GeezerCouple

This ^^ ZERO question: get that first possible flight, and hope that you won't need to try to get on one of the backups! That ship leaves with you or without you. Now, in your case, unlike most others, you would only be out a very modest amount of money if you "missed". You don't have thousands spent on the cruise, all non-refundable. (Those fees and taxes also might be refundable if you don't get on the ship...?) So in a way, it depends upon how much you really want to make the cruise... how disappointed will you be (and will there be others with you?). This makes your situation quite different from most of us. GC

And even then, their "decent bottles" are just that... "decent"... at least a few of them. For something really nice, BYOB! Or is there a "special list" somewhere? RM

Please consider taking a trial dose (or two) of any new med *before* you are away from home, on a trip. Make sure it "agrees with you", etc. And if you are on other meds, a quick question to your physician about any potential concerns might be prudent. And then ENJOY. We'd love to take a cruise like this... and maybe we will! 🙂 GC

Interesting. Do you remember if they are simply "non-scented/fragrance free" or "non-allergenic", which usually means other additives (e.g., colors, and who-knows-what) are left out as well? We request that some harsh cleaning agents/supplies not be used, and even that once the cabin has been thoroughly cleaned after the previous guests, that certain chemicals just not be used at all until we leave. We always travel with little bars of Dove Sensitive Skin (or whatever it is called). When it became difficult to find the official little bars, we simply started to accumulate some of the various sized "small bits" from our soap dishes. An assortment of sizes go in a ziplock with us. For example, little slivers are used for one-nighters, such as the night before a flight at the airport hotel, etc. The larger are used for multi-night stays. We don't bother packing up any wet soap this way; we just toss the "even smaller sliver" at each departure. 😉 Pretty "soap dishes" that allow the soap bar to take nice leisurely baths make no sense. Why all bathroom sink surfaces don't have at least one small indented, slanted area with a small cut-out to drain water from under the soap bar... that's beyond me. A bar of soap that keeps getting left "somewhere" on the sink counter makes a lot more mess... End mini-rant. As problems go, we'll take this one any time! Someone/somewhere on CC recently mentioned putting the wet soap bar on a folded washcloth. Brilliant! Thanks! That's definitely a "why didn't we think of that?" idea! GC

I forgot to mention... if there is ANY health issue, such as caffeine, then contact the special needs folks, and fill out a form. IIRC, these forms can be long, as they are trying to cover all sorts of needs. Just ignore most of it, if it's that type of form. But do give them enough time for provisioning anything special if they can do it. Enjoy! GC

Yes, do check online every so often. People do cancel cruises, and perhaps even more so these days than in the past. And people do change their dining plans, such as having an early reservation and then realizing that they are likely to be on some adventure and will probably be tired, so they either cancel/change the date, or they are looking for a later reservation and move. Also, you could try stopping by and speaking with the maître d' in advance of the date in question. Explain that you'd prefer an earlier time. They have a fixed number of tables and chairs, but turnover isn't precise. It's not like fixed seatings at 6pm and 8pm. With tables in flux, what they really need to know is... they don't want too many people showing up at one time, etc. Assuming everyone shows up, they'll serve everyone throughout the evening, and at approximately their reservation time. Anyway, it's worth asking. And it never hurts to ask on the Roll Call if anyone wants to change an early reservation for a late one, including on different evenings, if that's possible for you. Yum. Enjoy. 😉 GC

It might also depend upon what other ships are at the same port as your ship on that day. We took the Sun northbound several years ago, and we docked right in town everywhere. Watching the reports, there were times when some ships had to tender, but to the same port area. Also, sometimes when a ship was announced to need to tender, we noticed it ended up at a dock, but I have no idea why the change. And as Cruise5life wrote, just which ports might make a difference, too. We thought the views were just amazing, and Hubbard Glacier was by far the hight point. GC

Which ship? We've only been on the Riviera, and we *love* it. GC

The sooner, the better, and if far in advance, have it double checked 60-90 days in advance. Yes, our TA has always done this for us. GC

You should probably post this on the Roll Call for your specific cruise (date and ship). Find it here: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/321-oceania-roll-calls/ Enjoy your cruise! GC

Specific soft drinks and sparkling water, in specific sized containers (yes, Princess and the Pea here, I guess...!) IF they can get them. The main concern is the specific drinks rather than the container. And we let them know about how many we expect to consume. Also, special cleaning for severe allergies. We contact special needs about this, and have never had a problem. GC

We were on Noordam just before the pandemic hit. We had open seating. On the 2nd or 3rd night, we happened to have an unusually pleasant and efficient waiter, someone really special. We spoke with the maître d', and asked if it would be possible to be seated in his area each evening, if seating were available. We didn't even tell them when we'd arrive, because we never knew very far in advance. 😉 But there was never much of a wait, usually almost no wait at all. Once, we were pretty sure we were actually seated just outside his area (from having observed on previous evenings, although we could have been wrong). But it was just the same as if we were at one of the same tables we'd had before. Shortly after we arrived, so did he, with our preferred bottle of sparkling water... and a question as to whether we'd want our regular preferred of wine. (We didn't always.). IF we had left a half bottle from the previous evening, that arrived automatically. If you are eating very early, there should be less of a problem getting the same table, too. As always, "just ask!" 🙂 GC

See this current thread on this issue: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2910342-shore-excursion-question-cancelling-then-rebooking-onboard/#comment-64708674 It seems someone else was told "okay", but that's not actually happened yet....... And see our suggestion, just in case it works at HAL (it might not, but worth asking). GC

I don't know if this would work on HAL, but on another line with this same situation (not being able to use credits for excursions until you board), it turned out that by phone, we could have the excursions booked as "on hold" - and guaranteed. Then, when on board, we could "pay", using the credits. It was a different cruise line, and we happened to have a remarkable cruise consultant there (the result of a very fortuitous cold call he made to us, not at all what we would have expected!) who told us this was a good workaround. And no, "online", we would not have been able to put a "hold" on the excursions; it was "book and pay" or not. It might be worth asking. But do get the confirmed excursion in writing (a printout of online reservation, perhaps?). GC

This seems like it would be more that a bit awkward, and not necessarily make other passengers happy... to sit next to someone who has "better" menu choices and might even be sitting there eating that "better food choice" right there with you. That just seems odd... not good planning... GC

That would be quite an adventure, to stay "with the locals"! "SURPRISE! We're HERE!" 😄 I wonder how often this happens...? This brings to mind when this happened on a vastly bigger scale, on 9/11... when the wonderful people of Gander welcomed thousands of people into their homes when there was a very quick directive to land all planes headed to the USA (and perhaps elsewhere). They were diverted to Gander, *lots* of them! It almost doubled the population of Gander. There are some wonderful and heartwarming reports of how those on the planes were welcomed, and some remained friends. It was also a very emotional time, of course. But on a more pragmatic note, this is another reminder to take a small supply of any essential meds with you on any excursion off the ship... GC

The Bermuda cruises from NYC are still going, and it's departing very late today due to the storm. I'm not sure if the sailings from Boston are year-round. The Boston route used to stop at Bar Harbor, but I think they (the BH folks) have imposed a limit on ship size starting at some point in the future. The itinerary may substitute Portland (Maine), but I'm not sure if that is definite, or if there are other ports of call. However, the extra port takes time away from Bermuda... GC

And Oceania are less likely to make changes like that if passengers do not abuse the relatively liberal "alcohol" rules that O already has. Being able to bring onboard any wines one wishes, be it for in cabin/suite or in a dining room is not something all lines have. For some, being able to have their wine in their cabin at no extra cost is especially nice, and for others, it's being able to bring one's own special bottles along to enjoy with meals at a very modest surcharge. Whenever guests flout the rules, the risk is that the rules will be more rigidly enforced or will be made stronger. "Please don't ruin a good thing." 🙂 GC

I suspect that for a reasonably fair comparison, one should be cautious comparing the on-ship experiences now with "before COVID". The costs are an easier comparison. But supply chain problems and staffing problems will be showing their effects in many places, sometimes more obviously than others. Things are not yet back to normal. GC

This weather warning sounds more like it is during hurricane season! GC

Whenever we stay in a hotel or on a cruise ship with "amenities" (meaning a facility that offers upscale services), we ask for copies of all of the on-site restaurants (and usually also the wine lists) to be left in our room throughout our stay/cruise. And we also feel free to "go off menu" as long as it's something that we expect they'll have. (Nice to know there are others who ask for crispy bacon; my order is usually "lots of extra crispy bacon" 😉 ) On a ship, if we are ordering from a Specialty that has an extra charge, we obviously expect to pay that extra, but the Specialties are not extra charge on all lines. Waking up to the smell of coffee and bacon, and perhaps some gentle clinking of some china... Now *that* is a vacation! If we have a Butler, we tell them that the "Privacy" sign does *not* apply to them; if we want privacy, we'll bolt the door. Thus, if they are delivering something, they only need to knock/ring the bell, wait briefly, and then come in. They are professionals, and there has never been a problem, even if the "suite" is really just one extra large room, rather than a real "suite of rooms". We also tell our Butler that if we ever request something like room service at a time when others have also made requests, we can almost always be very flexible about scheduling and please just let us know... GC

I'm not sure if NCL still has "mini suites", but that wasn't much better, if at all. Once the word "suite" is in there, it only makes sense that the customer expects it to be, well, a *suite*! There are some misunderstandings that can't be avoided; that could always happen. But why INVITE the so-called "misunderstanding" by using incorrect labeling? I put "misunderstanding" in quotes, because I do not consider it any misunderstanding at all if a customer expects a "suite" to be... a suite. Okay... end rant. 😉 GC

It is totally beyond my comprehension why NCL invites confusion - and disappointment and sometimes anger - by calling some cabins "suites" when they are NOT treated as suites, but are treated the same as any other non-suite cabin. Use terminology like, "Deluxe xxxxx" or "Super Special xxxxxx" or "Extra wonderful xxxxx". Would you call a large balcony cabin a "Garden Villa" and not expect to get a lot of negative responses from those who arrive, expecting, yes, an actual "Garden Villa" but find they are in something clearly *not* as a GV is described, GV itself plus perks? That's no different from calling a non-suite a "suite". WHY is this so difficult for NCL? It's been a problem for ages, and they have had new ships and also new configurations and names of "cabins" or "suites", but still have NON-suites that are labelled as "suites". In a regular consumer situation, if we purchased a "frosted cupcake" but it wasn't "frosted", we would rightly complain and get some sort of compensation (probably our money back, if we didn't want a "plain" cupcake). But a shop wouldn't be doing this for long without more "attention" and probably changing "frosted" to mean, well, FROSTED. Why is this difficult for NCL, especially since it causes unset among their clientele? Duh! GC

Great idea. However, WHY was there any eggnog left!? 😱 😉 GC

Just be *very* careful with ALL of the fine print. In some travel insurance, the pre-existing condition statement about something like "taking of prescription drugs or medication for a controlled condition" may also include something like no change in the recommended dosage, too. That means that the X days before starting insurance is NOT a good time to go for a check-up if there is a chance that the physician might do some tests and then recommend something like, "let's just up that thyroid medication by..." <10%> or something relatively minor. That probably indicates nothing of importance about one's physical condition for travel, or even for anything, but... IF there is a claim, and IF the insurer can find grounds to deny the claim, chances are very good they will do so. This is also a reason why having no exclusion for pre-existing conditions can speed up the claims process for something based upon a medical reason. There would be no reason to request medical records to check for any such "changes within the past X days". None of that would be relevant, if pre-existing conditions aren't relevant. Don't forget, one needs to be "fit for travel" on the day the travel insurance is started. That's another reason not to wait to start the coverage. Yes, some policies may allow starting coverage within, say, 24 hours of final payment. But IF one is sick then and one has already incurred some non-refundable expenses...... We always start the insurance as soon as we make the deposit. Only the deposit amount needs to be insured, and one can up the coverage as non-refundable costs are added. GC