FlaMariner

Me too! That's awesome! Free days at sea!

That's my experience with my wine package.....I was charged for the wine package + 18% - 25% (3 stars).

If the Celebrity Beyond is departing now then the port is NOT closed. That Coast Guard document was in government speak and I did not understand.

I see nothing in the Mariner Society benefits lists for "discount on surcharge items in dining"..... Here is a link to the Mariner benefits: https://www.hollandamerica.com/en_US/mariner-society.html

Yawn....It's a tropical storm.

Wow. I was "out of commission" for a day with the login issue and was having serious withdrawal.....I can't imagine going without it for a week...... I probably need to develop a life or a back up plan! LOL. Welcome back!

So we love Billboard Onboard and consider that our "piano bar" in the evening.....We especially like "all request" sets. Whether that is defined as a performance or piano bar I do not care. We do know we love to sit on the stools "at the piano bar" and enjoy chit chatting with the performers and singing along....And closing out "all request night" with everybody singing "Sweet Home Alabama" or "American Pie". Good times. Also, when we were on the Rotterdam last year, the lady piano player/singer also played during the afternoon tea when that was held in BBKings and I think a few other times/places. When we were on Princess (last March, one time, never again) we passed by the guy playing the piano on the way to dinner but on several HAL cruises we pass by Lincoln Center Stage playing......Also, on that Princess cruise we attempted an evening in what they call a jazz club. Their definition of jazz was more of the brunch, northern states jazz and was boring for us (having lived in New Orleans). And yes, the atrium on Princess with a performer is like the food court in the mall for us.

Billboard Onboard?

We think Holland America Line is perfect for us. (If not, we would not cruise with them)

Never seen that....But the Pinnacle ships (K'dam, NS, RD) show a movie on lido at night.....Her Majesty enjoys that and we attend a few....And eat the popcorn.

Still the same....just the way we like it.... If you want a loud lido, we learned the hard way on the Sky Princess last March.....Lido pool music blaring all day...and if not music, then movies playing loudly...and if not movies, then a gambling/casino game playing loudly on the TV screen. You may prefer Princess if you want a loud lido. As far as us, we will never make that mistake again. LOL. (Also, the lido pool area becomes useless during bad weather on Princess...no retractable roof....on HAL, we can continue to play cards and nap!)

Thanks for reporting back to us the good news....Also, seems like Port Everglades still has that great "no stopping" embarkation procedure down! Enjoy your cruise!

Totally different since this is bottles of wine for the dining room and cabin consumption...... But irregardless, we take advantage of happy hour sometimes also....no matter the discount!

We are sailing 11/19 & 11/26 (NS)...two bookings. We got our cabin assignments today for both segments. 13 days before boarding ....Same cabin for both cruises.....Booked Inside Guarantee and got Inside Guarantee. All good!

California seems to enforce the boarding times ("you will wait on the curb until your papers are in order") vs Florida which seems to welcome all ("we are glad to see you, please come in and take a seat")

From reports on here and our personal experience in the last year...... Port Everglades will be ready to welcome you onboard when you wish (obviously not too early though...as they have to get folks off first). The cruise sounds great! And welcome to Holland America Line!

Wish this was true but we both buy the spa pass and Her Majesty always gets a couple of things done in the spa and no free cruise for us. LOL...we will never know the answer to "why?"

I board 11/19 and got my boarding time today 11/6. (But it is useless information. We will be showing up at 10:30am like always)

When we spreadsheet out the business case for HIA, we never come up good..... We never go to speciality dining, rarely do ship tours and certainly do not need internet when enjoying a cruise.......we get 25% of the wine package (3 star Mariner) so that works for our "drinks" and we are fine with the free coffee/tea/water, etc. As far as Specialty dining, you can certainly enjoy Holland America Line without darkening the door of a surcharge restaurant......we do.

Good one....but how does one book a "free" cruise if one does not get the magic list? Has anyone who has not gotten the list called and tried to book one? (Maybe there is nothing special about who can take advantage but they have a random number of folks they send to so it does not get out of hand...until it is published on cruise critic?) LOL

maybe we should toss out our "spending per day" and see if that tips the scale...or perhaps too much trouble and not really worth it? LOL. I just looked at my past OBC account on navigator and it does not add it up to a grand total...so not going to fool with that.... Any other ideas?

gotcha.....so now.... adding: Mariner status Could it be large onboard spending? What else could be what determines who gets lucky?

Is that bad? Not at that price......Book it!

Love it. Good choice. Been on her 3 times and going again on the B2B after you get back.... Take it all in....Dutch Cafe....Music Walk....lido pool area.....and on and on.... Have fun.....glad you are back out there.....Enjoy Florida and the cruise!

Rotterdam 10 nights departing 12/11 $396 inside (Mariner rate).....would that be a low enough price? (My dog boarding fee would be more) Source is the large online TA we use......Just looked it up. Go book it!