Florida_gal_50

That’s good news! I really feel that they try to do that if possible.

I hope they let us book more with their Canadian exchange rate. I always book a cabana on my hot weather cruises. On the last cruise they quoted it in Canadian which is the first time that happened. It’s pricy so it definitely saved me some.

I can hardly wait to see all these inexpensive prices. My last cruise was a decent price but I didn’t book it until quite close to sailing. Hope I see some of these inexpensive prices soon. You certainly don’t see them far out. I see some kind of early pricing with something said about a low price guarantee iirc. When you read all the verbiage around it it’s laughable.

It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a rate change on hal. Was that some kind of a limited Canadian special? I think they do that once in a long while. That said they seem to use around $1.30 for exchange, especially when it comes to the pre purchase of the crew incentive which of course is better than the rate right now.

If you get a home trust visa it’s free and you don’t have to pay that 2.5 percent. I generally use my credit card just for ease but pay it off before I get off the ship. Missed the post from the previous poster before I posted this.

The nieuw statendam is my favourite but I was last on that ship in 2019 so it may not be relevant. I like the most up to date amenities so I’d pick the nieuw statendam.

Thanks for the detailed information. It’s been a while since I’ve caught a ship in Vancouver but your information brought it back. This is likely to be a big help to many.

It makes a difference in the quality of service when the ship isn’t bursting at the seams.

I thought the scallops were good. I was looking for a smaller meal. Usually I eat pretty sensibly during the day and have my largest meal at night plus dessert 😛. I very rarely eat sugar at home so I take full advantage at dinner time because I do love a sweet. It’s definitely on the rich side. It reminds me more of cheesecake and I love cheesecake. I never try anything else there lately but I recall the other desserts were bigger. Don’t know that it’s still relevant.

While some might think that the service is the same whether you are in a Neptune or another class of cabin that is not true in my experience. I’ve been on several cruises since the upstart so my experience is recent. I hadn’t had a Neptune for several years. Had one on my last cruise through an upsell, the way you are treated is totally different. Unless you experience traveling in a non Neptune room how could you possibly know?

Have a wonderful time. Looking forward to hearing all about it.

I have strong doubts checking in will speed up cabin assignment. It may be faster if you are doing a b2b. It seems they offer upsells first then assign. I’m sure there are cases when that doesn’t happen.

I think length of cruise makes a huge difference. No way is a 7 day cruise the same as a month long cruise. I'm not saying the Oosterdam is doing 7 day cruises right now.

That is just stupid to only have one gangway open at a port. That’s just going to be a disaster. Part of the problem for disembarkation is people that have to stand in the gangway area hours and hours before disembarkation. Every cruise I’ve been on there are multiple announcements not to do that. It must be for other people, not them.

Here is a recent thread about it. Seems like I’m spending a lot of time providing proof lately on a number of things. I hear crickets after

Nope. I cruised at the start of April. No health questions period. I can’t speak to several month long cruises. Those are not something I do.

The pinnacle is easily the worst specialty restaurant. It’s been my experience that they seem to run around like chickens with their heads cut off. I don’t notice this in any other specialty restaurant. When I first started dining in the pinnacle both the service and food was so much better.

I’m no fan of the older ships. I do not like the ornate decor or lack of amenities. I do agree with you on using the smaller ships for the longer, more unique itineraries and have mentioned this repeatedly. It makes perfect sense to do so. While I’m not crazy about the 7 days cruises, I’m in no position to take ultra long vacations. I just don’t have the vacation time. I’d love to see more 10 to 14 day cruises where I can easily get on the ship without flying for days.

I don’t understand why people love crab so much. It’s messy and not worth the work. I don’t enjoy getting the cartilage with the meat.

It’s definitely a bit of food for sure. You don’t have to order the potato though or the dessert. I have the key lime pie and haven’t noticed it being huge. I only have one appetizer before, usually salad or crab cakes. If you want a small meal order the scallops.

There is no longer a health survey. That ended more than a month ago. There have been a couple threads about it.

Not me, just the spinning wheel of death

Oh for a while they weren’t serving crackers. The reasoning was too much packaging. Apparently they hadn’t heard about buying them in a box instead of little packages 😛🤪🙄.

That’s a bit of a tough one. Late dining is way too late for me but if it works for you why not stick with it? That said. I think open is more of an issue on the pinnacle ships although it does vary. If you keep the late and it doesn’t work for you, I’m pretty sure you can move to open which would be easier than moving from open to fixed. But I don’t think you can go back and forth, nor do I think a person should. Hope that helps.

That’s not what I’m talking about. It doesn’t look like you read what I posted. I was talking about the announcement. Where did you get the idea that I was talking about the boarding? I never said one word about the boarding. While we’re on the boarding on my cruise there were multiple announcements about doing the muster. I didn’t get a personal escort or invite to it. Somehow I did it all on my own.