3redheads

Sam,

Thoughts and prayers to you and your family.

I hope they discover the cause of the crash so that steps can be taken so that these types of injuries and fatalities can hopefully, be avoided. If it was speeding, then cut the ties to the tour companies who receive complaints. If the passengers could have survived had they been wearing seat belts, make sure the tour companies provide vehicles with seat belts. Such a sad tragedy for all of the victims and their families.

 

DRY DOCKS AND CHARTERS

 

Oosterdam : 21 March 2018 – 02 April 2018 : drydock

 

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Does anyone have any idea what this short drydock will entail? I thought it just went through a drydock in 2016, but it was only the suites. The only info I found was this thread: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2553682

Good to see this thread still going. I highly doubt we will receive an upsell since we booked through C O S T C O travel, but one can hope. Thanks for all of the responses! Would love a suite, but cannot justify the cost on a 12 day cruise where we only have one sea day.

You can walk from the port to the old city. There are lots of shops and the Palace of the Grand Master.

We did a Segway tour, which we LOVED! It was one of our favorite excursions. It was through Greece Segway Tours.

Hopefully, my two attachments will show up. The one with the wall shows about how close you are to the city. The second one shows your view as you walk to the city.

But is that after you've at least chatted on the roll call to get to know each other? I've made life-long friends through CC too, and have had many cruises with them. It's when people talk only about setting up private tours that I have a problem. I have no idea if we "click" or not.

Yes, I should have mentioned that.

I've always booked private excursions arranged by people in our roll calls. *knock on wood* I've never had a bad experience. I've also made lifelong friends with some of the people I've met in roll calls and with whom I've gone on excursions with. Often, we try to see if we're cruising on the same ship at a later date. There are people you click with in the roll call and people you don't click with, just like in real life.

This is a regular discussion on CC. Don't think any more can be added than was discussed in this recent thread of the same topic:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2512908&highlight=Roll+Call

Was just going to post this. Thanks!

Since I posted this in August, our Roll Call has picked up a little, but it is still a little less than a year until our sailing.

Same here from Baltimore to Hobby. Hopefully waiting will pay off. It was close to $2000 for four of us.

Sky,

United rates just dropped from BWI. We got a rate of $292 pp from IAD. Might want to check it out.

We are flying from LAX in January to Houston Hobby on southwest for $159 round trip. Definitely worth waiting for southwest to post fares

Southwest fares opened today. Way too expensive at this point, but I'll keep checking back. Hope I can get a great rate like your rate!

I'm booked from Denver in November. I ended up booking through two different lines to make it cheaper. So I'm flying into hobby on Southwest and out of IAH on united. It's $480 for two if us round trip.

 

 

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I've done that in the past for other trips and I didn't even think to do that! What a great idea and what a rate. Thanks so mucH!

If you book with Southwest keep checking prices. They will give you credit if you rebook on their site which was very easy.

 

 

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I had no idea. Thanks so much for the tip!

Great tips and airfare rates! Also, thank you for the info about Hobby being the best bet for the airport to fly into. I will keep checking-obsessively. Hope I can snag some of those good rates. Thanks!

I checked those and it appears I might be a little early trying to book. Southwest is only booking out until March and Jetblue is booking out until April. Thanks so much! I will keep checking!

I know the cost of airfare varies based on time of year and where you are flying from, but I told a friend who is from Houston that I am waiting for airfare to drop for our May cruise out of Galveston and he said he didn't think it would go lower :cool:

We are flying out of Washington DC in May.

Direct flight is currently $447

One stop over $384

He lives in DC now and said he paid less for a flight to England recently than a flight back to Houston.

Is airfare notoriously expensive to Houston? I have airfare alerts set up through quite a few sites and apps.

TIA

Thanks for everything! I think this should be April 2018?

Oosterdam : 21 March 2018 – 02 April 2017 : drydock?

We sail on the O next September. This is a bit concerning. Our last cruise was on a new ship. I am looking forward to finding out what the public spaces looked like.

I ended up booking with HAL. It's a 12 day cruise and we are visiting new places. Thanks for the responses!

I take my Nook reader as I can use it to read by the pool. It's much better than my Kindle Fire which is difficult to see outdoors.

I bought the Kindle paperwhite and it is great in the sun! I use my Fire for the internet and paperwhite for reading.

Has anyone received an upsellwhen booking through a membership warehouse club’s travel department?

I hope someone can answer this because this is where we booked our upcoming cruise.

I wonder if the itinerary has anything to do with the upsells. As many said, if the cruise isn't selling out, I imagine there are more calls. There doesn't seem to be a set formula.

Thanks for the responses!

Usually, we book with the cruise line, but this time, we booked with a major big box store travel section because the price was a lot less than the HAL website. I cannot imagine getting a call from ****** Travel:(

We are sailing for the first time on HAL next year. In our 10 cruises on other lines, we've never received an upsell call.

We've always booked balcony or higher, except for our first cruise on Princess.

Have you ever received an upsell call?

Was it a good deal (good being subjective)

Did you take it?

I was actually once kicked off a roll call because I was reluctant to give my cabin number to a stranger.

That is horrible!

I didn't expect so many responses when I posted this. Lots of good points. I started a Roll Call thread for our sailing in September 2018 from Venice. Only one other person has posted, but it's still early. The Roll Calls are useful especially when you're dealing with issues such as VAT etc.

Excellent points about gathering information about ports etc. especially if you've never visited an area. Our Roll Call for Europe last year was very active and we shared lots of information. You don't have to meet the people in real life, but there are times when you gain useful information. Isn't that why we post on here? A Roll Call is just a more focused place to gather info about ports, hotels, transportation, the ship etc.

Maybe because most HAL passengers book cruises to relax and spend time with loved ones, instead of virtual strangers? Maybe they're not looking to chat on an internet forum, but to travel and explore the world? Maybe we here are the "odd ducks", with our online obsessions? Could it be:D?

Anything is possible! ;p

My current Roll Call (Koningsdam TA) is quite active and focused. Previous Roll Calls (Cunard & HAL) were quieter and, frankly, a little strange. I have come to the conclusion that the Roll Call is a good indicator of the type of people you are going to meet. lol

Uh oh! Only me and another person for Sept 2018 sailing Roll Call, but it is really, really early.:D