SLOTheta

Hello,

I was active on this board a few years ago when I took my first cruise. I'm on to my 2nd cruise in a few weeks. I did a search for Gala nights, and there were a few hypothesis of when they were on each cruise. When I sailed 3 years ago, we were specifically told which nights they were from our PCC. This time around, she said that they no longer provide the exact nights, since they could change and people would get upset. Now, they don't tell you until you get there. This seems a bit strange. Is this really the reason?

Quote from our PCC: 

Unfortunately, we aren’t notified of which nights are the gala nights as they are subject to change without notice. They typically have them on the ‘At Sea” days and never the night before we get back into port on the last day. There are 2 gala nights on this sailing and my guess they will be on the 8^th of July and the 17^th of July. They stopped telling people because when the guests got onboard and the nights had suddenly been changed, the guests would get upset. So, now we don’t get the information from the ship as a result.

The link to our cruise is here with the various dates: 

https://www.hollandamerica.com/en_US/find-a-cruise/E9M12E/K939.html

When we went on our cruise to the Mediterranean a few years ago, we asked the same tuxedo question. At the time, we were told that the European cruises, people seemed to dress up a bit more. The Hawaiian, Alaskan, Caribbean, etc cruises, were not as formal and people dressed more casually for Gala nights. On our Med cruise, a good majority of the Gala guests wore dresses, suits or tuxes. But, I didn’t scrutinize the room. I don’t recall seeing any jeans or shorts. Our group of 50 dressed in gowns and tuxes - and we loved it. This time around for our trip to Greece, my husband may just bring a black suit. Our cruise is 12 days long and we are staying another 3 weeks in Europe. He can re-use a black suit for after our trip, a tux would be harder to re-use and we aren’t going to a formal wedding this time around 

On 4/25/2019 at 12:55 PM, VMax1700 said:

 

If you look at post #8 {above} you will see that a 12 day Premium package is listed at $199.99, so it is a reduced price if you pre purchase.  Remember that if you decide to pre purchase then you will have to pay in advance for it, even if you have OBC due to you.

Since the $159.99 price seems to be less than in post #8, does that mean it’s a sale? Or, is it always cheaper if pay for it advance?

I have a closet full of gowns and my husband has a tux. We like dressing up and will most likely bring our formal wear for our Greek cruise this summer. When we went on our Med cruise a few years ago, our group of 40 all wore tuxes/gowns, we noticed a lot of the same during our 8pm gala night seating. 

Get a TA who rebates part of their commission in the form of OBC's. You will effectively double your group discount.

I emailed about 20 different TAs. Very few of them offered huge OBCs for our group that countered just booking with HAL. The biggest OBC offering was from a big box store and the lack of customer service wasn’t worth it for me. I may not get the lucrative OBC as some TAs, but the service and the group perks with HAL seem to be worth it thus far.

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Our PCC told us solo cruisers who pay the double fare, will count towards the 8 cabin minimum. She said it’s not by person, it’s by cabin, as long as a cabin has at the minimum, double paid occupancy. For cabins with 3 people, only the first 2 fares are calculated for the 8 cabin min and for the free fare average.

 

 

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Follow up on this. It looks like HAL does NOT count a cabin with a singleton who pays double fare (not single supplement) towards the group minimum of 8. Once you get past 8 cabins/16p you can add the Singleton cabin to your group to get the perks, but it can’t be included in the 8 cabin/16 passenger minimum.

Total bummer for the singletons!

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I would have thought that is someone pays for trip insurance and cancels (using a 3rd party), HAL would still be paid out for their cruiser, why punish the remaining cruiser in the room. HAL is getting paid.

It looks like my friends with dicey situations will need to try to join our cruise at the last minute when they feel comfortable leaving their parents [emoji24]

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You can cancel any cruise up until final payment and if you have refundable deposits -- you will get that back.

 

 

 

HAL's Platinum insurance can be bought 1 day before final payment. It is expensive but you can cancel for any reason -- you don't even need to give HAL a reason why you are canceling -- and you 90% of your cruise fare back.

Thank you. For HAL’s Plat insurance, if you buy and then cancel after final payment, I’m assuming the cruiser who cancels gets 90% back. But, how about their cabin mate who still wants to go? Do they have to pay the single supplement?

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Thanks. So, it sounds like if one person cancels in the cabin after final payment, the remaining cruiser would have to pay the single supplement?

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I have several friends who are taking care of ailing parents. They are sharing rooms with other friends. What happens if one person cancels in a shared cabin and the other ones still wants to go? They haven’t bought trip cancellation insurance yet, is there one you’d recommend that you can cancel for any reason? Does is matter if you cancel before or after final payment?

Thank you!

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Wow. I’ve binged on all your posts the last 2 days. Thank you for you pr detailed and insightful posts. I’m living vicariously through your grand adventure

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This is awesome! Thank you for your gracious offer to email it to me. (my user name at g mail.) Thanks again!

Sent! It’s been quite an experience learning about how groups are set up and advantages of different programs. I’m happy to help with any questions you may have.

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There are lots of us who can help on the Ports of Call Forum here (on CC) for Greece, Italy, etc.

We also used Rick Steve’s book to give us advice on car rentals in Greece. He gave us excellent advice for Corfu and we beat out the other cruisers to get one if the few cars available so that we could spend a day at the beach on the other side of the island.

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Thank you for all your opinions and experiences. I do understand that you can’t predict weather, but I wanted to hear from those who have cruised in the Caribbean previously. Since I travel to Europe and Asia often, people often ask me what’s the weather like during x months. I could just say, check the almanac, but since I’ve been about 20 times, I give them a general idea of what to expect and tell them to check a week out. I was surprised by my friend’s response when I told her when we were thinking about a holiday cruise in the Caribbean. They are much more experienced cruisers than my husband and me (3*) and she told me to avoid it. I thought I would throw it out on CC to see what others have experienced.

We are still deciding between 3 Caribbean Cruises, I’ll probably throw that out there later to get CC collaborative opinions.

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I tried searching on CC, I couldn’t find anything about the Caribbean weather and turbulence during the holidays. We’ve gone on one cruise and it was really calm in the Mediterranean during the summer. We only had one rough night. When I mentioned thinking about a Caribbean cruise during the holidays, my 2 friends that have sailed in the Caribbean said they had rough seas and were quite motion sick. I’m usually easy to get sick, but I was surprisingly fine on the Eurodam Med Cruise we took.

Any thoughts on what to expect weather and motion wise?

Has anyone taken this itinerary and can give me some feedback?

https://www.hollandamerica.com/en_US/find-a-cruise/C8A07I/E885.html

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I'm referring to the HAL double occupancy cabins occupied by a solo cruiser, paying double fare, not counting as two people for the group. So the cabin does not qualify toward the 8 necessary to be a group.

 

 

 

I can't imagine why you thought I was referring to NCL.

Our PCC told us solo cruisers who pay the double fare, will count towards the 8 cabin minimum. She said it’s not by person, it’s by cabin, as long as a cabin has at the minimum, double paid occupancy. For cabins with 3 people, only the first 2 fares are calculated for the 8 cabin min and for the free fare average.

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Thank you for live commentary. We were on the Eurodam for our first (and only) cruise and we would love to sail on her again to Alaska.

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Dining:

 

Pinnacle grill: Later we found out the Pinnacle meal delivered to your stateroom is only $15 a person and includes anything off the menu you want. So lets see I can get my complete dinner in my room for $30 or sit for two hours in your restaurant and pay $70 for the same thing. Looks like room service Pinnacle grill on any future sailings. Kudos though to Martin the manager of the Pinnacle grill who helped expedite our service and worked above and beyond with other customers to provide the best service possible.

 

Happy Hour:

4pm to 5pm in the billboard and the crows nest. Buy one get the next for $2. Any drink on the menu. Billboard has the buffet , crow's nest just doles them out. Had numerous Weng Wengs which have seven liquors mixed with fruit juice in a large glass. Happy hour price for two was $11.21. Regular price $17.83. Martini's same price. Some sea days they have a 10am to 11am happy hour at the pool bars. Check ahead to be sure.

Not to ever be missed Sunrises and Sunsets at sea!!! Stunning!!!

Thank you for you wonderful review. We are booked for next year and can’t wait. The best tip I’ve read is ages is your $15 tip for the Pinnacle Grill. I haven’t seen this before, it’s great to know.

For happy hour, did they still have the late night happy hour at 10pm?

Thanks again for taking the time to write

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Hi,

 

We are planning a cruise in 2019. Does anyone know if it is possible to get any kind of discount or other consideration for booking a certain number of cabins at one time? Thank you.

I’m booking a group cruise through our HAL PCC. I shopped around, but decided to set it up through HAL and we can evaluate other options later. For the GAP program (group advantage) you need a minimum of 5 cabins. You can select from a list of perks. Once you hit 8, you get one sailor for free and a bunch of other perks. It’s all listed here, I can also email you. I received it from the groups coordinator

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I regularly cruise with my parents but in my own room, and we've found twice now on the Koningsdam that the single cabin was more expensive than paying the single supplement for a two-person inside cabin. It sounds insane to me but having the extra space is nice.

It boggles my mind that cruise lines essentially punish singletons. I’m connecting our singles with others so they can save some money on our cruise. I feel bad that we have to resort to cruise match making!

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It's more expensive for a solo than it is per person in a double, but the total for the double room is more. For example, I just tried a dummy booking for a 10-day K-dam cruise Jan 2, 2020. Single room 1011 is $3364. The double next door, 1013, is $1894 per person, or $3788 for the cabin for two. 1013 is $3623 as a solo with a supplement.

It appears that for your cruise, you do get a little break. Unfortunately, for our cruise, our singles are out of luck

Our PCC ran the numbers and I also did a mock booking for our 2019 cruise:

Category OO is the single category: $4599

Category “J” interior for single or double is guest is $4038

She also mentioned that the Single Rooms are located all the way in the front on deck 1 and much smaller than a regular interior room.

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This thread has info about 7134, which is right above it and seems to be the same size.

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2534259

Thank you!

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Then select "Support of the Cuban People" and do tours with private providers.

 

 

 

The cruise lines make many implications that you should select "People to People" which locks them in as the only tour option, and, quite frankly, supports the Cuban regime. "Support of the Cuban People" avoiding places on the prohibited list will be less expensive, better support the ideals of capitalism and likely be a better and more authentic overall experience.

Thanks. We received a great casino deal for the holiday cruise. We are most likely going to take the plunge and give it a try, even if it’s only 8 hours. We will take the advice of you and the rest of CC and book a shorter 4 hour tour. Still bummed we are only have 8 in the Cuba port.

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Thanks, everyone! Our PCC also recommended not booking a single occupancy room since they are all more expensive than the cheapest double occupancy room. I’m going to try to see if my friends who don’t know each other to bunk up. It just seems nuts that HAL is charging more for a singleton than they would for two people in a room. I guess the potential of spending more is more of a motivator than appealing to a single cruisers.

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Hello!

I searched on CC for feedback and pricing for the K single cabins for solar travelers. The last thread was from 2016 with no recent updates. Has anyone traveled in one recently? How was the pricing compared to a double occupancy cabin?

Thanks!

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