Mary229

If you choose an inside cabin you may want to get opinions on this forum. They range from minuscule to a decent sized cabin.

It has been reported on this forum that you can deliver cash to the general office on ship upon checkin to have the amount reduced or totally averted. I have no personal experience No snark from me, I don’t allow large credit balances on credit cards, it just seems foolhardy unless one has a specific need I often email HAL these questions if the cruise is a few months away. Usually the emails get a thoughtful response as you are being given a written record.

@Shorex do you know if it is the port agent that takes responsibility for the luggage until the ship arrives? My philosophy is worrying now and developing a plan far outweighs concerning myself about it once traveling. From your experiences it seems it may be handy to have the port agent address and phone number for my early ports. Thank you and @CDNPolar for your responses

We often discuss this topic at home and would like to hear anyone’s experiences. We are flying internationally (South America) and did happen to use the cruise line’s flight service. This flight is only available once daily so if our luggage is lost we won’t have reasonable time to retrieve the luggage the following day. In this case we are flying in a day early but adding another extra day is not feasible Has anyone had experience with lost luggage? Did the cruise line offer any assistance to forward luggage to the ship in next port? I am curious. Our habit has always been to carry enough clothing to get by and only checking bags with dressier and extra clothing knowing we can always buy something if need be. My pan has always been to tell the airline to return the luggage to my home airport for delivery to my home (available in my area). I appreciate any comments

I don’t disagree. I only tip extra for service above standard. to the OP - if your cruise is a back to back you may want to tip any extra weekly as your crew can change at the turnaround point.

I booked the other day with air credit. It will show a red sale banner when looking at the various flights. It did not show on my invoice with the other perks. yes you can fly in and out during a 30 day window on either or both sides.

Those are actually not a bad table if you intend to linger as usually no one else wants them. I have been known to sit through two seatings enjoying a very leisurely dinner at those tables. We share with strangers at dinner and breakfast only when everyone is aware this is a one time engagement and there is no need to impress.

The advanced search feature on cruise critic cruise search allows you to choose ports and embarkation ports. Start with the embarkation port only to get a good variety. (Other travel sites also have these search engines)

You will have many days in port to try the local cuisine. Much of cruising is sameness, day in and day out interrupted by the flurry of activity and exotic delights one experiences in port. If you have never sailed a longer cruise perhaps you should try out some longer cruises first to see if it works for you.

The stories I could tell you😁. I do carry a digital image and I also carry the phone number of the port agent.

Yes indeed. After sitting in those once or twice I actually walked the dining room and picked out some acceptable tables.

The app never provides any real information until onboard. The website is far better, if you can call it better - HAL is technologically challenged. Login on the website , manage my cruise then click itinerary. The itinerary will include anything you booked. It is easily downloaded as a pdf. Your original invoice and your boarding pass have a host of information if you scroll.

I understand but I do have an elderly, frail parent whom I like to keep in touch.

That is creative, is it a treat or is it extortion?

We paid the cruise lines exorbitant fees to take an important phone call.

YUL is one airport where I had very bad experiences with Uber. The HAL rep last time offered us a transfer taxi at the airport with no prior sign up. We didn’t use it but maybe next time I will consider it

If you have an iPhone you can FaceTime and iMessage any other iPhone user while on WiFi of course when you are in port you will have normal coverage

Enjoyed your upbeat review. Looks like you had a great time. DH smokes and I bear with the smoking section because that is where the conversations really take place. We often have dinners together with DH’s smoking buddies

Flam is from Bergen or Oslo. Geiranger may be one of the fjords affected by the new environmental policy

Maybe if you say what you are trying to accomplish we can better figure out the best path.

The recent update makes it a lot easier to do this - thank goodness

We are packing lighter these days and want to pack only 2 pair of shoes for the upcoming outdoorsy cruise. My plan is to wear hiking sneakers and one pair of semi-dressy flats. On days when I send shoes out to polish are sneakers allowed in the MDR? Thanks.

They have been changing the website but unfortunately leaving stray dead links all over the place. If you now scroll past the advertisement there are a new set of links which seem to work very well

Thanks. Do you think it will be the same method for a Roku?

@Haljo1935 I tried it incognito in Safari and Firefox with no problem. Is anyone else having an issue opening the above link? Holland America Line to Open Stand-Alone Restaurant by World-Renowned Chef Masaharu Morimoto Aboard Nieuw Amsterdam.pdf