Toofarfromthesea

20 hours ago, cruisemom42 said:

Everyone has their own list of priorities when it comes to travel. Me, I love the old “R” ships and will book them (particularly on Azamara which is more solo friendly) as long as I can. I cant see booking or not booking an itinerary I like because of an amenity I might spend 15 minutes a day using, at most…but we are all different.

 

I also find the pricing — especially on Azamara — to be quite a bit less than Viking, let alone Seabourn or Silversea. Is it a premium line? I suppose. But it is certainly not a luxury line.

It wasn't that the shower was just small, it was that after seeing it in YouTube videos it was apparent that for me it would be unusable.  I'd need to either go the the gym or spa to shower or rely on those spongebath sheets, and that's not something I want to be doing on vacation.  It's too bad because almost everything else on Azamara seemed very appealing to me.  But no matter good a deal is, if there's a deal breaker there's no deal.

I'm happy that it isn't an issue for you.  But you just did the same thing as the folks on the Azamara board, minimized my issue as if it was no big deal.  Being able to take a shower is not an amenity, to me.

20 hours ago, Waltershipman said:

Hank my favorite line is usually the one i am.on the exception for the time being is EJ is our favorite 

 

My daughter is set to go on Azamara pursuit next year and i hope it is as GOOD as when we went on it when it was part of RCCL

That's what was so sad about the un-usable, for me, showers.  Everything else about Azamara seemed really attractive.

20 hours ago, Hlitner said:

Such is life on social media.  But one cannot dispute the fact that the R ship bathrooms (in the regular balcony and outside cabins) are not up to the standard one would expect from a "premium" line.  One tendency we have noticed on multiple CC Boards are the ability of "cheerleaders" to defend their favorite line/ship without being honest about shortcomings.

 

Hank

They aren't up to the standard I would expect of the cheapest cruise line out there.

22 hours ago, Hlitner said:

I am not a big guy, but those tiny bathrooms and showers are just not up to the standard one should get from so-called "premium" cruise lines who charge premium prices.  

 

Hank

When I mentioned the tiny showers and how it was a deal breaker for me on the Azamara board the faithful actually got mad and a little insulting.

I considered booking a cruise on Azamara, but I'm a big guy and the tiny showers were a deal breaker for me.

17 hours ago, ontheweb said:

Yes, there is a myth that if you book through a TA, the cruise lines will not talk to you and everything from then on must go through the TA.

And there is a certain element that insists on booking through the cruise line and then complains about the difficulty of dealing with the cruise line.

2 hours ago, Oceansaway17 said:

Careful with deposits and ask lots of questions up front

Johnny could only sing one note

6 hours ago, Fish42 said:

I'm cruising solo and understand that the single and double occupancy total prices are usually close to the same.  However I'm looking at a cruise today and the single total price is more than double the double occupancy total price.  For example, the double occupancy total price (not per person) is around $1500, but the total price for solo travel is more than $3000.

 

Can I book the cruise at the double rate and just not have the second person show up on cruise day?  Will there be a penalty for that?

This doesn't answer your question, but there is a very good cruise database (that is NOT a TA, mods) called CruisePlum that, among other things, lets you search for solo accomodation, including solo cabins and solo supplements on double occupancy cabins.  It's at CruisePlum.com.

2 minutes ago, FlaMariner said:

 

Agree....high school drama continues......

And beyond HS.  Most people who go to Harvard work that into every conversation.

2 hours ago, albingirl said:

Pretty sure he's joking. Based on his usual postings which are generally funny.

How would the OP know that?

But now we see that he meant it seriously, not as a joke.

5 hours ago, albingirl said:

We think things are fine. Like anything else, there are some changes, but your happiness will probably depend on how your general outlook on life is. 

Truer words were never spoken.  Whether you are determined to be happy or unhappy, you can always find reasons to make it so.

37 minutes ago, DAllenTCY said:

 

My advice as usual.....do not arrive more than 20 minutes before your "Boarding Group" time.

 

 

David

 Does that advice apply to people with "priority" check-in?

Unlimited cost me about $144 for my 16 day Hawaii upcoming.

And FWIW, there are some interesting YouTube videos of the laundry operation.

Personally, I can't imagine why anyone but me would be interested in how many *s or medallions I have.

21 hours ago, lenquixote66 said:

I could not say what occurred on other lines at the time.I went on a cruise in 1973 to celebrate a special year birthday.My next cruise was in 1994 also to celebrate a birthday.By the time I began cruising on a regular basis it was 2008 and things were totally different.

Fair enough.

1 hour ago, lenquixote66 said:

Rodney Dangerfield was a one of a kind comedian.He was an Accountant in his early life .

I completely agree with you there.  His appearances on the Tonight Show are legendary, IMO.

On 11/11/2023 at 11:40 AM, lenquixote66 said:

The entertainmeners were Class A .We saw Rodney Dangerfeld .Todays cruise lines do not offer anyone comparable.

OK, but that didn't answer either of my questions.

16 hours ago, lenquixote66 said:

On the cruise that I referenced the only entertainment was evening singers or comedians .

Would that level of entertainment be acceptable today?  And what was the entertainment like on other lines?

17 hours ago, crystalspin said:

Are you using an incognito browser window? That is what most of us have had to resort to.

 

You can also clear your cookies, but it crashes your other signons and wears off very soon.

You can avoid crashing your other sign-ons by only deleting the cookies for the HAL site.  To do this, while on the HAL site click on the little lock on the left side of the address line, then the Cookies and Site Data option on the pull down menu and follow the instructions.  Thanks to @POA1 for this trip.

On 10/31/2023 at 1:42 PM, slidergirl said:

that isn't the only thing.  Where are all those single-use bottles and bags going to go?  Landfills are filling up and we don't want more land destroyed just to take care of trash that didn't have to happen.  Look at how the islands have to dispose of your single-use products?  It has to be barged somewhere, and that costs money that some of those 3rd world towns do not have.  Have a little compassion and let go of your "wants" for a little.  Buy a cheap bottle to resuse.  Bring a cheap cloth bag to put your purchases into.  More and more places outside of the US are getting rid of the single-use products.  Just suck it up and help out.  You can buy all the bottles you want when you are home,

Wow, you read an awful lot into a simple question.

What percent of ocean plastic pollution comes from cruise ships?

3 hours ago, SFO Peter said:

Someone posted that the problems has to do with computer Cache.  I do not want to empty my Cache because it deletes information that other websites need for sign ins.

After weeks of struggling with HAL website I used Chrome >>Incognito<< and was able to sign in yesterday and do my business.  So in summary try using Incognito.

Peter

Someone posted a useful tip about clearing caches.  If you click on the little lock symbol on the left side of the subject line and then click on Cookies and Site Data you can clear the cookies for just that site without disturbing any of your cookies for other websites.

16 hours ago, Mary229 said:

Yes I have had that often. If you scroll down you can see the itineraries but the image may never appear. They really need to fix their website 

Understatement of the year!

I only mention this because 3 posters mentioned HAL.  If you book a guaranteed cabin and then get the Club Orange add-on you ca= get a free upgrade to any available cabin in your category.  So that might be something to look into if you're booking HAL.

5 hours ago, FrankieSue said:

We are indeed focusing on all the goodies we get, even more so as we were able to add the HIA early bird to our next cruise which includes gratuities, premium beverage package, premium internet, etc…. We cant wait to board! Happy sailing everybody!

You know the secret of a happy life.  I have a cruise in Jan which has the regular HIA so no premium beverage, no premium internet, and no free grats.  I have another in October 2024 which has the early bird HIA so I get all three.  I am equally delighted with both.  If people would just appreciate what they have, rather than lamenting what they don't have, like us, they'd be a lot happier.