Nang

Have just taken advantage of a flash sale and booked the Pacific Explorer to NZ in March 2023. I have never sailed P&O before and was hoping to get some very important (well, they are to me) questions answered .... 1.Does P&O offer happy hours? Where and when? 2. Can you buy buckets of beer? How many/bucket and is it a saving? 3. Can you buy beverage cards? Is there any $ advantage? TIA

We have had a surge of Covid infections in Australia over the past few weeks. No new restrictions have been imposed by the government on the general or cruise population but HAL MAY be tightening up.

You can buy a beverage card from most if not all bars and use it as the others have suggested. I would wait and see how you go on the drink limit - most people would never reach it.

Smoking is, I believe, also currently allowed in the casino on the NS and other pinnacle class ships (but not all HAL ships).

Happy hour does not apply for those with a drink package - it has no impact whatsoever on how the drink packages operate.

Sea view bar seating area next to pool on Lido deck 9 starboard side

Pickleball is new??? A passenger we met on the NA on a Panama Canal cruise back in 2018 broke his leg playing pickleball on the ship. I thought pickleball has been a thing on HAL ships since we started cruising back in 2013.

Food was served in Billboard every sea day in September. Can't comment on port days.

Geeze, that seems an overly harsh generalisation based on one observed bad experience. Like Regnig, we have had a couple of positive experiences and will likely book on board again in the future.

You should be able to book a refundable fare without HIA but can only be done over the phone. Call HAL and ask.

Very recently changed to only pay the difference. limit is $15 excluding the gratuity. If its on a drinks menu for $15 or under its covered.

What is recorded under the Location column on the HAL statement accessed via Navigator? When you say it was "paid by somebody else" do you mean it has somebody else's name under the Guest column in the HAL statement? You say the concierge said not to worry about it. Did this charge show up on your HAL statement while you were on the ship or was the concierge a CC person you spoke to after the cruise? What has this got to do with your partner and whether or not they set up their Navigator? I am very confused.

Yes, at any (or at least most) bars. Charge goes on your room account (as you would expect).

You will likely need to satisfy this .... Guests that tested positive for COVID-19 in the 6 to 90 days prior to embarkation should be ready to show evidence of their positive COVID-19 viral test (antigen or PCR) laboratory results at embarkation, in place of any required pre-embarkation tests (if applicable). Guests that do not have laboratory evidence of their positive test will be required to show evidence of a negative test that meets the testing requirements of their voyage. Exceptions may apply for asymptomatic guests who have tested positive for COVID-19 within 90 days of their embarkation if they are at least 5 days past their COVID-19 infection, are fully recovered with no symptoms and produce documentation of recovery from COVID-19 infection. Guests are required to be on day 6 on their recovery from COVID-19 in order to embark on their cruise. Documentation of Recovery consists of the following: Paper or electronic copies of the positive viral test result from a certified laboratory (dated no more than 90 days ago), or A valid digital COVID-19 Certificate (DCC) or a document issued by a health or government authority showing confirmed previous infection. Guests who present these documents will need to go through a secondary screening at the terminal, and boarding will be approved at the medical staff’s discretion. If you test positive for COVID-19 within 5 days of embarkation, you will be denied boarding. You will be allowed to board if you have completed 5 full days of isolation and have tested negative before boarding. but this does not mean you can board at a later port. To find out if you can, you need to speak to HAL - 1300 987 322 (Aust no.)

I see you have cruised on the NS so you will have a very good understanding of what the Rotterdam has to offer music and dining wise - the R and the NS are both Pinnacle class and the R is almost a direct copy of the NS. The one thing that might be different since you sailed on the NS is that it now has the Rock Rolling Stone Rock Room - think a rock n roll cover band in a venue similar to BB Kings.

Us Aussies like to think we know our beers so I just had to comment on your post. Pilsener is a lager originating from the Czech republic. It has a greater emphasis on the hops than the "average" lager. Guinness is a stout, a type of ale. At least that's what we get in Australia and what is availble in Ireland and England. Maybe you have a different type of Guinness in the US. The Guinness I had recently on the Rotterdam is definitely a stout. Upper Canada is a brew company that makes a lager and a dark ale. Negro Modelo is a lager. Glad I got that off my chest. I will now be able to sleep tonight.

We have just achieved 4* and The Boss can't wait to start our next cruise. For me its seeing The Boss happy and excited (and a saving a few $s on the laundry). However, 4* is just not a big deal. My advice is pick which cruises/lines you want to do and forget about achieving 4* on HAL. If you get there, its a bit of bonus. Not worth the effort to get there if you are compromising on the cruises you choose.

Started on HAL due to the itinerary and only strayed twice, once to Celebrity and once to the now defunct CMV (Cruise & Maritime Voyages). HAL (and Celebrity) is a class above CMV which delivered a good product but just not up to HAL in terms of food, although they had better entertainment all round (the Pinnacle HAL ships' music options are way better though). CMV servers were not as friendly but that was largely a cultural thing in my experience, eastern Europeans formed the bulk of the CMV staff are just more abrupt in their manner. CMV entertainment staff were very engaging and friendly and often interacting with passengers around the ship Celebrity food was pretty much on a par to HAL's and their entertainment was better (again except for the HAL Pinnacle class music). Celebrity's downfall was their staff in and around the bars - they are just lazy, no other way to say it. Ash trays constantly over flowing, tables cleared by passengers because if you want it done, it seems you need to do it yourself. One day on the rear deck at a table within eye shot of the bar and about a 4 metre walk, I drank 5 beers and when I wobbled off there were 5 empty Corona bottles on the table. It was cool outside and the bar was not overly busy. If you wanted a table in the smoking area, it was pretty much clear the table when you arrive because the bar staff were too busy chatting with each other to do anything but make you a drink. So for us its HAL's food, staff, music on the Pinnacle class and very importantly their itineraries that keep us coming back.

We were on the Rotterdam 24 July to mid August and I would estimate it 60% Dutch and the rest a mix of Brits, Aussies, Americans, etc. It was a round trip from Rotterdam so there was no surprise about the large number of Dutch. Other than accents the only thing we noticed was that, like The Boss and me, the Dutch seemed to love eating in the MDR - it was busier in there, and way less so in the Lido, than we are used to which meant waiting to get a seat in MDR on many nights. No dramas whatsoever, just how it was.

touché

Still playing from the same old song book I see.

The best place to get this information is in the section for discussion on Northern European/Baltics ports ..... https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/116-northern-europe-amp-baltic-sea/

You will receive up to $USD400 OBC per person depending on the length of the cruise. From memory we got $350 each for our 28 day booking.

There seems to be a gap in the Nieuw Statendam's schedule from 6-25 Nov 2023. It finishes/starts again in Civi. Is this a dry dock?

I know its been a while since you asked but this has the information on the map of the port halfway through the document https://santorinidave.com/heraklion-port-crete . I gives arough indication of the location of the bus stop Knossos – The largest and best-known ancient Minoan palace complex in Crete. Admission is 15€ (or save some money with a 16€ combo ticket to the Archaeological Museum). Located 5km south of Heraklion; the #2 bus to Knossos departs from the Port bus terminal (4-minute walk from the port) every 15-20 mins or so.