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I understand that, but if it's a goal to achieve why worry about why or how anyone else has it? Just enjoy it. If it's a casino cruise and HAL is benefiting somehow from this and makes your cruise price more reasonable, who cares. Let them lose money in the casino and benefit everyone else. As has been said on this thread numerous times... casino freebees are not really free for most. As has also been said, why would you know how much someone pays for their cabin? Cherie. p.s. I agree that free laundry is HUGE.

I just read this interesting thread. There was also a recent thread about passengers who were not invited to join the President's Club because their days were not fully paid HAL days. Apparently casino and other discount fares did not qualify. I also thought the casinos were another company, like the spa and art store, and all money spent there does not go to HAL. VMax1700 There are also slot tournaments that are organized by passengers and are not $25,000. Yikes, that's serious $. mcrcruiser I have two coffee mugs from the Sands Hotel that my parents brought home when I was a child. Las Vegas was really a glamorous place. I don't really care what someone pays for their cabin and I think we overpay because we want specific cabins. But we also get the same benefits of those with 5 star status without 5 star status. Who cares who is a 2, 3,4, or 5 star? JMO. Cherie

Thank you 0106. Love your great photos and personal report. I think we all would expect fresh fish to be resting on ice. I had scallops one night in the Pinnacle so they may offer other fish, but others may be considered shell fish. I really should have tried more fresh fish options. Cherie

RuthC, If you do not get a pass for the entire cruise can just one in the cabin purchase a day pass? I understand if you do not know the answer. Thank you, Cherie

Is this case if they do not cancel, just don't show. I assume no notice given to HAL prior to the cruise. I have no idea. Cherie

The only time I noticed a long line for the MDR was on port days where everyone came back from a fun day, changed for dinner, and showed up for later dining. Early fixed diners who had missed their dining time were now in this line. If you are on a port intensive cruise I think that early dining may become a problem. We never had a problem with anytime dining getting a nice table, but we did not go to the dining room before 7:15. Doesn't anytime dining mean that you do not want to commit to a certain time for the entire cruise? But some want to confirm dining reservations for whenever they choose for the entire cruise? I never thought of choosing Anytime dining and asking the dining room to give me a table for my entire cruise for the time I want. Awesome. Cherie

You are welcome! You'll love the Oosterdam if you enjoy a smaller ship, we did. You might check out amazingvoyages2.blogspot.com. Jeff's photos and port reviews are amazing. They are on the Oosterdam and have recently been in the Med, Cherie

Oh, sorry. Yes it would make a difference to me that it is not an aft cabin and I would consider it. But I will say that we loved Deck 8. Great views from our balcony, it's an easy walk up to the Lido to grab a quick bite to eat or bring back to the cabin, and also the aft pool bar was wonderful. On your Med cruise you might be enjoying the pool which we did not use but I loved the location. Cherie

We were in an 8th deck aft wrap on the Oosterdam and I was worried about noise from the pool area but the only thing we heard occasionally was chairs. Noise from other passengers is the same as cabin neighbors. Friends of ours had one of the other deck 8 afts and chose the cruise because of it. They had previously been on the Oosterdam and he had gone down to the same aft on deck 4 and asked the occupants if they liked it. They said "never again" and showed him the view of the window washing machines that were always there. I think I recently saw an aft photo of the Oosterdam on Jeff Farschman's blog and the window washing machines are there. I would not choose deck 4 and we have another deck 8 aft wrap booked for 2026. I will however keep my eye open for a deck 6 or 7 if one becomes available. Hope this helps, Cherie

You are getting so many questions towards the end of your cruise. Please do not respond to this until you are happily home. Is it possible that HAL can give a best price guarantee because no other tour can guarantee that the ship will wait for you? This would be an easy out for them. I use your tour recommendations and thank you for such detailed posting. Enjoy every nano second of the sunset of this cruise, Cherie

Hooray!!! Have a great cruise. Cherie

We were in an aft wrap on the Oosterdam and it appeared larger than the others, not because of windows. It was amazing. We have an aft wrap on the Noordam booked for 2026. The outside space is amazing, but I thought the inside space was also larger after having a standard Neptune suite on the Zuiderdam. Not much experience, but always happy. Cherie

I think this is an aft wrap balcony which is fabulous. Not all Neptune suites on the Noordam will look like this.

I absolutely love your attitude. Sounds like you'll enjoy yourselves either way but I hope you "watch sailaway from the ship." Cherie

Our concierge on the Oosterdam in January did this for us and made sure there was a credit to our cc. I assume other concierges will do it. Cherie

Not sure if McDeb2119 has booked this pass on the Oosterdam. I did not feel like it was a great place to shower (glass doors were a frosted see-thru), and get ready for dinner but we used and enjoyed the thermal suite early evening about 50% of our cruise. Cherie

It does not get too crowded in the pool but the "loungers" can become a problem. Just our experience. Cherie

We booked it for our 22 day SA/Antarctica cruise. It was wonderful. We eat late so would go early evening and then change for dinner. On sea days it was more crowded. We always went late to avoid a problem. We are booked on an Islands of the South Pacific cruise for 28 days. I don't think we will book it for the entire cruise because we will be in ports where we will be enjoying beautiful warm weather and beaches in many of the ports. The SA cruise was on the Oosterdam and the thermal suite was in need of maintenance. At least 5 of the days part of it was not in operation. The website said "limited availability" when we booked but I think they were selling the thermal suite the entire cruise. Our South Pacific cruise is on the Noordam, which looks to be a nicer area. I think you can purchase and cancel at anytime prior to the cruise. Have a great cruise, Cherie

I will go back to my records and let you know. I just happened to be looking at the HAL site for something about our cruise and it popped up. My TA thought it was a good deal. Cherie

We were on a 21 day cruise in January, did not purchase HIA when booking, and there was a sale prior to the cruise. It was substantial enough that we decided that the HIA would be worth it. Cherie

Sometimes Viator is a good start to looking for tours but if you can contact the tour company directly you may have more options and a better price. Cherie

There are different categories of Neptune Suites? I did not know that. We booked a Neptune Suite, did not see different prices, and did not do anything to have access to the CO entree on the dinner menu in the MDR. This was on the Oosterdam which does not have a separate CO venue. And, like CruiseBruce did, we did not get a CO tote bag, just the HAL 150th tote. Didn't even know there was a CO tote. Our reason for booking a Neptune suite was for an aft wrap balcony and we were happy with whatever came with it. We have booked another for 2026. Cherie

I was not referring to any large group taking over areas but the over charge of certain merchandise on the ships, and the possibility that the merchandise is not what they "advertise". They represent that it's a good deal but you need to know what you're buying. I was just responding and agreeing with post #51 by leerathje. It's just my opinion about the shopping on board. Cherie

Isn't this somewhat the same with everything that is sold onboard? The jewelry? The watches? The purses, etc. But for some reason they do well enough onboard ships to still exist. I'm actually shocked that Park West is successful enough to be able to close the Crows Nest. What is HAL thinking? And this is JMO, Cherie

Thank you both for the replies. Checking both out. Cherie