Toofarfromthesea

1 hour ago, Ileneilene123 said:

Thank you. This is our first cruise & it’s been very difficult not to be able get access our account or manage our cruise. I know we are not alone, but still very frustrating. Many people have posted various fixes here on CC and elsewhere and so far none of those have worked for us. We are a group of 4 with 2 different bookings and not one of us can get in on any of our devices. I may ask my daughter who’s in her 20’s to give it a try — she’s always been the IT department for our family. 

Have you tried the incognito workaround?

I'm with the it isn't crowd.

11 hours ago, TRLD said:

11 hours ago, TRLD said:

 

As much as some people here would seem to prefer that they did not.  Might have a different view if they had the same diagnosed condition as those with valid service animals.

 

I know several veterans with service dogs due to non visible diagnosed conditions including ptsd and have donated to the organization that trains their dogs. I was more fortunate with my military service.

 

 

To be fair, I haven't seen people criticizing legitimate service dogs in this thread - the criticism has been for the fakers.  And you can tell who the fakers are because there is a code of conduct both for the service dog and the owner. And worse yet are the so-called doglovers who help propagate the breaking of the code of conduct by hugging or petting the fake service dog.

And understand that I'm not labeling a dog as a fake service dog because the condition they are there for is not obvious.  I know there are conditions calling for the use of a service dog like seizures, diabetes, PTSD, etc.  But as someone who contributes to the training of these dogs I'd imagine you are familiar with the code of conduct for these dogs.  I base my perception that a given dog is a fake service dog strictly on the dog and owner's behavior.  The really sad thing is that the existence of the fakes, and their entitled owners, can cause people who are uneducated about this to look askance at legitimate service dogs just because they are there to help someone with one of those non-obvious conditions.  People with fake service dogs are no better than non-handicapped people parking in a handicap parking spot.

6 hours ago, jmbstudios said:

When our cruise gets back to Port in Seattle on the last day, I believe it docks around 8am.    Our flight backnto Arizona leaves at 3pm.     Is that a pretty time allotment to disembark and get to the airport?

 

Thank you.

And if I'm not mistaken, Seattle has free Port Valet where they will transfer your checked luggage from the ship to your airline.

Details

17 minutes ago, Kay S said:

Alternatively, you could spend that time gong back through this thread to find the answer which was, as I recall, not a simple yes or no.  I guess if you want a one word answer it is "depends."

I marvel at your facility at giving unhelpful responses.  Thanks!

Back to the corner for another ten minutes.

7 hours ago, chengkp75 said:

  While I agree that there is abuse of the system in allowing dogs that are not true service animals to pose as such, 

.

And it is really unfortunate that those that abuse the rules cause legitimate service animals to come into (unfair) question.  Particularly the less obvious one such as diabetes dogs.  And I think I read that a dog can be trained to tell when an epileptic is about to go into a seizure.

Just now, Kay S said:

Didn't someone just answer this question earlier in the thread?

I don't know.  But thanks for such a helpful reply.  And so generous of you to spend 10 words not answering the question when a one word answer would have sufficed.  I'm now going to send myself to stand in the corner for ten minutes.  You have a nice day!

8 hours ago, chengkp75 said:

Sorry, but the ADA allows service dogs to be in food service areas like restaurants.  Typically, they will lie under the table.

Is the ADA the controlling authority on cruise ships?

7 hours ago, sjde said:

This is probably like The Haven on Norwegian?

Way less expensive.  Beyond that I can't say, but I believe there are a number of YouTube videos comparing Haven with Yacht Club.

23 hours ago, grannyshell said:

Here's the situation: we are flying into Amsterdam 2 days prior to our cruise departing from Rotterdam. If we stay in Amsterdam, could we make our way back to the airport on the morning of the cruise to take advantage of the HAL airport transfer to the cruise terminal in Rotterdam?

Other choices

I've only sailed MSC in the Yacht Club.  It was wonderful, and since it is not nearly as expensive as other lines' ship within a ship offerings I think it is the best bang for the buck at sea.

3 hours ago, terrydtx said:

Sorry my bad it seemed to be evaporated canned milk.

No need to apologize to a pedantic person. 😉

On 4/7/2024 at 11:45 AM, terrydtx said:

My DW ordered cream for her coffee on room service on out last cruise and swore it was canned condensed milk.

To be pedantic for a moment, probably evaporated milk, which is unsweetened.  Condensed milk is always sweetened.

7 hours ago, kazu said:

 

You can’t buy CO is you are in a Neptune Suite.  NS are entitled to Club Orange benefits on board.

Ah, my mistake.  I don't travel in the rarified air of Nepturne suites.  Now I understand the laughing emoji to my post.

9 hours ago, LastCallForCoffee said:

We booked a cruise to Alaska on the Koningsdam a few days ago for May 25. Rolled the dice for a guaranteed NS. On our confirmation, it shows Category SC. There’s only 2 of those on the boat (I think) and it was the exact 2 we wouldn’t particularly want. (Extreme forward, Deck 11). The SA category rooms are not sold out and have availability as of now. Should I hold out hope that my cabin will be changed to a better one or sit here, freak out in silence and accept my weird room with a tiny balcony? This will be our 3rd cruise on HAL so we do have Mariner numbers, just not as many trips as most of you. 

If they still have availability, one option would be to get Orange Club and use the free upgrade to get the cabin you want.

2 hours ago, Mary229 said:

I am always too hasty to clean my email inbox.  Can someone provide the codes for the current private sale?  Thanking you in advance. 

Unless you also empty your trash the email will stay in the trash folder for 30 days and can be resurrected from there.

51 minutes ago, marco2111 said:

Has anyone found a work-around for cell phones that are not compatible with the Navigator app.  We leave in a week and it's late to upgrade our phones. Looks like everything is on the app and they don't print excursion tickets.

Any suggestions?

When I decided to get a new phone I had a choice to go to (in my case) the Verizon store and get it right then and there or order it from Amazon and get it a day later.  It should be easy to upgrade a phone within a week.  Another alternative is getting a burner smartphone.  For around $30 you can get a no contract burner phone that runs android that you can download the Navigator app to.  Just some thoughts.

18 hours ago, crystalspin said:

Now THAT was a clever business decision!!!

Kind of like Apple making their computers cheap for schools to get kids used to using their brand.

2 hours ago, Kay S said:

Great idea/  I'm going to download one of those.

FWIW, the one I have is called Easy Metronome.  And it is, no muss no fuss.  Several different sounds.  Easy to set the tempo.  I got it to time the holds for physical therapy.

5 hours ago, eeden1 said:

I'll be going to Europe on my cruise and having never been before was wondering how widely accepted prepaid visa and/or mastercards are.  I didn't know how they worked with the exchange rate or if they can even be used.  Just trying to look for an alternative to carrying our main cards or a lot of cash.  We do plan on getting some local currency but didn't want to be carrying large amounts.  Thank you.

Widely accepted.  What I did was get a separate debit/ATM card from my bank, WF, that was pre-loaded with some money.  They called it a travel card.  It had minimal foreign transaction fees.  I could use it in, eg, France at an ATM to get euros.  That card could not initiate and transactions with my checking account.  But if necessary I could initiate a transaction in my checking account to re-load the debit/ATM card.

On exchange rates, always elect to have the transaction done in the local currency so your bank does the exchange, because that will get you the best rate.

1 hour ago, clo said:

Just a reminder. That carry-on piece also needs to fit under your seat. All the overheads are sometimes full and if you can't board early, well.... We had that happen some years ago and I got one that will. But no way could you put everything you would need for more than a weekend trip.

 

No, only your additional item needs to fit under your seat.  On the rare occasion that there is no room in the overhead for your carry-on they will check it for you at no charge.  The vast majority of carry-ons being sold will not fit under the seat.

On 4/1/2024 at 10:47 AM, XBGuy said:

I loved the idea that somebody suggested using a jammer to foil the signal in the dining areas.  

A hammer would work better than a jammer.

But here's an idea.  I have a metronome app on my phone that can emit fairly loud beeps.  When someone is infringing just get the metronome beeping at about 120-180 beeps per minute. Kind of an old school jammer.  You could argue that it would just add to the noise, but if it gets them to stop it is just for the short term.

On 3/30/2024 at 8:17 PM, SUESEABE said:

@Ready2go11 No HAL do not permit heating pads as they pose a safety risk and are not allowed to be brought on board.

I wonder if it's possible to request a microwave in your cabin.  I use a microwavable hotpack for a wrist injury I am rehabbing.

On 3/31/2024 at 3:28 PM, ldubs said:

 

We did something similar by opening a second checking account with our bank that we use for travel.  It is not linked to our other accounts.  We keep relatively small balances in that account to reduce risk if the debit card is ever hacked.  It is easy to transfer additional money as needed from our regular accounts.  We learned to do that from folks here on Cruise Critic.  It has worked well for us. 

I do something similar but at my bank, Wells Fargo, I didn't need to have a second checking account.  They gave me what, in effect, was a pre-loaded debit/ATM card.  It was restricted to the amount of the pre-load, but I could initiate a reloading if necessary from my checking account, but the debit/ATM account could not initiate any reload, so it was secure.

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