Poulsbo Cruisers

We’ve recently booked a cruise on the Niueu Stantendam for 2020. We’ve been loyal Princess cruisers for years, but wanted a different itinerary. We’re approaching the cruise with open minds. Each cruise line has certain things people like over others. I’m sure HAL will have some things we like better and some less. I can definitely say that Princess has the best website. 

We now primarily use private tours. We like the smaller groups and lower price. A few years back while on a Baltic cruise with Princess, we saved just about 1/2 with a private two-day tour of St. Petersburg. We saw more and had a group of only 16 people. 

If I use a TA can I still use HAL’s Flight Ease?

15 hours ago, crystalspin said:

@Poulsbo Cruisers

Here is the Know Before You Go pdf -- link to which is found on the FAQ page, which can be found by clicking Help in top right of screen OR Frequently Asked Questions on the very bottom of most screens, under Travel Resources. The info on tipping that you are seeking is not a FAQ (oh really?) but is found in the PDF which is at least indexed to jump to what you click in the table of contents.

https://www.hollandamerica.com/content/dam/hal/marketing-assets/manage-my-cruise-already-booked/faqs/KBYG.pdf

 

Save the PDF to your computer! It says: "For sailings departing on or after December 1, 2018, the daily Hotel Service Charge is $14.50* per guest per day for non-suite stateroom guests and $16.00* per guest per day for suite guests." and the footnote is that the rate is subject to change. So check back and re-download the PDF every so often.

 

All non-free beverages have a gratuity added to them at purchase, as do upcharge restaurants and spa services. If you buy the Signature or Elite Beverage Package, the gratuity is on the cost of the package, not on the drinks you actually buy. If you book under the Explore4 (or other promotion that has included SBP), the gratuity is also included. 

 

Here's a funny one -- we are HAL fan-kids, but have booked the Emerald Princess 28-day South Pacific, Feb 2020, for the itinerary! I guess you and I are swapping places!

Thank you. That helps a lot. 

My DW and I have been sailing primarily on Princess for years. But, all good things must come to an end. We were looking for a European cruise for 2020, but every port was the same as we’ve already done. We saw an interesting itinerary on HAL and decided to try it. I know I’ll probably have many questions, but I’m not going to try to post them all now. I’ll follow this board and I’m sure I’ll learn a lot as I have on the Princess board. We are very excited to be trying a new adventure. 

I do have to ask one question now. Am I missing something on the HAL website? It seems like information I take for granted on the Princess site is missing from HAL. Is there a different website somewhere? I was just trying to find something simple like tipping rules and couldn’t find it. I was trying to fine which cabins were available in a category, but it seems that I can only get a small preselected group of cabins. I know in this day and age, I must be doing something wrong. No website can be that difficult to use or find information. Thanks for any help anyone can provide. 

After considering some of the advice from this board and looking at itineraries from other cruise lines, we solved our problem. We booked an Iberian Pennisula cruise on HAL. It leaves from Amsterdam and gives us a lot of interesting ports. It’s been years since we were on HAL, but kind of looking forward to the change. 

14 minutes ago, Thrak said:

 

This is a TA.We visit Catagena SPAIN.

 

From our itinerary:

Nov 05 Cartagena (Es) 11:00AM 7:00PM

 

Note: The other Cartagena is in Colombia - not Columbia. A common error.

 I knew you were referring to Spain. But, several were discussing Columbia. 

2 minutes ago, Thrak said:

 

Our TA next November from Barcelona to FLL (or all the way to LA if one chooses to continue on through the canal) visits Cartagena.

Since I was discussing European cruises I didn’t realize that people would mixup Cartagena Spain with Cartagena Columbia. 

And for everyone else, I realize that I could get some different ports on a trans Atlantic sailing. Those don’t work for us. I was discussing regular Mediterranean and Norther European  itineraries. But, I do appreciate everyone’s suggestions. 

4 minutes ago, hokiefans said:

A cruise on the Enchanted beginning November 5th, 2020 goes to both Malaga and Casablanca (Morocco).

 

Another on the Pacific beginning October 18th or November 11th, 2019 will stop in Valetta (Malta).

 

Cairo is down the Nile so you would have to dock in Alexandria.

 

Our Partial Panama Canal, which we did about three years ago, stopped in Cartagena (Columbia) and I see lots of itineraries with it included.

Yes, if you want trans Atlantic cruises - we don’t. And we don’t like the Pacific Princess. 

13 minutes ago, chrysalis said:

Why don't you suggest some new ports here?

Amsterdam, Rhodes, Malta, Malaga, Cartagena, Brest, Rotterdam, Korcula,  Souda. 

These are just some of the ports in Northern Europe, Spain, and the Agean that Princess doesn’t go to. Last year we did a 21-day Mediterranean cruise that was actually an 11 and 10 day back to back. Several ports were repeated. That’s okay. But, if I look at this cruise for 2020, it’s the same. And for years Princess has done the same 7 day Mediterranean cruises that can be combined for 7-28 days. Same ports - different year. There are other ports in Sicily besides Messina. Ther are other Greek Islands besides Mykonos and Santorini. It would be nice for Princess mix it up some other than on trans Atlantic cruises. 

My DW and I have been sailing exclusively with Princess for years. They have become, by far, our favorite cruise line. We were anxiously awaiting today and the 2020 European cruises opening up so we could book a cruise for our 30th anniversary. I must say, we are disappointed. It’s the same old itineraries. There are so many ports in Europe that Princess could add, but doesn’t. I used to tell everyone about the Princess itineraries and that they couldn’t be beat. It’s now the same thing year after year. They need to hire someone with a little imagination. I was hoping they would do something interesting for the inaugural season of the Enchantment. It looks like we may be forced to go with a different cruise line as much as we hate to do so. HAL has some interesting looking itineraries. 

We’ve tendered in many ports in which we’ve booked private tours. The tour operators have been coping with this issue for years and know when to expect you at the departure point. You don’t need to worry about this. 

14 hours ago, johnsuttoncoldfield said:

I have certainly seen numerous men turned away without dark jackets and tie on formal nights - have also seen those dining without even a tie - it looks like it is a case of you are taking a chance of potential embarrassment at dining room entrance  but then may well be admitted if head waiters are lenient. 

I’ve never seen this. I wear a medium color sports coat and no tie. It’s just not a problem. One cruise I didn’t even wear a sports coat. Again, no problem. 

Our last four cruises (44 cruise days) have been on the Regal and Royal. By far our favorite ships. And the buffet is the best I’ve had with Princess. Just goes to show how everyone likes something different.

i already called princess. my original cabin is no longer available but was able to move to a better location. Still surprised how this happens automatically without prior notification. On other cruise lines, an upgrade is optional and is something you have to pay for.

From your signature, it appears you are new to Princess and maybe to the Princess board. This subject has been discussed ad nauseum here. Princess considers any cabin to be an upgrade, if it is a higher category cabin or even a more expensive cabin in the same category. When booking a cabin, the default is that you will accept an upgrade unless you have it marked as “do not upgrade.”

Next year we have a mini suite booked on the Ruby. Our favorite mini on this ship is E731, which we booked. But, Princess shows that as a lower class mini suite. To assure they don’t upgrade us, we have the cabin marked as do not upgrade.

We were in a suite last September. The enhanced turn down service was two chocolates each. :')

We just finished a British Isles cruise. We loved it, but our favorite European cruises are in the Mediterranean. If your decision only involved itinerary, I’d opt for the Med. But, with two separate cruise lines to consider your decision becomes more complicated. We haven’t done NCL for years because we like Princess so much. NCL will always hold a special place in our heart because our very first cruise was for our honeymoon on the Norway.

I would love the convenience of CC dining but am too cheap to pay for it. ;p

We had CC on our 21-day cruise last year as part of a free upgrade. It was very nice, but not nice enough where we could justify paying for it.

I’ve booked several cruises during the Three for Free Promotion then end up changing them to the Anniversary Promotion because I end up saving more even having to pay tips. It never crosses our mind to remove the tips. I’ll never understand that mind set, but I guess it’s a custom issue that will just continue to exist. No reason to put anyone down over it. It does makes me wonder though if the crew prefers Caribbean schedules over European schedules. Do they get more tips on one over the other?

We’ve had shower curtains on the Royal and Regal in deluxe balcony cabins. No problem with the shower curtain attacking. I believe the showers are bigger than on the grand class ships.

NOPE! I have no interest in any of the new oversized Princess ships, nor the new one once it is completed. I have zero enthusiasm for any of them.

I'll stick with the Pacific Princess and the grand class ships.

I guess it’s all a matter of different likes and dislikes. We’ve been on the Royal three times and the Regal once. Yes, they are bigger and hold more passengers. But, they’ve always felt less crowded to us than the grand class ships.

We’ve done 11 days on the Regal and 33 days on the Royal. It is now hard to go back to the other ships. However, we’ve never had a standard balcony on these two ships. On the Regal we had a deluxe premium aft cabin and on the Royal we have had a suite and an obstructed view deluxe balcony in the front of the ship.

For me, the only port view that matters is Cobh because of the beautiful view of the city. For that you would want the port side. If you are more concerned with the views on sea days then probably the starboard side is best.

I booked M102 on the Royal. Just wondering if you had a lounge chair on the balcony or just a regular chair?

We just got off the Royal and had cabin M102. There are two lounger type chairs (adjustable chair with footstool).

We just got off the Royal on Sunday. We had cabin M102. I must say that this was one of our favorite cabins on Princess especially considering the price. The balcony is spacious and the cabin is extremely quiet. You get no traffic in the hallway. As someone stated, the obstruction comes from the steel railing. While sitting, you get a little bit of an obstructed view, but it didn’t bother us at all. We would book this cabin again.