Mary229

The few times I used Flight Ease I was very happy with the prices and the flights.  For domestic flights I always have enough points to cover.   I look forward to checking their business class prices for international 

I am a big fan of HAL because of the ports and itineraries.  It is definitely not a party ship in my opinion.   

I have always been given the cabin numbers when the offer is made, sometimes I have to ask. 

There are some locales where rental is not available.  On a cruise to Greece last year it was not.  I ended up buying a lightweight wheelchair from Walmart for $125.  My mother was pleased and it did just fine over the cobble stones and elsewhere. She still uses it, it was remarkably sturdy.  Call the airlines ahead of time and you will get escorts throughout the airport and your chair will either be stowed in the cabin or in baggage at no cost 

For an 11 day cruise there are usually 2 gala nights which will be the evenings of sea days generally 

On every HAL cruise I have been on there is both a specific bar with an appetizer spread plus a wine tasting with canapés.  Check the daily planner for before dinner activities 

Sometimes the big cruise agencies reserve big blocks of rooms for popular cruises when the itinerary is first announced.  Later they release many of those rooms. I had that experience last cruise with Oceania.  That said HAL may not have as many 4 person rooms as other lines with larger ships.  The HAL new larger ships do. They actually have family rooms that are affordable too.   You may actually have to call for the family rooms - they are not advertised very well 

I always use the deck plan and type in the cabin number I want or that are acceptable.   Even when not using the numbered system I go through the deck plan for desired decks and that shows availability.  It is a bit tedious since you have 3 pages for each deck - forward, back, mid

Here is the shareholder benefit page

CCL shareholder benefit

i prefer yahoo finance for stock quotes 

I like the refundable deposits with shipboard bookings and the deposit is transferable to another cruise if you change your mind.  And yes you get the credit 

Just now, clo said:

No.  This very wealthy Thai woman got bored when she retired so started inviting a particular tour company to bring their small groups out to her lovely home.  Gave us a tour of her home made completely out of some special wood, redwood perhaps.  Then a great dinner that her staff had prepared.  A laminated card with a recipe and a small bottle of the main seasoning. And hen outside where we released these lanterns.  You make a wish as you release your lantern.  It was stunning and I'm sorry he missed it.

That would be different.    A lovely hosted evening event - that is worth doing. 

(Aside:    I am a very adventurous eater but I don't worry if I miss a meal.  I am strictly itinerary driven in all of my travel choices and I am far more interested in national parks, gardens, archeological sites, geology than I care about food and beverage. Just explaining my responses.  )

1 hour ago, Krazy Kruizers said:

When we book a cruise, our TA requests a dining time and a specific table that we want.  It listed on our confirmation -- but HAL keeps it as a request.  Once final payment is made , our TA calls HAL and at that time HAL usually confirms our dining time and table number request.  99% of the time we got what we requested.

 

Once you check in, your dining time and table number will be listed on your ID card.  There is a chart set up near the dining room doors or in the Explorer's Lounge where you can go and see where your table is located and how large it is.  There are quite a few tables for 8.

 

If you don't like your table, there will be a time and place listed on the daily program where you can talk to the maitre'd.

Thank you for that, I never considered doing that.  Off to Halfacts to look at my next dining room?  Do they allow you to pick a specific time or are you locked into the early/late format?  

6 hours ago, clo said:

Oh, I totally agree.  I commented somewhere here about a person on a tour with us in SE Asia.  He would eat nothing but 'Murican food.  And he missed an extraordinary 'event' in Thailand because of this.  It actually took me a couple of years to figure/accept that people travel for different reasons.

An extraordinary event?  Are you saying he missed the opportunity to eat.  Some people don’t define pleasure and recreation by gastronomic events 

Someone posted how to do this a while back.  All I wrote in my notes was to contact ship services. There is information on Halfacts.com about dining.  

That said I always go directly to the dining room when I board and make my reservation 

We love the table for two at dinner.  I have noticed that the dining rooms are offering more table for 2s.  It used to be a rarity now it is quite common. 

Yes, some people travel to eat and some travel to drink but it is not a measure of someone’s worldliness.  If you like Micky’s by all means enjoy it and enjoy the cultural variations worldwide.  

The Koningsdam was too big for me.  Have also been on a large Princess ship only to be part of a family reunion.  I would quit cruising if there were not an under 1800 passenger ship 

17 minutes ago, Louise245 said:

I reserved our cruise with HAL and then transferred to a big box TA.

Following this I reserved our flight on HAL site. I have to pay the flight when I do the final payment.

My question is to which company do I pay the flight when it comes due.

HAL, the bog box TA or in my case Air Canada.

I do exactly the same as you.  The Flight Ease appears on my final invoice I receive from my TA and I pay all through the TA

After a recent Florida cruise I advise checking how many other ships disembarking the same day.  The lines were incredibly long. 

2 hours ago, adelaidefc said:

 

Wow really cool breakdown of costs, Alaska was already pretty high on my list of 'possible cruises to do'. Now it's up even higher. Especially given there are easy 14 hour flights straight from Aus to SFO - a city I already want to check out, and could make a nice trip of it. 

The places cruises visit in Alaska are an example of why cruising works as an economic option.  Not many people live in Alaska and lodging is limited and expensive. Sure if there were only 10,000 people a year wishing to visit it could be done but cruise lines have opened Alaska to the world.  Travel is even more difficult and is usually by biplane.   As an example the capital city, Juneau, is only approachable by sea or air and is the access to the popular Medenhall Glacier.  

18 minutes ago, cayman09 said:

Achieved Three Star Mariner on our last cruise but will be on Oceania for our next one. We were on the Nieuw Statendam transatlantic with two other couples and all 6 of us agreed to alternate the specialty restaurants rather than continue with the poor service in the MED after the first three nights. We also abandoned breakfast there for the same reason. The first two nights the server actually failed to take the order of one of our group and one of us has to get up and chase him down as he was leaving the dining room. TWICE! We complained and were reseated at another table. The third night one of us did not get a meal and the rest of the table were finished by the time it arrived. 

 

It's a continuation of the service slipping over our past few cruises. Too bad because I thought the entertainment has improved with the new venues and bands and the service in the specialty restaurants was very good to excellent (Rudi's).

 

However with the cost of upgrading rooms and the nickel & dining of everything I find that Oceania will compare favorably cost wise and be a much smaller ship, much like HAL was years ago. I'll still sail HAL if the itinerary and cost is good but only then.

I don’t think HAL is performing well with these new big ships.  Their veteran staff, like many of their loyal passengers, prefer the smaller ships.  I still do love HAL itineraries.  

I think it is heavily dependent on itinerary.  As you mentioned the Norwegian fjords or anywhere that the notable sites are more easily accessible by water.  Another area is in certain countries where retreating to the safety and comfort of a cruise ship in the evening and for clean water and healthful meals is a great option.  Then there are many remote areas of the world that you must bring your housing. 

I love land land based travel and do it far more than cruising.  Cruising is part of my overall travel plans.  

I sailed on the Koningsdam after sailing many other HAL ships and it is a bit more mass market than other ships.  It also tends to do mass market cruises such as the Caribbean and the Med.   I have also sailed other lines including Oceania which I thought was not,  most definitely not, premium.  

I think there are better cruise lines than HAL but what HAL does well is the interesting, port intensive,  long cruise.   If you are about in-depth voyaging without spending a fortune with one of the expedition lines HAL is great.  If you want to get away to the beaches with a little sight seeing thrown in, pick some other line at the level of luxury you require 

There is a lot of non-calculable goodwill that comes from ordinary people traveling and meeting people from different cultures.  

Are you comparing the exact same cruise for the exact same week?  The only difference I have ever seen in price are perhaps some special perks the big cruise agencies may offer but the base price is always the same as the Holland website