Dashwood100

11 hours ago, WCB said:

Report # 63   Oranjestad, Aruba   Friday - February 18, 2022   Mostly sunny  & 80 degrees   Part #1 of 3...............80 Pictures

 

Hope to see you soon [Feb 23], I have been speed reading your Reports. Great reads.

Some beer is 12 oz and some 16. Could affect the price as well.

If you have warm beer it is simply a trip to an open bar and they will exchange it for a cold one.

I’ve been a semi-follower of this thread for a very long time. I know I should keep my mouth shut. What good does it do to open it? But I can’t resist.

 

As a life-long smoker, I fully realize the smoking vs. non-smoking issue is a huge, divisive, hot-potato issue. As a smoker, I fully appreciate the “rights” of non-smokers (I am a very considerate smoker.)

 

I also appreciate the concept of free-market capitalism.

 

Of ALL the cruise lines in the world, and of ALL the cabin-types on each of those ships, political correctness has limited the selection of us smokers to ONE cruise line and ONE cabin type: HAL and balcony. And, still, that’s not enough restrictions for you anti-smokers!

 

Fear not: within another decade or two all of us smokers will be dead. Tobacco will be outlawed – everywhere!

 

You have pretty much killed cruising for us soon-to-be dead smokers. Congratulations. Be proud!

:eek:

But in Canada you will soon be able to toke up with wacky tobacky:eek:

D.

Plus, one afternoon someone pooped in the Lido pool, so all the kids were allowed in the aft pool. I was torn on this point. It seems it was the right thing to do, after all, it was a hot sea day and everyone wanted to be in the pools. BUT, also- I found myself thinking- OK kiddos, you pooped in your pool- now you come to abuse ours? Plus, I might say that otherwise the kids on this cruise were extremely well behaved children- and that is the truth!

Please do not blame the kids as it was a elderly man that had the problem. You are very correct in that the children were very well behaved.

D:)

I have 2 cabins reserved on HAL Westerdam in June. My husband and I have a Neptune Suite but my daughters are across from us in an inside cabin. Will they be able to board at the same time as us since we are sailing as a family? Also, will they be allowed in the Neptune Lounge with us? We have never sailed with HAL before but I know the other lines allow us to be together.

Thanks!

Kippie

Perhaps you booked a Neptune Suite for 4 people and an empty inside cabin [by mistake, of course]:D:D:D

D

Normally you can check in and board as a group (unless maybe you had a LARGE group).

 

However, your daughters will not be allowed in the Neptune Lounge, nor will they be able to join you for breakfast in the Pinnacle Grill.

I have read a review of a family doing exactly what you are and they all had access to the Neptune Lounge [cannot remember when or where, old age:confused:], not sure about breakfast. So ask them, they may let them in especially if it is not full. It may be against the rules, but rules are meant to be broken.:D

Enjoy your cruise

D

You are correct. This thread was started in 2015, though.

Thanks POA1, I occasionally get caught up in old posts as I keep forgetting to check dates. I should pay more attention.:o

I have the package for the first time [March 27 NA] and am looking forward to trying a variety of cocktails that I would never try [too cheap].:D It would be challenging for me to drink the max 15 drinks and still be walking.

D

Make sure you ask about wines. There were two sub $7 whites available that I wouldn't have expected based on what's on the lists. One was a Sauvignon Blanc by Nobilo. The other was probably a Pinot Grigio. I wasn't paying close enough attention to be certain. The important thing to remember is to ask. I have a feeling that there's more available than most of us suspect. I know that it's true in my case. :)

I believe the new price for drinks is now $8.00. Taking the following from HAL site; "Our convenient, affordable Signature Beverage Package allows you to select from a variety of wine, beer, spirits, cocktails (including non-alcoholic), sodas & coffee! Includes any beverage priced at a $8.00 or lower menu price. Up to 15 beverages...":D

D

Because a) it's a condition of their contract and b) the crew are a lot more honest than many passengers.

Just asking, so if I reduce the HSC to say $2.00 a day [so it makes the contract] and put the rest of the monies to the crew that deserve it by going above and beyond would that work?

I am concerned because my first HAL cruise the dinning room staff were deplorable, however the cabin staff and spa staff made up for them. We even chucked our main dinning spot [to be alone with out the group] once for a earlier one [they did question that but did give us a table] and the guy that served us was so much better and he was only on staff for a month. The wait staff [other than our two top guy] did not deserve any extra as they did less than what was expected. Note; this is the only problem I have ever had with any of HAL's crew as all the others tried to do the extra mile. I also do not stiff on the HSC although in the first case I would have liked to but other made a difference. I did note this in my exit survey. What does one do when service is lacking?

I believe that the crew are honest, they have full range access of my personal belongings excepting what I remember to put in the safe, that is of course, if I remember. :)

D

If you "turn off" the Hotel Service Charge and tip in cash, every penny of that must be turned in to the pool.

How would the "pool" know that you gifted those who deserve your thanks [and left nothing those who do not] and why would they have to put every penny into said pool?

How does the bucket of beer work?

 

Do we have to use them all at once, or can we buy a bucket and use them one at a time? Are we limited to the place we bought them, or can we get them in different venues?

 

 

We got a bucket of beer on Princess for the room.

If you do not have the SBP you could save by purchasing the required amount of beer at Happy Hour where the second cost $1.00. I have done this with beer and with soda, you are not limited to just 2 cans as I have purchased a total of 12 soda's and usually get 6 beers.

Just a thot.

In the jar by the door. They'll need it when they give 15 minutes. If you take it with you, you'll be late for your excursions the next day. Even worse, if you take 15 minutes four times, you'll miss happy hour.

I cannot miss happy hour, unthinkable.

I wish to thank you for pointing out “read the fine print”. I shall endeavor to understand the legalese that protects everyone but me.

I also have to agree with hrhdhd that HAL could program that “limit” into the booking system to prevent this unfortunate problem.

So you are out for 6 hours. Are those hours from midnight to 6am? Are you say thus per day or per cruise? You are impacting others even if you think you aren't. It is considerate that you are willing to comprise. That is appreciated.

Hi CruzChic:

That would be 6 hours total for the week max. [therefore the acknowledgement of the impact of a more frequent smoker] I also will enjoy a stick or two at the Sea View smoking area which reduces my balcony smoking.

I am not likely awake between the hours of 2-7 AM so if you want to you can cherry pick the "best hours" of the day but that would also apply to non-smokers as well.

I do realize that I can impact others but think about this; on my last cruise I was driven out of the Sea View area [found some good company there, so I came back even without smoking] by the "steel drum lessons;" my ears could not take the loud sounds. I did learn to read the "On Location" better and avoided said area during the lessons. Please note that I did not ask them to relocate or change there time there, I moved. They enjoyed it and it did not take tons of time so I did not think I was inconvenienced very much. Similarly I do not think that I inconvenience others much and I am willing to try to work things out for the pleasure of everyone. Therefore I impact others as I am impacted by others.

Currently HAL has balcony smoking in its policy and it is an important factor in my cruising. I do wish everyone a happy and enjoyable cruise and if I need to arrange my smoking time I am happy to do so. At the same time I would like to use my balcony in accordance with the smoking policy without being flamed by the anti lobby people.

 

Also, do the math! If there are (just throwing out numbers) 400 balconies onboard and all 20% book one, that is 80 balconies. Regardless of what the anti-smokers think, not all smokers book balconies just as not all non-smokers book balconies. If only 10% book a balcony, that leaves 40 balconies out of 400 who have those on it that smoke. Slim odds of having smokers next to you don't you think!

 

[/b]

I have some similar math - I smoke those stinky cigars and I purchase a balcony, in part, to enjoy them on it - in most cases it takes about an hour to 1.5 hours due the deed (dirty deed for some) and I smoke about 3 or 4 --- taking about 6 hours max of the cruise. Therefore my interference with your enjoyment of your balcony would be about 0.04% of the time [counting only 6 days]. So, add it to the odds of only 1 in 10 smokers with balcony's next to yours means that there is plenty of time for your enjoyment.

That said --- if the 1 in 10 is chain smoking your enjoyment time will decrease drastically.

Even so, if I am curtailing your balcony time please let me know and I am sure we can come to some realistic compromise, were we both can be happy.

 

Yes, that $1000 US costing $1400 Cdn is having an effect on us. .

We are in the same boat [would that be cruise humor:)]. I do think our cruising will be curtailed for a while, at least until the the dollars gets closer together. We do have a March booked but after that we will see. Forty per cent is quite a premium, so we will be searching closer to home and in CDN dollars. Perhaps there will be better deals for the Canadians if all of us are spreading out the cruise dollars by cruising less.

I don't think it should come as any surprise to anyone that credit cards charge interest. Right now I have a new credit card that is doubling the cash back for transactions I charge before March. There is no stipulation that I leave a balance. I'm another person that pays all balances off monthly. I would call that an "attractive" credit card offer.

Would it work for you if you paid all but one or two hundred so the balance would still be owing but you would get most out of your new card deal?

My review of our Dec 6th sailing on the Nieuw Amsterdam has been published: http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=520563&et_cid=2531924&et_rid=17490080&et_referrer=Popup_Main.

 

- great improvement in service

 

- great improvements

 

- improved

 

- We found the ship to be in top shape and spotless,

 

- Our cabin steward kept our cabin in fine condition and always serviced upon our return.

Those kinds of words are music to my ears; we are on a B2B in March, Thank you.

Two HMC's, that is great planning.:):)

The Drink of the Day is usually a dollar off, therefore if you get it at happy hour you get two for the price of one.

After reading stuff, I think and believe that the period prior to T-24 [24 hours prior to departure] HAL covers the cancellation of the booking and recovers 10% [call it an admin fee]. Also called Cancellation Protection Plan. Therefore HAL has 1 fare less and they recover it by charging the single supplement. Within the T-24 period to the end of the cruise HAL re-insures with Transamerica Casualty Insurance Company also called Travel Insurance Program. In this case the insurance [Transamerica] would pay the canceler and therefore both bookings would still be paid and there should not be a single supplement charge.

Does this make some sort of sense?

Tom O - is correct three fares for a single cabin is unfair. I will not purchase said insurance either.