albingirl

Start coughing. They'll move.

Bon voyage and have a really fabulous cruise!

Thank you for a great review!

I always avoid the loungers by the ping pong table. Non stop ping pong all day long. Drives me batty.

The snake thing gave me nightmares. If that's Holland America's idea of entertainment, well, I am plenty puzzled.

I always load up on FCDs. Fun planning, really. As far as booking a cruise onboard, no way. I have no patience with the staff in that department since I just don't know them, don't know about their expertise, and generally trust my PCC to give me a hand. I usually know what I want, when I want it, and how to go about it. There. I've said quite enough haha.

We sailed with Celebrity years ago, and remarked at the time that it was so different in service. HAL employees are always so sunny and Celebrity's seemed impersonal, at best. But, hey, I am a totally committed HAL cheerleader and proud of it. Lol.

Thanks for the news. How many cruises do you have booked at this point?

Take it. Such a deal!!!

Such a very sad day all around. I am so sorry to learn this. 😢 imagine their families.

Bon Voyage! Have a wonderful time!

Wow. Just wow.

Ok, I will jump in here. We took a 49 day cruise in a lanai cabin. We don't pack excessively, we aren't very large people, and we loved it. Never had a problem with others using the reserved loungers and really liked the fact that we had some privacy when we chatted when we used them. When we have a balcony, we always feel the neighbors are a bit close, and we can hear their conversations unfortunately. I'd book a lanai again in a New York minute.

I always saw people dressed well, some formal and some smart casual. No one looked like they were going to the landfill on Saturday morning.

Erks me too

I recently booked an early HIA booking bonus. I'll probably forget all about it since it is pretty far in the future.

Not much happening in the evening, except for music walk on the Pinnacle class. Even that gets old fast. The only cruises that interest me any more with HAL are the long ones that are port intensive. We get tired after a long day and really don't care about evening entertainment. Yes, it would be nice if they had something to jazz up the evenings, but sadly, they don't. We have long, lingering dinners for the most part.

I trust a mid ship cabin far more in case of rocky seas. And that can happen anywhere. We have a personal vessel, so I generally have my sea legs, but out in rough open water it can be challenging.

You aren't a newbie on HAL. You can find these prices on their website, in case you are interested. Also, all dining is clearly subjective. Opinions are interesting, but I take it all with a grain of salt.

To the OP, yes, things can come down. They can also, more than likely, go up. There you have it. Economics 101.

I think the best perk of all is the laundry when you turn 4 star. My chief beef is the priority embarkation and so on for club orange. I am ok with the room upgrades and nice restaurant but that should be it. Lumping them in with 4 and 5 star people is unfair to those who have spend gazzilions of years and dollars to achieve that status. Of course, I've been on long cruises where just about every one was 4 star and up, but the club orange really should not have priority tendering and embarkation for instance.

This topic tends to raise the blood pressure. I used to see HAL's library books used for this purpose....just to hog the chairs. I'm at the point where I am inclined to do a broad sweep ot the arm over belongings that sit for a period of time on an unused chair. It's rude to claim these chairs as your own personal property. I just sailed on NCL, and they have an area that they call the Waterfront which has plenty of couches and chairs. I'd see people napping across the whole couch, insuring that no one sat on the chairs in that semi-circle. One person hogging an area meant to seat six. Wrong, wrong, wrong.

I like to call it as I see it. Better late than never.

Rather demeaning don't you think?

Oh stop. She's right.