MoneyGuy

Someone please recommend a cruise countdown timer — something not on one of the cruise line websites. I’d like to be able to put it onto my desktop as a daily reminder. Something that shows day, hours and minutes. 

Thank you, everyone, for the useful replies. 

Can HAL provide a list of all of their cruises we’ve taken with dates and starting port? They should be able to produce a printout from their system. 

We’ve also cruised with Princess and Viking so maybe someone knows about those lines as well. 

We’re on this cruise departing Feb. 17, 2024. It’s a dream of mine; we did the western Amazon in, I think, 2016. @Strobe1, you will be one of the youngest on board, if not THE youngest. We’ll be age 70 at the time of this cruise. At one time the age of passengers bothered me it it doesn’t anymore. Now I realize the benefits of an older group, especially as we’re older. It’s only four months out and I’m so excited. 

25 minutes ago, Bxc53 said:

I’ve had several similar situations where the airlines didn't get us to the destination the same day as originally promised. I have had good luck calling the hotel directly ( not the national rez center) and asking nicely for the best person to discuss a ‘ reservation modification’  .  Explaining the situation ( airline issues) always got a courtesy cancellation. 

Maybe our mistake for the Iceland trip was my wife phoned. I’m not as nice as she is.

We’re flying to Miami three days before our departure in February. Hotel is booked in Miami. I’m concerned that something might happen that causes us to miss the first hotel night without being able to cancel a night within 24 hours of hotel arrival (and not get the first night refunded, as happened to us recently on a trip to Reykjavik).

We’re flying Edmonton-Toronto-Miami in one day so there is a real chance something may happen. I’ll have to call the hotel to ask about their cancellation policy. 

I'm not sure if there is a better place to put this but we'll be in Iceland before a Viking cruise so here goes....

I'm looking for an audio tour of the Iceland Golden Circle that we can play on our rental car's system as we drive this fabulous place. Get Your Guide has some poor reviews; I know those are subjective and influenced by one bad experience so I may try that one anyway.

Can anyone recommend an audio tour for the Golden Circle? We might also be interested in a self-guided walking tour of Reykjavik but will probably take the hop-on, hop-off bus so that's not quite so important. 

I think you'd be shocked at how poorly staterooms are cleaned. They make them look tidy but sanitization...nope, I'm sure. sterilize everything - not for COVID protection but to reduce the yuck factor. 

We’ll be sailing on this ship June 6 from Reykjavik to New York. It’s nice to read about your experiences. 

How’s the library on the Neptune? Do they stock it with books on your destination? 

Apple AirPods (and Android equivalent) for the win. I use them all the time. 

On 4/5/2023 at 2:39 PM, Rothko1 said:

That definitely sounds like a special request item.  If I recall correctly, last time I was onboard a SS ship they had Coke Zero, not Diet Coke (Don't ask me what the difference is, I have no idea, but I assume that they are different beverages).

The difference is huge. Coke Zero is tasty (my opinion) and the best soft drink I’ve had (again, my opinion). Diet Coke, not so much, and I’m a Coke fan. 

I’m a retired insurance agent who has never bought cancellation/interruption insurance and have never needed it. With all the money I’ve saved, in the unlikely event I ever have to cancel I figure I’ll still be ahead. 

Many (all?) iPhones cannot read the passport chips. That was my experience.

My wife has an Android phone so mine is on hers. 

We sail Oct. 8 from San Diego for Sydney, at which time we leave the Noordam for the day then re-board to circumnavigate Australia. I’ve applied for the $250 OBC for the first cruise. Do we get the OBC for the circumnavigation as well? It looks like HAL/Carnival considers this a continuation of the same cruise. I look at these as two cruises but, alas, likely not. Anyone know? 

An idea, if this works for your situation…I’ve never used my CPAP humidifier. I always go dry even at home. 

Secret room? What’s the secret room? I won’t tell anyone. 

Thank you, everyone. Our Aussie friend told us she’d heard it’s taking a long time for visas to be approved; I’m glad that’s not the case. 

Emailed mine in too close, I thought, to departure but it was approved in 10 days. Yay, HAL. 

I bought my shares just before our last cruise several weeks ago. I’m a sophisticated investor (former pro) and don’t much care what happens to the price. Up, great; down, it’s a long-term hold. 

On 5/9/2022 at 6:57 AM, scubacruiserx2 said:

Some of the follow up songs .

 

Big girls don't cry

 

 

 

Working my back to you 

 

 

 

You're just too good to be true 

 

 

The Four Seasons tribute group was my favourite of all of the entertainers; thank you for posting the videos. 

We’re Canadians and are starting to plan a cruise to Australia and, perhaps, NZ. We’ve ever been to either before. 

How long is the turn-around time for approval of the AUS ETA visa? Do Canadians require a visa to travel to NZ? 

I don’t know if turn-around times are different now due to COVID-19. 

Great photos, thank you. The video you posted is my favourite Neil Diamond song - perfect! 

Having just spent 24 days on the Nieuw Amsterdam the air movement from the ceiling AC fan bothered my wife. I don’t imagine that HAL can shut it down - at least when the AC is not running? Our next cruise is 69 days and she’s not looking forward to having to deal with it for all that time as it’s right over the bed. 

On 4/30/2022 at 2:51 PM, Gunther1 said:

We took a one night repo from Vancouver to Seattle….boarded in Vancouver yesterday and am home in Seattle today.

 

Due to very bad signage( more specifically, no signage), one of the terminal check-in employees pointing us in the wrong area, and our mistake in not verifying that we were in the correct line, we ended up in the Carnival line.

 

‘To say is was a madhouse is an understatement.  
 

Among other things, the check-in employee ( as you probably know, they are contractors), wouldn’t accept our COVID test results ( which were in the correct time frame) and had no idea what verifly was.

 

At that point , I skied if this was for the HAL embarkation and was pointed to the correct line.  
 

My point:  (1)if in doubt, ask if you in the correct queue ( they had NO signs saying “Carnival” and (2)  be grateful if you are on HAL.  The difference was night and day re check-in.

Glad you made in onboard with HAL. Carnival would be dreadful. Apologies to Carnival fans; it’s not our style.