richwmn

32 minutes ago, skurvish said:

Anyone have any firsthand experience with the Lido bar around the 6:00pm time that can advise if it is open and how busy it was?

Looking back at the schedules for two previous cruises, one lists the hours of the Lido Pool Bar as 9:00am to 10:00pm, the other had varying opening hours and listed closing as "though the evening".

38 minutes ago, me-shel said:

Prepping for my 7th cruise, but first on HAL! We're getting down to the little details and are a little stumped on a couple things. I don't see any options to pre-order cans of soda for our room. Can we carry on soda at embarkation like other lines? Bring it on from port stops? All I can find (pre-cruise, online) are soda/drink packages fulfilled at the bar, by the glass.  

 

We've ordered some liquor to be delivered in-room for pre-dinner cocktails or nightcaps on the balcony ... but it's not going to work if we can't get some kind of mixers! 😧

 

On the past few cruises my cabin has been stocked with 2 Regular Cokes, 2 Sprites, and 2 Diet Cokes or Coke Zero. You can ask the Beverage Department to stock additional sodas or different sodas as long as they have what you want.

In addition you can carry on board whatever soda you wish to, both at embarcation and at additional ports.

Enjoy your cruise.

1 hour ago, zqvol said:

If you prepay your gratuities and have a drink package most lines will allow you to make a much smaller deposit. You can always make a cash deposit and if you get close to using it up, go down and pay it off with a CC, then you have the entore ampunt of the deposit to spend and no holds on the CC.

I don't know about other lines, but HAL's stated policy in the FAQ above is:

On 1/8/2019 at 11:16 AM, ScottC4746 said:

If you do not want to use a credit or debit card, on the day of boarding, you will need to visit Guest Services and deposit $60 cash per person per cruise day (applies to all guests 18 years of age and over).

From personal experience I know that if you have OBC they will allow a slightly smaller deposit, I'm just not sure about a much smaller deposit. If you have adequate OBC you don't have to register a credit card.

1 hour ago, mhlcanada said:

Thank you. $99 for 7 days is reasonable...I read it was $250 for 7 days of unlimited usage.

The $99 is for a general package, for a limited number of social media sites it is $69 and for the top tier it is $139

Easier to read chart:

5 minutes ago, WorldTraveler24 said:

Good to know. You guys have been beyond helpful.

Could I ask another question that may seem silly too?
I was told we wouldn't get our room number until we check in at the pier. While I couldn't complete the docs, it allowed us to print the luggage tags. What do I do for that? Should I leave stateroom # blank, or will we have all our luggage with us at that point?

We have previously sailed out of Tampa, Cape Canaveral and Port Liberty .

You didn't mention your sail date or that you have a guarantee cabin. With a guarantee cabin you will likely get your cabin assignment 7 - 10 days before you cruise. If you don't the porters will have a list with cabin numbers when you get to the port.

1 hour ago, ChinaShrek said:

I completed a 7-night cruise on the Veendam on 12/28/18.  Everyone is writing as if the $60 per day per person credit card authorization is written policy.  I don't think so!  An authorization was placed on my card for $1192 on the day we arrived and sat on my card until two days after the cruise.  I would suggest you ask at check-in exactly how much is going to be authorized. 

I just went to an upcoming 14 day cruise and this was the message under the "Charges" section - Your card will be pre-authorized for $840 on the day of departure. That is $60/day/person (1 person). I don't understand why your hold was so much.

8 minutes ago, swin26 said:

I believe it is county specific not Statewide in PA.  Some counties have raised seals in PA. 

All PA replacement birth certificates are handled by an office in New Castle, PA. You can also use VitalChek to obtain PA, as well as many other states, birth certificates. If you are local, you might be able to get a copy in your county office.

2 minutes ago, kazu said:

 

Sorry if I wasn't clear enough.  I was referring to their credit card.  To put some money down on it to make room for the hold 😉 

I misread your reply!

21 minutes ago, kazu said:

The other option is to put some cash on your credit card before you sail to cover you.

 

Unfortunately, putting cash down in advance or at boarding does not change the hold amount. However they will allow you to get away with a slightly smaller cash amount if that is the way you chose to handle your onboard account.

To an earlier question which hasn't been answered. The difference in names doesn't matter. The hold is for each person in the cabin.

3 minutes ago, Alberta Quilter said:

Only one credit card is required; you can link both Guest 1 and Guest 2 to the same onboard account.  Keep in mind that this is only a hold, not actual charges.  You will only be charged, at the end of the cruise, for the amount of your onboard account.  There will have to be enough credit on the credit card to cover the hold.

 

How long is your cruise?  $1400 is a lot of HSC!  Just want to make sure you're calculations are correct...

The hold for a 12 day cruise at $60 per day is $720 per person times 2 = $1,440. The HSC is much less.

11 minutes ago, POA1 said:

 

If you go the birth certificate route, you need a certified one. In Pennsylvania, it's the one with the raised seal. If you decide to order copies from the state of your birth, you may want to consider ordering extra copies. The incremental cost is usually marginal and it's always handy to have extras in case you misplace one. An extra also allows you to keep one on you while traveling. You'll probably never need one, but if you have to go to an embassy for a replacement passport, it's well worth having.

The certified copies I received from Pennsylvania in both 2000 and 2016 did not have raised seals. The one I received in 2000 was used to go on several cruises and apply for my passport. Many states no longer provide raised seals.

Another note, Pennsylvania along with many other states will provide free copies of birth certificates to veterans.

11 minutes ago, faerievert said:

If you buy the middle tier and find that something is blocked, can I upgrade to the top tier by just paying the price on the ship when it comes up? I'm not sure I'll need it, but I might.

Yes you can, friends did just that on the VoV.

3 minutes ago, POA1 said:

 

Your bookmarks page?

It does have bookmarks for me on the main page, but also has two trip reports as sub folders

1 hour ago, VTcruisenut said:

Everything is marked HAL- no other company.  those that think the casino is run by a different company are misguided I think.  It's all the same.  Unless the casino vendor pays HAL for the marketing ploy.

The Casinos are run by a separate division of Carnival Corp which runs all the casinos on all the Corp brands and would be able to use the HAL name for marketing.

see https://oceanplayersclub.com/

1 minute ago, POA1 said:

 

Do you know if the top tier was a requirement for VOIP?

No I don't, but I suspect it might work on the middle tier since it worked on the per minute plans which were said to not allow streaming.

8 minutes ago, POA1 said:

They also seem to employ some blacklisting of certain domains/hosts. I'm guessing it's a subscription list because I couldn't reach one of my client's sites on their normal URL, but I could on an alternate URL that points to the exact same IP address.

my personal web address was also blocked on th VoV, but I was never given a good reason why.

4 minutes ago, POA1 said:

 

. @richwmn might know more, since he used VOIP to make calls from the ship. (He told me. I;m not a creepy stalker guy.)

I have a Vonage VoIP account and app on my phone. I have used it to make calls on both the per minute plan and the high tier of the current unlimited plans. The quality was ok to good on both, depending on time of day,

1 hour ago, POA1 said:

 

I did the same thing. I needed the Internet access for business and wanted it to be accounted for as a business expense for tax purposes. I bought $130 in OBC on my business credit card before leaving. If a person knows the lenghth of their voyage, there's a chart that tells the cost. You can call HAL and get a quote. (I think the Grand Voyages and anything over 31 days are priced a little differently.)

Here is the chart. It seems to be accurate at this time, but things have been known to change.

ChinaShrek & shanni-shanni, I'm sorry y'all have had bad experiences with PCCs. I have been using the PCC department for inital booking for over 10 years and have never had calls unless I requested them. I have had 3 different PCCs over that time. From everything I have been told, they don't work on commission. The do have goals on number of completed cruises booked, and if your initial booking is with a PCC and then you transfer it they still get the credit they need.

I find working with the PCC I have very easy. She knows my preferences and we get a good reservation to start. She is also very willing to help on price adjustments. When it comes time to transfer, that goes easily as well. Doing it this way seems to be the best of both worlds.

Have a fabulous New Year Cruise! Eurodam is a good ship, and it is a nice itinerary.

Another suggestion for Bar Harbour - Woody at Bar Harbour Coastal Tours (207) 288-1222. I have used his service twice with very good results. He is a local that grew up in the area and will give you a great local tour, with excellent commentary.

5 hours ago, faerievert said:

2) Husband also plays casino games. Will we have to bring cash for the craps table? We can’t remember how it worked last time and it could have changed. If it has to be cash, i’ll buy him starter chips in the presale indulgences so we don’t have to bring so much.

You can use your card to fund table games. I'm not sure if there is a surcharge or not. When you leave the table you will have chips which you take to the casino window. As far as I know, they only provide cash, they can't credit your winnings to your on board account.

This has been a very good thread, Brian, thanks for letting us join you!

2 hours ago, MikeD4134 said:

They do not oversell cruises.  Read the article, please.

They do overbook cruises. Even the article you copied to this thread admits it.

While the quoted article says that overbooking is rare, we have no way of knowing. The article quotes the head of a group that owns 750 travel agencies, but does that make him an authority. According to a google search, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that there are over 130,000 travel agents in the US.

The cruise lines are not going to advertise how much overbooking occurs, so all that is available is anecdotal evidence. Just as we have no way of knowing how full any cruise is, we can't know how much overbooking occurs. Every now and then someone posts on CC that a cruise is overbooked.

My own experience is 10 years old. I was part of a small group that ended up with 2 people solo about 2 weeks before the cruise. I read on CC that people were getting move over offers, so I called and got the two singles combined. The cabin that had a passenger cancel received a refund of the second passenger, and I was refared to the double occupancy rate, saving quite a bit.