Suncitycruiser1925

40 minutes ago, LJanet said:

thank you, I don’t find CO too appealing for us.  We’ve already booked VA cabin.  I think we rather spend money on specialty dining since CO dining is just private dining and menu is no different than MDR

We very much enjoyed dining in the Club Orange Dining room on NS this past January.  It is a small dining room with great service from the same few waiters.  We never waited for a table (good timing or luck).  Mimosas and cappuccinos are available for breakfast at no additional cost.  Breakfast and dinner in Club Orange was a relaxing dining experience with great food and service.  We enjoyed it and it was a highlight of our cruise.  

3 minutes ago, Nekosabre said:

I am in cabin 6220. I don’t  think there was much choice left when I booked so I’m sure there are much better options, but I haven’t had any issues with noise or any other complaints with the cabin. 

Thanks for sharing the great pictures.  Your cabin looks beautiful.  Glad you do not have any issues with noise in your cabin.  We once got a good deal on a mini suite which was located under the pool deck.  It was very loud with pool chairs being moved above us.  

1 hour ago, Nekosabre said:

I am staying in an oceanview cabin (see photos in my previous post). The couch is actually quite large (3 seater). Normally I enjoy a balcony room but the oceanview on Sun feels plenty spacious. 

Thank you for your feedback.  I think we will be happier with an oceanview cabin, so I will look at those.  Are you on Deck 5 or 6?  I noticed that deck 6 is under a lot of public areas, so those cabins might be less quiet?  I am jeleous--enjoy the maiden voyage on the Sun!

42 minutes ago, Cruise Raider said:

No more coffee cards available.  😔 

Thanks for letting me know.  They were a good value.

On 2/24/2024 at 10:58 AM, Cruise Raider said:

Let’s see .. 
$60 a day pp for the plus package: 

Crew Appreciation:  $16 a day pp

WiFi: $25 a day per device ($12.50 for elite status) 

Specialty Coffees x 2:  $8-$10 a day pp + 18%

Drinks x 3:  $30 - $45 a day pp + 18%

 

+ free medallion shipping, room service fee waived, 2 casual dining meals, and other things I don’t use regularly such as the juice bar, premium desserts, exercise classes 

 

One would have already gotten value from the package by doing simple math!  

 

 

 

Thanks for the pricing breakdown.  That helps to evaluate if plus makes sense.  Can you still buy a coffee card for a limited number of coffees?  That was a good deal for us. 

2 hours ago, Jadn13 said:

Interior 2 passenger Cabin

Photo Cred FB Elena C

Seems what looked like a mini sofa in the renderings is an ottoman 😂

 

Thanks for posting the video of a 2 person interior cabin.  I wonder if you put the beds together if you would have enough room to walk around the outside of the bed to get into it?  We were thinking of booking an interior cabin on Sun Princess, but now we are rethinking if we should pay more for an oceanview cabin with a little more room and hopefully a small couch?

On 2/11/2024 at 8:48 AM, funship freddy said:

We are cruising on Enchanted Princess from Brooklyn on 9/07/2024

Any idea how much an Uber would be from

LaGuardia ?

We took a taxi and the fare was a little less than $30 plus tip.  There was taxi stand at the airport and plenty of taxis available.  

On 1/31/2024 at 11:24 AM, purplegrattan said:

Hey Suncitycruiser - how was the music?  I'm sailing in a few weeks.  I believe we had Jeremiah on our Alaskan cruise in May. He was great. 

We thought all members of the Rock Room Band were great.  Rachel Ward is a lead singer and keyboard player. Tommy from Atlanta sings and plays guitar and is a very good entertainer.   We saw them both perform on NS in February of 2023 and we were happy to see them again as part of the Rock Room Band.  The drummer from Puerto Rico is very good, both as a drummer and singer. There is another young man who sings and plays guitar who is very good (I don't remember his name, but he may have said he was from Nashville).  Plus, the bass guitar player was good and also sings.  We listened to 2 sets of the band's performances almost every night and really enjoyed their performances.  They did not perform on our first day of the cruise which was Sunday.

We listened to the BB Kings Blues Band twice.  They are good, but we enjoyed listening to the Rock Room Band more than them.    That is just our personal preference on type of music.  Their lead male singer is very good.  Unfortunately, he did not sing that many songs.  One night we listened to the band perform for 30 minutes and then he finally came out and sang 2 songs. 

We did not care for the dueling pianos performances.  They blasted the dueling piano performances so loud in the Rock Room area (when the Rock Room took a break)  that we couldn't talk and had to find and request the sound engineer to turn the speakers off which he did.

Have a great cruise!

Just off NS this past Sunday and we did not see any

t-shirt sales on the ship.  

Thanks for your replies and input.  I agree that my  friend's travel agent should know the current HAL protocols.  However, I did look on HAL's website under frequently asked questions, masking guidelines, and it does state masks are required during Embarkation and Debarkation, on tenders and Holland America excursions and recommended masks be worn in the World Stage, etc.  HAL should update their website in this regard.  

Has anyone been required to wear a mask on any ships during Embarkation or Debarkation recently?  Or have masks been required at any other times during a recent sailing?  

Any masks requirements on any islands that you have experienced, recently?

A friend of mine was told by her travel agent today that HAL is requiring masks to be worn during Embarkation and Debarkation, during HAL Shore Excursions and masking is recommended in the world stage, etc. I am wondering if this is an old masking requirement and policy that the travel agent pulled up by mistake?  I would appreciate any recent cruiser's experience, please. We would like to know what to expect on our upcoming cruise on Sunday.  Thanks in advance.

On 12/26/2023 at 11:18 PM, YourWorldWithBill said:

In case you haven't used the app to order from the Dive In or NY Pizza, it's pretty easy and works very well. Definitely worth doing.

I wish I could use the app.. to order food.  Unfortunately, I am unable  to download  the app. on my old Samsung J7 cell  phone.  I tried through  Google Play Store.  I have no problem downloading and using any other app.

22 minutes ago, POA1 said:

Bear in mind that there may have been personnel changes since mid-December.  That said, the playing was outstanding. The vocals were not.  It was enjoyable, but you really had the feeling that they'd have been amazing if there had been a really good vocalist.

 

We were there 4 or 5 nights out of 7.

Thank you for sharing your recent experience listening to the Rock Room Band.  I am sure we will still enjoy their performances, but it is too bad the vocalists were not as outstanding as we experienced on past NS sailings.  Rachel Ward was the female vocalist when we sailed on NS in February.  She was outstanding.  The 2 guitar players who sang were also very good.  One guitar player who sang was named Thomas and he also performed on our previous NS sailing just prior to covid putting a temporary stop to cruises.  There was also a phenomenal female drummer who performed this past February.  She was young and extremely talented. 

Thanks for taking us along on your cruise. We are excited to be cruising again on the NS  in January.  Any feedback on the rock room band?  Did you listen to any of their performances?  That is our favorite music venue.  

Thanks for the posts.  I guess we may be listening to the BB King group more on our upcoming January sailing.  On past sailings, the musicians and singers in the Rock Room Band were so wonderful, we watched and listened to 2 sets of the band's performances every night they performed.

On 12/28/2023 at 3:42 PM, Huskerchick said:

We are just off the NS and spent some time in the Rolling Stone Rock Lounge. I'm terrible with names but the bass player was from Nebraska, yay fellow Husker, and was very good. The lead guitarist was also quite good as was Tommy the other guitar player. Where they were weak was on vocals . The poor female singer just couldn't quite cut it. They usually did 3 sets and it was generally pretty busy. Not sure how long their contracts were so you may have some different folks. Also shout out to John Lee who was one of the servers in that area. He hussled and once he recognized us always came over to take our drink order. 

Thank you very much for sharing your recent experience listening to the Rock Room Band.  I hope the female vocalist improves or maybe there will be a new one in January.  On the NS in February 2023, the band, including the female vocalist and all the band members who sang were phenomenal.  Glad you had a great waiter from the bar.

On 12/28/2023 at 12:34 PM, Ilovesailaway said:

Look at the live review of NS by POA1

Ask there...

Thanks for the suggestion.  I will do so.

On 11/28/2023 at 3:45 PM, TiogaCruiser said:

Then there is/was the “free” inside cabins offered for the cost of port fees,taxes and gratuities that were coded as Casino fares but were not related to the casino. $49pp/pd is greater than 0.

How do you get notifications of "free inside cabins", just need to pay taxes and port charges?  We signed up on HAL's website for offers, but never got this promo.  Thanks.

We are sailing on the NS on January 21st.  This will be our 3rd sailing on this ship and it is our favorite of all the ships we have sailed on.  Our favorite entertainment venue on the ship is listening to the Rock Room Band.  Would appreciate any feedback on the current Rock band from those who have sailed recently on the NS.  How is the rock band?  How much longer will they be on the NS (if you know).  We have had an outstanding group of singers and musicians on the 2 sailings we have been on so far.  One outstanding singer and guitar player was Thomas from Atlanta.  He was in the band on both our prior sailings and he is excellent.  Thanks for any feedback from recent sailings.  We are looking forward to another great rock band.

On 11/5/2023 at 12:42 PM, Lakesregion said:

Good to know. I will plan on the extra line as I do not own a phone that allows apps and my computer is too old to get apps either.  PLus for the second half of my trip that was booked as aeperate booking will not be available until I am on board for the first lap. May be my last cruise if the powers to be do not allow a simply boarding process. Some times if it isn't broken trying to fix it really is not the answer, though it does keep people that have no real job employeed.

We have sailed on the Nieuw Statendam twice.  It is our  favorite ship that we have sailed so far.  I did not have the Navigator App.  It will not download on my phone.  Both times, I did the on line check in and printed our  luggage tags and boarding passes through the HAL  website.  No problem at all.  For your second sailing, maybe customer service will help you print your docs. on the ship.

6 hours ago, oakridger said:

@Suncitycruiser1925 My booking confirmation document from HAL has always been sent through my Travel Agent when I used one.  You can't see it on the HAL website.

 

~Nancy

Thank you.  I will request this from our travel agent. 

6 hours ago, crystalspin said:

As Nancy indicated, your TA should have sent you the HAL document.

Thank you.  We did not receive a booking confirmation from HAL from our travel agent.  We only received a booking confirmation from our travel agency.  I will request one.  Thanks.  

On 8/9/2023 at 4:15 PM, crystalspin said:

Keep paging down on your booking confirmation.

How do you find your Booking Confirmation on the Holland Ametica website?  We booked through a travel agent.  Can I access it when I am logged in on HAL's website?  I don't see it.  We also purchased Club Orange.   Thanks in advance.

On 8/9/2023 at 7:49 AM, albingirl said:

Club Orange is such a nice way to go.  Quiet dining room and more intimate.  I took it once without an upgrade just because it's such a treat.  On that ship, my favorite cabins are on the main deck, outside. Your view is on the level of the ocean and it's an easy stroll up the stairs to Club Orange and Dutch Cafe.  Great location. But, congrats on your upgrade and have a wonderful cruise!

We stayed on the main deck in an Oceanview forward cabin the end of Feb. on NS.   I agree, it was a great location and very quiet.  Hopefully,  we will like being on Deck 7.

4 hours ago, Dobby36 said:

Just to add another data point: I saw this thread on 7/26 and got myself an AARP membership that same day.  I verified it with HAL on 7/27, and got my confirmation email.  It showed up on my future cruise credit area on my mariner profile soon after.  And today I asked for an updated booking confirmation using the email noted above, and sure enough it has been applied as OBC for my September sailing (which was booked over a year ago) 

so there is one more instance of it being applied to an existing booking, FWIW

Thanks for the information.  That is good news.  We booked through a travel agent.  Can I request a booking summary directly through Holland America?  I would like to see if my AARP $50 obc now shows on the summary for my January  cruise.   My booking summary through the travel agent does not show the credit. Thanks.