ChinaShrek

And now you have to keep checking for gift cards. They might be emailed to you. Some people have also reported physical gift cards being sent to them.

Bar Harbor did a major impact study of cruise passengers and found out that very few cruisers spend any actual money in the town. Most passengers book a tour and buy a t-shirt. Drive to Bar Harbor, stay a week in a cottage, and eat out every night. Now you are helping the local economy. It is about keeping life in Bar Harbor they way it was 50 years ago. Nothing wrong with that.

Lots of ports are saying no to cruise ships. Norway is a wealthy country and does not cruise money. In fact, the economic benefit of cruise ships on the local is often exaggerated. Bar Harbor is also limiting cruise ships to 1000 passengers per day in total. It is not about changing the cruising industry. It is about how cruising destroys certain communities in the summer. The locals not want this. Venice has also limited cruise ships. If you really want to travel to Norway, people can fly there. Same with Bar Harbor.

I actually wasn't joking. I think if it goes to only a 5% discount then I will not bother to buy them. I keep track of the gift cards and how I use them in case I need a refund on anything. That takes effort. Emailing my TA with gift card numbers takes effort. What if I cancel a Carnival Cruise but have no plans for another Carnival cruise for years to come? Now I have thousands of dollars tied up in gift cards.

It's almost not worth buying now.

Not online. You have to call or have your TA call.

I actually thought you were supposed to just show up and not make reservations with Anytime Dining. Why would I want to make reservations ahead of time? I have no idea when I am hungry.

I am not seeing any standby cruises in Europe. I would consider one of those because I could book flights with miles and easily cancel for a refund if I needed to.

Sigh. I miss the UK being part of the EU. Oh well.

Club Orange gives your priority tendering in tender ports. I don't know if that means you go ahead of HAL tour people, after them, or with them but i think you should be fine.

It's also interesting that the other cruise lines are still 10% off including Carnival, Royal Caribbean, and Celebrity.

I thought I was the only one with invoice issues with my TA! I often book HAL and Carnival cruises on the website and then transfer to my TA for either OBC or a reduction in price. The percentage I receive seems to vary based on a number of unknown factors. Recently, I booked a $2200 Carnival cruise and received $200 off the price. Cool. Then I booked a HAL cruise for $2180 and he said he could only give me $150 in OBC. These are both 2025 cruises. Okay, fine. Now I am not complaining about the incentive but I reserved these cruises weeks ago and I have only received one of the invoices, I will have to chase down the other invoice by email, which I am prepared to do. It seems that my TA has his assistant do this work and she does them in batches. So, I wait. What's my point? I guess I have two. The cash back percentage seems to vary and TAs seem in no rush to get invoices out.

It sounds like his TA would take at least a week to apply them! 😂

If this is a special art cruise then there are people (maybe hundreds?) who have paid to enjoy the Park West art talks on the cruise. While some people are inconvenienced, others are happy. I have a friend that loves going to Park West talks and feels that it is a good way to learn business practices or marketing.

Not if you're a family of 4. They can't move you to a smaller cabin.

My first thought is this. I can absolutely see what HAL is doing. They are using groups to subsidize their cruises and make a profit. Do we want cruise fares to increase significantly or should HAL book group events on their cruises in lieu of increasing fares?

Did you pay the Club Orange fee? It is $25 pp/pd for cruises up to 13 days and $15 pp/pd for cruises 14 days or longer.

But these initiatives attract younger customers who do not want to sail for years to have elite status and like the idea of putting $1.00 down on a couple of cruises for 2026. As many of the old customers migrate to other lines (for whatever reason) new customers will replace them. Why do I sail HAL? Cool itineraries, good food, great staff, and low casino pricing. No other line comes close.

I noticed HAL has a microbrewery tour for Victoria. Is Victoria known for its beer? I might take that tour if you guys have good beer.

How much is HIA now if you add it on after booking?

This is great to know and I don't see why people would book cruise only non-refundable.

Does Dan Schneider work for HAL?

I hope everyone who complained about missing the Production Shows attends them and does not complain about them on here. When HAL tried something different, many people weren't happy. So now HAL is responding. I do not cruise for the entertainment. I cruise for the itinerary. I just want "something" to watch or listen to at night.

I guess I do not understand the purpose of playing and listening to classical music. Yes, I understand if they are performing in a concert hall or auditorium or closed off room on a ship then the audience should be silent. However, if they are just performing on a deck somewhere or at dinner then people should be allowed to talk. I see classical music as background music and prefer it that way.

I think a lot of people who avoid Carnival really want to avoid children.