calteacher

Also, one of the incentives to board was that the daily services charges are paid by HAL.

Thanks, Dave. We are hopeful.

Oops. Sorry for the duplicate post.

We have quite a bit of on-board credit and are hoping to use it to pay for the Thermal Suite pass for the entire trip. My concern is there are only a set number of passes available. We are not in a suite, nor are we 4 or 5 star passengers so will not be able to board the ship early. I know we could purchase the passes before leaving, but we would have our credit card charged immediately. If we are unable to get passes once onboard, we will have quite a bit of credit which we will not use. What are the chances we could receive a refund. Some of the credit is from Carnival stock, some from our TA, and some from booking the cruise while aboard another cruise. Any info?

We have quite a bit of on-board credit and are hoping to use it to pay for the Thermal Suite pass for the entire trip. My concern is there are only a set number of passes available. We are not in a suite, nor are we 4 or 5 star passengers so will not be able to board the ship early. I know we could purchase the passes before leaving, but we would have our credit card charged immediately.

If we are unable to get passes once onboard, we will have quite a bit of credit which we will not use. What are the chances we could receive a refund. Some of the credit is from Carnival stock, some from our TA, and some from booking the cruise while aboard another cruise.

Any info?

Any possibility that it will be possible to see the Olympics while on ship?

Thanks. I did find the information. Thanks for letting us know what days they will be.

Our next cruise is alternately shown as "sold out" one day, the next day there is "availablility", etc. etc. On other web sites it is shown as "Not available". Is HAL just assigning the "guarantee" cabins, or might there be a possibility of an "up-sell". (Know there is no possibility of an upgrade.

My TA has instructions to notify me of any upsales, but not sure she is on the ball.

Because of the itinerary, we are considering a cruise on the Princendam in 2019. With the exception of the Eurodam size ships, we have sailed on all of the HAL size ships.

I know the Princendam is the smallest. Last year we were on a Uniworld river cruise and the very small room made the trip unenjoyable for my DH.

We don't need, a suite, but how do the cabin sizes on the Princendam compare to the cabins on the Vista ships?

Thanks.

I faxed proof of ownership of Carnival stock to HAL on January 23. Our cruise departs in three weeks. I requested confirmation of the receipt and, as yet, have not received that confirmation. Do you suggest that I re-fax the info? Whom should I contact at HAL to see what happened?

I know that HAL needs to have the information two weeks prior to the cruise, so the time is getting short.

Thanks.

I must be missing something. I have printed our docs and cannot find any notice about the "gala dinners". Has HAL changed the process? It's not that we need to know in advance; I just like to plan things. Thanks.

My DH and I are very interested in this as we will be on an 18-day cruise. My concern is that I suspect there are a lot of 4 and 5 star members on this cruise and that it will sell out before we are able to board and to get to the spa. Any suggestions?

How many gala dinners can I anticipate on an 18-day cruise to Hawaii from San Diego and returning to San Diego?

If a midship cabin is not available, does anyone have an idea of whether forward or aft is better to avoid motion related problems? I have been told that lower is much better than higher.

Thanks.

I was not asking for a refund, nor was I asking for an upgrade. I was just surprised at the way the pricing had changed. The current price for a veranda was less than the current price for an outside cabin. I didn't think that a higher rated cabin would actually be lower than a cabin of a lower rank.

I have told my TA that I would be interested in an upsell (obviously a free upgrade would be fine, but I don't expect it) depending on the location of the cabin. Yes, I have experienced motion sickness in the past which is why I want to be prepared.

Sorry, I shouldn't complain.

Last July we made reservations on a San Diego-Hawaii-San Diego cruise for an ocean-view, Category C, cabin. At the time, it seemed a good price. Now, (obviously after final payment) we could get a Veranda cabin (VB 4049) for less than we paid for our C category. Not sure that the extra OBC credit will really account for much. But we are still planning to really enjoy the cruise. That is assuming that we can control the motion sickness which many here say will happen the first two and last two days of the cruise.

Trying to tell myself that it may be best to just wait until the last minute to book the next time.

Several times I have looked at a sailing on HAL and find a very reasonable price for a verandah (sometimes less than an outside cabin), but when I try to do a fake booking, that "reasonable" price has disappeared and the price now showing may be twice as expensive as the "lead-in" price. Anyone have any idea why this happens?

Most recent is the January 18 circle Hawaii cruise from San Diego. The first screen shows a veranda at $2,599; and ocean-view at $3,249, and Signature Suite at $5,999. When I try to do a booking, it shows the least expensive veranda to be $5,999 and an Upper Veranda at $6,179.

It certainly makes you think there are less expensive cabins until one actually tries to book the cabin. Has anyone else had this happen?

While you mention that you do not usually use the special services for the kids, your 8 year old might enjoy Club Hal, especially if your 2 yr old is napping. We have taken our grandkids on two cruises. At ages 4, 6, and 8, they all loved it and wanted to be there most of the time. Last summer, they were 7, 9 and 11. This time the boys (7 and 9) thoroughly enjoyed it. Our granddaughter, 11, didn't enjoy it as much but I think it was due to the fact that there were only a couple of girls who would go. But, she did often go to the activities. She's a read-aholic, so it is possible that she spent a lot of the time reading!

The 2 year old is too young for the program. I was impressed with the program, especially for those days at sea.

I don't want to appear too ignorant (but I am about this subject), but if I use this on my phone, am I basically turning on my phone and thereby having my phone in a position where I might receive calls and/or messages/e-mails? I don't want to do that while on my cruise. Thanks.

Mexylopez recently posted photos of Westerdam 4085, a completely obstructed ocean view cabin. I really like the arrangement of the bed where it allows you to look out the window without crawling on the bed (if it is arranged as a queen bed). I'm wondering if the upgrading recently completed on the Westerdam has carried out this arrangement on the full ocean-view (C category) which is considerably more expensive than the H category.

We currently have a C category cabin (1071, I think, I'm not at home and cannot check for sure). Would it be worth changing to a completely obstructed ocean view in order to get the full window and the ability to look outside without climbing on the bed?

Due to a propensity toward seasickness, I'm wanting to be "low and center", but would also like to be able to see outside.

Did you ever think that he may have had the flu?

I have just reserved cars in Hilo and Lihue at airport locations. I rented through Costco. Will Alamo and Avis have shuttles from the ship to the airport since I rented through Costco?

Thanks.

We will be on the Westerdam. $400 OBC is for signing up for a cruise while on board another cruise. $250 is for stock ownership, $75 is TA. Just wondering how they would determine which OBC is used first, and which hasn't been used. Think the safe thing is to wait to get the spa pass when on board, but just to know that I will end up owing money at the end of the cruise. However, if I prepay $600, I might not use all of the OBC which I am supposed to receive.

We are very interested in using the thermalossophy (?) pass on our 18-day cruise. I have considered pre-paying to insure that we can get a pass. But, we will have a LOT of onboard credit, plus our daily service charge is included. How difficult is it to get some OBC returned to our credit card? If I prepay the spa pass, I know we will have OBC credit which we will not use.

Do the spa passes tend to to be sold out before the cruise begins?