keysey222

22 hours ago, TeeRick said:

What ship?  Was it E-class?  At least here on Equinox everything in Luminae has been very good.

 It was E-class. The apps and soups were fine, the dinner entrees just left a lot to be desired. I enjoyed the lunches in Luminae. 

On 1/22/2023 at 5:43 PM, NMTraveller said:

Or to upgrade to suites/Luminae.  Fewer complaints there.

The food wasn't anything to write home about in Luminae a few months back. The breakfasts were disappointing with stale, dry english muffins and rock hard biscuits. I pretty much ordered omelets every day because those were the only consistently good item. Dinner entrees weren't much better. We ate in more specialty restaurants than we thought we would because the Luminae menu wasn't overly appealing to us this time around. I ordered a salad and a french onion soup each night in Luminae because I knew I could count on those to be tasty as I was routinely disappointed by the entrees I tried. The menu tries to set high expectations with fancy wording, but the reality is far different. 

Because there's nowhere else to go but to the upmarket ships like Oceania, Azamara, etc. Which we'd love to try, but we have a toddler that would be bored beyond belief. Between their kids club and larger-sized ships to roam, our kid stays occupied on Celebrity. From what I've heard, there's little to nothing for kids on the more premium lines. We have little desire to sail with RC, NCL, MSC, Carnival, etc. Maybe Disney here or there, but all the Disney stuff would get on my nerves after a few days. We have three bookings on Celebrity through 2024 and we're sticking with them for now. 

We go between the two based on itinerary. Celebrity suite class is above and beyond preferable to HAL. However, the Celebrity cost is higher for similar cruises, so I always remind myself of that when I'm annoyed at the lack of suite amenities from HAL. (Still...I'll gladly pay more for a private sundeck any day!) I feel more nickel and dimed when sailing HAL. MDR (or Club Orange/Luminae) food has gone downhill on both since before the pandemic. HAL has a better buffet. Celebrity has better entertainment, especially since I rarely see enrichment talks on HAL anymore. I prefer the pool decks on HAL as they are quieter/calmer than the pools on Celebrity. The pool activities and loud music at the lido pool on our Edge cruise were obnoxious and I hated being around it. HAL has better live music. Celebrity has a better kids club. Service has been great on both lines, but I give HAL a slight edge on it. We like both, but always look at Celebrity first. It's a better product for suite guests, especially with the private Retreat deck. However, sometimes HAL wins based on better itineraries. 

We did this last summer on the Rotterdam. It's an incredible ship. Our itinerary included Molde instead of Alesund, but otherwise it was the same. Eidfjord is a tiny little port town and there isn't much in port itself. The main draw is excursions to a waterfall (it was a beautiful waterfall). It's very scenic though.  Geirangerfjord is other-worldly and is a must-have for any Norway cruise. The port has some shops and there's a waterfall that's right near the port area. Since we had a two-year-old with us, we did an excursion to a sheep/goat farm while we were there. The whole area is stunning. Bergen is also an excellent stop. We did it on our own - walked about the shops in town and rode the funicular up the mountain. We only did the 7-day and it was a totally fine amount of time in my opinion. 

16 minutes ago, LMaxwell said:

I was shocked to hear a song at Billboard from this century...just one....then right back to 1970's top 20 hits.  That's not gonna fly for the under 50 set...

I disagree. Many of us under 50's enjoy 1970's rock. Personally, I prefer music from the mid 60's-1970's and I'm 40 (so do most of my peers). Our parents listened to it and most of us were raised in a home with it playing all the time when we were teenagers. I really enjoy the music on HAL. 

Just now, 4-2-N-8 said:

I just hope that chair hogs don't overtake the Retreat chairs on the sundeck.

 

I'm going to hate to have to wake at 3am every day to put my stuff on the chairs I want to prevent others from hogging the chairs that I want.

 

I mean, c'mon.

 

Unlike chair hogs, I will actually USE my chairs (after I wake at 8am, have breakfast, work out in the gym, get a massage, do a shore excursion, have a mid-afternoon lunch, then stop by the bar for a drink).

 

Those are my chairs! I've been in them all. day. long. You can see my stuff is on them!!! 

I couldn't agree more! I can't speak for all sailings, but there was ample room on the Edge retreat deck. The side by the pool was a bit more crowded than the one with just open deck, but there was always a ton of seating. It was heavenly up there! 

We also had a suite on the 7th floor (can't recall the number) and it was creaky. We kept thinking it was the balcony chairs hitting against the wall outside, but that wasn't the case. We never found the culprit and just dealt with it. It woke me up quite a few times!

Just off the Edge and I loved the ship. Stayed in a suite and loved having the private Retreat sundeck. The Edge is my favorite ship so far. We had a balcony, but I can see why people wouldn't like the infinite veranda rooms. 

Just got off the Edge and dined at LPC because I thought my 3-year-old would like the animations. I thought the food was average at best. You're better off dining at Fine Cut or Eden if you're looking for a specialty. I wouldn't return to LPC again. 

22 hours ago, Syracusefan44 said:

I received my boarding times this morning for a cruise on 11/19.  Was curious is Holland America is strict with the boarding times or can we get on board earlier than 1:20 PM?

We boarded about two hours earlier than our assigned time (Due to unforeseen issues with our flight being canceled the day before and instead arriving on an international red eye the same day as the cruise. We had a ton of bags and a toddler and nowhere else to go but straight to the port.) Anyhow, we had no issues and they said nothing about it. You could certainly try. 

On 11/1/2022 at 8:45 PM, sandiego1 said:

I’ve had the same issue. On one excursion, HAL had a person to escort you from the ship to the train(in Alaska). It was a very short walk. In Flam, they stop for a single pancake while on the Flam railroad.They justified charging substantially more for both excursions. We bought them independently. For Flam, it was over $100pp more. That’s one helluva pancake!

This doesn't surprise me one bit. The previous cruise we did the shore excursion guarantee on was in Norway and the excursions were easily $80-$100 more per person through HAL. They even charged just under full price for our 2-year-old, who turns out what supposed to be free on all the private versions (they honored this when giving us onboard credit). The price differences were honestly egregious.  This is why we received so much onboard credit and HAL actually owed us a few bucks at the end. 

On 11/1/2022 at 4:40 PM, Mary229 said:

Thanks for the reminder. I have never tried it but will!  So did you wait until onboard to notify them of the difference or did you handle it before the cruise?

Prior to the cruise. It took about 3 days into a 7-day for the money to appear in our onboard account.

Something to do prior to boarding is taking advantage of their best price shore excursion guarantee. We did this with our last cruise to Norway. It took less than an hour for me to find the same excursions at substantially lower prices and submit them to HAL. They'll credit you the difference in cost plus 10% extra in the form of onboard credit. We got hundreds of dollars credited to us. It took care of our specialty dining, gratuities and extra small purchases (we had the Have it All, so drinks were already included). We owed nothing at the end of the cruise for the first time ever.

I personally used Island Bliss Weddings to marry on Trunk Bay in St. John. We weren't on a cruise, but that doesn't matter here.  (No, I'm not the daughter of the above poster). We had a fantastic experience with this company. They arranged everything - from the marriage license, license to have a ceremony in national park, a steel drummer, flower arrangements and wedding display setup on beach (chairs, lanterns, arch, etc.)... and help finding a photographer, cake maker and dinner party venue. The  day of the wedding we realized the father of the groom was delayed on his flight due to a blizzard and wasn't going to make it. They helped us move every last thing to the following day so the groom's dad was there. I highly recommend using them.  

We loved the pizza and sandwich spot on the 2nd floor of the indoor pool area. The ship was beautiful and modern - didn't feel dated like some of the older HAL ships. I loved nearly everything about it, except for that fact that it felt more crowed than the smaller ships (even the Westerdam/Oosterdam class of ships). I'd sail her again in a heartbeat! 

We cancelled our booking on this ship for 2022 and moved it to the Edge.  If it were due for an upgrade before 2022, I'd have stayed with the Constellation cruise. Agent told me it won't be scheduled until at least 2023. 

I've never been disappointed staying in a Neptune on HAL. HAL's suite perks aren't as generous as Celebrity. HAL doesn't include alcohol for suite guests and there is no suites-only restaurant (Club Orange does little to woo me) or suites-only sundeck. However, I usually find HAL's suite pricing to be lower than Celebrity, so I'm ok with the less perks when the pricing is taken into account. We have future cruises booked on both lines. If the pricing and itinerary are the same, I would choose Celebrity.  I think a suite on either line is worth it for Alaska. Mainly because the weather is often so wet and chilly, you'll likely spend more time in your room than on a sunny Caribbean cruise. That was my experience. 

I was on the Xpedition in November (quite a few years ago). For the most part it was calm, except one night the rolling was so bad that I was worried I might roll right out of my bed. That night was the exception, not the rule. What you need to worry about is if you plan on doing any deep water snorkeling off the zodiacs. We had a really wavy afternoon on one excursion and half the people on the zodiac were puking off the sides. I always wear a behind the ear patch as I'm easily prone to motion sickness. I'd bring along something for motion sickness more for certain excursions (deep water snorkeling) than the cruise itself.

I didn't sail on the Equinox, but I was in a Sky Suite on the Solstice that was located beneath the Ocean View Cafe.  I'm an extremely light sleeper and I found the noise from above to be a big problem. The cart rumblings were loud enough to jolt me out of my sleep at night. Sometimes it sounded like a train was above us. We had a white noise machine with us and even that didn't help block out the noise. My husband and I have a cruise booked on the Equinox in 2022 and we have one of the Sky Suites in the back of the ship this time because there's no way we'd ever book another suite below the cafe. If you're a solid sleeper, you might not mind it. But, if you or your cabin mate are lighter sleepers, you might find it maddening. I didn't get a full night's rest the entire 13-day cruise. My husband, on the other hand, slept like a baby. 

On 2/28/2021 at 8:49 AM, msmayor said:

 

I haven't been to Key West or Amber Cove, so can't speak of those ports...but any time we've been to Grand Turk, San Juan and St. Thomas we always docked at the pier.  I know in St. Thomas there are two locations for ships to dock (Havensight or Crown Point) so there is plenty of dock space...BUT there was one visit when we were notified ahead of time that due to the number of ships, St Thomas would now be a tender port.  We prepared for that, but something must have changed on the schedule because a slot opened at Crown Point and we docked there. 

 

 

Been to St. Thomas with HAL twice. The first time we tendered, the second we docked. I think it's more likely you'll dock there, but there is that chance it turns into a tender. 

We did this cruise about 4 years ago on the Volendam. I believe it was in March. The ports were worth seeing, with the exception of Nha Trang. The biggest attraction for us was the overnight excursion to Siem Reap to see Angor Wat. If you can swing this, I can't recommend it enough. HAL did a fantastic job with that excursion. We stayed at the Sofitel in downtown Siem Reap - the swimming pools and food were incredible. 

We enjoyed the Thailand ports. Just did a beach day in Koh Samui and did a 2-day overnight with HAL to Bangkok/Ayutthaya. If I did Bangkok again, I'd do it myself and get my own hotel in the city to spend the night to give myself more time to really explore the city.  HAL always does a nice job with overnights, but I personally would rather see less palaces/temples and more of the city itself. 

We missed Ho Chi Minh for the most part (other than lunch downtown after the airport) due to our time in Siem Reap. We hated Nha Trang, it was a waste of a port day as there wasn't much of interest to do here. In Da Nang, we visited Hoi An, which made for a fun (but very touristy) afternoon.  Ha Long Bay is certainly worth seeing. The HAL-sponsored cruise excursions around the bay are short, so I recommend looking into an independent Ha Long Bay cruise.  Vietnam is worth a visit and I'm glad we went. However, I'm in no hurry to return to Vietnam as I didn't love it.

We enjoyed the cruise and it was perfect to get a taste of the different countries. Totally worth doing. If you go in March, bring a warm jacket and hat to Ha Long Bay. It was pretty chilly when we went!

Costa Rica is at the top of my list. Australia, especially Queensland as I fell in love with that part of the country. New Zealand and Singapore. Being from the eastern US, small land trips to some of the Caribbean islands to escape the winter, particularly Puerto Rico (we go almost yearly), St. John (not a cruise port, but a popular excursion spot) and Aruba. 

On 12/6/2020 at 10:16 AM, Bo1953 said:

I do not think that is quite correct, as a few friends who travel with us have children between 4 and 12, all of whom love the Sea Camp.

 

The younger ones, to their parents chagrin at times, spend all day and evening in the club.

 

These parents believe that they are getting value for their 'family' fare, I understand that you do not and accept that accordingly.

 

A few of our boomer friends from time to time bring along their young grand children, as well, again believing that they are getting value, overall, from X through activities and the like.

 

Your comments are duly noted regardless.

 

bon voyage

True, I don't believe that charging an under- 2-year-old $3500 is any kind of value. She isn't old enough at that point to use the Kid's Club or any services for children. Again, it's their decision to charge what they choose and it's our decision whether or not to sail. We still love sailing with Celebrity and hope to find more reasonable prices for our daughter with them in the future. We will always check. At least we are locked in with her for $1k on a 2022 cruise with them. It seems like a deal now!  I still believe if they aim to target my generation, they need to be a bit more reasonable with the cost of babies and kids on board. 

On 12/6/2020 at 10:20 AM, C-Dragons said:

I personally have never seen X marketing aimed at families with children of any age.

Our first cruise with them was in 2003. They got our attention via their clever TV ads featuring a smartly dressed man talking about his experience on board, and being “treated like Royalty”. We gave them a try and have been happy with them ever since.

I do agree with you that the price you've been quoted for your child does seem a little exorbitant.

I agree, it's not marketed towards kids at all. We enjoy sailing Celebrity and prefer it to ships with waterslides, go-karts and such. My point was that it seems silly to target a younger market when that younger market often has kids to bring on board.