning on bring a Shibumi beach shade, but I've never seen (or at least noticed) anything like that on the beach there. I'd hate for him to lug it along, only to be denied using it.

And, if you fall off a cliff, you've got more important things to worry about than missing the ship.

We've been cruising for 36 years, and the only time we take a ship excursion is if we have OBC to burn. We've taken trains all across Italy; hopped on a train in Germany and just rode west for several hours, getting off when we saw something interesting; rented a car in Argentina and drove 3 hours each way to see penguins; rented a car in Iceland and drove the Golden Circle; and many times booked excursions/tours directly with locals. Often, I'll research public transportation options at a port, and we'll spend the day on buses, trams, or trains getting to all the sites.

I have to wonder if anyone would notice or care if an ordinary Joe with no status dropped their carryon in their cabin.

I thought Creek Street was overhyped for what's there. Took us maybe 15 minutes to walk around. Of more interest to us was walking up the trail (Married Man's Trail?) and watching the salmon spawning.

Well, they won't be unloading our bags because we carry them with us.

Two different animals. The excursion credit is only good for excursions, and you use it or lose it. In your example, the $50 excursion credit would be applied first, and the remainder would be covered by your non-refundable OBC from the stockholder's benefit.

We haven't tried Regent yet, but have cruises booked at the end of the year on the Explorer and the Splendor. I still want to give HAL a try, but maybe a bit shorter test drive than the 28 days we were considering.

If you're flying into Haneda rather than Narita, I'd suggest the Hyatt Regency Yokohama or the Intercontinental Yokohama Grand. Both are convenient to the train to Tokyo (maybe 30-45 minutes) from Yokohama; they're also close to the airport and just a few minutes away from the port.

That's my point. We've always been able to walk off when we were ready and not be tied to a set time slot. It might be 8:00; it might be 8:30. Can we still do this under the new system?

But, what if you simply want to carry off your own luggage and are not necessarily interested in getting off early? Do you now have to get off at the earliest point, or can you just walk off when you want to?

B2B 14 day cruises. The 2nd part is a TA.

Actually, we've been looking at the higher end cruise lines for just the reasons you mention. We have cruises booked on Regent and Oceania in 2025, but we like the itinerary on this HAL sailing coming up in November. It's good to know that you have sailed on Viking and still enjoy HAL.

We're long-time NCL cruisers (with an occasional Princess or Celebrity thrown in), but we're considering a 28 day B2B on the Nieuw Statendam. My wife is especially concerned about trying a new line for the first time on such a long voyage. We're in our late 60's and have just gotten tired of NCL with the lack of entertainment (seems like it's 90% game shows now), the bad food, and the lack of daytime activities that interest us. Is HAL any different? My wife is looking for more, for lack of a better word, educational presentations on ports and culture during the day instead of all trivia and sales presentations like on NCL. Decent food is also a priority. It obviously doesn't have to be Michelin quality, but we'd like it to be edible (unlike NCL). How does Holland America compare?

We've been cruising with NCL for many years. Their itineraries are still some of the best, but, frankly, virtually every other aspect of the experience has gone way down. Entertainment now consists mostly of game shows. The few production numbers are mediocre at best. There is limited music around the ship except in the small venues where you have to line up early to get a seat. We used to enjoy having a drink in the atrium before dinner and listening to live music. Now it is a game show or a trivia contest or one of the endless presentations about NCL ships and itineraries which are pure marketing posing as entertainment. I know food is subjective, but I still find it amazing that anyone could find the offerings to even be at the quality of a Chili's or Appleby's. It's not a supply chain issue as many claim. That excuse ended a couple of years ago, and besides, NCL apparently has no issue sourcing quality ingredients for the Haven restaurants. We found the food there to be quite good on the Bliss in December. Even the specialty restaurants have become hit-or-miss. Mt wife had the toughest, most tasteless, filet in Cagneys a few months ago. I'm convinced it wasn't a tenderloin at all. I had a fried seafood platter in Ocean Blue last month that contained a breaded and fried salmon filet as the fried fish component. Nobody uses anything but a white fish to fry. It was horrible. I've also started ordering double appetizers and entrees in the MDR to combat the small portions and hoping to find at least something halfway decent. We still have a couple of CruiseNext certificates to use up, but we've decided to move on after that.