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Possibly because HAL allows smoking on their balconies where many other lines do not, smokers will switch to HAL because of this policy. Then, the 20% figure would certainly increase.

I agree that HAL will be getting a greater percentage of smokers. That was certainly the case on my cruise a few weeks age. The smoke didn't bother us too much, but waking up to find 17 cigarette butts on our veranda where we were planning to have our room service breakfast was disgusting. (Although I admit that they were quick in sending someone to clean it up.)

Yes, HAL still allows smoking on the balconies and many of us have not been bothered by it.

 

Diane

I was not too bothered by balcony smoking on the Westerdam last week until we woke up one morning intending to have room service breakfast on the veranda and found 17 cigarette butts (my sister counted) scattered about. It was disgusting, and I think I will skip HAL until they change their smoking policy.

Been to Margaritaville...don't really want to pay the ungodly fees for beers...is there a good beach bar with better prices and a good beach that we can grab a taxi to?

I walked down the beach last week and saw a sign for $2.00 local beer with what seemed to be free chairs (only one umbrella though). It was between Margaritaville and Jack's Shack.

Governor's Beach is beautiful and not a long walk from the pier. But you can't get there by walking along the beach. I just tried this and found that the beach is blocked for a short distance. Walk to Jack's Shack on the beach, then take the road to Governor's Beach. It didn't take me longer than 15 minutes once I figured out how to go, and it was worth it.

We call it " Lupper" at our house. :D

 

Agreed that the lido closes way too early. We had a couple late port departures on our last cruise and if you miss it, the only option is to eat in your room.

 

.... And we found in the last half hour, it was slim pickin's in the lido. Lots of stations shut down.

I just sailed on the Westerdam and was very disappointed in the Lido hours. They were supposed to be open until 8, but most of the entrees listed on the menu were unavailable after 7:30. This made it hard to plan and would have been much better if they had told us about the limited menu. All aboard from San Juan was at 7:30, with many people going to the Lido soon after to make the 8 deadline. The Lido had 2 and 1/2 of the 7 items from the menu. We felt it was too late to wait for room service or get dressed for the MDR but certainly would have made alternate plans if we had known that the Lido pretty much closes at 7:30. I ended up eating potatoes and rice. (They did have some pasta, but I had had that on a previous night when there was almost nothing left at the Lido and was not interested.)

It was not the end of the world to miss a meal on the cruise and we certainly were in no danger of starving, but a lot of people were very irritated because of this unnecessary miscommunication.

Yes hal says not an issue with bringing it on. I will put it in my suitcase. I have yet to ask about the us border, I usually just pack it in my bag, I will call them to make sure.

It probably wouldn't be a problem, especially if it is hard cheese. It just has to be put on the form.

Coming in on a flight from Canada and was asked by an owner in the turks that is from Ontario to bring her some cheese. Now I do realize that most ships do not allow you to bring food off the ship but she didn't think that this would be a problem. It would be packaged and not opened, does anyone know if this would be a problem.

Make sure you declare it when landing in the US.

You should definitely bring food off the ship then and let them know you are doing it:rolleyes:.

 

I just got off a Princess cruise on Saturday. It was coming into the USA from Mexico. The cruise director said it is forbidden to take any food off the ship and you could face a $10,000 fine. I got on the Princess transfer bus and someone took something out of their bag and started eating it. I have no idea what it was but it was in a ziplock so not factory sealed. People like that need to be caught. Why would anyone take the chance?

I think this supports my point. There are some ports where it is strictly prohibited to take food, and the cruise line will inform you of this prohibition. Otherwise, I wonder if it is ALWAYS prohibited, as stated many times on this forum. Is it a problem, for example, when going from one EU country to another? And I am quite sure it was OK in Norway when I was there last year.

Food can never be removed from the ship.

 

There are plenty of places to obtain lunch while ashore. If it were a foreign country, I'd advise against it, but, you're still in the US.

Again, I am wondering where the information that food can never be removed from the ship comes from (other than this forum). I am pretty sure that there are ports where it is no problem at all, just as there are cities where it is not prohibited when arriving by air. (I am quite aware that there are many ports such as Mexico, perhaps Alaska, where it is strictly prohibited.) I am just wondering about the general statement that always seems to be made here without any source.

The 'rules' aren't those of the cruise line(s) but rather the LAW of the countries the ship visits. The same laws apply no matter if arriving by plane or by cruise ship.

On airlines I am always given customs information that tells me what I am allowed to bring. It seems that the only people who know about the regulations on cruise ships are those who read the Cruise Critic forums!

When I went to Alaska on a ship I was not given a US customs declaration.

The ship IS another country. Because it's registered in the Netherlands, the ship is considered foreign soil, and anything brought from the ship into port is subject to the rules and regulations of importing to that country.

 

The fact that the ship may have been provisioned in the US doesn't change that. In that case US food was exported to Netherlands, and would now be imported to the US.

When I fly to or from another country, I always get written rules about what I can bring in. Are these rules about never bringing food off the ship written anywhere? (Except of course for ports such as Mexico where it is explicitly forbidden.) I haven't totally studied my cruise documents. Is it mentioned there?

Roughly 15$ for 2 chairs an umbrella six Heineken's, wifi and bathroom access.. They are negotiable.

Check out the chairs before committing as some are padded, some aren't etc. Also, are you going to be in front or will you be behind another row or two of people.

Which beach is this? Sounds great!

Welcome to posting on CC! Hope you enjoy it here.

 

Plan to purchase lunch ashore. The things that one would normally think of as lunch are not allowed to be brought ashore. Things like meat, fruits, cheeses, vegetables, all must stay on the ship. It's normally all right to bring some boxed cereal, or packaged crackers, ashore, but that's not lunch.

I am not trying to be argumentative and have greatly appreciated the advice on these forums, but I am wondering about the information I have seen on these forums many times about how it is ALWAYS prohibited to bring food off the ship. I know that at some ports it is absolutely prohibited and that major fines could results. (It is also prohibited to bring food by air to these countries, including the US.) But where does it say that food can never be brought off a ship regardless of the port?

For example, I would never try to bring food off the ship in Mexico, but on my cruise in Norway there seemed to be absolutely no problem with bringing a sandwich or snack for a long excursion day. At one port we ran into the cruise "port expert" while getting a sandwich from the Lido to have a picnic on the lake. We mentioned our plan to her and she told us to have fun and enjoy the beautiful day. (And at this port there were no cultural reasons to have a $45 slice of pizza.)

Does anyone know for sure if one cannot bring food into a port in Alaska if the ship has not been in another country? Where is this information documented?

So what has been the experience with folks embarking over the last month with carried on wine? Things did not happen as I expected and I am curious what the boarding scenario has been for others.

I am sailing a week from today and would love to hear about your experience wiht the new policy!

That's the last place that I would choose with 7 ships in port even if I didn't want to go in the water. We headed North when we had such a day last year. To me a day with 25,000 cruisers is a day that I want out of the port area.

I will be there soon with 7 ships and an early departure. I am afraid we couldn't get back if we go too far from the port area, and I figure that everywhere will have crowds. Does anyone know if it is possible to walk along great bay beach far enough that the crowds thin out?

Waiting two hours for a pastrami sandwich took a lot of the joy out of the embarkation excitement. Never again!

 

The mid-cruise (multi star) Mariners luncheon was much more civilized.

Did you wait in the MDR or in the Lido deli for this sandwich?

It doesn't apply on the ship. It also doesn't work in every port, most notably in the Caribbean, the Bahamas.

T-Mobile plan is not supposed to work in the Bahamas but as advertised includes many Caribbean islands. Has anyone tried it in Grand Turk or St. Marteen? They are on the T-Mobile list, and I am hoping it works there.

Categories are changing very soon, it would be a ton of work to label then relabel them.

Just Inside, OV, and Balcony designations would be great.

There's a broken link for cabin 8147 - Zuiderdam (link points to halfact//s.com)

 

Adding my vote for being able to see the basic category of cabin (Inside, OV, V, NS) without having to open the link.

 

Thanks so much for doing this.

I really appreciate this site and will send in my pics after the cruise. But I think it would be much more useful if the cabin category were included. I went on the site to try to find a picture of a standard inside Vista cabin and found it difficult to look at the deck plans and the lists simultaneously to find one. Maybe there is an easier way, but including the category with the room number would be very helpful

If you go to HALfacts.com - you will find the daily programme as well for the Vista class ship (which this one is). There is also other info and pics there as well. hope this helps :D

I am wondering if these daily programs from 2008 are still very useful. I would love to see some later ones!

a free shuttle to cruise port/free parking at HIE Blount Island. The room rate is $152 + tax.

I highly recommend the HIE Express Blount Island. I stayed and parked there for my cruise last week, and everyone was extremely nice. It is a little more expensive than other hotels, but they have a promotion on now (Stay here; fly there) that offers great discounts on air tickets.

It's not the Triumph,but I'm looking at the Holiday in May 2008. Thanks to those on the Carnival board, I know which 1A have windows and portholes.

My travel agent have all the 1A with windows and portholes open for booking, but the Carnival website don't. I know that they are in the back of the ship and expect some rumbling when arriving into port, but that's a small price to pay for an outside cabin for an inside price.

The Holiday 1A cabins with portholes are in the front. There are a few in the aft with windows.