PaperSniper4

We've sailed on her before, but that was just after "the pandemic" and coffee makers had been removed. Question: Does the Breakaway once again have a coffee maker in the cabins? We're in a "Club Balcony Suite" if that makes any difference. If so, what type of coffee maker? If a Keurig, we'll bring our own favorite coffee pods. I know about NCL's good cabin service, but sometimes it's nice to just make a cup. Doug

I spend one week on the USS Jallao, an old diesel boat. I was TAD on her as a "sub-rider", coordinating an ASW exercise with my P3 squadron. Port and starboard watches in the conning tower. I was beat! My "rack" was beside a Mark-14 torpedo. I was an 02 at the time, but that was the only spare place. What an experience! I watch "Run Silent, Run Deep" and "Das Boot" every chance I get.😎 Okay, we better drop this off topic discussion before someone yells at us...... Doug

Same for me with the DD-214, except I've never gotten a military OBC with HAL until I read about that here on CC and submitted the form for SheerID. Maybe that's something new, and we might have to start doing that for other CCL lines? I recently did a Princess cruise in March 2023 and got the military OBC without requesting it. Who knows!😎 When were you on the USS Pintado? I think I worked ASW with her in the mid-1970s. Name sounds familiar anyway. I was P3 Navy. Doug

So have we, but I am US Navy. However, I think the HAL military appreciation is rather new, and one must apply for the discount using SheerID.com, the link on HAL's web page. Once that is complete your military appreciation credit (refundable, at least with other CCL cruise lines) will show under Future Cruise Credits on your HAL account page. We booked a HAL cruise about 3 months ago and I applied for the military OBC about a month ago. Once "approved" by SheerID/HAL, I sent an email to world_cruise_reservations@hollandamerica.com asking if my military FCC could be applied to the bruise I had booked a few months prior. They sent a positive reply in just a couple of days. Doug USN retired

Same for me, word for word, except I sent my request for my military appreciation to 'world_cruise_reservations@hollandamerica.com', and it took all of 3 days for approval. The agent at that email address also kindly told me the total OBC I'd have once on board, and broke it down as to military, shareholder, TA offer, etc. That was much appreciated as I have not been able to find that information at hollandamerica.com. Doug

Thanks for the reply and correction. Heck, I can't remember where I got that incorrect info now🤔. I think that might have been for RCI. Re-checking for HAL now I find 545PM for traditional, fixed early. Which is fine with us. That's on two internet sites, so it must be correct.....everything on the 'net is gospel, right?😉 I confirmed using HAL's chat and she confirmed 1745 for early dining. She also informed me we are wait listed which was news to me. I thought we were already confirmed. She said it's normal that confirmations are not done until "later". I don't recall that happening on our previous 6-7 HAL ships. Doug

Anyone know the traditional, fixed dining times for the Nieuw Amsterdam? We sail on her October 2023 from Port Everglades. I thought I read somewhere it was 1700/5PM? That's a tad early for us, but better than what I was told was the "you choose" dining which didn't start time of 1845/645PM. That would be too late for us and our schedule. Doug

Thank you. So the OBC I can see for our Oct 2023 cruise must me military. At least that's all I can figure out!😎 Doug

What is the chronology for booking your cruise and apply for your military appreciation OBC? I booked in February 2023 for an October 2023 cruise. I read that I needed to re-apply with HAL for my military appreciation credit here on CruiseCritic around the beginning of April. I applied at HAL through SheerID, and received notification by email a week later than I was "approved and eligible". I am trying to determine if I will be able to use that military appreciation OBC on my upcoming cruise. I see a $100 OBC on my profile at hollandamerica.com but I cannot tell if that is for THIS cruise, or something I might book later. Odd that one has to re-apply for military appreciation OBC with HAL. I retired in 1994. We cruise often on Princess and Carnival and I don't remember when or how I submitted my military status, it was so many years ago. My military appreciation OBCs just showed on my cabin invoice as if by magic. 😉 Doug Retired USN 1994

Same for me. I retired from the USN in 1994, and applied somehow for one of our first Carnival or Princess cruises around that time. I've never had to update anything to get that OBC, apparently it happens automatically, or perhaps the TA I've been using for the last 20 years notifies the cruise line. More likely it's part of my "permanent record" with Carnival and Princess (ie, CCL I'd think). I was not aware of the HAL military OBC offer when I booked my HAL cruise several months ago. I recently read about it here on CC, so "applied" for it using ID.me and I got an "approval" a week or less later (4/11/2023). I thought it odd that HAL would not "see" my retired military status since they are part of CCL, but what the heck, no big deal to use SheerID.com. Or maybe it was ID.me I also booked an NCL cruise about the same time and also entered my military status with them, so I get the two processes confused maybe?🤔 I checked my Profile at HollandAmerica.com and see an OBC under Future cruise credits, but I cannot tell if it's going to be applied to the cruise I booked for October 2023 or can only be used for something I book in the future, but before the date is listed on that page (Dec 2025). I also cannot tell if it's a military OBC or maybe a stockholder OBC. I THINK it's military only because I have not applied for the stockholder OBC. I sure hope that the stockholder OBC at least will apply to my Oct 2023 cruise! We don't cruise on HAL very often, so I don't know if their military appreciation offer is a recent and temporary thing or not. Doug

Just checked. 176 days out. Booked Pinnacle Grill yesterday, but I still get the message below for excursions:

I just booked the Pinnacle Grill for our 21 October 2023 Nieuw Amsterdam cruise from Port Everglades. That's 176 days until we sail. However, I still cannot book any excursions for any of the ports we will visit. Doug

For our October 2023 cruise, I can see an OBC of $100 but I cannot tell if that is a military OBC or a CCL stockholder OBC. Anyone know what the ID means at the link above?

Not a problem. There are other dates that would work fine for us. Doug

Well, I will likely do the same re-booking. Seems silly to have me, my TA and NCL to all go through the hassle of canceling then re-booking, but for 10% it is worth it.

Roger that. I used ID.me a month or two ago for my HAL cruise this fall (2023) so I'm already verified, I apparently need to "apply" for the NCL discount; however, my TA told me that NCL will not allow me to take advantage of that military 10% discount for my existing March 2024 cruise. So I suppose I will cancel that cruise, then re-book the same cruise to take advantage of the discount. Seems cumbersome to me, but I can play the game if needed. Glad I got the refundable deposit on the cruise! Doug

Oh boy, I can see our Irish members getting "their Irish up" over that! I'm an American with both Scottish and Irish ancestors, so I jump to the side of the boat that yells the loudest usually. I can handle whiskey and whisky equally well, but I do have a problem match the brogue with the drink.😉 Doug

Sure, as long as those adult children were in the military.😎

Of course. I talked to my TA, and he sees no problem. He even gave me a link to check that I've gotten the discount. I'll take a look at that tomorrow.

That was weird indeed. We got our OBC refund about 4 weeks after the cruise and it was dated properly. Doug

Thanks, I don't anticipate a problem. If there is, I will just cancel the cruise (March 2024), then re-book the same one, same cabin and request my military discount. That's substantial for a $3k cruise! I am glad to see NCL offering that inducement to us military folk; always good to be recognized for what we did. It's especially good for us since we can drive to New Orleans, and NCL has a nice ship there (Breakaway). Now if RCI would just do the same thing; starting next fall they are the other cruise line in NOLA besides NCL and Carnival. Carnival of course offers a military OBC, but we try to avoid sailing on Carnival cruises that are not overseas or over 10 days in length. Doug

I just did it. When I look at my My Account now, I see Military Appreciation on the screen. However, I now need to see where I get my fare re-priced. I booked the cruise several months ago, but retired from the Navy over 20 years ago. I asked my TA to check into getting the discount fare on my next cruise which sails March 2024.

Ha, reminds me of when we could just <barely> afford cruising in the 1990s! We sailed on the NCL Spirit from NOLA since we could save money by driving to the port. I remember booking the least expensive ocean view cabin for about $1700 total for the two of us. Those were 7 day cruises. I think sometimes the water was up about 1/3 of the way up the porthole; we were 'way down on some lower deck! But It was actually a decent porthole, maybe 3 sqft. Back then they did not offer any perks like drink packages and other inducements. BTW, how are you getting pre-paid gratuities? We've never had that on our NCL cruises. Doug

Ah, if it's recent that would explain a lot. I went to NCL.com to try to do whatever to get credit for my military service, but I could find nothing there. Doug

I must be blind. I just went to NCL.com and could not find anything to do with a veteran's discount. I looked under My Account and tried the Help button. I wish all cruise lines would use the same method for determining military history. I've used ID.me and the one that HAL uses, I forget its name. Plus whatever Princess uses, which is the one I use the most often. If you can send me a link to where that veteran's section is it would be appreciated! Doug