Real NHDOC

1) Yes 2) stay on deck 1 if you’re sensitive to motion. 3) Yes 5) The music acts usually alternate and play at different times in BBOB and Rolling Stone. You can’t hear BB King from those venues. 6) Yes, they have separate vegetarian and Indian menus for the main dining room. Some ships require you to order the day before, some do not. 7) Pinnacle yes, others no. The drink package is only for bars and restaurants. If you happen to be quarantined they will extend drinks service to room service.

Just reporting my experience is contrary to this statement and we’re on Rotterdam right now where they give $11 towards a bottle of wine if you have a drink package. And accepted the drink package for the $22 martini tasting event at Tamarind bar too.

Just telling you the policy on Rotterdam now allows you to use your SBP for at least the martini special which consists of three different types of martini in Tamarind and they do give you an $11 allowance towards bottles of wine (or flasks of Saki in the Tamarind). Maybe it is up to the ship’s beverage manager but they are less restrictive than you may think. I was just wondering if anyone else had a similar experience? Apparently not.

They do offer free 3/4 passenger in a cabin to mariners of a certain level. Lots of times it’s grandparents paying for their kids and grandkids to join them. Most families don’t choose HAL and I am sure most kids would prefer to be home or on another cruise line with more activities for them.

We were told that we could use our have it all (signature beverage package) at a martini event in the Tamarind bar (a flight of three drinks was normally $22 so assume they run it through as a double drink). Also were told we could order wine by the bottle and deduct $11 from the price (though it really should be more). Has anyone else had any offers to use SBP towards things like beer tasting events or mixology presentations?

Thanks for the review. Looking forward to hearing BBK on NS soon. The band on Rotterdam is amazing. School break and holiday cruises are the worst. The only way to avoid kids is to book the longer itineraries. We have a few kids on Rotterdam but the 10-11 day loops definitely limits the numbers. We made the mistake of going on Eurodam last year Christmas week. Never again. We move from Rotterdam to NS on Saturday. Hopefully the school break season is winding down. In any event we’re staying on until Rome. Transatlantic crossings tend to eliminate children completely 😀

Never get a straight answer. The one we had sure seemed like a rib eye. They claim it is dry aged and is the only meat on the ship dry aged. They also say the lobster tail is from Maine on the menu but it’s clearly Caribbean lobster. It’s very good but not Maine lobster!!

The codeword to getting a good char on your steak in PG is tell them you want it “Pittsburgh Style”. Normally that’s black and blue but in PG lingo it means well seared. So you can order it Pittsburgh Style and medium rare or any level of doneness you like. It’s a great improvement over the normal way they make it. The Delmonico is an excellent choice however their standard 15 ounce boneless ribeye is almost as good and its not an upcharge item. If you like surf and turf spring for the 12 ounce lobster tail for $15 and get the ribeye too (they will give you any regular entrée for no extra charge whenever you order an upcharge item). We usually order the ribeye to share because it’s pretty big.

Yes. Free pressing, laundry and dry cleaning is included with neptune suite.

See post #10, above. Someone who got off last week reported that in his review. It was that same happy hour deal last summer on NS when we went to Iceland. It’s not very happy. On that one I thanked them for being so stingy since it caused us to eliminate our daily cocktail and we saved around $400 we would have spent in the bar. They didn’t understand my sarcasm.

All cabins have flexible gooseneck reading lights built into the fixtures next to the headboard on both sides of the bed. Also USB and standard AC outlets on both sides too. No issues charging anything.

Rotterdam happy hour is typically 4-5pm 50% off all drinks, wine and beer. It’s located in the billboard onboard and rolling stone bars. Coincides with the first trivia in BBOB.

We’re joining NS on 3/18. Disappointed to hear the happy hour still isn’t 50% off. I plan to discuss it with the hotel manager because I was told the 50% off discount is now fleetwide. All ships have it except NS AFAIK.

And yes, you can order wine off the package from room service and they will deliver a bottle to your cabin.

The discount has been 50% off for 4* and 5* Mariners for at least several years now. I have discovered that if you pre-buy the package online before the cruise you receive a full 50% off the price paid as an onboard credit to your cabin account (which includes 18% gratuities) but if you purchase on the ship they give the discount only on the price of the package and add 18% of the full price for gratuities so it is advantageous to preorder it. Maybe it’s just a glitch in their system but that’s what’s happened on all of my recent cruises. This same glitch happened with specialty dining that was preordered. We received the 50% discount in OBC based on the full purchase price, which included gratuities. These OBCs are refundable if you don’t use them up during the cruise too so you don’t need to spend it.

Having experienced it I can tell you definitively that both the wine package discount and any cancelled excursions are put onto your onboard account once the cruise starts. Only if you cancel before the three day window closes does the refund go back to the gift card. Incidentally if you have small balances left on gift cards you can use those to either prepurchase onboard credit or casino chips in $5 or $10 increments (chips are actually paid in cash at the casino once the cruise starts). Or just ask guest services once onboard to add them to your onboard accounts. Any unspent funds will be refunded to your credit card onfile at the end of the cruise if you finish with a net credit balance.

I guess my point is there’s no correct answer to the question. Pointing out the various plusses and minuses lets everyone come to their own conclusion. For me it isn’t a great option but everyone has a different opinion.

Again, it’s different for different people. We’re 5* so get 4 nights free in the specialty restaurants, free unlimited laundry and 50% off additional specialty dinners, coffees and wine packages. For high loyalty mariners the value of HIA decreases exponentially. We also often book under the prepaid gratuity program. While we can always find excuses to spend money I would rather use OBC in the most productive way possible.

Don’t forget you can’t use the free drinks on Halfmoon Cay. Another misnomer of calling it “Have it All”. On port-heavy itineraries HAL knows people drink less onboard so are happy to offer unlimited drinks if they think you will be off the ship much of the day. Just another factor to keep in mind.

The other complication is if you receive onboard credit (OBC) from your TA or HAL you use it or lose it and can’t use it for HIA. Example:we get $350 on a 7 day cruise OBC. We can use that to buy the internet, drinks or anything else but if we buy HIA and don’t spend that OBC money it’s not refundable. Basically you lose the value of that perk or you are paying for HIA items you would get for “free” through OBC anyway.

I think if a server on HAL ever told a guest that and it got around it would be their last day interacting with guests. Each order includes 18% gratuity. Anything extra is a gift that should be appreciated in any form it is offered in. They know the pooled tips will still amount to a healthy bonus. The pooled tips are distributed to people who work behind the scenes too. So that selfish waiter is cheating the dishwashers and prep staff that live on the pooled tip system. On HAL they actually appreciate a nice mention in the post-cruise survey more than a buck or two on their tray. So if you want to really do something nice for a special server mention them in the survey or in the “let us know” tab on the navigator. That’s how they get promoted and raises

Had a nice dinner off the new Canaletto menu. The tiger shrimp appetizer is similar to the old calamari appetizer in flavor and style. They said guests had complained about the calamari being chewy so tried making it with shrimp. It’s a good seasoning and preparation. The burrata was huge and delicious. The new seafood dish with mussels, calamari and scallops was delicious and also huge. A little spicy but if you’re not sensitive to that it is terrific. Also ossobuco is still tender and delicious. The new cheesecake has very subtle lemon flavor. More of an Italian style ricotta cheesecake than their usual NY style on the ship. All in all a very nice dinner and a nice change. We mentioned missing the veal and were told it might be added back if enough people ask.

The only attractive thing there is the sales staff. They sell some of the ugliest art on the planet.

Both. It’s been remarkably good up until now but we had a new (to us) waiter and he didn’t seem to be very capable as the hostess had to take over. I ordered the halibut which we had last week and was incredibly good. Flaky, tender, fresh and delicious served piping hot. Last night we got what seemed like a small piece of swordfish that was tough and fishy (and lukewarm). And it took 90 minutes to get out of there with ordering just two courses. The first 30 minutes we sat without even having our order taken. Just water. No bread. Waiting for wine that eventually came. After that I asked the hostess if we could get another waiter and she took over. But unfortunately the food was then disappointing. I probably could have complained more and gotten the meal comp’d but used our 5* perk. The first meal in a specialty restaurant I didn’t leave an extra $10 tip.

Just a note that what I had been told and experienced previously about 5* perks is apparently correct but some seemed skeptical of. I even asked about it onboard. We have been receiving 2 free meals for two for each of us (both being 5*) for each booking on our current Rotterdam cruise. So 4 nights of free dining in any of the specialty restaurants other than Rudi’s per leg. We have some upcoming 7 day legs so it means getting free special meals 4 out of 7 nights on those legs.