jeff74

Guest status too…. That would be one way to rack up Mariner status.

I'm unsure if this is Costco's policy or HAL's but the stipulations around transferring my mom's cruise that is currently in the process of taking place were that the initial booking had to be less than 60 days ago and the balance owed had to be greater than $0.

We’ve definitely watched a few movies on our cruises with our son who doesn’t necessarily like the kids area. HAL has smaller ships than some other lines with less to do and especially on cruises with several days at sea it’s nice to unwind a bit. I think this debate falls along similar lines as whether or not you just go purchasing an inside room with the mindset that you’ll only be in your room to sleep and shower or do you get a nicer room and maybe be able to relax a bit more. Vegas seems to be the prime destination spot for this debate as well lol.

We paid to upgrade to a verandah over Thanksgiving for our trip that was originally an interior room casino offer. Also, it was nice to learn that HAL will work with you on requesting a specific guarantee room. On our upcoming trip my mom wanted an interior room and the cruise consultant suggested a guarantee room and put in a request for the one right across from us. When entering a hypothetical booking last week out of curiosity to see how booked the cruise was that guarantee room was the only was showing as unavailable.

We were reminded not too long ago that kids can be fickle with their opinions. We were on the K-dam over Thanksgiving but my son said that he didn't really like the cruise that much because there wasn't an arcade on board or other fun things like some of the other cruises we've been on. Fast forward to a few weeks ago on an Oasis class ship and my son mostly wanted to spend time in the room playing online with his friends and didn't care much for any of the attractions that the ship had to offer. At the end of the cruise he said he would prefer for the next voyage to be on HAL. Go figure. As for my wife and I, we're both in our 40s and enjoy the more laid back pace of HAL over RCI and our opinion is that the food is somewhat better.

I It's definitely not a hardship by any means but if it's one less thing that I potentially have to bring then I'm all for leaving it behind. I try to take as few personal items with me as possible and whittle down what's in my wallet to my DL, insurance card, debit card and 2 credit cards so that if I was to lose it or have it get pickpocketed then that is less that I have to replace.

Ah, I wasn't sure if you had to declare your vaccination status ahead of time. If so, I was envisioning the possibility of someone rigidly applying the rules and saying that because I declared myself as vaccinated that my only option was to show a vaccine card. I'm definitely just showing a photo of a test (that will actually be mine from just prior to the cruise) instead of bringing my vaccine card mostly because of my own incredible ability to lose things on trips.

I think the frustration at least on my part is that a higher burden of proof is required with having to physically produce the vaccine card at the embarkation instead of only needing to show a picture of it which is all that is required for Covid tests for the unvaccinated. This is my understanding from calling HAL yesterday so it’s possible that the rep that I spoke with provided inaccurate info. If this is accurate than it may just be easier to identify as unvaxxed, take a free unproctored Covid test 2 days prior then snap a photo and not have to worry about losing my vaccine card.

Also, what is somewhat head scratching is that vaccinated people have to bring their actual vaccination cards as proof instead of only needing to take a photo which would be more in line with the unvaccinated testing result requirements.

I agree that the cruise industry has been treated more harshly with the standards that they’ve been held up to relative to other parts of the travel industry. However, the I would think average stay on a cruise ship is a good bit longer than the average stay at a hotel which increases your cumulative odds for contracting Covid. Also, I can leave a hotel at any time that I please but that’s not logistically possible on a cruise.

I agree that the new protocols are just theatre. I’ll probably just save a photo of an old negative test in the event I accidentally misplace my vaccine card smh. This is pretty much a joke and they might as well just drop any requirements altogether in my opinion instead of wasting everyone’s time.

IMO, I think that proctored testing would still catch a small subset of folks that otherwise wouldn’t give a care about others and are more than willing to go in a trip while knowingly having Covid just so their own trip isn’t postponed. It should also catch asymptomatic cases where people are totally unaware. Agreed that it won’t catch those people who are still in the incubation period. My own personal standpoint is that I’m fine with putting up with a few minor hassles like testing if that increases the safety of everyone especially those at higher risk. I’m not in fear of Covid but I’m also not afraid of the flu and I can guarantee you that I don’t want to pick up either on a vacation. I think my biggest fear was testing positive while on a trip and getting stuck abroad somewhere in a government designated quarantine hotel. Thankfully that is no longer a concern now that the return flight testing protocol has been removed.

Maybe this will change when the updated vaccines come out in the fall but the currently dominant variant going around sure doesn’t seem to care about vaccination status. 6 of us were on the Wonder of the Seas last month and we were all either triple or quadruple vaxxed. Covid didn’t care and sent everyone home with an unwanted souvenir except for me and that was only because I had picked it up just a month prior to the trip.

We were in 4049 last Thanksgiving and could hear a bit of noise from the Rolling Stone room but it wasn’t very loud and didn’t last long at all. We had no complaints about the obstructed view because it only blocked your ability to see anything directly below. Here’s a picture from our balcony.

It wouldn’t surprise me if that section was wordsmithed to say something along the lines of, “medically administered or online proctored self test.”

I would also suggest having a room with a balcony for the scenic cruising days in order to get a great view of things without the crowds. Even pre-Covid this was great to be able to relax. Hard to beat sitting on your own balcony drinking hot chocolate and eating warm cookies while looking at amazing sights.

I'll take that side 😋

Unvaccinated guests are welcomed aboard and must provide results of a negative medically supervised or self-test taken within three days of embarkation. Interesting that the self-test doesn't mention anything about having to be proctored like the BinaxNow AG tests. Is HAL just going to take your word that the test is indeed yours and was taken within 3 days prior? @NavyCruiser we did that exact thing you mentioned above. Our cruise last month was on a Sunday but we flew out early Friday morning to Barcelona so we waited until 12:01 am Friday morning to test at the IAH Marriott and make sure that we were all negative prior to boarding our flight so that no one would be stuck abroad. Seemed easier to just stay up until midnight then sleep rather than wake up early to test and potentially run out of time to catch our flight.

Completely agree with you which is what prompted my question on the availability of 3:2 tables. Sometimes it's difficult to find an empty seat at one though like in a nicer casino on the strip on the weekend unless you're willing to sit at a $50-100 min table (which I'm not).

The Volendam is supposed to resume sailing on the 24th of next month.

Hello, Does anyone know what table games are in the Volendam's casino? I was hoping there is a craps table there like on the other larger ships and a $25 min blackjack table that paid 3:2 instead of the other lower min ones that only paid out 6:5. Thanks!

Depending on your intended use for the fridge, it might not be ideal since they don't really cool down to normal fridge temps. HAL said that my wife's insulin would be best kept at the medical facility for example.

FWIW, I saw this on another thread and it should put anyone’s mind at ease who was not already aware. It’s actually 4 weeks old at this point. Definitely makes me feel better after reading it.

Our plan was to bring EU converters to utilize those outlets as well because from what I read the US outlets are extremely limited.

I assume that distilled water for my father in law's CPAP machine would be exempt from counting towards this limit...